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Elementary School

A crowded outdoor area with a large building entrance, colorful banners, and people gathered around tables and benches.

Our Elementary School is a warm, welcoming community where every child feels seen, supported, and encouraged to explore. Teaching is purposeful and tailored to each student. Curiosity is celebrated and achievements are honored as children build the foundations for lifelong learning.

Our diverse community is enriched by our many voices and perspectives, fostering collaboration, real‑world connections, and meaningful experiences that extend beyond the campus. Learning is transdisciplinary, inquiry‑based, and concept driven, helping students develop the skills and dispositions to engage confidently and compassionately in their classrooms and the world.

We balance academic rigor, social emotional learning, and fostering student agency, creativity, and reflection.

At Academia Cotopaxi, our students have rich opportunities across academics, the arts, and personal interests so every learner can thrive.

A group of young children in school uniforms playing and interacting in a hallway with a butterfly decoration on the wall.

A Joyful Journey Through Elementary School

Inspiring Every Elementary Learner
Inspiring Every Elementary Learner

Elementary School is a place where every child is known, valued, and inspired to grow. Our students explore their interests, develop confidence, and build a strong sense of belonging in a caring learning environment.

Learning That Connects and Grows
Learning That Connects and Grows

Learning in Elementary School is integrated, creative, and purposeful. Students build strong academic foundations through meaningful experiences that connect ideas, encourage curiosity, and deepen understanding.

A Community That Enriches Learning
A Community That Enriches Learning

Our school community comes alive through the diversity of the people in it. Students learn alongside classmates with unique voices and perspectives that enrich every experience and strengthen relationships.

Learning Approach

At Academia Cotopaxi, elementary learning is rooted in a culture of inquiry and exploration. Every day, children are invited to wonder, investigate, and make meaning through learning experiences designed around their ideas, questions, and interests.

Student-centered engagements intentionally build ownership and agency. Choice is not occasional — it actively drives daily lessons. As children explore, they connect personal experiences and social interactions to authentic, transdisciplinary contexts, building understanding that is both relevant and lasting.

Signature Experiences

Learning in the Academia Cotopaxi Elementary School is student-centered, inquiry-based, and transdisciplinary. Guided by the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), each grade explores Units of Inquiry that connect literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and social-emotional learning in meaningful, real-world ways.

These signature experiences highlight student agency, creativity, collaboration, and authentic action, helping children build deep understanding and essential skills that last beyond the classroom.

The image shows a classroom setting with a teacher and students engaged in a collaborative learning activity, with the students actively participating by writing on a large blackboard or whiteboard.
A group of people, including students and teachers, are engaged in a classroom setting with various educational materials and decorations visible in the background.
A group of people, including children in school uniforms, are gathered around a table, engaged in various activities such as reading, writing, and conversing in what appears to be a classroom or educational setting.
A group of students and teachers gathered in a colorful classroom, engaged in a collaborative activity on the floor.
A young boy in a blue sweater is sitting on the floor, playing with various toys and art supplies in a classroom setting with wooden shelves and cubbies in the background.

Exploring Emotions Through “How We Express Ourselves” 

In Grade 2, students explored the Unit of Inquiry How We Express Ourselves, investigating emotions, cooperation, conflict, and healthy ways to express and work through feelings. Across subject areas, students strengthened communication and self-management skills while building empathy and emotional awareness.

Highlights of the experience:

  • Literacy: Identified emotions in stories, discussed characters’ perspectives, and practiced clear communication through writing, speaking, and listening.
  • Spanish: Investigated emotions and self-regulation, then took action by creating toolkits to support themselves and share strategies with others.
  • Visual Arts & Music: Explored how color and sound express feelings, creating artwork and musical pieces connected to chosen emotions.
  • Physical Education: Expressed emotions through movement and body poses, learning that feelings can also be communicated physically.

Skills in Action

Across these signature experiences, students develop:

inquiry skills • student agency • creativity • collaboration • communication • social-emotional learning • critical thinking • real-world problem solving • IB PYP learner profile attributes.