Realization: Upper School

By the fifth grade, children are taking significantly more responsibility for their own academic development. Children learn to set goals, meet deadlines, and evaluate results. Research and test-taking skills are developed in preparation for higher education. Although grades are not used to evaluate performance, self-evaluation and self-improvement are stressed.

A major academic focus is the writing program, which emphasizes creative expression as well as technical writing skills. While the supporting mechanics of writing, spelling, grammar, and penmanship are studied in regular exercises, emphasis is placed on creativity, involvement and enjoyment. Formal reports, completed in each of the classes, provide opportunities to incorporate all the elements of expression, mechanics, and style into a work of individual significance.

Math is a second major focus. Lab work with manipulative materials provides the opportunity to master concepts and practical applications of multiplication, division, and fractions. Traditional math exercises are included to develop computational skills. A pre-algebra course is offered for all eighth graders and an optional high school level algebra course is available for interested students.

Beginning in the fifth grade, a Choice Program is offered about six times a year. Children select choice units: 2-3 week sessions during which they spend an hour a day focusing on special study topics. Choice classes are an opportunity for teachers or parents to develop, along with the students, an area of specific interest in an intensive and focused way. Also, because children enroll in choice classes based on interest rather than on age, the resulting mix enables them to experience learning outside their own classrooms and in a variety of situations and groups.

Class meetings are critical to the functioning of each class; they are used to resolve group problems and interpersonal differences as well as to plan projects or reach consensus on activities. Class projects frequently include interaction with the younger grades. Older children tutor the younger ones, read stories to them, and plan fairs, drama productions, and other activities specifically for their enjoyment.

Work jobs in the upper school include all janitorial work for their own classrooms, as well as help in other parts of the school. Children learn to plan and use time, to set deadlines and to meet responsibilities and commitments. By seventh and eighth grades, children take responsibility for planning and raising some of the funds for a two-week camping trip taken in May.

Graduation marks the end of the child's tenure at Peninsula and the beginning of a new learning experience. Most Peninsula graduates attend the excellent public high schools in the area, and typically more than 80% qualify for advanced standing classes. Over 90% go on to college. In addition, according to a recent survey of high school teachers at Menlo-Atherton High School, also in Menlo Park, Peninsula graduates are characterized by the creativity, independence, and motivation they bring to their studies.