Lower School students at King School learned about the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the long-lasting implications of his lifelong work toward justice and equality. Students tackled questions such as, “What does it mean to be a change-maker?” and “What kind of change-maker do you strive to be?”

Dr. Sandy Lizaire-Duff joined King School this year as Head of Lower School. In this conversation, she shares her perspective on how students benefit from the Pollyanna Racial Literacy Curriculum and from social emotional learning, plus more. Read part one of the Q&A with Dr. Lizaire-Duff in which she describes her perspective on her focus during her first year and on how students benefit from experiential learning.

King Lower School students this fall broadened their perspectives by engaging in a number of virtual field trips, conversations, and observations. Experiential learning provides authentic learning experiences for King Lower School students. Head of Lower School Dr. Sandy Lizaire-Duff explains, "Children learn best by doing, which in turn makes the learning personal and more meaningful. It's also a lot easier for the students to grasp the concepts and retain the information, because they have interacted with it. Research shows experiential learning teaches students not to fear mistakes, but rather to embrace and value their mistakes. The research also indicates that experiential learning bolsters critical thinking and self-assessment skills." 

There was no such thing as a wheel?" "No written language?" "What do you mean there was no "time?"  These are all questions and wonderment that filled the Grade 5 classrooms when our young historians began researching the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia. 

Hola! The Spanish class in Grades 1-5 takes a global approach to teaching and learning world languages. Rosalba Santander-Cervantes, World Language Faculty, describes her goal as "empowering students to build the tools necessary to cultivate an understanding, an appreciation, and an interest in Spanish-speaking cultures and peoples. It is by doing so that they can become global citizens." 

Students in Grade 1 use sand timers as visual cues to help them stay on task. With the timers breaking down activities into reasonable periods of time, the students are mindful and intentional about time.

Congratulations to the 42 seniors who have been accepted and have already committed to attend their first choice college or university!

Dr. Sandy Lizaire-Duff joined King School this year as Head of Lower School. In this conversation, part one of a two part Q&A with Dr. Lizaire-Duff, she shares her perspective on her main focus during her first year and on how students benefit from experiential learning. 

King School's Reggio inspired Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten program employs an emergent curriculum where the children's own discoveries, questions, accomplishments, and challenges become the fodder for the classes' curricular scope and sequence. This fall, King Pre-Kindergarten students viewed a cardboard box as a castle, which propelled the class on a medieval learning quest, exploring architecture, dragons, armor, horses, tapestries, and more.

The students began by pooling their existing knowledge about castles and brainstorming questions to research. Jack shared that castles "have a gate to open at the entrance," Griffin added that castles "have water around them," and Savannah knew "we can make them out of cardboard." Then students posed their initial questions, including:  "What are castles made of?", "How would enemies get in?", "Where are castles?," and "Do castles have magic?" 

Young children are natural scientists and often return from the playground with their pockets stuffed with rocks, seeds, leaves and other "treasures" that spark their interest. Kindergarten Faculty Bettina Greenberg and Kindergarten Assistant Faculty Morgan Desautelle know this about their students, so they invited the children to bring a "Found Object" to school to share with the class. Ms. Greenberg explains how children delight in this initiative, sharing, "The children were proud of their objects and even the most hesitant speakers took the opportunity to speak about themselves. They explained why their object was special to them, where they found it, and who they were with when it was discovered." This project-based teaching and learning approach, which is part of King's Reggio inspired early childhood program, allows young students to ask questions, gather data, develop hypotheses, express their understanding of the world through a multitude of resources, and teach others about their learning.