The Sage Curriculum
Our curriculum is relevant to students' lives and communities, and its goal is to create autonomous and self-motivated individuals who know themselves within natural, local, and global contexts. The Sage environment explores the human and natural resources of our area, strikes an appropriate balance between self-direction and expert mentoring, creates deep and meaningful experiences, and is oriented towards helping adolescents develop into compassionate and curious learners. This, we believe, is the foundation for educational excellence for adolescents, and assists them in becoming fully engaged citizens who are self-aware and committed to community action, and humanitarian and ecological responsibility. In order to achieve these ends, our curriculum is split into three distinct approaches: Project- Based, Skill-Based and Community-Based. These three facets of our curriculum allow integration of the traditional discisiplines into meaningful projects, focused time to build individual skills, and activities that develop the students understanding of, and integration into, community.
Sage curricular projects are designed to integrate history, science, the social sciences, the arts, literature, and writing into a rich academic experience with hands-on and 'real world' components. The Sage projects map the adolescent journey--from young explorers, through the social age of early adolescence, to the local and immediate responsibilities of a maturing individual, through the reaches of a global citizen. The vital questions of adolescence that are expressed during each of these phases become the foundation that our projects are built upon, while reflecting the school's foundational tenets of Awareness, Responsibility, and Action. The distinct age-level pages give concrete examples of the types of rich academic projects that we believe match each developmental task. The curriculum charts may change from year to year- leaving space for individual interests, new experiences, speakers, or changes in the news– but what remains the same is our desire to use the academic knowledge base to serve the adolescent goal of identity formation, the biggest project they take on.
It is clear that certain skills need focused attention and are best developed through daily effort and reinforcement. As a result, we separate skill-based programs such as Math, Writing, and Spanish so that students can master these tools for application in real world problems. Within a self-directed framework, students receive individual direction, and are held accountable for realistic progression and pacing. Student work is therefore both self-paced and carefully guided, with particular attention to developing skills, confidence,
and competence within each topic.
Our approach to the math curriculum is two-fold. First, our math curriculum allows students to progress at their own pace. Some may move through the material quickly, while others move through more slowly, but they all do so at 100% mastery. The key to keeping students engaged is allowing them to progress at their own rate and to experience ownership 
over their learning. The second facet of our math program focuses on immersing students in mathematical thinking, an approach called Quantitative Reasoning. This includes activities that challenge and develop the logical, mathematical, and statistical problem-solving tools needed for today's world. Students learn and strengthen mathematical habits of mind while reading the newspaper, engaging in projects, solving riddles, designing products, and even while performing daily tasks such as cooking. (See our advisory board page for a discussion of QR).
Students benefit from highly individualized and focused feedback on their written communication skills and linguistic creativity. Our small size and commitment to producing strong writers enable us to devote significant time each week to practicing creative, critical, and persuasive writing techniques. Students use writing as a tool of analysis and observation, and are also encouraged to use it as a means of expression, introspection, and problem solving.
Spanish
Our Spanish curriculum focuses on bolstering students' conversational skills and confidence to use the language in their everyday lives. Daily classes are conducted primarily in Spanish in order to maximize students' exposure to the language. Students learn through a combination of games, songs, videos, and projects, which provide ample opportunities for practicing speaking, listening, reading, and writing. We focus principally on building vocabulary and grammar skills, which can then be used to learn more about the cultures and histories of the Spanish-speaking world. Recognizing that this Spanish-speaking world begins in our home valley and extends around the world, we are developing opportunities for trips--both local and global--in which students can put their skills to use in real-life situations.
Our adolescents are actively seeking and defining their place as citizens within the school community, the ecological community, and the community of the Wood River Valley. The Sage curriculum supports the development of this citizenship through experiences such as weekly volunteering and annual apprenticeships. It couples humanitarian and ecological responsibility with community action. One afternoon each week, our students volunteer with local non-profits, and work on projects with significant responsibilities and substance while building relationships with community leaders. Recent projects have included:
ServiceStudents participate in service projects each week. For example, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students collaborated to create and test recipes using only ingredients distributed by The Hunger Coalition. Ultimately, the students wrote, designed, and produced a cookbook for The Hunger Coalition's clients. A Spanish translation is in the works, and the students have been recruited again to create a similar book focused exclusively on slow cooking. Another project involves Sage students leading the other private schools in the Wood River valley in an annual 400 pie pie-drive. Each year, these pies add a "sweet finale" to the Hunger Coalition's Thanksgiving baskets. In the High School, students met with hospice patients and compiled their stories into books for them and their families. Research has shown that the act of tellingone's life story can be a powerful part of both the living and dying process. This experience brought students outside of their comfort zone, and was profound for everyone involved.
Creativity Workshop
Sage recognizes the importance of creativity in our modern world, and offers a wide range of opportunities each year through which students can explore various modes of self expression. Each trimester, students commit to either joining a teacher-led creative workshop, such as Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Cupcake Decorating, Music, and Graphic Design, or they pursue their own independent creative work. Students practice identifying and pursuing their own interests and passions in these self-created "electives" under the guidance of local mentors. Not only are these apprenticeships an opportunity for the student to design and execute his or her own course of study, but through them, the student comes into contact with an expert adult who embodies a skill or profession to which the student aspires. Thus, in addition to exercising their creative minds, students build another connection between the world of adolescence and the world of adulthood.
WellnessOur school community is strengthened by the hours that students and teachers spend together taking field trips, going on hikes, and playing games. We go outside every day to reinvigorate ourselves for our learning and to have fun with each other, while taking care of our bodies' need to move. We also take a few days out each trimester to learn and connect in a completely different way, often simply by taking advantage of the incredible cultural and natural resources of our area. Some of these "intensives" have taken the form of ski days, weekly martial arts instruction and mindfulness training, a farm tour, and an anatomy and kinesiology workshop.
