Grade Level
Middle
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Students Experience, Enjoy “Green Cuisine”
Sidwell Friends has been committed to cleaner and greener food since 2004; its “Green Cuisine” program now incorporates, wherever possible, ingredients and practices that are truly sustainable. Teaching “food intelligence” is an important factor. The menu planning, preparation methods, ingredients, and dishes make everyone on campus more mindful. “Meatless Menus” emphasize that eating less meat […]
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Mindfulness Brings Healthier, Happier Lives for Students and Teachers
Greenhill School began offering Inner Light: Traditions and Paths of Meditation to juniors and seniors in 2009. The elective class was aimed at honing personal awareness and mindfulness, skills that help manage stress and encourage healthier choices. Soon after, recurring student feedback—“I wish I’d had this earlier”—caught the attention of Upper School administrators. “We realized […]
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Dia de los Muertos: Celebrating Our Community
Each year CDS students and their families participate in the creation of Día de los Muertos altars on the first floor of our main school building and in the preschool classrooms. El Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico, Latin American countries, and right here in San Francisco, is […]
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Trout in the Classroom
Inspired science teacher, Carole Wright, brought the Trout in the Classroom Program to Valley School of Ligonier in 2013. Each November, the trout eggs arrive with much celebration in order to engage the entire campus in the important responsibility of raising the native Brook Trout from eggs. Students take the lead in sorting and counting […]
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Burke’s Young Earthquake Engineers
Thanks to a grant from GirlsRISE.net and the California Academy of Sciences, eighth graders from Katherine Delmar Burke School participated in a day-long design/build engineering challenge at the Academy of Sciences. The activities for the girls focused on structural engineering and architectural design for earthquake safety.
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Caring in the Classroom Unites a School Community
At Prospect Sierra Middle School, fifth graders, led by a trained facilitator, enjoy a year-long relationship with a baby and the family. Lessons about emotions, temperament, brain development, trust, and child safety and care are integral to the process. “I love Baby Bryn,” says one student. “Even when she cries, we feel sad for her […]
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Middle School Program Emphasizes Social, Emotional Learning
In their weekly Advisory period, Middle Schoolers at Independent Day School tackle a framework of role-playing exercises that build from grades 6-8. They focus progressively on empathy and communication, bullying prevention, emotion management and coping, problem solving, goal setting and decision making, and substance abuse prevention. It’s part of the school’s social and emotional learning […]
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School Community Learns to Eat Right Now
Since 2002, Calhoun School’s award-winning Eat Right Now program, led by Chef Bobo, has promoted healthier attitudes about food and nutrition that have affected the entire school community. The key: All dishes are prepared from scratch with fresh ingredients and great flavor—bought locally and in season—offered in portion-controlled servings. The excitement began with the realization […]
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Program Asks Students for a Lifetime Commitment to Wellness
Ashley Hall’s PAWS (Personal Awareness and Wellness Seminar) program launched in 2010, garnering national attention for its innovative merger of three existing programs—academic management, wellness, and college counseling. Pressure on adolescent girls is enormous, the school believes, and takes a toll on their mental health. The program is targeted by grade level: advisors begin talking […]
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Marbles on the Move During Fifth-Grade Physics Lessons
Marbles rolled across the floor as students scrambled to secure connections and fine-tune turns. For the past few days, students in Ellen Neill’s fifth-grade science class have been studying physics concepts, and how the laws of motion propel a marble along a roller coaster track. “It’s really neat to see the marble gain speed and […]
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The Oldfields Experience: May Program
Galloping across the beaches of the Irish coast, nailing drywall in New Orleans, touring the ruins in Pompeii, developing code for an original video game – the May Program can take students just about anywhere! May Program offers a life changing opportunity for our students. Officially inaugurated in 1971, this popular tradition is still perfectly […]
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BUILDING A STRONG SCHOOL COMMUNITY
The Jemicy Lower and Middle School Buddy Program began almost a decade ago at the suggestion of a Middle School teacher who predicted that the pairing of younger and older students would be mutually beneficial. Every student, 1st through 8th grade, has a buddy, sometimes two. Some have been matched because of common interests or […]