 We are right in the middle of – what is known in the school world as – the "100 days of May." I am sure you are feeling the crunch of year-end activities in your homes, as well. Below are all the things we want to make sure parents and trustees have on their calendars for the end of the year at Stanbridge [dates & times for community only]:
Congratulations to our Flag Football team who played their last BASSAL league game yesterday in Novato. We are all so proud of their TEAMWORK! Yesterday's 42-28 WIN against Winston Prep was the exciting accumulation of a season of hard work, perseverance, and determination! Their growth witnessed throughout the season was so special. The players and their familes should be so proud. On that note, a huge THANK YOU to all of the families for your support throughout this season! As Coach Gage shared, “You truly have raised amazing individuals & it makes us coaches proud to have had the opportunity to coach them! PROM 2025! As you are reading this, our high school students are enjoying a Casino Night Prom on our campus. Thank you to our parent volunteers, led by High School representatives/dance organizers Helen Siu, Laura Porter, and Lisa Kennedy, who transformed our courtyard to make this a magical evening for our students. Details from fun prom favors to extra cherries in “The Sphere” drinks (Shirley Temples) helped make this night a memorable one. Enjoy your weekend! – Julie Smith Head of School  KINDERGARTEN-8TH GRADE Wow—this school year has truly flown by, and I couldn’t be prouder of our Elementary and Middle School P.E. students! Throughout the year, we’ve focused on learning new games, developing new skills, working as a team, and showing strong support and sportsmanship toward one another. It’s been incredible to see how much each student has grown in so many different ways. Our recently concluded Field Day was a perfect celebration of that growth—showcasing not only the amazing effort and performance during games, but also the enthusiasm and encouragement students showed for their Neighborhood Groups and teams. Their energy, teamwork, and spirit were inspiring to watch! – Coach Gage Daniel, K-8 Physical Education & Health, co-Athletic Director 6TH GRADE-HIGH SCHOOL High School and Middle School Physical Education focused on physical development, skill development, personal responsibility, and social skills throughout the year. Students improved coordination and body control during sports activities, basic techniques using proper footwork and hand-eye coordination, core fitness components, strength, endurance, flexibility, speed, and agility. They demonstrated proficiency in movement skills such as throwing, striking, and jumping. Athletes also took responsibility for personal safety, equipment use, strategy tactics, and independent decision making. Students learned social skills working cooperatively with classmates regardless of skill level, sportsmanship, inclusion, fairness, and respect. In Health, they also learned about nutrition, injury prevention, mental awareness, and stress management. – Coach Daniel Quinal, 6th-12th Physical Education & Health, co-Athletic Director  INAUGURAL EDITION HITS THE STANDS!
Our Journalism Club BullPups, who are in 5th through 10th grades, did a great job thinking about what types of information people not familiar with Stanbridge may want to know more about.
Since our dedicated Journalism Club team meets only once per week after school, they end up doing some of their planning and writing from home. The reporters are now excitedly preparing the second edition and they've certainly found their groove. The next edition is twice as long and features favorite moments of the year, a comic strip by our most junior Bullpup, Stanbridge Senior profiles, and much more. Stay tuned. Thanks to Journalism Advisor (and Director of Admissions) Emily Mitchell for getting this club off the ground this year! Everyone loves reading about events from the students' perspective and we hope it remains a staple Club offering for years to come.  Hello Bulldogs, Today we had a Snack Shack. Thank you everyone for purchasing our snacks. Next week we have our final Bake Sale of the school year. The Bake Sale will be on Thursday, May 22nd. The Talent Show is also on May 22nd. We will sell delicious baked goods from SPA during lunch and during intermission of the Talent Show. Parents, feel free to bring money to purchase baked treats when coming to the Talent Show. Student Government Elections are coming next week. All the candidates have made their posters and they all look amazing. Candidates will deliver their speeches this Monday to all 8th through 12th graders. Students will vote for the candidates they want to be their officers in Student Government next school year. Good luck to all the candidates! Student Government is also planning on doing one final seasonal sale before the end of the school year. Stay tuned for more details. That is all for now. Go Bulldogs! –Daniel C., Student Government Secretary On Wednesday, Student Government donated clothes to Samaritan House in San Mateo. We gave clothes to the Samaritan House, which will go to those in need. It was a great experience for me. I love helping out in Student Government especially as a deputy. Thank you to all the parents who donated to this great cause. Have a good weekend and go Bulldogs! –Sofie M., Student Government Deputy We are down to 21 school days for students and the next few weeks are busy with events. The Middle School had a wonderful three days and two nights at the Montara Lighthouse. They were hiking, kayaking, and working on independence skills together. A BIG thank you to the Middle School team for spending time away from their families to help our students grow.
This coming week, our Elementary students will close out the year with experientials of their own. Upper El will head south to Watsonville for their overnight at Farm Discovery, while Lower El and Middle El heads north for a day trip to the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens.
Have a beautiful weekend and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! – Danny Martin, Principal  ¿Qué pasa en español? (What's up in Spanish?)
It is amazing how quickly time is passing and how close we are to the end of the school year. We began this month with the traditional Cinco de Mayo, a historical day in Mexico [Battle of Puebla Day], that is more celebratory in the United States. In Spanish classes of all levels, we have been talking about Mexican traditions, history, culture and gastronomy. In Elementary, we continue to study basic expressions like "How are you" or "What do you like to do" and "I like" or "I don't like". We had drawing and coloring activities learning more vocabulary, this time more numbers and animals. For Middle School we did work in vocabulary for technology, nature, Mexican culture, traveling, and schooling. We reviewed the Cinco de Mayo celebration. We are learning other expressions such as "Where do you live," "My favorite food or drink is," "My favorite activity is" and some basic grammar. In each class, students were one on one pronouncing Spanish words and expressions and improving some of them. They did hard work! In High School, we are working on conjugations in all tenses, students work on creating a good number of sentences in Spanish almost every day, and they [also] read sentence to sentence and get support to improve pronunciation. We are still doing many word searches since students really like to do it and with that learning new words every day. We will prepare for finals in the coming weeks and finish this year in a positive way. Thank you so much and still wishing little like "Happy Cinco de Mayo!!" – Rubén Nuñez, K-12 Spanish Teacher From breakfast to lunch, as well as all the goodies, gift cards, notes, and gratitude in between, on behalf of all the faculty & staff, thank you to all the families who spoiled us this appreciation week! Your little notes and drawings are often cherished and truly help us get through the day. Thank you, as well, to Student Government for providing lunch from Chipotle yesterday for the entire school – students and staff.
Field Day We ushered in the new month with a fabulously spirited week, wrapping up today with Field Day at the Burlingame Parks and Recreation center fields. Huge thanks to our co-Athletic Directors, Daniel Quinal and Gage Daniel, for planning and executing a successful day of field competitions. Our neighborhood groups bonded and stepped up to the plate for a host of games before lunch. AND what a delicious lunch it was! Casadores' catered taco bar was a hit for students and staff alike. The day ended with our students winning the tug-of-war against faculty and staff. I know we were outnumbered, but students really brought their A-game to the match! We didn’t stand a chance. They got us two-for-one this week, winning the annual Student vs. Staff Basketball Game on Wednesday, as well. Thank you to our Stanbridge Parent Association volunteers for all your help and support led by Claire Collet, Pamela Davies, and Lisa Kennedy. It takes a village and we are so glad to have all of you as partners. Please come to our Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast this Wednesday so we can thank you appropriately for all you do for our school. One Community, Many Cultures Stanbridge is a community that has many different cultures and we are in the midst of numerous celebrations. Yom Ha'atzmaut was yesterday, May 1; Monday, May 5, is Cinco de Mayo; and the month of May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We hope you can enjoy celebrating these beautiful spring days together with family and friends. Wishing you all a restful weekend ahead. – Julie Smith, Head of School  BRIDGES: Supporting Post-Secondary Life In our final unit in Bridges, students are exploring the wide range of assistive technology that can help both now and after graduation. Although most seniors were aware of many of the apps available on their phones, there was a lot to learn. We began with a discussion of the ethical use of these technologies, including AI like Chat GPT and Gemini. While it’s clear that using technology to cheat or take credit for ideas/work that isn’t one’s own is wrong, there are many gray areas. The class was split on using Chat GPT to create original poetry or works of art - some felt it was okay as long as credit was given to the technology but others felt that using AI for creative endeavors takes away from those who are creating the art/poetry without assistance. I highly recommend playing with Goblin.Tools - it’s a web-based AI that does specific things like breaking down a project into tasks, rewriting text/email to be more formal, explaining the tone of text, and suggesting a recipe when given random ingredients. While AI can feel intrusive and creepy, it can be incredibly helpful and will be increasingly used in the future. – Cindy Schlesinger, Director of College Counseling & Transitions POST SECONDARY RESOURCES
Hello Stanbridge, On Thursday this week, Student Government served Chipotle to students and staff during lunch. Students were also treated to sparkling water and chips to go with their meal. We were happy to see everyone enjoying the meal. Next Friday, May 9th, will be our final Pizza Sale of the school year. Please fill out the Pizza Form in this week's Bulldog Bulletin by Wednesday, May 7th, if you would like your child to get Costco pizza, salad, or hot dogs for lunch next Friday. We have had a great Spirit Week this week! Everyone has been dressing up and we thank everyone for showing their spirit. We ended the week with Field Day today. We have High School Prom coming up on Friday May 16th so please fill out the Prom Form in the Bulletin by Friday, May 9th, if your child is going to Prom. Coming up on Monday, May 19th, is a big event at Stanbridge – 2025-2026 Student Government Elections. Candidates have until Tuesday, May 6th, to decide if they will run. Have a great weekend, Bulldogs! – Daniel C., Student Government Secretary   K-8 Emotions & Relationships With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, Students are preparing for upcoming overnight trips. Upper El and Middle Schoolers have focused on developing healthy relationships and readiness for their trips. We talk with students about physical boundaries, emotional boundaries, hygiene, and homesickness. By creating a space for students to discuss these topics, ask questions, and review photos from previous trips, students are set up for successful experientials. We remind students that a growth mindset and facing challenges are normal parts of the experience. We identify ways to stretch ourselves enough to grow without hitting our “panic zone.” Emma Mamis, Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, Clinical Counselor The weather was perfect for Field Day today (a few pictures below). Neighborhood Groups worked together in a dozen fun Athletic activities including:
Congratulations Stanbridge Bulldogs!
Our Middle and High School students were able to walk to the park to attend our home Flag Football game against Winston Prep Academy yesterday. It was so impressive to see our students both on the team and on the sidelines supporting each other. Thank you to our fabulous coaches, Coach Daniel Q., Coach Gage, and Coach Tevita, for providing a wonderful experience and an encouraging environment for our student athletes. Spirit Week & Field Day This coming week is Spirit Week with Field Day culminating the events on Friday. Parents are more than welcome to join us for Field Day! Students should arrive at school at regular time and they will be transported to the site in our school vans. A taco bar lunch will be provided and we want to make sure we have enough for our parents as well. Please RSVP if your student is in a car seat and/or you plan to join us on Friday. Volunteer Appreciation Volunteer Appreciation is coming up on Wednesday, May 7th. All year long our parent community does so much to support our school and our faculty and staff. This is the time we set aside to gather and appreciate all of YOU, whether you are part of our Parent Association leadership, our Board, volunteered for the book fair, chaperoned for dances, was a mystery reader, provided for bake sales, and more. Currently our RSVPs are very low. Please take a moment to reply to let us know if you can join us on May 7th after school drop off in the morning. Faculty and staff will provide sweet and savory items; we will have a coffee cart here, as well, to provide your drink of choice. We want to celebrate you and all you do for our school community! Enjoy the weekend ahead, Julie Smith Head of School  ELEMENTARY
Math is all around us. We all use math many times a day. Numbers and shapes, measuring, and solving problems are all needed for simple tasks and games. Lower Elementary enjoyed finding fun math games like dice games and pegs in the park, reviewed addition, subtraction, and continued working in their Dimensions math books. In Middle Elementary, after a scavenger hunt focusing on earth day, the students worked on tallying and graphing. They also learned about fractions and measuring cups that may be used in any cooking or baking recipe. Upper Elementary, too, worked on lots of fractions, area, and perimeter and again, the emphasis was on how math is woven into daily tasks such as figuring out how much time until lunch, how many days until break, how could we make this box, estimations in animal facts, and so much more. Yes, math is all around us!
MIDDLE SCHOOL Currently in Middle School, students are getting back into their academic routine following Spring Break. They have picked up where they left off with their independent assignments, and continue to show progress in work production week by week. Students have recently completed several group activities related to identifying and comparing fractions. This week they tested their knowledge of customary units of measurement alongside their fellow peers.
HIGH SCHOOL Consumer Math students in High School continue to make impressive progress in their introductory Geometry content. They have been working as a class to complete various workbook exercises that require them to apply measurement knowledge acquired before the break. They have been able to convert ounces to pounds and pounds to ounces in order to answer word problems accurately.
High School Math is off to an exciting start to the end of the year. Geometry classes have been exploring triangle relationships and how they relate to other polygons. We will extend that knowledge to 3D solids using manipulatives soon. Pre-Algebra used a hands-on learning system to balance equations and will focus on equations with increasing complexity, such as using the distributive and associative properties and the absolute value. In Algebra 2, we are learning logarithms and exponential equations and will end by covering sequences and series, as well as trigonometric equations. Lastly, Statistics is beginning an in-depth study of spreadsheets and how to use computer technology to analyze and summarize data.
 Hello Stanbridge, There are lots of exciting things happening in Student Government. First off, we want to thank all the parents who donated clothes for the Samaritan House clothing drive! [We have over a dozen bags and boxes to donate!] Student Government will be dropping off the clothes very soon. Furthermore, next Thursday, May 1st, Student Government will be offering Chipotle lunch for students and staff who filled out the Google Form. If you know your child will want Chipotle please fill out the form by Sunday night, April 27th. Note there will be no weekly sale next week as Chipotle lunch will be offered on Thursday. So, please complete the form to make sure your child gets Chipotle. Student Government Elections for the upcoming school year will be on Monday, May 19th. Any student who wants to run for office should fill out the Intent to Run Google Form that Advisor Kenny will send out this Monday. In the form, Kenny will include who qualifies to run for each office. Good luck to all the candidates who run! Finally, next week is Spirit Week, and here are the days of what is happening:
–Monie A., Student Government President  This week, Lower El worked on social turn-taking with a phonology BINGO game. Students had to fill in the blank with a rhyming word. A worksheet went home to try for practice. Parents can be the reader or listener for the activity. This builds auditory processing, reading/writing skills, patience, and turn taking.
Middle and Upperl El groups worked on perspective taking with red vs. green thoughts. They took different scenarios and imagined how certain words or tones of voice can give others red vs. green thoughts (positive vs. negative). We then connected these lessons to our past learning of "Think it" vs. "Say it." – Tricia Keener, Speech & Language Pathologist Our Middle and High School students were able to walk to the park to attend our home Flag Football game against Winston Prep Academy on Thursday. It was so impressive to see our students both on the team and on the sidelines supporting each other. Thank you to our fabulous coaches, Coach Daniel Q., Coach Gage, and Coach Tevita, for providing a wonderful experience and an encouraging environment for our student athletes. Just a few photos for you this week as we get back into the swing of things after break. 😃  With heavy hearts, we announce the death of Andrea “Andi” Jobe, who founded Stanbridge Academy in 1982. Andi was 84 years old when she died at her beachfront home in Ecuador, where she had lived for the past several years. We got this news in a heartfelt email from her son, Allen, whose difficulty in school due to a learning disability spurred Andi to create a school for him and other students like him.
Allen wrote that he did not speak until he was seven years old, and doctors were pessimistic about his prospects. Unwilling to accept this, Andi enrolled in a Speech Therapy program and graduated with a Master’s. She took an SLP role at a public school in the South Bay and, alarmed at the poor services students received there, set about creating a school that would accommodate their needs. In his email, Allen described our school’s beginning in a rented space in Mountain View. “She had times when she almost did not make payroll. She never turned away a parent in need. Some would drive buses, clean the school, etc. The school grew and grew into what it is today.” Allen’s note clarified a mystery for us…why the name “Stanbridge”? Here is what he said: “Very few people, I think, know where the name Stanbridge comes from. It is a boarding school in England that my family friend attended. It was a really bad place with really bad food. My mom helped my friend move to a school called Kildonan in New York. It is no longer open. So she thought it would be fitting to name the school a better place than that place in England.” Founding Stanbridge Academy was only one of Andi’s significant contributions to children with disabilities. Andi and her husband, Dr. Richard Jobe, a plastic surgeon, created RSF-Earthspeak, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children learn to speak after cleft palate surgery. Dr. Jobe was also one of the founders of Interplast, an international network of surgeons who provide pro bono surgical care to anyone in need anywhere in the world. We are grateful that Allen reached out to us with the news of his mother’s passing and are inspired by his remembrances. In his words, “I am glad to hear that she is still remembered at Stanbridge. It is her lasting accomplishment. She did not have a strong ego and would almost never take credit for anything. She was really hard to buy presents for. She just wanted to give back.” – Mary Stadler, Director of Counseling  ELEMENTARY Elementary Students have been exploring LEGO engineering. We’ve explored pattern and symmetry using LEGO bricks, along with building mini cities and finally, going big with a skyscraper build. Exploring with LEGO has been great for us to use math as part of our engineering studies and students have had great conversations as they talk about their buildings and the techniques they use. – Tasha Hudick, K-8 Science Teacher MIDDLE SCHOOL Middle School students are finishing up with their unit on Simple Machines. Our last few projects have been a blend of Science, Engineering, and Art, incorporating our concepts of balance, mechanical advantage and gearing into moving sculptures. We are tinkering with Automata, mechanical sculptures that are built out of cardboard that feature cams and a crankshaft to mechanically move a scene on the top of the small structure. Students are putting their scientific knowledge to work and problem solving as they try to capture the right movement to animate their art. Look for the finished products when we return from Spring Break! – Tasha Hudick, K-8 Science Teacher HIGH SCHOOL As Q4 begins, High School Science is shifting into 4th gear! Biology just finish Genetics and Punnett Squares and is now giving their un-divide-d attention to Mitosis & Meiosis. After that, we'll take a whirlwind tour of the Human Body. Chemistry finally finished Stoichiometry (or the Math behind Chemistry) and are transitioning to a different kind of solution: Solutions! Physics is gearing up for their Conservation of Energy test before sipping from the trough of Waves. And finally, Systems of the Human Body finished digesting everything about the Digestive System and are getting nervous about the Nervous System. That's a lot to cover. But that's okay because here at the Stanbridge Science Department, Science is our middle name! – Jay Huston, High School Science Teacher MS Kinetic Art Sculptures  |
AboutThe Bulldog Blog is a forum for Stanbridge Academy staff and students to share community stories and news online. 
Blog Categories
All
Appreciate, Celebrate, Participate !
Check out the Advocates Sharing Knowledge Page for past event info!
Visit the Bridge Blog for information about learning journeys after graduation.
|
