The Speyer School was an experimental public school in NYC in the 1930s. The original Speyer School was founded as collaboration between the BOE and Columbia University’s Teachers College and was the first public school for precocious children in the country. Philanthropist James J. Speyer financed the building. Psychologist, teacher and pioneer in gifted education, Leta Stetter Hollingworth, became the director of research at Speyer in 1936. While at Speyer, Dr. Hollingworth taught and studied this unique population of children and came to believe that they had special educational needs that could not be adequately met in a typical classroom setting. Motivated by this strongly held belief, she spent her years there pioneering a set of "best practices" for meeting those special educational needs. A descendant of the original Speyer School through both philosophy and practice and by family connection to an original Speyer Scholar, The Speyer Legacy School proudly takes up her mission and carries it forward into the 21st Century.
Core CurriculumCurriculum is sometimes defined as “ a course to run” We at The Speyer Legacy School embrace this broad view and inquire “Who sets the course?” It is our belief that the best education for advanced learner is one that includes them in the process of guiding and defining the curriculum so they are uniquely positioned to thoughtfully consider the relevance and impact of their learning. Our curriculum is designed to educate the mind, body, heart and spirit of our community of advanced learners with respect, responsibility and rigor. Our meta-cognitive approach to education encourages students to think about their thinking and to carefully consider the relevance of their learning. This disposition towards reflection will be the engine that drives the curriculum and energizes our students. Our studies will provide our eager learners with experiences to move them in the direction of mastery and understanding of a range of disciplines and will help them to recognize and appreciate the myriad relationships between and amongst them. The classroom curriculum will be enriched by the participation of experts, adjunct instructors and visiting scholars. A focus on social responsibility and an awareness of global issues will provide a context for meaningful learning that encompasses more than just information.
Literacy
The drive to communicate lies at the heart of literacy in its myriad manifestations throughout our culture. Speyer Legacy students are particularly invested in effectively communicating their ideas, opinions, information and growing understanding. To support this natural inclination, we will provide a literature-rich environment where children are surrounded by books of all kinds Our students are literature driven and will have access to a well-stocked library to provide fuel for their passionate engagement with information and imagination accessible through books. We recognize in our students a tendency for strong receptive and expressive language and our teachers will promote effective and thoughtful listening and speaking. Direct instruction of reading, writing and comprehension will be integrated into the units of study being undertaken in other disciplines. An initial literacy focus has already begun in the elicitation of student participation in the systematic creation of a school library and a consideration of the variety of styles of writing that are available. Literacy explorations will include author, genre and comparative studies, along with elements of the reading and writing workshop method. Students will be guided in literacy investigations to examine the origins of language and the influences that contribute to its ongoing evolution.
Research is currently underway to identify and articulate best practices for the optimal use of technology in the classroom. The most effective approaches will be woven into the literacy program as naturally as it is woven into the lives of today’s students. To promote media literacy, each classroom will be equipped with Smart boards to facilitate instruction, and the children will have access to laptop computers. Our teachers are trained to guide students in the development of critical thinking about the validity of information acquired though a range of media and to promote in our students an understanding for the responsible use of technology.
Mathematics
We at Speyer Legacy School view mathematics as a beautiful language that explains thought and experience with elegant specificity. We recognize that mathematical thinking takes many forms and is organized in many systems and have selected Singapore Math as our base curriculum as the system that best suits our intention to teach math with a view toward today's technological society. The focus of the curriculum will be to provide a depth of understanding of mathematical concepts that support operations, to cultivate and improve students' analytical skills, problem solving abilities, and technological skills, as well as to develop an understanding and appreciation of the reasoning skills employed in logic. The meta-cognitive approach to mathematics will encourage the children to recognize that there is a range of approaches to all mathematical concepts and operations. Initial math projects have related to the design, construction and outfitting of classrooms as the students are actively involved in the creation of our school.
Foreign Language
We are a highly verbal, passionately communicative community. We observe that our students are aware of and intrigued by the range of languages they hear both in their homes and on the streets of their cosmopolitan city. They acquire language easily and find the process of verbal communication fascinating and fun. In response to this natural inclination, we begin foreign language instruction in kindergarten with the introduction of Spanish. Spanish will be taught twice a week for all students.
Science
Young children are natural scientists who view the world through lenses of fascination, exploration and discovery. Our students pursue scientific inquiry with characteristic passion and intensity in relentless pursuit of answers to their questions about the world. To support that intensity, we will provide them with a range of scientific investigations related to units of study that are designed to foster intrigue with scientific study. The initial approach to scientific learning focuses on the function of science in society through such topics as life science, earth science, environmental studies, ecology and science for the future. We use the Full Option Science System (FOSS) both as a source of materials and organization for early studies and as an examination of how a science curriculum is organized, structured and produced. An important ongoing goal of the science curriculum will focus on the vision, design the ultimate permanent home of The Speyer Legacy School as a green school created from sustainable materials and with as small a carbon footprint as possible.
Visual and Performing Arts
By virtue of our location here in Manhattan, Speyer Legacy School students have access to the best visual and performing arts instruction the city has to offer, both in their classrooms, where a range of artistic materials and experiences will be available to them daily, and through interaction with adjunct instructors who personify the best and most innovative practice available. The students benefit from collaborative interaction with each other and practicing experts in music, art and dance. We expect teachers to take advantage of our proximity to a variety of performance venues to expose the children to art forms with which they may be unfamiliar. This year, such unparallel experiences have included visits to the Guggenheim, the Haunch of Venison and The Highline. A highlight of our expanded classroom approach was attendance at a dress rehearsal of The Nose, by Shostakovich.
The scholars had studied the story and the opera and were completely mesmerized by the performance, which was sung entirely in Russian.
History and Humanities
Beginning with a study of Manhattan that originates in the mist over the island as Henry Hudson first sailed up the river and follows through to the opening of The High Line as the most recent park that contributes to the quality of life here in the city, our History and Humanities curriculum delves into the stories and events that shape the world as we know it and prepares our scholars to have an impact on the world as it will become.
With our expanding and evolving units of study, the humanities curriculum focus will be cultural ritual and the development of one’s own community. We see the city as our extended community made up of many smaller communities whose origins reach out to the world. This is an especially important focus, as the school will be developing its own place in a new community with a move to a new location. The history of education, from early forms of writing and communication all the way through to the development of organized learning supported by expanding technology will be an important focus in the early years of our development and is consistent with the interdisciplinary study of the creation of a school.
Chess
The students at Speyer Legacy School participate in a full curricular chess program specifically designed to foster higher-level thinking skills such as pattern recognition, spatial visualization, analysis and strategic planning and problem solving. Renowned chess coach, Sunil Weeramantry, designed a custom program for Speyer scholars that integrates technology and explores the history of chess, follows the development of its great masters and analyzes famous matches. He and his team implement a dynamic program with all students.
Optimal Health: Mind, Body & Spirit
Beyond wellness lies Optimal Health. It is our goal to familiarize our students with the range of systems that constitute good health and to explore with them the attitudes and practices that constitute their optimal health. Our curriculum addresses nutrition, physical education and fitness, time management and stress management. Utilizing the gym space and neighborhood recreational facilities, the students will have opportunities for physical exertion in the form of play, dance, fencing, group games and strength/stamina building activities. We are partnering with Health Barn USA to engage the children in in-depth studies of research-based nutrition, sustainable agriculture, and physical activity that will empower children confidently to take ownership of their own health and well-being and to become enthusiastic about living strong, energetic lives. An additional component of the program will be regular access to our 4-acre garden at Speyer Legacy School Farm. There, the students have access to true “hands-on” engagement with the soil that sustains all life and with the freshest of produce that supports optimal nutritional value.
Building strong minds and strong bodies requires thoughtful, targeted Physical Education. Our scholars receive instruction in aspects of a range of physical activities from martial arts to team sports. In addition to physical education, students participate in fencing classes to further coordinate the mind and body. In all cases, students are engaged in exploration of the history and development of the sports included in our curriculum.
