The Grade 5 year provides a comfortable transition between the Lower and Upper Divisions. Teachers pay close attention to students’ individual learning styles, strengths, and challenges and nurture their self-reliance, perseverance, self-discipline, and true love of learning. Students are held to high standards of positive citizenship; and they’re responsible for reading, writing, and math homework assignments, using technology when appropriate. They get ample opportunity to develop their research and presentation skills.

Immigration Journey – In Grade 5 social studies, students spend the year learning about immigration to America, from Ellis Island and Angel Island in the early 20th century to modern-day immigration. For the Immigrant Journey Project, students interview first-generation immigrants in the Park community to learn about their unique immigration experiences. Working together in small groups, they complete a multimedia project honoring each immigrant's story.

Students take five academic classes: math, science, English, and social studies; and they begin a foreign language (French, Spanish, Latin, or Mandarin). English and social studies are taught together and have the feel of a homeroom. Each of the remaining subjects is taught by a different teacher. Academic work is a balance between assignments that demand new levels of abstract thinking and those that teach specific skills and strategies. In the fall, Grade 6 travels together for a camping trip in New Hampshire, which focuses on individual and group challenges, community living, and risk-taking in a structured environment.

House Project – In this interdisciplinary collaboration between math and science which combines skills in mathematical scale and measurement with studies in weather and climate, students design and build a scale model house that includes solar LED lighting.

To foster abstract-thinking skills, seventh-grade assignments encourage students to formulate opinions, articulate ideas, and make connections in their learning. The school year includes increased homework expectations, the introduction of letter grades, and final exams. Students read Macbeth and research and write papers about Constitutional Amendments for social studies. Group work and long-term projects provide an arena for practicing social interactions, which is important for cognitive development. In addition to their educational trip to Washington, DC, in March (described below), students can participate in an optional trip to the Grand Canyon to experience first-hand the geologic features they’ve studied in science during the year.

Trip to Washington, DC – Designed to bring students’ American history curriculum to life, this four-day trip lets them learn from local historians, primary sources, and historical landmarks. The seventh graders thrive in their earned autonomy while practicing the skills of being Park ambassadors in the world.

The Park School’s culminating year offers students opportunities: to strengthen and broaden their minds through rigorous coursework, to participate in competitive athletics, and to specialize in artistic, dramatic, and elective musical endeavors.

In the spring, every eighth grader participates in three memorable capstone experiences. They travel to China, France, Italy, or Spain to further their target language fluency and deepen their cross-cultural skill set; they demonstrate their literary skills by curating a poetry anthology; and they become agents of change through Advoc8!. This year-long social studies project has students consider human rights and their obligations as citizens. Their capstone project is to choose an issue they care about (such as the environment, children’s rights, health care, or poverty) and create a way to advocate for people who have been affected by that issue.

Leadership – Throughout the year, eighth graders focus on leadership and service—both to the School and the broader community. They serve as leaders of Park’s student government, service organizations, yearbook staff, Model UN, Morning Meetings, and all varsity athletic teams. They also serve as informal leaders of all younger children on campus. In this way, leadership is both encouraged and expected of each member of the class. Grade 8 students can also practice public speaking through preparing and delivering special interest talks at Morning Meeting.