In kindergarten students study families and such communities as the school, the neighborhood and the town. While geography instruction centers on fundamental terms like globe, map, city, town and state, history lessons focus on holiday customs. In the first grade Hawken students review the concepts of family and local community and then widen their scope in a study of our country. Students also learn the essential map skills of reading symbols, distinguishing cardinal directions and interpreting scales. Map skills continue as an important part of the second grade curriculum.
Students learn about different types of maps and the use of a map grid.
The centerpiece of the curriculum is the study of the globe based on each child's ancestry. The exploration of history in this grade centers on a study of each student's ethnic background. Families are asked to assist the students in tracing the family's roots. In the third grade the study of history spans Native American settlement to westward expansion. In fourth grade students begin a two-year study of European and Asian cultures, starting with an examination of prehistoric man.