Growing at a fast pace
Primary
Thematic classrooms
Primary school is quite exciting at Liceo Sorolla. At this stage, we introduce thematic classrooms, promoting contextualized learning and specialization. Teachers have their own classroom and students switch every two hours. Thus, teachers can personalize their classrooms´ decor, design long term projects, and develop their own class culture.
Neuroscience
We introduce neuro-didactic techniques to improve the students´ learning process. We developed our own neuroscience program in collaboration with the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) increasing attention levels by 35%, concentration levels by 33% and executive functions by 22%. The HERA project (hydration + equilibrium + breathing + attention) warms up the brain for learning with 3-minute exercises at the beginning of each class.
Project based learning
In primary school we dive deeper into PBL. Projects usually last two weeksand we combine content from different subjects. This methodology helps us develop research skills, critical thinking, social skills, and teamwork
Skill assessment
In primary school we introduce an assessment method to foster and develop both skills and attitudes. These skills will always be accompanied by rubrics known by the students that will help them in their learning process. In addition, students must carry a self-assessment in which they describe their effort, progress, and abilities.
Active methodologies
In these years we work with Ludiletras, a synthetic-phonetic and global mixed learning process. The alphabet becomes a game where letters are associated with gestures (ludimove), words and phonemes. It enables students to give meaning to written words by recognizing letters and words as global images through a series of associations.
In science, we work with Entusiasmat, a pedagogical program for children ages between 3 and 12 based on multiple intelligences. It allows working on mathematics in a contextualized way, adapted to the reality of each student. The goal is for them to analyze and solve mathematical situations in a particular and practical contexts.
Programming & robotics
From Primary 5th we introduce electronic devices to work. Tablets will never be the center of our teaching model, but they useful tools. We use them for research, collaborative work in the cloud and project development. Up to 5th grade, the use of screens in the school is very limited. We start our robotics and computational thinking project learning Scratch, Arduino, Lego Robotics and Minecraft.
