Amphoras!

April 05, 2017 / Guest User

By Nicole Moran, Grade 5 Teacher

The Visionators (Grade 4 Innovators + Grade 5 Visionaries) have enjoyed studying Ancient Greece. The students have closely examined daily life, culture, and religion and before moving into studying Ancient Greek art, specifically the amphora.

Amphorae are Greek vases that usually depict a scene from daily life or tell stories of gods and goddesses, heroes, and mythological beasts. Visionators sketched a scene from their unique myths that they are composing during writing. The amphorae are made of balloons and cardboard, and paper maché was then applied in two layers to create the final texture.

Project based learning occurs when students are immersed in a subject. In this study, students actively create, design, and interpret elements of this Ancient culture in order to cultivate a deeper understanding of what it was like to live in this time.

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“But you’re not going to get rid of the cards, are you?”

February 22, 2017 / Guest User

Atrium students checking out books from the Atrium Library

By Susan Jacoby, Atrium Librarian

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” the old saying goes. And this photo embodies that truth.

As we began the process of thinking about automating our libraries nearly two years ago, more than one person plaintively said to me, “But you’re not going to get rid of the cards, are you?” As the automation committee met, researched, and evaluated the various options available to us -- thanks to the generous support of our community at the 2015 auction a crucial question emerged:

How can we improve and streamline access to our many wonderful books, while at the same time preserving what is precious and valued by children and adults alike, in our current system?

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Atrium

January 25, 2017 / Guest User

By Kathy Hanson, Assistant Head of School

What is an atrium? Well, to start, it is an invitation. The atrium is the centerpiece that invites light, air, and life into the heart of a place. It is, very literally, a greeting of welcome. It beckons without words. “Please, come inside.”

4 Comments 1 Likes

Empathy

December 20, 2016 / Guest User

By Kathy Hanson, Assistant Head of School

Nearly two years ago, I came across a thought-provoking article in the New York Times. The author of the article challenged readers to think differently about new year’s resolutions. Instead of the usual promises or list of hopes and goals, the author argued that resolutions should be boiled down to a “one-word resolution.” This goal of the simplified resolution is meant to challenge and empower anyone to spend a year exploring that word and figure out what that thing really means in his or her life.

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Service Learning Cluster

November 16, 2016 / Guest User

Bob Dowling observing Atrium middle schoolers interacting with children at Stepping Stones Child Care Center.

By Bob Dowling, Middle School Teacher

Three times a year, Middle School students experience Clusters learning, where they take time away from their regular class schedule in order to delve deep into three specific content areas:

Service Learning
STEM
Drama and Performing Arts

For two weeks at a time, students spend each morning working on a specific project tied to these Clusters content areas. Students rotate, by grade, through all three clusters throughout the year. This blog focuses specifically on Service Learning.

3 Comments 1 Likes

Spanish Language Learning

November 02, 2016 / Guest User

By Susanna Lara, Spanish Teacher and Atrium School Parent

Learning a language is much more than simply learning how to say one thing or another in a different way. Learning a language is about learning different cultures and about how people live in different places of the world. It is about expanding our horizons and opening our minds to differences and similarities, and about allowing ourselves to grow in our evermore interconnected world.

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Rockin' Royals!

July 14, 2016 / Guest User

By Carol, Atrium School Parent

"Hey, anyone want to start a rock band with me?" Talya asked her 5th grade peers. "Sure!" five of them answered with enthusiasm and big dreams in their voices.

It wasn't long before their vision became reality. Their first song was chosen and the students began to enlist the support of the adults in their world. Nicholas' dad loaned his own instruments and equipment, Beatrice, Atrium's Music Director, offered the music room for afterschool practices and parents aligned to supervise and bring treats. Linda, Atrium's Head of School, was a great cheerleader and gave options for ways that they could play for the Atrium community.

3 Comments 3 Likes

Atrium School Summer 2016 Reading List

June 30, 2016 / Guest User

By Susan Jacoby, Librarian

Every spring, I approach the compiling of Atrium's "Summer Reading Suggestions" with the same mixture of joyous excitement and anxious trepidation.

Joyous excitement: Yay, books!!! What's not to love about diving deeply into the waters of children's/YA literature and surfacing with some pearls of literary treasure -- as well as (to extend the metaphor) assorted colorful flotsom and jetsum, because everyone - kids included - needs a "beach read" sometimes.

Anxious trepidation: Will I be able to find at least one something for everyone, from the child who's "read everything in the library," to the child who's read the Lunch Lady series of graphic novels over and over and over again, and "can't find anything else" s/he likes?

3 Comments 2 Likes

tags / Library, Books

Heroism Study Projects

June 02, 2016 / Guest User

By Jill Ferraresso, Grade 2 Teacher

As morning sun slants through the windows, Helen Keller holds onto Annie Sullivan’s arm, and feels along the wall as she walks into the classroom, finding the big wooden chair with her hand and gently lowering herself into it. She places her right hand on the chair’s arm, palm up. Annie, seated beside her now, responds by resting her fist gently in Helen’s hand. They both smile, Annie’s dark eyes shining out to the audience, and Helen’s blue eyes gazing down to her lap. Dressed in a white lacy blouse and a white skirt, Helen’s hair is gathered up in twists at the temples and gathered in a thick bun at the nape of her neck, She is a vision of Victorian loveliness. Annie wears a sensible black skirt and a simple white blouse, her hair in a smooth bun. She looks every bit the no-nonsense professional powerhouse.

1 Comment 1 Likes

Climate Research Expo!

May 23, 2016 / Guest User

By Nia Lutch, Grade 4 Teacher

Something that we love to do as teachers is to design curriculum that integrate a study across subject areas. One of these such units that my Grade 4/5 teachers and I have designed is the climate study research project.

We launch the unit by learning about the difference between climate and weather, which ultimately leads to the culminating project of a model of a house that is designed for a particular climate type. Along with the house, students write a 5 paragraph research essay with the thesis statement that climate type affects many aspects of lifestyle.

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MASS Helpings

May 09, 2016 / Guest User

By Evan, Atrium School Parent

I figured it was a whim, this whole "MASS Helpings" charity idea. A kind and lovely whim, to be sure, but no more than that. How could it be otherwise, when a group of third-grade friends hatch plans to change the world by selling handmade bracelets and used stuffed animals.

But the girls were persistent, and they found some mentors at Atrium School who believed in their idea. Caryn and Jaimee, the girls' Grade 3 teachers, and Linda, Atrium's Head of School, above all.

With the right nourishment, this sweet seed of an idea took root. The idea of selling homewares morphed into a more promising bake-sale proposal, with a side-business in recyclabes. And founders Molly, Avery, Saskia and Sarah (the M, A, S, and S behind "MASS Helpings") committed to supporting a trio of diseases which had afflicted their near and dear: diabetes, cancer, and multiple sclerosis.

2 Comments 3 Likes

Fantasy City

April 26, 2016 / Guest User

By Talin Megherian, Studio Art Director

Earlier this spring semester, following an introduction of photos of tape murals done in other schools and by various artists, Atrium students in our Grade 4/5 Innovators class were told that they would be making a large scale mural using black tape referencing their classroom theme of "city."

The students and I discussed different options of how we could convey a city, and what we wanted to include. A loose schematic of the wall was made on graph paper and the students were given their own schematic to design the mural with their own vision. Drawings were hung and studied, which opened the discussion for what we thought were the strongest ideas and what could work on a large scale. Ultimately the students voted for a fantasy city that morphed from past, present to future.

6 Comments 3 Likes

Constellations

March 07, 2016 / Guest User

By Liz Caffrey, Middle School Math Teacher

In our first year as the Atrium Middle School in 2014-2015, we had a lot to celebrate. We had built a strong program that the teachers and the students were all proud of. Additionally, we had successfully transformed the newly remodeled lower level of Atrium School into a truly wonderful learning space for our middle school students. But one of the things that stood out when we took stock at the end of the year was how separate we felt from “upstairs.” Aside from the occasional assembly and working alongside some elementary students in study options, the middle school students and teachers had little opportunity to interact with the elementary students and teachers. We wanted to get to know them, and for them to get to know us! Thus, Constellations was born.

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The Thoreauvian Effect

February 23, 2016 / Guest User

Walden Pond Walk. Photo courtesy of Rob DePaolo.

By Carol, Atrium School Parent

People have been calling my 5th grader names. Strangers, friends and family members alike. He is a lover of school and a maker of friends. He reads and smiles and runs and does what 10 year old boys are created to do. Throughout these elementary years, however, there has been some name calling that is changing who he is. Luckily, for us, his experiences have not been rooted in bullying, but rather in edification. My son has been called a mensch, an inspiration. Adults have described him as holding sage wisdom, deep commitment, enthusiasm, articulation. Peers have accused him of being cool, awesome, amazing. Imagine a world where this was the common artery that name calling followed through our schools and communities. Positive messages naturally bleed into the hidden crevices of our children's hearts, feeding their deepest and most meaningful parts. Often, however, we forget this small ingredient of humanity and kindness. Instead, the moments of youth are, for many, filled with whispers and shouts that draw attention to what seems inferior or missing. The power that a single word wields in the self-concept of a child is mind-boggling.

In his own words, my son, with the initials HJW, "LOVES HDT!"

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tags / Atrium Voices, Parent Blog

The Running Giraffes

February 16, 2016 / Guest User

By Michael Miller, Associate Director of Communications & Admissions

Late last spring, a few Atrium School families serendipitously approached Linda Echt, Atrium's Head of School, with an idea - could Atrium have a cross country team? When parents first brought the idea to Linda, they learned that this was already part of the plan to expand Atrium's middle school athletic program. Atrium's own middle school teacher Bob Dowling, an avid runner who regularly competes in races, was the coach everyone had in mind. Though Bob had never coached a formal team before, given his running background, he was up for the challenge. And thus Atrium's cross country team was born.

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tags / Athletics

Music + Service Learning

January 20, 2016 / Guest User

By Beatrice Affron, Music Director

Music for Food: I first heard about Music for Food, a Boston-based organization that presents world-class classical music concerts and donates 100% of the proceeds to food pantries all over the country, from Carol Johnson, owner of Johnson Strings and Carriage House.

Carol has been a friend of Atrium ever since we piloted our violin program here in 2009.

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tags / Atrium Voices, Arts, Music

Diversity at Atrium

January 07, 2016 / Guest User

By Jaleesa Anselm, Kindergarten Teacher / Diversity Committee Chair

Did you know that Atrium has a Diversity Committee? From its inception, Atrium has valued diversity and multiculturalism in its students, faculty, staff, and curriculum. That has not changed!

This year, the Diversity Committee, which is a Board of Trustees sub committee, has been hard at work assessing the ways in which Atrium is a diverse community, as well as the ways we can become even more diverse. Part of that assessment work has been done through engaging with consultants, going to various workshops and conferences focusing on diversity initiatives, as well as conversations and collaboration with colleagues from other independent schools both locally and around the country to discuss how to achieve the goals of our strategic plan.

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tags / Atrium Voices, Diversity

3 Words Per Picture: Fall 2015

December 21, 2015 / Guest User

3 Words Per Picture that help capture the progressive education environment and life at Atrium School during the fall. Please enjoy!

1 Comment 1 Likes

tags / Pictures

Take a Look, It's in a Book

November 25, 2015 / Guest User

By Susan Jacoby, Librarian

“Do your kids read books?”

Taking a coffee break between workshops at a national conference about a year ago, I had struck up a conversation with a woman sitting near me who, it turned out, was also a school librarian. We’d spent a pleasant few minutes happily talking all kinds of esoteric “library stuff” that almost no one else is interested in when, out of the blue, she put this question to me.

“Do your kids read books?”

At first I was startled. Then confused.

3 Comments 4 Likes

categories / Progressive Education
tags / Atrium School, Community, Watertown, Boston, Book Fair, Progressive Education, Atrium Voices, Library

Playground Protocol

April 08, 2015 / Guest User

By Linda Echt, Head of School, & Merry Murray Meade, Kindergarten Teacher

As the snow melts and temperatures rise, the playground again is open for business! And with playground, comes play. And with play, and children, there will be conflict: there are turns to be taken, rules about games, questions about who gets to do what when.

Parents often ask how best to address these squabbles. What should the adults do to help kids when there’s conflict? Here at Atrium, we encourage parents to step back and allow kids to work things out, to help them build–and use–the skills and tools of negotiation.

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tags / Atrium Voices, Progressive Education