Lower School

CLA's Lower School serves children in Grades Kindergarten through Fourth. In these formative years, we cultivate a nurturing environment that fosters the growth and development of young minds. Our approach emphasizes not only academic excellence but also the cultivation of integrity, honesty, and a deep-rooted appreciation for intercultural awareness. At CLA, we believe in fostering a supportive and caring community where students are not only encouraged to think beyond the traditional confines of the classroom but are also empowered to explore creative ideas and embrace intellectual risks. Our seasoned faculty, committed to excellence, guides students through effective communication and the development of collaborative skills, laying the foundation for them to evolve into innovative problem solvers. At CLA's Lower School, we aspire to inspire a love for learning that transcends the ordinary, shaping the leaders and critical thinkers of tomorrow.

Kindergarten - Fourth Grade

Curriculum

The Lower School curriculum at Creative Learning Academy helps develop the foundational knowledge, cognitive skills, and confidence needed for success in middle school and beyond. Students learn content, how to reflect on the learning, and how to apply this understanding to new situations.

The classroom environment supports the development of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, and habits of mind that will last a lifetime. The core curriculum includes language arts, writing, math, social studies, science, Spanish, and technology instruction.

Enrichment Courses

Enrichment offerings include music, art, Spanish, technology, and physical education. Interscholastic sports are available beginning in Kindergarten and full participation is encouraged.

At Creative Learning Academy, nurturing creative problem-solving and self-directed learning is a priority. As we prepare CLA students for the future, we want to provide every child with the opportunity to create, engineer, and design. We believe that this kind of thinking is critical as our learners prepare for high school, college, and beyond.

With this in mind, our LaunchPad is a place for wonder, curiosity, questioning, exploring, failing, and succeeding. It is a space where students work on design challenges and learn to develop critical-thinking skills.

Athletics

Creative Learning Academy believes that a quality athletic program is an important part of a student’s educational experience and strives to offer all students the opportunity to participate in interscholastic competition. CLA is committed to promoting the ideals of sportsmanship, respect, commitment, integrity, leadership, and team competition. By nurturing and encouraging these ideals through athletics, our goal is to offer all interested students and opportunity to participate, improve the athletic ability and fitness of each student, and instill in them the basic ideals of teamwork and lifelong physical fitness.

Through the athletic program, CLA intends:

to help students to develop empathy by committing to his/her teammates;
to nurture unselfishness in the student-athlete by expecting that his/her actions on and off the court or field, are consistent with the goals of the team as a whole, and not focused on individual accomplishments;
to further a sense of leadership through self-discipline, self-motivation, excellence, and good sportsmanship;
to generate school spirit, unity, and pride among the student body, faculty and CLA community.

Catholic Youth Sports League

Creative Learning Academy participates as a visiting member of the Catholic Youth Sports League (CYSL) for interscholastic athletic competition in volleyball (3rd-8th), flag football, basketball (2nd-8th), soccer (K-8th), and track and field (K-8th). CLA may participate in other independent programs for tennis (3rd-8th), swimming (5th-8th), and other sports.

Field Trips

Creative Learning Academy expands its curriculum by offering field trips at all grade levels. Field trips bring learning to life and provide opportunities for teachers and students to interact outside of the classroom and ignite a student’s desire to learn. These experiences, coupled with a challenging academic program, empower our graduates to become leaders, take healthy risks, and achieve their goals in high school and beyond.

Kindergarten through 3rd Grade Field Trips
In Kindergarten through 3rd grade, field trips can vary from year to year. Some of the places our students have visited include The Gulfarium, Roy Hyatt Environmental Center, and The Pensacola State College Planetarium and Space Theater.

Fourth Grade
In the fourth grade, students study the history, culture, and natural resources that are unique to the state of Florida. The students will travel to our state capital, visit Mission San Luis, and spend the night at the Tallahassee Museum.

Service Learning

Creative Learning Academy students are involved in a number of civic and community improvement efforts as part of our service learning initiative. Understanding the value of contributing time and energy in an effort to help others is an important part of a student’s social and emotional development. Service Learning is different from community service in that students take time to learn about the causes they are promoting and learn through the experiences of service. A few service learning experiences have included:

Make scarves and donate books and pajamas for the children at the Gulf Coast Kid’s House
Read to children in the Head Start Program
Clean and weed a rather large family plot to help aid in the preservation of historic St Michaels Cemetery
Plant a living shoreline on Bayou Grande with Northwest Florida Aquatic Preserves
Became“Blanketeers” for Project Linus
Collect much needed donations for our fellow Floridians devastated by Hurricane Michael

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