lower SCHOOL
omarlla roulhac,
HEAD OF lower SCHOOL
MEET our head of lower school
Mrs. Omarlla Roulhac, Head of Lower School, joined the Park School in July 2021 bringing 20+ years of experience in education. She is originally from Syracuse, New York but has been a resident of Buffalo since 1996. After graduating from Buffalo State College with a Master of Science in Elementary Education, she began working on the East Side of Buffalo at the King Center Charter School where she served for 19 years. Prior to coming to Park, she was on the school's Leadership Team for 13 of those years serving as the Data Coordinator, Intervention Coordinator, Reading First Director and Director of Instruction and Curriculum. Prior to that, she spent time as an elementary classroom teacher and interventionist. She is well-versed in student and course data analysis, innovative academic plans and curriculum mapping. Mrs. Roulhac is thrilled to continue using these skills to create rigorous and enjoyable learning experiences for the children at The Park School.
Mrs. Roulhac strongly believes in creating a learning environment where students and teachers feel significant and have a sense of belonging. She values rich, authentic learning experiences that truly engage the learner. She believes that it is important for young children to have access to a curriculum that helps them develop critical foundational skills to put them on the right track for the long term.
According to Mrs. Roulhac, "Park prides itself on living out its mission. We are a diverse community, and we make every effort to celebrate that in all that we do. We value the process of learning and problem solving. We are intentional about collaboration and community building. Our offerings can be tailored to student interest and students thrive here because they can be their true selves. It is a place where students and teachers feel like they belong and are part of a family."
It is her mission to not only personally uphold the school's core values but to also make sure that children in Lower School begin to immerse themselves in those values in everything they do, physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively.
If you have any questions about the Lower School, including the academic program, extracurriculars, and student life, please contact Mrs. Roulhac at oroulhac@theparkschool.org.
overview
Park’s Lower School provides a rich academic and social foundation – cognitive, social, physical, emotional, and moral. Teachers closely observe how each child is developing and provide appropriate support to keep everyone growing. Teachers incorporate a balanced approach to literacy, incorporating guided reading instruction, phonics-based word study, a print-rich environment, and plenty of writing. Mathematics instruction follows the developmental progression from concrete to conceptual thinking that occurs in young, school-aged children.
Park’s Lower School students learn at an early age how to apply problem solving skills in real-world application, think critically through hands-on experiences, and use multiple modalities to explore their interests while learning. Lower School focuses heavily on project-based learning through multiple units of study that incorporate thematic cross-curricular content. Student work is highlighted, shared and celebrated with our entire school community. This is all done following John Dewey’s core principles and beliefs.
Learning happens not only in the four walls of the classroom, but throughout Park’s entire 34-acre campus. We leverage our resources to provide rich learning experiences, as they cross the campus daily to receive regular instruction from teachers who specialize in Art, Music, French, Physical Education, and Library. Students will also learn within our greenhouse, field station, open grounds, learning center, and more! All lower school students enjoy daily outdoor recess. Students may begin band instrument lessons begin in grade 4. Many Lower School students participate in Park’s dramatic productions alongside their Middle and Upper School peers. Students in grades 1-4 have the opportunity to play on our co-ed 1-2 and 3-4 soccer and basketball teams against other local schools.
Park's Lower School students are recognized for following Park's core values of Respect, Responsibility, Honesty, and Kindness in our Positive Pioneer Program.
kindergarten
Welcome to Park School Kindergarten! Our goal is to provide meaningful experiences for children in a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment that will help develop skills and abilities necessary to be a successful member of our community and life-long learners.
We believe that kindergarten is a critical cornerstone for every child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. It is also the foundation on which all future learning is built. Opportunities for small group, whole group, and individual instruction allow us to meet each child’s academic and social needs. Themes or areas of study offer hands on learning opportunities and integration of all core academic subjects.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
English Language Arts: Develop courteous listening skills; express thoughts and feelings in conversations; recognize a variety of print formats and high frequency words; record ideas using pictures, letters, and inventive spelling.
Math: Using manipulatives, develop a number sense through counting, identifying patterns, sorting and classifying objects; graph and construct objects with geometric shapes.
Social Studies and STEAM: Make observations, discoveries, and predictions; practice the engineering design process of Ask, Imagine, Create, and Improve; explore tech and coding concepts such as debugging, looping, and sequencing.
FIRST GRADE
Park’s First Grade students take another giant stride in their journey to becoming independent lifelong learners! Ample opportunities abound to explore Park’s greatest resource, its natural environment, including lessons with Earth Spirit Educational Service and integration into science experiments, the visual arts, and more.
Social growth is fostered through the Responsive Classroom program and is further developed through various opportunities to engage with their division counterparts in the Middle and Upper Schools.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
English Language Arts: Listen and speak effectively, demonstrate competence in the reading process, and demonstrate competence in the skills and strategies of the writing process.
Math: Understand number sense and numeration, perform mathematical operations and solve problems, use measurement and geometry.
Social Studies and STEAM: Discuss current events and holidays; use map skills; read about and discuss events in American history; research and compare other cultures; collect, discuss, predict, and record scientific data; make and use models and projects; and read, discuss, and learn about nutrition and good health habits.
SECOND GRADE
Second grade students at Park explore and communicate their learning in a variety of engaging ways. With a primary focus on developing a love of learning, students begin to self-advocate and take an active role in their learning as they are given more choice in how they accomplish their work. Academic Choice, a component of Responsive Classroom, lets students drive the inquiry behind their lessons, leading to motivated and curious learners. This desired outcome is achieved through various classroom activities in discussion responses, reading reflections in Writer’s Workshop, and sharing their knowledge of different animal species in self-made books.
Students create portfolios of their work throughout the year and in an act of year-end reflection, they are able to see their growth in learning over time.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
English Language Arts: Listen and speak effectively, demonstrate competence in the reading process, and demonstrate confidence in the skills and strategies of the writing process.
Math: Understand number sense and numeration, perform mathematical operations and solve problems, and use measurement and geometry.
Social Studies and STEAM: Build a community; discuss and understand current events and holidays; use map skills to explore continents and understand the commonalities of people around the world; collect, discuss, and record scientific data; and care for the natural world.
THIRD GRADE
Park’s third grade students immerse themselves in a project-based curriculum that is integrated across all of the core subjects. A strong emphasis is placed on the writing process, presenting reports, writing in cursive, collaborating with Upper School students on class projects, and using technology for coding and keyboarding.
As emerging leaders in the Lower School, third graders model leadership skills in student government and demonstrate Park’s Life Rules in their interactions with younger students. Responsive Classroom techniques support and strengthen Park’s core values of respect, responsibility, honesty, and kindness. Students are challenged, understand responsibility, and grow confidence through both individual and group work in the classroom and across the campus. Despite the growing list of skills and activities taking place in the classroom, students remain connected to nature with Earth Spirit programs and daily recess.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
English Language Arts: Use critical thinking skills to find and evaluate information for literary interpretation and factual research; follow the individual steps of the writing process to create journal entries, book reports, research papers, and creative writing that utilize mechanics, paragraphs, and sequencing; and analyze the elements of character, plot, and conflict as they respond to literature.
Math: Use deductive reasoning strategies to solve multi-step word problems and algebra problems; understand the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and know when to apply each; and recognize and understand the properties and vocabulary of geometric figures.
Social Studies and STEAM: Read maps, graphs, charts, and tables to obtain information; understand what the characteristics of a community are and how they contribute to a community’s success or failure; appreciate the cultural diversity of the world and the United States; apply the scientific method to science activities; understand the basic features, processes, composition, and structure of the Earth and our universe; and understand the concept of the cycle of life of living creatures.
FOURTH GRADE
Park students continue to thrive in a nurturing and warm environment where learning by doing is still an essential tool to one's lifelong growth of obtaining and applying newly-acquired knowledge. Students are expected to think critically and make connections across the curriculum while developing those essential skills to work independently and in small groups with confidence and respect for others.
Being on the precipice of joining the Middle School ranks, students assume various roles of responsibility to each other and leadership within the Lower School. Social responsibility becomes a centerpiece as students engage with their younger counterparts and look after our recycling program in an effort to create an awareness of their surroundings and the care that is necessary for others and the environment.
ESSENTIAL SKILLS
English Language Arts: Apply the elements of plot, setting, character study, main idea/supporting details, sequencing, outlining, summarizing, predicting, and questioning; apply the mechanics of writing, editing, spelling, and grammar; and perform the techniques of making judgements, and drawing conclusions, comparing, and contrasting.
Math: Apply critical thinking, deductive reasoning, and hypothesizing; apply the concepts of geometry, measurement, perimeter, area, volume, and decimal; and organize look for patterns, perform computations, use logic, estimate, and graph.
Social Studies and STEAM: Comprehend local, state, and national governments; discuss weekly news and current events; investigate the geography of New York State, its regions, history, and people; investigate plants, seeds, and parts of a flower; investigate and record data for animal study; and apply the elements of electricity to build circuits and switches.
RESPONSIVE CLASSROOM
The Lower School embraces, and participates in ongoing training in, Responsive Classroom™ methodology. This research-based approach to elementary education integrates practical strategies for helping students build academic and social-emotional learning throughout the day. Responsive Classroom focuses on ten classroom practices that create a classroom environment where students feel safe, challenged, and a have joyful place to learn.
These classroom practices include morning meeting, rule creation, interactive modeling, positive teacher language, logical consequences, guided discovery, academic choice, classroom organization, collaborative problem solving, and working with families. Responsive Classroom increases academic achievement, decreases problem behaviors, improves social skills, and leads to more high-quality instruction. Emphasis is placed on student happiness, not only in making the process of their education enjoyable, but also in promoting positive, lifelong learners.
