See Classes in Action
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Still Life Studio
Each month, students participate in a "Still Life Studio" in art class. Ms. Criscuolo sets up a still life in the middle of the room, and students gather around to draw what they see. The studios are not about being "good at art," they are about being open to a challenge. By focusing on the objects, students learn to find the significant in anything - even common things they see every day.
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Mistakes are OK
By telling their classmates about their mistakes, kindergarteners learn that mistakes are no big deal - they are simply part of learning!
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Kindergarten Phonics
Kindergarteners warm up by reciting a fun alphabet poem (complete with body movements!) then participate in a sound scavenger hunt. In this phonics lesson, students find words around the room that begin with a specific letter sound. They write down all the words they find and then circle up on the rug to talk about their words.
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1st Grade Sound Cards
First graders learn and practice the sounds associated with letters. A strong knowledge of these sounds leads to proper blending and decoding of words, creating strong readers. The sounds, and then words, are used as building blocks as students learn to read.
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1st Grade with All Learners
First grade students learning both in person and online participate in small group reading lessons. Here, online students can interact with the teacher and their peers and see the lesson on their screens at home as it is taught in the classroom.
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2nd Grade Blending
In second grade, students practiced whole word blending, building oral language skills. Phonics cards help students identify sounds and spellings (for example, the “Shelly the Shell” card illustrates the /sh/ sound with its sh spelling). Students were also reviewing how to apply the rules they have learned for making words plural.
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3rd Grade Reading Comprehension
In a small group setting, students work on reading comprehension and fluency skills. As they read, the group takes breaks to talk about what they have read and to answer questions about the text using evidence in the story to support their answers. Students also develop test taking skills by discussing and highlighting key information in the story's comprehension questions.
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4th Grade Social Studies
Fourth graders learned about the Anasazi, an early American culture living in the southwestern United States about 2,000 years ago. Using clay, a commonly found natural resource, the Anasazi created pottery with unique geometric designs from plant or mineral based paint. In this lesson, students created their own piece of Anasazi “pottery,” designing their pieces with intricate geometric shapes and historically accurate colors (red, black, brown, orange).
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5th Grade Science
Using oobleck (a mixture of cornstarch and water), students learned about plasticity and how it relates to the structure of the earth. Plasticity is basically the ability to be both a solid and a liquid. When students pressed the oobleck it was solid, and when they held the oobleck it was liquid. This experiment helped illustrate the plasticity of Earth's aesthenosphere and lithosphere.
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6th Grade Math
The sixth grade Advanced Math class started the day by reviewing their math facts with a fun card game where they tried to figure out (using math!) what card was on their head. Then the class practiced pre-algebra by solving equations and translating expressions into words.
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6th Grade Social Studies
Students enjoyed hearing "Prehistoric Man's Life" (a parody of the Green Day song "Time of Your Life"), which teaches all about how early humans developed over the course of the Stone Age.
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6th Grade Social Studies
After studying the early pictographic writing developed in the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, students experimented with their own picture writing on clay tablets. Some of the symbols they used were from the ancient cuneiform and others they invented themselves. Using clay and lots of imagination, they “wrote” creative and hilarious tales of ancient times.
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6th Grade Social Studies
What makes a memorable lesson? Stuffed animals acting out famous stories from history! This episode of “Stuffed Animal Theater” was a retelling of one of the oldest legends from history, The Epic of Gilgamesh. This classic tale features the original buddy team, Gilgamesh and his best friend Enkidu, taking on monsters, spurning the affections of goddesses, and trying to make a name that will last forever.
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8th Grade Science
Labs are still possible! Eighth graders are exploring matter and its ability to change form during a chemical reaction. Students used gloves to observe the production of carbon dioxide after mixing baking soda and vinegar. The reactions (in the flasks and on the students’ faces) are priceless!
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2nd Grade Music
Second graders learn about the different sections or "form" of the Finale from William Tell's Overture by Giacomo Rossini. In the piece, there are several sections that repeat themselves. Students learned different movements to perform with the parachute for each section. This activity helps students develop their listening skills and their understanding of how classical music can be created.
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Lower School PE
Students learn to play volleyball in the fall. Lessons for 4th graders look a bit different than those for Kindergarten and first graders, but everyone is introduced to basic volleyball skills: body and arm position, the forearm bump technique, and working cooperatively with a partner. The volleyball unit is one of the lifetime recreational activities students learn to set them on a path to a lifetime of healthful physical activity.
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