French and Latin
French
The Lower School French program teaches basic French in a natural way through play, song, and creative art projects. Children learn to follow commands and listen to French in stories and music. Although fun and full of play, our plan is to build a strong base of core knowledge in preparation for a more intense study of the language in the upper school.
Latin
In the fourth and fifth grade students study Latin two times each week. The text is called Minimus Secondus. In these books, the students are introduced to a real family, who lived in Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Walls in the second century A.D. In addition, English words derived from Latin are studied. Some of the grammar topics cover nouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs. In the fourth grade, students listen to a dramatic retelling of Homer’s Iliad. Daniel Morden and Hugh Lupton, two professional British storytellers, begin with the golden apple and end with the Trojan Horse. In the fifth grade, students study mythology using D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths.