Spruce Street School

Downtown
Seattle, 9th & Virginia, PreK-5

Based on the theme of “Truth” the 4th and 5th grade students at Spruce Street started to ask questions about justice. An emergent exploration of the topic resulted in a visit to the high court in downtown Seattle and then a mock trial that the students conducted in the actual court. Innovative curricular activities sprinkle the days for Spruce Street students.

Mission

Spruce
Street School is a nurturing educational community that instills in a broad
range of children the social, emotional, and intellectual skills for lifelong
participation in a diverse society.

Values: Diversity, multi-age
classrooms, social-emotional development, differentiated/integrated instruction
and urban learning

Unique
features

• Progressive; in how
  children are invited to have a voice in their education. A weekly class
  community council meeting and a school-wide meeting are student-led and
  used to bring issues to the table, be resolved and have rules/plans made
  around the resolution.

• Multi-age classrooms:
  2 classes at 3 levels; K-1, 2-3, 4-5. Each classroom has 15-18 children, 1
  lead teacher and one intern teacher (full-time) shared at the level.
  Children experience being followers and leaders in their time in a level.
  Each year, the children of a particular age are mixed within the level to
  help change the classroom dynamic.

• Social-emotional development
  fostered by reference to the 2nd STEP curriculum developed by
  Community for Children. Focus on the development of a vocabulary for
  collaborative emotional expression.

• Integrated curriculum
  by identifying a single theme for each level. Themes are broad enough; for
  example, ‘Systems’, ‘Discovery’ and ‘Truth’ that form a starting point for
  bringing subject matter together to be learned in an integrated manner.
  The theme on Truth that was explored by the 4-5 level led them to
  understanding justice issues, visiting the Federal court house, planning
  and conducting a mock trial in the courthouse.

• Urban learning
  fostered through walking field trips to all the sites of downtown
  including the library, cascade park, Seattle Center, the aquarium.

• Electives offered 4
  times a year for 1-2 times/week over a span of 3 weeks. Topics covered are
  along the lines of cooking, art, media exploration, electricity and such.
  Each elective includes students from the entire K-5 age range. These
  electives are in addition to a week dedicated to artistic exploration.

• Art, Drama, Music, PE
  and Spanish offered through specialist teachers.
  
  

Classroom
teachers and specialists

• Current Director,
  Briel Schmitz came on 8 years ago and has hired in all but one teacher.

• 2 teachers per level,
  one per class. 1 full-time intern teacher shared across classrooms in a
  level.

• Specialist teachers
  for Art/Spanish (male), Music (female), PE (male) and Drama done by
  classroom teachers and hired out each year.
  
  

Site
and space

The
school has been housed in its new urban building site for the last 5 years (as
of 2010). The building was procured as a single shell and then built-out based
on the needs of the school. It has three floors with large open hallways that
are used for big gatherings. An indoor play-space exists on the entrance level.
Each other level has classrooms and specialty rooms (art and music). The
hard-court rooftop has been turned into an outdoor playground and houses a
climbing structure and enclosed basketball court. 

Current
and upcoming changes

The
school has stabilized in the new site, the teaching staff is stable and not
expected to change. The school is not expected to grow in terms of student
numbers.

Ideal
student

• “Broad range”: At
  Spruce Street, children of truly varied backgrounds are welcomed. About a
  third of the students are academically gifted, about a third are average
  bright-eyed children and about a third have a range of learning issues
  across the board including being on the autistic spectrum, having
  ospergers or having speech issues.

• The school is not
  overly academically focused while academic work remains at the heart of
  the learning which allows it to open itself to a diverse range of
  students.

Ideal
family

• Open to diversity in
  terms of socio-economic, racial, ethnic and family structure background.

• Not overtly
  academically inclined.

The
numbers and other must-knows

• 30 years old, has been
  in two other sites before current site

• 97 students

• Teaching staff of 13

• Extended-day program
  available

Alumni

• Tend to be received by
  a variety of other schools and are regarded as community leaders able to
  work through difficult social dynamics.

Final
word(s):
If you are looking for an urban school that is not too big, that is progressive
in how it treats children, intentional in its curriculum development and values
diversity, Spruce Street is one your best choices in the city of Seattle.
Spruce Street children seem bright, motivated, open, caring and collaborative.

Information
source and research method: Based on an in-person meeting with Assistant Head of School
Guy Fineout, school tour and web research.

Disclaimer:
This is an independent review of Spruce Street School. It is not a statement by the
school or its officials.