West Chester Friends School

The students at West Chester Friends School participate in a number of grade-specific units, activities and field trips throughout the year.  Highlights include:

 
The All-School Unit is an in-depth, interdisciplinary study of a single culture, historical period or subject area for all WCFS students.  All-School Units include this year's "Folktales and Legends", as well as past topics such as "Water, Water Everywhere!", Spain, the Renaissance, the Amazon River Basin, Ireland and Flight.

Pre-Kindergarten students love their walking trips to the local pretzel factory, where they make a delicious dough alphabet; the Chester County Historical Society to see antique quilts while studying the letter "Q"; and to the post office, where they mail holiday letters they have written.   

In Kindergarten, a unit of study on Africa culminates in a lively African market, in which students guide visitors through a variety of festive "booths."  The children, dressed in tunics they have made, share their expertise on African animals, demonstrate crafts, discuss geography, sing and play their authentic instruments and share native stories.  

First graders enjoy their unit on civil rights, reading about and writing to Ruby Bridges, discussing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and their own place as peacemakers, and recreating Mrs. Parks' historical bus ride.  Later in the year, on their "virtual trip" to Japan, they study the history, geography and culture of the Land of the Rising Sun, then demonstrate all they've learned at the annual Japanese Festival. 

For second graders, the much-loved study of fairy tales leads into a unit on Medieval community, during which students cooperatively build a large castle.   Spring finds them at Merry Bell Farm, where they spend the day immersed in the study of a large on-site pond and its inhabitants.

During their extensive study of the Underground Railroad, third graders spend time at the Chester County Historical Society, where they use a curriculum designed especially for West Chester Friends School students.

As they study Pennsylvania's history and governments, fourth graders travel to Harrisburg for a first-hand look at the state legislature--and often meet the Governor himself!  Fourth grade also includes the first overnight field trip for students, when they travel to Echo Hill, in Maryland, to participate in two days of intense environmental studies on the Chesapeake.

Fifth graders culminate their yearlong focus on American history and government with a springtime trip to Washington, D.C.  Their busy days in the capitol include visits to Mount Vernon, the White House, the Capitol building, and the Supreme Court.  


Students also travel regularly to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Delaware Museum of Natural History, the Brandywine River Museum, Longwood Gardens and many other galleries, museums and historical sites.