Community Cultures

The community cultures focus provides a broad vision for our school, for our school community, and for teaching and learning. It is based on the idea that each of us has a culture. For each of us, that culture is determined by our family connections, traditions, language, experiences, beliefs, and all the patterns that make groups and individuals unique. A community cultures school is a school that values and celebrates the diversity that each individual brings to the school because of the uniqueness of our cultural backgrounds. A school that celebrates diversity is who we want to become. This is a journey for all of us at our school. The community cultures curriculum will integrate activities, skills, strategies, and processes in an effort to learn about our multicultural community.

Environmental Science

This focus concentrates on the relationships between people and the world we share with all living beings. It encourages understanding of these relationships through consideration of ecological, cultural, and social systems. The Harambee School environmental studies curriculum builds upon children’s natural curiosity in animals and plants by investigating the incredibly diverse ways that life survives in urban, suburban, and rural habitats.

The 26-acre site on which the Harambee School is located contains a fantastic array of natural habitats, including a pond, wetland, open grassland, oak savanna, and hardwood forest. These areas make ideal outdoor laboratories in which all students will actively learn about ecological concepts. They will assess the current health of these areas and also help create plans for developing the school grounds into a "hands on" environmental learning area. Projects could include designing interpretive trails, restoring the prairie, creating vegetable and flower gardens, and landscaping to improve wildlife habitat.

In addition, students will study the many different ways our community culture groups depend upon and affect the environment. They will learn that in order to build a more sustainable society, many different ecological and social perspectives need to be thoroughly considered before environmental decisions can be made.