Dear Parents,
This week, the season itself became a teacher, inviting students into the kind of learning that can’t be captured on a worksheet: emergent, embodied, and real.
Our youngest learners in EC2 ventured to Appleton Farms, where the concepts they’ve explored all year in their social studies curriculum—food systems, life cycles, and our relationship to the land—came to life in a deeply tactile way. Plant structures weren’t just pictures, but roots held in their hands. The role of farms wasn’t left to the songs they sing, but felt in the rhythm of daily work. It’s an experience that helps children connect their thinking to the systems that sustain us.
In second grade, a weeks-long inquiry into animal development culminated in a moment of birth—when ten chicks emerged from their shells. What was truly remarkable wasn’t just the hatching itself, but the care, patience, and collective attention that led to it. These are the habits of scientists, yes—but also of citizens and collaborators.
And just a short walk from the courtyard, eighth graders spent time observing the wetlands that quietly border our campus. With notebooks open, they wrote not to describe what they saw, but to make meaning of it—to understand how close observation, metaphor, and reflection live at the heart of powerful writing. It’s part of their literacy curriculum, but also part of their development as thinkers who are tuned in to the world.
None of these experiences were prescribed by a textbook. They arose from a pedagogical commitment to responsive teaching—where student curiosity, seasonal rhythms, and the physical environment shape the arc of learning. It’s a way of teaching that honors both the intellect and the imagination, and one we’re proud to practice.
Warmly,
Jon
