If there’s any doubt that we are living in an age of marvels just read these accounts of what happened when school was closed last Friday: Snow Day and Teaching Is Never Boring and Snow Day . With the forecasters predicting apocalyptic snowfalls, school was closed but the learning did not stop. Online tools available to teachers are astonishing and…
So this is the message I found on my desk when I returned from lunch today. The cupcakes were delicious and I had plenty to give away. Thank you mystery high school person.
Cross-posted from Josie’s Blog Did you know that Poughkeepsie Day School now has a Fab Lab? It’s short for fabrication laboratory – a place where people tinker, design, code, create, re-purpose, mess about, invent, make and play with stuff. It’s right off the Chapman Room. It’s in the pilot and prototype stage but we are already seeing results. Do you…
In Memory of Lance Corporal Frank Herbert Sims. Royal Army Medical Corps who died on 28 January 1919 Age 34 Son of Albert John and Rosa Sims, of Streatham, London; husband of Frances Sims, of 115, Strathyre Avenue, Norbury, London. Father of Edith and Kathleen. With the a brief two hour exception last Friday, I have never worn a poppy. This…
We are at the beginning of a period of focused strategic thinking at school and the Board of Trustees has convened a planning group to lead the process. One of the ways I have been preparing for this has been to compile resources that I think might be helpful in framing the discussion and a shortlist of thought leaders who…
After more than a year of preparation we’re as ready as we’re going to be. This Sunday a team of experienced educators arrive on campus to begin an intensive three-day evaluation of our school. Poughkeepsie Day School is proud to be a member of NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools). It’s a great organization of 180 schools across enrolling 78,000…
How we took four classrooms and a corridor and created a contemporary learning space for the middle school in the summer of 2012. Watch the short video. And then look for the pics of the new space with the sliding glass doors now in place!
Most Wednesday mornings the lower school assembles in the Chapman Room and parents are welcome. It’s usually a showcase for the work of the classroom and often includes the opportunity to sing. First the Hokey-Pokey On a recent Wednesday a seventh grader led children, parents and teachers in singing and dancing the hokey–pokey. It was music, movement and a great…
Cross posted from Josie’s Blog It was the spider started it. A noiseless, patient, useful spider had spun a tremendous web right there in the playground, across the chains of the swing. It was Sue Parise’s class that noticed it and made the sign that said: “This swing is closed because of BIG spider!” Lynn Fordin took the photo and…
Today is back-to-school day for the faculty at PDS and today we are launching Project Innovate: Five Teams with a Mission. The faculty were invited last June to sign up for cross divisional teams loosely organized around five major and interconnected themes: Cultural Competency I Digital Citizenship I Learning and the Brain I Project-Based Learning I Wellness There was no obligation to be on a…
On my recent visit to England I came across a small trove of Child Education magazines (published by Evans Brothers Ltd. of Russell Square, London) from the early 1960’s. They had belonged to my mother – a regular subscriber – who looked forward to reading each edition. Although she was by then near the end of a long career as…
This cartoon is making the rounds this morning: Reminds me of those words often claimed to be either a Chinese and Hebrew proverb: Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time. And this from John Dewey: The world is moving at a tremendous rate. Going no one knows where. We must prepare…
Blackberries clustered against the sky, heavy and dark as thunder, which we plucked and gobbled, hour after hour, lips purple, hands stained to the wrists. Cider With Rosie, Laurie Lee Three farmers’ markets in the last three days mean a kitchen table overloaded with fresh bounty. No gooseberries or blackcurrants this week but at Arlington on Thursday there were plenty…
I had the privilege last week of working with a great bunch of educators at the NYSAIS Think Tank at the Carey Conference Center in Rensselaerville, NY. The location was perfect, the company inspiring and the work energizing. And facilitator Ann Mellow provided leadership and kept us all moving forward. It was at this event last year that we re-branded…
Dr. Yong Zhao addresses ISTE 2012 attendees on the topic of ” Global, Creative, and Entrepreneurial: Defining High-Quality Education.”