Planning Routes -- Critical Analysis

In a social studies unit that melds programming skills with mapping, our first graders are using Bee Bots to plan routes from their school to a variety of destinations.

The first grade boys were first introduced to the Bee Bots this past fall in technology classes, where they learned how to program the colorful robots to move in a combination of basic directions (front, back, left, right) to a final destination.

In a recent lesson, they applied their programming skills to their social studies mapping unit. This time, they were charged with devising a route for the Bee Bots that began at Saint David’s and ended at an ice cream truck parked at 84th and 3rd Avenue, using the compass rose directions of North, South, East and West. The activity involved strategizing in teams, plotting a route on paper, programming the Bee Bots, and then testing their Bee Bots in action on a grid map.

Later, the boys will move on to mapping out a route from school to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which they will actually take later in the spring.

As part of this unit, they will also visit the observation deck at the Top of the Rock where they will apply their knowledge of landmarks, geography, and mapping.

In this rich unit, which focuses on the landmarks and geography of New York City, we go far beyond teaching facts to our first graders. Instead, we engage them on a deeper level as we ask them to literally get down on the floor — as well as up in a skyscraper — to think critically, test actively and analyze carefully.

Comments

OLIVER!

This morning our fifth graders continued a great year-end tradition at Saint David's, The Fifth Grade Musical. The boys performed Oliver! and they were fantastic, providing impressive performances and demonstrating great vocal ability. They have been mastering the dialogue and musical numbers for weeks, and clearly gave it their all. Congratulations to the cast on a job well done, and to their Producers/Teachers James Hubbard and Jamie MacNeille, Director Phyllis Clark, Musical Conductor Jeff Moore, and the Parent Committee of Cynthia Chapman, Susan Kissane, Tara Neumann, Joyce Restituto, and Ann Roberts. Musical theater is alive and well at Saint David's!

Sixth Graders Meet with Dr. Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at the American Museum of Natural History

Dr. Carter Emmart with Saint David's Sixth Graders This past Friday, as part of our unique partnership with the American Museum of Natural History, sixth graders had the great honor to attend a private lecture given by Carter Emmart, Director of Astrovisualization at AMNH. Dr. Emmart told the boys about his passion for science along with an overview of the history of the Hayden Planetarium. He also gave the boys advice on how to take scientific information about the universe and compile it into an interesting and captivating show for an audience. The boys were able to see Dr. Emmart's original sketches, which helped create the Uniview program they are using to develop their presentations. The session provided our boys with an opportunity to learn how art and science come together in the planetarium, and to obtain expert advice on developing their own space shows from one of the creators of Uniview . You can learn more about Dr. Emmart's work and Univie...

Tales of a Good Man

"Sometime in the midst of all this, we became friends. And his story, and all its vast world passed into mine." --From the Introduction of Blood & Oil by Roxane Farmanfarmaian. "Stories are so important; they become traditions that tell about the good that often comes out of bad experiences..." So began Roxane Farmanfarmaian's fascinating talk Monday night at Saint David's Seventh Grade Father-Son Dinner. Dr. Farmanfarmaian, Affiliated Lecturer of Modern Middle East Studies at the Political and International Studies Department at Cambridge University, was introduced by her nephew, Saint David's seventh grader Cyrus '17. She spoke to the seventh grade boys and their fathers about what makes a "Good Man" through the prism of her book Blood & Oil : A Prince's Memoir of Iran from the Shah to the Ayatollah (Random House 2005), which she co-authored with her late father, Prince Manucher Farmanfarmaian. The memoir i...

Headmaster's Blog

Search This Blog