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Sharing stories about inspired learning in independent schools

  • We Cultivate Character

    Student of the Day!

    In my classroom we have a “student of the day” who is recognized for their positive attitude and contributions during the school day. The recipient for the “student of the day” honor is chosen by the previous day’s winner. This strengthens community within the classroom by fostering positivity and recognition of each others’ actions throughout […]

      Recommend This
  • We Inspire Leadership

    A “No Phone” Rule Rings True at The Hill School Leadership Retreat

    Dormitories at The Hill School are led by prefects — juniors and seniors who are selected in a competitive process and who willingly give up their free time to enforce expectations, serve as resources and confidants, and create a safe, constructive living environment. This year’s prefect training included a two-day, off-campus retreat at a nearby […]

    5 Recommendations 1 Comment
  • We Shape the Future
    Video

    Milton Hershey School Carpentry Students Break Ground On Home

    Milton Hershey School advanced carpentry students broke ground on a new staff home. The class learned the fundamentals skills required of a residential carpenter and will now participate in the phases of onsite construction in framing and finishing a house. Construction/Carpentry is one of 11 career pathways in the School’s Career/Technical Education programs. In the […]

    7 Recommendations
  • We Encourage Exploration

    Stoneleigh-Burnham Girls Learn to Code

    Stoneleigh-Burnham School students are participating in “Hour of Code 2103” as part of National Computer Science Education Week, celebrated Dec. 9-15. Taylor Williams, STEaM coordinator, science teacher and 9th grade class dean, gave an overview of Hour of Code to Stoneleigh-Burnham students, faculty and staff. Designed to introduce basic computer coding to 10 million people, […]

    33 Recommendations 4 Comments
  • We Spark Creativity

    Put on Your Math Goggles! Seeing Math in a Mondrian

    Kindergarteners at All Saints’ Episcopal School recently donned their math goggles and engaged in a mathematics activity using the visual arts as a lens. The children learned about the Dutch abstract artist, Piet Mondrian (1872-1944), and used his “Composition” series as a springboard to discussing the similarities and differences between squares and rectangles. Students also […]

    4 Recommendations 1 Comment
  • We Challenge Minds
    Video

    Reading in a Tree

    “… it occurred to me that it would be a fine thing to climb one of the trees to obtain a wider outlook…” “I kept my lofty perch for hours, frequently closing my eyes to enjoy the music by itself, or to feast quietly on the delicious fragrance that was streaming past.” ~ John Muir […]

    7 Recommendations
  • We Spark Creativity
    Video

    STEAM Challenge with a Real World Application at Allen-Stevenson

    Allen-Stevenson Middle School boys in grades 4 to 6 participated in the School’s second annual STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Math) Day on June 5, 2013. The challenge, one with real world applications, was for teams of four to design and build a wind turbine using a small inexpensive electric generator that would be […]

    4 Recommendations
  • We Shape the Future
    Video

    Deconstructing the box – a third grade investigation of how computers work

    Recently, third grade tech class has become a hands on adventure as we’ve tackled the big questions of, “how do computers work,” “what’s inside a computer,” and “can I take a computer apart?” Fortunately, the answer to all three questions is, “yes!” In pairs, the third graders have been using screwdrivers to carefully dismantle our […]

    2 Recommendations 1 Comment
  • We Inspire Leadership

    Developing Leaders in the Middle

    Greensboro Day School hosted its 2nd Annual Middle School leadership conference on November 18. Seventy students from Kernodle, B’Nai Shalom, Noble Academy, Mendenhall, Canterbury School, and New Garden Friends joined their GDS peers for a full-day program led by Upper School students from Greensboro Day School. They worked in groups to identify types of leadership, […]

    2 Recommendations
  • We Challenge Minds
    Video

    A novel of 10,000 words begins with a single sentence

    In this video, Gordon seventh graders share the opening sentences for their novels, full-blown efforts with five-figure word counts that they completed over the month of November.

    4 Recommendations 1 Comment
  • We Challenge Minds
    Video

    Ashley Hall Students Recite the Gettysburg Address

    To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, Ashley Hall’s fifth grade students memorized and recited the speech for a class assignment. The students were featured on the local news for their effort as well as learntheaddress.org, a project started by documentarian Ken Burns to collect recordings of the Address.

    6 Recommendations
  • We Challenge Minds

    Learning Chinese (Mandarin) in Traditional and Innovative Ways

    The Chinese (Mandarin) students at Sandy Spring Friends School employ a combination of traditional and progressive methods to master the Chinese language. Teacher Kexin Zhang believes that there are powerful technological tools to be taken advantage of in the modern era, but there is no replacement for human-to-human interaction in learning a new language. In […]

    1 Recommendation

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