Please feel free to contact our registrar at registrar@kapkaschool.org with any questions or to request an application packet.

KapKa Cooperative School
510 N 49th St,
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 522-0350


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Learning

The child's first few years of school set the tone for future learning. At KapKa we strive to give our students a love of life-long learning, and set their expectations for exceptional learning experiences.  We acknowledge that every person—adult and child—is a learner.  Children are just beginning to take responsibility for the direction their learning will take. We guide the process by encouraging children to think creatively for themselves, develop successful academic skills and strategies, grow in self-management, and solve problems through cooperative interactions.  Our multi-age curriculum offers a multi-age, multi-disciplinary approach to learning that weaves together academics, the arts, community service, and environmental studies.  We encourage independent exploration as well as teamwork, and honor the uniqueness and growth of each child as he or she makes new discoveries about his or her self and the world around us.

We believe that a child’s fascination with a subject provides a doorway for deeper inquiry and connection with the world. Whether a child is interested in rocks or raccoons, project-centered study can provide him or her with a focus for reading, math, science and art. This work has intrinsic meaning and value for a child as compared to the "imposed schoolwork.”

 Basic principles that shape our learning structure are:

Trust and Familiarity
  • Learn each child's interests, passions and personality and build relationships of trust supporting their exploration.

  • Recognize our students' different strengths & talents highlighting that they will take varied paths on their journeys toward independence.

  • Our students learn to think for themselves and be self-motivated, confident explorers, simultaneously collaborating with each other.
  • We recognize that even the most gifted, successful child has areas in which to be challenged.

Problem Solving & Practice

  • We use inquiry to solve problems, so the child discovers the answer, rather than having the answer discovered or expressed by the teacher.

  • We start with what the child already knows, then build on that knowledge by asking questions that challenge them to stretch their thinking.

  • Our students see that problems can be solved in many ways. We honor more than one solution or more than one way to think about a problem.

  • We stress the importance of breaking tasks into smaller parts and of students being responsible for their work.
  Experiential Learning
  • We believe children learn best what they experience directly. Therefore, our lesson plans often involve hands-on exploration.

  • Our "home fun" (home work) is almost always connected to the child's family life outside of school.

  • We create opportunities for our children to apply their learning in real-life situations.

  • We supplement classroom activities with frequent field trips, which relate to our studies.

Respect for the Individual

  • We honor different learning styles by offering a variety of means of accessing and processing information, and we stress that we are each different and do not learn - or need to learn - in the same way.

  • We encourage each child to accomplish "your size job" This means that each child does his/her best with a task that is appropriately challenging for him/her.

  • These practices promote confidence by encouraging each child to develop according to his or her own timeline and developmental pathway

 

A child’s fascination with a subject provides a doorway for deeper inquiry and connection with the world. Whether a child is interested in rocks or raccoons, project-centered study can provide him or her with a focus for reading, math, science and art. This work has intrinsic meaning and value for a child as compared to the "imposed schoolwork.”

KapKa teachers are careful to give children the foundation they need in math and literacy. While much work is done collaboratively, we emphasize independent reading, offer skills-based instruction and teach comprehension strategies with individualized help for early readers. We make math concepts hands-on, relevant and experiential. We also integrate math concepts in our community activities — counting baby salmon, measuring footprints in the mud and calculating the cost of Thanksgiving groceries.

A favorite element in the KapKa Curriculum is the way art is woven into our work and play.  Students use visual art to communicate about themselves as well as explore project work.  Music is integral to KapKa with each day beginning with drumming and singing.  Physical activities are key as well - students have ample outdoor play opportunities as well as weekly P.E. In addition, we delight in field trips that connect the classroom learning to the real world.