Curriculum

It is that time again for the preparation of the annual Geography Bee at Rossman School. Every year, the fourth through sixth graders brave the unknown and take a risk with the GeoBee, and every year I am asked “why do we do this?” This year, instead of saying “because it’s tradition” I decided to talk with the students and together figure out, why do we have the GeoBee? 

While yes, tradition is one reason, we also talked about how our world is ever changing and that can feel overwhelming to us. Students feel these same challenges in social studies and when they witness what is...Read more

This fall I’ve been working my way through Jo Boaler’s book, Mathematical Mindsets (2015). Boaler has authored fourteen books, numerous research articles and is currently a Mathematics Education Professor at Stanford University. Her resources and philosophies about education have been very inspiring to me; they are changing the way I think about math, talk about math, and teach math. In the opening chapters of Mathematical Mindsets, Boaler outlines and dispels common myths that most of us have believed about math. She argues that these myths inhibit learning. I think many...Read more

If you have joined your child for lunch in the dining room lately, you’ve probably noticed the addition of several bins and posters along the side wall. As we’ve settled into our routine here at the beginning of the year, students and staff are redoubling their efforts to make Rossman a more sustainable school. One of the main areas of focus has been decreasing the waste created in our dining room and correctly managing the waste we do create.

When students are finished with their lunches, they carry their trays to the waste station on the side of the dining room. It is here that...Read more

Do you have a child who loves to take risks, who embraces change, who is a “social butterfly?” Or does your child tend to be more reserved, slow to warm to new experiences, and prefer independent or one-on-one play? These are the distinguishing hallmarks between extroverts and introverts. It is estimated that introverts make up 30-50% of our population, but so often introverts feel out of place in a society that seems to value extroversion, particularly in educational environments. First identified by Carl Jung, the concepts of introversion and extroversion have become increasingly...Read more