View the Tentative SA Calendar for 2024-25

Note: The detailed calendars for each division will be made available later this spring.



3 Secrets to Make Reading Aloud to Your Child Special:

• Pick a time and place that’s special, but routine. Whether it’s at bedtime, or on an extended car ride, or snuggled up on the couch, reading with your child can be a time of emotional bonding, and this routine provides both structure and nurture. A 2016 national study conducted by Scholastic showed that 87% of children ages 6 - 11 liked being read to and wished their parents would continue. 

• Choose a book that’s two to three reading levels beyond your child’s own reading level. It’s not until around 8th grade that a child’s listening and reading levels converge. A child’s listening level can be two to four times higher than their independent reading level. A “high level” book will pique their curiosity, especially if the characters and setting appeal to their interests. The book you choose can build your child’s listening vocabulary and help to develop their own love for reading.

• Show them that you enjoy it, too. Get into it! Do the characters’ voices, laugh when it’s funny, and make the story come alive. When you enjoy the time you spend with your child in reading, you model the pleasure reading gives, demonstrate that your time with them is important, and foster in them a desire to read for themselves. In The Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim Trelease reminds us that, “We read aloud to children for all the same reasons we talk with them: to reassure, to entertain, to bond, to inform or explain, to arouse curiosity, and to inspire.”

Read-Aloud Recommendations by Grade Level

“The least expensive thing we can give a child outside a hug turns out to be the most valuable; words.”

-Jim Trelease

Lower School Artists Draw 3D Forms and Bring Books to Life

First and second grades got their artistic and creative juices flowing with art lessons that tie into SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and language arts this week. In the first grade, students began with an SEL breathing exercise that mimics blowing on hot cocoa and then drew 3-dimensional shapes by creating cocoa mug artwork. Second grade read the book The Day the Crayons Quit and used line drawing and colors to create crayons with their own unique personalities.

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