Our School
Tucked behind Ramapo Ridge School is Lenape Meadows, Mahwah’s newest and largest primary school. Opened in 2002 and serving approximately 350 children in Pre-K through Grade 3, Lenape Meadows offers a developmentally appropriate and challenging educational program in a beautiful state of the art facility. In its short history, Lenape Meadows has emerged as a vibrant learning community led by a talented and committed staff dedicated to meeting the needs of all children.
Our school offers a wide range of learning experiences, programs, and resources to meet the individual learning needs of our student population. These include resource support and services, inclusion programs, remediation in math and reading, speech, English as a Second Language, and differentiated instruction within the classroom. We strive to educate the whole child, meet his/her developmental needs, celebrate individual efforts, inspire academic achievement, and include the family in all we do as a community of learners. We focus on understanding and supporting one another’s efforts, cooperating rather than competing, and listening carefully so that everyone’s voice is heard. Our Intervention and Referral Services (I&RS) Committee meets weekly to explore and assess intervention strategies aimed at making students more successful, lifelong learners.
Our youngest learners, our PreK students, are exposed to a rich environment that addresses all aspects of their social/emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development. Our PreK teachers use the highly regarded “Creative Curriculum” program, an approach that uses scientific research and state and professional standards to identify the knowledge, skills, and concepts important for preschool children to acquire in the content areas of literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology.
To ensure that our K-3 students are able to reach high academic standards, our school goals for the coming year focus on increasing reading and mathematics proficiency. Through our Balanced Literacy program, students are given instruction designed to increase their confidence and fluency in all literacy-related activities. Students develop a deeper understanding of the writing process as they respond to writing prompts and learn to assess their own writing through the use of rubrics. Our HSO gives support to our literacy efforts through the very successful “Books and Beyond” program. Our teachers participate in regular, high-quality professional development so that they can hone their instructional skills for continued student achievement.
We agree with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, which says, “All students deserve an opportunity to understand the power and beauty of mathematics [and to] learn a new set of mathematics basics that enable them to compute fluently and to solve problems creatively and resourcefully.” Along with the other elementary schools in our district, we use the Everyday Math curriculum, which utilizes a problem-based teaching and learning approach that supports student mastery of complex mathematical topics.
Look for daily "Home Links" assignments that connect math topics from the classroom to your home.
Helping our students to develop as responsible persons of good character continues to be an important priority at Lenape Meadows. All students learn to be good neighbors both to each other and to the larger community through learning activities that support our character education goals. We are a “Responsive Classroom” school, and as such, apply the principles of the Responsive Classroom approach to help children build academic and social-emotional competencies within the structure of a strong and safe school community. Daily classroom meetings and whole school celebrations on our monthly Spirit Days help set the tone for a respectful and caring school community.
Our dynamic educational program is further enhanced through the efforts of both our Home School Organization and the Mahwah Schools Foundation. Both volunteer groups sponsor programs that have augmented and enriched our curricular activities. Science Day, Astronomy Night, parent/child book clubs, school-wide assemblies, and author visits are just some of the exciting offerings made possible through the tireless efforts and generosity of these two groups.
Educator Deborah Meier once said: "Good schools, like good societies and good families, celebrate and cherish diversity."
Those words are at the heart of the mission of Lenape Meadows School. We know that our students' families form a rich tapestry of perspectives and experience, and we welcome all to become active participants in the life of our school. We value what our families have to share about our students and our programs. We hope you can find time to add your voice to the lively conversation.