QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — New microschools are popping up around the Valley as the schooling trend is gaining some traction. The education centers are a smaller, more intimate community with students of different ages learning together.
One of the newest schools is set up inside a traditional home in Queen Creek. A few hours out of each day, it transitions into a microschool for about 15 students from the area. Some Valley families are still turning to this learning option for different reasons, seeking the smaller class sizes.
Adamo classrooms are home to about 15 students at each location. There are no more than 12 students per certified teacher. Mary Bower is an Adamo K-8 teacher. She said her draw is the more intimate learning environment and freedom to create her own curriculum.
Bower is in charge of math and social studies. She breaks the students up into groups of kindergarteners, then second and third and fourth through seventh. Bower also pulls students who need support or a challenge in specific areas and they rotate through different stations throughout the school day.
“I’m only taking a couple grades at a time," Bower said. "We’re leveling by ability, not as much by grade level. But because we're a smaller school, we'll have time to hit the curriculum throughout the year.”
Kenzie, a second grader, enjoys the different classroom style.
“We do reading buddies and sort of play time a little bit like reading buddies and sort of play time," Kenzie said.
The classes are flexible and are sometimes split into morning and afternoon sessions, between the older and younger students. The learning model is hybrid with some digital, at home and then at the microschool itself.
Adamo partners with a free public charter school for additional education. The school group said they have two schools now, one in Queen Creek and then at their original location in Fountain Hills.
Adamo is looking at expanding in the East Valley around Gilbert and then in the West Valley too.
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