Academics

STEAM

All around us, each day everything is rapidly changing. Preparing your child to meet those changes means teaching those standards we all need to succeed, but also familiarizing them with today’s technology so they can more easily become fluent in tomorrow’s. It means helping them understand that almost anything can be done if you try and work hard. It means letting them know it is OK to ask for and receive assistance. It means instilling in students a love of inquiry and the tools to apply what they know.

Our highly trained and invested staff instill these ideas while teaching our integrated science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) program.

The mission of David Lubin Elementary School is to instill a love of scientific inquiry and application and to empower students to pursue a life of choices by learning in an interdisciplinary environment that emphasizes the strong work ethic and critical thinking needed to solve problems in the real world.

Our focus on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is essential to prepare students for the future. To be effective in the 21st century, today our children must learn to create, evaluate, and effectively utilize information, media, and technology.

We recognize an unprecedented opportunity to engage and include all students in the challenge and promise made possible with a rigorous innovated STEAM program. We want to establish STEAM as an integral part of learning for a future in which science can belong to all of us.

Language Arts Exchange (LAX)

Your child will participate in the Language Arts Exchange Program (LAX) which provides teacher aides to work in every grade level (K-6). The smaller group size and direct instruction of this program lets your child soar, with targeted grade-level work on language-arts skills, ranging from reading development in kindergarten to sophisticated textual analysis and writing construction in sixth grade. LAX is funded through the Parent Teacher Group (PTG) and supported by the principal, staff and teachers.

Math Vision

• Students engage in relevant instruction to gain a deep understanding of math concepts through multiple learning strategies, approaches, and opportunities
• Regular formative assessments guide instruction
• Students perseverance is fostered and risk-taking is actively encouraged in a safe learning environment
• Teachers collaborate in formal and informal settings, modeling for students how to depend understanding through working together

Gifted & Talented Education (GATE)

At David Lubin, we implement the cluster model in delivering GATE services for students at David Lubin. The Schoolwide Cluster Grouping Model (SCGM) means that gifted learners are grouped within a regular classroom setting and receive appropriately differentiated activities from a classroom teacher who is trained in gifted education pedagogy.

At David Lubin, we believe students learn best when they learn together. The cluster model allows for full-time services for identified gifted learners, with GATE students being clustered with intellectual peers and age peers and an intentional reduction in the ability range of learners, while maintaining heterogeneity. 

School Gardens

David Lubin’s three gardens enhance your child’s education, adding hands-on learning to their science education and a peaceful oasis to their day.

The charming alphabetical “kinder-garden” introduces young children to garden sciences and reinforces everyday learning such as reading.

Your child will continue to experience garden science through classroom gardens, where the children and their teachers grow variety of flowers and vegetables to see the growth processes while measuring and studying the process.

The Peace Garden is a unique and beautiful space where your child can step out of the surrounding bustle of the playground to explore and experience nature. A kaleidoscope of trees, perennial plants, annual flowers and bulbs create quiet, shady spaces filled with textures and colors that change with the seasons.

Field Trips

With an eye to your child’s future, offsite field trips not only reinforce and enhance classroom learning, but expand their understanding of career opportunities and foster interest in scientific inquiry and art. Our sixth graders participate in a residential science field trip at Sly Park; fifth graders, for instance, spend a day at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley; fourth graders dress up in period clothing, learn period skills and spend the night at Sutter’s Fort, third graders attend a play at B Street Theater; and second graders visit the Capitol building.

Field trips are supported by the Parent Teacher Group (PTG) and the principal, staff and teachers