Glorietta Elementary School is an attractive educational environment full of excitement and enthusiasm, a place where children learn in a supportive and nurturing setting through meaningful challenges and inspirational fun. Teachers are experienced and highly valued, parents are valued and involved, and support staff are valued for their efforts and dedication. Glorietta is a caring community that is proud of its rich traditions and academic excellence.

Academic success is achieved through differentiated instruction, frequent monitoring of student achievement, analysis of best practice, and ongoing assistance from their instructional support team. The strategic objectives of their district and school site help them align their concerted efforts and enable them to achieve stunning results both in the classroom and on standardized tests. They approach teaching as learning facilitators with a focused commitment to the Readers and Writers Workshop as a core foundation for literacy.

A strong component for both math and science is to ensure that students, at all grades, engage in the conceptual understanding of standards at consistently high levels of proficiency. Teachers work with colleagues on a weekly basis for professional growth, while District Literacy, Math, Technology and STEAM coaches support planning, work with educators on the role of modeling and coaching, and facilitate cohesion across the school and district. Enrichment in art, music and physical education is made possible through generous donations from their parent community.

Gopher Club

The Gopher Club is a service provided by the Glorietta Parents Club (GPC) in cooperation with the Orinda Union School District. The Gopher Club is located at the Glorietta School Campus. They are dedicated to the provision of a program where safety always comes first and activities and events are fun and challenging. They seek an appropriate balance between structure and choice, a variety of staff-initiated projects and games, as well as plenty of opportunities for child-initiated activities.

The planned activities of our staff include:

  • Projects in the arts and crafts
  • Team sports such as soccer, kickball and street hockey.
  • Science projects such as slime making
  • Group games such as flag capture, relay races, parachute play, and water games
  • Friday’s fun days: a rotating schedule including face painting, BINGO and a movie

Gopher Club welcomes Transitional Children’s Garden through Grade 5 students on a drop-in basis on regular school days. Drop-in care means: Parents are not required to call in advance for a place in the Gopher Club. Space is available to all children who need to use the program. When the weather is good, the kids are in the Gopher Club portable and out on the playground. During bad weather, children are in their portable and multipurpose rooms. Children who use the program walk out of their classroom after school and are checked by the staff of the Gopher Club. It is up to each parent to inform the child (and the child’s teacher, if necessary) on which day they will attend the Gopher Club.

Beyond the classroom, their rich curriculum includes the school-wide theme of Everyone Belongs Here. Their character education framework focuses on the values of respect, responsibility, care and kindness, perseverance, sympathy, integrity and trust, and monthly community building assemblies. They have made a strong commitment to engage students in anti-bias work, to celebrate diversity and to work towards social justice through their collaboration with ADL.

Students also receive instruction using the Kidpower curriculum adopted by the District as well as Think First and Second Step, nationally recognized character education programs. In addition, they foster social development through Buddy Class Interactions, and students have the opportunity to participate in the Student Council, the Green Team, their Student Leader and Safety Patrol programs, as well as their Orinda Cares Community Outreach Program.

Orinda, California is blessed with some of the top schools in Northern California:

  • Miramonte High School
  • Orinda Intermediate School
  • Del Rey Elementary School
  • Sleepy Hollow Elementary School 
  • Wagner Ranch Elementary School

All of these schools are located just a short distance from our location in downtown Walnut Creek, Spaulding Concrete on Locust Street!