This month, Sean Whalen joins our growing physical education program as PE Teacher for all grade levels. Sean grew up here in Stone Ridge, attending Marbletown Elementary (where his father teaches math) and Rondout High School. At Rondout, he was captain of the lacrosse team, and also played soccer. Sean continued his education at St. Bonaventure … Read More
At High Meadow, we believe providing students with choice + voice along their educational paths helps prepare them to be decision-makers in their lives and communities. This kind of student-driven exploration promotes “21st-century skills” such as independent thinking and connection making, and allows students space and time to identify what they’re truly passionate about. Last week, students selected from 29 elective … Read More
This month, Kindergarten and 3rd Grade students in Kimberly Carmody’s art classes used materials they found on the High Meadow nature trail to experiment with mark-making in ink. (In this case, the ink was watered down, washable tempera paint!) Kimberly says she chose this project in support of our mission to engage students’ “intrinsic curiosity in … Read More
For 25 years, Hungry for Music has been providing donated instruments to music students across the country and around the world. Last year, the non-profit donated seven violins to jump start our new program; we now have enough for the entire 2nd grade! This year, we received three trumpets, two clarinets, and two alto saxophones to support our growing wind instruction … Read More
This week, teachers and administrators convened for a conversation focused on equity and inclusion at High Meadow. New HMS art teacher, Kimberly Carmody, facilitated the session, an extension of her work at Berkeley Carroll school in Brooklyn. Staff members were invited to consider their own varied “indentities”, including aspects of self related to gender, sexuality, race, disability, and religion, among others, … Read More
High Meadow uses a “Positive Discipline” approach to addressing interpersonal and behavioral problems. A central part of this approach is that a teacher’s role is to help children understand, with guidance, how to solve their own problems. One of the tools for conflict resolution that we offer and model is an “apology of action”, which … Read More
We’re in the midst of a strategic planning process that began in the 2017-18 school year. We started with consultant-led work to clarify who we are as a school and community. From there, our Head of School worked with the staff to revise our mission statement and community belief statements. In the fall, a team of administrators, … Read More
Just after the winter break, Bridget Corso’s third grade class began a study of water, asking questions like, Why is it important? How do we use it? How does it behave? Since then, this investigation has led them into deep study of the relationship, past and present, between humans and our “natural resources”. By late … Read More