Applying Science and Math in the Real World

“We don’t have science anymore,” one of our fourth graders nonchalantly explained to me as he jotted notes on a clipboard rating the appropriateness of various areas on our campus to plant tulips for Journey North, an international citizen science project collecting data on climate change. 

“Really?” I queried. “But what are we doing now?”

“We’re figuring out the best location to plant tulips,” he replied.

“And why are we doing that?” I questioned.

“To help scientists learn about climate change,” he confidently answered.

“Isn’t that science?” I asked.

“Not really,” he answered.

That brief dialogue has remained with me for the past month, the most potent of a series of conversations and queries, mostly with parents, but sometimes with students as well, about our science program.  There’s also been much conversation about Singapore Math, coming soon to our school. To engage actively in this vital dialogue about science and math, we invite you to an important science/math curriculum evening, December 14 at 7:30 p.m. Come learn about how we are restructuring our science and math programs to ensure rigor, depth, creativity, and critical thinking.

As a preview to our conversation on December 14, let me share with you our primary goals:

• to prepare all of our children to have the conceptual framework and skills they will need to excel in middle and high school science and math courses, and
• to gain understanding of the vital issues in science and math our children will face in the real world, in their daily lives as well as in college, graduate programs and the ever-changing workplace

How do we reach those goals? In science, we have designed a program with strong units providing the fundamental knowledge and critical skills Lower School students need in both biological and physical science.  These units are learned primarily in the classrooms with the general studies teachers, supported by our science specialist, Ann Berlstein.

Mrs. Berlstein brings science to life through hands-on learning experiences in our in-door science lab as well as our outdoor labs — walking trails, the butterfly garden, and the vegetable garden.  She also infuses our classrooms with science centers and investigative learning experiences.

Science is no longer a “special.”  In the past labs were not necessarily connected to our classroom studies. Now, they are vital components of our science units. In addition, as with Journey North, students engage as participants in pressing scientific  concerns of our day.

In math, we will be implementing Singapore Math, a curriculum we have chosen because of its intensive focus on the skills and conceptual understandings necessary for success in higher level math. A faculty task force is currently designing the most effective ways for us to implement this method.

For us, as a mission- and values-driven school, the goal of science and math classes in general, and for academics more broadly, is not for students to collect good grades (as much as we are proud of our students’ good grades) but rather to prepare our children for lives of contribution and meaning.

We look forward to seeing you at our math and science curriculum night – December 14 at 7:30 p.m.  In the meantime, don’t hesitate to share your insights and questions so we can better design the evening to address your interests.

A Day In the Life: My “No Office Day” With Our Fifth Grade

I was exuberant on the morning of Tuesday, September 13 when my phone buzzed with the happy message: No meetings scheduled today!

That was the only “appointment” entered on my calendar. I spent our first No Office Day

Rabbi Leibowitz in class during "No Office Day"

with our Fifth Grade, engaged in their daily experiences from arrival through dismissal. Ilanit Curi-Hoory, our assistant principal, spent the day with the Kindergarten. We’ll have five more No Office Days during the year during which Ilanit and I will each spend an entire day with all of our grades. We will also have at least two No Office Hours daily.

What did I do on No Office Day? I joined Fifth Graders as they happily greeted our Kindergarteners and walked them to class, hung out with 5B during early morning independent reading, led tefilahwith 5B and talked about ways our feelings are reflected in the words of our prayers, facilitated a reading group in 5D focused on the reading strategy of asking questions as we read, taught a literacy lesson in 5A comparing  and contrasting a Jewish and an African tale which were both cultural retellings of Cinderella,  was interviewed in 5C’s chumash class, and then enjoyed listening to 5C students interviewing each other in their literacy lesson.

Rabbi Leibowitz davens with Grade 5 during "No Office Day"

I joined 5A for Hebrew and played a memory game with them in which we learned both vocabulary and sentence structure, watched a basketball game during recess and discovered a new location where some of our students who love nature could continue to explore. I ate lunch with 5B, enjoyed observing 5B and 5C’s dodge ball game in PE, listened to a read aloud of the book Holes in 5B, walked students to buses, and came back into the pick up room to wait with those going home by car.

It was a great day!

What is it that made No Office Day so special? I was engaged in our kehilah, our community, not to observe our teachers or our students and not to be “the leader” with a specific goal, but to be an engaged participant in learning and connecting. I was with the Fifth Grade not “to do” anything, but rather “to be” with them in kehilah.

Principals and other school leaders from across the country, and even some throughout the world, are participating in No Office Days this week and throughout the year. We are sharing on Twitter, in blogs, and in a No Office Day wiki the ways in which our presence can best make an impact on learning in our schools. We are connecting nationally and internationally for the purpose of connecting more meaningfully in our daily face-to-face interactions in our own school communities.

So, today, with only two hours scheduled for time in classrooms, I’m already feeling withdrawal pains. I think I need to post my blog, get away from the computer, and back into class! Looking forward to sharing more with you!

Bye for now. I’m off to class.

Making Homework Meaningful and Manageable

I read a blog post recently from a teacher struggling with what to give his students for homework. It was the first time a piece of writing on homework made me smile. He wrote about examples of homework he gives – play outside, pet a dog, read for pleasure, practice what you didn’t understand, and make up work you missed.  We’re with him! No, not all our faculty have the same opinions on meaningful and manageable homework. Neither do all our parents. But, we all share a commitment to doing right by our students. Teachers are reflecting on homework that makes sense for us and they welcome parents’ insights.

We are also very proud as a school to add another support to help make homework manageable. Our afterschool library program has long been a place in which students can sit and do homework with teacher supervision. This year, we will not only provide supervision, but active, engaged homework support.  Marlene Levine, a general studies teacher and Ornit Atia, a Judaic studies teacher will monitor, instruct, support, and offer feedback. Classroom teachers can recommend that particular students take advantage of this service and all students are encouraged to utilize this free homework clinic. It will begin on Monday, September 12 and will run daily Monday-Thursday from 3:30-4:45 p.m.

We look forward to seeing our students learning together, and keeping our homework meaningful and manageable.

Check out our homework animated movie!

The Power of “We”

Community! Collaboration! Connection! Energy! Ideas! Action!

The school year begins with the power of “we” – our community working together to enrich the intellectual and spiritual lives of our children.

What’s in store for our school this year?  A dynamic PTO with new and returning leadership to strengthen the bond between our families and school.  New community action groups with parents and teachers dedicated to enhancing Jewish life, gemilut chesed (social action), Israeli culture and health & wellness.  Family curriculum nights where students and parents playfully learn together.  Refined and strengthened Student Services to better meet the needs of all learners, whether in enrichment or support.  Expanded science program with more fully integrated classroom and lab studies, using our indoor and outdoor labs, trails, and gardens.  An exciting balanced literacy program to enhance reading and writing skills in English and Hebrew.  Technology plan to build skills and encourage creativity, while teaching our students to become responsible, safe digital citizens.  A facelift for our walls with bright banners and colorful pictures expressing our mission and core values to reinforce who we are as a school and community.

And looking ahead to 2012-2013, we are designing our new library-media center and planning and training for the introduction of Singapore Math.

Join us! Become more engaged with our Schechter Westchester community.  By bringing together our ideas, talents, passion and time, the power of “We” will make a wonderful difference in the lives of our children and our families!

Literacy Pronoun Watch: The only pronoun used in the writing of this blog entry is “we”; there is no “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” or “them.” With tremendous room for the individual, together we are greater than alone; united we will offer so much to our children and our community. That is the power of “we.”

Family Programming Of The People, By The People, For The People, Shall Not Perish From Our School

Our K-2 Family Math Night was truly an evening “of the people, by the people, for the people.”

We weren’t affirming the core American values of human equality and representative democracy as was Abraham Lincoln when he profoundly uttered these now famous words (of the people, by the people, for the people) in the Gettysburg address, but we were most definitely affirming some of our school’s core values: Talmud Torah (love of learning), kehilah (community), and gemilut chesed (social action).

Creative communal collaboration as a celebration of our core values is an idea whose time at our school has come. Simple on the surface, and yet a profound and meaningful shift in the way we relate to each other within our school community; parents, teachers, and yes, students, can and must collaborate creatively to develop meaningful programs and together live our core values.

The first ever K-2 Family Math Night wasn’t only about the math.

Why, yes, our youngest students and their parents enjoyed math games together that stimulated critical thinking and creative problem solving skills. And, yes, our fifth grade students took on a vitally significant leadership role by facilitating each of the math booths.  And, indeed, there was a social, community-building relaxed feel for parents and students alike as our gym was transformed into a math carnival with the festive theme of “math around the world.”  And, true there were the expected bumps; it was very hot – we know air conditioning is on our “wish list” and we’re working on cooling the main building.  But most of all, Family Math Night was a meaningful expression of core values which permeated the evening: a passion for learning (Talmud Torah), a celebration of community (kehilah) and an opportunity for all to donate new or gently used children’s books to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (gemilut chesed).

The public face of math night was substantive and fun. But, even more potent was the conversation and planning that led us to the evening. It’s that behind the scenes story that has the potential to offer you the greatest insight into our school’s continuing development as a value-driven community.

Math Night was truly born last fall, when the PTO made calls to just about every parent in the school touching base, inviting involvement, checking on how things at school were going for their children, and asking for input into what could be improved. Parents responded with thoughtful, insightful observations and suggestions. Many conversations ensued with PTO leaders, with parents amenable to sharing input directly, and ultimately, with a huge number of individual parents in one-on-one (or two-on-one when both parents attended) parent-principal conferences.

We turned listening into dialogue and began actively setting goals. An engaged cadre of parents stepped forward with wisdom and commitment, ready not only to recommend projects, but to volunteer their time. We together committed to one of our school’s most central tenets: “To learn and to teach; to observe/participate and to act.” We are learning and teaching through open, meaningful conversation. We are participating and acting through collaborative, creative program development.

Action is enticing. It’s also time-consuming. While many faculty members and parents were involved in Family Math Night; as was our entire fifth grade (the stars of the evening!), in truth there wasn’t yet sufficient parent participation in the program development, planning, and implementation. Amy Federman, chair of Family Math Night, spearheaded the event and brought together a committed, although still relatively small, parent committee. Ray Bello came through for the school tremendously in providing many resources for the evening and galvanizing us around a book collection for St. Jude.  Doris Richman, our math coach, coordinated faculty members and prepared our fifth graders for the evening.

It was a great beginning!  At the same time, it was only a beginning.  We’d love more Jewish holiday family events, literacy evenings celebrating reading and writing in both Hebrew and English, science Sunday programs using our lab and our outdoor trails and gardens, family social action (gemilut chesed) programs and more Family Math Nights – starting with a third through fifth grade Family Math Night next fall. But, to pull these events off successfully, we need even greater parent engagement. We need your ideas, suggestions, input, and also, your time.

I feel quite a bit like Uncle Sam, with finger pointed stating “Uncle Sam, or rather Uncle Schechter, needs you.”  The listening feedback loop is stronger than ever; with numerous accessible, open venues for you to share your ideas. Opportunities for meaningful dialogue will continue to expand. The next steps lie with parents. To reach our shared aspirations for our children; our school will need for all of us, including our parents, to offer our knowledge, skills, passions, and time.

Please engage actively with our school. Write in and share your ideas and insights. Tell us ways in which we can together expand and improve programming for our children.  Commit to working on at least one program next year. We not only welcome and value your active participation; we need it.

The Pen … or the Quill … or the Laptop is Mighty Indeed: Preparing Students to Participate Safely, Responsibly, Creatively, and Collaboratively In a Digitally Connected Global World

I was interviewed a week ago. Nope – it wasn’t a local paper writing a feature. It was our own Class 1A.

Our first graders haven’t merely handed in their work. They are being published for an authentic audience – you! Please join me in extending a warm welcome to our creative first graders by reading their guest blog posted below.

It was a week devoted in many ways to the power of the pen, or the quill, or the laptop – or any tool used to publish our thoughts and ideas, connecting with an audience to make a difference. When interviewed by our first graders, I had just returned from Washington D.C. with our fifth grade students. Half of them performed A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Folger Theater’s National youth Shakespeare Festival, while the other half visited Newseum (an interactive museum devoted to news) where they learned how news reporting can change the world.

Both experiences enhanced our literacy program, which enriches students’ reading with the greats, beginning of course, with the very greatest –  the Torah – and then moving to exceptional children’s literature; nonfiction works connected to curricular units of study, current events, and yes, Shakespeare. The trip enabled the students to reflect on sharing creativity with an audience – whether face-to-face as in live theater or through publishing as in professional journalism or student blogging.

The morning before I left for Washington, I participated in our first planning session for two upcoming workshops with the Westchester Jewish Community Services. One workshop will be for students and the other for parents on Digital Citizenship: the Do’s and Do Not’s of Interacting in our Increasingly Connected Global World. We will welcome an outside expert on Internet safety and cyberbullying and our very own Assistant Principal Ilanit Curi-Hoory will speak about positive, safe ways for students to learn and connect in our digital world. We are proud of our innovative approach to this issue; this vital topic will occupy much of our attention with both students and parents in the coming years.

Other engaging conversations during the week touched on similar topics. A group of teachers is gathering to discuss “paperless homework,” supporting students to independently use safe Internet sites in a way that meets their specific learning needs. They are also seeking safe platforms for publishing our students’ work for authentic audiences. Such creative, supportive, and individualized assignments will be an extension of the productive ways we are incorporating technology as a resource for enhancing our children’s education. Additionally, we are joining a global conversation on the changing role of libraries. Accessibility to information has increased exponentially, as have the possibilities for research and collaboration online. It is time to re-envision the role of our own school library.

And so, while we enthusiastically embrace technology, we do so with an understanding that whether we use a pen, a quill, a laptop, a smartboard, an ipad, or any other technology, creating, sharing, and learning cooperatively to make a positive difference in our world is our true aim.  To that end, I proudly introduce to you, for the first time in published form, our guest bloggers from class 1A.

Q: What is the most important part of your job?
A: Working with teachers to find the best ways to help kids learn.

Q: How does your job help the Schechter Westchester community?
A: In my job I help different members of the community to share their ideas and talents with the whole community.  I try to make it possible for people in our community to work together.

Q: How does your job help students learn?
A: All parts of my job in some way help students learn, because that is the most important thing in school!  I try to help teachers decide what to teach and how to teach it, and how to see if students learned it.  I also try to help teachers decide what to do if students have not learned something or if they already know it.

Q: How did you become a principal?
A: I went to college and then I went to graduate school.  I became a rabbi and finished a degree called a Ph.D. in education so I could learn about education.  I was a teacher and then an assistant principal and then I became a principal.

Q: What do you do when you are not at work?
A: I am a mom and I spend as much time as I can with my children.  I like to do tae kwon do for fun.  I also have a dog and I like to take walks with my dog.  I also like to read.

Q: How do you take care of two kids and do your big job?!
A: I take care of my children most of the time that I am not at work!

Don’t hesitate to write in and share your insights and questions about ways our children can share their creativity with authentic audiences.

What’s on my mind… What’s on yours?

It’s been far too long since I’ve written.  It’s not for lack of information to share; paradoxically, it’s because Schechter Westchester has been so busy.

For us at school, we’re gearing up – at once preparing for the upcoming academic year while remaining fully present in this year, attentive to our students, and ready to use each and every precious day to support their learning and their personal growth. Spring is by no means a time for winding down.

There is so much I want to share it’s hard to know where to begin. Topics on my mind include class placement and hiring new teachers – this possibly tops the list of activities that are demanding my attention at this time of year. There is also much ado about important curricular innovations in each discipline and in overall approach, the fruits of which you will begin to see as early as next fall.  A group of teachers has been meeting to discuss academic excellence and the role of homework in supporting classroom learning. We’re entrenched in conversations about a strengthened and deepened focus on gemilut chesed (social action) and reflecting on more deeply infusing our curriculum and programming with core Jewish values.

What peeks your curiosity about our school work?  What topics would you like to learn more about?

Here are two homework assignments: one for me, one for you:

• My assignment is to write more regularly.
• Your assignment: Take the poll! It’s right on this blog and tell me what’s on your mind.

Post your questions and comments, and offer your insights and perspectives.  Don’t be shy! Our dialogue and new insight into these areas can help you better understand the Schechter Westchester experience.

Take the poll now!

School Without the Students: What Teachers Accomplished on Professional Development Day

Children cheer and parents wonder.   Why do we need a day off for professional development?

Last Monday, as children enjoyed a long weekend and parents rearranged childcare, teachers took giant strides in an ongoing and innovative curriculum review.  We looked at each subject area, considered state and national standards, and using the most current educational research available, determined which features of our curriculum reflect the best in education today. We also determined which features we can work on to improve the quality of the education we give the children.

As we explore new and richer ways of bringing science, social studies, and Chumash into the classroom, we are placing more emphasis on the essential core skills that go beyond subject areas. We are reviewing proven methods of teaching literacy in both language arts and Hebrew. We are considering several ways to bolster our math curriculum so that students will achieve even greater success.  In all areas, we are finding creative approaches to support learning with educational technology.

Your children have already begun to see the fruits of our efforts in subtle ways.  New tactics and approaches are being used in classrooms. You will see more obvious innovation next year as we roll out new units in each subject area.  Over the next several months, look for entries in this blog that will be full of specific details about our progress.

Getting Technical During Professional Day

Don’t hesitate to share with me your questions and areas of interest.  I look forward to a continuing dialogue with you.