Every year, Greene Street Friends School supports faculty and staff that wish to develop curriculum, design new programs, or hone their craft over the summer.

This year, nine groups of teachers worked together. Most committees focused on the curriculum and on professional development.

Building on last year’s successes in reworking the science curriculum for Grades 3 and 4, one team rewrote the lessons for Grades 1 and 2. Scaling back the number of units covered will allow students to focus more intensely on key concepts and explore a deeper knowledge. Additionally, this will allow more time for hands-on experiments. Science teacher Kim Kraemer noted that she is excited for the curriculum to lean towards more activities, rather than relying heavily on reading.

Eighth grade students will take part in a newly designed capstone project to help prepare them for high school and to build upon the existing study skills program. It will be a long-term research project on a topic of their choosing, allowing students to pursue a passion or interest, and then share it with the community. Each student’s final project will be different – a book, a presentation, a movie, a podcast, or any other medium that is appropriate for the topic.

In order to continue growing as educators, one summer work group organized Teaching and Learning Communities (TLCs) for the Greene Street Friends School faculty to strengthen each other’s teaching practices. Based on observations during classroom visits, teachers will meet four times per year to give constructive feedback and suggestions for ways to be more engaging with the students.

In addition, a number of faculty members took part in workshops on EveryDay Math, the School’s K-6 math curriculum, literacy with Lucy Calkins, and diversity. Music teacher Katherine Vidoni completed her master’s degree at the University of Pennsylvania, fourth grade teacher Maggie Chiles was accepted into Friends Council on Education’s leadership development program, and third grade teacher Erica Snowden was accepted into the Penn program.

We look forward to sharing more updates on the impact of these summer projects and trainings throughout the school year!