Welcome to the FCS Lower School, where students in grades K through 4 discover the joy of learning, the courage to take risks, and the value of sharing a community.

Yonnette Moore
Assistant Head of School/Head of Lower School

Holistic Learning in K-4

Children love to learn. FCS fuels that excitement. In keeping with the progressive underpinnings of our school, FCS teachers foster the intellectual, creative, social, spiritual, and physical development of the whole child. We respect different development stages and honor the process of moving from one to another, meeting each child at their level.

FCS emphasizes hands-on learning based on current understandings of how students best acquire information. Broad units such as the Chesapeake Bay, Underground Railroad, Colonial America, Immigration, and the Constitution offer opportunities for exploration of the literature, art, science, history, and music relating to them. Students develop a holistic understanding of the topics they are learning. Frequent field trips connect classroom lessons to the rich cultural offerings in the D.C.-metro area. 

In grades 1-4, students are in multi-age classrooms to meet social as well as academic needs. Just as academic readiness varies among individuals, social needs vary from year to year. In most cases, students stay with the same teacher for two years. Children benefit from the continuity and the experience of being both the younger and older child among peers, both a mentee and mentor. Children in kindergarten and grades 5 through 8 are taught in single-grade groupings, as befits their academic and developmental needs.

Lower School Classrooms

A Week in the Lower School

Morning Meeting — every day
Language Arts — every day
Mathematics — every day
Art — 1-1.5 hours/week
Science — 1-1.5 hours/week
Spanish — 1-1.5 hours/week
Music — 1-1.5 hours/week
Physical Education — 1.5 hours/week
Meeting Partners — 1.5 hours/week

Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.
Friends Community School
5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
301-441-2100