FROM THE DESK OF SUSAN CHILVERS

I hope everyone had a great break last week and enjoyed time with their family. I was at home for the first half of the week and then went to Pennsylvania with Jay to visit his family for the last four days. His sister had a baby shower for her son and daughter-in-law who are expecting a baby at the end of March. Also his mum had, unfortunately, had a fall the previous week and was in rehab so we were able to spend a lot of time with her. She is making good progress but will probably be there for a couple of weeks more.

Before break I had auditions with the older classers and this week I have talked to all the middle class about parts available for them. This is always the hardest time for me when I am doing a play. I want to include everyone in some way in the production and incorporate their ideas as much as possible and they have many wonderful ideas! However this takes time and everyone (including me) is anxious to get on to rehearsing and performing. Our school plays are truly a whole school experience and incorporate so many aspects of learning that I will try to draw attention to as we go through this process. Right now they are learning to be patient as I consider all the people who want to play different parts, give precedent to those who are older and thus have less time left in school to be in a school play, and also be patient while I add characters and extra parts to suit individual needs. Soon I will say “what’s done is done” (Shakespeare) and give out the parts. I thank Helen for agreeing to work with me on the music, and accompany the show and Rosalie for offering help with costumes.

Last night we had another wonderful graduate evening. As Jay said last night, and I agree with him, it is his favorite meeting of the year. As is our tradition Jay prepared a spaghetti supper with salad and garlic bread and favorite desserts and we all had a chance to chat and catch up before the meeting started. We had 12 graduates attending who represented all four years of high school. After introductions as to which school they attended, the year they were in, their favorite drink, their favorite subject and what clubs they belong to, they fielded questions from the audience and did an incredible job of answering them. They are an amazingly diverse group of characters, but what came through time and time again was how much they care about each other, how close they felt when they were in the school and how this has continued despite their attending different high schools. Some of my favorite answers were: – What do you miss most about the school? Jay, snack, being able to eat when I’m hungry and talking to friends when I want to, doing projects, being responsible for my own learning, having Phys. Ed. with Chris and being treated like a human being! When asked what they felt least prepared for in high school the overwhelming majority said Biology but after much discussion about what they didn’t know, Jay asked them what their grades were and nobody had less than a B+ and the majority of them had A’s! Then one of the graduates pointed out that there is not necessarily a correlation between grades and true learning. How wonderful to hear that beyond the new school walls.

While still talking about academic learning, several of the graduates pointed out how much they had learned from the Key Curriculum Math Series and how far ahead you would be in math going into high school if you had in fact completed the whole series.Socially the graduates commented on making new friends, getting along with all types of people and characters, having good relationships with teachers and feeling good about themselves, attributing much of their ability in these areas to having spent time at TNS. It was good to see some of the graduates’ parents who came with them and that the current New School parents and students who attended seemed to get a lot out of the evening. I received the following email from a parent, “Graduate Night was very worthwhile. The graduates impressed upon us that while there were some difficulties in their transition to high school, they were equipped with the life skills necessary to meet those challenges, cope in new situations and continue to grow as people in general. We were extremely impressed with their candor, self-assuredness, deep connections with each other, and heartfelt gratitude toward TNS. It was a very special night and we were happy we could attend.”

OLDER CLASS

This week we continued to read Fahrenheit 451, and we are now well over halfway through the book. As a class we have discussed some of the ideas of books being replaced by more visual and instant methods of communication such as a computer. We have also discussed one of the main concepts of the book that everybody is happy because they don’t know enough to worry about anything.

Another new item on our schedule is the packets of history that each student received and will research with the end purpose of producing pages for a student made collaborative book on the history of the world from 4000 BC to the present day. I have already talked to students about the reasons for World War II, the Reformation and Martin Luther, and the culture in early Japan and China. This will be an ongoing project that should last for 4 to 6 weeks or maybe to the end of the year. Our main resources for this project are the books: SCHOLASTICS BOOK OF WORLD HISTORY FROM 4000 BC TO THE PRESENT TIME, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC’S VISUAL HISTORY OF THE WORLD, AND WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA. In addition to Sara and I working with the students on this project, this is an excellent opportunity for parents to also work with their children. The only criteria is that the work is written or drawn on 8 ½ x 14 sheets of paper and that it is well researched and innovatively presented. Much of this history is very interesting and exciting, as anything dealing with human relations seems to be. I want all students to show me what they can personally do with help when needed or available. They should use several resource materials and think of many ways of presenting that in their book pages. (This is similar to the communication country-state project in the fact that it is work each student needs to process and present for the benefit of others in the class that are looking up different information to be presented.)

This week we also received our new shipment of Key Curriculum books. As J and A were putting them on the shelves, they noticed that they seemed much lighter. They have reduced the stock of the paper to about half of what it was previously. The students in the class are completely invested in what they are doing including being distressed that the books were now of flimsier quality.

Schedules also included Amazing facts and one extension, math workbook pages, finishing As You Like reviews, a group reading of the Boisterous Bard, and an art assignment of creating eyes of a famous person, and making Valentine boxes.

We had a successful writing assignment using my Playbill collection. Each student chose a playbill and just from the title of the play and the pictures on the playbill was to create their own story of what that play might be about. The writings have been very entertaining and I have told the class what I can remember about the actual play once they read their stories. This is the beginning of my project on Playbills which I had planned to do sometime this year. I also have one other project which I had planned for this year and have not gotten to because of all of our work on Shakespeare and that is using the wonderful play, Peter and the Starcatchers.

As a teacher, I try to be very in tune with students’ interests and the work that is getting them excited and involved. So even though I have always enjoyed Shakespeare it is not my interest that continues to propel this project forward but my students’ involvement and enjoyment of his plays. This work has not only been about the plays, but has gone into the history of the time period, interest in the Kings and Queens of England, and enriched all of our creative writings.

There are plans in the works for two Projects to be returning to the older class under the guidance of C and E. C has agreed to head the rebirth of the newspaper and E the literary edition. I am thrilled about this.

Our 4th New York trip will be centered on the Tenement Museum. More info next week.

MIDDLE CLASS

Happy Valentine’s to all. My class was very happy to have school today as they were looking forward to sharing their valentines. They made sure that children that were not here had boxes made and/or filled. In typical New School fashion, everything that had been planned for the week was squeezed into a very happy and busy day. Today we exchanged valentines, had a full day of math workshop, celebrated R’s birthday, had pizza day and delicious soup from Letty and Elise, bread from William, candy from Caroline and started auditions with Susan for the play. Thank you to everyone who added to our Valentine’s Day.

I have asked Middle Classers to explore the Doodle for Google website over the break and to start thinking about ideas that could represent the theme. We began talking about the contest, brainstorming and doing a variety of activities to cultivate the free flow and exchange of ideas and looking at the previous submissions. I will be sending home the blank forms when we return from break for parents to sign as each child needs parent permission to enter the contest. We have a relatively short time to work on this and I will need the forms returned by March 11th. Every child will participate in all the activities whether or not they are entering the contest. My focus for this activity is for students to learn how to communicate an idea in a concise way and to be able to represent it visually.

YOUNGER CLASS

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Having 3 days in a row of school this week was great! The kids were able to get back into the routine. It is very hard for them when the week is broken up.

The bird project is just about finished. The kids are finishing their art projects. They look wonderful! I can’t wait until everything is displayed so that we can invite all of the parents to see the hard work the kids have put into this project. We will plan a day after break to have a presentation for parents.

Unfortunately, we were unable to go to my house for our last bird count today. Every little classer has done an amazing job identifying, counting, and helping to summarize and post our counts to Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I’m so proud of them. They have really become scientists.

After break, we will be starting a new project about Shakespeare and the time period in which he lived, and will of course include more about his plays. This will tie in with the whole school play, The Boisterous Bard, which we will be working on between February break and April.

It has been great talking to parents at conferences. I’m sorry that so many had to be cancelled because of the weather. We will be rescheduling these for after the break. I hope that the parents that I have met with have a better understanding of the work the little class has been doing, and an understanding of how their own child is doing. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me and let me know.

I want to thank all of the parents who were able to attend the conflict resolution meeting on Wednesday evening. I think it was important to gain a more thorough understanding of how conflict is dealt with at the New School on a daily basis, and how parents can help with the process.

We had a fun and exciting Valentine’s Day party this afternoon with games and dancing and an art project.

Hope you all have a relaxing and fun filled break!

OLDER CLASS

Let me start this bulletin off with a request for junk. I have brought in and I’ve asked students to bring in junk so that we can make do-it-yourself science projects and Valentine boxes next week. For the science projects, we are using a series of eight books that have many hands on projects.

We all had a great time seeing As You Like It yesterday in Red Bank. We did our cooking study on this play by using the animated video, the cartoon version, and Lamb’s synoptic version read by Susan. When this was originally planned I was told that it would be an all-female version however in looking over the cast list there are two males in the cast. We will be doing reviews and more follow-up work on this play on Friday.

This week we started reading our new book which is Fahrenheit 451. This is a very sophisticated book and E is doing a great job of reading it to us. As we continue reading, we will alternate every two or three times having the class read. We already have our next class reading book and it is Star Wars written in Shakespearean style and mentioned earlier in one of my bulletins.

The schedule for the week also included math work and Amazing Facts and extensions. The class really enjoy these amazing facts and the research that they create. Recently they particularly enjoyed the research from C and K on crazy inventions. These included the water gun umbrella, the baby mop, the corner picture frame, the anti-theft lunch bag, and many more items. Computers have become such an important part of our life in doing research and in word-processing. This week Sara and I went over the Internet and computer rules just to remind students of their responsibilities in using those computers.

We had a student visitor on Friday and the class seemed to enjoy having a new person in the class. She is going to visit again after the February break.

Next Friday is Valentine’s Day. If your child would like to bring in Valentine’s, please make sure they bring in one for each student. There are 18 students in the older class.

My last two New York trips will be centered on the Tenement Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More details to come.

MIDDLE CLASS

Next Friday is Valentine’s Day. If your child would like to bring in Valentine’s, please make sure they bring in one for each student. There are 17 students in the middle class. If you wish to send in a treat to share with the class for Valentine’s Day, please let me know. Approved items should be sent in the original packaging (if store bought) or contain a list of ingredients if baked at home. (If you use a box mix, please send in the box along with a list of any items added by you.) Please remember the class is nut free. If your child is a selective eater or has a food allergy and you would rather they not eat any treats sent in, we advise you to send in alternative treats for them to have when treats are served.

We will be making boxes for our cards so if you have any extra shoe boxes, please send them in by Monday. Thank you!

YOUNGER CLASS

The kids have worked hard to get the first parts of their bird project finished. These pieces are now hanging up in the classroom. We are working on the last couple of pieces, and hope to have them finished before we go on February break. After break, we will plan to have a presentation one afternoon for parents to see all of the work completed for this project.

Last Friday, we were again at my house for our weekly bird count. The kids counted completely independently this week, and I am confident in their ability to identify the birds they are seeing. On Tuesday, they also summarized this data independently, with C taking the lead. I did the same thing today and will next week as well. It is great to see how they have come to understand how to record the data and summarize it all on their own. We then posted the results to Cornell, and looked at the graph. We will be doing a final class graph to show the numbers we have seen when we are done with all of our counts.

It has been great talking to parents at conferences. I really enjoy sharing all that the kids have accomplished, how much they have grown, and the work they have done. Conferences continue next week, and we hopefully will not have to reschedule any more because of weather.

We have rescheduled the Younger Class Parent Meeting and I hope to see everyone there.

Next Friday is Valentine’s Day. We will be decorating bags in which to put Valentines. If you send in Valentines next Friday, please make sure that your child has one for everyone (there are 17 children in the class). This way no one feels left out. We will be playing some Valentine’s games and maybe doing an art project of some sort. Because of the children in the class with allergies, I ask that you do not send in any treats.

OLDER CLASS

It is 7 o’clock on Thursday morning and I’m writing this while having a cup of tea. We had the most incredible experience together yesterday on our third New York trip. I was happy that so many parents could join us, and I thank them for all of the things they added to the trip. My class was amazing as they sat waiting with anticipation for the scenes to unfold. I sat in the row behind our group so I could watch their reactions. And just as I had hoped, they were completely immersed in the action of the play knowing it, seemingly at times, word for word. The play was the centerpiece of our trip but it was complemented by experiences before and after as we took in everything that the city had to offer that night. Included in those experiences were cold, throngs of sports fans, abundant diner food, and much, much more. It is now 7:10 a.m. and I am no longer alone. We had an hour and a half breakfast time with early risers doing most of the cooking and organizing the food. As each person woke up they were greeted with a hot chocolate. What a great group of people! One of our assignments on the schedule for today is to write a review of the play Richard the Third. The reviews are glowing!!!!

This week our schedule included math workbooks, we finished reading The Shakespeare Stealer, we had group sessions to read our essays comparing two people, we made a larger than life pastel of Richard the Third, we read Amazing Facts and did extensions, and each person filled out a questionnaire on 10 of the countries on display.

Sara brought in one of the handmade dresses she made when she worked for Poricy Park.

We also read several articles, did the crossword and read the mini play in a new Scope Magazine.

MIDDLE CLASS

Magic, Harry Potter and the Magic Thief are big topics in my class. There has been a big resurgence of interest in the Harry Potter books and lots of discussions about the stories and the characters. Magic wands seem to be everywhere and there is usually an imaginative game based on the books going on during snack or lunch. It is exciting to see these books and characters being shared, extended and how they come alive for the children.

We are starting the second Magic thief book. We are all excited to find out what Conn’s next set of adventures will be.

Meeta’s third Panchatantra group has enthusiastically jumped into the project after waiting for the other groups to finish.

All of the reading, book discussions, writing lessons and imaginative play can be seen in their creative writing and animal research paragraphs. Writing work includes working on skill packets on how to write a paragraph as well as editing their creative stories. The class continues to share their work with each other during the writing process and in Writer’s Workshop.
This week Meeta and I are helping students go through work to date and tie up any loose ends. With snow days, vacations and sick days everyone has small amounts to review or catch up on.

The children are so happy to be outside any chance they get as we have had several days where the weather has kept us in. Thanks to everyone who has sent in snow gear and change of clothes. My rule is that they must have hat, gloves, winter coat, snow pants and boots to be out in the snow when it is below freezing. Except in the extreme weather, we encourage them to spend some time outside. Please make sure that everything is labelled as many of the children have the same or similar items. If your child does not have their change of clothes or snow gear in school, please try to send them in so they have the option to join in outside play. Please check lost and found periodically as snow pants and coats have been reported missing and there were a few in the bin when I last checked.

Thank you to Chris C. for braving the weather to take each of the classes outside for Phys Ed. and for working with Robin, Jay and I to help the children moving up play with both the class they are in and the one they will be moving into next year. This is such an important piece of helping them to make stronger connections with students and teachers, learn the rules, and to work toward gaining conflict resolution skills.

YOUNGER CLASS

Last week was a short week, but we had a wonderful bird counting day at my house on Friday. We were lucky to have a Cooper’s hawk sit in a tree close by all morning. The kids all got to get a good look at him! It was very exciting.

We have finally started getting birds to the feeder at school. The kids have been identifying and counting all of the birds. They look frequently and can’t wait to report to me what they see. I’m so proud of all that they have learned. The kids are all working hard to get their bird facts done so that we can hang them up before conferences for all the parents to see. Next week we will start the bird art projects and creative writing stories. We will be going to my house again tomorrow for our 4th bird count. We have been posting our counts to Cornell each week.

Last week we had an impromptu science/math activity. My son had noticed a huge icicle on Thursday morning. He and Jay knocked it down so no one would get hurt. Susan collected part of it for us and the class found the rest of the pieces. We then reassembled it, measured it, and weighed it. The kids then guessed if it would weigh more or less after it melted. On Friday we weighed the melted icicle. To most of the class’s amazement, it weighed the same! The class learned about conservation of mass thanks to a giant icicle that needed to be taken down. Thanks, Susan, for the idea! This is a great example of how learning experiences at The New School take so many different forms. If I was forced to follow a strict curriculum, there would be no time to take advantage of these learning opportunities that just come about and to which the kids can really connect.

Conferences start next week. Please make sure you check your time. Written conference reports for third year students will be sent home today or tomorrow so you can read them before your conference time. Conference reports for the rest of the students will be written for the May conferences. I look forward to talking to all of the parents over the next two weeks.

OLDER CLASS

It is 7 o’clock on Thursday morning and I’m writing this while having a cup of tea. We had the most incredible experience together yesterday on our third New York trip. I was happy that so many parents could join us, and I thank them for all of the things they added to the trip. My class was amazing as they sat waiting with anticipation for the scenes to unfold. I sat in the row behind our group so I could watch their reactions. And just as I had hoped, they were completely immersed in the action of the play knowing it, seemingly at times, word for word. The play was the centerpiece of our trip but it was complemented by experiences before and after as we took in everything that the city had to offer that night. Included in those experiences were cold, throngs of sports fans, abundant diner food, and much, much more. It is now 7:10 a.m. and I am no longer alone. We had an hour and a half breakfast time with early risers doing most of the cooking and organizing the food. As each person woke up they were greeted with a hot chocolate. What a great group of people! One of our assignments on the schedule for today is to write a review of the play Richard the Third. The reviews are glowing!!!!

This week our schedule included math workbooks, we finished reading The Shakespeare Stealer, we had group sessions to read our essays comparing two people, we made a larger than life pastel of Richard the Third, we read Amazing Facts and did extensions, and each person filled out a questionnaire on 10 of the countries on display.

Sara brought in one of the handmade dresses she made when she worked for Poricy Park.

We also read several articles, did the crossword and read the mini play in a new Scope Magazine.

MIDDLE CLASS

Magic, Harry Potter and the Magic Thief are big topics in my class. There has been a big resurgence of interest in the Harry Potter books and lots of discussions about the stories and the characters. Magic wands seem to be everywhere and there is usually an imaginative game based on the books going on during snack or lunch. It is exciting to see these books and characters being shared, extended and how they come alive for the children.

We are starting the second Magic thief book. We are all excited to find out what Conn’s next set of adventures will be.

Meeta’s third Panchatantra group has enthusiastically jumped into the project after waiting for the other groups to finish.

All of the reading, book discussions, writing lessons and imaginative play can be seen in their creative writing and animal research paragraphs. Writing work includes working on skill packets on how to write a paragraph as well as editing their creative stories. The class continues to share their work with each other during the writing process and in Writer’s Workshop.
This week Meeta and I are helping students go through work to date and tie up any loose ends. With snow days, vacations and sick days everyone has small amounts to review or catch up on.

The children are so happy to be outside any chance they get as we have had several days where the weather has kept us in. Thanks to everyone who has sent in snow gear and change of clothes. My rule is that they must have hat, gloves, winter coat, snow pants and boots to be out in the snow when it is below freezing. Except in the extreme weather, we encourage them to spend some time outside. Please make sure that everything is labelled as many of the children have the same or similar items. If your child does not have their change of clothes or snow gear in school, please try to send them in so they have the option to join in outside play. Please check lost and found periodically as snow pants and coats have been reported missing and there were a few in the bin when I last checked.

Thank you to Chris C. for braving the weather to take each of the classes outside for Phys Ed. and for working with Robin, Jay and I to help the children moving up play with both the class they are in and the one they will be moving into next year. This is such an important piece of helping them to make stronger connections with students and teachers, learn the rules, and to work toward gaining conflict resolution skills.

YOUNGER CLASS

Last week was a short week, but we had a wonderful bird counting day at my house on Friday. We were lucky to have a Cooper’s hawk sit in a tree close by all morning. The kids all got to get a good look at him! It was very exciting.

We have finally started getting birds to the feeder at school. The kids have been identifying and counting all of the birds. They look frequently and can’t wait to report to me what they see. I’m so proud of all that they have learned. The kids are all working hard to get their bird facts done so that we can hang them up before conferences for all the parents to see. Next week we will start the bird art projects and creative writing stories. We will be going to my house again tomorrow for our 4th bird count. We have been posting our counts to Cornell each week.

Last week we had an impromptu science/math activity. My son had noticed a huge icicle on Thursday morning. He and Jay knocked it down so no one would get hurt. Susan collected part of it for us and the class found the rest of the pieces. We then reassembled it, measured it, and weighed it. The kids then guessed if it would weigh more or less after it melted. On Friday we weighed the melted icicle. To most of the class’s amazement, it weighed the same! The class learned about conservation of mass thanks to a giant icicle that needed to be taken down. Thanks, Susan, for the idea! This is a great example of how learning experiences at The New School take so many different forms. If I was forced to follow a strict curriculum, there would be no time to take advantage of these learning opportunities that just come about and to which the kids can really connect.

Conferences start next week. Please make sure you check your time. Written conference reports for third year students will be sent home today or tomorrow so you can read them before your conference time. Conference reports for the rest of the students will be written for the May conferences. I look forward to talking to all of the parents over the next two weeks.