Students learn from their life expe­ri­ences, in devel­op­men­tal stages, and through engag­ing activ­i­ties. Waverly teach­ers consider these core elements care­fully as they create and imple­ment their curric­ula. Each elemen­tary teach­ing team devel­ops a social studies theme for the school year and builds an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary curricu­lum around that theme, incor­po­rat­ing language arts, math, science, the arts, and commu­nity service. Many of the skills needed to be success­ful in the acad­e­mic disci­plines inter­sect; the fluid nature of a theme-driven curricu­lum gives teach­ers the flex­i­bil­ity to teach and rein­force these skills across the curricu­lum. This struc­ture also allows students to learn through expe­ri­en­tial lessons and multi-modal approaches that help students of all devel­op­men­tal levels and learn­ing styles access the content and develop a firm foun­da­tion in crit­i­cal think­ing, reason­ing, and analy­sis. Teach­ers take a child-centered approach, often using children’s own inter­ests and expe­ri­ences as a start­ing point for design­ing and teaching lessons.

Kinder­garten through 6th grade classes are in self-contained class­rooms with a lead and an asso­ciate teacher. The average class size is 24 students, main­tain­ing a 12:1 or lower student-teacher ratio. Begin­ning in first grade, most classes are multi-age in dual-grade config­u­ra­tions (e.g., 1st/​2nd, 3rd/​4th, and 5th/​6th). There is a range of ages and devel­op­men­tal levels in each class, and students benefit from learn­ing impor­tant acad­e­mic and social lessons from each other.