Our student teacher, Taylor, taught students in grades K-1 a math class on weight and volume. Students began with weight. During the first class, students were given two objects and holding one in each hand, had to tell the class which one felt heavier or lighter. As the class Read More >>
Book Club: Fever, 1793
Over the last five weeks, our student teacher, Taylor, has been conducting a book club with five students. The students read the novel, Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. This story takes place in Philadelphia in the summer of 1793 and follows the yellow fever epidemic. Throughout the book, we Read More >>
Insectapolooza Mystery Gest
Mike Wolfin, a graduate student from Cornell’s Department of Entomology, was a recent “Mystery Guest” at The New School. As a spokesperson for Insectapolooza, he brought with him a stick bug that both excited and captivated all our students. Mike shared his passion for chemical ecology and his own research. He shared photographs of microscopic Read More >>
Mystery Guest – Hartwood Farmers
“Two mystery guests in one week,” the children shouted with glee! Our second mystery guests of the week were Matt Robinson and Maryellen Sheehan, farmers and owners of Hartwood Farm. Their 70 acre farm sits in the hills of Fenner, about 2 miles east of the windmills. They were invited to The New School to support Read More >>
B.F.G Read Aloud
Our youngest children (kindergarten and 1st) loved listening to Johnna, our student teacher, reading The B.F.G. by Roald Dahl. This is a fantasy story that explores the B.F.G.’s kidnapping of Sophie. He carries Sophie away to giant country and leads her on an unforgettable journey. The students really enjoyed being about to draw in their Read More >>
Mummies in the Morning Book Club:
Six students took part in a book club and read Mummies in the Morning by Mary Pope Osborn. This book club gave the students a chance to further their knowledge about mummies and pyramids. At book club meetings the students shared predictions for the up coming chapters, responded to comprehension questions, and worked through packet Read More >>
Letters Home
This fall, students in 3rd through 6thgrades were introduced to letter writing by our student teacher, Johnna. Students began by exploring the elements of a friendly letter; including the heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature. Each student was asked to share or brainstorm interesting events that had happened at school. From this brainstorm they chose Read More >>
Friendship Bracelets and Boondoggle fun
Johnna, our student teacher, enjoyed sharing her interest in arts and crafts activities during investigations. She choose to teach the students how to make friendship bracelets. Each student was given the chance to make a friendship bracelet to then give to a good friend. Boondoggle was another way Johnna engaged her students in conversations. This activity also gave some Read More >>
Data and Graphing
This fall the younger group of students in 2nd and 3rd grades began a data class with Johnna our student teacher. Throughout this class the students demonstrated the ability to collect numerical data, represent class data in a variety of ways and develop language used to interpret data. Johnna modeled each step before the students Read More >>
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 >>