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Second Grade Students Cultivate Leadership Skills in Lower School
At most elementary schools, second graders find themselves somewhere in the middle – no longer the youngest, but not yet the oldest. At St. Andrew’s Lower School, however, second graders are the leaders of the student body and take on unique responsibilities in the life of the school.
Second grade – the final grade before students switch campuses and become part of the Intermediate School – is the perfect time to give students more responsibilities, according to Head of Lower School Jordan Love.
“This is an area in which they thrive, in terms of their growth and development,” Love said. “When you give a second grader a task they own, there’s a real sense of pride they have about that responsibility.
“For students in the Lower School, it’s the first year they can take ownership of tasks independently. It’s the age and stage that makes it possible.”
Students are tasked with giving the morning announcements; reading during chapel services; setting up, serving food and cleaning up during monthly pizza lunches; and choosing themes for spirit days. Second graders also take on more challenging assignments, like designing their own science project in class and writing a weekly newsletter to parents.
“You get to make big choices and you get to do some things the little ones don’t get to do, which is kind of fun,” said Chase Marino ’28.
Second-grade teacher Jenny Olin said each responsibility connects to the curriculum – working the pizza lunches emphasizes lessons on citizenship, while public speaking during chapels and morning announcements reinforce the language arts curriculum.
One of the first responsibilities second graders assume is writing the school rules, an exercise that requires them to sort through suggestions from all students and identify four or five rules that they will present to the student body.
“I think it helps to illustrate that this place is for and dedicated to young children,” Love said. “When we are ascribing how we are going to lead our lives, and we’re giving that power to a group of eight year olds, to come up with the expectations for how best to do that, I think it’s a very symbolic gesture.
“You’re really turning the keys over to the people who it will be impacted the most and empowering them with the responsibility, but also the right, to choose, and that’s a huge part of our curriculum.”
Olin said becoming leaders in second grade is a significant turning point for students.
“I think it’s more of a rite of passage, a stage where they can be the big kids on the block and show everyone how that’s done and be role models,” Olin said. “They have pride in themselves and pride in the school.”
Second graders agreed it is important they make good choices because they know their younger peers are paying attention.
“It feels like you’re teaching them,” said Matilda Hall ’28.
Students who started at St. Andrew’s in second grade and have since moved to the Intermediate School said the emphasis on leadership made a big difference.
“I liked that everyone was calling us leaders,” said Zoe Gorbachev ’27. “Being a leader in the Lower School, I knew that I could always be counted on.”
Darcey Kidd ’27 said her responsibilities as a second grader gave her more confidence.
“You’re in the highest grade on the campus. You can read to the little kids and you feel like you’re more grown up,” Darcey said.
Olin said her hope is that all her second graders carry that self-confidence when they step up to third grade.
“‘I was the big man on campus, and now I’m a minnow in a shark pond, but I have a little more confidence because I know I can do so much more than I could before,’” she said.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School is a private, coeducational college preparatory day school for students in preschool (Age 2) through grade 12, located in Potomac, Maryland.