Middle School Student Council planned a special week for the community to honor Red Ribbon Week. Clairbourn students came together and filled the campus with lots of red to raise the awareness of drug abuse prevention. Along with Student Council adviser, Ms. Vinnedge, students wrote, recorded and produced daily skits to teach students the importance of making good choices!
2021-2022 Student Council and adviser Ms. Vinnedge
Red Ribbon Week is an alcohol, tobacco, and other drug and violence prevention awareness campaign observed annually in October in the United States. It began in 1985 and is the nation’s largest and longest running drug awareness and prevention program. It has helped millions of children across the globe!
Student Council wrote, recorded and produced skits for the week to show the community about making good choices.
Student Council discussed what drugs are and how to stay safe and healthy. Students from across the grades learned drugs are chemical substances which can cause a change in the body either in a helpful way or a negative way. Cougars also learned the difference between safe drugs at home, such as medication, and illegal drugs that can harm the body and mind.
Council members also talked about how good it feels when a good choice is made. Whether it is saying no to drug abuse, making a good nutrition choice at Halloween, or saying no to unhealthy suggestions from strangers online, we know our Cougars will try their best to do what’s right!
Thank you Student Council for your leadership, showing us how to be brave, use our voices, and make good choices! Clairbourn students are scholars and leaders with HEART!
The physical, spiritual, and emotional well-being of our Middle School students was the focus of our Wellness Focus Talk last week.
The Middle School years can be difficult for many children who are going through physical, emotional and developmental changes. The pressure, stress and expectations for their academic performance from home and school, and the unanticipated challenges of the pandemic can be additional anxieties our Middle Schoolers must process. So much has happened in the world since last year. This group of Middle Schoolers have a lot on their plate besides growing up! How can we as adults help our students navigate these times?
Clairbourn Middle School students
Clairbourn’s small class sizes allow us to provide individualized learning and wellness coaching. Our faculty can focus and work with each individual child and provide specific support. Learning to process stress in a positive way is a skill we help our students develop. Teachers talk to students about their wellness on a daily basis, and also practice activities that help the students release their anxiety and stimulate their personal wellness at the same time.
7th grade “Pass the Cup” wellness activity
In Mrs. Drazic’s Middle Schoollanguage class, students did a wellness activity called “Passing the Cup” to build connections with their peers. Students sat in circles of 10 and each group received a cup of water filled to within ½ inch of the brim. They needed to pass the almost-filled cup to one another without spilling the water, with and without their eyes closed. Mrs. Drazic then asked, “What do we have to pay attention to so the water does not spill? Was it harder to pass around the cup without spilling with eyes closed rather than open? Did you want to peek? Did you giggle?” The observation from the students was: When we could see, we looked at the cup and made sure the next person was ready and we needed to move slowly and carefully. Passing around the cup with eyes closed required us to pay much closer attention to the task. We had to monitor ourselves to ensure we were ready, but also pay attention to one another much more closely.
Students discussed what they should be monitoring in themselves, such as attitudes, nonverbal behaviors, frustrations. They also discovered what they should be “tuning into” with others, such as openness, emotions, attitudes, and behavior. Students learned how to be more aware of each other and understood themselves a bit better. In order to work cooperatively in any relationship – with friends, classmates, parents – we have to monitor ourselves and “tune in” to another person’s experience. It’s a balancing act!
Wellness Focus sessions for Middle School students
Clairbourn arranged a two-day Wellness Focus session for our Middle School students with Dr. Marguery Lyvers . Students from six to eighth grades talked freely with Dr. Lyvers about their anxiety. One student shared that not doing well for exams caused the most stress, and another student described pressure as “thunders pounding on the chest.” After several successful rounds of discussions, students wrote down their biggest worries on a piece of paper and were then asked to toss it away. There was no need to think about their worries anymore. Dr. Lyvers concluded by discussing different strategies to manage the pressure to do well at school and home.
We understand raising a healthy child is a team effort between family and school. Dr. Patzlaff, Head of School, and Mrs. Taylor, Assistant Head of School, joined Dr. Lyvers and met with parents virtually. The parents learned how to detect different emotional states of the child and how to give them the support they need. Important take aways for the parents were, “How your child responds to stress determines your response” and “If you see stress in your child, check your own feelings before responding”.
Middle School parents Wellness Focus Talk with Dr. Lyvers
Besides physical health, Clairbourn cares deeply for the other vital aspects of wellness — social, spiritual, intellectual, and emotional. We are committed to nurturing well-rounded children. We know growing up is not always easy and Middle School can be hard, but it doesn’t have to be. After all, Middle Schoolers are “Learning everyday who they are, how to engage in their world, and how to grow into their best selves”, says Dr. Amy Patzlaff, the Head of School at Clairbourn. In our Clairbourn family, the caring and experienced faculty coaches each student; our school creates a supportive environment where each student can grow and develop to their full potential. We hear each of your voices and we are here for you. Together, we are stronger. Together, we are Clairbourn!
Last week in Mrs. Messler’s Middle School algebra class, students used their linear regression skills to design something fun — the Barbie Bungee experiment! Students worked in small groups of 3-5 students. The groups then were given a worksheet and packet containing materials for the activity such as rubber bands, a yardstick, a Barbie doll and a ruler.
Students were challenged to create a bungee line for Barbie that would give her the most thrilling, yet safe, fall from a height of 2 meters. What’s the relation between the number or rubber bands and the distance Barbie dropped? Middle Schoolers collected data, learned how to plot the data on a coordinate plane, wrote linear equations to approximate the relationship, looked for the best fit linear equation, and discussed what slope and y-intercept mean in this context.
Finally, students used their equations to predict how many rubber bands they would need to tie to Barbie for a big 200 cm jump and tested it out to make sure their math successfully kept her safe while enjoying the most thrilling bungee jump possible!
Middle schoolers were engaged, having fun being creative while learning the concepts of math and practicing it with a hands-on experiment! Well done, Clairbourn Cougars!
“It’s not that I am so smart. It’s just that I stay with problems longer!” Albert Einstein
Creating Scholars and Leaders with Heart
Clairbourn School Provides Private School Education for Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary School, and Middle School Grades | Serving Families in the Pasadena, California, Area and Surrounding Cities (K-12 Private Schools) Clairbourn is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Click here to request information.
Students at Clairbourn are on an exciting journey of self-discovery and risk-taking made possible by a team of supportive teachers, a kind community, and an inspiring and safe environment. Children learn to discover their abilities in math, science, art, drama, music, and sports thanks to the cultivation of a growth mindset which keeps them motivated and moving forward in the face of setbacks encountered along their learning journey.
Clairbourn Students build pillow forts at home for the annual Engineering Design Challenge.
STEM activities like those found in Clairbourn’s annual Engineering Design Challenge are a big part of that journey. It is where students learn to believe in their abilities as designers and problem-solvers, and self-identify as engineers. To continue this school-wide activity during the Pandemic, with learning taking place at home, called for some serious re-imagining on the part of the school to make sure students didn’t miss out on this important learning milestone.
(Left) Paige Dyrek, from Clairbourn School’s Class of 2006, who is now a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.
For the men and women who dedicate themselves to the medical profession, it is truly a calling. Paige Dyrek, from Clairbourn School’s Class of 2006, is no exception. She has chosen this career in medicine because she was passionate about helping people who have overcome traumatic and life-altering injuries.
She received her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree form Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona and is completing her Preliminary Medicine year at UCSF-Fresno. In June, she will head to Stanford to complete her residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, a specialty that deals with the acute rehabilitation of traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, neurodegenerative diseases, and sports-related injuries.
Paige credits Clairbourn School with providing her the knowledge and skills to succeed, as well as a positive learning environment that instilled in her a passion for learning. To learn more, Clairbourn’s Alumni Director Dr. Janny Chang conducted the following interview with Paige about her journey from Clairbourn to a promising career in medicine:
If people—specifically children—were similar to computers, then giving them a quality education could be likened to a straightforward system of installing robust processing components, memory, and storage capacity as well as loading them with the right software, information input, and maybe even artificial intelligence necessary to turn them into problem-solving powerhouses.
But, when student are treated like computers to be “loaded,” and are shaped into impressive towers of narrowly-focused achievement, there is an associated risk of their tower crumbling to the ground when life gets difficult. In order to build a student that will withstand the challenges of life, there needs to be an ongoing, sincere investment in the qualities, habits, and connections that build true resilience and that will carry them through major challenges like the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though it would be simpler to function like computers, the truth is, we all have emotions that need to be managed. We all have a need for social connection that can’t be denied. We all need a sense of purpose that extends beyond our current talents. More importantly, we all need to cultivate a connection to a “Source” so we can find good ideas when we have exhausted our own efforts to handle a problem.
Clairbourn teachers, like most educators across the globe, spent late March and early April converting their lessons over to an online format so students could continue to make progress in their studies during the COVID-19 crisis. The Internet has so many tools and resources to help with the transition, but Clairbourn is a close-knit community, and nothing can replace the human connection. With teachers missing seeing their students in person, they worked together to make a printable poster message to say hello and give their students added encouragement.
Clairbourn Teachers and Staff Made this Poster to Greet and Support Clairbourn Students.
Clairbourn School Provides Private School Education for Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary School, and Middle School Grades | Serving Families in the Pasadena, California, Area and Surrounding Cities (K-12 Private Schools) Clairbourn is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Click here to request information.
Outer space, with its jewel-like planets, shimmering stars, and astronauts with their cool technology, is very exciting to the imagination! Naturally, Clairbourn School preschoolers dove right in to their STEM unit about space with great enthusiasm. The whole class got busy learning about the Milky Way, our solar system, and the planets—and some students even learned the planet names in order!
This was an immersive unit with academic, artistic, and hands-on components. One of the features included a visit from Outreach Coordinator and Astronomer Dr. Jeff Rich from Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, who came to Clairbourn with an inflatable planetarium that fit the entire class inside. A film projector animated the inside of the dark dome with popular wonders of the night sky, and the students were educated about how to locate and identify well-known stars and planets.
Clairbourn students, with Dr. Rich from Carnegie Observatories, entered the inflatable planetarium where projections of planets and stars were projected onto the ceiling of the dome.
In the classroom, students learned solar system terminology—made more engaging by letting the students choose their own word to learn each morning. They also had homework assignments to build a miniature rocket ship and present it to the class by sharing what materials they used, who helped them, and if it was hard to make. They had to share a fun fact about each planet, research who was the first man on The Moon and find out how astronauts sleep, eat, and shower in the space ship.
Left – a student practices writing the space words learned in class each morning. Center – two classmates play “astronaut” during activity time. Right – While wearing an astronaut costume, a student makes a painting of the moon’s cratered surface.
It soon became
obvious that all of the students wanted to identify as astronauts, so not only
did they make art pieces where their faces were combined with astronaut
pictures, but they were able to wear full astronaut costumes with helmets in
the classroom’s Space Activity Center. One inspired preschool parent, Yue Ma,
enhanced the activity center by building a kid-sized, 3D, cardboard rocket ship
playhouse and also a wooden-cutout rocket ship with scenic background that all
the children could use.
Left – The rocket ship wooden cutout, painted by parent Yue Ma, helped students bring their space dreams to life. Right – Moms play astronaut with their children during Mothers Visiting Day. (On the back wall, student-made rocketships provide additional decoration to the classroom’s Space Activity Center.
When the rocket ships props showed up, Preschool Teacher Sayra Rubio became inspired to make a movie with the students playing astronauts in space talking about the planets. Using the school’s video room and Communications Department staff, the filming and editing took place over a two-week time span.
Preschool students were filmed “floating in space” in the school’s green-screen video room. (Note the 3D cardboard spaceship playhouse on set, built by parent Yue Ma, which was used in the filming.)
The parent-made spaceships and the classroom astronaut costumes were all used in the movie, and each student had time on camera either walking on the moon or pretending to float in space in front of a green screen. Afterwards, the students’ own narration of space facts was recorded and combined with the footage. The final movie was shown to students and parents on Mothers and Grandparents Visiting Day, and all the moms were given a copy of the movie for their family memories.
Clairbourn Preschool students have been studying the planets. They learned planet names and facts, dressed up like astronauts, played in a classroom spaceship made of cardboard, and filmed green-screen video segments to help create this presentation.
Watch Clairbourn preschoolers what they know about outer space, the planets, and black holes in their very own movie production!
Additional
memorable moments from the Space STEM Unit included a student asking their
parents take them to a museum so they could see a real rocket ship! Two other students decided to create their
own solar system using clay and Play Doh to interest their fellow
classmates. And, one additional student
took the initiative to make a self-narrated slide presentation about black
holes just so she could share her excitement about the subject with the
class.
This kind of enthusiastic subject exploration is the result of the teacher and child-initiated programming opportunities offered by Clairbourn’s preschool program, with the end goal to create pre-academic readiness and a life-long love of learning in each student.
Clairbourn School Provides Private School Education for Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary School, and Middle School Grades | Serving Families in the Pasadena, California, Area and Surrounding Cities (K-12 Private Schools) Clairbourn is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Click here to request information.
Now that Clairbourn School students are spending all of their time at home due to COVID-19 sheltering in place, many of our parents are feeling like full-time maids on top of their overwhelming normal responsibilities. Lack of help from family members in tidying-up can lead to a breakdown in morale among family members when some don’t do their fair share. But the good news is, learning to help is part of each student’s character education and it is part of building up their inner sense of purpose and value.
Dr. Robert Myers from the Child Development Institute published an insightful article last year called, “The Reason Children Should Do Chores is Because it’s Good for Them.” He wants parents to know that, “Giving children chores can make them feel wanted, teach important life skills, and help ease the workload for parents. Recent studies have found that giving children chores from an early age will help teach them work ethic, responsibility, self-reliance, and other vital life skills.”
Author Stephanie Simpson McLellan agrees in her article, “6 Ways to Get Kids to Help Out at Home,” and explains, “It just makes sense: If your kids contribute to the mess around the house, they should help tidy it up. Not so much for your sake, but for theirs. ‘One of the biggest problems children experience is that they don’t feel needed,’ says Maggie Reigh author of 9 Ways to Bring Out the Best in You & Your Child. To help kids mature into emotionally healthy adults, ‘they need to feel that their contribution matters,” she says. “Chores are a really tangible way to do that.’”
Don’t tie chores to earning an allowance because the reward should be praise for doing the right thing and contributing to the household.
Everyone knows, however, that asking kids to do chores can result in an endless pushback and nagging cycle that creates misery for everyone. The good news is, there is a way around this major pitfall. Start Slowly!
Janet Lehman’s article, “How to Get Kids to Do Chores Without an Argument” from the website EmpoweringParents.com advises, “Focus on one chore at a time: In order to change behaviors, don’t try to take on too many things at once. It will just overload both you and your child. Pick the most bothersome problem—let’s say it’s putting their dirty clothes in the hamper—and start there. This focus will help both you and your child set realistic expectations, follow-through, and ultimately succeed.”
She continues, “With younger kids, kids with ADHD or those who lack organizational skills, you may need to help them figure out how to approach a task. Some of their resistance to your nagging may have to do with their inability to know where and how to begin. Their room may be so messy and full of stuff that they really don’t know where to begin and simply give up. You can say, “Okay, let’s start with your dirty clothes, then your bed, then the floor…” and take it from there.”
Each family has a wonderful opportunity, while sheltering in place, to help students build the skills of domestic contribution and maintenance. They will be adding to their sense of family contribution and purpose and learn new skills in the process! Our rally cry can be, “Not One Sock Left Behind!”
Clairbourn School Provides Private School Education for Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary School, and Middle School Grades | Serving Families in the Pasadena, California, Area and Surrounding Cities (K-12 Private Schools) Clairbourn is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Click here to request information.
Cranes—the heavy-lifting kind—are all around us, and they perform vital roles in a variety of industries. They can lift or lower tremendous amounts of weight, move loads into position, and enable construction companies to ascend their buildings into the skies. An opportunity to explore the mechanical principles of these fascinating machines was presented to Clairbourn students during their annual Engineering Week Design Challenge in January of 2020.
