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Raisin in the Sun

The oldest group of students were part of a book club where they read Lorraine Hansberry’s play, “Raisin in the Sun.” Over a period of a month, the students met once a week to discuss. Students were instructed to prepare a Discussion question. The resulting conversations showed high levels of insight and understanding. For the second half Read More >>

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Silk Road

This spring the oldest students started a unit on the Silk Road. The four objectives of this unit included being able to identify the major physical features that hindered travel between China and Europe. To discover how ideas, cultures and goods were exchanged through the Silk Road. Relate the ideas of trade and globalization to today. Compare Read More >>

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Peter Spier Author Study

This spring the younger students, K-4, did an author study of Peter Spier. Peter Spier was a Dutch-born illustrator and author of more than thirty children’s books. We read Bored – Nothing to Do, which is about two brothers who build an airplane out of spare parts around the house. We also read Oh, Were Read More >>

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Fractions

A small group of students in first, second and third grade explored fractions using multiple representations of ONE.  With parquetry pieces they considered the fractional parts of a hexagon. In the process they learned that the denominator means how many equal parts are in the whole, in ONE. While the numerator indicates how many of Read More >>

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Butterfly class

In January, we continued our butterfly class. As always it allowed for wonderful conversations on big ideas. One day we began to talk about butterflies, discussing that they don’t stay around to nurture their young. We talked a little about the difference between human, butterflies: learning from our parents or knowing through instinct. But of course, Read More >>

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Electricity

The youngest students have recently begun a unit on electricity.  We follow the same format we used for our Butterfly class.  We meet once a week for 50 minutes.  For the first half hour we read and talk.  For the next 20 minutes we have a studio time where we break up into 4 or Read More >>

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What does it mean to Individualize Curriculum?

Your child is like no other. At The New School we build our relationship with your child based on the understanding that each child processes their thinking and actions based on prior experiences, unique ways of accessing information and expressing their understandings.  Each week we develop an individual plan for your child. This plan, what Read More >>

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Snowflake Bentley

Inspiration for our Valentine Bags this year came from the picture book titled, Snowflake Bentley. The book tells the story of a man called Wilson Bentley who spent his lifetime studying snowflakes. He saw snowflakes as small miracles. Just as each snowflake is unique, so too are the designs created by our children. In the Read More >>

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Dragon Books

Our kindergarten and first grade students have practiced several language comprehension skills while channeling an appropriate fantasy outlet through the book, “Brave Martha and the Dragon.” We practiced character analysis skills by using text evidence and inferential skills to describe characters based on both physical characteristics and personal character traits. Students practiced using a variety Read More >>

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Bats

Our second through fourth graders have recently wrapped up a science unit on bats. In this unit we studied unique qualities and characteristics of specific bat species, compared bats to birds, learned about echolocation, and contributed to bat conservation. Some of our activities allowed students to create replica bat species using exact measurements and physical Read More >>