Centennial Elementary School is in southeast Richfield, just a few blocks from the Richfield S.T.E.M. School. The school works to ensure that students are part of an environment that is focused on early development of math, speaking, reading and writing skills. Throughout the week, students also work with four different teaching specialists for art, media/library, music and physical education.
Located in Fridley but part of the Columbia Heights School District, North Park Elementary School draws students from both Fridley and Columbia Heights. The school offers all-day kindergarten as well as after-school programs for kids in grades 1 - 5. Teachers at the same grade level collaborate in team-teaching efforts.
Highlands Elementary School is flanked by a number of natural areas and tree cover, located in the middle of a welcoming residential neighborhood. Edina green is present throughout the building, indicative of the amount of pride both students and staff take in their school. The school boasts an outdoor garden, rain garden and several natural areas where students both play and learn.
Highlands is one of six elementary schools in the Edina School District, serving students in kindergarten through fifth grade. It was recognized as a Blue Ribbon School in 2005 by the U.S. Department of Education. Parents are given the option of sending their children through a continuous progress model, a district-wide alternative program with multi-age and multi-grade classes, or a discovery program, where students have the same teacher for first and second grades and then switch to another instructor for third and fourth grades.
Sheridan Hills Elementary students typically live west of Nicollet Ave. The school was formerly a kindergarten through 3rd grade facility, but added 4th and 5th grades - like all Richfield elementary schools - at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year. Sheridan offers English as a second language (ESL), special education classes and employs a social worker and school psychologist.
Sheridan has makes an effort to integrate the arts, diversity, and health and wellness into its traditional curriculum. For example, at the end of the 2009-10 school year, all students and teachers painted self portraits. Students then reflected and discussed the differences in everyones skin color and facial features. Students also began visiting the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in 2010 to see, and later reflect on, dance and drama.