By Cissel | Published:
March 8, 2010
Even after the wild weather last week, DDS forged ahead with two events on Saturday. The fifth grade proudly held its opening of the Hudson River School from 10:00 to 12:00 at the Rhinebeck Savings Bank. This show will remain up until March 31. I hope you can drop by to see the students’ beautiful work. That same day, the six members of the Robotics Team, Crash Test Dummies, participated in the second round of regional qualifications with a chance for world’s in Taiwan. The team performed well and earned a second place award for team work. They are not making plans to fly to Taiwan, but they are inspired to try again next year.
Looking at the long-range forecast, weather predictions look uneventful between now and spring vacation. On the remote chance that we do have two more snow days for a total of nine, we will use Monday, March 29, as our make-up day. Let the fair weather dancing commence!
By Cissel | Published:
February 9, 2010
Earlier this week I read an article by Susan Engel, a senior lecturer in psychology and director of the teaching program at Williams College, in which she talked about what children should be able to do when they leave elementary school. She falls clearly on the one side of an educational debate that has been raging for years. On one side is the philosophy that students need to build as wide and deep a reservoir of knowledge to understand their place in and meaning of life. The other side states that we must establish the skills and habits of the mind to meet the myriad challenges children will inevitably face as adults. Susan falls on the latter side.
She believes that developing internal resources and independence will allow children to solve any problem they encounter in the future. Specifically, Engel states that children should “develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later.” She adds that “they should be able to read a chapter book, write a story and a compelling essay; know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply numbers; detect patterns in complex phenomenon; use evidence to support an opinion; be a part of group who are not your family and engage in an exchange of ideas in a conversation.” Sounds easy, but in practice, schools, especially those that teach to the test or must follow prescribed curricula, can get caught up in grades, test scores and results.
I believe that Engel is on to something. Though it isn’t new, it is worth revisiting. We need to expose children to a wide variety of programs in school from art and music to numbers and words to physical education and the outdoors. Finding time during the day to play, for example, can allow children to satisfy their curiosity about the things that naturally interest them. Having sustained conversations with small groups of students and providing time for them to share their opinions, support their views and ask questions is another life skill.
Test scores and grades are a fact of life, but looking beyond them and recognizing the skills and attitudes children need in their tool box, so to speak, to creatively and independently find solutions is what matters most.
By Cissel | Published:
December 8, 2009
The Book Fair Committee has transformed the Bontecou Gym into one of the wonders of the DDS world. You will not be able to resist buying at least one book and there are hundreds if not thousands from which to choose. I hope to see you there. It is one of the magnificent school events of the year!
When my wife, Lisa, and I raised our three children, one of my favorite times of the day was curling up in bed reading a book to each of them every night of the week. No matter how busy our lives were at that time, we made it a point to read with them each night. They loved it as much as we did. I’m surprised to see that many of the books we read to them then remain popular today — Good Night Moon, Olivia and Corduroy. A love for books starts at an early age and continues forever. I see this in my own children and study after study show that reading to children at a young age is one of the keys to developing a love for literature.
The Dutchess Day Book Fair parents have thoughtfully selected a wide variety of books for all levels and interests of readers and I can’t wait to browse the aisles. Anyone looking for a bedtime reader? I’m available!
One important calendar note: last summer we decided to move the Holiday Concert to the middle of the week in case of snow, to Wednesday, December 16, 1:00 p.m. (snow date Friday, December 18).
By Cissel | Published:
November 24, 2009
Eighth graders recently embarked on a service learning program spearheaded by the Community Service Committee. The students visit a local convalescent home, the Greenbrier, where they interact with the residents by playing games, documenting their oral histories and constructing craft projects. I was fortunate enough to join the class last Friday afternoon. Pairs of eighth graders visited with a resident to ask a series of questions about their lives, from place of birth and family life to vocations and hobbies. The students were deeply touched by the experience, and showed impressive patience and maturity.
Kudos to the sixth grade for the spectacular production of their musical, Follow that Rabbit. This was a community event par excellence with support from so many corners of the school, including sixth grade parents and many upper school students and teachers. Special thanks go to the directors of the show, Ms. Park, Ms. MacFarlane and Ms. Bialek. I’ve never seen the dining room more crowded than it was for the Friday performance.
Thank you for your vigilance regarding keeping sick students home to recuperate. Our attendance record remains excellent in comparison to those of other schools. We are doing a good job preventing the spread of germs.
By Cissel | Published:
November 5, 2009
Last Friday was busy and energized with Halloween spirit. The Halloween Parade, class parties and the DDS Monster Mash were all great successes. Here at DDS, the Parents Association did it again. So many people were involved and I thank them for making our Friday events successful. Parents were involved at all levels, from the class representatives who organized the parties to those who decorated the gym, fed our guests and cleaned up the Monster Mash. I want to give special thanks to Tiffany Macedonia for orchestrating all the details to make the Monster Mash run so smoothly.
By Cissel | Published:
November 4, 2009
Halloween is a favorite holiday in many households with small children. I know it was for my family as our children grew up. This week, the exciting schedule here at school, with spirit week, the Halloween parade and Friday’s Monster Mash, adds to the sense of expectation and enthusiasm the children feel.
We recommend you maintain healthy habits throughout this holiday season, and to help you keep an eye on your children, our school nurse Jenny Funk tracks illnesses here at school with a careful eye. As you know, she receives weekly updates from the State Department of Health. We recommend four websites to you. They are listed below. We will post them on our website as well.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/freeresources/2009-10/pdf/pan_flu_flier.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/freeresources/2009-10/pdf/what_to_do_if_you_get_sick.pdf
http://www.schoolhealthservicesny.com/uploads/H1N1%20School%20Checklist.pdf
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/cold-guide/flu-cold-symptoms
The last web address provides a checklist of cold vs. flu symptoms.
By Cissel | Published:
September 8, 2009
Welcome to Mr. John Cissel’s Head of School Page
I am the Head of Dutchess Day School and welcome you to my blog. I’m joining each teacher in the school this year when we each have our own blog on the school’s new web site. The purpose of the page is to help families learn more about the teachers and what they teach. In addition, we expect that we will improve communication between school and home. In the remote chance we close school for a period of time, the pages will be used to keep the teacher’s students up-to-date on their class work and assignments.
I will use my page to post articles that I will write and offer families links to articles, books or other educational resources which I recommend.
Two books I do recommend to you are books the faculty read over the summer, A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink and, The Last Child in the Woodsby Richard Louv. At our opening faculty meeting of the year, we talked about our reactions to these books and what we learned from them. The first book talked about the kinds of skills and attitudes children will need for personal and professional success. Skills and attitudes which are different from those which people needed in the past. The number of resources Pink offers for teachers and parents to use for follow-up, assessment and personal growth is impressive. The premise of Louv’s book details the reasons why and importance of children needing to spend more time out of doors connecting to their natural world. I do see the distinct advantages of having children freely exploring the outdoors. Enrolling children in adult-led after school activities inhibits a child creative and problem-solving development. “Down time” after school provides time for children to grow in a number of healthy directions.
At DDS, we strive to establish a wide and solid foundation of basic skills so that when eighth graders graduate they will be able to write, compute, think and speak confidently. We balance this with a broad curricular and co-curricular program that will tap into each child’s natural interests to that they also graduate knowing who they are and what makes them happy.
By Cissel | Published:
September 6, 2009
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