programs / Early childhood
At Grace, play and ethics are not separate from the academic program—they are woven through it. From the earliest days of junior kindergarten, students learn not just how to read and count but also how to listen, to disagree, to repair, and to show up for one another.
At Grace, play and ethics are not separate from the academic program—they are woven through it. From the earliest days of junior kindergarten, students learn not just how to read and count but also how to listen, to disagree, to repair, and to show up for one another. These vital skills are, in no small measure, what allow students to become capable of great things, both individually and collaboratively.
Every day in Early Childhood includes choice time and outdoor play. Choice time invites students to engage with their peers through a wide range of activities—manipulatives, building materials, games, and art supplies—while teachers observe, guide, and gently scaffold interactions to support social learning. Outdoor play on the Toy Deck offers further opportunities for physical, emotional, and social development, all under the attentive guidance of our caring educators. In both settings, students practice the habits that will define their experience at Grace: kindness, cooperation, fairness, and the ability to see a situation from someone else’s point of view.
At Grace, the ethical life, like the intellectual life, is something to be practiced. Play is where that practice begins, where children first encounter the questions that will follow them throughout their education and beyond: What is fair? What do I owe to others? Who do I want to be in this moment? By giving students the space, guidance, and language to begin answering those questions, we lay the groundwork for the habits of ethical virtue that are central to a Grace education and to creating a life of purpose.
