From the Classroom

  • Abby’s Corner – Community, 21st Century Skills, and Parent Resources

    November 8, 2018

    Building Community Well, it only took three years but finally Team Tapscott scored a win at the annual Panther Picnic Tapscott vs. Avis race! It certainly helped that I had the support of some of the Tapscott team, as Rachel and Luis helped bring it home for us! It was once again a super fun..

  • Get Jazzed About Math!

    September 11, 2018

    You may have heard a PS teacher talk about teaching math for conceptual understanding, and you may have wondered what that looks like in the classroom. You also may have wondered how that’s different from how you learned math. At Prospect Sierra, a deep, conceptual understanding of math means that a student understands the “why”..

  • Building Skills That Make Us Human

    July 6, 2018

    Exponential advances in digital technologies are reshaping the ways people work, creating uncertainty about how best to prepare learners for the future. Andrea Saveri, a futurist partnering with KnowledgeWorks and a Prospect Sierra parent, is helping to bring direction and insight to our school community. “We owe it to current and future students to reframe..

  • Our Commitment to Greening Goes Deep

    May 3, 2018

    Prospect Sierra’s 2018 Earth Week began Sunday, April 22, the date celebrated internationally as Earth Day since 1970. Here at Prospect Sierra there are continued efforts to deepen the curriculum and practices around sustainability every day. Earth Week allows us to take pause and acknowledge this year’s projects and share some special events that the..

  • Poetry and Inspiration with 8th Grader Estella Zhou

    April 23, 2018

    Some of you may recall that around this time last year we highlighted the achievements of then 7th grader, Estella Zhou, after she won two medals in a national competition for her short story, China Bird, and her flash fiction piece, The Sunbirds. Both were selected by creative professionals as the most accomplished in the..

  • Introducing…Middle School Matters: Math!

    February 8, 2018

    When my eighth grader asks for help with his algebra homework, I smile inside. I love doing algebra! I love doing math, grappling with a problem and sticking with it. That wasn’t always the case.  Growing up, even though I was fairly good at math, it wasn’t fun. It was an individual experience, never collaborative...

  • Abby’s Corner – Winter Performance, Technology, and More

    December 12, 2017

    Building Community As 2017 comes to a close, teachers and students are heavily immersed in our preparation for our Winter Performance, Anansi the Spider. During the two weeks prior to our performance, instead of adhering to our typical class schedule, we employ a project based learning focus and have created 90 minute blocks for students..

  • Books, Books, Books! Elementary Edition

    December 7, 2017

    The weather is cooler and the days are shorter – what better time to cuddle up on the couch with books recommended by our amazing Tapscott teachers (and even our principal)! I recently spent some time in the faculty lounge basking in the brainpower of our K-4 teachers and asked them about their favorite kids’..

  • Sharing Stories, Building Community

    October 19, 2017

    We started the school year with such a burst of joy–from greeting new families and welcoming old friends, to celebrating our community at Panther Picnic. As always, being at Prospect Sierra gives me a tremendous amount of happiness and sense of purpose. This year I made it a goal to spend at least a few..

  • Abby’s Corner: How We Do Community

    October 5, 2017

    Building Community We are officially entering the second month of school! The first weeks of school for teachers are always about building the classroom community, as this is an essential building block for the learning students will engage in all year long. Recently I saw Vivian, our Kindergarten Assistant Teacher, looking at one of her..