Social Studies

Our social studies program emphasizes primary sources over textbooks, and encourages students to do their own research. Students are responsible for a number of group and individual projects, and special emphasis is placed upon developing writing and editing skills. Students produce short essays, single topic reports, and longer papers. We teach in a multi-sensory manner, with many projects and presentations to complement the writing component of this program. The social studies department organizes an International Day each spring, for which students research a country of their choice from a given region of the world and give a presentation about that country. Food, music, and clothing from the countries involved are often a part of these presentations, which are attended by the entire school community. Afterwards there is a school-wide soccer game, as soccer is the dominant sport in most of the world.