The program in the Junior School encourages shared inquiry and investigation, leading the students from the individual and family to the larger community and outwards into the world, exploring the present as well as the past, their own lives as well as the lives of others.
Through integration of the strands of history, geography, social sciences, host country and United Nations, students learn to ask questions and find answers, to learn from each other and to work together. The curriculum emphasizes the fundamental dignity of every human being and encourages attitudes of respect for oneself and for others. All students participate in projects and field trips, linking the classroom to the wider world.
Junior A students begin to develop an awareness about themselves, their community and culture, and how these are linked to time and place. Students begin to sequence and categorize information, to distinguish past, present and future events, and to connect and locate different times and places in relation to each other. Students are introduced to basic geographic concepts in the context of their own environments and in relation to the larger world. Students begin to learn about the host country as a nation, about the United Nations as a community of many nations with a special role in the world and about the school as a part of that community. They explore their own rights and responsibilities.
Junior One students are introduced to patterns of continuity and change through a study of families over two generations, exploring the many ways in which people live and work together, and the relationship between human activities and the physical environment. Students begin to locate places on maps and learn how maps represent physical features and objects. The economic concepts of goods and services and the value of work are introduced. In the study of the host country, students learn about significant people and places and explore basic ideas of government. Students gain a broader understanding of the United Nations, looking at its purposes, leadership positions and historical significance.
Junior Two students explore the lives of people who made a difference in others’ lives throughout history and around the world. Emphasis is placed on those individuals whose achievements have touched them, directly or indirectly. Students learn to classify information using maps, globes, charts and graphs. In the host country study of Native Americans, students examine three nations from different regions of the United States. Emphasis is placed on comparing and contrasting the ways different groups of people adapt to climate, location and physical surroundings. Students study basic economic concepts including barter, trade and work. The United Nations study introduces students to children’s rights.
Junior Three students develop an understanding of how different cultures, geography and economics influenced and contributed to the development and growth of New York City, as part of their host country study. This is given historical context through the study of key European explorers and the settlement of the thirteen American colonies. Students also begin to learn about historic chronology through the use of timelines. The study of the United Nations provides an understanding of the main organs and their roles with an in-depth study of UNEP and its work to preserve the rainforests in South America.
Junior Four students develop an awareness of prehistoric people’s chronological place on the historical timeline from the earliest humans. They examine world explorers and the technological developments that made the age of exploration possible. The emphasis in geography is the use of maps for different purposes and the human and physical characteristics of the places they are studying. In the host country study students investigate the causes and consequences of the American Revolution and the beginnings of a new nation. Students explore the work of UNICEF and the role of the United Nations in peacekeeping endeavors around the world.