Bank Street

I finally got to Bank Street!!  One of the previous department coordinators, Margie Brickley, came from Bank Street and brought a great deal of their philosophy with her!  It was wonderful to reconnect with her during my visit and the school did not disappoint!  A big thank you to Ronnie Sampson who gave me a wonderful opportunity to visit all aspects of the school!

The environment is one of engaged students who are excited about their education!!  I took 141 pictures and want to share each of them with you because I've never seen so much learning happening and evident in one place!  The school goes from 3 years old to 8th grade.  As Ronnie said some people leave jazzed up and others leave sad!  Jazzed because of the possibilities of what education can look like and sad because they are unable to duplicate it.  In my case I left feeling both of those things and also that I missed this type of educational opportunity for my own children!
 

Part of the philosophy of the school involves social justice and it was apparent in EVERY class I visited!  The children begin learning about their own families in the 3 year old class and the scope is widened at every age.   I don't know where to begin....I may add a comment every day.

The first thing I noticed was the large number of blocks located in every classroom!!  One of the classrooms I observed in had two large areas with blocks - there were blocks on the outside play area - large blocks and small colored blocks.  It struck me that Caroline Pratt - the block lady - was also from New York.  Surely there was some collaboration occurring between her and the Bank Street founder, Lucy Sprague Mitchell!  This was an example from a class.  They sent "homework" with the children asking them to talk with their family about what rooms were in their houses, what was in those rooms and how they entered them.  After a rich class discussion, the children were assigned other children to collaborate with and asked to create their own houses.  The creations were quite elaborate asthey had spent several days on them.  The day I observed was the last day and so lots of pictures were being taken.  

This picture is from another classroom where the children's creations were put on very large blocks and displayed in a pretend art museum!  I got to see them for free :).  The school culture was riddled with art, music, science and literature.  They have separate teachers for music, art, physical education and Spanish exposure!   Children's artwork and creations were exhibited throughout the school halls and every classroom.

Student work was highly valued and children were treated very respectfully.  I noticed a common language throughout the classrooms when teachers were speaking with children.  "I'm speaking to so-and-so now, but I will get right back to you" and  "Tell them how you that made you feel" are a couple examples from numerous that I heard.