Follow along here to learn more about our Dominican Republic trip and all our students are doing. Danny Magrans and his 20+ students and parents leave early Saturday, January 19 for this wonderful adventure!
Month: January 2019
Staying Healthy during Cold & Flu Season
By: Melinda Parker, School Nurse
During the winter months it may seem like a daily battle to stay healthy. It is important to arm yourself and your children with good habits to try to keep cold/flu germs at bay.
The CDC offers a variety of tips for staying healthy.
1) Get vaccinated. Although the flu vaccine won’t stop you from getting the flu it will often lessen your symptoms and the actual time you carry the virus. It’s not too late! Many local pharmacies and grocery stores, as well as most doctors offices are still offering the vaccination.
2) Stay home when you are sick. This is very important especially when reporting to school or work. When sick, if you venture out, you are infecting everyone you come in contact with.
3) Cover your mouth and nose. Covering your mouth and nose with a tissue, your elbow, etc when sneezing and coughing may prevent germs from spreading to those around you.
4) Clean your hands. Wash, wash, wash! Make sure to wash your hands with warm water and soap often. A fun way to help your younger children know how long they should be scrubbing their hands with soap before rinsing is to sing the “ABC’s” or “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. Not near a sink? Grab a squirt of Hand Sanitizer to hold you over.
5) Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. These areas are perfect entry points for those germs to get in.
6) Practice other good health habits. Clean and disinfect frequently! Clean your desks, school supplies, lunch boxes, water bottles, work spaces and home. Make sure to drink plenty of fluids (especially water!), eat nutritional foods, get plenty of sleep and again…wash your hands often!
Find out more here:
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/preventing.htm
Once sick it is often hard to tell the difference between the common cold and the flu. The CDC offers these tips for distinguishing between the two, but cautions that the best way to be sure, is to visit your local doctor or clinic for a flu test.
Colds often have a gradual symptom onset, they rarely have fevers, may have slights aches, and will sometimes cause fatigue or weakness. They commonly have sneezing, coughing, stuffy nose, and sore throats. While the flu has an abrupt onset and usually has a fever, aches, chills and fatigue. The flu may also have sneezing, stuffy nose, cough or sore throat. Cold symptoms are generally milder than the flu. Again, your best course of action when deciding whether it is the cold or flu is to be tested.
To learn more about cold and flu season and what you can do, visit the CDC here:
Shaping the Next Generation
By Joanne Askew, Lower School Science
What best describes the future member of the workforce? A person who is a problem-solver, a person experienced in persistent critical thinking. The future needs members of society who can apply their education in real-life situations, who works well with others. Someone who can communicate their ideas, knows how to explore others’ ideas, and collaborate to include both. A person who innovatively, and creatively, applies education in the real world.
How best do we shape that person? By providing an arena where subject-area knowledge can be transformed in a real setting. Project-based learning and Challenge Based Learning formats have proven to do just that. One major study (Conley, 2005) provides us with a consistent perception that simple academic knowledge in core content areas is not enough. The study finds that people entering the workforce, along with employers, desire a more holistic approach to implementing the educational experience. People are desperately seeking to be, and to employ, a person who is experienced in application of acquired knowledge.
By by providing young people the format to explore ideas that revolve around real world issues, we expand their circle of knowledge. To expose them to situations, during their academic career, we provide them with a setting that enhances their use of the skills listed above. Real world scenarios that enable them to work with community leaders and business people, explore options not in a text book, apply communication skills, work collaboratively on ideas, manage time, and all the while make a difference, are what prepare them for college, careers, and life.
Being presented with a challenge, or developing one, enables young people to go through the steps in critical thinking: identify a problem, investigate information, explore points of view, evaluate and if needed restructure, and apply/implement solutions. While implementing the steps, they are also experiencing self-expression. When possible, reporting data collected also provides them with the opportunity to communicate both findings and results to an audience.
Aren’t we all interested in surrounding ourselves with young people, team members, and coworkers who have experienced these situations? Communities, in fact the world, need leaders who work together to inspire, create, and cause change.
References: Conley, D. T. (2005) College knowledge: What it really takes for students to succeed and what we an do to get them ready. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Navigating an Overnight School Trip
Navigating an Overnight School Trip- 5 Key Steps to Success
By: Tracy Burkhart, Head of Intermediate School
As wonderful as traveling with our families is, the opportunity for our children to travel without us is an opportunity we should cherish. An overnight school trip experience is the ultimate “beyond the classroom” experience. Preparation is the key to getting our children ready so we can feel comfortable letting them embark on their “solo” adventures while gaining independence and interacting with the world around them.
Organized school group travel involves much advance planning by educational professionals that is thorough and begins long before the extended trip takes place. There will be paperwork to fill out, packing guidelines to follow, trip payments, and ample meetings to ensure all information and guidelines are communicated.
But for your own piece of mind, there are key steps parents and participants should think about during the planning process.
These involve managing money, packing, safety, health, and communication.
- Ensure personal money management skills—Begin working with your child months in advance on how to manage their spending money for the overnight school trip. Work together to determine average amounts of money needed for meals (if needed), potential amounts for souvenir purchases, and any additional expenditures given by the trip leaders. Students could begin using a debit card and learn to balance their account. Also, most banks offer prepaid debit cards that are reloadable. Of course, some cash is always needed; budgeting this is crucial. Will some children make mistakes and possibly not budget correctly? Sure, but what a great life lesson while surrounded by educator chaperones to help them through the process and still not go without. Preparation and learning at its best!
- Pack light and right—Most of us love to try to fit most of our closet and house into our luggage for an extended trip. While this may offer us a sense of security, it’s not always practical. Efficient packing can actually help to make the trip more enjoyable and less stressful. Your trip leaders will certainly offer a packing list detailing how many pieces of luggage are allowed (whether bus or airplane travel), additional carry-on/snack bags allowed, particular clothing items needed, and the appropriate electronics for the trip. As always, it helps to plan accordingly for general supplies to pack, such as, toiletries, contact lenses, cellphone chargers, etc. Also, be sure to check the weather forecast prior to departure to make sure needed items are packed. Your child will be tasked with managing all their belongings, so it’s best to pack efficiently, leave any expensive items at home, and label several items with their name.
- Ensure your child knows the trip safety protocols —As parents and educators, we want each moment of an overnight trip to be memorable, yet with the utmost safety.This is a wonderful time to review in advance all behavior rules and safety protocols set forth by the trip leaders. Parents will be required to supply emergency contact information, informed of the safety protocols for traveling to the destination, informed of the rooming arrangements and nightly security checks, and informed of the group/ buddy system utilized during trip excursions. Students are supervised by a dedicated faculty chaperone and will have direct access to them at all times if any unforeseen need arises.
- Stay Healthy—It’s not enjoyable to think of potential health issues that could arise during a trip, but preparation and notification will lead to peace of mind. Be sure to thoroughly fill out all medical documentation required by the school/trip leaders. If your child is prone to motion sickness, this is an opportune time to prepare for this over-the-counter medication too. Additionally, most children with allergies and food sensitivities know what to avoid while dining and should be comfortable with discussing their allergies with their peer group and chaperones if help is needed. Trip leaders will carry first aid bags, have a medical professional to aid with dispensing some medications, and ensure all trip personnel have emergency contact information.
- Ensure Lines of Communication—Sending your child away on an extended overnight school trip is one of many bittersweet milestones for parents. We long to see them gaining their independence, but it’s difficult to let them go. We’re so fortunate to live in a time where there are so many available ways to communicate with one another. With that being said, many students get caught up in the excitement and activities of the trip and they forget to communicate their learning adventure with those back home. The most important thing to remember is that your child can be having the most amazing time even if there isn’t a shred of photo or text proof.Trip leaders and chaperones will encourage student participants to communicate with their family members, share special moments with you, and potentially have photo sharing sites or blogs to keep everyone informed. With that being said, it’s also natural for some students to become homesick or have some not so stellar moments on an extended school trip. When your children are out of your sight, it’s hard to gauge their complaints and mini-dramas. Use your best judgment, of course, but know that the chaperones are super busy ensuring the best trip possible for each child, but they will have a constant line of communication with both you and your child—and all will be well.
So, you packed, you prepped, and you’ve endured the days without your child and have witnessed their growth through the experience.
The last thing to prepare for is to welcome a different child (in a good way) to come home to you— well done! They will have matured, learned self-reliance, broadened their knowledge of the world, and ensured their love of experiencing new adventures with their peers for years to come!
Do Honor Codes Really Work?
by Dr. Rebecca Beach ’97, Upper School English Teacher
Do Honor Codes Really Work? Yes, they do. They help schools to instill academic integrity and they work to create an atmosphere of trust.
Research has shown that honor codes have significantly cut down instances of cheating, plagiarism, and stealing in schools. For example, The Center for Academic Integrity found that only 23% of students at colleges with honor codes reported one or more incidents of serious cheating on an exam, while the number increased to 45% at colleges without an honor code(1 character.org). This significant jump in numbers reflects the fact that campuses with honor codes successfully teach students to value their own work and respect the work of others.
I’ve seen this same positive shift first-hand at our school since we adopted an honor code in the fall of 2017. The Honor Code, in its most basic form, says: “On my honor, I have neither given nor received aid on this work.”
The importance of an honor code can be reiterated through the following:
1) visual signs of it in on plaques in all Intermediate and Upper School classrooms,
2) weekly assessments that ask students to sign their name beside the code
3) an annual ceremony that asks each incoming student in Upper School to sign their name to the honor pledge book
4) honor council hearings for those students who may have violated the code
These are tangible reminders of our school’s honor code that help to guide students as they complete coursework and interact with others.
But the real evidence of honor among students, I believe, occurs in more inconspicuous moments. When a student asks a classmate to copy her homework assignment and she refuses: that’s honor. When a student deliberately puts away a cell phone and an Apple watch before a major test: that’s honor. When a student seeks out help to make sure he is correctly citing an outside source in his essay: that’s honor. When a teacher talks to his students about the value of not cheating: that’s honor. When students help each other to study for an assessment without giving away answers: that’s honor. When students working in a group give a detailed account of who participated and contributed to their project: that’s honor.
I see honor among my students every day. It’s a powerful practice that demonstrates the importance of self-respect and respect to others. Without respect and honor, knowledge loses its vital force. For no vast quantity of knowledge can be worth much of anything if it is acquired, used, communicated, or disseminated without honor and integrity. These are lessons in character for students to learn early in their academic careers and to hold to tightly, far beyond graduation.
Setting Goals for the Second Half of the School Year
By Alicia McQueen, School Counseling
Everyone loves a fresh start! As our students look to begin a new semester, that is exactly what they get, a fresh start. January is a great time to set goals for improving upon what you have learned about yourself as a student from the first semester. As you are planning ways to be your best and most successful during the second half of the school year, consider some of the following ideas that we have collected from students and teachers that have helped aid in student success.
Teachers and students report that checking their email and Google Classroom daily is an important part of keeping informed on assignments and expectations of different classes.
Utilizing a calendar or the Stickies on your device is great way to organize reminders for those assignments once you have checked your email and Google Classroom.
Students should learn to advocate for themselves! Students should talk to their teachers. Teachers welcome student questions and appreciate the opportunity to talk with their students one on one to help them.
Students who follow these few simple guidelines will find it easier to be successful in the new year. Parents and students should also feel free to reach out to guidance office, individual teachers or the administration at any time throughout the school to ask questions and gain a better understanding of what is needed in class.
Let’s make 2019 the best yet!
Happy New Year
Happy New Year! 2019 is a time for renewal and recharging. We hope this new year finds you visiting our blog often. Did you know you can subscribe using the link on the main page? We have many wonderful articles and ideas planned for the new year and hope you will be a part of them all!