At 2nd Nature Academy we value cooperation, interaction, and willingness to accept challenges. We focus on individual strengths and value the uniqueness of each learner. While there are many curricular goals we set out to achieve, the process we use to accomplish these objectives varies from child to child. Therefore, assessment is used as a useful tool to aid the leaner rather than as a mechanism used to measure correct responses or the ability to perform certain tasks. We believe that success in school should have more to do with true understanding rather than the coverage of curriculum standards. By providing diversified materials and numerous opportunities for observation, exploration, and inquiry, nearly all children will become true learners and problem solvers.
For grades 1-6 we meet or exceed all curriculum goals as outlined in the State of New Hampshire Department of Education Curriculum Frameworks. All core subjects are taught using an experiential based learning model. Subject matter is related through interdisciplinary, thematic units using real life situations and experiences. Rather than restricting information acquisition to textbooks, students gather data and derive knowledge from reliable sources such as maps, journals, atlases, biographies, historical fiction works, literature, newspapers, interviews, reference materials, field trips, observations, and experiments. Our students learn to challenge themselves and find success with encouragement and support.
Children are natural born scientists and automatically use the world around them to observe, hypothesize, experiment, and test their theories. As adults, we tend to suppress this natural curiosity. (Don’t touch that, don’t ask so many questions, don’t take that apart, don’t play with that, look but don’t touch, don’t do that again just to see what will happen.) At 2nd Nature we encourage inquiry and utilize the scientific method as part of our daily routine. We encourage students to use logic, think with reason, and dispute outcomes. As scientists we use logic because it shows the relationships between the parts of an idea and the whole idea. Using logic allows us to see relationships and interactions.
Students at 2nd Nature Academy we use the scientific method in conjunction with a green curriculum model that stresses the study of biomes, ecosystems, habitats, natural resources, conservation, and natural resources. Environmental science education is an integral part of the curriculum at 2nd Nature Academy Elementary School. Through many varied activities and research, children learn to appreciate and take responsibility for the environment and the resources it provides. They learn and understand ways to protect our environment. It is our responsibility to help our children connect with their environment if we expect them to care for and understand ways to protect our environment as adults. We feel education is critical to preservation and hope to share ideas, resources, and knowledge to promote awareness and sustainable practices that will ensure the perpetuation of green spaces and the protection of wildlife in our area. Using hands-on, experiential educational practices, we hope to inspire children to become life-long nature enthusiasts who will generate new ideas and solutions to the growing environmental issues that face their generation.
As educators, it is our duty to instruct children in the areas of cultural awareness, acceptance, and compassion. Moreover, values such as appreciation of our environment, responsibility, punctuality, consideration, kindness, and understanding are as important as basic subject areas. It is our responsibility to provide the fundamentals of education such as applicable math skills, phonemic awareness and decoding skills, vocabulary skills, literature, scientific exploration, geographical awareness, understanding of historical events, and United States Government.