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Inventions

Students in grades 4th-8th participated in a science class this winter that explored and created inventions. We started this unit by reading a book called What Can You Do With a Shoe? We then applied the ideas in this book to a coat hanger. What could we do with a coat hanger besides hang up Read More >>

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Ancient India

Ancient India The oldest group of students have been participating in a social studies unit on Ancient India. They began by studying the geography and location of Ancient India and comparing it to the present day location of India. They studied the climate and cities of Harappa and Mohejo-Daro. In small groups, the students performed Read More >>

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Stone Fox Book Clubs

Two groups of students participated in a book club to read Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner. The book tells the story of a ten-year-old boy whose grandfather falls ill, so he must save their farm from the tax collector. A major theme of the story is perseverance. No matter what obstacles Little Willy faces, Read More >>

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Poetry with Kenneth Koch

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” Robert Frost. Kenneth Koch published his Rose, Where Did you Get That Red? in 1973 to enormous acclaim. His book revolutionized the way children are taught to read and write poetry. Around 2000 Mary Cunningham gave us a copy of Read More >>

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Temple Grandin

    This year, the older children are examining groups of people who have had to fight for their rights. One such group is individuals with disabilities. We’ve read articles, watched Ted Talks, watched Temple Grandin, and engaged in discussions with mystery guests about how far we have come in meeting their needs, and also Read More >>

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Paco Valle is Mystery Guest

Another mystery guest came to The New School’s government class last week. This time, we invited Paco Valle, a manager from the Syracuse VA Medical Center. Two students had previously shared articles at school about the shameful medical treatment of vets (or lack thereof.) Paco came to answer their many questions, and also shared other Read More >>

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Ancient India

Students in Second Grade through Fifth Grade have been learning about the different aspects of Ancient Indian culture. With our student teacher, Erica, they learned about the different foods that were eaten in Ancient India, as well as the social Caste System that was a way of life for Hindus. We started by looking at Read More >>

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VTS (Visual Thinking Strategy)

With our student teacher, Erica, students of mixed ages have been taking a class called VTS. We look at a picture, and silently write about what’s going on in the picture, what we see that makes us say that, and what more we can find in the picture. We have been primarily focusing on pictures from Read More >>

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Homeless Bird, by Gloria Whelan

This February and March, students in a 5th and 6th Grade book club read Gloria Whelan’s book about arranged marriage in India, Homeless Bird. Before we began reading, we watched a short video to expose us to what is going to happen in the book, and we identified things that we already knew about India Read More >>