During the beginning stages of our transition from distance to in-person learning at the school, our K-3, in-person students, participated in a read-aloud series during snack that addressed and discussed the importance of children and young people following their dreams and aspirations. The titles from the series included Ada Twist Scientist, by Andrea Beaty, Drum Read More >>
Animal Classification
When Animal class began again in January of this year, we started with a book called The Butterfly and the Lamb. As is often the case, while the book seems very simple it is addressing an important issue: the difference between animals who need to be nutured for some portion of their lifespan and those Read More >>
Younger Local History
After completing a scavenger hunt in the Syracuse area to find a place from a historic postcard, students had to compare their postcard to the current location. Using a visual thinking strategy they tried to notice all the similarities and differences between the two time periods. To share this information with classmates, we had multiple Read More >>
Inaugural Poetry
A group of our six older students were part of a poetry class inspired by Amanda Gorman’s spectacular presentation of “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021. Gorman’s poem provided a natural extension for our year-long study of systemic racism in America. After reading Amanda Gorman’s poem, students were asked Read More >>
Systemic Racism in Syracuse: Education
New School students, grades 4 – 8, were assigned to find the answer to a number of questions teachers posed relating to Education, Syracuse’s Police Department, Lead Poisoning, Housing and Health. Their findings were discussed with the class. After digesting all this information, the students were asked to generate questions they could pose to Common Council Read More >>
Short Story
From about mid-March to mid-April Misha, Sam, RJ, Stuart, and Jiyong participated in a short story unit where they further developed their writing skills and critically examined the parts of a short story and learned how to write one themselves. The unit started off with learning about where writer’s find their story inspiration or “seeds” Read More >>
Bill Peet Book Club
Over the past two months, the 8th graders participated in a book club where they read Bill Peet: An Autobiography. Some people may be familiar with the name Bill Peet because of his children’s books that he created including, The Wump World, Hubert’s Hair Raising-Adventure, and Ella. Before his success in children’s literature, Bill was Read More >>
Erie Canal
From mid-April to the beginning of May, the K-3 students embarked on a journey to learn about the Erie Canal. The unit began with discussions about the ways in which people and goods move from place to place today. After creating a list of how we move from place to place in 2021. We then Read More >>
Crow Drawings
After reading She’s Wearing a Bird on her Head we learned about the remarkable efforts of Minna Hall and Harriet Hemenway, two determined women activists who founded the Audubon Society to protect birds. Then we admired the extraordinary paintings by James Audubon. Now it was our turn. We examined a crow that has been perched Read More >>
Life
by Paul OttesonSecond semester science teacher for 7th and 8th grades Biology has been this year’s science focus for the older students, using the curriculum suggested by the Science Education for Public Understanding Program (SEPUP). It was my pleasure to join the teaching team for the second part of the year to take on Genetics, Read More >>