SMALL CLASS SIZES
Branch Line School (BLS) is small by design. Classes are capped at 20 students. As we have grown over the last 10 years, we have had to add new classrooms in order to accommodate the number of students moving up. Students and families who are frustrated or overwhelmed by the size and impersonal nature of the traditional classroom will find welcome respite in the safe, nurturing and intimate learning community of BLS.

MULTI-AGE CLASSROOMS
Our school model is one of multi-age classrooms. Kindergarten (Junior Explorers) is our only stand-alone class. Explorers consist of first and second grade, Investigators are our third and fourth grades, Navigators are the fifth and sixth grades, and the Innovators are the seventh and eighth grades. We’d rather not have students identifying themselves with a grade, but as a community as a whole.

The idea behind multi-age classes is a philosophy-based approach on teaching and learning. The main reason is that we have realized and fully believe that relationships/connections between students (peer to peer) and teachers is one of the most influential practices in student success.

Our multi-age classrooms are purposefully designed to include students of all abilities. Coupled with project-based/interest-based learning, students are able to learn from each other – and show what they know. Our teachers teach in cohorts, or teams. Students stay with the same cohort teachers for two years, which allows the development of a stronger connection between peers, students and teachers, and also with families and the community.

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION
Because multi-age classrooms are a school-wide structure, there is more than one class of each level, so teachers have the opportunity to plan and teach together. Because team-teaching has been successfully implemented, this allows our teachers to have more small group/individual time with students.

Our students learn based on their individual needs and growth, not based on a graded average. Topics covered are based on Michigan Department of Education (MDE) standards, but projects/centers are designed so that students at any level can be successful and learn at their own pace. Our teachers have the autonomy to decide what they teach based on the needs of their students. They design the curriculum by identifying common outcomes/MDE standards from both grade levels and blend them together.

Learn more about Branch Line School on our website at www.branchlineschool.org. We have limited availability in all classrooms – CLICK HERE to submit an enrollment request and schedule a tour today.

Branch Line School will guide students in an individualized, small school atmosphere that cultivates intellectual freedom, respect for others, and service to the community in order to produce critical thinkers and informed global citizens. The bold words there are what we call our branches.

Here is a definition of the word MISSION – The ultimate goal or purpose toward which one strives; one’s reason or motivation to continue existing, operating, or working. Here at Branch Line, our mission is woven in and out of everything that is done at school. It is displayed in every classroom, in our hallways, and discussed often.

Each year, our Culture Committee promotes a different “branch” each month, we study, research, and learn what that branch means to us individually as well as a whole school. Students and staff get to explain what they learned about that particular branch that month – and also ways they’ve seen it played out.

INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM
Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas without restriction. In kid-speak: Intellectual freedom is the right to have information, learn information, and teach that information without limits.

The idea here being that there can be many different answers to the same question. Also, there may be many different ways to solve a problem – we all have the right to choose our own way.

Examples:

• Choosing work that is at your level
• Choosing your own topics
• Choosing what to do next
• Teaching a classmate about what you’ve learned
• Finding a different way to “show what you know”
• Choosing where to learn
• Extending the learning after the expectation is met
• Alternate seating

RESPECT FOR OTHERS
Respect is the experience of being heard and knowing that someone cares. Contrary to popular belief, respect is not earned, it is a basic human right afforded to everyone. In kid-speak: showing honor. speaking gently, being professional.

Just as adults want students to listen and think about instructions, students want to feel heard and understood in return – the definition goes both ways.

Examples:

• First time obedience (if a trusted adult asks for something to be done – do it the first time) – they are free to ask questions – but at a later time.
• Remaining calm, using an inside-voice, even when mad or upset.
• Assuming the good in people first.
• Being an active listener (open body language, attention, maybe even eye-contact).
• Showing respect even if another person is being disrespectful to you. (all the time).
• Respecting objects–leaving space as it was found, not breaking things, not tearing things.

COMMUNITY SERVICE
Community service is work done by a person or group of people that benefits others. It is often done near the area where you live, so your own community gets the benefits of your work. You do not get paid to perform community service. In kid-speak: Helping people around you.  Being available.  Showing service without complaint.

Community service can help any group of people in need. It can also help animals, such as those at a shelter, and it can be used to improve places, such as a local park, historic building, or scenic area as well.

Examples:

• Recycling
• Cleaning up after ourselves, not leaving things out in the open (such as paper, trash, etc)
• Donations to homeless or food banks
• Doing something for others for no reward

CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking — about any subject, content, or problem — in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully analyzing, assessing, and reconstructing it. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities, as well as a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism. In kid-speak:  Thinking deeply and reflecting.  Wondering why.

Examples:

• Raising vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely
• Gathering and assessing relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively
• Comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards
• Thinking with an open mind, recognizing and assessing their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences
• Communicating effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems
• Asking why (discovery rather than being told an answer)
• Making connections

GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
Global citizenship is the idea that everyone, no matter where they live, is part of a worldwide community. Although your life may not look like the lives of people in other countries, you share similar experiences, like playing games or having a family. Being a global citizen means that you look for these similarities and try to understand how life may be different for other people. In kid-speak: Appreciating, being interested in, and enjoying what makes people different than ourselves. Accepting what is different without saying, “Ew!” or “Weird!”  Instead say, “I’ve never seen that before”  “I don’t know what that is, can you tell me?”

Examples:

• learning or asking about other cultures–cultures can include other countries or just other families
• wanting to understand what makes us different