 What a jam packed last few days of celebrations we have had acknowledging the tremendous growth and accomplishments of our students.
Julie Smith Head of School There's so much happening at the end of the year that we really can't put it all into words. Click through some photos of end-of-year events including our Class of 2025 graduation, Class of 2029 (8th grade) promotion, varied awards ceremonies and speeches, a chess tournament, the 2025 Stanbridge Bowl, yearbook signing, Student Government, a K-3 trip to SF Zoo, and some favorite photos of the year thrown in for good measure. Have a restful, relaxing, and rejuvenating summer! Be sure to stay tuned to the Bulldog Blog for Summer School 2025 photos...
SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE!
Thank you for entrusting us to keep your Bulldog active in the Stanbridge community this summer! So many students are joining us – both current and new students, as well as soon-to-be graduates. We are going to have a blast and can't wait for y'all to join us! All payments for summer courses will be deposited next week, prior to the launch of Summer School on June 16th. We need only one more student in PE Adventures and two more enrollments are needed for flexible seating in Camille's Gimme a Hand plaster intensive. Current students in 6th grade and up are welcome! If you're looking for a way to help your child be successful this summer, we can accept enrollment in open classes and payment THROUGH THIS MONDAY, JUNE 9th!
 SECOND EDITION HITS THE STANDS!
Our Journalism Club BullPups, who are in 5th through 10th grades, quickly wrapped up their second edition this year. It's twice as long as the first and features some of this year's favorite moments; a comic strip by our most junior Bullpup; student views of the Talent Show, Field Day, and Experientials; Stanbridge Senior profiles; and much more. Once again, they did a great job thinking about what types of information people not familiar with Stanbridge may want to know more about. Everyone loves reading about events from the students' perspective! We hope this remains a staple Club offering for years to come – they're even considering a podcast next year. Thanks again to Journalism Advisor (and Director of Admissions) Emily Mitchell for getting this club off the ground!  Middle and Upper Elementary have been exploring Garageband on their iPads, learning how to record as well as program drums and synthesizers. It has been a blast seeing everyone's creative ideas. Lower Elementary has been practicing their rhyming skills, coming up with funny lyrics for "Down by the Bay" and "She'll be Comin' Round the Mountain."
Middle Schoolers have been working on research projects about their favorite musical artists. We have also been learning about text scores—a type of sheet music that uses descriptive text rather than precise pitches and rhythms to communicate ideas. High Schoolers gave some wonderful and informative presentations about musical artists they've been researching. We also learned a little bit about audio and the physics of sound using oscillators and oscilloscopes. – Tobias Banks, K-12 Performing Arts Teacher  Hello Stanbridge,
This week at lunchtime, Student Government [handed out] lemonade and the ice cream which were both very popular. We were happy to give it [away] to the students free of charge for all their hard work. This week we also had the Firesale Snack Shack and thanks to the parents for giving money to their kids to purchase things for the final Snack Shack of the 2024-2025 school year. Student Government accomplished a lot of things this year!
– Monie A., Student Body President SUMMER IS TRULY RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! If your child is looking forward to a summer of screens, you may want to rethink and at least schedule some activity throughout the weeks to beat doom-scrolling. Click to read ADDitude's article, "How to Avoid Summer Learning Loss," which includes letting interests blossom. What better way to do that than to enroll in one or more weeks of summer programming? Not only will Stanbridge Summer School help you and your child maintain a reliable schedule, but we also know them and therefore the best ways to support their summer learning. Stanbridge summer courses are nearly secured. PE Extravaganza still needs one more camper 4th grade or older to join our two coaches for summer fun. Also, with just three more enrollments, we can open up a second classroom for Camille's Gimme a Hand plaster intensive, which allows for flexible seating. Current students in 6th grade and up are welcome! Pictured below are now-graduates with their plaster projects in Summer 2019, the last time this hands-on, creative course was offered. TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO ENROLL IN OPEN COURSES!   Elementary Art students painted huge flower paintings to decorate Hayden Hall for the spring season and the Spring Sing annual musical event. Students also worked with clay and made small textured bowls as well as other independent clay pieces of their choosing throughout the season. Once dried, students painted them using acrylic paints. Lower and Middle Elementary students made our solar system, including the sun and Earth's moon, out of paper mâché in their classroom with Harriet and Tevita. Once dry, they brought them into the art room and closely examined photographs of what each planet looked like so they could replicate the surface of their planets to look like the actual ones. They mixed paint colors and added texture to their planets, too! Upper Elementary students spent time working with oil pastels, creating beautiful feathers and landscape drawings. Middle School Art students have been drawing, painting, and working with clay. With the start of spring, students created watercolor flower paintings that were hung up on display brightening up our school in Hayden Hall and the Middle School Hallway. Students learned about different types of vortexes and how to draw them using special shading artist pencils and blending stumps. They shaded their drawing adding many light and dark values in order to make their vortexes look visually three-dimensional. They also worked with clay to make small textured bowls and had the opportunity to paint them. High School Art students continued to enhance their drawing skills by working on many diverse sketchbook assignments, some realistic and some optical illusions. They were introduced to using special drawing pencils and blending stumps. They shaded many of their drawings using a wide range of lights and darks from the value scale. All students had an opportunity to make small textured bowls using different shaped molds and texture to press on to the surfaces. They painted their hand-built ceramic bowls. Some students explored the Procreate application on iPads and spent time drawing with the Apple pencil, shading foods such as a slice of refreshing watermelon or a delicious looking piece of cake. (Please send in a paper grocery bag with your student on Monday, so they can bring home these awesome creations soon. We often run out of bags this time of year!) – Camille Geraci, K-12 Visual Arts Teacher  In 9th Grade Engineering Design class, students just finished creating custom desk lamps as their second woodworking project. Many of them also incorporated 3D-printing into their designs. In HS Tech class, students recently engaged in "vibe coding" by using AI to create video games using natural language instead of code! Middle School students used the Canva software to make websites based on their favorite activities and hobbies. Upper Elementary engaged in an AI Foundations course on Minecraft while learning how to use code to make sure AI is fair, safe, and helpful for everyone. – Gregory Wilson, Director of Instructional Technology  Over the final weeks of school, Elementary will be working on perspective taking, inferencing (using empathy and devising smart guesses), and saying good bye appropriately as we get ready for summer. Transitions can be a bumpy time for our students and learning expected to ways to say goodbye and how to stay in touch can help when friends are leaving or moving – either to different divisions or schools. We will also tap into the joy that summertime can bring. – Tricia Keener, Speech & Language Pathologist   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 |
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