Lower School

In 2019, WCS adopted Bridges math curriculum.  Bridges is a comprehensive math curriculum aligned to the common core that promotes problem solving skills and a love of math!  Our students love the math games they play and the daily number corner calendar activities and our teachers love the deep critical thinking skills Bridges helps students develop.

Middle School

In 2018, WCS chose Illustrative Math as its math curriculum.  Illustrative Math is a rigorous, engaging math curriculum that is aligned with the common core.  Unlike most middle school math curriculums, Illustrative helps students create their knowledge of key concepts rather than a teacher simply telling students about a concept.  This is achieved by rich mathematical tasks, lots of discussion between students, and teacher guidance.

WCS strives to create proficient lifelong readers and writers and follows the science of reading in pursuit of this goal. This research makes clear that proficient reading for all students requires explicit, systematic phonics and phonemic awareness instruction, along with robust language comprehension and knowledge-based reading instruction. Wissahickon implements Reading Horizons Discovery, a phonemic awareness and phonics program, in Kindergarten through third grades; and the EL Education Language Arts Modules in Kindergarten through eighth grades as our core literacy curriculum. 

In 2023, WCS adopted OpenSciEd as the science curriculum for its middle grades, and in 2025 WCS adopted OpenSciEd as the science curriculum in its lower school. OpenSciEd uses a storyline approach– a logical sequence of lessons that are motivated by students’ questions that arise from students’ interactions with phenomena. It amplifies our commitment to providing a science experience that is rigorous, engaging and aligned with educational standards. OpenSciEd fosters critical thinking and problem solving skills that help prepare students for real world science.

In 6th grade, students travel back in time and space to ancient worlds. They begin by asking, “What is history?” and “Why and how do we study it?” These questions inform the units for the rest of the year. Students visit pre-historical times and early civilizations around the world, including Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Greece and Rome. Curricular links occur between social science and language arts, especially in the form of workshop mini-lessons in non-fiction reading, and information and argument writing.

In 7th grade, students launch the year with a study of transculturation (the process through which cultures blend and influence each other, creating new cultural forms) as they dive into early American history and indigenous cultures. During this unit, students also work to build their skills as social scientists, including map reading. Students then dive into American history from the Colonial Era through the Civil War. In 8th grade, students launch the year with a study on Race, Culture and Identity before diving back into U.S. history from the Industrial Era through World War II, including studies of Women's Suffrage and the Harlem Renaissance. 

Discovery is a class unique to WCS and one of the cornerstones of our Sustainable Environmental Curriculum (SEC). Discovery invites students to explore the natural world and their interconnection with it, and it supplements science classes in some grades. Curiosity, fun and hands-on experiences are norms. Classes take place outside and/or in contact with natural materials as much as possible. Discovery also serves as a space for students to work on action projects related to “taking care of the earth that takes care of us”.

Our art program offers students the chance to learn foundational skills in drawing, painting, clay and other media; appreciate how different cultures are reflected through art; and apply core elements of art to their projects. Students develop artistic mindsets and questions, express their personal voices, and build habits of caring for the studio space. Art projects are aligned to national art standards; throughout a school year, they may be organized by geography (traveling around the world), history (traveling through time), connection to WCS’s mission, and/or student interest.

In addition to visiting the library to check out books, students have the benefit of attending a library class. This class has three priorities across all grades, K-8: 1) fostering a love of reading, 2) enabling students to use the library independently and to its fullest, and 3) honing students’ research skills. To do these things, the library staff may perform exciting read-alouds of new books, set students off on a treasure hunt to find certain items and/or practice on-line search techniques. At times, library classes might also support a unit of study in a core academic class.