Welcome to the on-line community for Cranbrook Lower School Brookside and the Vlasic Early Childhood Center, where I invite you to discover all that makes our program remarkable and unique. While our comprehensive academic program is challenging for students at all levels, it is the spirit of Brookside that makes this such a special place. The intangibles are what set our program apart and inspire our students, parents, and faculty.

From the wide windows and vaulted ceilings of the art room where creativity can be limitless, to hands-on science experiments that have students clamoring to be novice scientists, we offer an educational environment that stimulates each student’s creative and academic interests, encouraging an early love of learning. The balance in our curriculum between academics and the arts, technological and experiential, fun and challenging, exposes each curious child to the endless possibilities for lifelong learning. Our students are eager to begin each morning, eager to discover what’s in store for the day, and eager to share their experiences at home.

The spirit of Brookside resides in the special relationships students form with their teachers, in the unique approach our educators take to basic materials and bring to each classroom, and in the special programs that involve families and the community. This spirit shapes and lives forever in our students, who take their experiences with math, reading, writing, science, technology, art, music drama, physical education and health and construct a foundation on which to build successful academic careers.

As you learn more about our challenging, comprehensive Lower School program, I hope you will come visit Brookside. Though words and pictures show the outstanding education children receive here, everyone must experience first-hand the intangible elements that inspire, encourage, and surround our campus. Come discover the spirit of Brookside for yourself.

Keith McConnell, Lower School Head

The Cranbrook educational experience begins here in the Vlasic Early Childhood Center, where we provide exceptional learning opportunities for pre-, junior, and senior kindergartners. In the ECC, we believe a child's first school experience should not only be educational, but exciting and nurturing, as well, which is why our teachers create programs to spark students' imagination and extend their classrooms into the world beyond.

Our curriculum bridges the important transition between home and school and emphasizes strong cognitive skills as well as social, emotional and physical development. More importantly, we ensure students meet the academic standards and benchmarks appropriate to their age, while at the same time, providing real-life applications for each lesson. Our educational philosophy goes beyond lessons and activities, however, connecting with each student’s sense of wonder and amazement. A lesson in shapes becomes an exercise in making pizza or taking a shape walk, and lessons on symmetry look to every-day objects, from double doors, to the bottoms of our shoes. Through these connections to the real world, a child's enthusiasm for learning is sustained and life-long learners are created.

The Early Childhood Center works in close partnership with its families and this partnership helps ensure every child’s success. Inside the classroom, students form important bonds with their teachers, who provide seamless transitions from class to class, day to day, and year to year. Our student-teacher ratio is one of the reasons we can offer our students the personalized attention that helps them feel supported as they tackle new tasks and challenges and it allows for individual attention and small group instruction. Our faculty is specifically trained in early childhood education and experienced with young children. The majority of our teachers have Master's degrees, and all regularly participate in professional development opportunities.

Parents are afforded many volunteer opportunities, both in and outside the classroom. They help chaperone most student field trips and work to support school programs through fund-raising and extra-curricular events.

The facilities and grounds of the Cranbrook Educational Community are extensions of the ECC classroom, which means our students don’t have to go far afield to appreciate master works of art, study natural animal habitats, or learn about weaving. In addition to the Cranbrook Art Museum and Institute of Science, our campus offers state-of-the-art athletic facilities, including the Williams Natatorium and Wallace Ice Arena, which our students use in Physical Education classes or classroom field trips. Our close proximity to all these resources allows us to integrate many experiences into our students' day, often with the assistance and participation of parents and Cranbrook community members.

While you explore the following pages, you will learn about the special activities that enrich each school year, as well as our approach to education within each discipline. What we can’t capture in a web page or a sentence is the delight with which current and former students and families regard the ECC experience. That’s why we invite prospective families to visit the Brookside campus and experience the Vlasic Early Childhood Center for themselves.

Sincerely,

Virginia Miller and Kathleen Ball
Co-directors