Heads for a Day!

Awesome Head Laurel making a phone call

Lunch at Alexis Diner

Visiting with our Preschool buddies

We fired everyone in the school...Just kidding!  We got to declare an extra recess and pull the fire alarm.  And we got lunch out!  (Laurel)

We had milkshakes!!! (Julian)

Visiting classes ...It was great hanging out with Pre K buddies.  (Alex)

We're the BEST Heads in the world!!!!!  (all)

Learning is about the relationship

 

It's all about relationships.  Teachers connecting with students is what makes learning meaningful  - and at Parker, students connecting with each other is also a crucial element to inspired learning.  Listen to Rita Pierson talk about the importance of the relationship and you will know why so many Parker parents and kids say that "community" is what they love most about the school.

Meanwhile, in the rest of the school...

With melodic strains of Pachelbel's canon drifting up from Pre K and of violin practice in the music room, here is what everyone else is doing (for this one moment in time) while 6-7's are building bridges and 8's are sight-seeing at the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia:

Observing the seeds they sewed in Pre K 3's...quiet time in Pre K 4's...drawing "consumer" animals in K-1 science...choosing survey categories in 3rd grade math...figuring long division in both 4th and 5th grade math...and plotting an afternoon of outdoor activities by all the teachers on this beautiful spring day!

STEM week

STEM Week!  6-7's are on track to design and build a bridge over the creek in time for a buddy hike on Friday afternoon.  Their tasks have included mapping the proposed site, role-play of group dynamics, working with structural engineers from international firm CHA, designing on Google sketch-up, measuring and sawing lumber, and documenting their work. The weather has been perfect.  I can't wait to see the next steps!

The task is the test

What does cheating mean to kids whose understanding of learning is that it is a cooperative endeavor? This year during STEM week, 6-7's at Parker will design and build a bridge over a creek on our school property.  Their multi-layered task is not unlike the type of problem-solving that UCLA students did when their professor challenged them to think differently about taking a test.  In Cheating to Learn, a fascinating article about the typical competitive, grade-based culture of many schools - where cooperation equals cheating - professor Peter Nonacs says, "The test itself becomes a learning experience – where the very act of taking it leads to a deeper understanding of the subject."  With project-based learning, the task is the test. 

Advocacy on Earth Day

For Earth Day, Parker kids learned that Monarch butterfly habitat is disappearing all across the migration path.  Buddies got together to write letters to Congressman Tonko, Senator Gillibrand, President Obama, and Grandpa Herating (a farmer in Mexico) to advocate for habitat protection. They are planting a butterfly garden with milkweed and other Monarch favorites that will become a certified butterfly way station.  You can learn more at Monarch Watch.

My favorite letter started: "Dear Butterflies, We are making you a lovely garden.  We hope you like it!"

Hark, it's Shakespeare!

Shakespeare at Parker means nine action-packed days.  Students tap their creative juices, brainstorm ideas, memorize Shakespearean lines, learn to move on-stage (sometimes with swords), and practice the give-and-take of listening and responding to fellow actors.  It takes self-discipline.  It takes bravery and empathy.  Ultimately Shakespeare builds students' self-confidence, literacy and communication skills.  And many of the kids (and adults!) will tell you, "Shakespeare Night is my favorite night of the year!"

 

The theme this year involved going to Hollywood and videos of the actors were interspersed with the live action in the performance.  Class scenes developed by Sean Fagan with the students' input included the legend of rainbows, a cross-country bus trip, a pie throwing documentary, a Shakespearean game show, Zombies in the Globe Theater, and Othello: a Melodrama on Film and Stage.

Food for thought

Preschoolers make and eat their own "teddy-bear" pancakes.

Could you eat on $4 a day?  For the 16 million American children who live in poverty, getting healthy food is a daily issue.  The Spectrum Theater is showing A Place at the Table tomorrow night at 6:30.  It's a film about three different families in America who are struggling with issues around hunger.

This blog entry from Good Food Matters explores the challenges of eating well on a limited budget in areas where access to healthy food is difficult.  The author suggests several paths of advocacy. 

Here is what we are doing this Spring at school to focus on local hunger/local food and teach our students about plants, food and nutrition:

• Seventh grade will be serving a spaghetti dinner at  Christ Church Troy United Methodist on Friday, April 26 from 5 - 8 PM to help raise funds for Troy hunger and homeless charities.  

• The K-1 class has brainstormed a list of non-sugary snacks for classroom celebrations.  

• On Earth Day we will plant a butterfly way-station to help ameliorate the national problem of disappearing Monarch habitat.

• All classes will be planting herbs in the next few weeks in science class.

• The Bee Club has been selling honey from our hives to raise funds for bee keeping costs.

It's all food for thought.

Learning through making

Experimenting with light and wind forces in Pre K; writing a collaborative book about a cat named Muff and her encounter with a bobcat in K-1; demonstrating transfer of energy (6-7's) and measuring the relationship of ramp height to time and distance (4-5's)...

As science teacher Kate Perry said, "They don't actually realize just how much they are learning!" But learning, they are!  Topics and skills in physical science and writing, cooperation, and the habits of mind to explore and persevere.  Each instance of "making" creates opportunities for learning that are both specific and expansive.

The end result?  Inquisitiveness, motivation and understanding.  Lifelong learners in the "making"!

Connection and friendship

St. Peter's students and their Parker hosts were sad to part on Sunday!

Our recent week-long cultural interchange with ten students and two teachers from St. Peter's School in Barcelona gave us all new friendships and perspectives, and a very warm, good feeling.  There was hardly a dry eye (students and parents alike!) when they had to leave on Sunday. 

In Barbara Fredrickson's NY Times article Your Phone vs. Your Heart, she describes the connection between head and heart, reminding us that social interaction with others increases our capacity for connection, friendship and empathy.

"When you share a smile or laugh with someone face to face, a discernible synchrony emerges between you, as your gestures and biochemistries, even your respective neural firings, come to mirror each other," she says.

That's what the week was really about - the connections we made.  Everyone remarked about it all week as we smiled and felt happy with refreshed empathy and understanding.  Our hearts were full.  Lucky for us, connecting with others does good and feels good, as the article says.

Thank you to all the teachers, parents and students from both sides of the Atlantic who made this wonderful week a reality!