Pre-K and Elementary School

Pre-Kindergarten

Children are playful by nature. Their earliest experiences exploring with their senses lead them to play, first by themselves and eventually with others.

Our Spanish language immersion Pre-K program uses play-based learning to develop confident, creative, multilingual citizens who are prepared to succeed in elementary school and beyond.

Our Pre-K curriculum, Creative Curriculum, promotes the fun of learning through activities that teach children about the world around them. Creative Curriculum is a comprehensive, research-based curriculum that uses exploration of the environment and discovery as a means of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, creativity, and lifelong critical-thinking skills.

Language learning is woven into daily life at Meridian, with our Pre-K students building strong bilingual foundations from the earliest years. All of our Pre-K students are building strong bilingual foundations from the earliest years. 

All of our Pre-K classes embrace a full Spanish-immersion model, and students are exposed to the cultures and languages that reflect the rich diversity of the communities surrounding us.

Children change a lot throughout their Pre-K year. Creative Curriculum is adaptable and engaging, and meets the children where they are, which is particularly beneficial for children with special mobility or cognitive needs.

While your child is with us, they may engage in:

• Learning shapes at the math center by using clay to make squares, circles, and triangles
• Retelling the story of "The Three Little Pigs" using costumes and props during dramatic play
• Learning to share classroom materials and using their words to express themselves during 
  activity stations

Elementary School

At Meridian, our students are naturally interested in their community and the world around them. We nurture that curiosity and empower our students to become confident leaders, multilingual learners, and creative thinkers through a curriculum focused on literacy, language development, and the arts.

Our model focuses on teaching students through hands-on activities and real-world learning opportunities. Our culturally responsive teachers leverage our unique location in Washington D.C. to regularly partner with museums, theaters, artists, and cultural institutions that transform our nation's capital into a living classroom. Throughout elementary school, students attend weekly visual art classes and participate in community art projects and seasonal celebrations. Every student receives 90-120 minutes of daily literacy instruction, and benefits from robust classroom libraries filled with culturally relevant texts that reflect the diverse identities and experiences of our learners. Students learn to love reading through schoolwide events such as reading nights, book-of-the-month celebrations, poetry slams, and family engagement events.

At Meridian, we strive to build a student body full of global citizens and expose all students early on to diverse languages and cultures. All of our elementary school students receive 45 minutes of weekly Spanish instruction through full-immersion classes, and our classrooms regularly celebrate the rich linguistic diversity of the surrounding communities through daily bilingual school announcements, multilingual library collections, and our Hispanic Heritage Month showcase.

While learning at Meridian, your student may engage in:

• Conversations that teach them how to explain their thinking and show them how to provide feedback to one another
• Dramatic re-enactments of scenes from the day's reading assignment
• Math lessons that explain fractions by following a recipe to make slime
• The scientific method involves planting seeds and investigating how they germinate and grow
• Music class where they create their own bicultural rhythms and compositions

Elementary School Campus Leadership

DuRay Stevens, Principal | [email protected]

Nichole Lowery, Assistant Principal | [email protected]