Region
East
New Jersey, New York
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6th Graders Decolonize Historical Markers
As part of the social justice unit on indigenous rights, the 6th graders learned about the purpose, conditions, and lasting impact that American Indian boarding schools had on Native Americans. They created historical markers that tell a more inclusive story of the past by writing new text to more accurately reflect the systematic nature of […]
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Building Empathy Block By Block
We play the “Empathy Builders” game created by Jackson Westenskow with sixth graders as an introduction to the two year capstone leadership project called weLEAD. It is a unique and engaging cooperative game designed to foster teamwork and empathy among students without relying on verbal communication. The participants work together to construct an 18-block tower […]
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Code To Inspire, Create, And Innovate
For almost a decade, we have dedicated a full day of school to our “Day of Code” for the fifth through seventh graders, and wow has it grown to be one of the highlights of the year. When we started this annual event, it was teachers helping students to immerse themselves in computer programming. Now, […]
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Kid Social Entrepreneurs Work Together For Others
We introduced the concept of teaching first and fifth graders about social entrepreneurship over seven years ago and never looked back. This spring, our first grade entrepreneurs worked collaboratively with 5th graders for another successful year of the Nifty Note Company. This interdisciplinary project-based learning unit reached across subjects, including media, design, branding, and economics. […]
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Migration's Cultural Impact
The theme for the 6th grade social studies curriculum is migration, culture and belonging. One of our project-based learning units is the study of immigration and refugees, and how they influence cultural diffusion through the exchange of ideas and technology. Migration of people results from political, economic, and social factors that push or pull people […]
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HUMM Institute at Trinity Hall Provides Leadership Outreach to Girls in the Community
This experiential learning activity was introduced through Trinity Hall’s HUMM Institute, an entrepreneurial ecosystem intentionally designed to encourage young women to explore the business of design through an entrepreneurial lens. This collaborative exercise conducted in joint partnership with a number of students from Holy Cross Academy in Rumson, NJ culminated with the following article highlighting […]
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A Day In the Life at MDS!
In the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, we are a small community school with so much life and warm energy. Each day you will hear the hustle and bustle of morning drop off and afternoon pick up; playful laughter of the children; the children singing along to our famous Mr. Huw; or outdoor playing soccer […]
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Refugee Spoken Word Poem – Social Justice Project
Our students live in a world that needs more attention to helping them navigate through a myriad of competencies that should be integrated into the classroom. In order to process equity, inclusion, and social justice, the first step is to help students explore their own identities and ultimately forge a deeper connection with their own […]
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This Is Me: 1st Grade infographics
Our first grade students start the school year with an exploration of self and family by reading the book called This is How We Do It, One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids From Around the World by Mat Lamothe. The author provides a window into the lifestyles and traditions of other children from […]
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The Ethics Project at Rye Country Day School
Just after the conclusion of the 2018-19 school year, 14 Upper School students gathered for the fourth annual RCDS Ethics Project, a retreat developed by an interdisciplinary faculty collaboration aimed at expanding students’ knowledge and analytical skills around matters pertaining to ethical awareness and active, purpose-driven engagement. This year’s retreat examined ethics and the law, […]
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Ethics and Young Learners: To Squish or Not To Squish?
Young children have a natural ability to feel empathy and compassion. For that reason, we decided to begin introducing ethics with our Kindergarten students through storytelling. We chose the book, “Hey, Little Ant” by Phillip and Hannah Hoose. It was a prefect tale to spur a dialog with small children about philosophical questions such as […]
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Fifth Grade Social Entrepreneurs: Putting Empathy Into Action
Want students to work hard? Give them a purpose. Buckley’s 5th grade social entrepreneurs did just that. The project was designed to inspire our students to empathize with an issue in need of attention, whether locally, nationally, or globally. The students learn about social enterprises and NGOs, microfinancing, and marketing; with this background, they created […]
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Social Justice Slam and the Power Of Student Voice
Buckley Country Day School turned its auditorium into a showcase for some of its brightest young minds, sharing some of their most passionate work at the Social Justice Slam. It was certainly a night to remember, as students used their voices and imagery—through poetry and film about social issues and courageous human rights defenders—yielding results […]
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Kids Kolloquium
In March, the fourth grade students celebrated their love of reading, the art of discourse, and the connection to community with the first-ever Buckley Kids Kolloquium. The idea for the Kids Kolloquium was launched last spring when fourth-grader Jasmine Hembrey approached second-grade teacher Mrs. Stefani Rosenthal with a new twist to the Buckley Colloquium for […]
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A Sandbox For The X-Box Generation
Based on a design concept and code provided by the UC Davis W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences, the Riverdale Country School faculty and staff built an augmented reality sandbox to create dynamic lessons in math, geography, and earth science. The device is comprised of: • A wooden sandbox structure built […]
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Marymount School's Atmospheric Science Class Announce Results of Global Survey
Do students ages 13 to 18 believe global warming is naturally induced, human induced or both? How do teenagers develop their belief system with regard to climate change. The students in the senior elective Atmospheric Science at Marymount School of New York sought to answer these questions (and more) with the 2018 Global Survey on […]
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Princeton Montessori Announces International Baccalaureate Authorization for Middle School
Princeton Montessori School is now authorized by the International Baccalaureate organization to offer the Middle Years Programme to students in grades 6-8. Recognized worldwide, the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes challenge students to excel in their studies, and encourage both personal and academic achievement. Princeton Montessori is one of only 7 schools in the state of […]
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A Deeper Sense of Self
Who am I? A group of Riverdale fifth graders thought about that question as they read and discussed “George,” Alex Gino’s novel for elementary school readers about a transgender girl. Working with the Lower School technology integrators, the students constructed “identity boxes,” demonstrating that what’s visible on the outside “doesn’t define who you are on […]
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A French Tradition Inspires A Character Lesson
Riverdale’s French classes have taken a French tradition, La Fete Des Rois, and made it their own. Their gratitude cards, illustrated and composed with care for the celebration, are dedicated to family, friends, teachers, and role models. They are on display outside of the student center. You don’t have to be a French student to […]
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Princeton Montessori Students Garner Attention of Distinguished University Professor
A group of Princeton Montessori elementary students received unexpected accolades from Rattan Lal, University Professor of Soil Science at Ohio State University and President of the International Union of Soil Science. Professor Lal was quoted in a December 2017 New York Times article titled, “Soil Power! The Dirty Way to a Green Planet.” The students […]
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Students Explore Climate Change’s Effect, Local Responses, Ethical Ramifications
In Watershed School’s Global Climate Change course, juniors are introduced to the science of past and present changes, how human societies could be affected in the future, how governments are responding to what is known, and the issue’s ethical ramifications. It culminates in a class project with a practical component that also educates the public. […]
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MCS Eighth-Graders Honor King’s Legacy With ‘A New Revolution’
For students at Manhattan Country School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day isn’t a day off from school, it’s a day to take to the streets to raise awareness about what they consider to be the most pressing social justice issues of their time. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative March, now in its 30th year, […]
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Meditation Practices Help Students Remember Who They Are
Four years ago, Hackley English Department Chair Dr. Richard Robinson began starting every class with a breathing meditation exercise. At first, he says, it was an experiment for his 10th-12th graders. “I wanted to see what would happen. They’d come into the classroom with their brains full of so much stuff — in a way […]
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Mission Possible: "Escape the Room" Comes To The Middle School
Popular with gamers and Wall Streeters alike, “Escape the Room” is a physical adventure challenge in which players solve a series of puzzles using a variety of problem-solving skills and strategies. Think Mission Impossible in a very cool space. This year, the 8th grade is piloting a boxed version of the game to give students […]
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How Princeton Montessori Students "Tune In"
It’s no secret that family life today is a juggling act for both parents and children. Thanks to yoga teacher Erin Galbraith, Princeton Montessori School students are learning to “tune in” and find their inner stillness. Trained at the renowned Kripalu School of Yoga in Stockbridge, MA, Galbraith has been teaching yoga in the greater […]
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Environmental Stewardship Begins With One Small Square
In first grade, students and their teachers leave the Riverdale campus and venture into a special place, a “small square” of woods on the grounds of neighboring Wave Hill, a public garden operated by the City of New York. Every two weeks, they walk out the school gate, unlock the Wave Hill gate, and climb […]
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Teaching, Learning, Living
What does it mean to be a “learner for life?” For the faculty and staff of Riverdale Country School, learning is a necessary part of living. New knowledge sheds light on old routines. Experiencing difficulty deepens understanding about teaching and working with others. Accomplishing goals creates new opportunities. Here are some of the ways that […]
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Rigor & Innovation in the Middle School Classroom
Ranney Middle School Division Head David Ketcham speaks to prospective families about rigor and innovation in the Middle School classroom.
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ThunderGolf! Students as Miniature Golf Course Designers
As a physics student, how would you like to best represent your knowledge of various physics concepts and problems? By taking a lengthy exam or by applying what you have learned to real-life situations? For the students in Eric Walters’ Honors Physics class at Marymount School of New York, the choice was clear: a project. […]
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FlexFridays Take Learning Beyond the Classroom
Every Friday, FlexSchool students participate in a series of experiential, hands-on learning opportunities through speakers, field trips, and programming. “FlexFridays” are an essential part of the school’s core values: to have schools embedded in the community and to discover the interconnectedness of everything. Earlier this year, math teacher Michael Steiner, a former Wall Street commodities […]
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A River, A Bridge, A Lighthouse
The Lower School campus of Riverdale Country School is situated next to the Hudson River. Kindergarteners explore the river’s ecosystem and learn about its features, including the George Washington Bridge and the Little Red Lighthouse. This project inspired Helena Garrabou-Vancells and Maia Shulman, who teach movement and mindfulness to the children. What if the children […]
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The Lindy 500: Imagination on Wheels
Some great ideas cruise to glory. Others, well, they can veer off course. At the third annual Lindy 500 kinetic sculpture race at Riverdale Country School, designers put their concepts to the test. A DNA replica propelled by fifth graders in operating scrubs streaked across the field. A pirate ship drew admiration for its craftsmanship […]
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Why We Implemented Singapore Math in the Lower School
Ranney School integrated Math in Focus, a Singapore-math based approach, in its Lower School in 2015-16. Just two years later, after nearly 500 years of teaching training, we are seeing amazing results.
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An Inquiry-Based Election Study
Understanding that civic literacy has value long before one turns 18, Trevor holds a mascot election every four years to teach students about the electoral process in a highly tangible format. This year, the children were introduced to two candidates and provided a wealth of information on topics including campaigning and the electoral college. From […]
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Presentations of Learning Demonstrate Creative “Ways of Thinking”
At Blue School, the pursuit of creativity revolves around the thinking process. Course content for students in grades 6-8 focuses on six “Ways of Thinking”: Establishing Voice, Asking Questions, Perspective Taking, Using Evidence, and Promoting Reflection. Classes in Mathematics, Integrated Studies (team-taught Science & World History), and Novels and Nonfiction, along with a variety of […]
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Year-End Collaborative Program Relieves Stress, Re-Energizes School Community
The last few weeks of school can be stressful, what with upcoming finals or just year-end fatigue. Allendale Columbia School’s May Term combats this issue by transforming the final 12 days of the school year, re-energizing students and teachers, providing opportunities for collaboration, and fostering a love of learning. Students in grades 6-12 are given […]
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Students' Art Installations Demonstrate Plight of Girls' Education Worldwide
Throughout the 2016-17 school year, Ranney School students in Monmouth County, NJ, have been working on a special cross-disciplinary project to support Global Peace & Justice, which is #16 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a follow-on program to the school’s 2015-16 SDG partnership with the UN and Monmouth University, the History […]
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Peace & Justice Project: Phase II Photography
The Peace & Justice Project at Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) continues, with Upper School photography students creating projects that demonstrate peace in nonverbal ways. Throughout the 2016-17 school year, students will be working on special projects to support Global Peace & Justice, which is #16 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The […]
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The Peace & Justice Project: Phase I
Throughout the 2016-17 school year, Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) students will be working on special projects to support Global Peace & Justice, which is #16 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As a follow-on program to last year’s SDG partnership with the UN and Monmouth University, the History and Art Departments will […]
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Students Get Creative with Google Cardboard
Princeton Academy students are building and experiencing Google Cardboard in their Making class and beyond. Their first virtual reality experience was viewing 360 video of select campus spaces filmed by our Middle School students. The opportunities for students to create and explore with Google Cardboard are endless. Teachers are so excited to augment learning with […]
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Community Cubed: A Public Art Project Captures Big Ideas
For more than a week in October, a 12-foot-tall cube became a community canvas. Art classes painted on the walls. Middle Schoolers contributed squares for a mosaic. Faculty, parents, and visitors wrote their wishes on multicolored tags, which hung from the structure and fluttered in the breeze. Creativity, meaning, purpose, and community found expression here. […]
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STEAM in Action: From Garden to (Lab) Table to Canvas
This fall, third- and fourth-graders at Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) had the opportunity to work in the Upper School chemistry lab alongside their older peers as part of a cross-disciplinary, cross-divisional STEAM project. First, they created dye harvested from flowers that they planted in the school’s community garden last spring. Students had a great […]
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Lower School Students Show Respect for Art through Emojis
In this video, Ranney Lower School students discuss in their words what it means to respect art. They describe their thoughts by designing their own emojis.
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Campus Trail Connects Students with Environment and the Larger World
Woodstock Day School (WDS) students are tackling the problems of a warming planet. They’re acquiring the technological skills and the drive to innovate and produce creative solutions, thanks to a recently awarded STEM challenge grant. The nursery-grade 12 students are excited about the opportunity to make a difference. In collaboration with a local non-profit, the […]
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Building Character Education into Curriculum
This fall, Ranney Middle School (Tinton Falls, NJ) students will be studying more than algebra, world history, and literature—they will be learning about values and conflict resolution. A new program called G.R.I.T. is bringing character education to the classroom. Standing for Guided expectations, Respectful communication, Identifying solutions, and Transferring solutions to the community, the G.R.I.T. […]
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Inspiring Student Engagement: Community Partnership in Action
This summer, Rye Country Day School launched the Edward E. Ford Foundation Community Engagement Fellowship Program through the school’s public purpose initiative. This program awards summer fellowships for high school students to collaborate with community partner organizations to develop and implement innovative, sustainable projects that address authentic community needs. Fellows work closely with their community […]
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High Tech City: Summer Program Shows Tech In Action On NYC Streets
From Citi Bikes to LinkNYC, innovative ideas are changing the way New Yorkers live. As part of Riverdale Country School’s summer Project Knowmad program, a group of middle schoolers explored some new services and products that are changing urban life.
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Step Up To the Challenge
The Waldorf School of Garden City owns Glen Brook which is located in Marlborough, New Hampshire. Situated in southwestern New Hampshire near Mt. Monadnock, this beautiful property includes several houses over 250-acres, a working farm with animals, large organic gardens, a natural lake, and miles of trails to explore the surrounding mountains and woodlands. Students […]
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A Senior Independent Project Celebrates Wordsworth, Visual Arts, And Butterflies
In the closing weeks of senior year, Riverdale students have an opportunity to pose a challenging question or think deeply about a human experience. It’s a chance to do something they’ve always wanted to do as they look to the future. There are a few requirements: they must submit a detailed proposal, check in with […]
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Trinity Hall Fosters Innovative, Empathetic Engineers
Trinity Hall students practice human-centered design-thinking to develop prototypes where empathy is the central attribute. The final experiences of the junior engineering classes included product designs that embraced empathy as the singular most important attribute for designing the details of their product, and were inspired by social issues and personal experiences. The students were asked […]
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Kent Place Student Experiment Chosen to be Carried Out on the International Space Station
Kent Place School and our partner, The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is proud to announce the selection of a student-designed experiment that will be carried out on the International Space Station (ISS) next fall. Seventh graders, Isabella Diaz, Aya Mtume, Elizabeth Wyshner and fifth graders Olivia Adamczyk, Alexandra Anderson, Nora Lee […]
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Empathy Meets Design-Thinking In The Maker Space
Riverdale Country School fifth graders became product designers this spring, making cardboard reading easels to meet the needs of their first-grade clients. The project was inspired by the Adaptive Design Association, a non-profit organization that builds custom furniture, equipment, toys, and other items for infants and children with special needs. Many of the items are […]
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From Paper to Product
In a unique product design project, fifth-grade art students took their ideas to paper, manipulated them on the computer and then presented them in three dimensions. Not only did the students have to invent and name a product, but they also had to create it and package it.
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An Immersive Experience: Kindergarteners Dive Deep Into Their Hudson River’s Studies
Riverdale Country School kindergarteners know the Hudson River well. It flows alongside their campus in the Bronx. Last week, they explored what lies beneath the surface, and they created their own model of the river. In this video, the children explain how they did it.
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Middle Schoolers Educate Themselves, Others on the Importance of Activism
Social justice and activism are core components of Manhattan Country School’s curriculum. Each year, the school’s oldest students—the seventh and eighth graders—are charged with taking on a student-led activism project. This year, they chose to raise awareness about the Syrian refugee crisis and Islamophobia. Before they could persuade others, the students had to educate themselves […]
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Riverdale & New Orleans: A 10-Year Friendship Continues To Grow
Riverdale Country School has found kindred spirits in New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Middle School students organized a dance-athon to help with disaster relief, but they wanted to do more. So the next spring, Middle School Head Milton Sipp organized a group to go down and work. They went back the next […]
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Third-Grade Dioramas Cut Across Multiple Disciplines
Some parents may remember creating dioramas out of old shoeboxes when they were in elementary school. Today, Ranney Lower Schoolers (Tinton Falls, NJ) are creating full-scale 3-D scenes in our Innovation Lab—and they are doing so in a way that threads the subject matter they are learning across multiple disciplines. In third-grade , students have […]
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Zagat Global Fellows: Teaching And Connecting
Dr. David A. James, deputy head teacher of the Bryanston School in England, spent a week at Riverdale Country School in April as the first Zagat Teaching Fellow. In June, a Riverdale teacher will go to Bryanston and learn about education from another cultural perspective. Established in 2015 by Riverdale alumnus Tim Zagat ’57, the […]
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First Graders Get a Taste for Programming with Bee-Bots
If you haven’t heard of Bee-Bots yet – just ask a Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) first grader! Students are using measurement, calculation, strategy and more to program these small bee-shaped robots to drive through mazes and number charts. The teamwork and programming skills they are learning at this young age will carry over to […]
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Ranney Faculty to Attend World-Renowned Design Institute
…Student curriculum is evolving across all divisions and disciplines through the incorporation of design thinking… The Nueva School Design Institute in San Mateo, California houses a world-renowned Innovation Lab (I-Lab) created in partnership with IDEO and Stanford University’s d.school. The institute has pioneered the teaching of design thinking across the globe, and eight of Ranney […]
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Choral & Orchestra Students Join to Create Biggest Concert Ever
In celebration of Music in Our Schools, students across all three divisions of Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) joined to create the school’s Biggest Concert Ever. Young musicians featured 50-plus choral students and 80-plus orchestra students, from Lower to Upper School, side by side playing “You Will Never Walk Alone” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel.
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Kent Place Economics Students Visit Accenture
Kent Place Upper School Economics students spent Wednesday, March 9 at Accenture’s New York City headquarters. Hosted by Ellyn J. Shook, the visit included meetings with female executives and an introduction to their Creativity Lab. Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, […]
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Hands-On, Project-Based Program Offers Opportunities, Inspiration
Project Exploration is both cutting edge and a 50-year tradition at the all-girls Purnell School. Each year, faculty members create new three-week, mini-semester classes for students that reflect the type of learning they’re encountering both inside and outside the classroom — from academic courses designed to be hands-on, meaningful, and individualized, to LifeSports, engaging girls […]
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On Aerial Silks, Grit Becomes Grace
It looks like magic, but it feels like inner strength. Two student performers at Riverdale Country School explain how they developed athleticism, mental discipline, and emotional self-awareness through their work on “Pippin.” The mysterious performance troupe at the center of the show dazzles its audience with dancing, singing, and soaring acrobatics. Part of the magic […]
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The Adirondack Chair Project
Adirondack chairs are popping up across the Ranney School campus in Tinton Falls, NJ. The chairs are being created by students in the Visual Arts Department and, thus far, include a children’s books chair, a theater program chair crafted in collaboration with the Upper School Thespian society, and a tennis-themed chair devoted to the winning […]
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Kent Place Celebrates Engineering Week
From February 22 to February 26, Kent Place School celebrated Engineering Week. Events were planned across divisions to encourage students to embrace engineering as a field of study and/or career choice, and expose them to more STEM-based curriculum. Students participated in a number of events: • A school-wide visit from Dr. Dean Eppler of NASA, […]
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The Topic of “Water” is Discussed During Kent Place School’s Global Perspectives Day
On Wednesday, February 24, Kent Place Primary School hosted its school-wide Global Perspectives Day. This year’s theme, “Water,” allowed students, faculty and staff to learn about and discuss the various ethical, global, scientific, historical, nutritional, literary, technological and cultural issues surrounding water. The half-day event was celebrated exclusively by the Preschool and the Primary School, […]
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Thrilling Moments Through Physics
At Riverdale Country School, physics students learn design thinking alongside the laws of motion. The assignment goes like this: Design and construct a roller coaster that features at least three of these thrills – drop, turn, loop, or jump. Provide calculations to prove that each of the thrills works. In theory, the total amount of […]
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Kent Place Students Present Their Research at Bioethics Project Symposium
More than 500 guests visited Kent Place School’s campus for its fourth annual Bioethics Project Symposium on Friday, February 12. The Symposium was a culminating event which marked the end of an intensive program developed through a partnership with The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School and The Hastings Center in Garrison, NY. The event […]
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Students Take On Maple Sugaring – and More – In Experiential Curriculum
Throughout the year, students at North Country School study science and math by undertaking project-based assignments on the school’s farm, in its greenhouses and gardens, and within its 200 acres of Adirondack forest. During Intersession, the school’s February program that “inspires new passions and builds new skills,” students choose from half- and full-day weeklong courses. […]
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Ranney Students Partner with UN & Monmouth Univ. to Educate Others about Global Sustainability
Upper School students at Ranney School (Tinton Falls, N J) have embarked on a first-of-its-kind partnership with the United Nations and Monmouth University (West Long Branch, NJ) to educate the community about global sustainable development goals. As part of this unique project, students visited UN Headquarters in New York City in Feb. 2016 to participate […]
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Yes We Can! Middle Schoolers Build A Life-Sized Woolly Mammoth
You know those dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History? A Riverdale Country School group built one during Project Week. It was an audacious idea, and it succeeded through a combination of imagination, improvisation, and teamwork. To begin, they went to the American Museum of Natural History to study the skeletons of dinosaurs and […]
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Character Through Comedy
Comedy is harder than it looks. This fall, the Riverdale Middle School created “School Night Live,” an original sketch comedy production featuring sharks, elves, tap dancers, pop singers, a Donald Trump impersonator and hundreds of one liners. The work took creativity – and commitment. “The nature of sketch comedy demands bold choices,” says Laura Desmond, […]
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Girls, Tinkering, and Science
The Hewitt School sixth graders in this video have been challenged to apply their knowledge of potential and kinetic energy in constructing a “Rube Goldberg” machine that will use a series of mechanical steps to ring a bell. And while the assignment is pretty lo-tech, that really doesn’t matter. Research tells us that girls learn […]
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Coding to Take Over Classrooms for Computer Science Education Week
Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) students are once again participating in the Hour of Code Week, taking place December 7-13, in celebration of Computer Science Education Week. Students in all divisions, starting in Kindergarten, will be coding through Code.org and Scratch Jr. programs that incorporate fun, age-appropriate animation. In addition, high school students taking computer […]
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The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School Partners with Local Public Schools in Honor of Respect Week
Throughout October, The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School (EIKPS) presented a series of assemblies titled, “Ethics 101 – Jr.” at the Lincoln-Hubbard Elementary School and Franklin Elementary School in honor of NJ Respect Week. The goal of the assemblies was to promote the value of respect and kindness through the use of video prompts, […]
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The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School’s Ethics in Action Program Spends Weekend at Georgetown University
Five teams of students and teachers from Kent Place School and Trinity Hall spent the weekend at Georgetown University’s EthicsLab to explore the over-arching question: What are the ethical issues involving food in your school community? The Ethics Institute at Kent Place School partnered with Georgetown University’s Kennedy Institute of Ethics’ Ethics Lab to launch […]
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Students Share Their Identities in Conversations About Race
When faced with a disagreement with a friend, do students know how to respond? Do some feel they can’t talk about race for fear of making others uncomfortable? Are there differences in their academic and social experience based on race? Students at Ethical Culture Fieldston School begin to discuss ethics at an early age, and […]
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Silence Is Not An Option
In seventh grade history at Riverdale Country School, students learn about governing by doing it. During the year, teachers lead the class through six simulations that dramatize the units of study: formation of government, the legislative process, foreign policy, the Supreme Court, citizen advocacy, and elections. Students take on the roles of activists, lobbyists, legislators, […]
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Children Share their Wish for the World
As children returned to Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) this September, they had an opportunity to share their wishes for the world–in their words–on a large board exhibited in the school hallway.
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Thinking Outside The Box
Riverdale Country School is constructing a new classroom building on its Lower School campus so students will be “camping out” in temporary units this year. Temporary but not ordinary. Using creative design and input from the students, Riverdale has turned the Learning Complex into a fun and funny place to learn. The students may never […]
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New “Innovation Station” Will Put Creative Thinking into Action
This fall, students will return to Ranney School, an Age 3-Grade 12 independent school in Tinton Falls, with a physical space to execute their most innovative and creative ideas. The new “Innovation Station” is modeled after the “Dream Labs,” “Fab Labs,” and “MakerSpaces” that have been popping up across the country since 2005 as part […]
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Kent Place Girls’ Leadership Institute Has Record-Breaking 20th Year
A record-breaking 38 Outstanding Women Leaders (OWLs) from 22 different schools and four different states, attended the Kent Place School Girls’ Leadership Institute (GLI) from July 20 through July 31. The 10-day summer enrichment program, for girls entering seventh and eighth grades, explores these young women’s leadership potential and strengthens each girl’s self-esteem. This is […]
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Igniting a Spark: The High School Classroom as a Neuroscience Laboratory
Last fall, Trevor students collaborated with a group of NYU neuroscientists, performing groundbreaking experiments that explored brain activity during learning. The study, entitled “Crowdsourcing neuroscience: Neural oscillations and human social dynamics,” tried to determine what happens when a group of brains synchronize with one another–and to understand the consequences of this synchrony in terms of […]
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Green Design, Sustainability, and Empowerment
During their Green Design unit, ninth grade students in their first year of design study researched the concept of micro loans and how they are given to women in developing countries to use for starting a small business. By reading case studies the students discovered that the businesses usually involve the design and making of […]
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Kent Place Students “Splash Into Science” During Summer Trip to Florida
More than 20 Kent Place Middle and rising Upper School students and four faculty and staff members chose to spend a portion of their summer breaks this June in Florida for the “Splash into Science” Global Service Learning trip. This trip was far beyond a typical science field trip. The girls hiked the Everglades at […]
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Finding Community In Science
How does industrial waste create stress on coastal wildlife? For the last eight summers, the Lisman Research Laboratories at the Riverdale Country School has been investigating the effects of environmental contaminants on organisms native to the Bronx River estuary. On a recent June day, Dr. Rachel Cox, a biology teacher and director of the lab, […]
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First Chinese Language Class Graduates from Kent Place School
Kent Place School is pleased to announce that the first group of students to take Chinese language classes at Kent Place graduated on May 31. The Chinese language program at Kent Place began in 2009 after two years of research by World Language Department Chair Katharine MacCornack and then Kent Place Director of Studies Gayle […]
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Animation and Activism
Inspired by Riverdale Country School’s message of social engagement, a sixth grader created an animation about the plight of Gummi Bears.
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Community Service Heroes
This week, seven Ranney Lower School students and one Middle School student were named Heroes of the Week by a local breast cancer charity called Breast Intentions. The students—second graders James Lawson, Gavin Jones, Cole Serrapica, Sophia Behar, Henry Alston and Desmond Pepe along with sixth-grader Sam Alston and fourth-grader Andrew Pepe—decided on their own […]
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The Lindy 500 Kinetic Sculpture Race
This contest wasn’t just about speed, or style, or creativity, or engineering integrity, or wit. (Although those attributes earned points.) Riverdale’s Lindy 500 this year honored sustained effort, and the winning entry, The High-Top, earned its place through hours of out-of-class time on designing and building a fleeter sneaker. Named for the school’s Linda M. […]
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Wema 500: Mission Possible – Reading For A Cause
For the second year in a row, fifth graders at Rye Country Day School partnered with Wema Children’s Centre in Bukembe village, a rural community in western Kenya. During the 2013-14 academic year, students at RCDS and Wema read Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars and responded to a wide range of questions on a shared […]
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Kent Place Junior Advances to the National History Day National Competition
Kent Place School is pleased to announce that junior Lauren Burr of Maplewood advanced to the Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest’s National competition. National History Day (NHD) is a non-profit educational organization based in College Park, MD. NHD offers yearlong academic programs that engage middle and high school students in conducting original research […]
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How The Price of Avocados Explains New York
What does the price of avocados have to do with ninth-grade history? History depends on evidence, and in today’s world, evidence is data. By doing their own research about the price of avocados and then mining their data, students were able to analyze differences in New York City’s micromarkets and draw conclusions about the economic […]
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Kent Place Fifth Graders Showcase Experiments During Annual Science Fair
The Kent Place Class of 2022 showcased their science skills at the annual Fifth Grade Science Fair on Thursday, May 14. After working on their projects for several weeks, students presented their experiments and results to faculty, family and fellow students. In preparation for the Science Fair, students designed their own experiments while following the […]
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Character Education Canine-Style
There’s a lot for a dog to love at Riverdale Country School in the spring: squirrels, birds, Frisbees, kids who want to run and play on the Quad. Goldie, an 18-month-old golden retriever, is no exception. She loves being outside too. But an important job awaits her, one that requires extraordinary self-control, social and emotional […]
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Young String Students on Pizzacato
Second-grade string students at Ranney School (an independent Age 3-Grade 12 school in Tinton Falls, NJ) learn to properly hold and identify the parts of their instruments, execute pizzicato articulation on all strings, read and decode music notation, and perform, with accompaniment, several songs from our method book – this is just after two practices! […]
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Kent Place Senior Presents One-Woman Show For Independent Study Project
Kent Place senior Katie Moore-Gillon will present her Independent Study project, a one-woman show titled What’s That, Mr. Jazz Hand?, on Thursday, May 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the Kent Place School Hyde and Watson Theatre. The opportunity to participate in an Independent Study at Kent Place is offered only to seniors. The projects allow […]
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Kent Place School Named a Mix It Up Model School
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program has named Kent Place School as a Mix It Up Model School for its exemplary efforts to foster respect and understanding among its students and throughout its campus during the 2014-15 school year. Kent Place is one of 104 schools to receive the honor. “We are delighted […]
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Would Working With Wood Change your Working?
Though the Tuxedo Park School Art Program has always incorporated a wide variety of materials, with the expansion of our tools and materials Mrs. Sweeney is taking the students’ knowledge of and experience with wood to new heights. In Upper School, students work together to build a bench out of reclaimed pallet wood. In Middle […]
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The Topic of “Food” is Discussed During Kent Place School’s Global Perspectives Day
On Friday March 27, 2015, Kent Place School hosted its school-wide Global Perspectives Day. This year’s theme, “Food,” allowed students, faculty and staff to learn about and discuss the various ethical, global, mathematical, scientific, historical, nutritional, sociological, literary, technological and cultural issues surrounding food. “The conversations that I heard and the interactions and deep thinking […]
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4th and 5th Graders Demonstrate Robotics Skills for Peers
Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) fourth- and fifth-graders have the option of taking a Robotics Elective course. This month, these robotics students showed off their building, programming and driving skills with a Robotics Demonstration Assembly for the entire Lower School. The students proudly walked into the assembly hall to the musical theme of “Star Wars” […]
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Kent Place Middle School Science Expo Showcases Student Research Projects
Kent Place teachers, students and families gathered for an evening celebrating scientific exploration. They observed research projects created by Middle School students on display in Kent Place’s Great Room for the annual Science Expo. The sixth grade students’ research projects tested various claims made about consumer products. For example, a team hypothesized how effective certain […]
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The 2015 Student Technology Conference: Connecting the World, One Student at a Time
Marymount School of New York’s Student Technology Leadership Team posed the question: what if students and teachers from around the world could share ideas about using technology in the classroom? Under the guidance of educational consultants Lucy Grey and Steve Hargadon, Marymount students realized this dream on Saturday, January 31 at the first annual Student […]
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Fourth Grade Students Invade GSB Lower School with Art
Gill St. Bernard’s students, grades pre-k through three, returned to the Lower School early one morning to discover that an overnight invasion had taken place throughout the hallways and in their classrooms. Little did they know that the alien invaders they encountered had been brought down to Earth by fourth grade students at GSB. In […]
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Kent Place Middle and Upper Schools Celebrate STEM Week
During the week of February 23 through February 27, Kent Place Middle and Upper Schools celebrated STEM week. The students participated in hands-on activities and listened to special guest speakers in honor of science, technology, engineering and math. Students participated in activities such as making two-minute DIY stylus pens, gum drop domes and egg drop […]
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Kent Place ‘Girls Eliminating Math Stereotypes’ Group Visits Princeton University
Seven members of the Kent Place Upper School organization Girls Eliminating Math Stereotypes (GEMS) visited Princeton University on Wednesday, February 11 to spend the day at the Princeton chemistry lab with members of the Princeton group, Female Researchers in Chemistry (FRIC). The day at Princeton included a panel discussion with FRIC. Members of FRIC spoke […]
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Future Engineers
Ranney School’s (Tinton Falls, NJ) youngest students are preparing to reveal self-designed engineering projects as part of a division-wide Engineering Expo taking place in March 2015. Students in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade are spending approximately six weeks in their science classes focusing on engineering, from brainstorming and planning their ideas, to sketching their designs, to […]
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CITYterm at The Masters School
With New York City as our classroom and laboratory, CITYterm at The Masters School brings together seven residential faculty and thirty intellectually adventuresome juniors and seniors in high school for a semester of intensive, experience-based learning. CITYterm challenges its students to think, question, speak up and grow. Together in a close-knit community of students and […]
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Lower School Students Explore Day in the Life of a Meteorologist
Students in grades three and four at Gill St. Bernard’s School in Gladstone, N.J. were inspired to explore one of the many career opportunities available to them as adults during an assembly with meteorologist John Marshall. Marshall, a former anchor for both NBC and CBS, has presented school weather assemblies to students from as early […]
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#startupMMT
Newly offered at Marymount this semester, Entrepreneurship 101 is an innovative, collaborative class for students in Classes X-XII. Led by three academic advisors, the course is designed to provide students with a supportive environment in which they can brainstorm, explore, and develop ideas for startups. According to Don Buckley, the class “dramatically mitigates the risks […]
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City Semester at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School
In City Semester: The Bronx Experience, 15-20 high school sophomores juniors and seniors explore New York City through the lens of the Bronx. We have “traditional” classes in ecology, English, history, foreign language, math, ethics and arts, that connect to each other through our fieldwork- twice a week we leave campus for fieldwork in the […]
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Kent Place School Community Members Wear Red to Spread Awareness About Heart Disease and Stroke
On Friday, February 6, the Kent Place School community wore the color red in honor of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women National Wear Red Day®. The Day, in its twelfth year, was created to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 5 killers of women. According to […]
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Kent Place Students Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a Day of Service
On Monday, January 19, the Kent Place Diversity and Equity Parent Group hosted the fifth annual community-wide Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service to celebrate, reflect and serve in the name of Dr. King’s legacy. For this year’s Day of Service, themed “Understanding and Responding to Homelessness in Our Community,” Kent Place collaborated […]
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Moms with Scientific Careers Support New “Girls in Science” Club
This fall at Ranney School in Tinton Falls, NJ, the Upper School launched a Girls in Science Club. Made up of both female and male members, the club’s goal is to motivate and inspire girls to study and stay in science, whether it’s medicine, engineering, marine biology and so forth, says Club Founder and Advisor […]
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A Personalized Education
The chance to seek intellectual experiences of substance and meaning is a prerogative of every MBS student. Sometimes, though, a student has a desire to explore a subject not offered in our standard curriculum. To address this gap, we have created an Independent Study Program that has become one of the hallmarks of our curriculum. […]
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Building Coding into Elementary Curriculum
Beginning in Kindergarten, Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) students use iPads to practice reading and math skills and to do basic Internet searches, such as looking up a definition or concept. These skills, along with typing, are strengthened each year as Lower Schoolers progress into the elementary grades, describes Lower School Technology Teacher Maureen Wood. […]
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Integrating Technology into the Art Classroom
Technology has been a core component of the Lower School Art curriculum for many years at Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ). Beginning in the Early Childhood program, students have access to drawing apps on the school’s iPads. As they move into the elementary grades, art students are introduced to Photoshop to retouch images on the […]
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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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French Cooking Lesson
Students at The Rumson Country Day School take their World Language classes very seriously! Taking knowledge of a second language outside of the classroom and having fun with it is not just encouraged…It’s part of the curriculum. Enjoy as this upper school student teaches us how to make a classic French dish: crepes! Bon Appetit!
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Wilderness Trips Take Kids Out of Their Comfort Zone
The Rumson Country Day School uses a hands-on approach, encouraging students to learn by doing and to experiment with different methods of solving problems. Instead of just memorizing facts or reading about others’ experiences, our students learn by doing, making discoveries and experimenting with knowledge firsthand. RCDS’ fifth-through-eighth-grade wilderness adventures provide children with exciting opportunities […]
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Middle Schoolers Learn About Kindness and Gratitude
Middle School boys explored the power of gratitude, while Middle School girls learned about the importance of kindness as they engaged in two-hour workshops on these values this October. The girls’ workshop on kindness was led by Lauren Paul and Molly Thompson, who created the Kind Campaign, an anti-bullying nonprofit that focuses on girl-on-girl conflict. […]
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Sophomore Raises Money for Paralyzed Police Officer
Morristown-Beard sophomore Harrison Kern ’17 recently turned his passion for jewelry making into a way to help others. Kern, who studied jewelry making with teacher Jeanine Erickson as part of an Independent Study project last year, sold his pieces at Bottle Hill Day in Madison last month to benefit Officer Dave Cuozzo, a Union Police […]
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Up, up and away! Hot Air Balloon Event at Purnell School
Did you realize the hot air balloon is the oldest successful human carrying flight technology? On the evening of Friday October 10th, Purnell School hosted a community science event featuring hot air balloons. The event highlighted a Remax Balloon, part of the world largest fleet of balloons. Remax pilot, Captain Bob Mueller, presented the program […]
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Winter Greenhouse Project at Purnell School
Many schools have beautiful greenhouses that were built to allow students to study botany and gardening through meaningful hands on experiential learning. However, many of these greenhouses fall by the wayside during the cold winter months simply because we don’t know what to do with them! Teachers and students should consider taking on the challenge […]
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Mosaic
This project was the result of a faculty enrichment experience which was made possible by The Rumson Country Day School 2012-13 Blake Award. This grant provides annual funding to selected RCDS faculty and staff for the purposes of professional enrichment through special classes or travel. Faculty Enrichment Grant winner, Melissa Petersen, Art Department Chair attended […]
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State-of-the-Art Playground Supports Intelligent Play
Early Childhood and Lower School students at Ranney School in Tinton Falls, NJ, are returning to school this September to find an amazing new playground on their campus. Young students can now enjoy expansive all-weather turf for safer play (no more wood chips!) and intelligent-play equipment, designed by Berliner Seilfabrik. The new equipment allows children […]
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Robotics Program in High Gear for Start of School-Year
The Robotics Program at Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) is flourishing across all three divisions. New robots and equipment have been purchased and teachers are trained and ready for the upcoming season. This year’s world competition will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, in April 2015, and students of all ages will keep that event in […]
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Campus Gardens Augmenting Young Minds
Last spring, students and faculty at Ranney School in Tinton Falls, NJ, celebrated the establishment of two new sustainable gardens on campus during Earth Day 2014: an organic garden, seeded by Lower School students, and a rain garden, constructed by Upper School students. The organic garden had an incredible yield of vegetables for its first […]
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All Students are Composers!
LREI’s Young Composers & Improvisors Workshop helps every student become a composer. Beginning in 5th grade students learn how music works by composing their own original pieces. Over 160 pieces are performed each year by professional musicians at public young composer concerts. The progressive curriculum allows for every student to begin composing regardless of experience. […]
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Science and Social Justice: A Perfect Combination at Marymount
Marymount’s mission is to educate young women who are prepared to challenge, shape, and change the world. Two recent interdisciplinary projects that connected science with social justice highlight our mission in action at the School. Students in the senior elective, Atmospheric Science, wrote and published a multi-touch book entitled Sandy Stories to share the experiences […]
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Poly Prep Service Trip to Cambodia
Watch a video of Poly Prep’s Winter Global Service Trip to Poly’s Cambodian Sister School. Students presented workshops in reading, sports, arts and crafts, music, and English at the Mitapeap School.
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Poly Prep 4th Graders Paint Keepsake Project
Poly Prep’s 4th graders in Patti Smith’s (Visual Arts) art class reached a rite of passage, putting the finishing touches on their reproductions of paintings by major 20th-century artists on the seats of metal stools, which will become keepsakes of their time at the Lower School.
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Poly Prep’s Women’s Innovation Symposium in Engineering
Poly Prep hosted its third annual Women’s Innovation Symposium in Engineering (W.I.S.E.) for middle and upper school girls to learn about the field of engineering in workshops presented by women engineers and scientists on March 9. The event is open for free to all 7th through 12th grade female students in the New York City […]
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Poly Prep Sponsors “Be A Green Neighbor Day”
As part of Poly Prep’s commitment to sustainability, the school hosted “Be a Green Neighbor Day,” inviting the local community to bring used electronics for E-Waste Recycling in conjunction with the Lower East Side Ecology Center (LESEC) or to pick up a free tree, as part of the New York Restoration Project, on Sunday, May […]
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Middle School Students Use New Shakespeare App
At Poly Prep, on the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, Gail Karpf’s 7th grade English class was newly into the study of the Bard’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, using 21st-century technology. They were studying the 16th-century comedy using a new Shakespeare app on their iPads. Last year, Headmaster David B. Harman P’04, ‘06 introduced […]
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Young chemists at Oak Hill Academy, Lincroft, NJ
From Mrs. Cahalane, Science Teacher, Grades PK – 4: I begin teaching basic chemistry in PK at Oak Hill Academy. All students have the opportunity to use labware found in real chemistry laboratories: graduated cylinders, beakers, test tubes, pipettes, etc. Independent exploration is encouraged! I feel that children need to read about science, hear about […]
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Children’s Garden at Oak Hill Academy
From Mrs. Cahalane, Science Teacher, Grades PK – 4: My students were so excited about starting a Children’s Vegetable Garden at Oak Hill Academy this year! Every child in grades PK – 4 participated in the gardening process. We planted eggplant, tomato, and pepper plants, nurtured them and watched them grow! This was such a […]
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First Grade Engineers at Oak Hill Academy!
Hi! My name is Susan Cahalane and I teach hands-on science to students in grades PK – 4 at Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft, NJ. I believe children are natural scientists and it is my job as their instructor to nurture and develop their innate curiosity. I created an engineering lesson plan entitled Gnome Engineers, […]
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Designing for Innovation
What do you get when you bring together faculty teams from each division and frame mission-focused inquiry around a design thinking framework? You get our first successful Innovation Institute. Over a five-day period this summer, a diverse group of faculty came together to explore the concept of time and how it impacts teaching and learning […]
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Alum Is on Path to Improve Global Healthcare
Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) Alum Anna Rose Johnson ’08 is one of those students who, in a phrase, never stops. She is a perpetual thinker and an assiduous worker. She is confident, passionate and determined to fight for a better world. And over the past six years, starting with the launch of her own […]
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Second Graders Support Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Second-grader Salvatore P. has been leading his classmates and the Ranney Lower School Community Service Club on a mission to host a button drive in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). When Sal found out that two of his classmates were affected by diabetes, he decided to start a business to make buttons […]
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Trinity Hall Students Design Sustainable Furniture
At Trinity Hall, an all-girls college preparatory high school in Monmouth County, NJ, students use their own creativity together with hands-on projects to promote an understanding and appreciation of the engineering design process. The engineering thought process is so important to the school’s interdisciplinary curriculum that students are required to take four years of engineering/design […]
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Students Build 16-Foot Canoes from Scratch
On May 10, 2014, more than 30 Middle Schoolers from Ranney School in Tinton Falls, Sisters Academy in Asbury Park and Oak Hill Academy in Lincroft, came together at Deal Lake in Asbury Park, NJ, to launch three 16-foot canoes that they spent the previous four months building from scratch. The students learned the value […]
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Reenacting and Recreating a Revolution in Second Grade
How can a teacher effectively cover a unit on the American Revolution in four months without lulling a classroom of young students sleep? For those who are willing to boldly employ the types of things 8 year-olds appreciate, the answers to these questions are clear and can be applied to social studies themes, especially the […]
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Paving the Road to Revolutionary Understanding
To meet second graders at the developmental crossroads of their imaginative enthusiasm and their deepening awareness of events from long ago, “making history” in the classroom (and sometimes outside of the classroom) is crucial for students to grasp historical material. Children at this age and stage thrive when captivated by a social studies curriculum that […]
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Near Space Balloon Launch
Members of Trinity-Pawling’s Robotics and Engineering Club launched their first payload into near space earlier this year. The “Taccolytes”(the group’s name pays homage to a Renaissance engineer and contemporary of DaVinci) spent several weeks planning the launch of “Resilience I”. Students were responsible for ensuring the structural integrity of the airframe and payload; the establishment […]
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Earth Day Initiatives in High Gear
Although Earth Day is only celebrated once a year on April 22, Ranney School (Tinton Falls, NJ) pioneered several initiatives across its 60-acre campus that will contribute toward improving the environment every single day. One of the most exciting projects this week was the debut of the school’s new organic garden and rain garden. Spearheaded […]
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GarageBand Class Creates Mini-Soundtracks
Students in the GarageBand App class at Tuxedo Park School were busy this past trimester creating exciting sound projects. For their final project, each student selected an excerpt from a literary work that they have read at Tuxedo Park School, recorded a voice narrating the passage (which serves as the voiceover), and then created a […]
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Constructing Communities of Paper & Growing Communities of Learners
Our Community Construction Project is causing a lot of excitement this week during first grade social studies. Before spring vacation, the class learned about the concepts of needs and wants within the context of a community. The children listed everything they thought should be in a community. During another class session everyone worked together to […]
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The Middle Ages in Middle School
For sixth graders at the Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School (LREI) in New York City, the annual spring Medieval Pageant is an exciting and creative opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East to other middle school students, family, and friends. The Pageant transforms […]
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Community Service Board Active in After-School Tutoring Program
Students in Ranney’s Upper School Community Service Board (Tinton Falls, NJ) have been sharing their love of learning with elementary school children in neighboring Freehold this year as volunteers for the Amistad After-School Program. Amistad, which means “friendship” in Spanish, is an outreach ministry that serves the Greater Freehold area. Most of the children who […]
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Students Immerse Themselves in World Languages Week
Ranney School students are exposed to three different languages—Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese—starting in Kindergarten and in January 2014, they got to dive even deeper into the world of languages with cultural presentations, cross-divisional dialogues and food tastings as part of “Discover Languages Week.” Held in conjunction with the American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages, […]
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Dutchess Day School Celebrates Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds
The dining room at Dutchess Day School looked a bit different over four days in mid-January. The school’s chef had prepared an array of foods specifically chosen for their brain benefits, allowing students of all ages to sample such items as salmon roe, pomegranate juice, blueberries, and sardines. They were delighted; and when they sat […]
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Third Graders Make Sparks Fly for STEM Week
Third graders at The Hewitt School took on electrical inventions as their class project for Lower School STEM week in January; not only did their creations surprise their teachers and many of their visiting parent helpers, but everyone had a lot of fun in the process. The initial goal was to understand how a circuit […]
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Master Choral Class Brings School Communities Together
In early 2014, Ranney’s Lower and Middle School Chorus welcomed fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade choral students from a local public school to its campus for a 90-minute collaborative Master Chorale Class. Led by Ranney music teachers Lilly Torrente and Lisa Geene and Indian Hill School’s music director Meredith Thomas, the students shared warm-up and diction […]
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Wind Generated Power to supply 100% of The Storm King School’s Electricity Needs
Cornwall on Hudson – As part of its ongoing commitment to become a greener, more sustainable institution, The Storm King School began consuming electricity generated by local wind farms. To that end, SKS has chosen as its supplier, renewable energy firm Viridian Power Company, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Viridian Independent Associate Eric Stewart says that […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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Nichols School Student Creates “Roar” Video in Show of School Spirit
As part of a nationwide challenge by pop star Katy Perry, Nichols School in Buffalo, N.Y., took part in a lip dub video to the tune of her hit song, “Roar!” The video was produced, directed and filmed in one take by senior, Spencer Bacon ’14. Led by Spencer’s leadership, creativity and careful orchestration, the […]
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LREI Students Cultivate Their Creative Confidence
Fostering creativity is a key element of the LREI experience and one that is at the center of how we structure learning opportunities for students. So we were intrigued to read about the current OpenIDEO challenge, “How might we inspire young people to cultivate their creative confidence?” OpenIDEO is an innovation platform that brings people […]
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Growing Good People Through Service & Relationships
The third grade at Tuxedo Park School has long carried on a tradition of service learning. Throughout the school year, each class visits the Promenade at Tuxedo, an assisted living facility. Together with residents they work on a service project that provides for an identified need in the local community. As we introduced this to […]
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Everything I Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten
On Tuesday, after morning work was complete, students were offered some choice activities. All thirteen students chose to explore trains together. With interest and curiosity I watched and listened as they began playing together. Would they be able to make this work with all thirteen of them? Would I need to intervene? How would they […]
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Microsoft Kinect and Some Molecular Dancing
Kids love video games but some remain unenthused about molecular geometry – I tried to fix that.
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Communal Understanding through Drawings, Post-Its, and Poetry
Students were asked to analyze a vignette in House on Mango Street and create a shared bulletin filled with student work and community. They first drew a visual image, based on a vignette, meant to create an emotion. Students then completed a gallery walk and posted comments on each other’s work regarding the artistic decisions […]
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The Power of Home Made Play Dough
Play dough is a staple in a preschool classroom. The opportunity to roll, smush, pinch, pat, mold, mush, and make with it provides endless possibilities for young children. It also provides valuable learning opportunities related to fine and gross motor skills, creativity, language, and social development. But making play dough? Well, that takes the whole […]
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Great Kids, Going Places
Moorestown Friends School Class of 2013 graduates Sarah Master, Spencer Bard, and Ashleigh Cartwright talk candidly about their experiences at MFS with new staff member Kat Clark, including their thoughts on teachers, opportunities, and ethical education. They are now attending Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Columbia University (respectively). While in high school, Sarah […]
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Manhattan Country School students ask ‘Vote for Me Until I Can’
In 2012, during a final push to encourage voter turnout, Manhattan Country School’s 5- and 6-year-olds asked everyone to “Vote for Me Until I Can.” “I would like to bring about a change, but I’m too young to play the voting game. Won’t somebody hear my plea and go to the polls and vote for […]
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Manhattan Country School: On the Farm
A film in honor of the Manhattan Country School Farm Faculty and Program for 46 years of teaching children invaluable lessons about community and interdependence, environmental stewardship, renewable energy and the sustainable production of food. Film produced by MCS parent Deb Levy. Manhattan Country School is a pre-K through 8th grade school recognized as a […]
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Peddie School EXP Research Science Program
The EXP Research Science Program (or EXP for short) is a year-long program designed to help students develop their passion for scientific research and to encourage them to consider an eventual career in science-related fields. Even more specifically, EXP intends to help students: – get outside the textbook to do “research science” and to develop […]
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Plunging into the Maker world at Marymount
Marymount School of New York City’s Fab Lab is short for “fabrication lab,” but could just as easily mean “fabulous.” Marymount girls can plunge into the Maker world and follow the design process from idea to prototype using what one Fab Lab visitor described as “a ridiculous number of machines.” These machines allow students to […]
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Living Machine™
Environmental sustainability is a watchword at Darrow School, where solar energy, wind power, energy conservation, and organic food production are parts of the fabric of school life. The Living Machine™, an environmentally advanced treatment facility, processes wastewater from campus buildings via a bio-mimetic system using bacterial and mechanical filtration, with students performing many of the […]
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Individual Development and Community Responsibility (InDeCoRe) at Peck
Great schools and great programs are built around faith in students. The Peck School makes this faith explicit through its award-winning InDeCoRe program. InDeCoRe stands for Individual Development and Community Responsibility. With leadership from administrators, teachers, and students, InDeCoRe programs permeate life at Peck, from Table Talk Tuesdays, when lunch tables hum with conversation around […]