U-High, Lower School, and Grades 1–2 students enjoy the Beaker Buddies program
Lower School
The Lower School of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools serves a diverse student body of over four hundred students in third through fifth grades.
Lower School children hit an important “aha!” moment when learning garnered in younger years coalesces into more sophisticated thinking and peer relationships. They make an important leap when they go from learning to read to reading to learn. With this skill comes the ability to acquire and master new intellectual challenges, including starting specialist-taught classes in third grade: science and a world language (French, German, Mandarin Chinese, or Spanish.) Art, computer science, library, music, and PE all continue.
Collaborative activities with common goals teach the importance of cooperation, responsibility, and a continuing and more sophisticated respect for each individual’s ideas. Careful thought and planning go into creating classroom environments that foster—and sustain—the intellectual curiosity children bring to learning.
Lower School students are at just the right age to be both “big buddies” and “little buddies.” As big buddies, they experience the sense of mastery and pride that comes from interacting with younger children. As little buddies to our Middle and High Schoolers, they get to work with and learn from older students.
The Lower School Student Experience

Science Saturday sparked a spirit of scientific inquiry in the Historic Campus’ youngest learners

They decided to tackle human problems, like climate change, with biomimicry

The annual Sutherland Award for Excellence in Children's Literature

Students were divided into traditional affirmative and negative roles for the debate, and were provided an evidence sheet to prompt persuasive rhetoric and to help them develop their arguments

The Lower School participates in the Global Cardboard Challenge, which encourages kids to build anything they can think of using cardboard and everyday items