As one of the highest ranked elementary schools in the state of Colorado, Larkspur Elementary continues to offer what parents are seeking...a supportive, nurturing and inviting environment that fosters the love of learning by providing a progressive set of tools that include:               
  


 

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Larkspur Elementary engages students through immersion in our local environment, or setting, as the context for learning.  Our local setting or community (environment) is what we refer to when we say “environment-based education.”  In this program, our staff provides hands-on educational activities in indoor and outdoor classrooms each day.  Larkspur students benefit from student-led inquiry, true and original science activities, and real-world application of knowledge and skills.  

The idea behind this is simple:  make learning meaningful and interesting.  It is natural for human beings to be interested in the world around them.  No one is surprised to see the curiosity of small children examining a worm or a flower, or asking why the sky is blue or the wind blows. Yet we put these same children into sterile, constricted environments and expect them to sit and be quiet when their bodies and minds want to be engaged and active. Through our environment-based program, we strive to make learning relevant.

Many people think of environment-based education as environmental education.  While some student activities may delve into environmental concerns or issues, this is not the focus of environment-based education.  The program at Larkspur Elementary includes service learning, collaborative teaching, community-based investigations, integrated/interdisciplinary instruction, and learning activities that require students to work collaboratively and independently.  In addition, students engage in activities to help them understand natural and social/human systems that exist in our world.

In addition to classroom work, Larkspur students engage in outside learning activities to enrich or extend concepts that have been introduced in the classroom.  Students spend outside time on our campus on a regular basis.  On occasion, students visit different areas of our nearby community to support the academic focus of our school.