Preschool to Grade 8 | School Updates & Alumni News
Jane and Jerry Marks have a long and happy history with Clairbourn School. Jane Marks currently serves on Clairbourn’s Board of Trustees, and the Marks’ three children, Jordan ’08, Taylor ’11, and Christian *20, loved their time at Clairbourn and benefited from outstanding teachers along the way.
Clairbourn’s second grade is known for ramping-up opportunities for students to express themselves and to learn how to present ideas in a public setting. In prior years, the second grade poetry unit allowed students to hone their presentation and memorization skills through learning the poems of Jack Prelutsky and other child-friendly authors.
But this year, our new second grade teacher Karen Roberts brought some additional ideas to the table. The level of creativity of her students inspired her to look for a musical play that her students could perform. She picked a play called “Character Matters” designed to use fairy tale characters and their famous storylines to reinforce good social and personal actions. Not only would that tie in with Clairbourn’s Code of Ethics, which cover the qualities of Honesty, Respect, Responsibility, Spirituality, and Citizenship, but it would also teach students how to handle a variety of common interpersonal conflicts plus enhance their memorization skills and public-speaking ability.
Continue reading ““Character Matters” Play: Second-graders Explore Actions and Choices”
Clairbourn seventh-graders experienced a bacteria lab where they studied the microbiota of their daily lives. Each student swabbed their phone or laptop and then had the option of a swabbing a second item.
Students inoculated petri dishes with the bacteria collected in and around the classroom, and the growth was aided by an agar growth medium added to the dishes. Each day, the petri dishes were studied and diagramed.
On the second day, students noticed a slight scent emanating from the petri dishes. As bacteria grow and replicate, they release a wide variety of compounds—many of which give off a strong odor—the smell of science!
There is no better teacher than Mother Nature, and preschoolers at Clairbourn are immersed in a comprehensive Camping Unit that puts the lessons and benefits of time spent in nature front-and-center.
Many of Clairbourn’s preschool units come from student-initiated ideas. So, when teacher Lee Rankin’s Junior Pre-Kindergarten class showed an interest in making tents in the classroom, she developed a camping unit to expand on their interests.
As a result, the classroom has been transformed into a full campsite complete with a ranger station, pup tents, a big reading tent, and a “campfire” space where students can pretend to cook hot dogs and s’mores.
This week, in the Morning Assembly—the daily meeting where Clairbourn students, staff, and parents gather to hear an inspiring message—the topic was the school’s new mission statement “Creating Scholars and Leaders with Heart.” The student presenters delivered the following message about the importance of student leadership prepared by foreign language and drama teacher Cara Barker. The Insights below are based on the work of DiSC and the work of psychologists David Merrill and Roger Reid, who in their book Personal Styles & Effective Performance identified four social styles: Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives and Amiables.
Today we look at how the Enthusiast leads. Enthusiasts share their joy in an activity, inspiring others to join them on the journey. They communicate through story-telling and they lead by example, often demonstrating to a group how to complete a task before giving them free rein to experiment on their own.
Enthusiasts persuade and encourage others, relying on optimism and impulse to guide the way, and are often quite popular. Enthusiasts are especially important to groups who lack experience or who seek a sense of identity.
This week, in the Morning Assembly—the daily meeting where Clairbourn students, staff, and parents gather to hear an inspiring message—the topic was the school’s new mission statement “Creating Scholars and Leaders with Heart.” The student presenters delivered the following message about the importance of student leadership prepared by foreign language and drama teacher Cara Barker. The Insights below are based on the work of DiSC and the work of psychologists David Merrill and Roger Reid, who in their book Personal Styles & Effective Performance identified four social styles: Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives and Amiables.
Today we look at how the Conscientious leader behaves. Conscientious leaders diligently plan ahead and check their work each step of the way, guarding against errors that could lead to problems.
Conscientious leaders communicate information on a need-to-know basis, and such information is generally task-centered. Conscientious leaders are especially important to groups entrusted with tasks that are complicated or require attention to detail, where people’s safety or their property—including their money—could be put at risk.
This week, in the Morning Assembly—the daily meeting where Clairbourn students, staff, and parents gather to hear an inspiring message—the topic was the school’s new mission statement “Creating Scholars and Leaders with Heart.” The student presenters delivered the following message about the importance of student leadership prepared by foreign language and drama teacher Cara Barker. The Insights below are based on the work of DiSC and the work of psychologists David Merrill and Roger Reid, who in their book Personal Styles & Effective Performance identified four social styles: Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives and Amiables.
Today we look at how the Social leader behaves. Social leaders befriend the members of a group and get to know them on a personal level. In showing genuine interest, they put people at ease and place a high priority on wellness and harmony within that group.
Social leaders communicate gently, usually asking more questions than providing answers. Social leaders are highly accommodating and are especially important to groups composed of varying personality types and whose members, without a safe or appropriate space in which to work, would be left either isolated, divided or feeling unappreciated.
This week, in the Morning Assembly—the daily meeting where Clairbourn students, staff, and parents gather to hear an inspiring message—the topic was the school’s new mission statement “Creating Scholars and Leaders with Heart.” The student presenters delivered the following message about the importance of student leadership prepared by foreign language and drama teacher Cara Barker. The Insights below are based on the work of DiSC and the work of psychologists David Merrill and Roger Reid, who in their book Personal Styles & Effective Performance identified four social styles: Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives and Amiables.
Today we look at how the Driver behaves as leader. Drivers tend to dominate a group, telling them what to do, sometimes how to do it, when to do it, and occasionally why they are doing it.
Drivers communicate messages directed at completing a task. Drivers are especially important to groups who are new to a task, lack skills and confidence and who, without strong, directed guidance, would be left disorganized, unmotivated and unproductive.
This week, in the Morning Assembly—the daily meeting where Clairbourn students, staff, and parents gather to hear an inspiring message—the topic was the school’s new mission statement “Creating Scholars and Leaders with Heart.” The student presenters delivered the following message about the importance of student leadership prepared by foreign language and drama teacher Cara Barker. The Insights below are based on the work of DiSC and the work of psychologists David Merrill and Roger Reid, who in their book Personal Styles & Effective Performance identified four social styles: Analyticals, Drivers, Expressives and Amiables.
At Clairbourn, we aim to create scholars and leaders with heart. This week we will investigate the styles in which we lead.
Consider this: each person here is a natural leader. “What?! How is this possible?” you may ask. Well, part of the reason that many of us don’t think of ourselves as leaders is that we often share a very narrow perspective of what leadership looks like. For example, many people will label the person who takes charge of an activity and barks orders to others as a— quote-unquote —natural leader. And in many instances, this may prove to be true. Nevertheless, this pantomime caricature of a leader has its limitations and doesn’t give the full range of possibilities associated with leadership.
