You may have seen me at arrival and dismissal but not known my role at The Berkeley School, since I spend most of my time behind the scenes with teachers, administrators, and in classrooms. As K-8 Director of Teaching & Learning, one of my main roles is providing structures and support to classroom teachers to […]
Homework Homework is all the same as it was last night…. Math: 4th graders have a choice of any three Spectrum pages between 1 and 58. There’s a dinosaur stamp on the pages you should be working on. 5th graders have Spectrum pages 49-56 this week. Break them up any way you please, but it […]
I hope this blog finds you all warm and dry. I’ll write more later this week. Here’s a look at some essential questions for the slavery unit that are food for thought. They’re always a work in progress: ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS In what ways does the history/memory of slavery inform the collective socio-political consciousness of African Americans […]
I hope this first blog post of the year finds you rested, energized, and filled with gratitude for family and friends. Rain makes teaching more challenging, but it was nevertheless a great day of reconnecting and falling into the well-worn routines that we worked so hard to establish in the first months of the year. […]
Why simulate history? And what kind of history should we simulate in fourth and fifth grade? We do a number of simulations in Cerrito, big and small, and they serve to ground abstract historical events in lived experiences. Sure, the Berkeley Harbor isn’t the Missouri River, but the canoes we paddled aren’t all that much […]
Cerrito Creek is currently wrapping up a unit on electricity, magnetism, and energy by doing a research project on renewable energy. It’s a short introduction to research in the form of a Google Presentation. It furthermore provides a reason for why we study these things. In the language of the Next Generation Science Standards, climate […]
We welcome Paula Symonds, math educator and coach, into 3rd-5th grade math classrooms on Wednesdays. Paula has a great deal of experience as a math educator and coach, and is helping teachers in the classroom differentiate to reach the full range of math learners. Everyone seemed rather stunned to be back at school this morning, […]
Feast this Thursday, 12 to 1! Grandfriends’ Day Friday! Homework Wordly Wise, Chapter 6. A lesson or so each night, that chapter is due Friday. Read! You are all reading novels of your choice at the moment. 20+ minutes. Study your spelling words.
What a thing it is to come to school and teach after an election like this one–run a math night, care for my own family, take the trash out. As one who teaches for social justice–progress, equity, multiculturalism–it shakes me to my very core to see so clearly on a red and blue map the vastness […]
In 2015, a TBS parent nominated The Berkeley School to join an international network of changemaker organizations called Ashoka. A rigorous interview process led to our confirmation, and in June 2016, our school joined the Changemaker Schools Network. In doing so, we engaged with a global community of leading elementary, middle and high schools that […]
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