Grades 2 to 3
By Grade 2, most kids have figured out the pattern: sit down, fill in the sheet, get a grade. At Pear Tree, that pattern doesn’t exist.
In our Grade 2-3 program, your child does real work — experiments, projects, presentations, and debates — all tied to BC Ministry learning standards. They aren’t ahead because they’re working through more pages. They’re ahead because they understand what they’re learning and why it matters.
Classes cap at 16 students. Teachers hold Master’s degrees. Every child eats a hot chef-prepared lunch and moves for a full hour of PE every single day. This is a school built for how children at this age actually learn.
Every school day includes a full hour of PE at Connaught Park with our dedicated PE teacher, plus 45 minutes of recess. When PE falls in the timetable varies — but the hour is always there. Children who are physically active during the day focus better. That’s not accidental. It’s designed in.
Students rotate between 2–3 active themes throughout the day. During Superfoods, your child might analyze the nutritional content of five foods using a spreadsheet (math), write a persuasive piece arguing that seaweed should be on every school menu (literacy), and conduct a taste test with a structured observation chart (science). Three subjects. One afternoon. Zero worksheets.
Ukulele with a dedicated music teacher. Hot lunch from the kitchen. Recess at the park. Day done by 3:15.
How Theme-Based Learning Works in Grades 2–3
Over a two-year cycle, Grade 2-3 students explore 14 themes. Each theme runs 2–3 at a time, with students rotating between them across the week. Every theme covers multiple subjects through one real-world lens.
Year 1 Themes
7 of 14 themes · Year 1 of 2
Identity (My Role and Responsibilities)
What kind of community becomes possible when people learn to use their power with care? Your child explores how their choices, words, and actions help a group feel safe, fair, and able to work together. They discover that rules are not just limits. They are systems that help people share space, solve problems, and build trust.
- Creates a set of class rules with their group — explaining why each rule helps people feel safe and work together.
- Practises resolving a real disagreement using a structured process (listen, restate, suggest, agree) and reflects on what worked.
- Leads a small group through a teamwork challenge — then presents what they learned about leadership and cooperation.
- Writes about a time they helped someone feel included — and what they would do differently next time.
Weather & Landforms
The land beneath our feet is not fixed. Rain, wind, rivers, ice, and changing temperatures keep shaping it. Mountains, valleys, and coastlines also help create the weather we experience every day. Your child investigates how these forces work together in the Lower Mainland. They explore how land and weather affect how people travel, farm, build, and spend time outdoors.
- Tracks local weather over several weeks — recording temperature, rainfall, wind, and cloud types in a data journal.
- Builds a model showing how water shapes the land — rivers carving valleys, rain wearing down mountains, ice cracking rock.
- Investigates how the Lower Mainland's geography (mountains, rivers, coastline) creates the weather patterns we experience.
- Presents a weather report explaining why Vancouver's weather is different from Kamloops or Prince George — using real data.
Nocturnal Animals
While most people are asleep, forests, shorelines, and wetlands across BC are still busy. Animals are hunting, hiding, listening, and talking in the dark. Your child studies how owls, bats, raccoons, and moths have body designs built for surviving at night. They also explore what these adaptations might teach humans about designing safer tools, quieter transport, or better ways of sensing the world.
- Researches how a specific nocturnal animal sees, hears, or navigates in the dark — and presents the adaptation with diagrams.
- Compares the body features of a daytime animal and a nighttime animal — explaining why each design fits its environment.
- Designs a human tool inspired by a nocturnal adaptation (e.g., echolocation for navigation, owl-silent flight for quieter drones).
- Writes a descriptive piece about what a BC forest sounds, smells, and feels like after dark — based on research, not imagination.
Reptiles & Dinosaurs
Earth’s history is not one straight line. It is a branching story of evolution, survival, and extinction. Your child explores dinosaurs alongside turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodiles, and birds. They discover that birds are the only living dinosaurs. By studying this long history, they ask a bigger question: what helps living things survive change, and what happens when they can’t?
- Compares a living reptile (turtle, lizard, crocodile) with a dinosaur — identifying what they share and what is different.
- Investigates evidence that birds are living dinosaurs — studying bone structure, feathers, and evolutionary timelines.
- Builds a scale model or diagram of a dinosaur, labelling body features and explaining what each part was used for.
- Debates what caused the mass extinction — asteroid, volcanoes, climate change, or a combination — using scientific evidence.
Biomes
Life on Earth is shaped by two big forces — temperature and water. Together they create very different kinds of places. From BC’s coastal rainforest to deserts, wetlands, and tropical forests, your child explores how each biome supports its own web of plants, animals, fungi, and human life. They look at how people build homes and gather food based on what each place can provide.
- Researches a specific biome (rainforest, desert, tundra, wetland) and creates a presentation showing its climate, plants, animals, and human communities.
- Compares BC's coastal rainforest with a biome from another part of the world — using data on temperature, rainfall, and biodiversity.
- Builds a diorama or digital model of a biome showing how plants, animals, and people depend on each other.
- Investigates what happens when a biome is disturbed (deforestation, drought, pollution) and presents the chain of consequences.
O' Canada
A country is more than a flag, a sport, or a few familiar symbols — it is a living place shaped by many peoples, languages, lands, and ideas. Students explore how provinces and territories connect, how government helps make decisions, and how shared symbols and stories create belonging. They compare Canada with the United States to notice that countries may share borders and still make different choices about leadership, identity, and life together. When you look past stereotypes, the deeper question is: what truly holds a country together, and who gets to help shape its future?
- Maps the provinces and territories — labelling capitals, major landforms, and one fact about each region that most people do not know.
- Compares one Canadian law or tradition with its American equivalent — and presents why the two countries made different choices.
- Investigates a Canadian symbol (flag, anthem, animal, sport) and presents the history behind it — including whose story it tells and whose it leaves out.
- Writes a short argument about what holds Canada together as a country — using evidence from geography, government, and culture.
Planet Earth
Beneath the ground we stand on and above the air we breathe is a planet built in layers, held together by gravity, and surrounded by conditions that are just right for life. Your child explores why the sky is blue, how the Moon shapes our world, and what Earth’s deep timeline reveals. Unlike any other planet we know, Earth has the rare combination of water, air, and protection that keeps living things alive.
- Tracks the Moon's phases over a month — drawing what they see each night and connecting it to the Moon's orbit.
- Investigates why the sky is blue, why sunsets are red, and how light behaves in Earth's atmosphere — presenting with diagrams.
- Creates a timeline of Earth's history showing when life began, when dinosaurs lived, and when humans appeared — noting how tiny our slice is.
- Writes a persuasive piece arguing why Earth is the most special planet in the solar system — using evidence from their research.
Year 2 Themes
7 of 14 themes · Year 2 of 2
Identity (Culture and Identity)
How does knowing more about your own heritage — and the heritage of others — help build a community where everyone feels they belong? Your child explores the families, languages, traditions, and stories that shape their daily lives. They notice both what connects people and what makes each person distinct. They begin to see diversity as something to learn from, respect, and celebrate.
- Creates a "cultural portrait" showing the languages, foods, traditions, and values that shape their family's identity.
- Interviews a family member about a tradition they grew up with — and presents the story to the class.
- Compares celebrations from two different cultures — noticing what they share and what makes each one unique.
- Writes about a time they learned something new from someone whose background was different from their own.
Extreme Environments
Some places push life to the edge — freezing cold, blazing heat, almost no water, or the deep ocean’s heavy squeeze. Yet plants, animals, and people still find smart ways to live there. Your child studies these patterns and borrows nature’s ideas to design simple tools and shelters for tough conditions. As weather becomes more extreme, they ask who has what they need — and who does not.
- Researches how plants, animals, or people survive in a specific extreme environment (Arctic, desert, deep ocean, high mountain).
- Designs a simple shelter or tool for a harsh environment — inspired by how nature solves the same problem.
- Compares two extreme environments using data on temperature, water, shelter, and food — and argues which is harder to survive in.
- Investigates who around the world currently lacks access to safe shelter, clean water, or shade — and presents what they found.
Superfoods
Some foods are tiny but mighty. They help our bodies grow, protect us from getting sick, and power our play and learning. But behind every bite are systems: soil, sun, farmers, markets, labels, and ads. Your child tastes, tests, and traces where food comes from. They investigate whether ‘superfood’ is a science word, a story, or a way to sell us something.
- Tastes and tests different foods — measuring sugar, protein, and fibre content and ranking which ones give the most energy.
- Traces one food item from farm to plate — mapping the soil, water, workers, trucks, and shops it passes through.
- Investigates whether "superfood" is a scientific term or a marketing label — and presents evidence for their conclusion.
- Designs a balanced meal plan for a school lunch, explaining why each item was chosen based on nutrition data.
Solar System
If we had to live somewhere else in the solar system, where could we go — and what problems would we face? Your child compares the planets using evidence from models, numbers, and texts. They visit the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, track Moon phases, graph orbital data, and design survival shelters for other planets. In the end, they conclude that there is nowhere like Earth.
- Builds a scale model of the solar system — calculating the relative sizes and distances of each planet.
- Visits the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre and writes a report on one thing they learned that surprised them.
- Designs a survival shelter for another planet — explaining what humans would need (air, water, food, protection) and why it is so hard.
- Graphs real orbital data and uses it to explain why some planets have longer years than others.
Settlers
Long before European settlers arrived, Indigenous peoples had been living on this land for thousands of years. Your child investigates what it meant to arrive in a new place and what it meant to already be home. They explore how everything changed — especially for the Indigenous peoples whose lives, lands, and traditions were forever altered. Whose stories get told? And how can different perspectives help us build better communities today?
- Investigates what life was like for Indigenous peoples on this land before European settlers arrived — and presents one tradition or system.
- Compares the experience of arriving in a new place with the experience of already being home — using real historical accounts.
- Researches one specific consequence of colonisation (residential schools, land loss, language loss) and presents what they learned.
- Writes a reflection on whose stories are told in their community — and whose might be missing.
Water
Every plant, animal, and person depends on something that moves through clouds, rivers, soil, and our own bodies. Your child follows water through the entire cycle — from cloud to tap to ocean. They learn the difference between water that is safe to drink and water that is not. They examine what happens to ecosystems and communities when water is scarce, polluted, or unevenly shared.
- Follows water through the entire cycle — from cloud to river to tap to drain to ocean — and maps each stage with drawings.
- Tests water samples for clarity, smell, and basic safety — and compares tap water with rainwater and puddle water.
- Investigates where their drinking water comes from and what happens to it after it goes down the drain.
- Researches a community where clean water is scarce — and presents what daily life looks like without easy access.
Plants & Pollinators
Some of the world’s most important partnerships are so small we can easily miss them. Your child investigates how bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators help plants make seeds and fruit. That partnership also helps forests grow, gardens bloom, and many of the foods we eat reach our tables. When one living thing is harmed, many others are affected too.
- Observes real pollinators in the school garden or local park — recording which insects visit which flowers and how often.
- Dissects a flower (with guidance) to identify the parts involved in pollination — and draws a labelled diagram.
- Investigates what would happen to our food supply if bee populations continued to decline — and presents the chain of consequences.
- Designs a pollinator-friendly garden plan for the schoolyard — choosing plants based on what local bees and butterflies need.
Themes rotate on a two-year cycle. Your child covers all 14 by the end of Grade 3.
Year 1 of 2 — 7 of 14 themes
What Your Child Gets in Grade 2-3
- They become confident speakers. Students present to classmates and parents every term — on topics they’ve researched and chosen. Public speaking stops being scary early.
- They tackle real math problems. Measuring, estimating, calculating costs — all applied to actual projects, not abstract drills.
- They write for a reason. Whether it’s a persuasive argument, a story told from an animal’s perspective, or a research report, writing has a real audience.
- They learn to work through disagreement. Small classes mean no one hides in the back. Students collaborate, debate, and learn to change their minds when the evidence says to.
- They build a work ethic, not just compliance. At this age, the difference between “doing school” and actually learning becomes visible. Pear Tree tilts hard toward the latter.
A Typical Day in Grades 2-3
Themes run in parallel — not one at a time. On any given day, your child works on two or three different themes.
Beyond the Classroom
Daily PE — A Full Hour, Every Day
Grade 2-3 students get a dedicated hour at Connaught Park with our PE teacher every single day. Activities include gymnastics, obstacle courses, ball games, yoga, and ice skating. PE isn’t a reward or a break. It’s part of how children this age process and retain learning.
Hot Lunch — Made Fresh, Every Day
Every student eats a fresh, hot lunch prepared in-house by our Red Seal certified chef. No packed lunches. No microwaves. The menu changes monthly and accommodates all dietary needs — gluten-free, vegetarian, allergy-specific.
During the Superfoods theme, what happens in the kitchen connects directly to what’s happening in the classroom. Lunch isn’t separate from learning at Pear Tree.
After-School Co-Curriculars
After 3:15 PM, students can stay for optional co-curricular activities. Options rotate each term and may include: LEGO building, performing arts, nature discovery, basic coding, cooking, and beginner martial arts. The goal is exploration — not competition.
Before & After School Care
Before School Care: 7:30–8:00 AM · $15/day. After School Care: 3:30–5:00 PM · $30/day. Available any combination of days.
Don't take our word for it
“Our decision to change schools for Pear Tree was the best decision for his socio-emotional and intellectual development. Kids develop hands-on, creative, collaborative, and fun projects that address some of the most pressing issues this generation will need to understand.”
“We are more than satisfied with what our daughter has been able to achieve and learn here. Hot lunch every day — shout out to chef Borja! Our second daughter will be graduating pre-school next year. Pear Tree is our one and only choice for her as well.”
“Our experience at Pear Tree has been wonderful, and our daughter is thriving and loving every minute of it.”
Ready to See It in Person?
The best thing you can do is visit during a school day. Watch a theme in action. See what “no worksheets” actually looks like. You’ll understand within one visit why families choose to stay.
Tour our SchoolContact Us
Main Campus (West Broadway)
Suite 215 (and Suite 201)
2678 West Broadway
Vancouver, B.C. V6K 2G3
Yaletown Campus
1035 Cambie St
Vancouver, B.C. V6B 2E2
