Classes
Learning and teaching
Our small classes provide a safe setting for practising cooperative as well as individualised forms of teaching in a manageable learning community.
In addition to bright, spacious classrooms and shared learning rooms, each class has its own group room.
The class and subject teachers at every level work closely together as a small team and regularly share their experiences. With elected representatives of each class in the ElementaRat, Elementa’s schoolchildren are actively involved.
Lessons
Elementa primary school follows the Swiss education system’s Lehrplan 21 (Curriculum 21) and corresponding timetable. In addition, our children follow an extended curriculum, which we use to encourage gifted pupils, provide English lessons from class 1 and implement exciting projects in the area of digital media and IT.
Apart from foreign-language classes, all lessons are in German.
Children with English as a mother tongue receive separate lessons for ‘English Natives’.
We speak Swiss German with the children during childcare hours and in extracurricular activities.
Our school prepares all its pupils for optimum entry to secondary level and grammar-school equivalents in the Swiss education system.
Promoting gifted pupils
Our credo and motto, ‘Strengthen strengths. Learn to learn.’ guides us in every aspect of individual support for gifted and inquisitive children.
Working with research questions, mixed-age and cooperative learning approach, coaching plans, portfolio work and our exciting project weeks are just a few of our concept tools for discovering and promoting children’s individual strengths and talents.
The children regularly present their works and projects to a school-internal as well as public audience. This builds presentation skills in an age-appropriate, enjoyable and sustainable way. The shared pleasure in learning achievements and a successful presentation increases the child’s self-confidence and motivation to learn.
Our lesson planning features networked learning – we connect the individual subjects, games, sport and leisure time to form a thematic whole, wherever possible. This makes school and lessons relevant and true to life.
Remedial teaching
DaZ - more than learning German
"Since the summer I have been teaching DaZ (German as a second language) at the Elementa. I like the work as a DaZ teacher very much and I find it very satisfying to work with the children in small groups on a specific topic. The close supervision of the children enables me to recognize progress or problems and to adapt my lessons accordingly. During my training I received many exciting and current inputs. A particularly interesting thing for me was the use of digital media in DaZ lessons. Since I wanted to pursue this approach further, I attended a further education in this area in the summer. I became aware of how important the correct use of smartphones, tablets and the like is for the future of children today. Computer science and media also play an important role in the new curriculum 21. I decided to include digital media in my DaZ classes as well. The tablet or smartphone are important companions in my lessons and are used in many different ways. They are easy to use and very attractive for all age groups. Through the use of the tablet, for example, the children are intrinsically motivated to follow the lessons and to actively learn the language through their actions. If the language is linked to an action, the brain can remember it better later. An example of such a use of the tablet is a project of two children from the 1st grade, which I would like to introduce here: Until the autumn holidays the children of the 1st and 2nd grade had the topic "Apple" in NMG (Natur Mensch Gesellschaft). The teachers in the classes read a picture book which showed the apple tree and its transformation during the seasons. I wanted to deepen the contents of the picture book again in the DaZ instruction and so also the appropriate vocabulary to the topic to practice. In my work with the children I used a Stop Motion App. Together we developed a short film about the miraculous transformation of the apple tree throughout the year. During the seasons, the children collected terms, which they had to pack into one sentence. After a short introduction, the children were able to use the app independently.
At the end, I made small adjustments, such as adjusting the speed or the volume. The result was impressive and the children were very enthusiastic! You are also welcome to watch our film. We wish you a lot of fun!"
Janine Fallegger, subject teacher
October 2019
At Elementa, "homework" is an integral part of everyday school life. From the 5th grade the children also work on homework at home.
This gives children and their families scope to use their leisure time how they wish, resulting in a more relaxed family life.
We also offer individual lessons such as remedial tuition and German as a second language. This provides additional support to children in their individual learning processes and personal development. The lessons are taught by expert staff who focus on the resources and requirements of the individual child.
Current project work
