The Valley School Home

Recent research about how kids learn has repeatedly shown that academic learning and social-emotional learning are deeply interconnected, and that, in fact, when the two are deliberately intertwined, as they are in playful learning, kids not only experience academic and social growth, they learn how to learn. Learning how to learn not only helps prepare students for 21st century opportunities, it prepares them to be lifelong learners.

On Friday, September 24, Valley students and teachers from all grades marched to the small park near the intersection of Madison Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. Waving signs about climate change – The seas are rising, and so are we. Save our earth, save the women. Plants, not profit – our students gave voice to their concerns about the impact of the environmental crisis on people and our planet.

This week during recess something spectacular happened! The first graders found long boards and combined them with the swings to create thrilling, dynamic seesaws. Watching them experiment with how to make these new toys work was a treat. Great questions spilled out of the first grade tinkerers: Where should we balance the board? Where should we each stand to make this work? Can we add different numbers of people to each side? Can we swing and seesaw at the same time?