Stimulating Learning Environment

Christopher Academy teachers are so committed to providing their students with a “stimulating environment” that I sometimes look at the calendar and can’t find a blank space for days on end. When I asked the 4th and 5th grade students about what “stimulating environment” means, they figured out that it means we do things that make them want to learn. Exactly! Teachers want to spark students’ interest, curiosity, and creativity.

This led to a discussion of the beginning of the philosophy statement that supports the mission statement. Our teaching philosophy is guided by several beliefs that direct our goals, actions and programs. We believe:

Students are eager to experience the sights, sounds, smells, textures and tastes 

of the world surrounding them. Physical, social, intellectual and academic growth 

is stimulated by an environment rich in a variety of people, materials and experiences. 

Our developmentally appropriate curriculum gives students many opportunities to 

interact with others, explore real life materials, solve problems and express themselves creatively.

Many of our 4th and 5th grade students have been CA students since Preschool, Pre-K , or Kindergarten, so they easily came up with a list of ways that teachers have enabled them to experience sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes. Field trips were high on their list of ways that teachers provide a “stimulating environment” such as fire stations, York River, Williamsburg, Hoffler Creek Oysters, science museums, art museums...the list is quite long. They mentioned how we bring in programs such as Virginia Stage Company or Virginia Opera or a science outreach program. Of course, the projects and events that they do with their classmates in school provide a wealth of experiences. Adventure Kids brings in a variety of experiences as does CARES Club. The Stone Soup project was immediately named when we talked about smells!

Art and music classes are additional opportunities to experience the world through textures and sounds. The sound of children singing, listening and moving to music can be heard daily. A stroll down our hallways quickly reveals the wealth of experiences offered through creative artistic expression. Learning about another language and culture happens in our Spanish classes.

In sum, we agreed that we certainly do provide a “stimulating environment” at CA. It is especially great, I think, when students are excited about a project that they know will happen in their next grade. The 5th grade students are looking forward to hatching chicks and discussed how they could use all five senses with this project. However, we did agree that we would bypass the option to taste our chicks!