We Challenge Minds
Independent schools offer challenging academics and engaging programs to help children develop a life-long love of learning.
Independent schools offer challenging academics and engaging programs to help children develop a life-long love of learning.
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Jazz: A Fifth Grade Multidisciplinary Exploration
An annual visit by professional jazz musicians who share the living tradition of jazz with SCDS’s fifth grade class has inspired a series of lessons among multiple disciplines including humanities, music, art, and library and information literacy. As part of their class’s year-long study of Jazz and the African-American Experience, each student chooses a musician […]
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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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Students Gain Perspective at the Border
Each fall, Sandia Prep students in Claudio Pérez’ Spanish 5A Border Studies class, “The Neglect of Women Workers and the New Era of Hope,” travel to the El Paso-Juárez border. They come for a day-long immersion education program that acquaints them with the various issues surrounding immigration and border relations. The students speak and interact […]
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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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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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The Geometry of Field Day
Being able to solve equations or do difficult geometry problems are very important skills to help students have success in future classes. But if we want students to really understand why we study mathematics, they need to see and understand how it is really used. This goes back to our school motto- we learn not […]
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Lego Robotics Ignites Discovery at Wheeling Country Day School
In a presentation for the annual LEGO Robotics Competition, 5th graders showed parents, teachers and peers mechanisms they built and programmed to lessen the impact of natural disasters. The first team presented a shed housing a siren that floats in the ocean with an anchor that detects a tsunami as it begins to form. Another […]
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Amazing Teachers Challenge and Inspire Students
“Jeff Rennicke traveled the world as an environmental writer for publications like “Backpacker” and “National Geographic.” But after being a guest speaker at the high school boarding school, Conserve School, he decided to settle down and accept a job there. Looking for a creative outlet, he turned to photography and capturing the stunning beauty of […]
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Milton Hershey School: Hatching an Idea in Algebra Class
For some, algebra, with all its letters and symbols, formulas and equations, can seem confusing. Learn how Milton Hershey School teachers are doing with baby chicks to encourage exponential growth in their students.
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Block Party in the Beginning School
In an article published in the journal Science, Denver University Professor Douglas Clements made the case that there is not a time in a student’s academic life more important than preschool, and no learning more important than building a solid understanding in mathematics. “Mathematical thinking is cognitively foundational,” asserts Dr. Clement. “Preschool children’s knowledge of […]
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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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PreK Robotics Program
Like all students at the thematically driven Charles River School, PreKindergarteners are encouraged to ask questions, explore concepts with a hands-on approach, and reflect freely on what they learn and understand. This approach was the backbone of a robotics theme that was first introduced last year and will continue with this year’s PreK class. Teachers […]