Prospective Families

Welcome! This page includes information and resources to help prospective families learn more about our school. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! You can email admissions@rawsonsaunders.org or call the school at 512-476-8382.

A Rawson Saunders student...

Click the links below to learn more!

EXPLORE...

► OUR SCHOOL

► OUR CURRICULUM

► OUR HEALTH & SAFETY MEASURES DURING COVID

► OUR SCHOOL CALENDAR

► OUR LUNCH PROGRAM

►PARENT TESTIMONIALS

DISCOVER...

► DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION AT RAWSON SAUNDERS

► OUR SUMMER TERM & JUMP START PROGRAMS

► OUR COMMUNITY EDUCATION SERIES & DYSLEXIA RESOURCES

► OUR SUPPORT SERVICES

APPLY...

Visit our ADMISSIONS PAGE for tuition information and steps for applying.

Please be sure to join us for an Admissions Information Session. We look forward to meeting you!

Departmentalized and Individualized

Rawson Saunders is fully departmentalized.

Our teachers are experts in the individual subjects they teach from core classes—ALT, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies/History, STEM—to specials and electives—American Sign Language (required language for Upper School), Art, Athletics, Drama, Music, Social-Emotional Learning, and more!

Students change classrooms throughout the day.

Moving from class to class has the added benefit of allowing students to stretch their legs and get some fresh air between classes.

Each student's schedule is highly individualized.

A student's daily schedule may be unique to them and classmates will vary from class to class.

Academic Language Therapy (ALT) is typically two students to one teacher.

Math classes can also be quite small depending on a student's needs.

An Ordinary Day in an Extraordinary Place

Click the drop-downs below for a glimpse into a typical day for our students:

LOWER SCHOOL (grades 1-5)

LOWER SCHOOL (grades 1-5)

A 3rd grader describes their day:

7:40 AM—ARRIVAL. I arrive at school and Mrs. Steinbach opens my car door with a big smile. I say good morning to all the teachers helping students in the carline and head back to the playground to visit with my friends before morning Advisory starts.

7:52 AM—ADVISORY. My Advisory Teacher says it's time to start the day so we follow her to the classroom where we log into our iPads for morning announcements and stand to say the pledge of allegiance. I then gather my things to walk to my first class of the day.

8:00 AM—MATH. I arrive at my Math class where we do warm-ups with manipulatives and then work on model drawings for word problems.

8:50 AM—PE/MUSIC. I drop my backpack at the wall and run to the covered blacktop where Coach has us warm up with stretches before practicing our soccer drills. Then it's off to music class where I'm learning how to play percussion instruments!

9:50 AM—ART (Mondays & Fridays); DRAMA (Tuesdays & Thursdays); SEL (Social Emotional Learning on Wednesdays). It's Wednesday so I have SEL. Today we're talking about how to calm our bodies when faced with a challenge that makes us angry, scared, or nervous.

10:40 AM—MORNING BREAK. I run to the playground for morning break! My friends and I take turns on the tire swing then join a Gaga Pit game!

11:03 AM—LUNCH. It's pizza day! Chef Barnwell makes everything from scratch and uses local, organic ingredients—some of which come from the school's own garden!

11:30 AM—LANGUAGE ARTS. We just finished learning about the underground railroad through the novel F is for Freedom by Roni Schotter. Next will be a poetry unit, starting with haikus!

12:20 PM—ALT (Academic Language Therapy). In ALT we're learning about how different parts of our brain help us learn when we use more than one of our senses. We made Jell-O in a brain-shaped mold and tomorrow we get to eat it!

1:10 PM—STEM. We're exploring ecosystems during lab today. I got to look at pond microorganisms under the microscope and learned about the foods they eat. Some filter feed using tentacles and protozoans—euglena—that photosynthesize using sunlight.

2:00 PM—SOCIAL STUDIES (WRITER'S WORKSHOP on Wednesdays). This week in Social Studies we transported to Asia and learned another exciting world history story. Today is Wednesday so I have Writers’ Workshop where I’m working on adding more description and imagery to my fiction story.

2:48 PM—ADVISORY. My Advisory teacher helps me complete my homework and organize my binder so I'm all set for tomorrow.

3:00—DISMISSAL. I have ROBOTICS after school today. Today our robots will have a jousting competition!

MIDDLE SCHOOL (grades 6-8)

MIDDLE SCHOOL (grades 6-8)

A 7th grader describes their day:

7:40 AM—ARRIVAL. I arrive at school and Mrs. Steinbach opens my car door with a big smile. I say good morning to all the teachers helping students in the carline and head back to the patio to visit with my friends before morning Advisory starts.

7:52 AM—ADVISORY. I head to Advisory, log into my iPad for morning announcements and stand for the pledge of allegiance. I then gather my things to walk to my first class of the day.

8:00 AM—STEM. We just finished studying body systems so we dissected an actual frog today to identify all the internal organs!

8:50 AM—PRE-ALGEBRA. Today we're using algebra tiles to solve for x which makes it super easy to understand.

9:40 AM—AMERICAN HISTORY. We're in a Government and Constitution unit, and played “Check” today—a game where we are grouped into the 3 branches of government and try to make policy, while “checking” the power other branches of government.

10:25 AM—MORNING BREAK. I like to sit with my friends on the swings and catch up.

10:40 AM—ICKY EXPERIMENTS (Mondays & Wednesdays); URBAN GARDENING (Tuesdays & Thursdays); OUTDOOR TIME (rotating Fridays). Today is Wednesday so I go to my Icky Experiments elective where we're constructing our own insects with goo inside and a protective exoskeleton to see which of our bugs can be dropped from the upstairs balcony without breaking open.

11:30 AM—LUNCH. I love pizza day. Chef Barnwell makes everything from scratch and uses local, organic ingredients—some of which come from the school's garden that the students maintain. After lunch is break before afternoon classes begin.

12:20 PM—WRITERS' WORKSHOP. We're working on short fiction, telling the story from the maligned villain's point of view and are focusing on tools for writing realistic dialogue.

1:10 PM—LANGUAGE ARTS. For our storytelling unit, we listened to an 8 minute Podcast from The Moth for inspiration to write and tell our own story.

2:00 PM—PE (Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays); GLEE CLUB (Tuesdays & Thursdays). It's Wednesday so I have PE. We start with HIIT and then learned the triple threat in basketball—once you get the ball you need to be able to dribble, pass, or shoot.

2:50 PM—ADVISORY. My Advisory teacher helps me figure out a problem on math homework and I'm able to finish all my work before dismissal.

3:30—DISMISSAL. I have BASKETBALL practice after school so I head to the blacktop with my team.

UPPER SCHOOL (grades 9-12)

UPPER SCHOOL (grades 9-12)

A 10th grader describes their day:

7:40 AM—ARRIVAL. I arrive early at "the house" and chill before morning advisory.

7:55 AM—ADVISORY. I have time to talk to the teachers in the House about my work from last night and anything else that is going on. We all enjoy the chance to just say good morning to each other before starting our day. It’s a good time to get prepared for the day ahead.

8:00 AM—MODERN LITERATURE. Ms. DeWees always has great discussions and activities planned for us that connect to the book that we’re reading. I’ve appreciated being able to tie books to current cultural topics that help me explore my viewpoints, while also getting one on one support on my writing.

8:50 AM—ART & DESIGN. Art is always a nice way to relax and focus on creative projects. A&D has the right balance of support and guidance with independent control over our work.

9:40 AM—CHEMISTRY. Chemistry is a fun challenge that pulls in skills from other classes like thinking critically, writing, and math. While it's a hard class, we all enjoy it and are learning so much this year in STEM.

10:25 AM—MORNING BREAK. An awesome mid-morning break—just enough time to relax, get a refill of drinks and snacks, and hang out on the front lawn.

10:40 AM—US GOVERNMENT. It has been really interesting to learn more about the law making process and the structure of our government. I’m looking forward to being able to participate more in the process during the next elections. Our writing skills get tested often by Dr. Truly and he’s always pushing us to explain our thoughts.

11:30 AM—ADVISORY. I most often use our midday advisory to work on my Math homework. It’s a great time to work as a group with my classmates, by myself, or get help from Ms. Cozza or Mr. Lehenbauer, who are always nearby during advisory.

11:53 LUNCH. Usually during lunch one of us volunteers to go grab the hot lunches for whoever needs one. We eat lunch outside in front of the House most days. As often as they can our teachers and administrators join us.

12:20 PM—AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE II. We often learn new signs that connected to real world conversations that come up. Now that our vocabulary is solid we are focusing a lot on being able to tell stories and have extended conversations using ASL.

1:10 PM—GEOMETRY. Each day we are adding to our Geometry notebook to help build a reliable tool for completing our daily work. We often spend our class time doing “hands-on” math or going outside to discuss how to solve problems and explain our thinking.

2:00 PM—STUDY LAB. I’m so happy that we have this time. It’s a great opportunity to get extra help from teachers on papers or new topics, work on homework, and to study as a group. We also sometimes use the time to learn how to use new technology that is going to help us on other work we have, like when we’re typing papers for Modern Lit or Gov.

2:45—DISMISSAL. When there isn't a Cross Country workout, sometimes we all walk over to Starbucks together for a snack after school and to just relax with each other.