SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy K-5
Dynamic and Multifaceted
Learning is multifaceted and active. Children discover and explore knowledge and hone skills by creating, reading, writing, thinking, imagining, singing, dancing, doing physical exercises, hearing, talking, inventing, building, sharing, cooking, gardening, and many more ways that engage and inspire children's minds and strengthen their bodies.
Future-Ready
The learning program fosters analytical thinking, innovation, resilience, and collaboration. Children learn through discovery, exploration, problem-solving, and theory-making. Through active, cooperative, and individualized learning, they figure out what it takes to navigate and impact a rapidly changing 21st-century world.
Purposeful: Learning to make a better world for all!
Analytical and Creative
Analytical and Creative
Analytical and Creative
Thematic and applied modules guided by essential questions and problem-solving drive analytical and creative thinking activities.
Students learn by collecting and making sense of data and information and inventing solutions.
Active
Analytical and Creative
Analytical and Creative
Social interactions, physical activities, experimentations, creative explorations, inventive solutions, skills practice, and more, fuel knowledge construction and skills building.
Deep-Dive
Analytical and Creative
Bilingual Lessons
Utilizing the Learning Helix, a learning model inspired by constructivism and the learning sciences, students engage in simple to complex learning activities in core academic subjects.
Bilingual Lessons
Bilingual Lessons
Core subjects are taught in English
with Spanish language lessons 4 days a week with a path to bilingual fluency.
Multimodal and multi-sensory approaches to learning languages, such as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, socially, tactile, experiential, and collaborative, enhance retention, engagement, enjoyment, and real-world applications of language skills.
Social Emotional Learning
Weekly SEL classes are hands-on simulations and conversations about feelings and healthy social interaction strategies.
Children practice and build social-emotional skills for self-awareness, confidence, and healthy relationships with peers and adults.
Connections and Passions
Integrating topics that resonate with students' interests sparks curiosity, motivation, and a sense of purpose. Children are driven to learn through real-world problem-solving, shaping ideas via applications that intersect academics and creativity, and engaging with peers.
The Learning Helix
Academic Excellence in Real-World Contexts
The Learning Helix Model ascertains that the design of learning experiences shapes the lenses through which children construct their knowledge and develop skills. It is likened to the DNA's double helix. One strand represents the child's input, and the other represents the curriculum and the teacher.
Immersive
This deep-dive model is a process akin to inventive learning blocks. It engages students in progressive activities that build on each other. The tasks build upon children's curiosity, creativity, and abilities, elevating from simple to complex and concrete to abstract. Experiential learning of core concepts and practices inform higher levels of comprehension and applications.
Children design and construct inventive solutions for community and/or world problems. At the end of every module, they highlight key ideas and distill meanings from their experiences and realizations.
Collective Experiences Anchor Theoretical Conversations
Students engage in active and social learning activities. They then review the experiences through reflective sessions. These include analyzing patterns, failures, successes, and discussing possibilities. The hands-on experiences provide the foundation for articulating theories and concepts across science, social studies, language arts, and mathematics. When a teacher introduces a scientific law, economic principle, mathematical algorithm, or literary style, all students have the knowledge and skills from their collective lesson experiences to engage in analytical and meaningful discussions.
Research-Fueled Discourse
Students are guided in documenting, categorizing, formulating insights, and analyzing observations. They learn from hands-on research, connect, and engage in higher-level discussions. Students link their experiences and insights to scientists, mathematicians, philosophers, authors, historians, and more.
Fascinated and Inspired
Learners connect learning to their prior experiences and knowledge. Multi-sensory and multimodal activities provide exciting and multifaceted learning activities. Students actively participate in subject matter exploration, application, and mastery.
Play
Play introduces the topic in the form of a game. Children participate and experience a kernel of the theme. The activity is fun and participatory. Children interact with peers, building social connections and diminishing emotional blocks. With an engaging introduction to a topic, which also creates an equal playing field, they are eager to share, listen, and expand their knowledge base.
Explore
Explore provides students with questions and a research-oriented activity to engage with the topic more deeply. Hands-on activities like experiments and relevant information ignite students' insights. The teacher builds students' higher-order thinking by guiding observations and reflections. Students respond to cause-and-effect questions and highlight patterns to make sense of their findings. They formulate insights, contribute to knowledge creation, and elevate their analytical abilities from their research experiences.
Connect
Connect intersects the topic with analytical and creative thinking through a problem-solving activity. The lesson is designed to cultivate students' applied understanding of the topic contextualized in a relatable real-world situation. Applying the topic in context to solve a problem expands students' learning. Variables influence outcomes, and data analysis leads to conclusions. Students grasp concepts, methods, and theories as they experience problem-solving in context. They also develop effective strategies for communicating processes, observations, and insights.
Imagine
How can thoughtful innovators contribute to making a better world? Students deepen their understanding of the topic with a local or global issue and apply their knowledge to invent solutions. Solution-oriented design-and-build activities encourage students to discover and utilize relevant information, learn from experts, collaborate with peers, and create and iterate multiple times. These experiences develop strong analytical, creative, and communication skills and motivate children to persevere, work together, and overcome challenges. Students learn to acquire knowledge and skills, which they use to make a better world. The activity highlights the relevance of the topic in solving real-world problems.
Highlight
Abstraction and Theorization: Students connect the dots from observations to insights and construct generalizations.
Abstraction is the process of distilling essential principles from concrete examples or experiences. It involves connecting the dots and constructing meaning by identifying cause-and-effect patterns and articulating overarching themes. Students learn through engagement and discussions to elevate concrete information to abstract ideas.
Theorization builds on abstraction—it entails framing or modeling to explain relationships between concepts. Students progress from understanding conceptual relationships to formulating structured explanations. At this juncture, they are prepared to respond to essential questions and elevate concrete experiences to insights and theories in science, math, social studies, and language and communication, leading to conceptual understanding.
Education is not preparation for life; it is life itself.
Unlock your child's potential
At SF S.T.E.A.M. Academy, neuroscience, research-based learning principles, and the evolving 21st-century society shape our learning program and environment. This approach ensures that children’s experiences are personalized, engaging, and inspiring. Through active learning, individualized instruction, emotional support, and multi-sensory engagement, we cultivate strong cognitive, social, and problem-solving skills, aligning education with how the brain naturally learns—making learning both fulfilling and joyful.
Implementing research-driven learning programs requires a deep understanding of holistic child development and the ability to design, teach, and learn with dynamic, student-centered learning models. Our teachers are trained to engage students with innovative, brain-based teaching strategies. SF STEAM Academy equips educators with the tools and methods to effectively prepare, teach, and assess each student’s growth throughout their learning journey.
Small Class Size
Smaller class sizes enhance learning outcomes by fostering engagement, personalized instruction, and productive collaboration. Teachers can give more individual attention, reducing disruptions and facilitating a focused and productive learning environment. Studies suggest that students who start in small active classes maintain academic advantages throughout their education.