Happy New Year everyone. I hope you enjoy these pictures of the year so far. Watch the slideshow here or visit the Flickr photoset.
Tag: PDS
A is for…A Poughkeepsie Day School Lexicon
A is for Algebra, Anthropology, Arts and Athletics. We teach them all. People often refer to the STEM curriculum (It’s an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). Our program however, is fully SEARCHED (Science, Engineering, Arts, Recess, Community Service, Humanities, Exercise, Design. No T because technology is everywhere – from paint brushes and blocks to the ubiquitous laptops.) And given…
Learning by Teaching
Students who teach others learn best The Protégé Effect For thousands of years, people have known that the best way to understand a concept is to explain it to someone else. “While we teach, we learn,” said the Roman philosopher Seneca. Now scientists are bringing this ancient wisdom up to date, documenting exactly why teaching is such a fruitful way…
The Kindness of Strangers
We received a wonderful letter yesterday and here it is: Dear Ms Holford: I volunteer at The Queens Galley in Kingston on Tuesdays. I had the pleasure of working with your students, who volunteered yesterday at the soup kitchen. They were enthusiastic, helpful, industrious and all around fantastic. The teacher who accompanied them was so supportive and positive with the…
Come Play the Way we Learn
Come play the way we learn – it’s an invitation and it’s on a billboard right there on Hooker Avenue*. The invitation is to the big event we have coming up on Saturday – Fall Festival Reimagined. I love that invitation because it strikes right at the heart of the negative stereotype that I heard so much about when I…
After the Storm….
I just tried to take a look at Central Hudson’s Storm Central page and in particular the Outage Map. But it seems our utility company is down and out right now. I was hoping to see all the triangles gone indicating that now everyone is fully powered up. Last week was certainly a challenge for all of us particularly for…
My camera and me
It’s no secret – I like to carry my camera around school and take photographs. I am endlessly fascinated by kids and what they are up to and how they go about learning and the choices they make. I’ve now got thousands of photographs of life at Poughkeepsie Day School going back five years. And most of them are available…
Bloxology: The Art and Science of thinking out of, inside, with and beyond the Blox.
Bloxes – they’re everywhere. All over the Chapman Room and now migrating to the lobby and Kenyon. What’s a blox? It’s a corrugated cardboard cube. It arrives in six flat pieces. When folded into a grown-up lego-like building block it’s a fascination. It’s a portmanteau word. Web + Log = Blog Breakfast + Lunch = Brunch Box + Block =Blox…
Save Butterscotch Pony
View “Save Butterscotch Pony” on Storify
“Parents needed as Play Agents?… Surely You’re Joking PDS!”
If you’ve been to the webpage, read your email, looked at Facebook or been on campus you will know that the FFR (Fall Festival Reimagined) wing of the PA is actively recruiting older students and parents to be Play Agents for the big event on Saturday, November 19th. Readers of this blog will know that I’m a card-carrying believer in…
Transformation
We have a new lobby in one of our buildings – the Elizabeth C. Gilkeson Center – and as you can see from these two pictures it’s quite stunning. This is the first place most visitors see and it’s where almost everyone passes through at least once a day and usually more often. It’s where visitors are received, students wait…
Astrobiology and Why I like Facebook
There are lots of reasons not to like Facebook and I respect all those many people for whom it is just not their cup of tea. But there is one thing that Facebook is really good for and for which, as yet at least, there is no better alternative. And that’s doing a little institutional bragging – sharing, show-and-tell or…
Mozart on Fire: The Ruben’s Tube UPDATE
Look at what happens when Mozart catches fire! What I love most about the video is their reactions. And the physics of course. The story of the experiment was first posted in February, 2010. Preston and Jake continued their research into pressure, sound and waves. This video from May 2011 is the result of that Independent Study. I understand that…
Life in School: Two Short Videos
Greek Festival Student Talent Show March 2011