page_title: Avery Coonley School
section_title: Academic program
hierarchical_section_title: Avery Coonley School / Curriculum / Academic program
caption_attribution_description: English: Second grade student at the Avery Coonley School in Downer's Grove, Illinois tapping a maple tree in a school tradition dating back 1929, its first year in this location.
context_page_description: The Avery Coonley School, commonly called Avery Coonley, is an independent, coeducational day school serving academically gifted students in preschool through eighth grade, and is located in Downers Grove, DuPage County, Illinois. The school was founded in 1906 to promote the progressive educational theories developed by John Dewey and other turn-of-the-20th-century philosophers, and was a nationally recognized model for progressive education well into the 1940s. From 1943 to 1965, Avery Coonley was part of the National College of Education, serving as a living laboratory for teacher training and educational research. In the 1960s, ACS became a regional research center and a leadership hub for independent schools, and began to focus on the education of the gifted.
  The school has occupied several structures in its history, including a small cottage on the Coonley Estate in Riverside, Illinois, and another building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
context_section_description: As of 2009, the curriculum is accelerated for each group, which is separated by grade and age; students are instructed a minimum of one year above their current grade level. (For example, the first group is taught at a second grade level.) Students are grouped within their class to allow each of them work at the level of their ability, and they may work several years beyond their current level if they can do so. Students may join older groups to study subjects, which they are exceptionally advanced; however, age groups are usually kept together "for social and emotional values". All middle school students complete a high school level honors course in mathematics in either algebra or geometry.
  Students explore broad learning themes at each level that allow them to learn across subjects and engage them in creative and collaborative projects. The second group, for example, spends much of their year on the study of trees, using trees as a focus for biology, mathematics, art, and creative writing. Students adopt and study a personal space in the nearby forest preserve. The year culminates with the tapping of maple trees to make syrup, which they share with the rest of the school. Each group engages different themes and group projects. Lower school students simulate an airplane flight to Paris and host a Japanese luncheon. The fourth group holds a Native American Fair, the fifth group creates an original Egyptian style mastaba, the sixth group presents a World's Fair, and the eighth group organizes an Immigration and Ethnic Fair.
  Science studies are enhanced by nature and outdoor experiences. Students participate in nature programs sponsored by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, such as adopting a "Bass in the Class", and monitoring the growth of macroinvertebrates in the DuPage River. Competition in regional and state science fairs and Science Olympiad is considered an integral part of the science program. All students are strongly encouraged to participate, and the seventh group students are required to do so.
  All students study French, which is taught by language immersion, a technique in which they only speak French during language study. All signs in the building are written in both French and English. Students begin French instruction in junior kindergarten, and continue on to study French four times a week in groups one through eight. They culminate their study with a week-long experience in Quebec in group eight, during which they only speak French.
  Visual art study begins with drawing and painting and then advances to more complex techniques such as sculpture, stained glass, architecture, photography, and pottery. Students learn in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil pastels, charcoal, and clay. Music study begins in the early childhood program. As they progress, Avery Coonley students participate in vocal music, playing Orff instruments and recorders, dancing, and public performance. In middle school, students develop music literacy by reading and writing music, playing choir chimes, and choral singing. The study of music in culture and the history of jazz and opera are taught alongside theory and performance.
  The drama program begins in acting and dramatic writing, directing, and the technical arts in the fourth group. Students practice both rehearsed and improvised performances to create pantomimes, monologues, films, and short plays. Their theatrical work culminates in the eighth group with the performance of one-act plays the students write and direct themselves and the production of a professionally scripted full-length play. Artistically inclined students can extend their arts studies outside of class in optional activities including Art Club, Chorus, Orchestra, Tech Club, Drama Club, and the Variety Show.
caption: A second group student collecting sap for maple syrup in the Forest Preserve, the culmination of her study of trees
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