In the Lower School, diversity is addressed in natural and joyous ways. We strive to incorporate diversity issues and themes into our curriculum, classroom activities, assemblies and extracurricular events. In the classroom, our starting point is celebrating the cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity represented by the students. We also nurture respect for socioeconomic and family structure differences. We build this understanding and appreciation through activities such as Family Sharing, Roots, Marvelous Me, Journey Day, V.I.P, Special Friend of the Week. As a result of our teaching internship program with Gallaudet University, a local college for the deaf and hearing-impared, our students are exposed both to the language of sign and to the deaf culture. Through this, Lower School students develop an awareness of the multi-faceted options of communication. In addition, cross-generational activities such as Grandfriends Day and visits to Friends House, a retirement community, allow our students to make connections between themselves and older members of their family and community. We work to provide a richly textured cultural experience for our young learners by welcoming musicians, artists and performers from around the world for our assembly programs. Through these concrete activities, as well as through our commitment to celebrating both our similarities and our differences, we hope to create an open, receptive Lower School environment that embraces the many faces of diversity.