Our Lower School program employs a student-centered, evidence-based approach to create authentic and practical learning experiences in a relationship-centric environment.
We build on the foundation of the Early Learning Center, providing a rigorous and engaging skill-based curriculum that prepares students for success in later grades.
In 1st through 4th grade, the academic program emphasizes deep conceptual understanding in math, a robust phonics program in literacy, inquiry-based science, and a social studies curriculum that fosters critical thinking and global awareness.
In addition to regular academic routines, social-emotional learning experiences focus on developing a growth mindset, deepening understanding of identity, embracing differences, navigating friendships, and working toward equity in the school community and beyond the walls of Packer.
Learning is brought to life through hands-on activities, field trips, and opportunities for students to share their work and celebrate their achievements. Family engagement is a core part of the Packer Lower School experience.
Our Lower School is housed in a purpose-built facility on a historic campus in downtown Brooklyn. Students enjoy daily outdoor time in our beautifully renovated Garden.
Each Lower School classroom has two full-time teachers. The division also has designated math and literacy specialists to support essential skill development.
Small class sizes ensure individualized attention.
Lower School classes follow a 7-day rotating cycle.
Specialist classes enhance the classroom curriculum, including science lab, computing and design, art studio, library, health education, dance, music, theater, and physical education.
1st and 2nd Grade: 8:45 am to 3:10 pm
3rd and 4th Grade: 8:30 am to 3:15 pm
Early morning drop off beginning at 8am is free of charge.
After school options run until 6pm.
I have a tendency to want to move quickly and it is important to cherish small moments and take time reflect, look deeply, uncover complexity, and enjoy the here and now. Particularly working with such little children, we are sometimes eager to look ahead and want time to pass to reach the next age and stage, but truly each developmental step has its own joys that should be savoured.
A new home for our Lower School
Beginning in Kindergarten, we offer a variety of after school options that run until at least 6:00 pm each day through Packer+ Auxiliary Programs. We also offer all-day programming for students in K-4 on conference and professional days when school is not in session.
We believe that the best learning happens in a strong, joyful community. In everything we do, we ask students to care for each other, listen to each other, and be active and responsible members of their school community. In and out of the classroom, we cultivate empathy, inclusion, and kindness. Family members are regularly invited into classrooms for sharing and celebrations, and annual events such as Pumpkin Patch, the May Day Arts Festival, and seasonal Sings are formative experiences and treasured memories.
We believe that learning extends beyond the classroom, so our Lower School teachers lead more than 100 excursions and field trips each year. We encourage students to find their voices and discover the impact they can have on the world around them, and our program provides a framework for identifying issues of interest, then developing and executing plans to address them.
The Garden House, a groundbreaking, purpose-built space that opened in 2025, serves as the home base for the Lower School. Each grade has a dedicated floor with its own sequence of classrooms and breakout spaces, offering a sense of place and identity that fosters a feeling of ownership and belonging. Children have daily outdoor time in the expansive, renovated Garden, which features state-of-the-art play equipment. The completion of the Garden House was the culmination of more than twenty years of visionary thinking about a home base for every phase of student learning at Packer.
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