User:Summit School of Ahwatukee/sandbox

Summit School of Ahwatukee is a private, non-profit, independent school, located in the Ahwatukee/Foothills community of Phoenix, Arizona. Elementary and middle school are nationally accredited, by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI), a division of AdvancED®. Preschool is also nationally accredited, by the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children). Approximately

Mission
The mission of Summit School of Ahwatukee is to foster academic excellence and the love of learning through a liberal arts education. Our community nurtures the knowledge, skills, and values essential to a responsible and rewarding life.

History
Summit School of Ahwatukee was founded in 2001 through funding provided by William Andrew and the founders of Insight Technologies, Eric Crown and Tim Crown. Summit School of Ahwatukee is a [501(c)(3)]] (not for profit) private, independent school in Arizona, serving families in the Ahwatukee / Foothills community of Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe, and Gilbert, Arizona.

Curriculum
The extensive liberal arts curriculum focuses on teaching methods that incorporate significant hands-on learning and meaningful discussions in which children share their ideas and thought processes. Students become articulate, confident and adept at solving problems in creative ways. Combining visual, tactile and auditory teaching methodologies leads to much more than memorizing information, but rather provides understanding and develops strong critical thinking / analytical skills. This sets their course for success in future educational pursuits and the challenges of the twenty-first century.

Summit utilizes small class sizes of 18 to 19 children, providing highly personalized attention to student needs and strengths.For details on the curriculum by grade go to

Middle School:The advanced private middle school curriculum includes lab-based science, language arts, social studies, literature, Spanish, pre-algebra and high school level algebra and geometry.

The full liberal arts curriculum is rounded out with quarterly electives choices: visual arts, band, VEX robotics, physical education, programming & game design, debate, speech, culinary arts, theatre and yearbook. 

Elementary Program: Students in kindergarten through 4th grade experience reading, math, literature, social studies, spelling, character education, engage in thematic units of study, and learn presentation skills with the home base teacher. Students receive instruction at their level for reading, math and spelling.

The elementary, liberal arts curriculum includes classes in Spanish, lab-based science, art / architecture and design, music, technology, physical education and library. Classes are taught by degreed teachers, who are specialists in their content areas.

Preschool: The preschool earned national accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) The developmental, experiential, play-based curriculum, utilizes Teaching Strategies Gold objectives for teaching and learning. The curriculum is research-based, developmentally appropriate, and taught by experienced teachers. Additionally, the preschool curriculum includes classes dedicated to Art, Spanish, and Music, Tumbling and Library. 

Toddler Discoveries: Eighteen to thirty-six month old children and their adult companion can participate in a weekly class, for interactive play and enrichment. [http://www.summitschoolaz.org/academics/toddlers/}

Awards: National, State and Local
Summit School of Ahwatukee has earned a multitude of national, state and local awards. http://summitschoolaz.org/na/awards

National Recognition for Art, Architecture and Design
Summit School of Ahwatukee art curriculum is based on the Vitruvius Program. This art, architecture and design program was developed by Summit art instructor Kathleen Kupper and her husband Eugene Kupper, through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

In 2011, this program was named The Best Art and Architecture School Curriculum in the United States, by the Association of Architecture Organizations (AAO). As the winner of the National School award, the Vitruvius Program represented the United States in the UIA Golden Cubes International Competition in Tokyo. To view a video showcasing the nationally recognized art program, to http://summitschoolaz.org/academics/art

This art, architecture and design program begins in preschool and continues through eighth grade, It enables students to use their creative intelligence to express ideas and concepts in tangible forms. As students engage in work based on real and imagined projects, they deepen critical thinking, narrative problem solving, spatial reasoning and visual perception.

Design and architecture projects bring an important dimension of thinking to the program. The students learn to find reasons for their work outside of artistic self-expression, becoming divergent thinkers and gaining a foundation for understanding a changing world.