Academics: Developing Reasoning Strategies

     At Synapse all the elements of academic, social, and emotional learning are blended together in meaningful projects in order to build higher order thinking skills, which include creative, critical, and transfer skills. Children become more efficient problem solvers and more effective decision makers.

     The projects are designed around an annual theme, which is sub-divided into four modules.  We use the National Education Core Standards as a guide to ensure that we are exceeding the requirements of each grade in all subject areas. 

     At all levels, block scheduling allows time for deeper exploration through a process called Helical Learning. Students progress from play  through application, from awareness toward mastery.  Stirred by essential questions in relation to the themes, the academic program enables students to expand and master subject matter linked to real-world problems and issues.

     The four core subject areas are language arts, science, math, and social studies. Themes are deconstructed and explored through essential questions, and reconstructed to generate new ideas, products, and creative solutions. For example, students learn geometric concepts and processes introduced in math and connect them to the history of civilization and architecture.

Through project-based learning, my son is able to make meaningful connections between concepts, remember the ideas, and easily apply them to the real world.”
- Katrina, Woodside, Level II parent