The GATE curriculum.

Math, every morning.

At GATE Academy, the school day starts with 70+ minutes of mathematics instruction. Each student progresses at their own rate through a curriculum with a standard scope and sequence, so individualized instruction lets every student reach their greatest potential.

Core math teachers pose complex applied problems, oversee math-team games, and facilitate math competitions. Every year GATE has participated, students have scored in the top 10% internationally in the worldwide Math Olympiad program.

Move every day.

Physical education is a core part of the GATE program and an essential part of each student’s day. Taught by Coach Roland Johnson, our PE program integrates four primary components:

• Basic fitness & skills — balance, coordination, strength, agility, cardiovascular health
• Dance — an individual discipline incorporating all the fitness components
• Outdoor hiking and environmental stewardship
• Interpersonal skills — self-regulation, conflict management, cooperative play

A mindful moment.

Each GATE student’s day starts with a mindful moment. Students learn focused attention (concentrating on the breath), open attention (monitoring sights, sounds, thoughts and sensations without reacting), and compassion and kindness intentions.

These techniques affect different brain regions — those controlling attention shifts, those connected to anxiety, and those facilitating empathy. GATE’s mindfulness program is evidence-based and secular: it reduces stress, increases self-control, improves awareness, decreases anxiety, and increases empathy.

Into the lab.

Upper school students take a weekly science lab class and engage in hands-on investigation of the scientific process. With labs such as extracting DNA, reacting acids and bases, and designing structures, students get a feel for the unpredictable, fun nature of scientific discovery.

We take them beyond the theoretical into the complications of real-life implementation. Kids also have rich exposure to science during their inquiry periods — physical, earth and space, technology, and life sciences.

Apprendre à parler français.

We offer each student a daily opportunity to become familiar with a foreign language. Children in grades K–3 have classes in play-based spoken French and French culture with a native speaker.

In addition to French, upper school students participate in the Duolingo immersion program, choosing from over twenty languages. The language lab is customizable, allowing individualized progress and pacing.

Music, every week.

Our weekly music program provides students with a strong foundation in musical skills, creativity, and confidence through singing, movement, instrumental experiences, and music theory. Students progressively develop their understanding of rhythm, melody, harmony, notation, form, and musical vocabulary while exploring a variety of musical styles and cultures.

The program encourages curiosity and self-expression while building lifelong appreciation and understanding of music.

Dance, in partnership.

GATE Academy partners with the Marin Dance Theater to provide Expressive Movement classes to our lower school students. Expressive Movement encourages and challenges students to explore different qualities, functions, and possibilities of movement. Through individual and group activities, students develop skills in collaboration as well as physical and creative problem-solving.

Alongside the exploration of their own unique forms of self-expression, students also develop proprioception, spatial awareness, and movement coordinations. This program introduces students to dance and physical movement as a means of communication, problem solving and creativity, and personal discovery.

GATE kids love art.

In addition to incorporating artistic expression into our inquiry process, students participate in a weekly art class where they experiment with different media and techniques.

Through this exploration, students engage in the inquiry process by discovering how art can communicate concepts, feelings, and meaning.

Finding a voice on stage.

The ability to communicate findings articulately to a diverse audience is a core inquiry skill. GATE’s theater program helps students learn voice projection, stage presence, audience awareness and narrative development.

Through character work and improvisation, students learn to be comfortable in front of an audience while having fun playing with their peers.

Reading with a critical eye.

GATE students are passionate about reading! Gifted students are often drawn to advanced texts, but asynchronous development can sometimes create a disconnect between their reading abilities and the appropriateness of a book’s themes and language.

GATE’s Critical Literacy class provides upper school students with the opportunity to explore classic literature alongside a skilled instructor who guides them in developing their critical thinking skills. Students examine texts from multiple perspectives, develop their own interpretations, and build confidence in using their voices to express their ideas.