Dear Stanbridge Parents & Staff,
STUDENT SHOWCASES Two successful Division Showcases down and one to go! It was a full house yesterday that came to see our Middle School Division present their slides. Our four Advisory classrooms were packed both with nerves and smiling faces. For many students, this was their first presentation to a room full of people. Each of the student presentations built on their learning from the beginning of the school year, challenging our students in public speaking, presentation skills, sharing of knowledge, individuality and creativity. This coming week, Elementary families will gather in Hayden Hall to see a variety of presentation formats by all students. Please plan to have at least one family member attend and arrive early for parking, as both our lot and the neighborhood are sure to be impacted by these community events. We look forward to sharing this opportunity for you to see your child shine! OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY (OT) Stanbridge has contracted with Therapeeps for OT services that will take place on our campus on Thursdays. This is the first time we've had OTs on staff and we are working to make the most of this time. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. ADVANCEMENT OFFICE NEWS Our Director of Advancement has been out on medical leave since early November. Please join me in welcoming an Interim Director of Advancement who knows our community well. Please know we will be getting the year-end donation letters out in the near future for tax purposes. If you have any questions or needs prior to receiving those letters, feel free to reach out to me directly. Stay Strong, Bulldogs! Julie Smith Head of School Future-Ready: Students Master AI, Presentations, and Spreadsheets
Students from Upper Elementary to High School are now diving into the Google Applied Digital Skills curriculum, gaining essential tech skills for school, careers, and life. The curriculum includes lessons on how to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in daily life, create dynamic presentations, and manage spreadsheets. By working with real-world tools like Google Slides and Sheets, they develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills. High School students are working on the Google Slides lessons while upper elementary and middle school are working on the AI lessons. By learning these skills early, students build confidence and adaptability, making them better prepared for an increasingly digital world. With technology evolving rapidly, this curriculum ensures students stay ahead—future-ready and digitally fluent. Middle Elementary has been working on their Google Slides showcase the past two weeks. They are excited to show parents what they've been learning. Prior to jumping into presentation-mode, they were creating VR experiences in Cospaces. Lower Elementary has been hard at play with the basics of coding, the best way to learn for this age. Parents are welcome to reinforce their learning at home in Kodable and Scratch Jr. – Gregory Wilson, PhD., Director of Instructional Technology MS Art Silly Sandwiches
This art prompt delivered such deliciously silly titles as Dessert Sandwich; the Honey Carrot Cake Donut Sandwich; the Cool Crazy Heart Sandwich; Rainbow Dessert Sandwich; Mr Good Recipe Sandwich on Earth; the Most Hardest, Healthiest, Poisonous, Paperous and COLDEST Hamburger; the Submarine Sandwich (ingredients included a submersible boat!); Unedible School Supplies Sandwich; the Brawl Stars Sandwich; Heart Attack 9,000... and more! Dear Stanbridge Community,
The Stanbridge Academy Showcase series traditionally takes place mid-winter afternoons before dismissal. We invite current parents to experience the learning that your child is engaging in at school. Think of Showcases as what used to be called (in our school days) a traditional school open house. Each division showcase builds on previous learning to challenge our students in public speaking, presentation skills, sharing of knowledge, individuality and creativity. Please see your division schedule and plan to have at least one family member attend the event. Also plan to arrive early for parking, as both our lot and the neighborhood are sure to be impacted by these community events. HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION High School classes will have two to three student speakers per class period. We will follow your individual student's daily schedule. Please pick one up in Hayden Hall prior to programming.
Middle School Advisory Groups will present slide decks about life in Middle School. We will meet in Advisory classrooms. Please pick up your individual student's daily schedule in Hayden Hall prior to programming.
Families will gather in Hayden Hall to see a variety of presentation formats by all students.
Stay Strong, Bulldogs! Danny Martin Principal ¡VAMOS 2025!
We just started 2025 and now we are working and preparing for everything that is coming to us in this wonderful year. In LowerEl we are reviewing basic vocabulary: colors, numbers, days, months, animals, transport, school supplies, foods, and drinks. Short Spanish cartoons, some Spanish songs, and games such as Spanish BINGO help reinforce our learning. Middle El is reviewly vocabulary similarly to LowerEl, but we also learn sentence structure and basic expressions in Spanish – How are you? How old are you? Where do you live? What do you like to eat/drink? What is your favore movie/tv show? and more. We start focusing on Spanish pronunciation. There is always new vocabulary to learn and Upper El students practice a lot during class. Spanish movie scenes help students hear proper pronunciation and learn new vocabulary. Certainly it is a challenging exercise but they are doing very well. In Middle School, we learn to recognize vocabulary with wordsearches, and we practice pronunciation by reading aloud small paragraphs and sentences. We continue to learn and use many of the basic questions for communication in Spanish. We use iPads for educational Spanish games or for finding Spanish slides that help in our class. Like the other levels, Spanish films continue to be a helpful learning tool. High School classes learn vocabulary through puzzles and wordsearch. Almost daily, we type a good number of sentences in Spanish and complete corrections to improve our grammar. We read each sentence aloud, as well, and try the best pronunciation. Practicing basic conversations is important, so we try to speak as much as we can in Spanish every day. In Spanish 3, we reached a goal to speak only Spanish nearly the entire class! Recently we are working hard to prepare for next week's Showcase. Students are excited to show their parents what they are learning. We have good expectations for the rest of the year. We will keep working more and more to improve our Spanish learning process. Before I finish I will thank all of you for your support and understanding during my medical leave. I am doing very well now and ready to continue. Muchas gracias. – Ruben Nunez, K-12 Spanish INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMS (IEPs) AT STANBRIDGE
I hope everyone has had a smooth transition back to the real world following break! As spring begins to approach, it is possible that you have an upcoming IEP meeting. I just wanted to send out a reminder of some ways that Stanbridge can support you through this process.
For your knowledge, ALL testing can be completed at Stanbridge. It is where your student is comfortable and feels supported! – Alyssa Dew, Learning Specialist POST-SECONDARY TRANSITION SUPPORT
We spent time last semester creating a multi-pathed flowchart that took them from graduation to independence. We traveled to the College of San Mateo, as it was on many of their flowcharts. Our students enjoyed hearing from two alumni, as well as seeing one of the recording studios and their resource center. On February 11th, our Juniors and Seniors will visit San Francisco State and learn more about how they support students. In March, we’ll be hosting alumni panels so that both parents and students can hear from alumni. The dates and details will be announced shortly. – Cindy Schlesinger, Dir. of College Counseling & Transitions ELEMENTARY
Elementary students have been exploring all sorts of different ways of building things. We’ve built cities, bridges, and towers with simple materials: crafts sticks, cups, clips, and wood blocks. Students are learning to play with balance and work against the forces of gravity! MIDDLE SCHOOL Middle School students are looking at various simple machines with Class 1, 2, and 3 Levers. Figuring out how they each help make work easier has been an eye-opening experience. We’ve engineered simple catapults out craft sticks and flung marshmallows all over the middle school hallways. The fulcrum is the point of motion for a lever arm and all objects have a balancing point or what is called the center of mass. It’s been fun balancing blocks and sticks in precarious and unexpected ways! When we come back from break, we will explore more with ramps and pulleys! – Tasha Hudick, K-8 Science HIGH SCHOOL – Science Gets Ready for Showcase in January! Thursday, January 30th, 2025 is the High School Showcase. All high school friends, family and countrymen are invited to see everything our students have done so far this year. It will be an afternoon of letting our students shine and opening our classroom doors to the greater High School Stanbridge community. We all know that teenagers rarely say more than "we did a thing" when asked about their classes, so the Showcase is a great chance for loved ones to actually see that "thing" in person. To those ends, HS Science has been doing activities, labs, and projects to make sure families will get a real show! In Biology, we are creating models mRNA from DNA and then creating models of proteins from those genetic instructions. Chemistry did a project about seeking balance in our lives, which we are now investigating through the lens of atoms seeking balance. Physics is currently working on a project preparing lessons about Newton's Law of Motions for our upper elementary students. And Systems of the Human Body students have been creating amazing wall diagrams about the systems that keep us alive. I hope to see you all on Thursday, January 30th so our students can finally brag about all their hard work in Science! – Jay Huston, High School Science Talking With Your Child About Their Diagnosis
Parents often ask our counselors how and when to talk with their children about their diagnosis. This excellent article from the Child Mind Institute gives guidelines for beginning and continuing this conversation. Even if you have discussed this with your child, the article may be helpful. You'll discover how the ongoing conversation may change as your child grows into adolescence and adulthood. There are additional links on the web page to insightful articles about how to talk with relatives and others about your child's diagnosis. HS Social Learning High School students are using Social Learning time to consider how we communicate with words, body language, and gestures. We've looked at slang and when it should be used, how to determine whether teasing is friendly, annoying, or malicious, and the pros and cons of gossiping. Students have had robust discussions about using group chats and how to keep them positive. – Mary Stadler, Director of Counseling MIDDLE SCHOOL (GRADES 6-8) @ MARIN HEADLANDS Middle School had an amazing trip to the Marin Headlands and Naturebridge’s Bluff campus. We hiked our first day to old military barracks and did a night hike where we saw the San Francisco city lights and the Golden Gate Bridge. The next morning, the weather took us all by surprise with heavy fog and a downpour. Mother Nature challenged our students to hike down a steep cliff in a cloud full of rain. We did our best and ended up on Rodeo Beach with some pounding waves. The rain didn’t let up and we arrived, muddy and wet, to our indoor lunch site! After lunch, the sun broke through the clouds and nature sparkled for us all the way back. While damp clothing was in the dryers, students enjoyed a wonderful spaghetti dinner and had fun making new memories with fast friends during our dorm time. Our last morning we all went down to historic Point Bonita lighthouse for an art project, saw harbor seals bobbing in the water, and took in some fantastic views. Our students were tired but in good spirits, thankful for our time in nature and with our friends. – Tasha Hudick, Middle School Division Lead Our Thanks to You!
ELEMENTARY It's time to to give thanks for our loving teachers, staff collaboration, family support, school maintenance, opportunities to explore, and our hardworking students. Each day students are learning, growing, and exploring the world around them. This week we had a couple reflection times and just 'paused' to be collectively in the moment with nothing to distract us. I am so grateful I can share joyful moments with them. – Michele Sumpton, Elementary Division Lead MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL (Tasha is heading back from the Marin Headlands with Middle School today.) As Tasha & I reflect back on Q1, we are filled with gratitude. The amazing experiential trips we went on and all the memories we created bring a smile (& playful groan) to our faces. All the constructions, labs and activities the students crushed in our Science classes were great to witness. The pumpkins we carved and the brilliant Halloween costumes made October inspiring. What a phenomenal three months we have had! But what we are most grateful for is the trust and support the families have given us. Trusting us with your children and partnering with us to help unlock their full potential makes this endeavor magical. Yes, this is our job, but it's also our fuel. Watching a shy student speak out in class, witnessing an "aha" moment, and working with a student to sculpt their idea into a masterpiece is unique to the field of teaching and especially singular here at Stanbridge. We are so lucky to be here and your child helps make Stanbridge a safe, welcoming, and transformative place. Thank you for allowing us to get to know your children, grow with them, and be a part of your lives! Sincerely, – Jay Huston, Head of High School – Tasha Hudick, Middle School Division Lead SAVE THE DATE! Dear Stanbridge Parents,
It is hard to believe that November has arrived. The Book Fair is here, Turkey BINGO is right around the corner, Winter Clubs will come out next week, and we are looking ahead to the end of our first semester. It’s been an incredible school year already…with so much more to come! This Monday is a day off for students for the second day of online Parent-Teacher Conferences. For those who served in the military or have family members who served, Monday is also for you – we humbly thank you for your service this Veteran's Day and every day. We have a large internal class of 5th graders this year. As such, we have decided to hold another “Stanbridge family only” Open House–this time for incoming Middle School families–to learn more about our amazing program. Upper Elementary families are welcome to join us on the morning of December 3rd from 9:00-11:00 a.m. Come learn about the middle school program, tour classrooms, and get questions answered the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. The heart of our school is our students and we hope that you will continue your journey here with us! (To accommodate the tremendous interest in our Middle School program from families outside of Stanbridge, we will host an Open House for the public the following Tuesday, December 10th.) Read about the Book Fair, learn our first day total, check out next week's hours, and see more pictures by CLICKING HERE! Stay Strong, Bulldogs! Danny Martin Principal The Book Fair is finally here and what a successful day we had! On opening day, all classes walked through to view and make purchases. Today alone our families purchased nearly $2,000 in books and merchandise! (That's $500 in Scholastic credit for the Stanbridge Library!) TUESDAY (NOV 12) - FRIDAY (NOV 15) 8:00-9:30 A.M. | 2:15-3:45 P.M. Parents can shop after drop off or before pick up! If you are coming in to look at the book fair or to buy your child's books, please plan to park in marked spaces and walk in. (Construction on Claremont is finally done, too!) Cars left without drivers in the drop-off/pick-up line, even "for just a few minutes," can cause lengthy traffic jams in the paring lot. Appropriate parking will help our arrival and dismissal times to run more smoothly. Thank you for your consideration. The eWallet option is very helpful for students and families. It is important to let your child know if you have set up an eWallet for them as some students may erroneously think they have money available. CLICK HERE to get started with eWallet (especially important for shuttle riders)! Anyone can contribute to your child's eWallet, just share the link with family members far and wide for easy gift giving for the holidays – we still get the credit if purchased online by Nov 21. And there's a warehouse full of books online, too! Just create an account so we still get the 25% credit from your purchase before November 21. Finally, we know how exciting the Annual Book Fair is (we are excited, too!). Middle Schoolers may have big feelings that they will be missing part of it due to the awesome Nature Bridge overnight to the Marin Headlands this Wednesday (Nov 13)-Friday (Nov 15). We’ve got great news – they will get additional class time in the Book Fair! MS students can shop the Book Fair during the entire 1st Period on Wednesday morning before they leave on their trip. They can buy a book or two to bring with them (we suggest writing their name in it). Or they can store purchases at school until they return, if they are worried about it getting lost. Art Quarter 1 The High School Art students have been extremely busy working on 3-dimensional sculptures as well as multiple sketchbook drawings. They spent a lot of time creating an architectural 3-D letter using the first initial of their name. They measured and built the letter out of tagboard, paper cups, and packing tape. Once the letters were built they embellished the surface of them with paint, text, and found objects. Students chose elements that reflected their interests and individual personalities. After that, they began a large-scale sculpture built from scrap cardboard. Each student chose whether their sculpture would be representational or abstract. All students had to ensure that their sculpture met the size requirements of 26 inches high by 16 inches wide. Students are currently working on an addition to this sculpture assignment and they are looking awesome! Middle School Art students worked on a variety of drawings and paintings this past 1st quarter. Using their imaginations, students designed exaggerated sandwiches filled with whacky ingredients. They colored their sandwich drawings with colored pencils. Classes were introduced to the artwork of Keith Herring and his bright, dynamic art style. Inspired by Herring’s figures in motion, students created their own 3-dimensional figures using aluminum foil. Their figures were engaged in activities such as throwing a football, doing a push up, jumping, dancing, running, and other forms of movement. They also created Herring-inspired 2-dimensional work. They drew stylized, simplistic figures of people and animals in motion and painted them using bright acrylics. Students also created a seasonal painting which featured a volumetric pumpkin to which they later added vines, leaves and jack-o-lantern features. They practiced mixing paints to create light and dark shadows in their work. Elementary students have been getting used to the routines and expectations in the art classroom. They have been having fun engaging in the art making process and doing a lot of drawing, painting, and collage artwork. They used paper, markers, and watercolor paints to create name designs and silly paper monsters. Upper elementary students worked on drawing and painting beautifully colored ears of corn and highly detailed haunted houses. Classes also made tiny 3-dimensional pumpkins out of colored pipe cleaners! All of the students’ amazing artwork will be on display in Hayden Hall. Photos will also be taken and shared on social media. –Camille Geraci Visual Art, 2024 Happy Halloween & Diwali ELEMENTARY This month, Elementary Students have been learning about fidgets as a tool for self-management. We discussed how fidgets can be important tools for learning, but different tools work for different people. Students learned about the expectations, signed a contract, and selected their fidgets. Next week in class, students will receive their personalized fidget bags. Teachers will support students in following expectations and using fidgets to support focus and attention. Also, check out our Crankenstein Halloween Craft below! What makes you cranky? MIDDLE SCHOOL This month Middle Schoolers explored how music can impact mood. Students listened to different songs and recorded the emotions they felt while the music was playing. We discussed how music can be used as a coping skill and what works for different people. Students then created their own mood playlists! Additionally, students worked on awareness of self and others by making their own versions of the New York Time "Connections" game. Students were able to share new things about themselves and play each others' games. Connections Games: As you may know, Gladys has taken over for Rubén while he recovers from back surgery. This week, Spanish classes have been learning about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico and other Central American countries. Part of the observation is building altars or “ofrendas” (offerings) to honor loved ones who have died. Together, and with our Facilities Manager's help, they built an ofrenda in the classroom. The students also helped create papel picado, arrange flowers, build the arch, and decorate the walls with paper skulls.
We invite students and faculty to add a framed photo of a family member, friend, or pet who has passed away to our classroom ofrenda. If you choose to participate, please ensure that the photo is in a frame. All pictures will be treated with care and respect throughout the celebration. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out. We are excited to share what our students have been up to in Tech class! Each group has been working on exciting projects and developing essential skills:
– Gregory Wilson, Director of Instructional Technology ELEMENTARY & MIDDLE SCHOOL Our Elementary and Middle School classes have been doing amazing in PhysEd this Fall! We have participated in various types of circuit training, tag and dodgeball games to work on agility, timing, hand-eye coordination, flexibility, and critical thinking. Other games such as kickball, soccer, human bowling, and scooter relays stretch our spatial learning, proprioception (body/sensory awareness), full body coordination, and teamwork skills. We are seeing lots of great teamwork, sharing, respecting others and ourselves, as well as being kind to our friends. It's been incredible seeing the progress everyone is making, especially our Lower and Middle Elementary classes! – Coach Gage (Daniel), K-8 Physical Education & Co-Athletic Director MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL Our Middle and High school students are doing very well in the first quarter of school. The students have participated in a number of activities including dodgeball, cart bowling, frisbee, line tag, circuit training, obstacle course, soccer, kickball, stretching, and running exercises. This will develop students cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. While building relationships and teamwork, the physical development they are focusing on now transfers over to help them perform a wide range of activities promoting healthy lifestyles. Also this quarter, the Stanbridge soccer team recently won their first game of the BASSAL season. Their next game is at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, October 25th, at San Mateo's MLK park. Family and friends are welcome to stop by and help cheer the team to victory! – Coach Daniel (Quinal), 6-12 Physical Education & Co-Athletic Director |
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