Lower School | K–5

In addition to the strong core academic program, Dawson is highly committed to the whole child.  Our students also have the opportunity to attend six different resource classes (Art, Music, Technology, Spanish, Library, and PE), access to our spacious campus and gorgeous facilities, along with the option to participate in our highly regarded After School Academy (ASA). 

All students work in homeroom classes with the core subjects of language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science and thrive through collaboration and frequency of art, music, physical education, technology, library/media skills, and Spanish.

Mentored by experienced faculty whom they will remember forever, Lower School students participate in a variety of diverse activities, including field/overnight trips, class plays, semi-annual choral concerts, and an expansive visual arts show. Kindergarteners celebrate world cultures. First grade students learn to dissect, while a study of the rain forest captivates second graders. After a long day of living the life of a Cheyenne child in 1843, third grade students spend the night in teepees each spring. Fourth grade Spanish students hold a Mercado, or market, for their K-3 peers, during which students use their conversational Spanish skills to bargain and peddle their wares.

Rigorous academics are generously mixed with culturally rich experiences, including Winterim Week, during which students devote time to an experiential thematic study of one topic, encouraging them to think beyond the classroom and learn through community experiences.

Lower School students learn character education through the PATHS program. Students grow emotionally through being a member of a community that values honesty, integrity, loyalty, compassion and a general strength of character. Students are given many opportunities to develop self-confidence and worth, respect for others, and a sense of belonging to, and being a responsible member of, a community outside of their own family.