The Way We Live: The Ingalls Family’s Pioneer Virtue Mandi Gerth
In 2025, Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie celebrated its 90th anniversary. This beloved classic remains central to the Great Hearts elementary school canon alongside Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy. Even as it becomes increasingly harder for our scholars to imagine the life of an American pioneer, we continue to point our students to the civic and moral virtue which shapes our national character, virtues we see in the Ingalls family. In this workshop, we will look at ways the Little House series shapes the moral imagination of our scholars by taking them inside unique struggles faced by this lovable family on the Western frontier of America. As Laura herself said, “the way we live and [our] schools are much different now, so many changes have made living and learning easier. But the real things haven’t changed. It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.”
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The Socratic K-5 Classroom 101: An Introduction (Introductory Session) Jerilyn Olson
Session for First Time Attendees K-5 teachers often wonder how the Socratic Method applies in a K-5 classroom – are kindergartners really supposed to seminar on Aristotle? In this workshop, we will discuss lesson planning with inquiry in mind, unit introductions that inspire wonder, and the questions that follow. For Great Hearts Staff: Please note that this is the same workshop offered at Great Hearts New Faculty Orientation.
American Legends That Shape Our Moral Imaginations: Folktales and Tall Tales Alexis Mausolf
The ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence reverberate down the ages and find their echoes in well-known American tales, such as Paul Revere, Johnny Appleseed, Rip Van Winkle, and Paul Bunyan. In this workshop, learn how the legends and folktales native to American soil have helped shape our national identity and values since this nation’s inception, and how they can continue to form your students’ moral imaginations. You will be provided with practical ideas for approaching American folklore in the K-5 classroom, and concrete ways to weave it into the various subjects you teach, in order to expand your students’ knowledge and sensibilities, and to prepare them for lives of virtuous citizenship.
What Singapore Math Offers the American Experiment Jessica Kaminski
Mathematics is unchanging in its beauty. It’s a discipline that helps us make sense of the world through logic, precision, and truth. Yet throughout the American experiment, math instruction has often been shaped by passing trends rather than enduring principles. In this session, we’ll look to Singapore, a global leader in mathematics education, for four timeless strategies that support deep understanding and lasting success: an upward spiral curriculum, a balance of conceptual and procedural knowledge, research-based teaching practices, and an emphasis on problem-solving. While we cannot fully replicate Singapore’s system, we can apply these core principles to meet the needs of our unique students, guiding them toward truth through the logical beauty of mathematics.
Exploring the Tradition and Benefits of Language Immersion for Classical Education Liliana Worth
Hadar Jewish Classical Academy is pioneering a rigorous Hebrew immersion program, for mostly students from English-speaking homes that exposes and engages children as young as three in a Hebrew-speaking environment to maximize the language acquisition capacity of young minds. Our Pre-K and K sections offer almost full immersion in Hebrew during the school day with minimal instruction time in English allotted to basic numeracy and literacy. As the students move up the grades, they continue with their Hebrew immersion for Jewish studies, Hebrew literature, and Hebrew conversation and Israeli studies, within a framework that establishes a strong framework at the younger years and tapers off to allow more time for core classical English-speaking instruction in Math, English, History, and Latin. Even within our first two years of the immersion program, we have noted remarkable benefits: in addition to developing their second language proficiency, we have observed that our students show tendencies that suggest bilingual language processing, a stronger ability to navigate academic challenges and ambiguous environments, good linguistic sensitivity in English, and an openness to learning additional languages such as Latin. Finally, the provision of Hebrew allows our students to engage with the most ancient tradition and heritage of the West, and access the scriptures and philosphy at the roots of our American classical education.
A Reading of the Brothers Grimm’s Little Red Riding Hood Vigen Guroian
Little Red Riding Hood
Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood is the version of the fairy tale with which most Americans are familiar. His telling of the story is moralistic. The meaning is spelled unambiguously in the moral he attaches to it: Pretty girls/Innocent of life’s dangers,/Shouldn’t stop and chat with strangers. The Brothers Grimm’s telling is a story of salvation symbolized by what the mother gives Little Red Riding Hood to take to her grandmother’s home. In Perrault’s version the mother gives Little Red Riding Hood a loaf and butter to carry to the grandmother’s home. In the Grimms’ version she carries a cake and wine to the grandmother, an allusion to the Christian eucharist. This is enough to get us started. The rest I will leave for when we meet. I hope we can have good conversation.
Pretty girls/Innocent of life’s dangers,/Shouldn’t stop and chat with strangers.
Before They Can Read – Building Literacy Through Picture Books Robert Pondiscio
Long before children decode their first words, they are acquiring the vocabulary, background knowledge, and habits of mind that will make fluent reading possible. This session explores how rich read-alouds and carefully chosen picture books build language proficiency and cultural literacy in the early years. We’ll consider how picture books expand vocabulary, sharpen narrative sense, and cultivate shared knowledge – and how teachers can use them to prepare students for more demanding texts.
Making Thinking Visible Marisa Cook
Did you know that some studies have found that on average, teachers spend at least 89% of the lesson talking? Have you ever done your best learning while listening to someone talk this much? This session will focus on why students learn best when we transfer the heavy lifting onto the students and how learning is a consequence of thinking. We will cover different strategies that will allow your students to fully engage in the material while simultaneously providing you a window into their thinking, long before you give an assessment!
Syntax Unlocking Symbolism: What Students Should Know About Grammar K-6 Christen Arbogast
What can the structure of a sentence tell us about the greater meaning of text? Teaching grammar can be difficult in the lower schools, not only because students are expected to know the categories and functions of words, but also because students often don’t see the purpose behind such knowledge. Understanding that grammar helps students look closer at a text, the study of grammar can open sentences to greater clarity and beauty. In this workshop, participants will work through a pedagogical philosophy of teaching grammar and see how understanding form and structure unlocks the deeper beauty behind great sentences in children’s classic literature.
Renewing through Rhythm: A Midyear Reset for Educators Lisa Ann Dillon
Are you asking yourself if you are doing enough, getting it right, meeting the needs of all your students and hitting all the classical benchmarks you have set? Midyear, this is where many teachers land and you can find yourself losing the spark with which you began the year. Sometimes, we just get things out of focus. In this session, you are invited to recalibrate the sites through which you see your students and yourselves. Through the lens of wonder and curiosity, we can identify the most important First Things for you to concentrate on. By initiating liturgical rhythms both in your classroom and in your life outside of work, you can get back into the right rhythm. This session will provide you with practical ideas keeping the concepts of renewed energy, real solutions to challenges, and a solid list of things to try on Monday morning. As teachers, you have the best solutions. We’ll hold space for identification and brainstorming enhanced by some tips and tricks I have learned from nearly 30 years in the classroom. Some of this will include ways to incorporate repetitio mater memoriae (repetition is the mother of memory) into your daily transitions, decreasing misbehavior and increasing the minutes you have in a day! Let’s get you re-energized for the rest of your school year and hopefully even for life!
Developing Number Sense Through K–8 Learning Trajectories Jessica Kaminski
Let’s take a guided tour through the Numbers in Base Ten concepts from Kindergarten through Grade 8, revealing the carefully sequenced development of number sense. Participants will explore how learning trajectories illuminate the conceptual journey students take as they build procedural fluency, deepen understanding, and apply mathematical reasoning. By tracing this arc of content, educators will gain insight into where their instruction fits within the broader progression and how to support students in making meaningful mathematical connections across the grades. This session is ideal for those seeking a clearer picture of how operations are developed and how to meet students who are at varying levels of understanding.