Dear Friends,As a writer, I am seldom at a loss for words. However, as the events of this past week have unfolded, the speed and profundity of change has challenged even my exceptional verbosity. Like many of you, I prepared to homeschool my three kids this week with a wary combination of apprehension and dread. …
Thanks to the outpouring of gratitude from our families, we are honored to bring you a second edition of our Friday Snapshot featuring the remainder of our family thank you notes. Here again are our Parker families, speaking in their own words… Nellie, Thanks to your endless preparation, perseverance, and loving presence, the 4/5’s continue to …
One of the most difficult things about our sudden school closure has been the loss of community traditions that we have come to treasure as milestones. This past Friday, April 3rd, would have marked our annual Shakespeare Night — a marvel of endearing and side-splitting performances by every grade in the school. However, the spirit …
These past two weeks have been laden with processing the news from our governor that school is closed for the remainder of the year. Although this news is difficult on many levels, it is wise to acknowledge that we do our students and teachers a grave disservice in interpreting it at face value. While there …
This past week, Parker’s PreK classrooms celebrated The Week of the Young Child, a nationally honored event amongst early childhood educators and the young children in their care. This week of acknowledgement was started by the NAEYC , and is held as much to honor the very young as it is to raise awareness about the importance …
Student-centered learning is at the heart of Parker’s progressive model of education. Earlier in the year, we unpacked what a student-centered education looks like here at Parker, and why it is integral to fostering a love of learning in our children. Today, we will examine the heart of what makes student-led learning so successful here …
This past Monday, our Parker 6th grade (with the support of Parker STEM teacher John Sherry) participated in Kids CAN Build!, an event hosted by Shalom Food Pantry at Crossgates Mall in Colonie. In its inaugural year, Kid’s CAN Build is a project for middle school students that brings awareness to food insecurity locally while …
This Tuesday, students in our 2-3 and 8th grade classes spent the day at Staats Island collecting science data as a part of the annual A Day In The Life of the Hudson event. The eighth graders took on the role as science teachers for our younger students, leading them through stations where they learned about aquatic life …
One hallmark of a Parker education is that our students are prepared. We were reminded of that during a recent visit from a 2019 alumni, who stopped by to relate that his first days of ninth grade were going well. He laughed, recalling how his new school had told the ninth graders that they would …
Parker teachers are always searching for ways to enrich our program here at Parker by creating opportunities that excite students about learning. Eight years ago, with that in mind, we developed an exchange program with St. Peter’s School in Barcelona, Spain. Parker hosts our international friends every other year for a week of progressive education …