On Thursday, we welcomed a new family into our community in the West Wing: Uma Ahmed and her parents, Farooq and Priya, as well as her sister Layla. Part of our NSW culture is to make sure that everyone in our community feels welcome. A few of the strategies we use are to call the…
NSW History & Reggio Approach
It was an intimate evening where we cozied up around a lovely table filled with yummy food and wine while Roleen talked about the Reggio history and evolution of New School West. “It’s really cool that in Italian, ‘complex’ and ‘whole’ are the same word, and I only thought about that in thinking about the…
Celebrating Our Family Cultures April Lee (Mehana, EW) easily shares her family celebrations with NSW and thoughtfully explains our social responsibility team’s point of view: “I love the idea of thoughtfully honoring the cultural traditions of our community through personally meaningful celebrations, big and small, and seeing how they unfold with the children’s input and…
Coffee with Roleen
It was a lovely morning as parents gathered to connect and learn from Roleen and from each other. We mingled for a bit, then Roleen took questions and we started our conversation with some of wonderful nuggets of wisdom. Here are just a few highlights from our talk: “Miss” Behavior Children typically misbehave for three…
“I can support you.” -Elliot
From the very beginning, our intention as teachers has been to foster connections among children as well as to recognize and highlight when children use their own strategies to seek connections with each other. Below are the conversations that are taking place in our classroom: At the end of appointments, Rondie asked the group in…
Mi Cuerpo, YAY! -Dylan
One way to bring our community together is through shared songs and the West Wing teachers have introduced one of their favorites, “Mi Cuerpo”, to the children. It is a simple song with repeating lyrics and easy to learn. The body motions add a kinesthetic element that makes it fun. Mi cuerpo, mi cuerpo…
Contributions last week…
We had NSW graduates come back throughout the summer and this week, we had Arabelle assist the teachers from the class of 2014! In case you’re planning – we involve graduates when they are 9 years or older.
West Wing – Week 1
It’s Friday and we’ve completed our first full week of school! In the beginning months, our main focus is on building relationships, and already we see the children seeking to make connections with each other. The children have been exploring the different areas in the classroom (house area, building area, communication center, exploration room and…
Parents as Partners
Parents were invited to come together and learn about different ways they can participate in the community so that they feel connected and better understand how their involvement is meaningful to making NSW the place it is. “Signing up for committees gave me a sense of belonging and I feel like I’m more part of…
Picnic Fun!
So lovely to see a huge turnout in the park last weekend! We’re making connections left and right and are eager to see you this week at Parent Partner meeting Wednesday 9/21 for MORE FUN!