Curriculum Overview
We combine challenging core academics with hands-on activities that engage students in interdisciplinary learning. We also believe deeply that social-emotional learning goes hand in hand with academic achievement. Our curriculum is made even deeper through our specialist classes and commitment to environmental sustainability.
Comprehensive Academics
At the heart of Bertschi School’s rigorous academic curriculum are math, reading, writing, and social studies. Students move through scaffolded instruction and practice that meet them at their “just right” level. This may look like instruction in and exploration of new material, independent or collaborative practice and problem solving, or application of the learning to real life situations and independent projects. Small, flexible groupings made are used to differentiate instruction to respond to the ever changing needs of each student. Our graduates know how to learn both as independent thinkers and as part of a collaborative team.
Arts & Sciences
Academics at Bertschi are both interdisciplinary and grounded in real-life experiences. We integrate math, reading, writing, and social studies with cross-curricular connections to our nine specialist classes. Our specialists are experts in their field and collaborate with classroom teachers.
Child-Led Learning
Bertschi believes that children thrive when they are partners in their own learning and can formulate and answer questions that are important to them. In addition to the rich content of our curriculum, we support students in developing and pursuing passions and ideas. For example, student-led activism in the community is supported and encouraged.
Equity-Focused Education
Students increase their capacity for empathy and collaboration when they are offered a diversity of perspectives and ideas. By centering historically disadvantaged perspectives and voices, students have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of historical events and gain the opportunity to see and to value the contributions of many different people.
As equity-focused educators, we focus not just on exposing students to multiple perspectives but also raising students’ awareness of their role as change-makers. Moving from compassion to action happens on the playground, in classroom projects, and in spontaneous teachable moments. Bertschi students learn that their voices matter and that their actions can make a difference.
Social Emotional Learning
At Bertschi, social-emotional learning is not a separate program — it is woven into every grade, every classroom, and every day. Our curriculum follows a detailed scope and sequence across four competencies: self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and decision-making, with teachers trained in strategies specific to the needs of each age group. A dedicated school counselor supports students, teachers, and families directly, leading small groups, providing classroom instruction, and ensuring every child has what they need to thrive.
Arts & Sciences
Bertschi students learn from dedicated specialist teachers in nine areas: art, drama, music, PE, Spanish, library, science, robotics and technology, and creative movement. Specialist teachers collaborate with classroom teachers to connect their subjects to what students are studying, creating a learning experience that is richer and more coherent than any single classroom could deliver alone.
Environmental Stewardship
Bertschi's campus is a teaching tool as much as a place to learn. Our buildings include a LEED Gold-certified structure and the first certified Living Building in Washington State, and students engage with both as part of a curriculum that takes environmental stewardship seriously from pre-K through Grade 5. Sustainability is not a unit — it is a through-line, woven into science, social studies, math, and daily practice across every grade.