 HIGH SCHOOL EMOTIONS & RELATIONSHIPS For the last several weeks, High School Social Learning has focused on internet safety, boundaries around sharing personal information, and obtaining consent before taking or sharing photos or videos. We have discussed online bullying and catfishing and when to ask for help determining whether situations are becoming dangerous. Group texting and gossiping are the current topics being discussed. The students are engaged and thinking hard about the behavior they see and exhibit online and through communication apps. – Mary Stadler, Director of Counseling   Hello Stanbridge,
My name is Monie, and I am the President of the Student Government. I will be sharing some information about some of the things we are discussing in our meetings. One of the things we are planning is a used clothing drive starting next week. We are asking parents if they can find clothes that don't fit their child anymore to donate to the Samaritan House. We will have a bin located right inside the front door of school, where clothing can be dropped off. The clothing drive will be taking place starting March 11th through April 11th. When we are done collecting all the clothes, the Student Government will take it to the Samaritan House after Spring Break. We ask that all students check the Stanbridge Lost and Found for any missing jackets or water bottles that they may be missing. We will also be donating the Lost and Found items to the Samaritan House after Spring Break. Our next sale coming up is the Costco Pizza Sale which will be on Friday, March 14th. Because of the high demand for hot dogs, we will keep on selling them. Parents please note on the Pizza Form how many pieces of pizza your child is buying. We will also be selling chicken Caesar salads as well. Finally, Student Government has narrowed down and figured out the themes for Spirit Week at the end of April. The days are listed below:
– Monie A., Student Government President K-8 Emotions & Relationships Elementary students continue to focus on Relationship Skills and Communication. This month we worked on the power of our words. Students discussed the various impacts that their words have on peers both short and long term. We talked about being non-judgemental and open. Students practiced sharing and listening to different opinions. We finished the unit by creating positive words and messages to thank adults in our community with a “Heart Attack” prank. Middle School students have been learning skills for self-management from Dialectical Behavior Therapy. We worked on noticing our thoughts and working towards reducing judgment of self and others. We have been talking about various skills to build awareness of what our brain is doing. After our mindfulness skills, we moved into Distress Tolerance skills for self-management during a crisis to avoid shutting down. Students identified and rated the different things that cause them stress and discussed ideas for managing high-stress situations. HOME RESOURCE: DBT-RU: DBT Skills from Experts – Mindfulness What Skills – Emma Mamis, MA, BC-DMT, LPCC – Clinical Counselor GALA INVITATIONS MAILED LAST WEEK!
We are excited to invite you to a special evening supporting the vital work of our school. Join us as we honor Mary Stadler’s contributions and raise essential funds to continue providing excellent educational opportunities for our students. If you haven’t received your invite yet, please let us know. You can purchase your tickets HERE or by returning the response card. Corporate sponsorship opportunities are still available for Gala 2025. Does your company want to connect with our community? As a premium corporate sponsor, your brand will be featured on the event program, website, and all related correspondence, along with prominent signage at the event. Corporate sponsorships play a crucial role in covering the costs of this important fundraiser and ensuring that all proceeds directly benefit Stanbridge's educational programs. This year, our Fund-a-Need centerpiece will focus on completing our Inner Courtyard, enhancing the space with permanent shade structures to promote year-round socialization and learning opportunities for our students. High School students are learning about self-advocacy and assertive communication in Social Learning, as well as how to set personal boundaries while respecting others' boundaries. We are examining the in-person and online connections we make and how to evaluate the health of those relationships. We also discussed how we use our cellphone cameras – what boundaries we set when photographing people, including ourselves, and posting photos online or sharing them with others.
Here is a helpful link for parents from Common Sense Media: Help Kids Make Friends and Interact Safely Online – Mary Stadler, Director of Counseling  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 SOCIAL THINKING WITH TRICIA (K5)
The focus before the holidays was gratitude. Executive Function skills were was built into the Secret Santa party and gift shopping, which included planning, organizing, and following through. Everyone enjoyed their gifts! A big thank you to the parents for shopping with your kids and helping to make this lesson a success. With the New Year, we are continuing to work on gratitude, adding in empathy and compromise over the next several weeks. We will connect empathy with the Martin Luther King, Jr., recognition and Black History month. This can also be a continuing conversation at home. Students have many questions about Martin Luther King, justice, and injustice. Keep conversations simple and answer only the questions your child asks in order to encourage understanding at their maturity level. Expanding too deep into the topic before they are ready can cause feelings of anxiety and confusion. Keep it simple. – Tricia Keener, Speech & Language Pathologist 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 ELEMENTARY
After popping in to observe the Elementary's Language Arts periods, it is wonderful to see the Kinder to 5th grade progression in literacy! Lower Elementary has been focusing on learning beginning, middle, and ending letter sound recognition in consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words. Moving to Middle Elementary, spelling practice is continued. Reading sight words, responding to writing prompts, and verbally answering follow up comprehension questions to read aloud materials are other language arts activities occurring. Advancing into Upper Elementary, students are independently reading nonfiction passages, forming key vocabulary word banks, and retelling information learned by writing an expository paragraph. All classes are conducting teacher read alouds and dedicating a portion of time to Lexia online reading program. Elementary teachers encourage all households to have dedicated family literacy time – a time for adults to read their own books alongside their children, modeling reading for pleasure. – Michele Sumpton, Elementary Division Lead MIDDLE SCHOOL This week, students in English-Language Arts received their Creative Writing Journals. The response was overwhelmingly positive! The prompt for our story this week was for students to write how they would respond if they arrived at school and there were no teachers. Henry Lu chose to write his composition about Ben Grigsby.
– Emma Woods, Middle School Language Arts HIGH SCHOOL During the first quarter of High School English, we learned about story arcs and used plot maps to outline the arc of three short stories by authors like O. Henry, Edgar Allan Poe, and several others. Some of the stories we read were text-only, and others were in graphic novel form. Through our short stories, we learned about the use of irony in literature, with a focus on verbal, dramatic, and situational irony. In our current unit of study, we’re honing our skills as essay-writers, exploring several different literary concepts such as allegory, similes, metaphors, and story elements like setting and characterization. We’ll soon be applying these concepts to our novel studies of The Wizard of Oz (as a political and monetary allegory) and the first book in The Wild Robot series by Peter Brown. As a capstone project for the unit, we will write persuasive or informative essays with evidence from a variety of sources. – Kantodeia Schnabel, High School English Hello Families! This week in Social Thinking, we are practicing executive function skills which include planning and organizing ourselves, our things, and our time. To work on these skills we are having a gift exchange (Secret Snowman) the week of December 16th. Leading up to this, students are writing down three interests or favorite toys for a wish list. We set a buying limit of $15-20 per gift and we will be exchanging in our SEL groups: Lions, Tigers, or Bears. We talked about where you can buy things – online or going to an actual brick and mortar store. If you have time, we encourage families to take your child to a store and pay in cash. This develops skills of decision making, money management/understanding, planning, and organization since you have to find where items are in the store. We will have a mini party and gift exchange the week before winter break. Happy Shopping, Bulldogs!
– Tricia Keener, Speech & Language Pathologist  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  JAMIL ZAKI, PhD CARING, CONNECTION AND WELLBEING How to Become a Hopeful Skeptic: Regaining Trust and Empathy in a Cynical World
Registration and Details Sign up for the Common Ground newsletter to be informed of all our speaker events.  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.   Student Government would like to thank the parents who provided the baked goods for today's Bake Sale. As per usual, the students loved them and we are appreciative of your generosity!
Student Government has been in discussions about and researching potentially switching the location where we get our pizza for the monthly pizza sales. We conducted a taste test recently to try out a potential alternative, to see if we think a different pizza is something our students would like. We also taste tested a second pizza location this week, as we continue to narrow down our search. Stay tuned! The Halloween Dance is tonight! We want to thank everyone who played a part in making this first dance of the school year a success! Thank you to SPA for chaperoning, decorating, cleaning up, and providing the delicious treats and drinks that students got to enjoy. Thank you to Tobias and the DJ students who rock requested tunes. Thank you Linda for ordering the delicious pizza and salad from Mountain Mike's. Thank you to Arielle and Linda for making the Google Form. Thank you to Peter for putting up the LED lights in the courtyard. Thank you to Student Government for rallying students to attend, planning various aspects of the dance, such as the Mountain Mike's Pizza, and for advocating for the needs and interests of our students. Thank you to all the current students, alumni, and guests for attending the Halloween Dance. Thank you to Cindy, Linda, Kantodeia, Gladys, Tobias, and Kenny for chaperoning tonight! This dance saw high student turnout of both current students and recent alumni. Students were stoked to get to see their former English teacher, Sarin, who also came to the dance! It was such a thrill to see everyone having a blast together! Many happy memories were made, and we are thrilled that everyone had a wonderful time at our first dance of the 2024-2025 school year. Next week Student Government will have a Snack Shack on Thursday October 31st, because Friday there is no school for the students. Please have your child bring their dollars if you would like them to purchase a snack to supplement their lunch. Thanks everyone, have a great weekend, and Go Bulldogs! –Kenny Katz, Student Government Faculty Advisor This month in Social Thinking and Speech we are talking about Thinkables and Unthinkabots that get in our brains to do unexpected things or say unexpected things. The Thinkables are like super heroes in our brains that can help us "defeat the unthinkabots." So, if we get stuck on doing things one way (Rock Brain) or focusing on one idea, then we can use our flexible thinking (T-Flex powers) to defeat them so we can learn and play successfully. The students are having fun learning about these ideas, creating their own posters, and even their own Bots and Thinkables that can defeat the bot. One middle elementary student came up with Happy Flower that makes you feel in a 'sunny' mood. If Angry Snow, a storm/rain cloud, freezes up your sunny mood, 'Sunny the Sunflower' strives to defeat it. Other topics we talked about this month are following a group plan and whole body listening (with options to move as needed). – Tricia Keener, Speech Language Pathologist   Dear Stanbridge Community,
It was wonderful to welcome so many of our families to Back to School night last evening. We heard from many of our parents how impressed they were with the teachers and their presentations. It is a highlight for our staff to see our students' parents as well. We are partners in your children's educational journey. Today, the staff continued in our quest for excellence in our field of education for neurodiverse students. We reviewed an essential tool in our social emotional learning: Leah Kuyper's Zones of Regulation. You can click on the link to familiarize yourself with these zones. You might be surprised that our staff uses these zones for their personal feelings too. Today we also welcomed Jennifer Abrams, an educator and communications specialist. Ms. Abrams is widely known for increasing intergenerational communication through a variety of exercises and discussions. The materials we engaged with were based on Jennifer’s most recent book, Stretching your learning Edges: Growing (UP) at Work. Having the time for staff to engage in meaningful ongoing education is critical for school improvement. Faculty and staff building a trusting, working relationship improves student outcomes as well. Stay Strong, Bulldogs! Julie Smith Head of School Student Government has gotten into a rhythm these last few weeks! The new members have quickly learned the ropes from the veteran members about the standard operating procedures for all of our sales. The members are energized, motivated, and working collaboratively to run our sales each week. Speaking of sales, we would like to thank SPA for providing such delicious treats for our first Bake Sale of the school year! We thank you and appreciate you!
This week in Student Government, discussions began about things we could purchase for the school with the funds that we get through our weekly Friday sales. This will be a process, but already, students are thinking deeply about ideas that can improve the experience of students at Stanbridge. One such idea under consideration is installing another microwave in the courtyard, as this year students have seen slightly longer lines to use the microwaves at lunchtime. Student Government is currently researching a variety of pizza places as we consider changing the location of where we get our pizza for our monthly Pizza Sale. Members are taking initiative and looking at the prices of different pizza places, as well as their quality, as we consider switching to a different restaurant. We will keep you updated as we continue to research and weigh our options. Our Student Government wants to hear from our students! This week we put our Suggestion Box back in the front office, where students from any division are welcome to write down ideas and suggestions that they would like Student Government to consider. Your input is taken seriously and is greatly appreciated! –Kenny Katz, Student Government Faculty Advisor Social Learning is a school-wide program anchoring our work at Stanbridge. All students attend a class at least once weekly that focuses on a topic or skill related to self-regulation, relationship-building, and prosocial behaviors.
Based on the work of Michelle Garcia-Winner (Social Thinking) and Leah Kuypers (Zones of Regulations), Tricia, our speech therapist, and Mary and Emma, our counselors, create lessons that target each group's areas of need. High School students responded to a survey of their needs and requested more lessons about making friends, nurturing friendships, and starting conversations with people they do not know. They also asked for lessons on Executive Functioning skills, such as studying for tests and keeping themselves organized. Their other areas of interest included getting along with parents and dating and romance. Our first lessons will focus on friendship: how to make friends, be a good friend, and use who-what-when-where-why-and-how questions to start conversations with new people. The high schoolers will have opportunities to practice these skills when they go on experiential trips this month and next. – Mary Stadler, Director of Counseling |
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