Green Acres School

Green Acres’ program celebrates and honors diversity thoughout the curriculum — in all subjects and at all grade levels.

As the Early Childhood Unit studies family life, one focus is on family diversity. The children learn that families have many different configurations and that all are worthy of respect. In small groups, they read and discuss stories that include different kinds of families: families with a mother and father, single parent families, multiracial and mulitcultural families, families with two moms or two dads, families with adopted children, and extended families.

In the Lower School, students experience diversity through a cultural and historic lens. In 1st and 2nd grades, units of study include Weaving Around the World, Shelters Around the World, Roots, Mexico, and Japan. The children explore various cultural backgrounds, traditions, food customs, and the environment — not only in language arts, social studies, and math classes, but in their special subjects as well. Music, handbells, art, creative movement, science, physical education, and library teachers enhance the students’ experiences with songs, stories, dance, art projects, explorations, games, and experiments that illuminate and reinforce their study.

The 3rd grade begins the school year with a unit on Friendship, which extends through the year and is infused into the curriculum. In this unit the students celebrate the uniqueness of each individual. They discuss religious celebrations, heritage, and family makeup and then explore how everyone is connected. Having respect for all is paramount.

Fourth graders study world geography and celebrations throughout the world. They delve into traditions and experiences of various cultures. The children come to recognize not only differences, but similarities among people all over the globe.

In Middle School threading diversity through the curriculum continues. In 5th grade, advisory time is spent as an introduction to the “Big 9” social identifiers: ability, age, ethnicity, body image, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, race, and religion. Each week the students define and discuss one of the Big 9 and how it speaks to their individual lives.

Sixth graders study discrimination and complete a research project on an individual who has fought discrimination as a final product. The students explore discrimination reflected in stereotypes and bias related to all of the Big 9 identifiers.

In 7th and 8th grades, students delve deeper into the Big 9 and how they affect their everyday lives. The 8th grade World Studies class studies the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s in great detail. Additional topics include Jesse Jackson’s run for president, OJ Simpon, Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court nomination hearings, Rodney King and the effects of the trial, and Trent Lott’s statement about race in the Senate upon Strom Thurmonds’ 100th birthday. They research and write biographical papers in their Ethics and Community Service classes about people of diverse ethnicities, counties, and cultures.