Exchange trip to Barcelona

How wonderful to be reunited with old friends!  Nine Parker kids and two teachers arrived in Barcelona, Spain on February 16th for a week with host families while attending St. Peter's School.  Their exchange visit is part of our partnership with St. Peter's that includes pen pals, projects and a visit from St. Peter's students to Parker last year.   

Parker students kept a blog and St. Peters School posted a video of the trip.  Parker kids got back on Sunday full of stories of a truly fantastic time learning language, trying new foods, exploring a different culture and living with another family - a week that they will never forget.  We are so proud of our Parker ambassadors!

The partnership has inspired our whole school to become better at Spanish, and prompted new elements to our Integrated Spanish curriculum including a bi-lingual preschool program and becoming founding members of the Global Language and Culture Institute (students teaching students language). 

The world is so large - and so small - at the same time.  What a joyful way to experience it!

Science pond

Every day in this cold, cold weather, the excavators and the big dump trucks are working away.  We have all watched with fascination as the new science pond takes shape!

The pond will be a great feature of our outdoor-based science program and a centerpiece for exploring water ecosystems, clean water advocacy, and STEM.

It is being dug at the site of what we believe was the former farm pond.  When it is done, it will be about a half-acre in size, with gently graduated sides and a depth of 8 feet in the center.  We’ll put some split-rail fencing with mesh at crucial spots around the perimeter and plan to add a deck and a pond shed for storing buckets and nets and all the other equipment needed for pond exploration.

The strategic idea for a science pond came about at forums and discussions with trustees, parents and teachers about how to maximize the natural science features at Parker.  The streams, woods, meadows and wetlands are all wonderful elements of discovery and analysis for our students, so creating our very own pond seemed to be the natural next step.  With the generous initial funding of a special donor and the guidance of the school’s Planet Parker Committee, coordinated by Jamie Crouse, we were able to get started this winter.

One of the biggest questions for the Planet Parker Committee was “Where do we put the fill?”  Take a look at the east side of our parking lot and you will see the natural solution to our parking issues when we have big events: an expanded parking area!  We will keep it grassy and it will be great for parking overflow.

The next phase of the project is watching the pond fill with water from the water table.  I am sure there will be mud!  But then the native plants will fill in on the banks and the meadow will seed itself again.  Students have been charting the man-made changes to the site and now they will have the opportunity to see how the land restores itself and what wildlife and plants make their new home at the Parker pond!

Proud of our alumni

At the Alumni Assembly on January 10

What makes a Parker education special?  Nine recent Parker grads told us: The freedom to explore, project-based learning, the connection to teachers, the advanced curriculum, the closeness of the community, learning self-motivation. 

These young people are attending colleges like Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and are involved in about a million interesting things. 

Some of their interests:

Soccer, writing a literary magazine, Irish dance, crafting, robotics, engineering, sketch comedy, giving kosher gastronomical walking tours of Budapest, learning Russian, playing guitar, community service, science Olympiad, mentoring, jazz, marching band, unicycling

Some of their Parker thesis topics:

Banned Books, French Cooking, The Evolution of Cosmetics, Mass Produced Food, Video Game Addiction, Fuel Efficient Vehicles, Substance Abuse

We feel so proud of our graduates.  A parent of one just told me that what Parker does best is create leaders.  “It’s the confidence,” he said.  “Parker kids are willing to quietly lead, to help others, to be kind.  It’s part of who they are.”

Building, tinkering, and sharing - but it's more than that

I started out thinking I'd write about Scratch - the coding program that our Computer Club is working with under the guidance of our former math and science teacher Teresa Ferrer-Mico.  Teresa is completing a PhD and one of her projects is teaching kids Scratch.  Here is a great description of what Scratch is and why it's so cool to teach it.

But as one idea leads to another I started thinking about all the ways Parker kids are learning by doing, building, tinkering, and sharing.  It happens all over the school and it is leading our students to habits of mind that are vital to their success - and intimately linked to how they are naturally motivated to learn, as we now have proof from the research of neuro-scientists.  

Kids' minds thrive on solving problems, and when presented with appropriate problems (big, complex ones) and an openness to diverse solutions using a wide variety of materials, their motivation soars and their skills in agency, grit, innovation, and collaboration develop at astonishing rates. 

Examples: LEGO Robotics in all the grades; mounting a "pattern museum" in Kindergarten; inventing a better bee hive or building a wind powered machine in 4-5; inventing ways to clean up an oil spill in 2-3; building a bridge in 6-7 STEM.

I am excited about our kids and their futures!  Here are some comments from our alumni panel on Friday - they were mainly college kids (Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Bard, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, St. Rose...) who answered the question, "What did you learn at Parker that helped you most in high school and college?"  I swear, we didn't script this. 

• Writing a thesis - I can write a great paper or essay
• Not having grades made me more self-motivated than other kids
• Small classes - I got to know my teachers so well, and in high school and college getting to know my teachers is a huge advantage
• Working with people - I'm better at that than most of the kids I encounter
• The advanced curriculum  - learning algebra and earth science let me move ahead in high school to accomplish my dreams quicker
• The close community and the connection with teachers gave me confidence
• Project-based learning - it's what the real world is all about - in my college and in my job
• Openness to other people and other ways of thinking has helped me to explore more
• Parker allowed me to learn about things I'm interested in and gave me the freedom to explore 

Joy in learning

Many classes are preparing for final projects this week: an 8th grade mock trial about cyber-bullying; Native American legend playlets written and performed by 4-5's; a Hudson River museum in 2-3; and a homes and habitats display of New York state animals in K-1.  There is the Peace Assembly on Friday, too!  Reflecting on the final preparations, teacher Lynn Schuster says in her blog Here in the 2-3's:

As we wind down our semester, the children's working days are full. Everyone has been stretching academic muscles as essays are organized and composed on Hudson River topics.
Confidence is tested as the children move from their research articles into organizing and synthesizing those ideas in their own words. Patience and focus have been tested as this work stretched over many days. As essays are finished, each child is struck with relief, then pride and, finally, joy.
My tradition is to do a little dance with each child as he or she writes that last word in the conclusion. Some kids love the jig. Some kids take off and run away giggling. Jennifer and I always make sure that their hard work is marked with a good mix of joy, humor and celebration.

Aaaah, to be with a group of smart, talented, funny and rambunctious kids each day:  that's one of my life's greatest joys.

What makes you happy?

K-1 teacher Liliana works with the children to create a classroom grounded in peace and friendship.  To see if the children have absorbed the lessons, she asked the kids these questions: "What do you like about school?"  and "What makes you happy?"  Here are some of their responses (categorized after the conversation by Liliana)

Peace and Beauty

• Peace is a wonderful thing at school.  We love people.
• In this classroom there is lots of peace and we make peace a lot.
• We help each other in a kind way.  We get a lot of free choice.
• We meditate.  We go into our silence.
• You can make beautiful pictures.

Play and Friendships

• You can make new friends and play.  We can all play together.
• We play dress-up.
• It's a wonderful class with all these friends.
• Playing games at recess and I help my friends.
• You have really good friends and you help other people.
• We have two recesses.  We can build at recess.  We can build in the classroom and you can mix toys and then when we clean up we put them back where they belong.  If you didn't mix the toys you could not make these structures.

She noted that everyone mentioned the block center as a fun place and recess was also very popular.  They also mentioned all the projects and themes they have worked on: homes and habitats, fall, butterflies, moths, frogs and cooking.

I'm so happy that the culture of our classrooms and school community is infused with these ideas.  Our graduates carry it forth in their personal lives and to work in the peace corps, as doctors, educators, and as entrepreneurs for social causes.  The message of peace and friendship clearly resonates  - and who knows, another Nelson Mandela could be in the making.

Breathe

Taking moments throughout the day for breathing and reflecting adds to kids' ability to focus.  It may even be essential for them to do well in school.

Katherine Broderick, in Why Teaching Mindfulness Benefits Students' Learning in Mind Shift, says, Learning to channel attention to productive tasks, to sustain motivation when work becomes demanding, and to handle the frustrations of sharing, learning, and communicating with peers are skills that depend on the ability to understand and manage emotions. 

In preschool our students breath slowly to the diminishing sound of a chime, and in K-1, go into "their silence".  2-3's and 4-5's practice slow breaths for making transitions, and middle school students walk for 15 minutes during their daily 2000 Steps. 

In Friday Assemblies we are trying something new - five calming breaths to begin and end Assembly.  It gives everyone a moment to focus, it oxygenates the brain and prepares us to experience the present.  A wonderful skill for life success! 

A dynamic reflection

It's always great to see ourselves through someone else's eyes.  Josie Holford, Head of Poughkeepsie Day School posted a reflection of her day at Parker on her terrific blog, The Compass Point.  What don't you know about design thinking?  Her short video tells it all!

Design Thinking

On Monday, Parker teachers played with a way of problem solving called design thinking.  Guided by Josie Holford, the Head of Poughkeepsie Day School, we learned to frame problems in new ways in order to uncover empathy and insights that lead to innovative and creative solutions. 

Design thinking is a concept best described through work from the d.school at Stanford and IDEO.  It
is participatory and collaborative and turns traditional brainstorming on its head.

In one activity we broke into pairs to interview each other about our experience of using the Parker library and what problems we encounter in this highly used room.  We broke our partner's response into defining words, beliefs, actions, and feelings to get at the root of the problem - to uncover their real needs and perhaps gain some surprising insights.  After several rounds of clarification we each designed a solution to our partner's problem using cardboard, scrap paper, tape, scissors and pipe cleaners. 

Voila!  Creative solutions for a better library experience that we would not have otherwise uncovered.  And of course the fun of playing with "stuff". 

Educators are beginning to embrace design thinking as a way to teach students to look at problems differently - and to solve the problems of schools themselves.  Already this morning Parker teachers used design thinking to help middle school kids create rules for phone use in school.  Timely!

A poem has the ability to surprise

Writing poetry is a process that takes time, revision and courage to put yourself in front of your peers. To help, we teach children a process called critique so they can see their writing through others' eyes.  They learn how to give feedback that is kind and useful to the writer.  It's hard at first and children often give feedback like "I like it!"

In 2-3 children learn to give a "compliment sandwich" - feedback that includes first a compliment, then a suggestion, then a compliment.  The writer can take the advice  - or not - and continue revising.  The kids also read great poems, noticing what makes them great.

Here is an article by Mark Yakich in the Atlantic, What's a Poem?  You read it.  It reads you.  An object lesson.  He says, Because of its special status—set apart in a magazine or a book, all that white space pressing upon it—a poem still has the ability to surprise, if only for a moment which is outside all the real and virtual, the aural and digital chatter that envelopes it, and us.

Here is the poem of a third grader, Madeline, after revising her first draft with the help of critique.

I am...

I am birds singing
I am math
I am water cascading over rocks
I am books with a good story
I am music fresh from the violin
I am water cascading over rocks
I am fall
I am winter
I am water cascading over rocks
I am wild animals
I am a creek
I am the ocean hustling and bustling with life
I am water cascading over rocks
I am cute seals sunning on boulders
I am water cascading over rocks
I am the earth recovering from humans