Our Programs

Whittier Elementary School is a STEM school, where PreK3 - Grade 5 students are exposed to hands-on STEM activities & challenges in all contexts throughout the academic school year and beyond.

STEM

All students are exposed to STEM and project-based learning in their classrooms. Our Grade 2-Grade 5 students have access to our STEM Lab for reinforcement, instruction, design challenges, and a plethora of other activities.

CLUBS and SEM (School-wide Enrichment model) Courses

All students can participate in a wide range of clubs and SEM Programming before, during, and after the school day. SEM at Whittier gives students opportunities to explore their passions and talents through hands-on enrichment clusters. These experiences encourage creativity, collaboration, and real-world problem solving.

Clubs and activities include: Art Club, Broadcasting (The Whittier Morning Tea), Chess, Cooking, DC Scores, Flag Football, Girls Chess, Junior Scores, Morning Reading, Newspaper, Track and Field, Whittier Design Makers, and the Whittier Entrepreneurial Lab.

ELL

Our ELL program helps students grasp the complexities of our language and culture through learning activities that connect to the student’s prior experience; complex thinking and challenging activities; language and literacy development; observation and modeling; and instructional conversations.

WHITTIER GARDEN

We are proud to support our community through our garden, which produces beautiful flowers and fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs tended by our teachers, staff, and students.

arts and culture

Whittier also has programming focused on developing students’ artistic skills. These include Performing Arts, which produces two full-length plays each year, and our partnership with FreshFarm FoodPrints, allowing hands-on, standards-based food and garden education experiences in the classroom in addition to a weekly farmers market.

Whittier also has partnerships with Project Lead the Way, Anacostia Watershed, and Casey Trees.