All elementary faculty, Mandy and Shelby will soon be certified teachers of the Design Thinking approach to problem solving. Students are engaged and learning in hands-on, exploratory ways. All teachers continue to utilize the Bridges math curriculum with success. Fourth and fifth grade are studying the American Revolution through reader’s theater, engaging lessons and creating books. Third grade completed impressive and varied array projects, applying their multiplication knowledge to real-world scenarios. Second grade continues to study Ancient Egypt through art, literacy, science and social studies. Kindergarten and first grade are working together to study bats.
Classes have embarked on engaging units of study and we welcomed two new teachers: Zoe Solomon (Lead Teacher, First Grade) and Chelsea Bruder (Associate Teacher, Fourth Grade). It has been an exciting few months in the Elementary building. As adults, we can all use some practice in these areas as well! It amazes us how the children have grown in their abilities to sit, wait, hold, manage, focus, plan, remember, and recover and be resilient in times of disappointment. In class we have begun to practice these EF skills in a variety of ways through play and games during choice time and our meeting times. As the brain develops through elementary, middle and high school years, these skills develop further and are utilized in and outside of the classroom. We believe that along with social and emotional skills (making a friend, cooperating and collaborating in a group, negotiating tricky situations, expressing and managing emotions, getting needs met from teachers and friends, taking on challenges), preschoolers/pre-Kindergartners need to have a foundation of these EF skills in place in order to be prepared for elementary school. It is the biological foundation of school readiness/performance and they are skills that children can develop and grow. So, here is a child who is telling their brains and bodies what to do. Think of an executive as a person who manages, delegates and tells other people what to do. In Preschool we have started to dive into teaching and building Executive Function (EF) skills of focus, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.
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