Around the World in 165 Days: A Journey of Exploration & Awareness

Spring 2020

Imagine entering your Kindergarten year, and in your first days of school, your teacher announces that you will be traveling around the world and exploring seven different continents. While you may be unfamiliar with the term continent or where all these exciting places may be, you are five years old and naturally curious. At this age, children possess a limitless sense of wonder. Using all of their senses, they love to explore and make new discoveries. Children at five are interested in just about everything, and one need only watch them in Brimmer’s Earth Room each morning to see their enthusiasm and careful observation of all that surrounds them.

I was reminded of these sensibilities as I toured one of our Lower School buildings while students were off for the December break. The building was quiet, and without the busyness of a usual school day, I was able to truly observe and notice the subtle, but deliberate, ways that our teachers implement a developmentally tuned curriculum that is globally-focused, relevant, and meaningful to young children.

Stepping into the Earth Room, an additional learning space shared by our two Kindergarten teachers, was somewhat reminiscent of Mrs. Frizzle and the adventures on her fantastical Magic School Bus, only this adventure was real and hands-on. The space had been transformed into its latest museum-like exhibit. While earlier in the year, the Earth Room offered multi-sensory explorations of North America, South America, and Africa, it now invited students to immerse themselves in the colors, climate, animals, and topography of Antarctica. The light table, glowing blue, was stacked with mounds of moveable blocks of ice. Penguins, now still, were scattered about the ice, ready for young hands to explore. Magnifying glasses and penguin feathers begged for observation. STEAM-related building tools, simulating various ice structures, awaited assembly. Books of all genres piqued curiosity. Each display had been carefully curated to appeal to five and six-year-olds’ senses and to reflect a curriculum that has been intentionally designed to develop the foundations of global competence in young children.

When Brimmer students enter Kindergarten, they embark on a school-year-long exploration of the seven continents. Traveling around the globe, they explore the people and the geography of the land, as well as prominent landmarks and endangered animals and their habitats. Through the design process, they attempt to recreate the Great Wall of China, build a seaworthy vessel capable of traveling the Amazon River, and design a glove that is warm, waterproof, and simulates a penguin’s coat. They investigate what animals need to survive in a particular place, as well as any threats to those conditions. Books like Don’t Let Them Disappear deepen their understanding of these challenges and inspire a call to action when students arrive in Australia and study endangered animals of the Great Barrier Reef, including the hawksbill sea turtle and the whale shark.

Through art, math, music, drama, science, social studies, and literature, such as Same, Same But Different or Children Around the World, students take part in a journey that allows them to explore what makes us human and connected and at the same time come to respect and appreciate the rich diversity that exists among us: our families, our experiences, our cultural backgrounds, and our countries of origin. Rather than approaching the diversity that exists among us with disbelief, we cultivate an attitude of wonderment and excitement, as well as an understanding of why those differences may exist due to differences in climate, resources, or customs around the world.

When talking with Kindergarten teacher Sarah Wyllie about why a globally-focused curriculum is important for young children, she beams with excitement. Having done her graduate work in curriculum and instruction with a focus on global citizenship, she recognizes the impact of our rapidly evolving world and the accessibility it engenders. Because of this, students will be called upon to interact on a global stage at earlier ages and throughout their lives. “The journey of the seven continents is a journey of awareness,” says Wyllie. “Students are learning that the space they inhabit on the Earth is one small piece of the whole, and that the whole is filled with a diversity that has the power to evoke wonder, curiosity, and deep appreciation (and a little wanderlust).” Through Family Share events, students experience the unique differences among them, and they come to value and celebrate those differences, as they are firsthand and related directly to their peers. “We aim to build connections that represent our families’ cultures and backgrounds,” says Kindergarten teacher Rachael Rabinovitz. “Using their experiences as a way to build our Global Studies curriculum makes it not only personal and relatable, but authentic.”

As the year progresses, students depart Antarctica and head off to Australia and Asia. They complete their travels in Europe where they study the culture, geography, and landmarks of different European countries. They stop in London to read stories and map the adventures of Michael Bond’s Paddington Bear. For our Kindergarten students, this is an almost magical journey, one that is made real by the classroom experiences that have been thoughtfully crafted. Our skillful Kindergarten teachers help students grasp that which is far away by grounding it in experiences that are connected and relevant to what they know, what they are passionate about, and how they learn best at these early ages. Fair winds and following seas.

Head of Lower School Emily Miller is a passionate educator who finds great joy in guiding teacher development, student learning, and curricular and pedagogical practices. With a strong foundation in child development and varied learning modalities, Emily is committed to educating the whole child.

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Around the World in 165 Days: A Journey of Exploration & Awareness

Brimmer and May School