2024-25 School Calendar

Annual Traditions
Randolph is built on traditions, and many of these lead us to familiar places and on new adventures too.  Field trips will continue to be a part of living and learning at Randolph.

Welcome Back Picnic
At the end of summer, we gather together informally to get to know new friends and reconnect with old ones. This is a special time to get to know the community and the teachers and is organized by the Parent Group.

Orientation Day
On the morning before the first full day of school, families get to practice the morning routine before school officially begins the next day. From 9:30 to 11:00, children and teachers will have a chance to acclimate and get the lay of the land. Downstairs parents should plan to remain with their child, while Upstairs parents should plan to drop off and return for pickup at 11:00.

Curriculum Night
Held soon after the opening of school, this evening is for all parents to meet each other and to learn important information about the coming year from the faculty. 
This event is for grown-ups and we ask families to make their own childcare arrangements so that they may attend.

Teacher Work Days (Faculty Development)
The teachers meet together during designated days throughout the year to discuss educational philosophy and curriculum, set goals, reflect on our work with children, and strengthen our professional community.  This is an essential part of living and learning at Randolph for staff and has a direct, positive impact on the program and children it serves.  Your support for these limited engagements strengthens the overall experience for your child and our pedagogical practice at Randolph. Some of these sessions are half-days, and some are full-days.   See the school calendar.

Apple Picking
Early in the school year, all children, parents, and teachers take a trip to visit our friends at Meadowbrook Farm to pick pumpkins and apples and celebrate the season. This is our first official all-family gathering of the school year and a treasured tradition.

Community Clean-up Days
Occasionally throughout the year, parents and teachers (and children, too!) work together to clean and fix up our school grounds.  Projects have included: painting, moving a fence, raking leaves, chipping wood, gardening, organizing the basement, and fixing a playground structure.  When we all work together, we build our community and invest in our shared future.  The Parent Group will be in touch with the community about the schedule for these activities.

Mask Parade
In late October, children make their own masks at school that are linked to identity.  At the completion of their project, the children celebrate by parading their brilliant
designs and creations on the front lawn to the delight of passing cars. Parents are welcome to attend, but it is not an expectation.

Harvest Feast
The children and teachers prepare a meal for our Harvest Feast using the food they have grown or picked themselves and prepared here at school. This is a culmination of their curricular experiences throughout the season.

Winter Celebration
The day before the winter break, the school hosts a party for children and their parents with singalongs and a massive piñata made by all the kids in the school. We sing, break the piñata, and put our beloved sugar maples to sleep, sending them into a peaceful dormancy and preparing us for what awaits us at winter’s end.

Ski Trips
Every year our Upstairs students spend four Fridays caravanning with parents up to a local ski area where they receive morning lessons and spend the afternoons practicing their new-found skills.  The kids shine with the confidence as they learn to conquer fears. Through persistence and practice, they tackle new and increasingly difficult areas of the mountain.  This resilience is brought back to school and applied to all challenges we may encounter.  *Ski Trips are an important part of the Upstairs curricular experience and are a treasured Randolph tradition.  *Information about Ski Program will be forthcoming in late fall for Upstairs families.
Downstairs students have a regular day of school on campus, but they have the whole place to themselves!

Maple Sugaring
In the late winter, children tap the maple trees, collect the sap, and boil it down into syrup, which we then eat together (with tasty pancakes, of course!). The curriculum culminates in Maple Fest, which has evolved in recent years to be a celebration of the richness of our sugaring experiences and an invitation for our loved ones to join us in it.

Starlab
In the spring our entire school spends weeks studying the stars and constellations in an inflatable planetarium in the library. Don’t be surprised to learn more about celestial bodies and ancient mythology from your child than you ever knew before!

Pete & Toshi Seeger Day of Activism
We come together as a whole community in celebration of the legacy of Randolph’s old friends, Pete & Toshi Seeger, on (or around) Pete’s birthday. We learn about his contributions to our community here in the Hudson Valley and to our global community.  We sing his songs, hear his stories, and we draw inspiration from his life into our own activism.

Grandfriends Day
In the spring, we invite grandparents and grandfriends to join us for a special day of activities, food, music, and love. This day is one of the ways we strive to make connections among our many generations and welcome our extended families (and friends-who-are-family) into our world at Randolph.

Alumni Day
We look forward to welcoming old friends back to Randolph for Alumni Day at Randolph; an important opportunity for folks to come back and reconnect with the place and people they love. This is particularly profound as Randolph celebrates its 60th year. This event is held on a weekend and is intended for recent, former students (middle, high, late elementary school student).

Rocket Launch
On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend,, all families and teachers meet at a local park to launch rockets made by every Upstairs child.  The Downstairs students will have their own launch at Randolph in the morning.  This is among everyone’s favorite days.  If you don’t know why, you’ll see.

Adventure Day & Upstairs Campout
In early June, set out on an adventure to a special, new place or a familiar, fun one.  On this day, we launch the boats we make from recyclables in the Randolph Regatta,  we play games, and splash in the creek.   The culminating event is the Upstairs Campout, preceded by all-family group games, Parent Group BBQ Potluck, and campfire singalong.  Upstairs parents should arrive at 3pm to join their child and pitch tents on the back field/Downstairs parents should return at 5pm, depart at 7pm.  After departure the following morning, school is closed for Faculty Development.  **In the event of a looming lightning, the campout will be postponed until the following day.

Tree Planting
At the end of each school year we acknowledge all of the children who will be heading off to new schools by planting a tree in their honor. They also help plant the tree.

Stepping Stones
In the evening on the last day of school, parents, children, and teachers get together to celebrate another important step in each child’s life. Every child participates in and is honored during our Stepping Stones Ceremony, which is the final time the community gathers together, as the community we have been since the start of the year.