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A Day in the Life
…of Here it is, your front
row seat for viewing the magic that happens when Sparhawk students
walk -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Monday/Wednesday) "Okay, so it all
starts off as I walk through the doors of Sparhawk after a long and
relaxing weekend, as I get ready to work as hard as I worked the week
before." It is Monday morning, and the Snowy Owls, one multi-age class of sixth and seventh graders, are arriving at school, toting their supplies in their backpacks, a written reflec-tion of the previous week in their journals, a smile on their faces, and innumerable wonders in their minds. The first stop is at the lockers. "Bang! Slam! The sound
of lockers reverberates through the hallway. I step through the doorway
and I enter a room scattered with kids chattering and organizing. Somehow,
I stash all of my stuff into the end-of-the-row locker. With binder,
journal, pencil, and homework tucked under my arm, I drop it all onto
my usual place. After depositing all my homework into Danielle's star-speckled
in-box, I send a round of greetings to my teacher and friends. As I
settle in by my materials, I glance at the whiteboard." "We all set our chairs
around in a circle, and, first, the teachers make their announcements
for the week. Then the students bring up some events also. These consist
of after school clubs, the play, field trips, what will happen Friday
afternoon, fundraising...and that's just the beginning of it." Students and teachers alike offer suggestions, express concerns, and celebrate the successes of our community. When the meeting is over, students transition back to their home classrooms. Once there, the Snowy Owls begin their morning activity. On Mondays, students participate in a lateral thinking game in which they solve a Monday Morning Mystery by asking yes or no questions until they discover enough information to solve the puzzle. Then we go over the Independence Plan for the coming week. "The Independence Plan is a sheet that shows all the homework assignments of the week and when they're due. This lets us plan when we can do our homework." -Leigha On Wednesdays, students arrive in the classroom to find a theme-related quotation written on the white board. Our theme this year is the Twentieth Century and Beyond. These quotations have been chosen for their cultural relevance, potential for eliciting strong opinions, connection to the lives of the students, and introduction to important persons in recent history. "We have taken apart quotes by Gandhi, Albert Einstein, and other well-known people." -Conor "I write the quotation into my journal and think about what the quotation means. I write down my thoughts. After we are done, we share what each person thought about the quotation." -Eliza After our morning activity, the room comes alive with imagination as the students begin Writers' Workshop. This is a time when students dedicate their time to creating original works and developing their style, voice, and skills in literary craft. They work independently, exploring different genres, or they conference with peers or the teacher to receive feedback and then edit their writing in response. " You can either "free write", or we also have conference sheets that have some writing topics that you can choose from for your other individual writing assignment that is due Friday." -Emily "After we complete a piece, we put it into our writing folder. Then we have a quick 15-minute break. The school store will open and you can buy snacks. The money collected by the school store goes to the end of the year trip." -Chris Students at Sparhawk often express their appreciation for the opportunity to work at their own pace inmathematics classes. Teachers act as personal math coaches for the students, who are placed in courses that tease the edges of their understanding enough to challenge them, yet give them the support they need to be truly successful. Some students are grateful for the freedom to blaze ahead on their math trail. Other students take a more deliberate pace and experience math success for the first time. "Before I came to Sparhawk, I used to absolutely hate math, but Sparhawk made it fun for me to learn." -Conor "One thing I like about Math is that you can go at your own pace. Everyone in my homeroom class may be at a different level and goes to a different math teacher with a different math book, too." -Eliza "Each student, whether younger or older, gets into a math book that they are comfortable in." -Chris After being immersed in numbers and mathematical ideas, the students are ready to relax and have fun. "Lunch is next. I eat and talk, play outside, swing on the swing, have a snowball fight, dance, listen to music, walk with my friends, give free hugs, and much more. "-Kelly
"Our next class is Socratic Seminar. That's when we work the most. We really put on our thinking caps!" -Cassi "Socratic Seminar is where we go into great detail about something. One of our subjects has been, 'What is the difference between knowing something and understanding something?' Then after we got this question, we tried to figure out the answer. It is philosophy." -Chris "Today we're 'deciphering' a poem by Henry Reed. This is our second session with it, but sometimes that happens. I remember one year we did Animal Farm by George Orwell and after a couple months, we had only gotten through a little bit. In Socratic Seminar, it is all right if you spend weeks on one or two chapters. It is the deeper understanding you acquire from the discussion that matters. -Angela "I like this time a lot because I like discussing what things mean, how different people feel about it, and adding on to that. Danielle isn't really a part of it. She just tallies how many times each person has talked. Everyone has to contribute at least two sentiments." -Eliza After Socratic Seminar on Wednesdays, it is time for our Outdoor Activity. The Snowy Owls look forward to Adventures. "Now, here is a fun part of the day: it's Adventures. This is when we teens get to play pretend. Right now we are in Birkenau in a concentration camp in 1942. We are trying to get an evil crow to turn to our side. The problem that we just figured out is that he is a spy (which is very bad) and we told him a lot of secret information. If you are wondering how a crow is a spy and can talk, well... Danielle plays all of the characters, like the protector, Agent Emerald." -Hannah "When we started Adventures
in the beginning of the year, I did not like them. But after we split
into smaller groups I could see their real purpose. I am learning about
history, science, and even decoding. During this time, we are sent on
a mission, and then we are supposed to complete the mission. Last time
we had to decode Morse code to find a letter. It turns out it was fake
and some of us were captured. But that's Adventures for you." In Adventures, students participate in quests through the rich history and cultures of the twentieth century. Each student has the opportunity to shape the adventure, and the intense collaboration required teaches invaluable skills in working as a community towards a common goal. Our thematic curriculum is woven into the script of these adventures, and the motivation to succeed helps make the curriculum come alive. Students engage in physical and intellectual challenges to vanquish the foes they encounter during their travels through time and history. During this same ninety-minute time slot on Mondays, students gather their science journals and other materials to attend science classes with Dr. Ruth Young. The focus areas of this science study are tailored to our theme as well. In a world struggling with the ethics of human cloning, Sparhawk students learn about the ways in which genetic codes guide the cycle of life. "We will study one thing for about three weeks. We can sometimes go into detail, as well. In the past, we learned about genetics. We made up fantasy creatures and pretended to breed them to see what characteristics the newborn would have. The Science class lasts for one hour and a half. Then we go back to our homerooms and have an end of the day meeting. We talk about how the day went, homework for the next day, and maybe a problem we are having." -Chris "The room, once slightly cluttered, is now spotless. The Inspector okays it. Downstairs, the echoing of lockers is duplicate to the morning. Choruses of 'Bye,' or 'See you tomorrow!' or 'I'll call you!' or 'Come on!' drift about. The locker room begins to empty and I go upstairs and outside. There, kids mill about and a slanted line of cars are patiently waiting for their kids." -Angela On Mondays, some students elect to stay at school and attend a meeting of the Philosophy club. Others stay to work on projects and spend time with friends. When the day is done, all of the Snowy Owls go home to rejuvenate and incubate their full and enriching learning experiences. Tuesday/Thursday "Sparhawk is a place where everyone can be themselves and enjoy it; also, people will enjoy you being yourself." -Joel The Firebirds, Sparhawk's
eighth and ninth grade students, begin to arrive at the North Campus
around 8 o'clock. They make their way into the building, greeting other
students and teachers with smiles and some kind words. Downstairs in
the locker room, students place their lunches and any books they won't
immediately need in their lockers. They take journals, pens, pencils,
and books necessary for the start of the day to the home classroom. "Our classroom is very
cheery. The walls are painted lemon yellow, and comfy chairs and couches
welcome students in the morning." "If there are people inside the room, I will be greeted with a friendly 'Hey!' or 'Good morning.'" -Ayla The couches and comfortable chairs, donated by generous parents, form an arc around the whiteboard and a cheerful rug adorned with a fish pattern. On the whiteboard, students find their assignment for Free Write, and write about the topic in their journals for fifteen minutes. The topics have varied from philosophical questions to get their minds going, to jumping-off points for a subsequent class. "Every day we get something
creative to write about." "Free write is a way
for us to exercise our minds, as you would for a sport with your muscles,
to prepare for the rest of the day." Lately, the Firebirds have
written "snapshots" and "thought shots", to help
them become better descriptive writers. The morning Free Writes are
familiar to them now, and they approach writing quite differently than
they did at the beginning of the year. "I like…discovering things and decoding poems. It is like decoding a language." -Lauren However, most of this time is spent writing and sharing writing. The Firebirds write in a workshop format. Sometimes, they will use their morning " free write" in the lesson and read their work aloud. "The great thing is:
when people have a question or comment about something, they aren't
afraid to open up and share what they need to say." Customarily, they receive
brief instruction in an area of writing and use the time to write on
their own. At times, they will quietly conference with fellow students
or the teacher in "The Lounge", so as not to disturb their
classmates. Toward the end of the class, the Firebirds may at times,
for example, write sentences on the board and, with their teacher, analyze
their grammar. They often find that the language they use so freely
is more complicated than they ever imagined, when analyzed. They also
discover that while they may not have been consciously aware of the
specific rules, they most often construct sentences correctly!
Other students dash to the
locker room to get snacks. The school store is open during break, and
those with extra money buy snacks and drinks, knowing that any money
the store earns will go towards the school trip at the end of the year.
Some students relax on the couches and chat with their friends. Students
who need to complete homework find a quiet place to work, and some Firebirds
keep working on their writing just because they are so inspired. "The classes are very
small, so we each get lots of attention." "At Sparhawk, students needn't be worried about tests, because they only reflect your strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you get a certain problem wrong, Neil would teach you about it until you got it right! If you need help on something, it's easy to get it." -Quinby Everyone breaks for a forty-five
minute lunch at 11:30. Students venture to the locker room to retrieve
their lunches. The school store opens again, and many people buy snacks
and drinks. Firebirds eat their lunches in their homeroom or in either
of the classrooms upstairs. On nice days, most of them will take their
lunches outside. After they are finished eating, many students participate
in outdoor games and sports. Others choose to socialize with friends. "We are in the process
of recording songs that we wrote."
"I learn new things every day, and that's a special quality Sparhawk has…" -Joel
It is Friday in Emerson Hall
on the main campus of Sparhawk. In spite of a long and challenging week
of classes, students are buoyant in anticipation of Enrichments. Some
Rocs, the bird name of another multi-age grouping of sixth and seventh
graders, are flying about the room, engaged in animated chatter, others
are playing music on the piano or percussion instruments, and still
others are outside enjoying a morning romp in the woods. "I enjoy them because, to a certain extent, you can choose what you'd like to learn about based on what seems interesting." -A.J. So far this year, he has also taken Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs I and II, and Reincarnation, Karma,and Past Lives, a comparative religion course where views about after-life were explored. Each student chooses his or her own courses for Enrichments from a plethora of diverse and exciting choices. Teachers and administrators do their absolute best to accommodate students' interests. They offer classes in subjects rarely available in upper school. These classes express the expertise and interests of our faculty, as well. Students take courses from adults (and sometimes other students!) who are positively enthusiastic about sharing their skills and knowledge. "They help me exercise the areas of learning I enjoy. I have never not enjoyed enrichments." -Casey Casey has also taken such exciting courses as Make a CD, Shakespeare on Stage, and Creativity in Writing. The fun of learning is one of the most important aspects of the Enrichments. Students who enjoy learning will enjoy school and their experience will be positive. Students at Sparhawk want to come to school, not only because Enrichments are fun, but because they recognize the power of the learning experience. "If I were to describe
Enrichments to a person from a different school, I would use one word
- FUN! -although they're educational as well." Hannah has already taken Treefort Building, Yearbook, Piñata Making, Sun's Path of Honor, Shadow Art, and Reincarnation, Karma, and Past Lives. "I personally think
that enrichments are fun. I am in the computers class and I have learned
how to make a web page in just a few weeks." Students choose two ninety
minutes courses for each six week enrichment session. Students from
grades two through nine are intermingled in these multi-age classes
that meet on Fridays from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., and from 11:00 a.m. to
12:30 p.m. In their half-hour break between the two courses, students
have the opportunity to interact with children from the Farm School,
and to explore the woods at the main campus.
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Home - Lower School - Middle School - High School - Contact Us
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through
the door of the school they love. This patchwork essay, composed primarily
of quotes from students in grades 6-9, allows you a glimpse inside
the minds and experiences of the students as they discover more about
themselves and the world around them in our joyful learning environment.
As our schedule is different throughout the week, and each student's
schedule is unique, we decided to ask each class to take us on a journey
through a different and representative day.
During
break time, the Sparhawk campus buzzes with social activity. Students
gather in clusters of friends ("Yes, everyone has friends here!"
-Kelly Gallagher) conversing and munching on snacks, or they dash outside
to play a quick pickup game of soccer, touch football, or basketball.
There are as many activities as there are ideas. 
In
Music, students explore everything from the history of music to composition
to theory. Art and Music classes are an hour and a half long, allowing
the students to spend sufficient time to work through projects that stimulate
their creative energies.