Old Salem

Our field trip to Old Salem in November was so much fun! The students learned about history and spent time in the gardens.          While at Old Salem, one of the farmers pulled a salsify root and explained to the kids that it is also known as the oyster plant because of its oyster-like […]

“Spit” – you say?

Landforms: What is a spit? With landform three-part cards, students learn to identify, label and define various landforms. A control book is used for the students to self check work for accuracy.

Hands-On Sounds

Early Reading: Word recognition through phonemic awareness builds the vocabulary needed to enjoy reading full texts. Students use miniature objects to identify letter sounds and sandpaper letters to “feel the sounds.” This early blend of auditory and tactile learning matched together create the memory of letter sounds. After each letter grouping, children read a book […]

Digging It

This year, students designed, built and planted a classroom garden.  The garden is part of a larger outdoor classroom and has been a central component of the daily experience at YVCS.  Aside from the obvious health benefits of having fresh vegetables on site, gardening provides critical life skills for our students’ developing minds and bodies.  […]

Moved by Poetry

YVCS is dedicated to literacy development, creative thinking and community involvement.  Children regularly engage in creative writing activities that include poetry because we believe poetry promotes literacy while also building community and fostering emotional development. Poetry crosses boundaries that little else can. Poetry helps us know each other. When read aloud, poetry is rhythm and […]

Becoming Explorers

“Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature.” ― Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit […]

A Golden Opportunity

Golden Beads Work: The concrete to the abstract…a golden opportunity. The Golden Beads work is one of the earliest ways in the elementary math curriculum that students learn to “feel” a number up to 9,999. Concepts of numeration and operations are learned through this manipulative.

Geometry

What can you do with a box of sticks? The students create geometric shapes and learn concepts such as angles, perpendicular lines and parallel lines through the box of sticks.

Where in the World?

Early Geography Work: Where in the World am I? Puzzle maps from continents to countries on each continent is the progression of learning Geography. Children pin-punch each continent to understand the shape, then begin labeling with a control map to final mastery without a control. After the World map, each continent map is learned by […]

Parts of a Fish

Don’t just tell me…show me. In Biology, each class of vertebrate are studied. From parts of a fish to parts of a mammal, real live animals are seen and discussed, three-part cards are laid out and research conducted. Similarities and differences between classes are noticed.