Transition to Spring

Updates from the Classroom Teachers

March 1st 2024

Wolf Spiders(9s, 10s, 11s)

Relationship Connections

During our unit of study around this land we now call New York, we developed a close reading tool to help us gather information about Haudenosaunee culture and history. In order to answer the question, “Who did the Haudenosaunee have relationships with before colonization?,” we first identified the types of relationships we were learning about. We landed on 4 categories: “Other Species”, “Other Humans”, “The Land,” and “Spiritual/Supernatural Realm.” As we continued reading and researching, we used these categories to organize our notes and share information from different texts we were reading. Two months later, we had gathered a vast amount of evidence to help us answer our question. 

One of the things that students experienced during this process was that it is not always easy to place a relationship into one category. They started to share examples of ones that felt connected to each other or relationships that fit into multiple categories. So we took their lead and came up with a project where we could showcase these connections. As you can see, students are beginning to walk away with the understanding that it is all connected!

Re-emerging From Winter

Can you believe that kids were wearing short sleeves this week?! We’ve had an early start to spring weather and with that, have begun to emerge from our winter den of the upstairs Carriage House. We are back to having reading groups and peace time outside, and spending other parts of our day living and learning outside as well.

NY Trees Art Project

On Tuesday, Nina and I led a joint lesson that touched on science, art, and social studies. Our goal is to create an artifact in the Carriage House classroom that shows the trees most commonly found in New York State. Eventually, we will use this tool to talk about things like latitude and longitude, the difference between deciduous and coniferous trees, and climate change and species migration.


Students were given maps without any additional information about what they could be showing. They asked questions, identified hypotheses, and collaborated with each other to come up with ideas about what these maps could be. Gradually they were given more clues and were able to discern that these maps showed the concentration of different tree species throughout New York State. Then, each Wolf Spider was given a tree to draw and research and will be responsible for contributing information about that tree for our final products.

And last but not least…

As evidenced by our curricular learning about relationships, there will always be things that don’t fit neatly into categories! Check out some pictures of the Wolf Spiders planning a chess tournament for the Carriage House, kids using maps to answer questions they have about the world, think about fake news, and more!

Eagles(7s, 8s, 9s)

Maple Temperature Graphs

Being one of the eldest groups of the school, The Eagles have some important responsibilities when it comes to maple season! Each year, the lower Carriage House crew has the task of collecting temperature data and transforming it into a graph to help track the connection of daily temperatures to the quantity of sap collected each year. 


We began this process at the end of January. When we noticed the weather starting to show a semi-consistent pattern of more mild weather, we knew it would soon be time to tap our trees! The Eagles filled in a data table each morning, noting the date, describing words telling the type of weather, and the morning temperature. Later in the day, the afternoon temperature was also noted, allowing us to compare a.m and p.m. temperatures. Data was collected each school day, giving us a data table that spans over a month’s time. 

As we tracked the temperatures, the sap flowed! Now, as we get closer to the much anticipated date of Maple Fest, we have begun the actual graphing process. The Eagles drew from their prior graphing experience that they encountered earlier in the year to help them move forward with this current graph. Students worked in small groups, looked at the graphs from the past two years, and made connections and observations before planning out their current graph. They determined what increments to count by, and how many boxes on the graph paper things would need to be spaced out by in order to properly fit their graph. 

Working with great care and precision they are moving toward a complete graph that we will then be able to use in comparison to the amount of sap collected this year. This graph will be kept with the others from years prior, allowing us to continue to make connections between the temperatures and amount of sap collected each year. We look forward to sharing their graph with you at Maple Fest on March 15th.

Upstairs Neighborhood(5s, 6s, 7s)

Black Hero Biography Research

The Upstairs Neighborhood is busy working on our Black Hero Card mini-biographies. As we mentioned in our last update, we’ve set the groundwork for our Black History Month research project by revisiting and deepening our identity work and exploring our racial and ethnic identities, and we have been immersing ourselves in learning about the lives and contributions of a wide variety of African American people. We’ve read books and Black Hero Cards about important politicians like Barack Obama, Shirley Chisholm, and Kamala Harris; athletes like the Williams sisters, Jackie Robinson, Kobe Bryant, and Pelé; artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Harriet Powers, dancers like Raven Wilkinson, Alvin Ailey, and Misty Copeland; activists like John Lewis and Wangari Maathai, and so many more interesting and important Black people. It’s been a joy for teachers to witness the children’s excitement as we learn about these people and they make connections to their own lives. For example, after reading about the NASA mathematician, Katherine Johnson, and astrophysicist, Neil Degrasse Tyson, one Neighborhood child, who is interested in space, mused about maybe one day having a card about themself added to the Black Hero Card deck. After researching Black soccer players, another soccer-loving student said, “I had no idea there were so many really good Black soccer players! I want to research another good one for my card.”

In making our decisions about who to research, children were asked to think about the things they like to do and what they’re interested in. Then we pored over tons of biographies and biography anthologies during our library time with Siobhan to find just the right person. When we couldn’t find the right book, a teacher did some internet research and printed child-friendly articles with some options. One child even decided that his dad was the Black hero he wanted to research and came up with interview questions for him. Every single child was thoughtful and deliberate about the person they chose to research. Now each child has a book or article to work from as they create their Black Hero Card. 

Searching for Books

Portraits with Nina

Researching

As cards are finished, we’ll laminate them and add them to our store-bought deck, so we can share our research with the rest of the class and even other kids in our school!

Sharing our Research

Bug Bunch(3s, 4s, 5s)

The Bug Bunchers have been busy exploring all the different aspects of maple sugaring season and its myriad connections throughout our curriculum. So far, we have...

Breaking down the maple sugaring process into its component parts and steps has allowed us to deeply investigate different pieces of the process. We have even started writing a song to remember how we maple sugar here at Randolph School!