School News
On June 20, 2024, The Parkside School held its Graduation and Achievement Ceremony for Classes 5-2 and 5-4 at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater on the Upper West Side. During the ceremony, we had the honor of hearing from Austin Lambert, a distinguished Parkside alumnus who graduated in 2017.
One of the most challenging moments for children, and therefore their caretakers as well, can be through transitions. Summer, although fun and joyful, with its transitions and changes can be hard for children who crave consistency. It can be highly beneficial to create home rituals and practices including yoga and mindfulness to provide a sense of constancy amidst all the change.
Our community of alumni continues to excel and make a difference across diverse fields. From dedicated educators and researchers to professionals in museums and healthcare, our graduates are thriving and achieving remarkable milestones.
The month of March was filled with yoga celebrating the blossoming of spring, new yoga games, and deepening our self regulation tools. Games have included Yoga Bingo, Musical Mats, Yoga Jenga, Yoga Stars, Yoga Museum, Detective, Red Light Green Light yoga, and more. Incorporating games into yoga classes offers numerous benefits.
On Thursday afternoon, Shir’s mom, Dr. Orna Issler, came in to teach a lesson on neurology and the brain in Class 5-2. The children learned about the different parts of the brain and their functions.
In February we built upon our repertoire of poses, challenging and strengthening our bodies and minds. We added new poses such as half moon, warrior three, and twisted lunge. Children have also loved a variety of stories and games interwoven with asana such as, Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae and The Troublesome Pig by Priscilla Lamont.
In the month of January after returning from break, we eased into our yoga practice by revisiting familiar songs, asanas, and meditations to provide consistency and predictability to transition back into the school routine.
Sustaining relationships with our past students and their families holds great significance for all of us at Parkside. Observing the personal and professional development of our alumni and celebrating their achievements serves as a constant wellspring of inspiration, motivating us to continue our endeavors for the betterment of our present students.
Project Dorot's "Pearls of Wisdom" are elderly individuals who go into schools to share a story from their lives. In our second year of partnership with Dorot, on Friday morning our children had a chance to meet Vivian Warfield, a vibrant woman with a passion for percussive instruments.
Last year Parkside’s speech department introduced a pilot program called Lively Letters. Along with classroom and reading teachers of 3-1, 3-2 and 3-4, our goal was to increase our students’ sound symbol correspondence. This ability to know and produce a letter sound is a foundational building block to reading. This is no easy task, especially for children with speech and language-based challenges. Enter a program called Lively Letters.