This is a site that is so geared to kids that like to challenge themselves and help out at the same time. My friend send me an email with a link, so I thought I would pass it on:
***
I just came across this cool site today. Many of you may have already
seen this, but I thought it was pretty neat. Basically you go to
www.freerice.com and you can take a number of quizzes (spelling, math,
etc) and for every answer you get right, they donate rice to those in
need (they are partnered with the World Food Programme)....the more you
know, the more they FEED.
I can see this being a great way to 'do good' and have fun with your
kids....and educate them about the world around them too!!!
***
Sounds like a cool project and a great way to get kids excited about using their brains for good. I love that idea: use your brain to help others. What a great idea!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Begin the Beginning of a Journey Full of Light
Amid the bustle of this incredibly busy and exciting first week, I had a minute or two to gather some glimpses of what families are thinking and feeling about our community. So many of our children are new to S-K, and their excitement is palpable. Comments like "My child came home the first day and taught me what he'd learned in french, he's just soaking it up!" and "I have been amazed at the many conversations I've had with my child's teachers--already! How amazing it is that I can reach out to them with questions or just to check in." Other parents told me about the excitement their children felt about school. One student woke up at 6am every day dazzled with excitement about what lay ahead while another sighed "Isn't school WONDERFUL?" as she rested in the evening with her brother. Time and again, I heard parents say that this school feels meant for their child in all the right ways.
For students new and old, this is a tremendous time of discovery. Reading Renata's blog gives me chills when I think of the diversity of things students in her classroom took to explore last week.Walking through the lunchroom and seeing Ruth's diagrams of geometric patters found in North African art demonstrates the synergy in learning here. It's not just math or art or writing or science, each in their own separate silos. It is the weaving of learning across all of these disciplines, the warp and woof of a student's learning and the creativity and joy of discovery. (I suggest subscribing to all of the blogs, even if it's not your child's classroom--it's so exciting to see what everyone is doing!)
Leaving the picnic in the park today, I was struck by the faces I love seeing and the many friendships we have forged over the past year. But, I have a confession to make. When we were considering where to send David to school, I was anxious about not choosing our neighborhood school. "Will he still have friends in the neighborhood? Will he miss being able to walk to school every day? How will it be with him having friends all over?"...all of these thoughts would work their way into my mind on a daily basis. I was most worried that he would have to choose between a community at school and another in our neighborhood. Today as I watched my little guy race down the soccer field with teammates from our neighborhood team and then, not much later, defend "Water World" with buddies from school, I realized that my concerns were for naught as he truly has the best of both and, for that, we feel incredibly lucky.
So, thank you, again, for being part of this community of ours, special as it can be. Here's to an auspicious start to a really fabulous year!
Fran
For students new and old, this is a tremendous time of discovery. Reading Renata's blog gives me chills when I think of the diversity of things students in her classroom took to explore last week.Walking through the lunchroom and seeing Ruth's diagrams of geometric patters found in North African art demonstrates the synergy in learning here. It's not just math or art or writing or science, each in their own separate silos. It is the weaving of learning across all of these disciplines, the warp and woof of a student's learning and the creativity and joy of discovery. (I suggest subscribing to all of the blogs, even if it's not your child's classroom--it's so exciting to see what everyone is doing!)
Leaving the picnic in the park today, I was struck by the faces I love seeing and the many friendships we have forged over the past year. But, I have a confession to make. When we were considering where to send David to school, I was anxious about not choosing our neighborhood school. "Will he still have friends in the neighborhood? Will he miss being able to walk to school every day? How will it be with him having friends all over?"...all of these thoughts would work their way into my mind on a daily basis. I was most worried that he would have to choose between a community at school and another in our neighborhood. Today as I watched my little guy race down the soccer field with teammates from our neighborhood team and then, not much later, defend "Water World" with buddies from school, I realized that my concerns were for naught as he truly has the best of both and, for that, we feel incredibly lucky.
So, thank you, again, for being part of this community of ours, special as it can be. Here's to an auspicious start to a really fabulous year!
Fran
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Have a Little Time to Research Grant Options?
Hi all,
We need a volunteer to research grant opportunities to fund programs and scholarships at Summers-Knoll. You can either do an online search through the Foundation Center or go to the NEW Center (where there is a librarian to help). If you are also interested in grant writing (or learning to write grants), that would be a huge plus too.
The time commitment would likely be 8-10 hours, but can be spread out over days.
If you have time to help with this important initiative, please email Fran Loosen at fran.loosen(at)gmail.com. Thanks for getting involved!
We need a volunteer to research grant opportunities to fund programs and scholarships at Summers-Knoll. You can either do an online search through the Foundation Center or go to the NEW Center (where there is a librarian to help). If you are also interested in grant writing (or learning to write grants), that would be a huge plus too.
The time commitment would likely be 8-10 hours, but can be spread out over days.
If you have time to help with this important initiative, please email Fran Loosen at fran.loosen(at)gmail.com. Thanks for getting involved!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Welcome, welcome one and all!
Hello Parents and welcome to Summers-Knoll!
My name is Fran Loosen and I am mother to David, a 1st grader in Ms. Anita's class and a member of the Board of Directors. I also dabble a little bit here on the parent blog as a way to keep the parent community engaged from a "parent's" perspective.
It's hard to believe that Tuesday is the first day of school. I am sure for many of you it's hard to believe that your child is embarking on a new experience in a new learning environment. As filled with intrepidation as these first days can be, our community of teachers, staff, parents and students is here to welcome you!
If you are new to the school or have been at S-K for years, you may notice some excitement in the air this year. We have opened a new (second) K/1 classroom, we are blending new faculty with our fabulous core team of talented teachers, we have gained even more visibility in our local community for what an incredibly special and amazing place S-K is for children and parents alike.
My son David came here for his first year last year. In Elaine's capable hands, he had one of the most important years in his personal development. He literally ran into school every day, smile on his face, eager to learn and explore. He met amazing and wonderful friends and grew so much in a year that we could barely keep up with him. His experience was an amazing amalgamation of great teaching, a warm and thoughtful community, progressive pedagogy and a spirit of discovery that has kept his mind and person engaged and excited. His experience brings a strange yearning to me, making me wish that I had had this same opportunity when I was small...to love learning and feel challenged, to be appreciated for talents, to learn to work as a community and support each other's gifts and strengths. This is a truly special spot at a very important time in a child's life and I am thankful, every day, that David has this school to call his learning home.
So welcome to S-K. In the coming weeks, I hope to meet and connect with every new family and reunite with all returning ones. In the meantime, if you have any parent-related questions, do *not* hesitate to email me at fran.loosen(at)gmail.com. And, please sign up to follow the blog so you can keep up with what is going on in the parent community. Welcome!
My name is Fran Loosen and I am mother to David, a 1st grader in Ms. Anita's class and a member of the Board of Directors. I also dabble a little bit here on the parent blog as a way to keep the parent community engaged from a "parent's" perspective.
It's hard to believe that Tuesday is the first day of school. I am sure for many of you it's hard to believe that your child is embarking on a new experience in a new learning environment. As filled with intrepidation as these first days can be, our community of teachers, staff, parents and students is here to welcome you!
If you are new to the school or have been at S-K for years, you may notice some excitement in the air this year. We have opened a new (second) K/1 classroom, we are blending new faculty with our fabulous core team of talented teachers, we have gained even more visibility in our local community for what an incredibly special and amazing place S-K is for children and parents alike.
My son David came here for his first year last year. In Elaine's capable hands, he had one of the most important years in his personal development. He literally ran into school every day, smile on his face, eager to learn and explore. He met amazing and wonderful friends and grew so much in a year that we could barely keep up with him. His experience was an amazing amalgamation of great teaching, a warm and thoughtful community, progressive pedagogy and a spirit of discovery that has kept his mind and person engaged and excited. His experience brings a strange yearning to me, making me wish that I had had this same opportunity when I was small...to love learning and feel challenged, to be appreciated for talents, to learn to work as a community and support each other's gifts and strengths. This is a truly special spot at a very important time in a child's life and I am thankful, every day, that David has this school to call his learning home.
So welcome to S-K. In the coming weeks, I hope to meet and connect with every new family and reunite with all returning ones. In the meantime, if you have any parent-related questions, do *not* hesitate to email me at fran.loosen(at)gmail.com. And, please sign up to follow the blog so you can keep up with what is going on in the parent community. Welcome!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Progressive Education: Why It's Hard to Beat, Why S-K's got it.
One of the topics that came up at the recruitment/marketing meeting last night was how to define "progressive education". For those of you interested in learning more about the meaning of the term and how it is the basis for the curriculum and culture of our community at S-K, there is a great article by Alfie Kohn that talks about the value and values of progressive education from the magazine Independent School.
Progressive Education: Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find
http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/progressive.htm
There is another good entry about progressive education on wikipedia (although obviously the editors feel like it came from another source). I particularly like the bullets that describe the qualities of progressive ed...you can really see how this takes root and becomes manifest in our classrooms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_education
When I've tried to describe the magic of S-K in the past, I usually wander around in words until I finally say "you really have to see it in action to believe it!" I hope that these articles help others as much as they have helped me to be able to make the culture of the school concrete and real for others.
If you have any other great articles on progressive ed, brigh/creative/gifted children and learning, please pass them on. Thanks!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Money Without Thinking About It, Recruitment and Adieu
Hi Families,
It's incredible to me that the end of the year is upon us. The whole school came to the lunchroom today for a demonstration on Tunisian cooking (hand-rolled couscous in olive oil, gorgeous sauce made with olives, preserved lemons and harissa facilitated by Ari Weinzweig (Zingerman's) and Majid and Onsa Mahjoub) and as I looked out across all of the beautiful faces, my throat caught a bit. What incredible children make up this community. Smart, interesting, sweet, loving, spunky, articulate, gentle, generous, courageous. All of these things and more. It's a pretty inspiring group of kiddos who will make a tremendous impact on the world in the near and far term. That's why our family is part of this community and that's what makes it hard to say goodbye until next year. I hope to see many of you at summer camp and we should try to have a gathering at some point just for fun to reconnect and tell stories of what our lives are like in the lazy days of summer.
***
Recruitment: But before everyone packs up their assessments and idea books and heads off for a summer of fun, I wanted to say that if you have any fantastic ideas for recruiting highly-qualified and spectacular kids for our (2nd) K/1 and our 4/5 classrooms this summer, please do not hesitate to either give me a call or email me at fran.loosen (at) gmail.com. Your ideas have been *fantastic* so far and we are hitting the ground running pursuing many of them. No idea is too out of the box, keep the creative juices flowing. We will have to prioritize our activities, but your input and insight is great. For those of you coming to the recruitment meeting tonight, thank you! Your energy is much appreciated.
***
Free Money: I am a real Sally-come-lately but somewhere in there I missed that Summers-Knoll is a beneficiary of the Take Charge for Education program at Target and figured others might be too, so I'm going to mention it here on the off-chance that others are reading this. It's pretty cool. You use Target's credit card and they contribute 1% on all your Target purchases or 1/2% on all other purchases back to the school. For years I've played the airline miles game and have always paid annual fees for miles I rarely use. This year maybe I'll see how this works to support S-K without even really thinking about it.
If you have found opportunities for the school to benefit from this somewhat passive fundraising, please let us all know. Remember that goodsearch and goodshop are still great options. Every little bit counts.
***
Finally: To our teachers, staff and volunteers...you are simply amazing. Thank you. You make such an important impression on the lives of these children. They are uplifted by your intelligence and warmed by your kindness. There's just not enough time or data storage space to say to thank you for all that you do and for the many instances of care and compassion that go unrecognized. You are a true gift.
Safe travels and happy summer to you all. I will keep putting things up here during the summer just as a way to stay in practice, but I hope to get other parents involved in this blog and *really* hope to get a PTO of sorts up and running. If you are interested in helping out (or, I could just find you) please let me know. It's a great way to socialize with families and to help the school grow.
It's incredible to me that the end of the year is upon us. The whole school came to the lunchroom today for a demonstration on Tunisian cooking (hand-rolled couscous in olive oil, gorgeous sauce made with olives, preserved lemons and harissa facilitated by Ari Weinzweig (Zingerman's) and Majid and Onsa Mahjoub) and as I looked out across all of the beautiful faces, my throat caught a bit. What incredible children make up this community. Smart, interesting, sweet, loving, spunky, articulate, gentle, generous, courageous. All of these things and more. It's a pretty inspiring group of kiddos who will make a tremendous impact on the world in the near and far term. That's why our family is part of this community and that's what makes it hard to say goodbye until next year. I hope to see many of you at summer camp and we should try to have a gathering at some point just for fun to reconnect and tell stories of what our lives are like in the lazy days of summer.
***
Recruitment: But before everyone packs up their assessments and idea books and heads off for a summer of fun, I wanted to say that if you have any fantastic ideas for recruiting highly-qualified and spectacular kids for our (2nd) K/1 and our 4/5 classrooms this summer, please do not hesitate to either give me a call or email me at fran.loosen (at) gmail.com. Your ideas have been *fantastic* so far and we are hitting the ground running pursuing many of them. No idea is too out of the box, keep the creative juices flowing. We will have to prioritize our activities, but your input and insight is great. For those of you coming to the recruitment meeting tonight, thank you! Your energy is much appreciated.
***
Free Money: I am a real Sally-come-lately but somewhere in there I missed that Summers-Knoll is a beneficiary of the Take Charge for Education program at Target and figured others might be too, so I'm going to mention it here on the off-chance that others are reading this. It's pretty cool. You use Target's credit card and they contribute 1% on all your Target purchases or 1/2% on all other purchases back to the school. For years I've played the airline miles game and have always paid annual fees for miles I rarely use. This year maybe I'll see how this works to support S-K without even really thinking about it.
If you have found opportunities for the school to benefit from this somewhat passive fundraising, please let us all know. Remember that goodsearch and goodshop are still great options. Every little bit counts.
***
Finally: To our teachers, staff and volunteers...you are simply amazing. Thank you. You make such an important impression on the lives of these children. They are uplifted by your intelligence and warmed by your kindness. There's just not enough time or data storage space to say to thank you for all that you do and for the many instances of care and compassion that go unrecognized. You are a true gift.
Safe travels and happy summer to you all. I will keep putting things up here during the summer just as a way to stay in practice, but I hope to get other parents involved in this blog and *really* hope to get a PTO of sorts up and running. If you are interested in helping out (or, I could just find you) please let me know. It's a great way to socialize with families and to help the school grow.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Eudaimonia, parent volunteers and on and on...
It's horrifying to realize it's been 5 weeks since the last parent blog post. Sorry to anyone out there reading and hoping to catch up on what's been going on at school that may relate to parents. First, I hope that everyone enjoyed our first kinda-fancy, really fun fundraiser, Eudaimonia. Joanna has lots of good thank yous on her blog so I won't repeat them here, but I will say that there was a moment when I looked up at parents, staff and board members running around, decorating, putting things into place and making this gorgeous event and thought "WOW! This is utterly amazing!" People were fully into the work. Delightful pictures were being hung on walls, tables were being set with vibrant orange cloth, our own children's art work was being displayed...all in a great act of care and anticipation of a great evening. I was proud of what we were able to accomplish together and felt an even greater connection to the Summers-Knoll community than I had before.
But it also demonstrated to me that parents are more than willing and able to help make things work for the school, especially if they are given an important role. One of the Board members was mentioning at the last meeting that S-K used to have a very vibrant PTO and maybe it's time for that PTO to come back. Parents are a critical element to the success of the school...could there be a great way to organize efforts so that parents can be involved in activities that engage their interests and skills in the best way possible? But creating something like a PTO has to come from the parent community. What would be the best way to think about it/make it happen? How about this being a topic at an upcoming parent coffee?
Finally, we have a fantastic group of parents coming in to the school next year (as well as some we hope will be recruited in the following months--keep your recruiting caps on!). I know one of the biggest draws for our family was the parent community at S-K. What are some ideas for bringing new parents and kids into our community in ways that make them feel welcome, engaged and appreciated? If you have a good idea, please share it here or talk about it at the parent coffee.
Thanks again to all of you who either came to Eudaimonia or helped in some form or fashion. If you have feedback on how the event went, please feel free to email me at fran.loosen (at) gmail.com and I will pass it on to the development committee, or (of course) reach out to Joanna or the staff.
Enjoy the weather, have a wonderful week.
But it also demonstrated to me that parents are more than willing and able to help make things work for the school, especially if they are given an important role. One of the Board members was mentioning at the last meeting that S-K used to have a very vibrant PTO and maybe it's time for that PTO to come back. Parents are a critical element to the success of the school...could there be a great way to organize efforts so that parents can be involved in activities that engage their interests and skills in the best way possible? But creating something like a PTO has to come from the parent community. What would be the best way to think about it/make it happen? How about this being a topic at an upcoming parent coffee?
Finally, we have a fantastic group of parents coming in to the school next year (as well as some we hope will be recruited in the following months--keep your recruiting caps on!). I know one of the biggest draws for our family was the parent community at S-K. What are some ideas for bringing new parents and kids into our community in ways that make them feel welcome, engaged and appreciated? If you have a good idea, please share it here or talk about it at the parent coffee.
Thanks again to all of you who either came to Eudaimonia or helped in some form or fashion. If you have feedback on how the event went, please feel free to email me at fran.loosen (at) gmail.com and I will pass it on to the development committee, or (of course) reach out to Joanna or the staff.
Enjoy the weather, have a wonderful week.
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