Catch the first day buzz...

I love the first day of school!  The eager faces, the excited buzz.  All the possibilities of the wonderful year ahead. 

At our teacher days before school started we read two articles:  How a Bigger Purpose Can Motivate Students to Learn and The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning.  The first reminded us that students who want to make a difference in the world are highly motivated learners.  The second reinforced that students gain social maturity when they learn in a project-based setting. 

As the teachers talked to me about their goals for the year, both of the themes emerged.  Here are a few examples:

• 7th graders will have a weekly STEM workshop for robotics and coding, animation with Google Sketch Up, and game design with Scratch and GameMaker.

• In middle school health class, students will organize a Health Fair to educate the broader community about making healthy decisions and living healthy lifestyles.

• Students in all grades will practice mindfulness habits.  Linda Lantieri, author of Building Emotional Intelligence will help build teachers' skills at a workshop in December.

• In science classes students will practice specific habits of mind such as persisting, listening with empathy, and questioning.

• 4-5's will work on designing an improved, discovery-centered play space for the North Playground by generating ideas, conducting an interest and feasibility survey, and researching costs and funding.

And that's just a sample of what's ahead!

Parker teachers are...

The biggest strength of a school, absolutely bar none, is the quality of the teachers.  At Parker we are blessed with an outstanding faculty of dedicated, energized, compassionate and smart teachers -  masters at their craft.

Our teachers have developed a set of criteria for what excellent teaching means at Parker.  They review it each summer as they set goals for the year.  Here is a link to the document that describes what our teachers strive for.  Criteria for Excellent Teaching at Parker

What is play-based learning?

When we talk about our school program as play-based it resonates with parents who want something different for their children than a testing-based school.  But I think they also get a bit nervous - is it "just play"?

Here is a great article by Katy Merrell, a school Head in Norfolk, Virginia, Pro-Active Parenting, The Power of Play-Based, Active Learning. She says, "too often the word ‘play’ makes parents apprehensive about what is taking place in the classroom, so it may help to think of it as Purposeful Learning (that is) Active (while kids are) Young (and young at heart)."

When children get the "Ah ha!" moment in a learning situation, it engages the neurotransmitters in the brain that imbed the memory.  A mind-numbing worksheet just doesn't have the same impact.  Exciting and engaging activities that pull children in, the kinds of things they view as play, are the ones that stick with them best.  Piquing and supporting children's curiosity creates optimal learning. 

For older children "playing" (exploring) with a microscope to see what's in pond water, or cutting and gluing as they figure out how to make a better wind turbine blade, feels like play - and that's what the teacher is aiming at.  Great teachers use play as the hook to help children push themselves to reach the highest of expectations.

Show what you know

The school year culminated with many different products of children's learning, from a rocket launch to thesis presentations, essays about Hindu deities, and a Mexican hat dance.  There were videos for marketing space tourism companies and Spanish cooking shows, animated autobiographies and an online newspaper, to name just a few.

Here are links to some of the creative ways that Parker kids showed what they know.

Two seventh graders' Spanish Cooking Video: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3ZHSv9J8VsjNmloRWxnTUN5NlU/edit

6-7's Marketing videos to promote space tourism (part of STEM week):  https://sites.google.com/site/mathwithshelli/home/stem-week-at-parker  (I love the edginess of Sky High and Cloud Space!)

6-7's on-line news: http://parkerpurples.wordpress.com/
and   http://parkergreens.wordpress.com/

8th grade thesis presentations: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/parkerschool  password: rcp123 

School is a lot like summer camp

When children are interested in learning for learning's sake, you know something is going right in their schooling.  Rewarding students for taking intellectual risks helps them develop a mastery mindset, where motivation and engagement are high, and performance anxiety is low.  Kind of like summer camp.

This article in Mind Shift, What Schools Can Learn from Summer Camps hits the mark on something I like to think about: how at Parker we try to make school a lot like camp.  Camp is fun and spirited.  Kids pick things they are interested in: rockets, outdoor survival, LEGO robotics, cool chemistry, or cartooning to name just a few.  They sing together and play in the woods.  They bond with friends and counselors.  They love camp!

At its best, school is like that, too.  Exciting and interesting - a place where you can take on something you're not sure you can do.  Friendships are forged in the throes of shared experiences, working out conflicts, and when teams figure out how to work together.  Students find out that taking a risk has huge rewards, whether they are successful or not.

At Parker, we are so fortunate that the natural elements are in place: the creeks and woods, the pond and meadows.  We have developed a program that turns those features into benefits: capitalizing on the natural world to help children develop their tolerance for risk-taking, life-long curiosity and the courage and confidence to explore.

Head for the Day: Awesome: chocolate cake

We are Peyton and Jet, the Heads for the Day. The best parts of the day were chocolate cake at Alexis Diner, disco dance at Assembly, putting sticky notes all over the place, pulling the fire alarm, and handing out Popsicles to the WHOLE SCHOOL AT AN EXTRA RECESS!  Alexis Diner is really, really good! I hope we can be Head for the Day next year!!!!!!!

~ Guest Bloggers Peyton and Jet, Heads for the Day

Purposeful action in action

4-5's took their show on the road last week.  Their Bee Show that is.  They had prepared a thoughtful and beautiful presentation about honey bees, bee keeping, threats to honey bees, and more.  After a presentation here at school, they perfected their slides and talk and came up with a game, too.

The 4th and 5th graders at Doane Stuart were very receptive.  The waggle dance, part of the game wherein correctly answering bee questions earned each hive-team some pollen, was a big hit.  9th grader and Parker grad, Jack RP was on hand.  He originated the bee project at Parker. 

He loved seeing himself in the slide show - and gave the advice, "No matter if you are young or old, if you work hard, you can do anything!"

It was fantastic to see the kids take their learning beyond the classroom - purposeful action in action!

Can you teach creativity?

Racing to my office to show me a finished book or a robotic claw, smelling the spring flowers, building a rocket or a wind turbine, or enjoying dinner on the 8th grade Philadelphia trip, Parker students are always up to something interesting!

Can creativity be taught and assessed?  According to Grant Wiggins and Andrew Miller, it can!  Here's how... On Assessing Creativity  and  Yes, You Can.

Have a fractionous Friday!

Giving students ample opportunities to develop sound investigative skills at an early age is essential to nurturing their ability to think critically and mathematically as they get older.

Here is a great blog post by second grade math teacher, Jennifer Gresens.  She describes the depth of learning that happens when students write fraction books to demonstrate their understanding. 

Assessment at Parker

2-3 students give each other feedback about their Ganges River poems in a critique session. This form of peer-assessment gives students practice in critical thinking.

We had a great time at this morning's Coffee with Meg sponsored by Parent Council.  The topic was Parker Assessment vs Common Core Assessment.  One of our parents made this podcast of the conversation.  If you couldn't be there - take a listen!  https://archive.org/details/CoffeeWithMegCommonCore