It has been a wonderful and beautiful start to the fall at Parker! Have you noticed the new Friday Snapshots email? We hope to keep you informed with a glimpse into the full life of the Parker week. Here is a bit more about what is happening at School:
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PARKER RECEIVES STEAM GRANT!
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Students Solving Global Challenges: Clean, Accessible Water is the STEAM (STEM plus arts) project that inspired Bender Scientific to award Parker a $6,172 grant for 6 iPads, two work
benches and a stream table for the coming Discovery Center. Here is an excerpt from the grant proposal that supports our curriculum of critical thinking and advocacy:
..students will test soil and water chemistry and quality and chart their findings; explore and document human and weather impacts on water ecology; experiment with and discover landscape processes; research global water crises; invent and construct innovative water-conservation and purification solutions; and create and promote public service and educational videos to build public awareness and inspire action.
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INSPIRING A PASSION TO ACHIEVE: Curriculum highlights
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- With the help of parent archaeologist Aaron Gore, 6-7's are staging a dig at the site of the old farm dump on our property. They
will research their findings and create a museum display of artifacts. A highlight has been the visit with Art Ferguson, born in 1928, who lived here on his family farm until the 1950's! READ MORE
- 8's are organizing a Band-Aid evening of live music to promote hunger awareness. (Dec 3!)
- All students in K - 8 are taking on extreme challenges on the low ropes elements this fall.
- 2-3's are piloting the Power of Flexibility. This curriculum will have the children exploring, practicing, and reflecting on their own social/emotional/task flexibility.
- 4-5's are focusing on bees in science and will decide on a way to reach out to others as
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Which colors attract bees?
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advocates to offer bee education. They are performing experiments to test which colors and types of pollen attract bees.
- The LEGO Robotics team for First LEGO League is designing an innovative solution to this year's challenge. As part of their research they hope to Skype with app designer, alumnus Jesse Pickard '98, whose app Elevate was named by Apple as the Best App of 2014.
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TECHNOLOGY AT STUDENTS' FINGERTIPS
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Middle school students use iPads to document pond life as part of a clean water study.
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- This summer, Parker received a gift of 12 nearly-new, super powerful laptops donated by local company CMA, loaded with Microsoft Office and all the licensing. Thank you, CMA!
- With funds raised by parents, we purchased six new iPods. Thank you, Parents!
These gifts allow us to now have two class sets of laptops in locking carts and a full class set of iPads, for research, making documentary videos, recording the life of the pond, designing animation, Robotics programming, and much more!
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UPDATE ON THE DISCOVERY CENTER!
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With the generosity of many wonderful donors the school has raised $483,395 in only eleven months with just $216,605 more to go to build this innovative addition for science and practice spaces! By completing the Campaign in the next six months, we can break ground in spring 2016, just in time to kick off Parker's 25th Anniversary.
The Board of Trustees' Facilities Committee has been meeting with Envision Architects and our
teachers to determine things like where the big windows will go and what height the mudroom benches should be. The architects have just about completed the detailed drawings and our construction manager is finalizing specific costs. Next we will determine the finishes: lighting, colors, and exterior materials.
In the meantime, the Capital Campaign Committee is working hard meeting with prospective donors. Look for a mailing this month from co-chairs Margery Whiteman and parent Mark Napier. Together we can imagine the possibilities and turn our dreams into reality! Keep up to date here.
Enjoy the beautiful colors of fall! Meg
Meg Taylor Head |
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