Lower School (Grades K-4)

Time to Connect the Dots

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Teaching Across Disciplines Sharpens Critical Thinking Skills

In Lower School, girls learn to take intellectual risks, ask questions, and challenge themselves to come up with creative solutions to problems. Small groups allow individualized instruction that can be tailored to each girl’s own style of learning.

Teachers collaborate to weave common themes through various disciplines so girls learn to appreciate issues from various vantage points. A literature-based reading program is integrated with science and social studies. Experiences with technology, math, science, engineering, and creative writing require girls to collaborate and learn to identify their strengths as they work together.

Hutchison’s supportive environment inspires confidence, character, and a love of learning.

- To the Moon!
  
  Emmy Walton ’23, an aspiring rocket scientist who is currently attending astronaut Neil Armstrong’s alma mater, explains how Hutchison fueled her dreams.

Lower School

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Katharine Kent

Lower School Head
Janie Baker

Early Childhood and Lower School Coordinator

Upcoming Admissions Events

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Oct

19

Hayride at Hutchison

Crisp air, crunchy leaves, and a hayride on our beautiful 52-acre campus! Prospective girls in Little Hive through 4th grade are invited to Hutchison for fall fun and new friends.

Please click here to reserve your spot.
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In the News

Second Graders Buzzing after Harvesting Honey from Hutchison Farm

Our own “honeybees” were full of curiosity and excitement after harvesting honey from Hutchison’s beehive during their study of bees.
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Senior Reflects on Growth during Hutchison Tradition

A special wave between our first graders and seniors brings back treasured memories for Ellie Bailey ’26, who came to Hutchison in first grade.
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Lower School Science Lab Inspires Curiosity and Resilience

Through hands-on experiments and collaborations with the Design Lab and Dobbs Farm, teacher Christine Groves is helping our girls in junior kindergarten through fourth grade grow their curiosity, critical thinking, and resiliency.
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Hutchison’s Performing Arts Program Instills Confidence and Creates Community

Through the performing arts, Hutchison inspires girls to become strong communicators, creative thinkers, and compassionate leaders in every part of their lives.
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Fourth Grade Teachers Help Hutchison Girls Learn the Power of Conversation

In these student-led R.E.A.L. discussions, our fourth graders sharpen their conversation skills while learning to support their ideas with evidence and think critically.
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Building Resilience and Creativity: Lower School Girls Grow as Engineers with 3D Design

Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test—these are the five steps of design thinking that our lower school girls live by in the Design Lab with academic technology specialist Jennifer Stover.
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Astronaut Hayley Arceneaux’s Visit Was Out of This World

The youngest American to orbit the Earth and a St. Jude physician assistant and cancer survivor spoke with our fourth and fifth graders after they read her memoir.
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Neuroscientist, Hutchison Parent Talks Impact of Technology on Students

Parents heard from Eraina Schauss, Ph.D., one of the nation’s leading experts in the field of pediatric mental health, about the evidence that supports Hutchison’s new cell phone policy.
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Discover

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Life at Hutchison

Learn more about the Hutchison experience and why a girl's school is your daughter's best opportunity to excel.

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Learning by Doing

Hands-on experiences improve reasoning and problem-solving skills. The farm, with a full-time horticulturist, is a student favorite. Girls collect honey from beehives and experiment with composting.

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Greet and Lead

If you visit a lower school class, you will promptly be greeted by a poised young lady who will introduce herself, make eye contact, shake your hand and proceed to explain the lesson of the day. Lower school provides many opportunities for girls to develop leadership skills.

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Awesome Authors

Class presentations begin in kindergarten when girls share the result of their research projects. At the first grade Awesome Authors Tea girls read to parents from their collection of stories. Performing for an audience is a valuable life skill that lower school girls practice through fourth grade.

Modern History

Everything is possible in the innovation lab – even sturdier lifeboats for the Titanic! After reading about the ill-fated ship, girls re-created life on the ship. The lab taps into a girl’s ability to solve problems creatively.
Modern History

Everything is possible in the innovation lab – even sturdier lifeboats for the Titanic! After reading about the ill-fated ship, girls re-created life on the ship. The lab taps into a girl’s ability to solve problems creatively.

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Create, Communicate, Collaborate

Technology extends and enhances the curriculum as girls use Google Chromebooks to create and edit videos, including third graders’ animated movies based on the book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.