APEX Specialist
WELCOME TO APEX at Germantown
Elementary School. Our program develops logic skills,
critical thinking, creative thinking and other higher level
thinking skills such as analysis and application. Most
important, we want our students to discover the joy of
learning. It can be fun! And with the right attitude and
skills, learning is a lifelong endeavor. APEX classes feature a year long
exploration of LEGACIES. Legacies are gifts of lasting
value. We explore the gifts of language and writing, costume
and fashion, art and architecture and finally, sports and
entertainment, looking for contributions from each of these
that continue to have some impact or influence on us
today. Whether we are talking about the history
of the alphabet, the invention of language or writing, or
the history of when books were first made, we are
considering gifts to our time that have lasted for thousands
of years. We explore design and color as well as
fabric and construction in our clothing and costumes. We
build various structures from building materials made of
stone, wood, logs and more. We make jewelry, theater masks,
clay seals, and paint fresco in order to better understand
why life is the way it is today because of the things that
other people before us created or discovered. Research is an important part of the APEX
program. Students not only learn the basic skills of
research but the essential understanding that research is
learning to ask a good question and then go in search of
your own answer. Throughout the year students compile
their learning in four 'Big Books'. Each book explores ideas
and information which are part of the research opportunity.
APEX is A Place to EXplore!
