In the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, a child-centered approach to learning, the parents and the classroom teacher are considered the primary and secondary teachers of a young child. As partners, they support and guide the child’s development. The third teacher is the child’s environment—the physical space that stimulates curiosity and encourages exploration.
The new Richard A. Balderston OPC ’69 Lower School embodies this third teacher, offering an environment purposefully crafted to deepen and enrich every child’s learning experience.
Since Penn Charter’s pre-K to grade 5 students rushed through its doors on Sept. 3, 2025, the Balderston Lower School has served as a wondrous, welcoming space for curious learners of all ages—a teaching and learning community that fosters collaboration, makes the curriculum come alive and redefines possibilities.
“Our goal is to present kids with tools and experiences and have the students apply them independently,” said Dan Stahl, innovation and design teacher for grades 1-5. “If they can walk out of the Lower School feeling like, ‘I can laser cut, I can 3D print, I can graphic design, I can code, and I can do all of that for a math class or an English class or a social studies class,’ that's a win in our book.”
“They'll take something that we present in a certain way and then take it in a different direction we never thought of,” added Rachel Evans, who teaches innovation and design along with Stahl.
It’s easy to innovate with all the tech options in the Idea Lab, including a ChompSaw, laser cutter, 3D printers, Cricut machine, Makey Makey, Hummingbird Robotics, Micro:bit circuit boards, Sphero coding robots, and Lego Education Spike Essential kits.
Stahl and Evan’s classroom in the original lower school building had some older versions of those tools, too, but they didn’t have space—if the 3D printer was out, the ChompSaw was tucked away—and that made a tangible difference in students’ agency. Now, Stahl said, “students feel like they can solve the problem because they see the tools that are readily accessible for them … it builds resiliency within them.”
They can also follow their imagination. “When they're working on a particular project,” Evans said, “they get to choose what they’re interested in and where it leads.”
Imagination is Brooke Giles’ specialty. A pre-K teacher for 14 years, she now teaches Studio to both pre-K and kindergarten, and coordinates the Discovery Room, the newest space for multisensory play and experiential education in the early-childhood curriculum—though everyone is welcome to play.
Influenced by the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, Studio and Discovery are captivating rooms where children explore and create through art, movement, drama, storytelling and engineering. Until this year, Penn Charter’s pre-K was located adjacent to PC’s campus, in the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd on The Oak Road.
For Giles, the proximity and connection to the rest of the Lower School community—for both her and the students in pre-K—are pivotal. “I love being seen again by my former students or the students who didn't know me,” she said. “It’s really good to feel that my connection isn't lost. I want the Studio to be a resource for all the students, no matter what they want to create.”
Kindergarten students have brought third grade—their buddy class—to the Discovery Room, which was designed for multisensory play and experiential education. “I'm loving that,” Giles said. "They're playing dress up, building with blocks, building giant marble ramps.” On a recent visit, third graders built a push car with Rigamajig, a building and engineering system. It doesn't take the older students long, Giles said, to stop wondering if they are too cool for the Discovery Room.
Second graders are so intrigued by the Discovery Room that many of the students visit independently. When Giles saw them playing with the Busy River, the small stream just outside Giles’ room that meanders through the playground, she encouraged them to experiment in the Discovery Room. Which materials sink? Which float? Can you recycle materials to build a boat?
The Balderston Lower School has a connectivity that the former building did not. Spaces that allow for collaboration and gatherings, like the Discovery Room, Friendship Hall and the Activities Room, which opens wide to the outdoor Amphitheater, are only part of it. The physical openness—skylights, hallways with large windows to learning spaces, connected classrooms—translates into community and well-being.
“Everyone's class is seen, and every teacher is seen,” Giles said, ”and that makes a difference in a student's sense of belonging and community. No one's hidden in this building. We're all very present.”
The thoughtful design of the Lower School “gives you a glimpse of the magic of what’s taking place,” added Director of Lower School Thu-Nga Morris.
At a particularly exciting art class in October, fourth graders became graffiti artists. Though the class size was small, graffiti can be big and bold, so teachers Michelle Dowd and Karen Riedlmeier opened up the doors that divide the large art studio—one side outfitted with the tools and technology for 2D art and the other for 3D art such as clay and woodworking. The goal of this project was to teach positive and negative space and shapes, and graffiti was a way to engage the students.
After learning about famous anonymous street artists Banksy and Blek le Rat, the latter often called the "father of stencil graffiti," students practiced graffiti-style lettering and made their own “tags” (an artist’s stylized signature). Then, on large sheets of paper that Dowd had stamped with a block design to resemble a brick wall, students tried their hand at graffiti.
Blek le Rat and Bansky “decided their art was worth the risk because they had something important to share that they wanted to make accessible to everyone,” Dowd said. “And that's why I really loved that wall where our students all came together. Each stencil that they drew reflected some part of them, whether their favorite animal or a motif they enjoyed.”
The graffiti project illustrates the flexible space of the double art room that enables teachers to set up multiple stages of an activity so students can move through the project independently. This, combined with smaller class sizes for specials, Riedlmeier said, “honors children’s natural learning rhythms and patterns.”
Every feature of the Balderston Lower School was designed to foster a sense of community among students and educators. The building itself is a nod to Wissahickon Valley Park, with its winding form echoing the river valley that is muralized on its walls. The early childhood wing, comprising grades pre-K through one, supports gross motor skills through play and exploration with direct access to the outdoors. Friendship Hall, with its nature-inspired design, lush foliage and student art is a popular place to host faculty meetings and parent coffees. In the spring, students will generate ideas for what to grow in the second-floor terrace garden and then donate the produce to local organizations that support food security.
“Because it's easier to collaborate—to connect with each other—we're hoping this new environment inspires teachers to pursue new ideas and new projects in support of our students,” said Thu-Nga Morris, director of Lower School.
Such pursuits are underway. In October, fourth grade students partnered with Emily Brennan’s and John Tralie’s Upper School Advanced Geometry students. Brennan recognized that her class could use the dotted patterns on the Friendship Hall windows—designed to protect wild birds from accidental window strikes—to practice calculating slope and equations of lines. She reached out to fourth grade teachers and proposed a collaboration: Geometry students could teach fourth grade math students how to calculate slope—typically taught in Middle School— using dry-erase markers on the floor-to-ceiling Friendship Hall windows.
“That was a really fun way for us to enhance our academic program,” Morris said. “It was also a fun way for the kids to build community and connections with each other cross-divisonally.”
Students and teachers aren’t the only ones who have fun while learning in the Lower School. This year, parents and caregivers have been invited to sign up for MakerLab Mondays. About once a month, Dan Stahl and Rachel Evans offer parents a creative start to their day in the Idea Lab. In October, parent-child teams designed a mini catapult to fling candy pumpkins through a series of challenges. In November, they used the ChompSaw to create a mini parade float and then coded a robot to drive a Thanksgiving parade route. And in December, their assignment was to use simple circuits to create festive greeting cards that light up. Collaborative opportunities like these foster a supportive and engaging learning environment.
“The power of teaching, learning and the student-teacher relationship has always been at the heart of the Penn Charter experience, and we see that reflected in this building,” Head of School Karen Warren Coleman said.
“Like others in our community who worked hard to realize this dream, I was so excited about the plans and details of this project. I knew it would advance the mission of the Lower School, elevate learning, widen opportunity. But it wasn’t until our students and teachers and families walked through those red doors that I realized how much the Richard A. Balderston OPC ’69 Lower School would nurture and uplift our entire community.”
– Rebecca Luzi
Read more stories in Penn Charter magazine.