We Encourage Exploration
Independent schools encourage students to learn about the world and about themselves.
Independent schools encourage students to learn about the world and about themselves.
-
Colorado Academy’s Lower School Family Night STEAMs Ahead
The Lower School Family STEAM Night, on Jan. 14 from 5:30-7:45 p.m., is the perfect opportunity for parents to engage in intriguing, hands-on activities with their children. With the inclusion of art and design, the “A” in this acronym acknowledges the key role that creativity, imagination, and innovation play in the STEM-related fields both in […]
-
Aspen Academy’s Spanish Muralist Club
Aspen Academy’s Spanish Muralist Club encourages student artists to explore Spanish history through their creative talent. This semester, our students learned about Mexican artists, Posada, Clemente, Kahlo, and Rivera, and the effect that major historical events had on their individual styles. The result was their elongated Dia de los muertos ‘esqueleto’ that was displayed at […]
-
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. […]
-
Take Them Outside!
At CDS, the inspiring outdoor preschool classroom helps children uncover their creative selves. Did you know that studies indicate that children like to play with natural materials—such as stumps, rocks, sticks, seeds, leaves and pine cones—more than human-engineered playground equipment? In our amazing outdoor learning space the children have access to a fabulous mud kitchen […]
-
Principia France Trip Takes Experiential Learning to the Next Level
“What if . . . ?” That simple question planted a seed that quickly blossomed into an extraordinary collaboration and cross-curricular learning opportunity for 23 Principia Upper School students who participated in a weeklong educational trip to Paris and northwestern France in October. Inspired, in part, by a set of Upper School trips to the […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
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 […]
-
Facing Fear of Nature
Spending a semester away at Conserve School in the heart of Wisconsin’s Northwoods can be a bit scary. To help students understand and overcome their fears English teacher Jeff Rennicke begins each semester with an exploration of the origins of fear of the wilderness. Jeff tells his students, “whether we realize it or not, fear […]
-
Kindergartners Study, Celebrate Monarch Butterflies
Early in the fall, a procession of kindergartners dressed as caterpillars, butterflies, blue jays, woodland animals, and stinkbugs marches from the kindergarten building at The Park School of Baltimore to a nearby open meadow. For decades, the youngest learners at Park have begun their school year by studying the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and its […]
-
Rocket Physics
Many say it’s a rite of passage among Gilman’s Upper School science students: the rocket launch. Every year, physics students take their class outside to launch air rockets across the football field and predict the landing site. Will they land on target? Take a look.
-
Research Project Connects Students with Their Community
Seventh grade history students at Calvert School in Baltimore spend three months a year researching their school’s hometown. “The City Project” asks each student to select an area of interest, focus on a particular topic and time period, and use a variety of required research techniques—including personal interviews, primary and secondary sources, and photographs—to gather […]