All elemen­tary students receive weekly instruc­tion from special­ists in art, phys­i­cal educa­tion, and vocal and instru­men­tal music. Students also enjoy weekly visits to the elemen­tary school library, frequent trips to the farm, and regular well­ness classes. Twice-weekly instruc­tion in Spanish begins in 1st grade. 

In art, students explore a wide variety of media and are intro­duced to a number of artists and genres.

The Waverly organic farm, located within walking distance from the school, is a one-acre multi-purpose green space for students, teach­ers, and fami­lies. The farm provides weekly oppor­tu­ni­ties for learn­ing, play, and collab­o­ra­tion for every class at the elemen­tary school. Students partic­i­pate in age-appro­pri­ate farm work includ­ing plant­ing, weeding, compost­ing, build­ing, and taking care of the chickens.

Students are intro­duced to keyboard, guitar, ukulele, and percus­sion instru­ments. The empha­sis is on chil­dren finding joy in creat­ing music as they learn to play songs and sing. 

Chil­dren love to move their bodies, and the curricu­lum at Waverly allows for move­ment of various sorts through­out the day. Elemen­tary school chil­dren enjoy time with our phys­i­cal educa­tion special­ist twice a week. 

Elemen­tary students receive lessons in Spanish begin­ning in preschool. Students learn and become famil­iar with the language through music, dance, games, art projects, story­books, and cultural activ­i­ties. The curricu­lum is designed to inte­grate language skills into our every­day class­room, excite students about Spanish, and intro­duce skills that will provide the support and repe­ti­tion chil­dren need to learn a language.

Our Human Devel­op­ment program (grades 3 – 12) is based on the Body Trust modal­ity (body image, body diver­sity aware­ness, what it means to occupy and care for your body), the Our Whole Lives curricu­lum (knowl­edge, life prin­ci­ples, and skills neces­sary to express sexu­al­ity in life-affirm­ing ways), and greatly influ­enced by social and racial justice, inter­sec­tional femi­nism, shame resilience theory, self-compas­sion, rela­tional cultural theory, and mind­ful­ness-based approaches. Our spaces are inten­tion­ally gender spec­trum affirm­ing. Names, pronouns, and expres­sions of iden­tity can be fluid at all ages and stages and as such, we pay atten­tion and check in often.

The three most impor­tant tenets of our trauma-informed Human Devel­op­ment program are Body, Iden­tity, and Rela­tion­ships, which sepa­rately and together affect every­thing we are and do as ever-devel­op­ing humans. Sexual and gender iden­tity, sexual health and repro­duc­tion, inti­macy and consent, sensu­al­ity, and sexu­al­iza­tion are woven through­out our discus­sions, as is the idea of values: our own and those of family, friends, and culture.