Garden Club and Nursery School Collaborate

The Princeton Nursery School (PNS) and the Stony Brook Garden Club are working together to renovate the school’s outdoor play space, replacing concrete, metal, and rubber materials with grass, wood, shade trees, and vegetable beds.

The plan, which will create simple play stations using natural materials such as tree stumps, smooth stones, and sand, is designed to “provide a foundation for a lifetime relationship with the natural environment, foster imaginative play, and engender a love of gardening and its healthy benefits,” according to a press release. The area will be a safe outdoor learning environment and an extension of the school’s educational space.

Since 1929 PNS has provided a comprehensive preschool education with support services and child care for underserved families in downtown Princeton. PNS offers working families support with hunger prevention, health, wellness, and bilingual assistance.

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Littlebrook Students Visit IAS

Littlebrook Elementary School second-grade students recently traveled to the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and received a lesson on black holes from IAS Director and Theoretical Physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf.

During their introduction to the Institute they also saw Einstein’s globe and the building where he worked for more than 20 years, and they visited the Mathematics-Natural Sciences Library and the Historical Studies-Social Science Library.

Chief Human Resource Officer Michael Klompus discussed with the students what their favorite subjects were, and asked, “What if you could study your favorite subject with no interruptions or expectations … with the most brilliant minds from all over the world … with guidance from the greatest mentors from all over the world? That’s exactly what happens here!”

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Chicks Hatch at Princeton Montessori

This spring Princeton Montessori School (PMS) students culminated their study of the life cycle of an embryo by watching chicken eggs hatch in a classroom incubator, then holding and feeding the baby chicks.

Primary, elementary, and middle school students all participated in the project for several weeks, studying embryo development while using age-appropriate materials and closely viewing the eggs.

The egg project built upon the students’ recent study of the bald eagle nest at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, as the students viewed the eagle webcam on a regular basis and worked with lesson materials provided by Duke Farms, including a life-size replica of a bald eagle’s wing span.

“You can see pictures and videos, but nothing beats the real thing,” said PMS biology teacher Eliza Hammer. “Whenever you can make a lesson absolutely real, do it. If you’re teaching about fish, go buy a real fish so the children can actually feel the skin. The awe and wonder that comes from that is just priceless.”

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Johnson Park Offering Personalized Bricks for New Amphitheater

As noted in last week’s School Matters, the Johnson Park School (JP) Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) is funding the construction of an amphitheater on the school’s grounds, and would like to offer the community and all JP alumni an opportunity to be a permanent part of JP history.

While the names of all current students and faculty will be engraved on PTO-sponsored stones, the PTO thought it would be meaningful to give the greater JP community an opportunity to leave its mark via personalized bricks.

Donors can have their bricks engraved to convey a message to current, past, or future JP students, honor a loved one, or commemorate the donor’s connection to JP.

To purchase a brick, visit http://4everbricks.com/donors/JPES by June 16.

Construction will begin at the end of the school year, and should be completed before school starts in September.