Last year at The New School, as part of our social studies unit on Immigration, each student interviewed one of their ancestors who had immigrated to America. The students took on that role and were interviewed telling their story. Click on the link below to watch the videos. https://cloud.ensemblevideo.com/app/sites/index.aspx?destinationID=7cVkGrwsNkmOpAJdy5uwFA
Archives for October 2013
Math Problem Solving
We value giving children the opportunity to problem solve and think critically. A group of 2ndgraders met once a week to tackle problems such as: “How many feet would there be in our room if all the people living in your houses came to our class at the same time.” Or “If I found 50 Read More >>
Poetry with Kenneth Koch
Inspired by Kenneth Koch’s book, Rose, Where Did You Get That Red? the older students spent 6 weeks studying the poems of Wallace Stevens’ Thirteen Ways to Look at a Blackbird; John Ashbery’s Into the Dusk-Charged Air: Arthur Rimbaud’s Voyelles; William Blake’s Tyger Tyger, Rivers, Kenneth Koch’s prompts for children are both motivating and creative Read More >>
Mesopotamia – The Cradle of Civilization
For the oldest students (grades 4 and above), our study of “Mesopotamia” – the land between two rivers – began with a discussion of “How do we know what we know?” How can we possibly know about a civilization that existed over 5,000 years ago? The children displayed a solid understanding of this concept listing Read More >>
Bugsocopter Science
To start the year, the oldest students were challenged to learn as much as they could about bugscopters – a t-shaped, paper, helicopter-like creation of Larry Schafer, formerly professor of Science Teaching at SU. After exploring the characteristics of the bugsocopters, by dropping them from on high, we discussed the need to limit variables when Read More >>
Green Eyed Monster
This mini unit explored the connections between visual art and language arts, and how both are used to creatively tell stories and express emotions. After listening to the picture book, Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley children were introduced to adjectives as descriptive words. The students then brainstormed adjectives they could use for Read More >>
Motel of the Mysteries
The oldest students listened to a book at read aloud this fall called Motel of the Mysteries by David Macaulay. In this book, it is the year 4022 and all of the ancient country of Usa has been buried under many feet of junk mail from a catastrophe that occurred back in 1985. The students thoroughly enjoyed how Read More >>
Seeds
In science class, students in Kindergarten and First Grade have been exploring seeds. We started our unit by reading a book called A Fruit is a Suitcase for a Seed by Jean Richards. We then had fun predicting the number of seeds (one, a few or a lot) in fruits and vegetables. Once we opened the “suitcases” Read More >>
Alumnus, Brennan Zimmer Volunteers at The New School
Alumnus, Brennan Zimmer is volunteering at The New School on Mondays. He is coordinating our first chess club. Twelve children expressed an interest, so Brennan will alternate working with 6 children each Monday. Brennan is currently a student at OCC and working at Price Chopper. What a treat to have him back in our classroom after all Read More >>
Highland Forest
Twice a year the whole school spends two days camping in Highland Forest. This outdoor adventure provides us with a wonderful way to get to know each other better and to share in the delights of nature. Our two days are full of hours playing by the pond, catching and releasing critters, hiking in the Read More >>