Primary School in Houston, Texas

Rice Literacy & Culture (RLC) approach can be summed up in three words: research in practice – RLC aims to advance early literacy education through professional development and mentoring for teachers, administrators, and parents. It emphasizes effective teaching practices in reading, writing, and cultural understanding, aiming to improve academic success. The program is guided by principles of inquiry-based learning, classroom experience, and equity.

• Number Corner: Number Corner is a skill-building program revolving around the classroom calendar. It provides daily practice as well as continual encounters with broader mathematical concepts in 15–20 minutes of engaging instruction.
• In a Bridges classroom, students gather evidence, explain their results, and develop respect for others’ opinions. Teachers encourage students to employ multiple strategies when solving problems. They foster student initiative by providing opportunities to work in pairs, discuss in small groups, or share with the whole class. As a result, students develop positive math identities while building problem-solving skills, conceptual understanding, and procedural fluency.

Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) are integrated into problem and project based learning using Project Lead the Way (PLTW). PLTW aims to foster a love for STEAM by engaging students in hands-on, interdisciplinary projects that develop critical thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity. The program support these goals through real-world problems and scaffolded learning. Additionally, PLTW includes elements of digital citizenship, teaching students responsible and ethical use of technology, and introduces coding to build foundation programming skills, further enhancing their technological literacy and preparing them for future STEAM opportunities.

Our curriculum is integrated within thematic units, providing students with a cohesive learning experience where subjects are interconnected, reinforcing key concepts across disciplines, and fostering a deeper understanding of the material.

Religion
Explorers, Seekers, and Preschool 3s: Religion classes in the early childhood years use the Frolic Nursery preschool curriculum. Frolic Nursery explores faith concepts through storytelling, interactive activities, music, and prayers to nurture faith through play. Each week, lessons follow the same process with a time to gather and share, play songs, listen to stories, and engage in a creative play space. This curriculum provides an age-appropriate introduction of faith concepts and offers consistency of routine for children.

Pre-K and Kindergarten: Primary School students have religion class weekly throughout the year. The Godly Play curriculum is a creative, imaginative, Montessori-based approach to religious education that spirals over three years, allowing children to explore the mystery of God’s presence, find direction in their lives, and make meaning through story, wonder, and play. As part of the Episcopal identity of welcoming other faiths, students learn about other religious observances incorporated throughout the year. 

 

Spanish
Primary school Spanish is designed to immerse young learners in the Spanish language. By aligning with the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) standards, the curriculum ensures a comprehensive and effective language learning experience that fosters communication, culture, connections, comparisons, and communities. Students in Primary School are introduced to the Spanish language through play and discovery. Young learners explore Spanish through the use of songs, rhymes, games, manipulatives, and stories. The focus for early language learners is the element of repetitive, simple, and comprehensible language through the use of context. Simple words and phrases when connected with movement, music, and visuals provide an excellent means for early language learners to begin their introduction to a second language. Primary School students are provided song books, manipulatives, games, and activities. Students learn about Spanish culture, as well as many seasonal words and phrases. Spanish classes incorporate thematic vocabulary and concepts used in students’ daily classroom learning, helping to develop a cross-curricular understanding for students as they learn elements of a new language.

 

Music
Explorers, Seekers, Preschool 3s, and Pre-K: The music program in the first years of Primary School engages students in the earliest exploration of musical understanding, including tuneful singing, beat competency, listening skills, and instrument skills. Through organized lessons and the use of manipulative materials such as puppets, scarves, parachutes, and books, students explore music and develop their own musical abilities. They practice body awareness, self-control, and emotional regulation while singing and moving to a wide repertoire of seasonal songs. Starting in Preschool 3s, students perform in the Primary School Christmas Pageant. 

Kindergarten: Kindergarten students continue their musicianship journey with further practice of tuneful singing, beat competency, listening skills, and instrument skills. The kindergarten year sets the foundation for a multi-year music curriculum that will continue throughout Lower School. During this year, students will learn to differentiate between musical opposites such as singing voice and speaking voice, loud and soft, fast and slow, high and low chanting and melodies, and beat and rhythm. Through songs, singing games, classroom activities, and the use of manipulatives, Music exposes students to a wide repertoire of seasonal songs and musical experiences. Kindergarten students perform in the Primary School Christmas Pageant.

 

Art
Art is integrated into thematic units across all subjects, enhancing learning through connected concepts. Beginning in Pre-K, this approach is further enriched by incorporating STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) activities, allowing students to explore interdisciplinary connections while engaging in hands-on, creative problem-solving. Formal art classes begin in kindergarten with the introduction of new art mediums, and artist studies—Renaissance for the 1st trimester, Impressionism for the 2nd trimester, and Modernism for the 3rd trimester. 

Library

Explorers, Seekers, and Preschool 3s enjoy library classes, during which they listen to a variety of stories, sing songs, retell stories, and recite nursery rhymes or poems. Three-year-olds begin to learn literacy skills such as making predictions about stories, making connections between books, and discussing characters.

In pre-K and kindergarten, students continue to listen to stories from different genres, sing songs, retell and reenact stories, and recite rhymes and poems. Literacy skills are expanded and include group discussions about books. Students also begin to learn how to navigate the library in order to choose and check out books. In kindergarten, students begin to learn research skills by using online databases.

Technology
Computer Science classes begin in pre-K, where students participate in a robotics program using KIBO robots. Students develop computational thinking skills as they learn what a robot is, about the symbols that make up KIBO’s programming language, and that a program is a sequence of instructions. Students use sequencing and decomposition to create programs for KIBO and algorithms with sequencing and decomposition, and learn how to debug programs. Students are introduced to the engineering design process and work collaboratively to create “debugging challenges” for each other.

Students begin using iPads in kindergarten, which they learn to safely and effectively navigate, and participate in digital citizenship lessons focused on responsibility and safety. Students practice research skills through online databases and use Wixie, a creativity application, to create projects demonstrating their learning. Kindergarteners learn coding basics using Kibo Robots and apps such as Kodable. They learn programming and debugging skills using block-based puzzles, sequencing commands in a logical order, and practicing loops.

 

PE
The PE program for Explorers, Seekers, and Preschool 3s focuses on fine and gross motor skills and finding joy through movement. All skills are worked consistently throughout the entire year, including body and tactile awareness, motor skills, and locomotor skills. The Preschool 3s program includes more fine motor skill development, traveling with body awareness, balancing, and participating in group activities. Students at this age take PE twice a week.

Pre-K and kindergarten students continue to develop motor skills and movement patterns needed to perform various physical activities. These skills include traveling in different directions at different speeds, throwing, catching, kicking, hand-eye coordination, and sequencing movements. They also begin to learn physical fitness concepts such as stretching and elevating their heart rate. Pre-K and kindergarten students learn and play a variety of games and participate in fun obstacle courses to practice movement, experience winning and losing, setting goals, and following directions.

 

Explorers and Seekers:

• Normal Day: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM, 5 days per week (students may arrive beginning at 8:15 AM)
• After School: 2:30 PM - 6:00 PM (registration required, drop-ins not available)
• Students with older siblings are eligible for Early Bird Program

Preschool 3s:

• Normal Day: 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM, 5 days per week  (students may arrive beginning at 8:15 AM)
• Before School: 7:00 AM - 8:30 AM
• After School: 2:30 PM - 6:00 PM (drop-ins not available)
• Students with older siblings are eligible for Early Bird Program

Pre-K and Kindergarten:

• Normal Day: 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM, 5 days per week  (students may arrive beginning at 7:40 AM)
• Before School: 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM
• After School: 2:30 PM - 6:00 PM