NOTES FROM NIGEL
"In education systems tilted towards standardized tests, grades, and "if-then" rewards, students often have no idea why they are doing what they're doing. Turn that around by helping them glimpse the big picture. Whatever they are studying, be sure they can answer these questions: Why am I learning this? How is it relevant to the world I live in now? Then get out of the classroom and apply what they're studying." Excerpt from the book the faculty will be reading this summer, "
Drive," by Daniel Pink, author of the groundbreaking book "A Whole New Mind.”
At Tesseract, we see examples of “contextual learning” every day. This is one reason our students enjoy coming to school every day—their studies have meaning to them, they make the connections! Our middle and upper school trips this April are another example of how we bring the curriculum—and learning—to life. This year more than 180 students were spread across the world in five different countries in eight different locations.
I am proud of them all for understanding the importance of behaving exceptionally well and recognizing the real-world learning opportunities with which they were presented.
I am also proud of our faculty for inspiring us all with their commitment to ensure the success of each trip. In this issue of the Independent you will read about some of the learning experiences in the lower school as well as in the middle and upper school through their grade-level class trips. Enjoy!
KINDERGARTEN—LEARNING THROUGH PLAY AND DISCOVERY
The kindergarten trip to the Phoenix Children’s Museum was a shared educational experience connecting younger Tesseract students with Barbara Neuske-Perez’s upper school studio art students. During the trip, the students were engaged with all the hands-on experiences the museum had to offer. Interactive exhibits focused on dramatic play, creative problem solving and artistic representation, all of which reinforce self-discovery and enhance confidence. The upper school students observed the kindergarten classes’ interactions with these materials and discovered the importance of play in child development. They evaluated what play structures resonated with the children’s interests and developmental levels and were challenged to design their own original play structures based on this experiential research. This was a learning experience that unified the two Tesseract
campuses. The importance of this collaboration was noted by kindergarten educator Jennifer Greer, who said, “The upper school students exemplified a leadership role and the kindergarten children were able to use play as a communicative tool to unify the age barrier.”
FIRST GRADE—REACHING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY
The first-grade students started their theme of community this year by defining the identifying characteristics that make up their communities at home and at school. They correlated these characteristics to unify the greater community of city, state and nation.
To reinforce their classroom findings, the children traveled outside of their school community to visit City Hall and the courthouse, where students witnessed firsthand the different roles that community workers play in supporting Phoenix’s city development. On their trip to City Hall the children observed a City Council meeting in progress. They were then introduced to the entire Council as being outstanding members of the community. Councilman Bill Gates presented the first-grade class with “The Friends of District 3” certificate for the students’ generous donations and volunteer efforts to the UMOM New Day Centers
. The first-graders have dedicated a large part of their school year to assisting this outreach program. The second half of their day was spent at the Courthouse where they participated in simulating their own courtroom trial. Each member of the class was assigned an important part in the court case of the Big Bad Wolf vs. the Three Little Pigs. First-grade educator Mary Passell stated, “The Courthouse experience was great, because the children got to experience what a real courtroom trial is like."
SECOND GRADE—SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
A majority of the second-grade school year is dedicated to building a strong foundation in research skills. Students first learn how to use books as a powerful reference tool and then progress to using the Internet to gather online research information. The second-graders connect their research studies with what they are learning in science to complete their first major research project on weather systems early in the school year.
While books and the Internet are great resources to use when learning how to gather information, one of the most engaging ways to learn how to research any topic is through hands-on experiences, such as the class field trip to the Arizona Science Center.
The Science Center trip was a fun and interactive way for the students to learn about the research and discovery process, solidifying their classroom learning of different scientific topics such as weather, the solar system and the scientific method. While at the Science Center they visited the Dorrance Planetarium and viewed a “Grand Tour of the Planets.” They also participated in various exhibitions and themed-galleries. One of the most memorable exhibitions they experienced was watching the dissection of a cow’s eye. Second-grade student Mateo Morris noted this experience as being his favorite second-grade memory. Mateo writes, “My favorite second grade memory was going to the Arizona Science Center because we got to touch all the parts of the cow’s eye.
I learned that all of our eyes have fat in them.”
THIRD GRADE—BRINGING HISTORY TO LIFE
The third-graders started the year by learning about the Oregon Trail and the early pioneers. They mapped the trail, read about the travelers’ experiences and tasted the foods they ate, among other activities. The class followed up with this by visiting the Pioneer Village
. This living-history museum allows students and other visitors to experience how the early pioneers lived and worked between 1863 and 1912. The entire experience—from attire to lifestyle—boasts an accurate depiction of an Old West town. While there students were able to explore a working ranch, a sheriff’s office and jail, a blacksmith’s workshop and home, a business and a schoolhouse. The third-graders put their map reading skills to work by navigating to each destination throughout the town on their own. As they moved through the town and interacted with the characters, they learned more about that time period through their observations. The third-grade educators also had the students look at each building and compare their modern lives and amenities to how people lived back in that time period.
FOURTH GRADE—A STUDY OF NATIVE PLANTS AND ANIMALS
The fourth-grade class researched desert plants and animals. Each student selected a plant and an animal to research using reference books and Web sites to compile data. They each created a poster highlighting the animal’s habitat and diet as well as defined their physical attributes. Students then classified their plants and created diagrams, labeling all the different parts of the plants.
To support classroom learning, the fourth-grade students went to the Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Educational Foundation and the Desert Botanical Gardens
. At the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, students visited the animals they had been studying. They were able to observe the animals, ask the animals’ handlers questions about each animal that was presented and learn about the rehabilitation process. While at the Desert Botanical Gardens, the children encountered the plants they studied in their natural environment and then performed observational exercises that they learned in class. Fourth-grade educator Becca Oberfield stated, “It’s wonderful that the students get to have a firsthand account.” Fourth-grade educator Kristen Hunt added that, “Visiting these places makes the learning more authentic.”
FIFTH GRADE–SAN FRANCISCO
For the fifth-grade trip to San Francisco, the students visited the California Academy of Sciences, Chinatown and Point Bonita.
At the California Academy of Sciences the students participated in the "Passport to Science" program. They toured the Academy and wrote everything they had discovered in a journal. Highlights of the Academy included a sphere-shaped rainforest in which students could experience all the layers of a rainforest. Beneath the rainforest there is an aquarium, where students saw marine life from both salt and fresh water.
In Chinatown students were given a tour created by a former educator who is a descendent of Chinese immigrants who lived in San Francisco. The fifth-graders were shown a Taoist temple, a market and an herbal pharmacy. At the market a few brave students tried eating chicken feet. One of the highlights for the students was a trip to a fortune cookie factory where they got to sample the cookies. After Chinatown the students headed to Point Bonita.
Point Bonita
is a YMCA camp located in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The camp focuses on the environmental issues the coastal regions are facing, including the amount of waste we produce. The students went on all-day hikes and learned about the many invasive species of vegetation that are in the park, including ice plant and sour grass. They also were able to visit the Marine Mammal Rehabilitation Center, where hurt or abandoned sea lions and seals are rehabilitated before being released back into the wild. To learn more about the issue of waste, the students were asked to consider the amount of garbage we produce. After every meal at the camp the uneaten food was weighed to see how much went to waste. The students were encouraged to try to have less and less waste each meal. The fifth-graders had two meals at the camp with zero waste—something they were all very proud of.
The San Francisco/Point Bonita trip continues to be a great entry trip for our middle schoolers. They have a chance to experience the outside world in a safe and beautiful environment and are also provided with a good amount of activity as they go on long hikes each day.
SIXTH GRADE—ARKANSAS
The sixth-grade trip was focused on sustainable solutions, international cultures and teamwork. The trip took place at Heifer Ranch, a learning center provided by Heifer International in Arkansas. Heifer Ranch offers powerful learning experiences for people of all ages. At the ranch the students were immersed in activities that provided them with a first-hand look at hunger, poverty and sustainable solutions to these problems.
The students first got a tour of the ranch, which included learning about the history and mission of Heifer, as well as the livestock that Heifer donates to needy families. Then, the students participated in team-building activities to build their communication, critical thinking and group cooperation skills.
On the second day of their ranch experience, the students were given a tour of the Global Village, which contains six different types of typical housing found around the world in places where people experience hunger and poverty on a daily basis. The students learned the background of some of the typical challenges that families living in these places face, and some of the typical resources available to them. In the afternoon, all participants—students and adults—were randomly assigned to be part of a "family" from one of the regions located in the Global Village, which consisted of Guatemala, Thailand, Zambia, Appalachia, urban slums and a refugee camp. They were given limited resources to build a fire, cook a meal and sleep for the night with their "family." They were also assigned physical challenges, such as a broken arm or leg, or loss of sight.
The adults played a very small role in the family, as the students needed to problem solve and communicate with other families in order to obtain the resources needed for the evening. Through this exercise the students realized the activities they participated in could help them discover how to best work together.
The last day of the trip consisted of a tour of the Heifer International Headquarters, located in Little Rock. It is a LEED Certified Platinum green building, which houses the business offices of Heifer, and Heifer Village, a hands-on, interactive learning center utilized to introduce and reinforce Heifer's mission and the issues surrounding hunger and poverty. Students learned about the sustainable practices used by people around the world that Heifer supports.
While in Arkansas, the students were also able to visit the Clinton Museum and Library, which was right next door to Heifer International, for lunch and a tour of the museum. The students were able to see a replica of the Oval Office, the staff room, and memorabilia related to President Clinton's time in office.
SEVENTH GRADE–EXPLORING THE BIRTH OF OUR NATION
The seventh-grade trip is directly linked to the language arts and history curricula, bringing a year's worth of studying to life for the students. They've read the stories and researched the events, but the trip enables them to follow in the steps of our Founding Fathers and the development of American history from its Puritan beginnings to modern government.
The trip started in Plymouth, where the students visited recreations of the Mayflower and Plymouth Plantation. The next stop was Concord where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired. The day ended in Salem with a visit to the Witch Trials Memorial and participating in a play about the trials.
Day two was spent following the Freedom Trail through downtown Boston; the next stop was in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia the students visited the National Constitution Center and then took a foot tour throughout Historic Philadelphia, ending at the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.
The last two days of the trip included visits to the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the Smithsonian Museums and a dramatic evening monument tour. On the final day of the trip, the students went to the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the National Archives to see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
EIGHTH GRADE—SCIENCE, SUSTAINABILITY AND SPANISH IN COSTA RICA
The eighth-grade trip explored the history, language, economy and culture of Costa Rica. Students learned how Costa Rica came to be a tourist attraction and how many locals depend on visitors to make a living. The students visited a local chocolate factory and shopped using local money in the towns of Santa Elena and Fortuna. Although many native residents spoke English, students were encouraged to stretch their comfort levels and speak Spanish as much as possible. The eighth-graders had the opportunity to take Costa Rican language classes, where they learned the colloquialisms of the area, and dance classes, where they learned the merengue and the salsa. The students also visited a local school where they saw a lower school performance, took a tour and worked on a service-learning project.
The next portion of the trip related to biodiversity and conservation. Our students spent time at the Costa Rica Conservation Foundation, where they studied the negative impact of tourism on the rainforest. This organization puts great effort towards restoration of the declining bellbird population. The students had the opportunity to take tree measurements related to a reforestation project to promote bellbird population growth. Although most teenagers do not get to stay in this special place, we were able to take an overnight hike down into the Children’s Eternal Rainforest to study native plants and animals. Not only did our students learn about the physical and behavioral adaptations that allow the organisms to survive in the their specific locations, but scientist Mark Wainwright also taught us about the biodiversity of the area and showed the students many examples of unique
organisms, such as the glasswinged butterfly and resplendent quetzal, that the students would never find at home. While in this area of Costa Rica, the students were also able to enjoy a rafting trip along the Penas Blancas River where they saw howler monkeys, crocodiles, sloths and more. A highlight of the trip was zip lining across the canopy, overcoming fears and taking in breathtaking views.
The last stop on the trip was the Rancho Margot Model Farm. The owner created his dream farm with concepts of sustainability at the core. His employees and volunteers share his vision and help him put his ideas into practice. On the farm the students got to witness many environmentally sustainable practices, such as composting, methane-heating and the use of hydroelectricity. They also saw the social and economic sides of sustainability in the value the farm pays to fair trade and democratic process. Students not only took a tour of the farm, but they also spent an afternoon participating in activities, such as planting, weeding and mixing compost. The students learned an appreciation for sustainable practices and enjoyed the beauty and fresh foods that the farm had to offer.
The students were fully engaged in the activities on the trip and gained hands-on knowledge in Spanish and science throughout their nine-day experience. The trip was an adventure of a lifetime.
NINTH-GRADE—DISCOVERING THE FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Throughout their freshman year at Tesseract, the ninth-grade students have devoted their studies in humanities to the Ancient World, tracing the origins of Western culture. The class traveled to Greece and Italy in order to live the classics, visiting the sites about which they had read so much. As is central to the vision behind Tesseract's commitment to global literacy, these were not sightseeing trips, but rather classrooms without walls. In the months prior to departure, students engaged in serious research, each mastering a specific ancient site. Once we arrived in Europe, they served as our tour guides, leading our visits, explaining what we were seeing and providing historical context. Their presentations were the foundation upon which the two-week curriculum was built.
While we were seeing ruins, those skeletal remains actually added incredible depth to the material the students had encountered within the classroom. While they had first met Agamemnon in Homer's Iliad, in Greece we got to stand in his supposed palace in the fortress-town of Mycenae. While they had heard about the Underworld in countless places, near Naples we actually got to descend the so-called "Sibyll's Cave" and dip our toes in the river Styx. And, while they had read about the wonders of Rome, pictures can't possibly convey the magnitude of the Colosseum and Pantheon. The benefits are not purely in the aesthetic realm. As we moved from Athens to Naples to Rome, students witnessed, in many different forms, the power and greatness of human achievement, and the overriding desire to create something lasting and meaningful. And, at the same time, they took note of the
ways we are constantly challenged in that pursuit, as seen in Greece's economic problems and the garbage crisis of Naples. The line between past and present is always blurry, and never more so than in Greece and Rome.
10TH GRADE—EXPLORING THE WONDERS OF MATH AND SCIENCE IN CALIFORNIA
The sophomore class spent 10 days traveling in California and visiting various businesses and universities to learn more about math and science. The trip began Los Angeles at USC. While there, the students were asked to share their knowledge of climate change, oceans, wetlands and sharks. Then, graduate students from various universities in California shared digital concept maps explaining these concepts. Tesseract students evaluated the presentations on the knowledge provided and level of instruction. The graduate students and their advisors were impressed with the quality of our students. "This was great. It is so fun to work with such an interested group. They really know their stuff." Next it was off to The Wrigley Institute on Catalina Island. The students spent time on the dock collecting water and measuring nitrogen content, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, algae
content and temperature. They compared this to a sample collected before leaving the mainland. Finally, the class visited the hyperbaric chamber where the students learned about "the bends" and how it is treated. The following day the students visited an aquarium to discover how water is filtered and treated so the pH, nitrogen content, etc. is appropriate for the fish.
The next stop on the trip was to San Diego to visit The Scripp's Institute. On campus the students spent time with three different groups of graduate students and learned about testing dolphin blubber for chemicals found in flame-retardants, how tests are conducted on sea urchins, and how sharks and other sea creatures are tested. The students also spent a day at Mission Beach, but it wasn't all fun in the sun. The students waded into the surf with PVC tubes and measured wave height, length and frequency. Upon returning to school they collected their data and created graphs showing the simple harmonic motion of surface waves. Another math event was a trip to Knott's Berry Farm. Prior to leaving Phoenix, students had constructed portable sextants. These were used at the park to measure roller coaster heights. Students used stop watches to measure time so they could calculate
velocities. In addition, students rode the roller coasters wearing accelerometers in order to measure acceleration experienced at different points of the ride. Finally, the class had the opportunity to go to Sea World and get a behind the scenes tour to learn about water chemistry and distribution. Interesting fact: Sea World pumps 40 million gallons of water OUT of Mission Bay each day, filtering and distributing into their tanks. They also pump that amount of water that has been cleaned, back into the bay.
From San Diego the class flew to San Francisco to visit Stanford and The Crucible. The Crucible is a working foundry in which a variety of art is manufactured. Students chose two of three different types of art to experience. Choices included torch cutting with oxy acetylene torches, glass marble making (again, using a very hot flame) and aluminum sand casting. This was an excellent chance to see the presence of chemistry outside of the chemistry lab. At Stanford, students took a tour and spent some time with chemistry graduate students. While there, students learned about the use of catalysts, biochemical enzymes and molecules and brain chemistry. On the last day the class visited SLAC (formerly the Stanford Linear Accelerator). The class met with graduate students who explained how logarithms are necessary for studying astronomical objects. This was followed with an activity in which
they drew the universe on a sidewalk. It was amazing to see these 18 students, who had been learning and traveling for 10 days, continue to treat each experience with enthusiasm and interest. Scientists and employees from SLAC all commented on their participation. Finally, the students visited the 3-D Viz lab. In this lab, scientists take the data collected by telescopes and turn it into three-dimensional visualizations of stars forming, colliding or moving. A graduate student who had just passed his oral dissertation that week came in to share his award-winning visualization.
Overall it was a tremendous experience for our students to interact with scientists and see science and math in the real world.
11TH GRADE—MAKING CONNECTIONS IN CHINA
This spring Tesseract’s 11th-grade students who are studying Mandarin spent two weeks honing their Chinese language skills and connecting with their electronic pen pels in Shanghai. The trip began in Shanghai where our students had the opportunity to meet their pen pals and join them in their classes. In addition to learning about the daily life of a student in China, Tesseract students spent one day teaching English and running activities at a local elementary school. From Shanghai the students traveled to Guilin and then on to Xi’an, where they learned about the Quin Dynasty and the terra cotta soldiers. From Xi’an the students traveled by overnight train to Beijing. In Beijing the history of Northern China and the evolution of the Great Wall were explored. The class had an opportunity to visit the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace,
Temple of Heaven, the Hu-Tong province, and (as a special treat) spent time at the Olympic Water Cube.
Some of the highlights of this fast-paced trip were the student presentations covering the history and culture of the country, and the opportunity to speak and share meals with local Chinese families. Perhaps the students' favorite part was spending time and making connections with Chinese students their own age. The entire class is looking forward to these students visiting Tesseract in the fall.
11TH GRADE—THE HISTORY AND CULTURE OF PERU
The Tesseract School Language and Cultural Exchange Program is one that has been carefully thought out so that the experience is rich in all aspects of language acquisition and cultural understanding. The juniors who are studying Spanish visited the ancient and contemporary world of the once Inca Empire, Peru.
While in Peru, students visited the Colonial Quarters of Lima, the capital city of Peru. They studied ancient history and civilization at El Museo Antropológico y Arqueológico and participated in the colonial tour learning about the importance of a city plan as once outlined by Francisco Pizzarro, a Spanish conquistador. The fusion of Inca Civilization and Spanish influence was also evident in the lovely region of Cusco. Thirteen thousand feet above sea level, they were immersed into the life of cusqueños. This part of the trip was completely hands-on. The students climbed and studied the many sacred sites within the Sacred Valley of Cusco such as Ollantaytambo, Chincheros and Machu Picchu. The class visited with a family from the highlands who showed the students the techniques of spooling through weaving while only using natural materials.
A valuable highlight of the trip was the family home stay and the La Salle Academy visit. These unbelievable experiences allowed students to be involved in the daily livelihood of their peers in Peru both at home and at school. While at home, students were treated as another member of the family. Never did the students feel out of place, and the hosts were exceptionally nurturing to all the students. La Salle Academy is a large and traditional private school with an emphasis on academic and spiritual formation. While is it different in size and teaching methodology compared to Tesseract School, La Salle Academy desires to nurture and prepare their students for the 21st century—a trait shared by both schools.
EDUCATION BEYOND OUR CLASSROOM WALLS—A PARENT’S PERSPECTIVE
Tesseract is a community of people striving for excellence in the lives of their children. This community celebrates accomplishments and is also there for each other in times of need. It is a family that has been brought together by the love of our children, sharing a deep commitment to furthering their education. One of the ways the school is able to impress this on both the students and parents is in the experience of the school trips. My husband and I were both fortunate to be able to chaperone on several of these trips, where we learned the enormous value of experiential learning.
The first trip occurs in the fifth grade, traveling to a YMCA camp in California to learn about sustainability. Our children learned about the scarcity of water and ways to keep the earth clean. The following year, we went to the Heifer International facility in Arkansas. Heifer has a number of programs intended to improve the human condition in impoverished regions around the world. Their facility raises animals that are donated to poor communities, providing milk and eggs. They also find the means to solve water and nutrition problems in remote areas of the world. Examples include teaching people to burn manure for heating and cooking, how to avoid water contamination to eliminate illness and ways to build their homes and farmlands so they are not flooded. We embraced this place and their ideals. Donations to Heifer are now a common gift in our family. We also started our own compost
after learning about it at Heifer. During the seventh-grade trip, we traveled to Boston, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. This coincided with the American history theme they were studying. There really could be no better way to learn and retain American history but to visit the places they have recently studied.
Our favorite trip, though, was the eighth-grade trip to Costa Rica. I have said many times, it was the trip of a lifetime. For some, it was their first trip out of the country. The students had an opportunity to use the Spanish they had studied since kindergarten. The most fascinating part of the trip was experiencing the beauty and diversity of the rainforest. We stayed for two nights in the Children's Eternal Rainforest with a naturalist who led us on nature hikes, once even at night to find nocturnal insects and animals. We watched the lava flowing from an active volcano light up the side of Mount Arenal, while the howler monkeys called to each other in the night. At the end of the trip we stayed on a self-sustaining farm, Rancho Margo. There they grew their own organic foods and medicinals, raised livestock, and using the manure to produce methane, cooked our food. Compost from
the gardens was used to heat the water. They even made their own soap from plant by-products.
Tesseract lives its mission statement through educational experiences like these. We are very grateful for all it has given our family.
Barbara Wix
Tesseract Parent and Trustee
INVITING STUDENTS TO STUDY FROM ABROAD
When we first arrived in the US, we were surprised at how different everything was. All along, we had always thought everything would just be the same since Italy and the Philippines are pretty much ‘Americanized.’ Boy, were we wrong!
School was without a doubt the hardest transition to make. A main reason for this was because it’s where we would spend most of our time. It took some time for us to become comfortable. The other students were always very nice to us, but because of our new surroundings it took a while to be comfortable enough to make new friends. We were strangers in a strange place, but the kindness of the people here helped us make it through the year.
We learned a lot this year, and we both feel like totally different people than before coming on the exchange program. We learned to become much more open in the classroom as time progressed. There were a lot of things we learned in school that we would never have learned in our home countries. We realize that school here is isn’t necessarily harder than it is in other countries, but the way things are taught here, especially at Tesseract, is not only engaging but very impressive. It became easy to understand everything once we got used to the student-centered style. We can still remember things we learned from the very beginning of the year. We leave Tesseract with lasting memories. The friends and connections we made will last for a lifetime, and we are very proud to have gone through the program in order to become a part of Tesseract.
Giulia Agabatini and Jem Dagadas
Giulia Agabatini and Jem Dagadas are foreign exchange students through the AFS and YES cultural exchange programs. Giulia is visiting from Italy and Jem is from the Philippines.
EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM EXPANDED
The early childhood program has been expanded to include two- and three-day per week morning offerings with the start of the 2011-2012 school year. The two- and three-day morning program offers the same philosophies, curriculum, special classes, small-class sizes and low student-to-teacher ratios as the full-week program, just in an abbreviated manner.
For more information please contact the admissions office at 480.991.1770 or e-mail dkuhn@tesseractschool.org. The application deadline for the two- and three-day program is June 17, 2011; all children in the early childhood program must be at least 3 years of age by December 31, 2011.
LOVE YOUR SCHOOL? TELL A FRIEND!
When we meet with prospective families, we always ask how they found out about Tesseract School. While we receive a variety of answers, the one we are the most pleased to hear is, “From a friend.”
We truly appreciate your support, and hope that you will continue to share your love of Tesseract School by encouraging friends, relatives and others you know to contact us if they are looking for a school for their children.
|
