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Grades 3-5

 

 

Intermediate

Across the intermediate grades, Villa students grow their academic skills while further honing their ability to generate meaningful questions and investigate ideas.

Applying to Villa

Villa is an extraordinary, magical place that nurtures the joys of childhood alongside academic challenges. [Our child] thrived in becoming their best self.Intermediate grades 3-5 parent

Sophistication & Humor

Building upon the foundational skills and practices of their early elementary years, students are now “reading to learn,” rapidly growing their vocabularies, and making meaning of their ever-expanding world of discovery. They inquire, classify, generalize, and analyze while communicating with increasing depth, sophistication, and humor. Continuing their learning through the Bridges in Mathematics curriculum, students deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts and numeric relationships. Whether by using models to demonstrate their mathematical thinking, or through writing for greater purpose, students in grades three through five develop critical thinking skills and begin to formulate a world view that is particularly theirs. In deliberate preparation for Middle School, intermediate students learn to self-advocate, demonstrate leadership, and take increasing responsibility for their learning. 

At Villa Academy, we are growing confident young minds with strong moral character who are prepared to make a difference. Our inquiry-based approach to education balances theory with experience, pairing student-centered academic excellence and whole child wellness with our values of growth, justice, and student agency.

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Intermediate Grades: Thriving on Inquiry

Growing Up at Villa

Starting with an indoor plant stand equipped with grow lights, Villa’s 3rd graders plant vegetable seeds in the classroom that are later transferred to Villa’s garden. Through this project, students learn about basic plant anatomy and development in addition to phenomena including climate change and food deserts.

Curiosity & Discovery

When authoring and illustrating their original graphic novels, Villa 4th graders discover how the interaction between words and visual components can impact the reader’s understanding of the story.

Villa 5th graders lean into “Genius Hour” each week, an inquiry-based, student-directed approach to learning. During their Genius Hours, students choose a topic of study, commence research, grow in their knowledge, and determine how they’d best like to share their findings.

Critical Thinking & Research

Villa 4th graders engage in a multi-week interdisciplinary study of African countries, widening their perspectives as they develop more than a “single story” of the continent. The unit concludes with a Stone Town Marketplace event that invites the entire Villa community to learn more about students’ research. 

Villa 5th graders learn various methods of water quality testing to evaluate healthy environment.

Learning to Serve

Villa 3rd graders follow their unit on food insecurity with a service learning project. Partnering with customers at a local grocery store, they collect and deliver hundreds of pounds of food to a nearby food bank.

Villa Academy At a Glance:

Preschool - 8th Grade

  • Dynamic, inquiry-based learning approach as a student-centered teaching method and learning process.
  • Low student-to-teacher ratio facilitates personalized attention and educational differentiation.
  • Students contribute to their educations through pursuing their interests, their curiosities, and their thoughts on best strategies for problem-solving; they are given daily opportunities to share “voice and choice.”
  • Intentional scaffolding from Preschool through 8th grade, which enables our students to grow in authenticity, leadership, independence, and self-advocacy.
  • Social justice-informed curriculum prepares students for a world beyond Villa Academy.

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A Community of Belonging

  • An inclusive, equitable learning, and social environment where we welcome and celebrate diversity.
  • Our empowered students become stewards of their lives, champions of academic growth, attentive to their mental and social wellbeing, and caretakers of the environment.
  • 30+ sports, clubs, and activities invite students to explore their interests and passions, find balance, and create meaningful connections.
  • Financial assistance, opportunities, and support for our students and families.

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31-acre Lakefront Campus

  • A large, lush campus where students can explore and learn in an enriching and natural environment.
  • Expansive facilities include a gym, an all-weather multi-sport turf field overlooking Lake Washington, theatre, art studio, music room, and makerspace.
  • Science at Villa is hands-on! Throughout the year, we incorporate Villa’s expansive campus as an outdoor learning lab, where the garden, orchards, woodlands, and other resources enhance learning in all science topics.

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The Villa Difference

THE VILLA DIFFERENCE

Villa is the only independent school in the city of Seattle nurturing the holistic development of children: mind, body, and spirit. Dedicated to inquiry-driven, student-centered academic excellence, Villa simultaneously tends to whole child growth and integrated health, informed by clear and compelling research on the powerful influence of nature, spirituality, and social-emotional intelligence on academic thriving. Our empowered students become stewards of their lives, caretakers of their mental and social wellbeing, and custodians of the environment. Villa firmly stands in commitment to the transformative power of our Cabrinian tradition of “education of the heart.”
 

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Be Known.

Inspired by the Cabrinian tradition of “education of the heart,” we practice whole-child education— mind, body, and spirit—that engages students’ minds in intellectual pursuits, recognizes them as unique individuals, challenges them to strive and grow, and honors their innate spirituality. 

Be Challenged.

Our dynamic inquiry-based program challenges and supports each child to learn and explore with a growth mindset, resulting in academic excellence and moral development. By nurturing the development of mind, body, and spirit, we’re growing curious and confident learners, equipped for success and fulfillment in high school–and far beyond.

Belong.

Villa affirms the critical need to amplify diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and belonging (DEIJB) work in order to expand our communal vision of a more just world. Through justice-focused community engagement, we grow in compassion and stand in solidarity with others, particularly those who are marginalized.