Caution: Imagination at work

Halloween enhances one of the best characteristics of youth- a powerful imagination! Somewhere between jobs, kids, and making dinner, adults seem to lose this magic. Halloween is the day that best brings this out in us and makes the world childlike again.

The energy, laughter, and joy that has been sprinkled around our school is contagious! I hope you caught a drop of happiness while watching our Lower School costume parade, or the 3rd/4th grade "Thriller" performance.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Testing

Yesterday I proctored the PSAT test for our Upper School students. Before the test began, one of the students said, "I had to practice how to do this type of test." It got me thinking about standardized testing and how little of it we do here at St. Paul's.

In fact, if it was up to us we wouldn't do any at all. Unfortunately, there are certain outside entities that only use this form of data. For example, most colleges require a SAT score. So because we want our students to be able to ace any form of test they come across (including standardized tests) we try to expose them to all types.

So much of our society relies on this form of comparison data. If we want to compare our students to other schools and prove that we have a superior academic product, we must use the same tests. This, coupled with the need to introduce standardized testing, is why we give our 4th grade a standardized test in May. If you have ever seen our students' scores compared to Bellingham Public Schools or compared to all the other 4th graders in Washington, you would see that we are producing superior students.

This is proven by our standardized test scores and many, many, many other non-standard experiences.

A day off?

This Friday there is no school for students. For some of you, it may be interesting to read about what the teachers are up to when our students are absent. Our school is part of a network of other independent schools in the Northwest. My previous school in Anchorage was also part of this network (it is how I found out St. Paul’s needed a Lower School Director).


The network is called NWAIS (Northwest Association of Independent Schools). Once a year NWAIS holds a Fall Educator's conference where hundreds of teachers from schools just like St. Paul’s come together to learn ways to enhance their teaching. It is always held at one of the independent schools in our network and this year it is at Lakeside in Seattle. The theme of this year's conference is “Transformative Moments: the Journey to Inclusive, Welcoming Schools.”


Just as we encourage our students to never stop learning, we also need days for teachers to broaden their own education. I hope that an energized teacher with a pocket full of new ideas will greet you and your child on Monday!

Library

Yes, we have carts of iPads and laptops that allow students to access digital print, but one of our most precious forms of technology here at St. Paul’s is also one of the oldest.... our books!

Over the summer we moved our library to a new, warm, and inviting space. We also expanded our collection by purchasing over 12,000 additional books (the entire library at Whatcom Day Academy), which were distributed to our Preschool, Lower School and Middle/High School libraries.

This year we are also starting a Library Guild, which will help keep our libraries going strong by assisting with book purchasing, cataloging, and running the Markell Hall library. They will also be setting up and running the Scholastic Book Fair at the Lower School on Oct. 7th-20th. If you would like to join the Library Guild please contact Anita Austin 

With all of these opportunities to be exposed to print it is no wonder we have so many students who love to read! Today I saw a girl getting out of her car in the morning while reading, and a boy on the playground couldn’t put his book down because he was so enthralled.

Another great reason we have a library is that students tend to visit the same websites and read similar types of digital print, but if they visit the library they tend to choose something new that catches their eye. They have a librarian to make new recommendations and push them out of their comfort zones. Our library is the reading testing ground, which is full of new genres to explore.

Discovering your reading taste takes exposure to many types of literature. Our aim is for students to leave St. Paul’s with a love of reading whether using new or old technology!


"A sanctuary, a mine of treasure, a house of maps to secret lives in secret worlds… the library became my other home.” - Joy Cowley