Portrait of a Learner

From the Summer 2024 North Hampton Town Newsletter:

At North Hampton School, we have been working hard to implement our community’s Portrait of a Learner. A Portrait of a Learner (POL) is an outline of the essential skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that represents a community’s vision for student learning. Over the last two years, the communities of SAU 21 came together to discuss a shared vision for what we believe is necessary to prepare our students for college, career, civic, and life success. This process led to the creation of SAU 21’s Portrait of a Learner. NHS is designing unique learning experiences that make this vision a reality for our students here at North Hampton.

The first POL theme is called mindsets and refers to the traits and habits that are critical to our students’ success. To kick off the 2024-2025 school year, the faculty of NHS drew upon the research of Carol Dweck. Dweck explains that we navigate life with two main mindsets, growth and fixed, and that the growth mindset is essential for success. The first day of school we held a K-8 community meeting that celebrated growth mindset and helped students to see how to enact it in their school and life experiences. Teachers then set the tone for the new school year, employing tools such as read alouds and Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Math.

The second theme is academics. We strive to have our students participate in academic programming that meets their needs, interests, and abilities. For example, in our science curriculum we employ phenomenon-based learning driven by student inquiry. This often manifests within place- and nature-based experiences, for example our fourth grade Maple Syrup, our second grade Indigenous Peoples Three Sisters, and our sixth grade Invasive Species units. Our students also engage in cross curricular units for science, including the fifth grade Drones Unit integrating technology and the seventh grade Data Unit integrating math. 

The third theme is community engagement. NHS fosters students’ commitment to their local and global community. For the second year, NHS has offered its 7th and 8th graders extended learning enrichment opportunities (ELOs). Students were challenged to promote a sense of community in North Hampton School and/or the Town of North Hampton.  Projects included a senior citizen dance, a parent/student basketball game, Family Fun Night, a recommendation for student safety on Atlantic Avenue, an exploration of educational poultry programs, an online resource for families to promote children’s love of reading, and a community map of our school forest. Many thanks to this year’s ELO mentors: Nurse Mara, Ms. Fiore, Ms. DiPietro, Mr. Szeliga, Mr. Pope, Mr. Lukach, and Mrs. Nardone.

The fourth theme is the essential life skills that our students will need to manage the career, financial, technological, and practical responsibilities necessary in a complex and changing world. That is a tall order, and our second graders flexed these skills with the first ever NHS Shark Tank. Students developed a marketable product, applied their persuasive writing skills to create pitches, used Canva to create business cards, learned about green screen technology, and practiced public speaking. As students considered the best price point for their product, they engaged in mathematics and financial literacy. Our 8th graders wrapped up their time at NHS with the My Life at 30 project, considering various professions and costs of living. Students engaged in research and financial analysis to create a visual depicting their life at 30 years old.

The final theme is physical and mental wellness. One of the ways we support students’ balanced and healthy social, emotional, and physical life is through outdoor learning. NHS strives for our students to feel connected to and value the natural world and to leave our school with the skills, knowledge, and will to care for and protect it. To that end, middle school science teacher Mrs. Jones created our inaugural Bio Blitz! With the help of local and Seacoast Science volunteers, our Prek-8th grade students used iNaturalist to discover and track the flora and fauna in the mixed woods behind our school. We are excited to gather yearly data on the regrowth and successional transition of this recently forested land! Our habitats consist of wetlands with streams and seasonal vernal pools, upland forest crisscrossed with stone walls, and the old Fogg family cemetery. This year’s data included almost 400 observations and a total of 86 different species! 

We use the Portrait of a Learner vision as a guide when making decisions related to curriculum, instruction, school operations, and resource allocation. To learn more about our school goals and the steps we’re taking to support this vision of our students, you can attend or watch our school board meetings the first Thursday of every month, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, or visit our website at www.northhamptonschool.org. We thank the North Hampton Community for your support of our school!