News Archive

If you take a peek into one of our lower school classrooms, you will likely find that, instead of working entirely as a group or entirely independently, lower school classrooms often have a blend of whole-class instruction, small-group collaboration, and independent work. Rather than relying solely on one teaching method, lower school educators thoughtfully combine approaches to meet students where they are and help them grow.

Take a look at how 1/2 teacher Ilana Weisz structures her math class to promote student engagement and monitor understanding…all while teaching her 1st graders how to skip count by two!

In the words of Brighid Willson, Middle School Dean of Students, and coordinator of the FCS Middle School Advisory program, “Advisory serves as a home-base for middle school students. It is a place for building community, where you connect with your peers and nurture friendships.” 

The advisory program aims to support both the academic journey of our students as well as their social and emotional growth. It is rooted in Quaker values and built on a simple, meaningful concept: community first.

The whole-child approach—another core pillar of progressive education—centers on the holistic philosophy that a child is best served at school when they are known, understood, and supported as both learners and individuals. Knowing and educating the whole child isn’t possible without integrating social-emotional learning (SEL). This year, Michael Sabala, 3/4 Teacher, and Elizabeth Schachter, School Counselor, teamed up to implement a new way to intentionally and thoughtfully incorporate themes of SEL into weekly conversations and academics.

A pillar of progressive education is inquiry-based learning—a classroom environment that empowers students to ask questions, supports their interests and curiosities, and provides them with opportunities to dive into topics that intrigue them. In our Kindergarten classrooms, this approach is woven into daily experiences, both at small and large scale, and can take many shapes and forms. It can be a teacher following up with a student after they ask a complex question during class, adding a class conversation or extension activity that incorporates or investigates a topic of interest, or creating an opportunity for project-based learning to explore a concept further. No matter the scale, each experience nurtures a love of learning and fuels creativity and independent thinking.

As students progress through the lower school grades, the concentration in literacy shifts from an emphasis on ‘learning to read’ to one that focuses on ‘reading to learn.’ In Cynthia’s 3/4 class, this is exemplified through group-centered, student-facilitated Book Talks. 

Over the past two months, 8th graders in Dr. Jen Phelps’ Algebra classes have been immersed in a hands-on capstone project exploring projectile motion. In this multi-phase project, students were first challenged with designing a functional mechanism that could launch small objects into the air. After creating their mechanisms, they spent a class period launching their objects and filming the parabolic path of each. They then used the recordings to collect the necessary data from each launch—like height and time—to create a quadratic equation that represented the projectile motion of each object! Throughout this process, students were required to use their math skills to accurately build a mechanism, conduct trials to test effectiveness and make improvements, analyze and graph data, and formulate equations based on their results.

Over the past few weeks, 3rd and 4th graders have been designing sculptures in the style of artist Nick Cave’s Soundsuits. These abstract costumes are meant to conceal a performer's physical appearance and create new opportunities for creative expression and interpretation. Cave liked the idea that Soundsuits remove prejudice—by concealing a person's appearance, viewers are driven to focus solely on what they see and hear from the performative art. Cave encourages viewers to use their imagination when observing Soundsuits and to create stories about the sculptural costumes.

Over the past few months, Kindergarteners have been learning all about the winter adaptations of animals in our area. They focused primarily on migration, hibernation (and torpor), and physical and behavioral adaptations. Through stories, discussion, and many hands-on activities, the Kindergarteners explored how several different animals of our region adjust to the conditions of the season in order to survive. 

Just like knowing the color of your own eyes, once you learn about dominant and recessive traits in genetics, it’s hard to forget. There’s something fascinating about learning about how, even though humans are 99.99% the same, our unique genetic blueprint makes each person different. This concept was recently introduced in Angela Rohan’s 7th grade science class. Over the past few weeks, the 7th graders have been diving into the fundamental building blocks of the human genome: DNA, genetic code, and inherited genetics. They explored DNA’s double helix, examined dominant and recessive genes in Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance, and constructed their own gene by reading genetic code and building a double helix of DNA base pairs. 

In a world where technology is ever-present, FCS is very mindful about the amount of time students spend on technology, and how they interact with it. In the Lower School, iPads that contain educational apps are available for teachers to use to support students’ learning. Even though they are used infrequently, teachers emphasize that, in school, technology—and the apps they utilize—are tools, and that learning must be the outcome. In the Middle School, students are given Chromebooks that they are able to use in school and at home. While this exciting piece of technology comes with new opportunities, it also introduces responsibilities that extend far beyond simply taking care and maintaining the physical hardware. In an intentional approach to prepare and educate students about technology use and online safety, FCS’s Director of Informational and Instructional Technology, Sheldon Henry, has been leading Digital Citizenship classes with all 5th grade students. In these classes, Sheldon emphasizes three key principles when it comes to technology: be safe, be responsible, and make the internet a better place.