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Launch!
It's the 4th of July! What an appropriate time to launch a new way of structuring school. -
Gone mobile
We've gone 1:X with a range of mobile devices available to match a given activity or purpose. We have clear and effective policies in place for BYOD and kids' devices are not only allowed but encouraged.
iPads, and Netbooks, and Chromebooks! Oh My! -
Doin' and Makin'
We're doing it and we're making it. Project-based learning has become pervasive throughout the school. We have at least the beginning of our own indigenous Maker Movement underway. Why the Maker Movement Is Important to America’s Future -
Talk'n
Thanks to online learning, it realistic for us to start to explore options for including foreign language learning as part of our curriculum.
Watch 3rd graders and their teachers from Mount Vernon Woods Elementary School in Fairfax County, VA demonstrate language learning in an innovative 21st century classroom setting -
Grades gone bye-bye
Letter grades are a thing of the past. Evaluation of learning is competency based. Report cards are replaced by digital portfolios augmented with physical objects (i.e. student-created objects) and a running narrative reflection co-written by student, teachers and parents.
7 Things You Should Know About Badges -
Multi-age
We've transitioned to multi-age grouping with teams of teachers working with heterogeneous groups of students.. Students can be regrouped as needed depending on the learning that's going on and the individual student's needs. Essentially, we've moved to a non-graded format in all senses of that term.
The Benefits of Non-Graded Schools -
Full STEAM ahead.
Over the past several years, we've been working steadily to build a strong arts program to complement the constant emphasis on math and science. At this point, we have a rich and coherent program that ensures the arts are integral to our educational program. Children learn about the arts, with the arts, and through the arts.
Arts integration: An Approach to Teaching and Learning in Multicultural and Multilingual Settings -
Think'n
Once PBL and the Maker Movement had come alive at our school, we started to introduce additional programs that broaden students' awareness and engage them not only in doing projects and inventing things but in thinking deeply and reflecting on important moral issues. Great Books and P4C.
Philosophy for Children (P4C) Great Books Foundation
