The 6th grade offers a unique opportunity to take advantage of Charleston s historic surroundings, and CDS boasts the first Junior Docent Program at Drayton Hall, an historic site along the Ashley River. A new fine arts building, to be completed in 2001, will offer music and art studio spaces where professionals can work on school wide presentations as well as individual projects. Cultural development in the arts is promoted through field trips and on-campus presentations. To implement this goal, students purchase their own Macintosh laptop computers beginning in the fourth grade. Grades 1-3 use the school s computers to learn computer basics and utilize programs that enhance their reading, writing, and mathematics as they are taught in class.
All grades have computers in the classroom and come to the computer lab once or twice a week.
The computer lab is also open to students before or after school and at lunch so that they may pursue individual projects. The campus is fully networked including wireless connections and has high speed Internet access. We are actively involved in Internet projects in all the grades to connect with students throughout the world and to showcase our work. The Accelerated Reader, a computerized reading assessment program, motivates students to read and increases the comprehension and critical thinking skills. Grades 1 - 6 attend a library class each week, and 7th and 8th graders work closely with the librarian when writing their history research papers.