9 : 1
Student to faculty ratio
Our philosophy of education
At Cascadia, we believe that the primary years are the basis for future success. The education of children is a partnership between the faculty, parents, and students. Through our outstanding team of teachers, creative approaches, and personal investment, we strive to work collaboratively to ensure the success of every learner.
We take this responsibility seriously and work hard to help all our students achieve a solid foundation that carries them through their whole life. This process begins in our Pre-K and Kindergarten years and spirals through our upper grades. Concepts and skills are learned step by step in an incremental and logical manner. At each grade level, students engage concepts across multiple disciplines and from different angles to help them develop confidence and depth of understanding.
97%
of alumni go onto middle schools of choice
Top 95%
in state and national test scores
An overview of each grade
PRE-K
We feel that our Pre-K students are such a special group. Their energy and curiosity are captivating, and we strive to channel that energy into a life-long love for learning. We start with the basics by instilling in them a sense of responsibility and pride of work. This requires time spent on fine motor skills, like cutting and tracing, as well as investigation into the process of sounds becoming words and numbers representing a value.
Our teachers work closely with our Pre-K children to help them work systematically through our step-by-step curriculum at a pace best for them and to ensure that they are not just gaining memorized facts but truly understanding the concepts. This system of small group instruction, one-on-one engagement, and hands-on exploration allows our students to learn at a rapid pace and move quickly past the Pre-K standards and well into the average kindergarten standards.
KINDERGARTEN
We believe that our Kindergarten students are ready to be challenged. Using their Pre-K foundation, we spiral into the basics of critical thinking and clear communication. Our Kindergarteners rotate through carefully planned small group lessons, where they utilize Montessori manipulatives to fully understand the intricacies of addition and subtraction; they engage in group discussions, where they begin to formulate their own voice as they share their ideas and brainstorm with classmates; and they become independent in sharing their thoughts through writing.
After a year of articulating their ideas and independently representing their thinking through manipulatives and projects, our Kindergarteners are beginning to establish their personal voice and feel confident in their knowledge base.
1ST GRADE
We encourage our First Graders to begin taking ownership of their learning. They become responsible for personal morning routines, work independently with focus and purpose, hold themselves to Cascadia’s high standards, and begin learning how to advocate for themselves when a concept is confusing or a project is unclear.
The children continue to gain proficiency on previously taught concepts and begin fine tuning their abilities to analyze two-step math problems, as well as develop their inferential thinking as they dive into rich literature. As the children’s depth of understanding is broadened, we embrace their inquisitive nature by modeling how to investigate questions and discover answers. Throughout each school day, they are given opportunities to work in peer groups to share ideas, ask deeper questions, and utilize research methods to find answers. This collaborative process challenges the children to take ownership of their own learning and continues building each child’s personal voice.
2ND GRADE
We celebrate the Second Graders growing confidence and budding independence. As they continue to spiral into concepts that require focus, multiple steps, and creative thinking, they are given the tools needed to dissect and confidently problem solve at an independent level. Throughout the year, the children are given opportunities to express their thinking through creative avenues such as reports, presentations, writing prompts, and projects. This creative process helps the children begin to broaden their perspective of learning and realize that they are a part of the teaching cycle.
With the guidance of the Second Grade team, the children engage in direct teaching, one-on-one guidance, peer inquiry, and independent study. Within each approach, they are encouraged to develop their personal voices, seek creative solutions, and fully engage in the learning process.
3RD GRADE
We encourage the Third Graders to become reflective learners. While they dive into the intricacies of advanced math, multiple writing genres, literature studies that analyze the message behind the words, and entailed projects, the children are guided towards reflecting on their learning.
This reflection comes as they identify their challenges and advocate for themselves by seeking help rather than passively waiting for someone to come to their aid. Quickly, they discover that they can take charge of their learning. This discovery is empowering and leads to a beautiful realization that perfection is not the goal, but rather celebration of self and the constant drive to learn and grow is what matters. As the children become more proficient at being introspective, they learn how to set goals and systematically pursue those benchmarks.
4TH GRADE
We celebrate the Fourth Graders inner confidence and need for independence. The Fourth Grade year is a time for the children to spread their wings and take full responsibility for their learning. At this point in their educational journey, they know how to ask deep questions; they know how to find answers to their inquiries; and they know how to advocate for themselves when they are unsure.
With these skills in place, the Fourth Grade team can artfully lead the children through an advanced curriculum that challenges them to critically think through multi-step math problems, to captivate their audience by writing descriptive stories that the reader can visualize and connect with, to build empathy and extrapolate lessons from historical events, and to use the scientific method to create and prove their own hypotheses. During this in-depth inquiry, the children also begin to embrace what it means to be a global citizen.
5TH Grade
Fifth Grade is our capstone year. We believe that Fifth Grade is the year for our students to use their strong foundation as a springboard into specializing their knowledge base. This year is a mixture of group studies in pre-alegbra, advanced geometry, ancient civilizations, art, and robotics, with more individualized learning in writing, as they embark on writing their own novels. As their culmunating project, each student designs their own independent course of study that builds on their previous knowledge, incorporates research, and pursues new experiences across the disciplines.
Through this hybrid program, our Fifth Grade children have the opportunity and resources to pursue deeper understanding at an individualized level. Our graduates leave us with a deep sense of self that drives their personal confidence, an understanding of their place in the global community, and a skill set aimed for success in middle school.