James Pass Arboretum Project

Over the summer of 2014, teachers at The New School decided that the older students would take part in a year-long study of trees, where they would learn about tree identification, and how the study of a tree’s habit, its leaves, bark and fruit provide identification clues. As we researched our options of places we could visit for this purpose, we quickly narrowed our search down to the James Pass Arboretum, a 13.8 acre plot located at the City's western edge. The James Pass Arboretum was donated to the City of Syracuse on Arbor Day, 1925, by Adelaide Pass in memory of her late husband James Pass. This decision led us to meeting volunteer and west side resident, Tim Reglin, who has become an integral part of our yearlong study.

After our first visit to the Arboretum we realized we had discovered a secret gem in the Syracuse Parks system. The children decided to conduct a survey at the Westcott Cultural Fair to get an idea of how many people have heard of the James Pass Arboretum and visited it. After randomly interviewing 50 individuals they found that 80% had never heard of the Arboretum. Sadly, even less people (92%) had ever visited the Arboretum.

One thing the children noticed was that without Tim helping us identify the trees, there would be no way for a visitor to learn about the wide variety of trees in the park. The Arboretum desperately needs a new labeling system. Previous attempts to this end had been vandalized or lost. Adelaide Pass intended that her 13.8 acre gift to the City be used as a "scientifically managed collection of trees and shrubs able to survive the climate in Central New York.” We would like to work on helping restore this museum of trees into a well used educational resource for not only Syracuse residents, but for all visitors to the area.  

Native Americans and their Biomes Part II

After creating a landscape depicting the biome where their Native Tribe lived, children were given a Native American myth or legend to read and study. Each child was challenged to retell the story to their peers using all the skills ably demonstrated by gifted storyteller, Vanessa Johnson. Some of skills the children identified when Vanessa shared some oral stories were: She showed enthusiasm, used voices of different people, used the audience to interest and involve the audience, used eye contact and spoke loudly. The children took this assignment seriously and enjoyed the retelling of some fascinating stories. Some of the books children studied were the Abenaki tale: How two feathers were changed from the loneliness and the Inuit tale "Kayakatuk" and Coyote Makes a Man - Native American Story from the Great Plains.

As children fine tuned their text describing the language, culture, beliefs and way of life of their tribe, we collected one more time to synthesize the information we had amassed over three months of study.

Flying Airplanes!

How do airplanes fly? That is a question that our younger students (K-2) explored during Investigations. They made paper airplanes and tested them to see how far they could fly. Then they modified their planes to see if they could get them to fly farther. They compared their recorded distances to draw their conclusions.

Civil War Class

The oldest group of students finished up their in depth study of the Civil War. After learning about the local abolitionist movement and underground railroad here in Syracuse at the Onondaga Historical Association, the students analyzed the causes of the war from both the north and souths perspective. They read and interpreted the inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. To better understand what life was like during the war, they read and analyzed primary source letters from women, children, nurses, and confederate, union and black soldiers. As a home project with their families they interpreted the Gettysburg Address and put it into their own words. In small groups, they studied the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Each student researched and presented about a Civil War Heroine. To summarize and round out the unit they watched the Freedom: A History of Us videos A Fatal Contradiction and A War to End Slavery where they had remarkable discussions sharing their ideas and feelings about freedom, contradiction, the emancipation proclamation, reconstruction, Gettysburg, how students learn about the Civil War in the south, law and equality.

Mr. Wizard, aka Buzzy Dale, Mystery Guest

The New School now has its own Mr. Wizard! Buzzy Dale (Chloe's father) is sharing his love of teaching science and knowledge as we explore electricity and magnetism. His first demonstration had the children enraptured as he demonstrated how electricity flows through conductors, and is stopped by insulators. He also demonstrated how materials vary in their resistance and how electricity creates heat and can be used to do work. The use of a blow torch caused all kinds of excitement! There is more to come!

Megan Wagner-Flynn visits as a Mystery Guest

Megan Wagner-Flynn visited The New School, not as Evan's sister, but as a Mystery Guest! The students guessed that she was here to share about her experience as a former student at The New School and they were right. Megan brought 3 of her end of year gifts she received. She shared the meaning of each gift, which represented her passions, her strengths and things she was working towards improving at that time. Megan also shared some meaningful memories and why she appreciates The New School, then and now. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to appreciate their school. Thank you Megan!!

Phil Brill, Mystery Guest

Phil Brill, Valor's Grandpa and author of a children's book, The Red Bottle, was in town visiting his family. He offered to come to school and share his real life story that inspired him to write The Red Bottle. He shared the lovely story of his trip to the beach where he found sea glass. He talked about the process of turning this experience into a book. The students were intrigued with Phil's illustrated story boards that became the pictures in his book. The students had to search for the hidden bottle in each picture! Students are now busy taking turns reading the four signed copies of The Red Bottle that Phil was generous enough to give to The New School.