The Lower School Experience (Kindergarten – 4th Grade)
Enrolling your child at Saint Gregory’s School is more than just signing them up for a great education. Your child, and your family, is joining a tradition of excellence. The legacy of Saint Gregory’s grows with every school year as we see new students walk our halls, picking up where our graduates on the way to high school have left off.
A 100% college attendance rate happens when students are led on a path to academic excellence from day one. Whether a student transfers into our school, or has been a part of our program since before kindergarten, we welcome them as a part of our community and waste no time getting every student prepared academically.
The Lower School is made up of students from Kindergarten through fourth grade. Although these students are young, there are no exceptions to the quality of experiences that enrich our student’s education. Read about the Lower School Experience through the events and opportunities we create for the youngest students to participate in:
Academics
Within the curriculum we’ve developed for our students, there is plenty of time for learning in both a traditional classroom as well as in a non-traditional settings. We owe a lot of our success in creating unique experiences for students to our alumni network. The students of our school and their parents have always made Saint Gregory’s a better place through their commitment to our community. We appreciate when they are able to secure our students a chance to learn something new.
All of our students going on to attend college speaks for itself. We want our students to be busy, which is why we teach Spanish as early as Pre-K3, have recess twice a day and give our them chores to complete within our school.
Some highlights of the school year that make learning in our Lower School fun are competitions, such as the Battle of the Books, and guest speakers who share their valuable expertise with our students.
Battle of the Books
Every year our third and fourth graders get the chance to participate in the Saint Gregory’s Battle of the Books club where students are organized into four teams. They read 12 books and then compete to see which team knows the books the best.
Lower School Science Day
In February 2023 we welcomed Molecular and Cellular Physiologist Dr. John Lamar (parent ’29 and ’32) of Albany Medical Center to our second, fourth and fifth grade science classes. He taught our students about cells, microscopes and medicine.
Athletics
Our youngest students may not be competing in sports in a traditional sense by traveling and hosting other schools, but there are several opportunities for them to participate in athletics programs at our school. The team opportunities for our Lower School students include:
- Lacrosse – Fall and Spring seasons
- Grades K – 4th
- Intramural Soccer – Fall season
- Grades 1st – 5th
- Interscholastic Basketball – Winter season
- Grades 3rd – 8th
- Intramural Basketball – Winter season
- Grades K – 2nd
Intramural soccer is one of the many times our Lower School will be included in programs with Upper School students. Field Day and Spirit Day are two more great examples of moments during our school year that feature elements of athletics between our Lower and Upper Schools.
When students aren’t learning through experience about sports, they have the chance to hear from athletes through visits from local teams such as the Siena Saints and the Albany Firewolves. We believe in offering athletic opportunities because of the wide range of lessons a student can learn by being a part of a team: working together, dealing with success and failure and building self-esteem along the way.
Arts and Music
Art and music programs are available after school for students to pursue creative outlets. Third graders begin their musical education with recorders before they have the chance to join the band in Upper School. Music is a part of our younger student’s days as they prepare to sing in various concerts our school puts on, including our yearly Christmas and Spring concerts, where all of our students perform.
Lower School students also have the opportunity to create and design in art classes.
Clubs
Part of setting up a student to succeed is encouraging them to follow their passions. The clubs we have available to our students change each year based on what our students want to spend their time doing following their school day. Students have created running, cooking, coding and many more clubs in the past.
Community
Community Service
Our Lower School students learn from early on that there are many communities they belong to outside of just Saint Gregory’s School. In collaboration with the Upper School, our Lower School students learn about the importance of giving back to communities around them. Events like our Easter basket drive that benefit families in need of assistance is something that we value for every student.
Multi-Cultural Fair
Multi-Cultural Day is another great example of the communities we teach to our students. This event is so important because it is a chance for Saint Gregory’s students to share part of their family and cultural traditions with the entire school.
Faith
Not every student at Saint Gregory’s is Catholic, but for the students that choose to be a part of that community, we look forward to the moments on our calendar that celebrate their faith. The First Holy Communion of students is something that we are always excited to celebrate in our school:
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