Connecting With Our Community - Uppers
The Uppers have been working with people outside of our school community to teach, learn, and grow. There have been several opportunities for our students to leave an impact on the world around them, and we are excited to share them with you. Although we have had a very successful Community Service elective for the past two years, this trimester felt like a good time to branch out beyond our school community.
Exploring identity through portraiture and textiles with The Woods Primes (K/1)
Identity is the unique set of characteristics that can be used to distinguish a person as themself and no one else. In the Woods Primes we have spent our year thinking about who we are. Where do we come from? What do we love? What makes us feel safe to express ourselves?
8th Grade Ambitious Projects
Last Tuesday night, the school was abuzz as this year’s 8th graders presented their work for our annual Ambitious Projects Night. The Ambitious Project (known as the “AP”) is an independent, out of school project that 8th graders design and pursue over the course of 8 weeks. They then present their work to the community at AP Night.
Social Emotional Learning in the Wonder Primes
Spring is such an exciting time in the Wonder Primes classroom! The children have grown and changed so much since their first days at the Center School, and the skills that once needed to be developed are being practiced and perfected each day. A large part of our springtime curriculum focuses on deepening social emotional learning and, for the youngest Center School students, this work begins with increasing their ability to identify emotions, when they are feeling them, and name the feelings of others.
Partner Teaching in the Mups
There are so many reasons to love working at the Center School -the families, the traditions, the children. Teachers have the ability to vary the curriculum, modify the schedule if needed, and receive support and encouragement around professional development. Teaching with a partner, or in some cases, a team, is another reason to love working at the Center School.
Light Investigation in the Adventure Primes (4-5 yr-old)
In the Reggio Emilia philosophy, a “big idea” is an overarching idea that inspires, unifies, and resonates with the children-- something that offers many possibilities for collaboration, study, and exploration.
Science Concepts in 8th Grade
8th-grade scientists have great rapport at this point in the year, you might even say they have chemistry. Combining their work from film and their emergent understanding of basic concepts in chemistry, the 8th graders are making short films to both show and deepen their learning. Costumes, props, and dance moves are a must. But mostly, we are trying to take something small, obscure, and invisible to the human eye and make it large, clear, and visible.
Stewardship Jobs in the Mups
We call our end-of-day classroom jobs stewardship jobs. Every day, before getting backpacks on and sitting on the rug to wait for dismissal, each student completes their weekly assigned stewardship job. Tasks include working with a partner to remove chairs from the classroom and stack them out front, erasing the whiteboard, making sure our classroom pet rats have fresh food and water, and putting away any books left out in our Mups library in the room between the two Mups classrooms.
Talk It Out with the Middles
Talk It Out is something we started this year in the Middles. It’s our weekly half hour on Thursday afternoons to sit together and talk about what’s going on. For our first Talk It Out, we hiked up to the top of Grasshopper Hill, sat in a circle, and discussed the options for naming our two classrooms. From there our conversations ranged from how to create equitable rules around camp chairs, to the impact of blurting in the classroom, to how anger feels in our bodies.
Copy Machine Lost and Found
Behind Anna’s desk, in the front of the school, lives a cherished member of our community. Their name is RICOH and they are a copy machine. Just like the rest of us, RICOH has good days and bad days. Sometimes everyone wants to work with you and sometimes you feel lonely and empty. Whenever I’m down making copies with RICOH, I take a minute to inspect a folder, stapled neatly to the bulletin board above RICOH, labeled “Copy Machine Lost and Found”
School vs. In-home Mechanical Teachers in Uppers Lit (6th/7th)
This trimester we are reading and writing short stories. Last week, we read, “The Fun They Had”, by Isaac Asimov. This science fiction story, written in 1951, challenges the reader to think about the purpose of, and their experience with, school and technology.
Sap Boiling Season in the Woods Primes (K/1)
Our Maple Sugaring season has (almost) come to an end, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to the fire and helped make this year’s sugar boil a success. Making maple syrup is a perfect example of many hands make life delicious!
Mups Artist Studies: Music as a Force for Change
This winter, our Friday music periods have been dedicated to exploring the lives and legacies of musicians who used their art to inspire change. Through our artist study unit, the Mups have been immersing themselves in the powerful connections between music, storytelling, and social movements.
Counted Out Viewing with the Uppers
Last Wednesday, the Uppers students brought snacks and pillows into the All School Room to watch the documentary Counted Out. We started our viewing by talking about two potentially new vocabulary words: “gerrymandering” and “parole”. You, like many of the students, may be wondering what those words have to do with math. As it turns out, a lot.
Exploring the concept of “quiet” in the Wonder Primes
Spring in the Wonder Primes classroom is a rich time of growth in many ways. The children have settled into their school routines and are confident in their knowledge of their days. Interpersonal relationships have solidified and deepened, and new skills are being refined.
Uppers Update- Staying Small in Middle School
It matters how much you get to be a kid while you still are a kid. Can you bring your stuffed animals to school in the Uppers? Yes. Can you play make believe with earnest enthusiasm? Absolutely. Will you be self-conscious about coming across too young or immature to your peers? Probably not in the Uppers. When youth are often in a rush to grow up, it can be tough but still important to rekindle childish play. Play as a part of learning, but also (and mostly) because it's where connection, friendship, and creativity lie.
Research Writing in Mups Orange (2nd/3rd)
In recent weeks, the Mups class has been diving deep into the process of research writing as part of our ongoing work in Writers Workshop. The goal has been to help students develop skills in gathering, organizing, and presenting information on topics of personal interest, while also engaging with the specific features of non-fiction texts.
Shadow Puppetry in the Middles (4th/5th)
The Middles performance. I must admit it has felt like a daunting task. Each year students write and put on a performance for the Center School community. As a generalist teacher, we wear many hats, and I often learn alongside my students — so why not have a shadow puppet performance! I have no background in theater other than enjoying performances as an audience member, so here we go!
Portfolios in the Uppers
The middle school students facilitate the majority of their fall and winter conferences by projecting a slideshow of their learning and experiences. It’s a very unique and fulfilling event for the students, families, and teachers. With March conferences just days away, Uppers have been focused on compiling work samples and photos for their portfolios.
Exploring Big Ideas in Dramatic Play with the Power Primes
As educators, we are continually seeking ways to recognize and explore the “big ideas” that emerge in children’s play. This year, our teaching team has been working with Peggy Martalock to deepen our practice of pedagogical documentation—examining how revisiting experiences through photos, transcripts, and children’s work allows us to recognize patterns of intent in their play.