Children, Community and Campus

WHO WE ARE

Old Mission Peninsula School is located halfway up Old Mission Peninsula in Traverse City, MI. OMPS spreads across a 15 acre campus located between orchards and vineyards with views of West Grand Traverse Bay. Our curriculum highlights the beauty of our campus where students can take full advantage of unlimited outdoor learning opportunities. Children can study at the frog pond, explore the wooded trail surrounding the school, celebrate the arts at the outdoor amphitheater, plant and grow numerous plants in their own garden beds, explore the weather station, or even go snowshoeing during the winter months. Our curriculum choices were made to exemplify and extend students' learning outside of the classroom. OMPS holds high academic expectations for all learners. Each student has their own starting point and capabilities, and we believe all students can achieve greatness in their own way. ​

For more information on how Old Mission Peninsula was founded as a Public Charter School please visit:  https://www.ompef.org/ ​

click here to donate to the old mission peninsula education foundation

LITERACY

At OMPS we utilize EL Education or formally known as Expeditionary Learning as our English Language Arts curriculum. At each grade level the curriculum is broken into 4 modules (or overarching themes). They begin to explore a topic, and then continue to go deeper while being able to show what they have learned through multiple outlets. Outlets include a traditional understanding through testing, expressions through pieces of art, and fiction and non-fiction writing assignments.  At the end of each module students finish out with a presentation to their peers and community members showing their full understanding of the topic explored. There are also two other components to EL Education that go along with the Modules to support the learning of foundational skills.  These two blocks are called Skills Block (K-2) and ALL Block (3-6).  During this time students engage in various activities that support early literacy skills allowing them to become strong readers. ​

For more information go to https://eleducation.org/ ​

MATH

At OMPS teachers and students use the curriculum Math in Focus. This program allows children to learn and understand concepts in their entirety. Children not only learn their basic skills, but are encouraged to expand that knowledge into understanding through hands-on experiences, with an emphasis on how it relates to their day to day lives. This lets students become true problem solvers, without simply memorizing processes to get an answer. The program, through its comprehensive nature, allows teachers to address differentiated learning.  Children become interested, individualized thinkers while increasing their overall understanding. ​

For more information go to https://www.hmhco.com/programs/math-in-focus ​

SCIENCE

At OMPS, our K-5 students use the Delta Foss Science Curriculum, one of the leading publishers of elementary school science curriculums in the United States. The curriculum exposes students to scientific phenomena and gives them the opportunity to understand and explain these phenomena through active investigations. Students take on the roles of scientists, engineers, and designers, solving real- world problems and issues. This program is extremely student driven and hands-on. This curriculum is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and fosters inquiry-based science where children learn scientific methods through investigations.

For more information go to https://www.deltaeducation.com/foss/next-generation ​

SOCIAL STUDIES

At OMPS, our K-6 students use TCI’s Social Studies curriculum. This curriculum allows students to engage in exciting and meaningful learning experiences while carefully following the Common Core State Standards. TCI is especially user-friendly because we have a print version and a digital version at our fingertips to make learning more captivating and accessible to students whether in school or at home. Each unit in our TCI curriculum centers around an essential question. The purpose of the question is to maintain the student’s focus on the topic and promote more inquiries based on that one question; forcing the students to dive deeper into those topics. Students also engage in exhilarating activities that encourage students to get excited about the unit and topic leaving them wanting to discover more. ​

For more information go to https://www.teachtci.com/social-studies/