Workshop - April 18, 2020
Follow the Child: Creating Play Experiences for Learning at Home

Parents of children aged 2-7 are invited to come learn with us as we show you how to engage your child in rich, authentic learning experiences utilizing house-hold materials and nature. Weaving together best practices from Reggio Emilia, Montessori and Forest School, our skilled educators will empower you to be a facilitator of learning in your own home. Hear how to tap into your child’s natural curiosity to create play-based opportunities and leave with hands-on ideas and resources. Participants will leave

• Understanding the developmental stages of young children
• Recognizing the role of play in early childhood development
• Knowing how to set the stage for authentic learning
• Feeling confident as facilitators of nature-based learning experiences
• Identifying the importance of independence and responsibility in young children

“Children need the freedom to appreciate the infinite resources of their hands, their eyes and their ears, the resources of forms, materials, sounds and colors.”
- Loris Malaguzzi

Date: April 18, 2020 - Download Flyer
For: Parents 
Location: High Meadows School Preschool Classrooms
Time: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Cost: $75

Event Cancelled

Workshop - June 1-2, 2020
Learning Through Inquiry

How do educators increase student engagement, prepare students for the future and develop student agency? Come learn how an inquiry pedagogy and classroom culture of curiosity has the capacity to take student thinking to a higher level, engage all learners, and encourage conceptual understanding and connections between skills and knowledge of multiple disciplines.

Appropriate for preschool, early elementary, and elementary school educators. This workshop will explore:

• creating an environment for inquiry
• inquiry models
• integrated learning
• structures to support inquiry
• role of provocations
• assessment to support inquiry
• instructional strategies
• teacher’s role and stance

“What's in a question you ask? Everything. It is evoking stimulating response or stultifying inquiry. It is, in essence, the very core of teaching.”
- John Dewey

Date: June 1-2, 2020 - Download Flyer
For: Educators 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $200 (discounts for groups of 4 or more)

Event Cancelled

Workshop - June 3-4, 2020
Investigating the World: Using Archaeology Skills to Enhance Learning

High Meadows School Teachers grades 3-8 are invited to join us for a workshop introducing the award-winning, inquiry- based PROJECT ARCHAEOLOGY curricula that engages learners and teaches four enduring understandings:

• Understanding the past is essential for understanding the present and shaping the future.
• Learning about cultures, past and present, is essential for living in a pluralistic society and world.
• Archaeology is a systematic way to learn about past cultures.
• Stewardship of archaeological sites and artifacts is everyone’s responsibility.

Learn how to use scientific and historical inquiry to foster understanding of past and present cultures; improve social studies and science education and literacy; and enhance citizenship education to help preserve our archaeological legacy. Workshop participants will receive an archaeology education guide (shelter) that take students through an archaeological investigation.

Date: June 3-4, 2020 - Download Flyer
For: Educators 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $200 (includes lunch; discounts for groups of 4 or more)

Event Cancelled

Workshop - June 5, 2020
Play in the Dirt: Empowering Educators to Take Learning Outdoors

Join us as we explore ways to utilize the outdoors as a natural learning environment for children to encourage exploration, wonder, and creativity! Using best practices in nature-based learning, you will be empowered to create experiences that spark student curiosity, deepen understanding of the world around them, and allow for application of academic skills in the outdoors. Participants will:

• learn about the value and benefits of outdoor education
• understand how nature functions as a teacher
• explore sample lessons and design lessons to incorporate into your own learning environment
• overcome personal and professional obstacles you may encounter when taking learning outdoors

“Active free play, ideally outdoors, is essential for your child's sensory and motor development. Allowing your children time and space to play outdoors on a daiuly basis can significantly improve and encourage healthy development.”
- Angela J. Hanscom

Date: June 5, 2020 - Download Flyer
For: Educators 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $100 (includes lunch)

Event Cancelled

Workshop - June 3, 2019
A Mindful Classroom

Join High Meadows educator counselor Sue Amacker, MA, LPC, NCC in learning how mindfulness can support well-being for students and teachers. The workshop will highlight bringing the benefits of mindfulness to our classrooms, empowering children’s self-management and regulation, and practicing mindfulness as an adult.

• What is mindfulness
• Benefits of mindfulness
• Mindfulness as a classroom tool
• Mindfulness practices that resonate with children
• Building mindfulness practices into our adult lives

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. It’s about knowing what is on your mind.”
- Jon Kabat-Zinn

This single-day workshop includes lunch and a copy of Teach, Breathe, Learn by Meena Srinivasan

Date: June 3, 2019 - Download Flyer
For: Educators 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $100

Past Event

Workshop - June 4-5, 2018
Tools for Transformation: Creating Classroom Cultures of Thinking

In a fast-paced, rapidly changing world, how can teachers insure that the content of instruction today will serve our students in the world of tomorrow? How can we prepare students to live, work and thrive as global citizens in a world as yet unimagined?

In this course we will venture beyond curriculum, standards and benchmarks to explore the tools and techniques that support the greater purpose and promise of education. Join your fellow educators in taking advantage of the opportunity to learn, practice and apply transformational methods to build a culture of thinking in the classroom.

To create a culture of thinking is to:

• focus on learning vs. the work
• teach for understanding vs. knowledge
• encourage deep vs. surface learning
• promote independence vs. dependence
• focus on growth vs. grades

Presented by Brenda Major.

Join High Meadows School art teacher and STEAM integrator Brenda Major as she highlights strategies to weave thinking skills and attitudes through the fabric of all content learning. Brenda has a BA and MA in art from Georgia State University.

Date: June 4-5, 2018 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $150 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Workshop Feedback

“This workshop offered new ways to think and share routines and documentation.”
- JBecky Yardley, High Meadows School

“Rather than add more to what we do as teachers, [this workshop] provided real, useful strategies and tools for doing better.”
- anonymous

Workshop - June 4-7, 2018
Lifting the Level of Student Writing

Come learn with us as we discuss how implementing a writing workshop as part of a balanced literacy framework can elevate every aspect of your students’ writing. Appropriate for both writing workshop novices as well as experienced workshop teachers who want to heighten their practice, this workshop will cover the following topics:

• philosophical foundations of a writing workshop
• key aspects of writing workshop (what it is and what it is not)
• the assessment-planning-teaching cycle in a writing workshop
• writing process and how students move through the process
• the reading-writing connection and the importance of mentor texts
• the structure of a daily writing workshop
• principles of workshop management
• ways writing can be assessed
• potential unit planning process

Presented by Annie Swanlaw.

High Meadows teacher Annie Swanlaw has 13 years of experience teaching children and writing. M.Ed. with focus on literacy, literacy coach, and graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University.

“As we move around the room hearing our students’ stories, our teaching changes our children – and it changes us. Each child becomes infinitely precious to us.... When we feel this way, we stand a chance of making a difference in their lives.”
- Lucy Calkins

Date: June 4-7, 2018 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $400 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Workshop Feedback

“What can you do in order to raise a class of writers who will write for life…attend this workshop!” 
- Tiara Wynn, High Meadows School

“Annie is a dynamic and passionate learner who has a wealth of knowledge to share. The environment in which she taught is admirable and worthy of emulation.”
- Kristin Barnett, Athens Academy

Workshop - June 7-8, 2018
Teaching for Civic Responsibility and Social Justice

How can teachers activate their intellectual empathy to build active, compassionate, responsible, global citizens without being political? Learn how to layer learning to teach differently, not teach more. In this course, we will support teachers acquiring the skills and dispositions to facilitate classroom learning where students become aware of the world, engage in current events and issues, and are involved in their communities. Foundational skills of reading, writing, and questioning work alongside social-emotional skills of empathy building, open-mindedness, and reflection to develop critical consumers of knowledge.

To teach for civic responsibility and social justice is to:

• create safe emotional spaces for sharing perspectives and critical listening
• provide opportunities for student voice and discourse
• utilize rich content to engage students
• promote research and critical thinking
• examine your own bias and ability to remain an impartial facilitator

Presented by Vivien Rosa-Vaccarelli and Kirsten Fournier.

High Meadows teachers Vivien Rosa-Vaccarelli and Kirsten Fournier have a combined teaching experience of 23 years. Vivien holds a B.A. in Art History from Barnard College of Columbia University and a M.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from Middlebury College. Kirsten holds a B.A. in Child Development and Education from Vanderbilt University and a M.ED. in Reading Education from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Date: June 7-8, 2018 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $150 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Workshop Feedback

“The sharing of tools, resources and books was most powerful. Wonderful way to learn how to incorporate social justice into curriculum.”
- Javonne Stewart of Trinity School

“Explore progressive education and how we can use the pedagogy to teach social justice.”
- Heather Schilling of Manchester University

“Build community by giving students a safe space to share their stories.”
- Jen Murphy of The Lovett School

Workshop - June 7-8, 2018
Learning with Inquiry and Innovation

How do educators increase student engagement, prepare students for the future and develop student agency? Come learn how an inquiry pedagogy and classroom culture of innovation has the capacity to take student thinking to a higher level, engage all learners, and encourage conceptual understanding and connections between skills and knowledge of multiple disciplines.

Appropriate for early elementary, elementary, and middle school educators, this workshop will explore:

• creating an environment for inquiry and innovation
• inquiry models
• integrated learning
• structures to support inquiry and innovation
• role of provocations
• assessment to support inquiry and innovation
• instructional strategies
• teacher’s role and stance

Presented by Kerri Irwin and Martha Lee Thwaite.

High Meadows teacher Kerri Irwin earned her MAT degree in Early Childhood Education from Oglethorpe University. She has fifteen years of teaching experience in private, public, and Montessori environments. Martha Lee Thwaite holds a BA in Early Childhood/Elementary Education from Converse College and a MEd from Columbia College in Divergent Education. She has 33 years of teaching experience in Independent Schools and has completed three courses through the Stanford dSchool.

Date: June 7-8, 2018 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $150 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Book Study - Waking Up White
Thursdays: January 11, 18, 25 & February 1, 8, 15, 22

We hope you will join us for a series of conversations on Thursdays in January and February as we discuss Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving. In Ms. Irving's own words:

"Waking Up White is the book I wish someone had handed me decades ago. My hope is that by sharing my sometimes cringe-worthy struggle to understand racism and racial tensions, I offer a fresh perspective on bias, stereotypes, manners, and tolerance. As I unpack my own long-held beliefs about colorblindness, being a good person, and wanting to help people of color, I reveal how each of these well-intentioned mindsets actually perpetuated my ill-conceived ideas about race. I also explain why and how I’ve changed the way I talk about racism, work in racially mixed groups, and understand the racial justice movement as a whole. Exercises at the end of each chapter prompt readers to explore their own racialized ideas. Waking Up White's personal narrative is designed to work well as a rapid read, a book group book, or support reading for courses exploring racial and cultural issues."

Date: Jan 11, 18, 25 & Feb 1, 8, 15, 22 - 2018 - Download Flyer
For: Educators and Parents 
Location: High Meadows School Library
Time: 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Cost: $25

Past Event

Workshop - June 19-22, 2017
Lifting the Level of Student Writing

Come learn with us as we discuss how implementing a writing workshop as part of a balanced literacy framework can elevate every aspect of your students’ writing. Appropriate for both writing workshop novices as well as experienced workshop teachers who want to heighten their practice, this workshop will cover the following topics:

• philosophical foundations of a writing workshop
• key aspects of writing workshop (what it is and what it is not)
• the assessment-planning-teaching cycle in a writing workshop
• writing process and how students move through the process
• the reading-writing connection and the importance of mentor texts
• the structure of a daily writing workshop
• principles of workshop management
• ways writing can be assessed
• potential unit planning process

Presented by Annie Swanlaw.

High Meadows teacher Annie Swanlaw has 13 years of experience teaching children and writing. M.Ed. with focus on literacy, literacy coach, and graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University.

“As we move around the room hearing our students’ stories, our teaching changes our children – and it changes us. Each child becomes infinitely precious to us.... When we feel this way, we stand a chance of making a difference in their lives.”
- Lucy Calkins

Date: June 19-22, 2017 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $400 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Workshop Feedback

“What can you do in order to raise a class of writers who will write for life…attend this workshop!” 
- Tiara Wynn, High Meadows School

“Annie is a dynamic and passionate learner who has a wealth of knowledge to share. The environment in which she taught is admirable and worthy of emulation.”
- Kristin Barnett, Athens Academy

Workshop - June 12-13, 2017
Growing Social Intelligence

Imagine a classroom where children expand their social and emotional selves by showing care for others; where children learn about fairness, justice and advocacy through play; where children think deeply and differently about themselves and others; where children grow into the very best version of themselves. In this course, we will support creating classrooms where students have significance, belonging, compassion, and empathy. Just as children learn best by doing, this will be an active course with a chance for you to see, try and apply teaching tools and strategies to your daily practice, helping children care, play, think, and grow in the social world of the classroom.

To grow social intelligence is to learn to help children:

• develop social and emotional competencies
• become part of a community
• manage themselves
• self-advocate
• communicate

Presented by Cari Newman and Jennifer Hannah.

High Meadows teachers Cari Newman and Jennifer Hannah have a combined teaching experience of 33 years. Cari holds a B.A. in Religion from Emory University and a M.Ed. in Elementary Education from Simmons College. Jennifer holds a B.S. in Child Education from Berry College and a M.Ed. in Reading from Mercer University.

Date: June 12-13, 2017 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $150 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Workshop Feedback

“This workshop gives all the interconnected parts of social intelligence, linking back to brain research and giving teachers practical applications.”
- C. K. of The Galloway School

“Thoughtful and extensive overview of research, techniques, and materials to support children’s social intelligence.”
- Betty Wood of Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool

Workshop - June 12-13, 2017
Teaching for Civic Responsibility and Social Justice

How can teachers activate their intellectual empathy to build active, compassionate, responsible, global citizens without being political? Learn how to layer learning to teach differently, not teach more. In this course, we will support teachers acquiring the skills and dispositions to facilitate classroom learning where students become aware of the world, engage in current events and issues, and are involved in their communities. Foundational skills of reading, writing, and questioning work alongside social-emotional skills of empathy building, open-mindedness, and reflection to develop critical consumers of knowledge.

To teach for civic responsibility and social justice is to:

• create safe emotional spaces for sharing perspectives and critical listening
• provide opportunities for student voice and discourse
• utilize rich content to engage students
• promote research and critical thinking
• examine your own bias and ability to remain an impartial facilitator

Presented by Vivien Rosa-Vaccarelli and Kirsten Fournier.

High Meadows teachers Vivien Rosa-Vaccarelli and Kirsten Fournier have a combined teaching experience of 23 years. Vivien holds a B.A. in Art History from Barnard College of Columbia University and a M.A. in Spanish Language and Literature from Middlebury College. Kirsten holds a B.A. in Child Development and Education from Vanderbilt University and a M.ED. in Reading Education from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Date: June 12-13, 2017 - Download Flyer
For: Teachers 
Location: High Meadows School
Time: 8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Cost: $150 (lunch provided)

Discounted pricing for registering 4 or more.

Past Event

Workshop Feedback

“The sharing of tools, resources and books was most powerful. Wonderful way to learn how to incorporate social justice into curriculum.”
- Javonne Stewart of Trinity School

“Explore progressive education and how we can use the pedagogy to teach social justice.”
- Heather Schilling of Manchester University

“Build community by giving students a safe space to share their stories.”
- Jen Murphy of The Lovett School

Workshop - February 28, 2017
Positive Discipline Parenting

Come learn some common sense solutions to parenting challenges with Director of Support Services Sue Amacker. Positive Discipline is for parents who are looking for long-term parenting skills that will encourage their children

• to think for themselves
• to become more responsible
• to have a greater respect for themselves and others

We will focus on non-punitive, respectful methods that will incorporate kindness and firmness into parenting, help parents get to the core of their child’s misbehavior, bring more joy into the home and give parents a sense of accomplishment.

“Positive Discipline teaches young people from an early age to become responsible, respectful, and resourceful members of their communities. Recent research tells us that children are hardwired from birth to connect with others, and that children who feel a sense of connection to their community, family, and school are less likely to misbehave. Positive Discipline is based on the understanding that the key to positive parenting is not punishment, but mutual respect.”
- Dr. Jane Nelson

Date: February 28, 2017 - Download Flyer
For: Parents 
Location: High Meadows Preschool Classroom
Time: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm
Cost: $100 (lunch provided)

Presented by Sue Amacker, MA, LPC, NCC
and Certified Positive Discipline Parenting Trainer

Past Event

Workshop - February 10, 2017
Using Technology to Connect Children to the Natural World

There is a belief that we must choose between technology and nature. At best these two important parts of our children’s world are viewed as mutually exclusive, at worst they are seen to be in competition with one another. Please join Education for Sustainability Teacher Michelle Griffin to explore ways we can utilize technology to connect with nature. The workshop will highlight ways to get your child outdoors using a variety of resources:

• Discover and use apps your child can use to explore the outdoors.
• Wonder and experiment with device-friendly tools.
• Share and learn ways other parents are managing screen time.

“We need a new way of thinking, one that tightly links the human- made world of economics and politics with the natural world of climate and biodiversity and with the designed world of 21st century technology.”
- Jeffrey Sachs, American economist and director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Date: February 10, 2017 - Download Flyer
For: Parents 
Location: High Meadows School Campus and EfS Classroom
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Cost: $65

Past Event

Book Study - Teach Breathe Learn
January 9, 23, 30 - 2017 (three evening sessions)

We invite you to join us for a book study of Teach, Breathe, Learn by Meena Srinivasan. 

"Mindfulness enables us to connect deeply with ourselves so in turn we can authentically connect with others.”
- Meena Srinivasan

Teach Breathe Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom provides personal stories, research, and practical advice to support adults in developing an understanding and practice of mindfulness. Adults charged with raising young minds and bodies, whether parent or teacher, will benefit from Ms. Srinivasan’s unique approach to weaving a mindfulness practice into our days and our children’s experiences.

"Studies with K-12 students demonstrate ‘improvements in working memory, attention, academic skills, social skills, emotional regulation, and self-esteem, as well as self- reported improvements in mood and decreases in anxiety, stress and fatigue.’ They also show that mindfulness training “can increase teachers’ sense of well-being and teaching self-efficacy, as well as their ability to manage classroom behavior and establish and maintain supportive relationships with students.”
- Meena Srinivasan

Date: January 9, 23, 30 - 2017 - Download Flyer
For: Educators and Parents 
Location: High Meadows School Library
Time: 6:30 - 7:30 pm
Cost: $45 (includes copy of the book)

Past Event

Workshop - December 3
Bringing Mindfulness Into Your Life

Join High Meadows educator Annie Swanlaw and counselor Sue Amacker in learning how mindfulness can support well-being for teachers, parents, and students. The workshop will highlight the power of practicing mindfulness as an adult and how to bring the benefits of mindfulness to children.

• What is mindfulness
• Benefits of mindfulness
• Mindfulness as a classroom tool
• Mindfulness practices that resonate with children
• Building mindfulness practices into our adult lives

Date: December 3, 2016 - Download Flyer
For: Educators and Parents 
Location: High Meadows School Library and Classrooms
Time: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Cost: $85

Past Event