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My kid's school does the coolest thing!

1K views 10 replies 11 participants last post by  soulyluna 
#1 ·
My kid's school has a scholarship fund for students who wish to attend outside enrichment classes. They allot a couple of thousand dollars a year for kids to pursue learning opportunities outside of school. Isn't that cool? Esp. for the kids who parents don't have the money for these kinds of things?

Feel free to post the really cool things your child's school does.


(I'm sick of the negativity re: schools and I want to feel the love.
)
 
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#2 ·
Linda,

That is cool. Our schools (both the one I teach at and the one DS goes to) do the flip -- they bring people in. Starting in 2nd grade (my school), or 5th (DS's school), in addition to getting art, music, Spanish, P.E., and either dance or drama during the school day, they can stay until 6:00 every day for things like step class (taught by sorority and fraternity members from the local HBU), or soccer, putting on a Shakespeare play, Latin American dancing, drum line, chorus, guitar lesson, or jujitsu. The little kids at my school (PreK through 1st) can stay for free as well, but in keeping with their age they get playground time, low key art projects, and a generally more relaxed schedule. Everyone gets snack and homework help as well, and there's tutoring for the kids who benefit.

Momily
 
#3 ·
:

Our PTA had a plan at the beginning of the year to raise money for a climbing wall in the gym. Then, bam, they raised the money and built the climbing wall. It will be inaugurated mid-January. I thought it was so cool how easy it seemed (although I'm sure a lot of work went on behind the scenes). There are benefits to small schools, but having lots of involved families allows goodies like this in a large school.
 
#4 ·
My son's school is a small school. The principal knows all the kids names - not jsut the ones who visit him, lol.

The teachers present a holiday play on the last day of school before break. This year they performed THe Grinch who Stole Christmas. The principal was the Grinch.

Our school is also an arts centered school (not a magnet, but extra programs)
They have 3 choruses, dance, steel drum band, strings, and more. For all the kids, not just the 4th and 5th graders.

 
#5 ·
I homeschool my kids now but last year at their old school they started offering afterschool classes for a small fee for kids that wanted to do enrichment classes. They offered gymnastics, dance, guitar or piano lessons, art, home ec, sports skills, CPR/babysitting classes and a few more. My kids loved it! I thought it was great. I loved their old school until the tuition went up.
 
#6 ·
Let's see... my son's teacher has created a wonderful community environment in his classroom and the kids work cooperatively and help each other as appropriate. VERY cool in a public school!

The PTA hosts a "kid's night" run by parent volunteers once a month, with tons of fun activities (open gym, DJ, face painting, bingo, games room). It's super how many parent volunteers there are for a "parent's night out" event! We all have fun.

Silly stuff, but I am part of my town and my community and that's one of the reasons I like my "community school." It truly walks the walk.
 
#7 ·
I love my son's school. They have a fine arts program that is funded by the PTA. The children have access to beautiful art materials and are in consultation with the local art gallery. The music room has gorgeous instruments from around the world for the children to use. The school is warm, bright, and smells delicious. They have fun events for the children that bring them live theatre, comedy, and musical performances right at their school.There are bazillions of parent volunteers at the school. One of them washes my son's lunch containers and dries them for me!I get stories about my child's day from many different perspectives. My son has blossomed since starting at his school!
 
#8 ·
I love our school, too! It's a private Montessori infants through Kindy. They have one teacher in Children's House who speaks spanish and does immersion/lessons with the students (free). They also have dance once a week and the director of the school asked if dd1 could stay for nap time and then attend dance class (again, for free!). She also gave us a heavy discount for dd2 (the usual is 10% for sibs, but it was more like 50%!) so that both of my oldest children could attend the school together. We have it good and the only bad thing about our school is that it stops at K.
 
#9 ·
Things I like about our public school:

*Fostering community through multi-aged classrooms, keeping cohorts together for several years. (with 700 students in the school, this makes it feel smaller)

*"Alternative" lunch breaks/recess for bad weather days: crafts, literature discussions, game tables

*Service learning beginning in kindergarten.

*Entrepenurialship lessons as class projects.

*Amazing music and art curricula, and no skimping on PE.
 
#10 ·
Family Math night!

It sounds so dorky and DH and I were so excited to attend Family Math Night. It's just a set of games - counting games, math games, dice games, graphing games etc - ringed around the gym. The PTA buys pizza and it's quite cool.

I asked my kindy girl to tell me one thing she likes about the school. She said "I like Math. It doesn't really matter if you get things wrong or not, but you learn and have fun with math."

The art teacher is some fabulous thing - well regarded. She makes the coolest projects. They have music, art and gym on a rotating basis. And they have a science lab they go to a few days a week. They made paper and studied wood recently. *I* didn't have a science lab in elementary school. My child is in a much poorer district than the one I grew up in, but she's getting a good education and we are committed to our PS.
 
#11 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Geofizz View Post
Things I like about our public school:

*Fostering community through multi-aged classrooms, keeping cohorts together for several years. (with 700 students in the school, this makes it feel smaller)

*"Alternative" lunch breaks/recess for bad weather days: crafts, literature discussions, game tables

*Service learning beginning in kindergarten.

*Entrepenurialship lessons as class projects.

*Amazing music and art curricula, and no skimping on PE.

YES!!! These are all great things! What a superb thread!!
I really appreciate hearing some positive light on schooling in this forum, particularly around public schools!

I love to hear stories of people taking responsibility for their communities, and putting energy, resources and love into their schools.

That's what community building is all about!
 
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