October - Trout Project Begins
For several years, The Studio School has worked with the Department of Environmental Protection and the Trout in the Classroom program. The school “adopts” some trout hatchling eggs and nurtures them as they grow before setting them free into their natural environment. This year the trout project has found a home in the Twelves and Thirteens class. At the beginning of October, the students enthusiastically welcomed the trout eggs and watched them develop, and by mid-month they were rewarded by seeing their eggs hatch into alevin! The alevin will change into fry, and will remain in the hatchling basket until they are big enough to swim in the tank. The students are responsible for feeding the fish, testing the water, and keeping the environment of the tank safe and clean so that the trout can thrive and grow. While studying the trout, they will have the opportunity to learn about the trout as an animal, its stream habitat, water resources, conservation, and ecosystem connectivity.
April - Farewell Trout…
After carefully nurturing the trout hatchling eggs they received in October, watching them mature into alevins, fry, and now fingerlings, sharing the classroom with them, and weathering a recent near catastrophe
when the chilling unit broke and the children had to figure out how to keep the water in the tank cool enough for the fish to survive, the time finally came for the Twelves and Thirteens class to say goodbye to their little gilled friends. On Monday, April 11 they traveled to Ward Pond Reservation in Cross River, New York to
release the trout into the wild. Working with the Department of Environmental Protection and Trout Unlimited, the class released their the fish into a natural habitat, took a nature hike to discover different types of trees, plants, and birds, and participated, with a group of children from three other schools in the tri-state area, in an interactive workshop about water quality and environmental interdependence. The class will certainly seem quiet without the hum of the chiller in the background, and the trout will be missed.
Slideshow from the Middle School Ashokan Trip 2009:
Created by the students of the Middle School
One World: The Sciences, Social Sciences,
History,
and Geography
After extensive research on the way children learn, The Studio School’s One World curriculum was conceived by Ms. Rotter, Head of School, and developed by Ms. Mabey, Head of Middle School, and the teachers. The One World curriculum is innovative in its integrative approach to the disciplines of science and social studies (i.e. the life, physical, and earth sciences, history, civics, and geography). Studying subjects in tandem, students are inspired to make insightful and original connections between disciplines through integrative concepts. The core concepts of the One World curriculum are structure, growth, systems, cycles, transformation, and interdependence, and are used to help children organize information in understanding the world. In order for children to grasp and assimilate the world around them, they need to revisit topics and concepts as their thinking matures.
Take, for example, the concept of structures, as studied in different ways over the course of a child’s years at The Studio School. In an Early Childhood class, the students might explore how their family is structured, or walk around the neighborhood and make observations about buildings that they can construct in block building. Elementary students might study layers of the earth’s structure, the human skeleton, and bridges. Middle school students might study the structure of historic societies, the United States government, and the organization of cells and living organisms. Studying the social sciences, history, and geography with life, physical, and earth science, through the core concepts, highlights the ways in which they are related.
Our teachers understand that children’s interpretations of their surroundings expand and deepen over time, and that their awareness and interest in the world grows as well. The curriculum takes into account the students’ interests along with the core concepts, so that their explorations of the world become personally meaningful. Students learn to apply their discoveries to solving problems, answering needs, and enriching their own lives and those of others. Our graduates take with them the capacity to analyze information with ease, synthesize different ideas, and make informed decisions, thereby becoming better citizens in the process.
grow before setting them free into their natural environment. This year the trout project has found a home in the Twelves and Thirteens class. At the beginning of October, the students enthusiastically welcomed the trout eggs and watched them develop, and by mid-month they were rewarded by seeing their eggs hatch into alevin! The alevin will change into fry, and will remain in the hatchling basket until they are big enough to swim in the tank. The students are responsible for feeding the fish, testing the water, and keeping the environment of the tank safe and clean so that the trout can thrive and grow. While studying the trout, they will have the opportunity to learn about the trout as an animal, its stream habitat, water resources, conservation, and ecosystem connectivity.