Lower School (K-5th)
Welcome to our Lower School Division
A Message from the Director of Lower & Middle School
Director of Lower & Middle School
All NEW! Coming Fall 2025 - Introducing the Launch Pad Program and Learning Garden
Introducing the new Launch Pad Learning Garden, designed for our 4th and 5th grade students. This investment represents a thoughtfully designed space created to support our 4th and 5th grade students as they prepare for the pivotal transition to the Middle School Division.
Why Launch Pad Program Changes Everything
These transitional years are magical and formative. Our students are eager for greater independence and educational challenge, yet they still benefit from the nurturing support that builds confidence. The Launch Pad Learning Garden is intentionally designed to provide the ideal environment for this pivotal stage of growth.
About Lower School Division
Your child's academic journey begins at The Colorado Springs School, where we educate and value each child as a unique individual. Our passionate and dedicated faculty offer a highly interactive, hands-on curriculum that is both challenging and supporting for young learners, as they strive to find their voice, discover who they are, and determine the unique roles they wish to play in this ever-changing world.
We encourage opportunities to learn and grow as a community through activities such as Book Buddies, during which older students partner with younger ones to participate in weekly reading activities. This strengthens the education experience for students of all ages.
Our rigorous curriculum is deepened through experiential learning in the classroom and beyond. While focused on core subjects of reading, writing, mathematics,
science, and history, we also value co-curricular subjects such as band, music, Spanish, library, physical education, creative dramatics, and visual arts. Our teachers strive to bring hands-on experiences into everyday learning. Utilizing an integrated, interdisciplinary approach, dynamic Themes of Study immerse students in a particular subject area.
These lessons build character, resilience, and independence and promote the ability of our students to recognize, appreciate, and accept the differences of others. We encourage you to discover CSS and see for yourself how we prepare children for a dynamic world.
Curriculum - What to Expect
We are excited to announce that the Lower and Middle Schools have officially adopted the EL Education K-8 Language Arts Curriculum for the 2024-2025 school year. This comprehensive, evidence-based balanced literacy program is focused on higher-order thinking skills and encouraging students to make relevant connections. These skills are modeled and practiced until students demonstrate independent mastery through a variety of assessment and performance tasks.
EL is differentiated by scaffolding for students needing additional support and our interventionists will work closely with classroom teachers to enhance this curriculum during intervention times. Lesson activities address multi-dimensional learning through various modalities and module topics allow students to build background, increasing readiness for reading and writing. All of these features of the curriculum ensure success for all students. The EL curriculum gives students opportunities to make choices, practice established protocols to enhance classroom routines, and develop habits of character that are vertically aligned from K-8.
Best practices for curriculum adoption include thorough professional development for the educators who are implementing it. All CSS K-8 teachers have participated in a training program and will collaborate throughout the year with colleagues to ensure a successful implementation.
Here are the following resources to learn more:
Additional Resources EL Curriculum:
In addition to our new ELA curriculum for language arts, we will embark on our second year with Bridges in Mathematics in Lower School. Student growth and achievement are our priorities and we continue to focus forward in order to plan for and provide the best instruction, and interventions when needed, for our young mathematicians. To learn more about the curriculum, please visit the following resources below and look for communication from classroom teachers at the start of each unit outlining topics and objectives:
Additional Resources Bridges in Mathematics:
Curriculum
Experiential Education
Extended Care
Clubs & Activities
Connect with Director
Connect with Admissions
Curriculum
Click on the following link to explore the Curriculum Guides "Year at a Glance" for Lower School grade levels:
2025-26 Kindergarten Year at a Glance
2025-26 First Grade Year at a Glance
2025-26 Second Grade Year at a Glance
2025-26 Third Grade Year at a Glance
Experiential Education
Our signature program in PreK-12. CSS students learn by doing at every grade level.
What is Experiential Education at CSS? Experiential learning happens every day at CSS in all grade-levels. Each division is organized below to explain our Experiential Programs offered at CSS.
At CSS, we believe that students learn best by doing. Our experiential education philosophy begins with a growth mindset and engages the whole student through a cycle of direct experience, reflection, analysis, and experimentation. Our programs empower students to cultivate meaningful connections with deep, applied learning, inspiring personal growth and motivating them to become active global citizens. In doing so, they make a lasting impact in creating a more just, equitable, and sustainable world where everyone belongs.
LOWER SCHOOL (PreK-5th Grade)
1) Fall Adventure
Students participate in Fall Adventure for community-building activities that draw on classroom lessons and provide opportunities for grade-level classes to spend time together in different ways as they grow their relationships at the beginning of the academic year. Further, Fall Adventure provides the opportunity for students to expand their comfort zones while engaging in problem-solving and collaboration with classmates.
2) Colorado Expedition
In the spring, students study the early cultures of Colorado, which are highlighted during Colorado Expedition. Grade-level classes travel locally and out of town to experience our State's history firsthand. For example, PreKindergarten students may explore facets of the CSS campus, such as the pond, to examine and learn about the animals that live there, and attend hands-on educational lessons led by groups such as the Catamount Institute. Fifth graders may camp at and explore Mesa Verde National Park, known for its well-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings.
Extended Care
Extended Care and Enrichment Programs offer after-school care in a safe, enriching environment beyond regular school hours.
Clubs & Activities
The Colorado Springs School promotes a healthy balance between academics and extra-curricular clubs and activities to prepare students for a dynamic world. Here are a list of clubs for each division (subject to change vary by year). Join today!
Connect with Director
Erin Cerezo, Director of Lower & Middle School
Connect with Admissions
The Colorado Springs School provides an experiential education curriculum, educating the whole child from PreK through 12th grade. We have students from across the Pikes Peak region and several international countries. We encourage families to attend our Admissions Events to learn more about our school, complete an inquiry form to receive our admission communications, and click here to learn how to apply.
CSS accepts applications throughout the year based on class availability.
