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Our Approach

Prairie Creek...

is a public, elementary charter school located in Castle Rock, Minnesota. Here, 180 students and their teachers join together in passionate inquiry, project-based discovery, and hands-on learning.

Our Story

We believe as John Dewey did that students construct their skilled understanding of the world from genuine experiences. They learn math as they run a bodega or quantify the day's recycling. They create their own courts and legislatures as they study government. They become scientists as they design bird-feeding stations and map the geography of the school's woods and meadows.

According to the principles of progressive education, children at Prairie Creek learn how to learn by doing. They pose questions, they wonder aloud, they bring their natural curiosities to the classroom for full consideration. Each school day provides them with real-world opportunities to explore, to inquire, to answer—all the while supported by teachers who channel these ambitions into structured, creative projects and challenging lessons.

In philosophy and in practice, Prairie Creek's progressive curriculum invites students to roll up their sleeves and jump right in to learning—learning that recognizes their lives, during these few years and beyond, as intriguing and collaborative adventures.