Seabury Strong

Each year I find myself humbled by the kindness and support of the families within the Seabury community. It's amazing to see so many people willing to give back to their teachers and school. A school can only be a strong as its community. I think I'd be hard pressed to find a place where this belief is so embodied. So to all of our students, families, and staff ...Thank you!

Hour of Code

What is the Hour of Code?

The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. Check out the tutorials and activities. This grassroots campaign is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide.

How did you Student participate?

Each of our students spent at least one hour to work on guided coding practices on the Hour of Code website. The lessons are centered around the use of coding terminology, programming libraries, and plug and play style commands. 

The program we started with was Minecraft. It's exciting for the kids. The material is very accessible. And it allowed the kids to connect the science of coding to a subject they find interesting.

Check out more at https://hourofcode.com/us

Thanksgiving - Musical Performance

Inspired by Ada's Violin, a story about an under privileged community who grew to fame by renewing garbage into instruments, our student built their own musical tools and performed using them at gathering. 

Dice Game

The Dice Game is a math practice we turn to when we need a break from traditional book studies. The premise is simple...pick a number, roll the dice, use the numbers on the dice to create an equation to get to the number picked. Seems easy enough, but it's more difficult than it seems.

This game really gets students to stretch their minds about math. The students have to start by testing an approach. They start using the numbers to design equations. Creating their own equations requires a degree of higher level thinking than simply working on predetermined equations on a work sheet. Then they have to test, revise, and test again to see if their equations are working.

The process allows for natural differentiation as well. Each student will work at the math levels they understand most. Advanced math students will rely on squares and algebra, while students in early learning stages will rely on arithmetic and rounding.

In addition to the basic skill building, the game is fun. Students get excited for the challenge. 

Presentation Practice

One important skill we practice is public presenting. Routinely we take turns presenting information related to our studies. 

In each practice setting, students are expected to summarize information they've studied into succinct 1 to 3 minute presentations. They are allowed to make notes on white boards but are encouraged to speak from memory. 

Some of the key skills we focus on are:

- Clarity of voice

- Voice projection

- Avoiding filler words

- Presentation posture 

There is a lot of value in polishing public speaking skills. Long term, comfort in this area, could serve students well in higher grades, community work, social situations, and even future job interviews. 

It's also a great time for us to review our listening skills. We talk a lot about the value of being a focused listener and how to respectfully show your attention during presentations. 

Window Painting - Leaves

With fall finally underway we decided our classroom needed some fall leaves.

Engineering starts with atoms

As we continue our learning about electricity, we are starting with the fundamentals of elements and electron structures. We are starting by completing our own versions of the periodic table. Then we'll move on to creating models of electron shells.

The goal is to first understand the basics of how to read a periodic table. Part of that includes understanding how atomic the number of neutrons is determined.

Once we have a strong understanding of basic atom and electron shell structures, we will move on to studying electron orbitals. Ultimately this will give us the foundation information necessary to understand how electricity is generated by atoms.