Second Grade Invention Convention
Our second grade students brought in an impressive crowd to their invention convention this year! This unit first began with a series of student-led interviews with our faculty and staff, to determine what challenges on campus their inventions would tackle, like the distracting loud sound of the leaf blower. In the weeks that followed students…
Immigration
Today, as part of their unit on immigration in the mid to late 1800s, our third grade students are embarking on a simulated immigration experience to help them gain a deeper understanding of what it was like to be an immigrant at that time and to see firsthand how one’s financial situation affected one’s immigrant…
It’s Time to Redefine Success
Recently Palo Alto Online published a thoughtful article, “Pressure Over College Admissions ‘Out of Control’,” referencing the current high pressure climate surrounding the college admissions process. Please click here for the full article.
Happy Pi Day!
Our 5th grade students are celebrating Pi Day today with an hour of math games, investigations, and puzzles. Students and parents are working their way through a series of math stations in order to win a delicious slice of pie…at the end. How are you celebrating Pi Day this year?
Keys Student-Led Conferences
Our fourth grade students, much like the rest of our community, have been hard at work this week preparing for Keys School’s upcoming student-led conferences. A research-based practice, student-led conferences empower our students to take ownership of and reflect upon their learning while enhancing their confidence and self-awareness. Requiring students to be thoughtful about their…
The Beat of Your Own Drum
Through their studies of African drum circles, our second grade students are learning to recognize and follow patterns within music. Each student in the drum circle must follow the specific beat pattern of their section while paying attention to how their section connects with the patterns other sections are following in order for them to…
Year of The Pig
Today, in celebration of Chinese New Year, Grace Ting, our Lower School Mandarin Teacher, showed her fourth grade students how to make dumplings. Before students began assembling the dumplings they explored their significance, learning how the dumplings’ infamous shape is meant to mirror the ingot, a symbol of wealth in China. No sooner after the…
Happy Chinese New Year’s Eve
Parents of our kindergarten class joined students today to teach them all about the traditions and symbolisms within Chinese New Year. Students dove into Chinese culture, hearing “The Story of Nian” and learning about cherished customs of Chinese New Year, such as cleaning out your home, the exciting red envelope, the symbol of the pig…
When Inspiration Strikes
Kindergarten students are researching artists who utilize public art to make powerful statements and increase public awareness. Today students focused on Tyree Guyton, an artist from Detroit, Michigan, who painted on abandoned and deteriorated homes in his local community to help transform his neighborhood back into the beautiful, welcoming place he had remembered. Students are…
Supporting Refugees
For several weeks, seventh grade students have been conducting research regarding refugees around the globe. They have explored what defines refugee status, UN guidelines as they relate to the establishment of refugee camps, and statistics around the number of refugees that enter into various countries around the globe. Yesterday, students welcomed representatives from 3 non-profit…