Student Learning

Collaborative Learning, Personalized Support: Inside the Classroom with Ms. Park at BASIS Independent Manhattan

March 5, 2024 by christineklayman

For Ms. Park, teaching Grade 4 at BASIS Independent Manhattan is more than a profession; it’s a calling fueled by a passion to shape lives. In this Teacher Feature, Ms. Park shares insights into how BASIS Independent Manhattan goes beyond academics to foster collaboration, address parental concerns, personalize learning, and celebrate the unexpected in the journey of education.

How does BASIS Independent Manhattan help students develop essential life skills like collaboration, communication, and resilience?

That is what I love about this school. We prioritize holistic development, recognizing that success extends beyond academic achievements. Each day, my goal is to create a collaborative learning environment where my students engage in group projects, discussions, and activities that help develop essential life skills.

For example, we have recently been working on a unique interdisciplinary project in art and Mandarin, recreating traditional Chinese tales in stop-motion animation. The students designed and built the puppets and sets, brainstormed story sequences, and took turns at the animation station. Although the art-making process was slow, methodical, and frustrating at times, I saw the students display patience and teamwork, resulting in an impressive final project that was presented to the school.

What are some common concerns parents have about their 4th grader’s education?

I commonly hear worries about middle school readiness, including handling academic challenges and managing schedules with extracurricular activities. I am able to address these with families by providing a nurturing environment focused on individualized learning.

Having a close and collaborative relationship with parents/guardians and my co-teachers, we maintain consistent and transparent communication about student progress using the Communication Journal (known as the CJ). I also hold twice-a-week student and parent hours that provide personalized attention.

As a Learning Expert Teacher, how do you personalize learning for each student?

Differentiation is at the core of our educational philosophy at BASIS Independent Manhattan. As a LET, I’m committed to understanding each student’s unique needs and talents. I always look for opportunities to get to know my students such as engaging in morning meeting check-ins and conducting personal academic and individual check-ins during study hall. This allows me to tailor my support precisely to each student.

Additionally, collaboration with SETs is crucial, as it helps identify students who may benefit from pull-out groups for additional support. This individualized approach ensures that each student achieves their full potential.

What’s the most unexpected thing you’ve learned from your students at BASIS Independent Manhattan?

One of the most remarkable aspects of teaching at BASIS Independent Manhattan is the constant curiosity and unexpected insights from our students. I am astounded at the unique perspectives my students bring to constructing skyscrapers in engineering and the innovative problem-solving they use in math.

As their teacher, I love to couple that curiosity with a growth mindset and see how these students positively approach challenges. I see them use the “power of yet” to confidently navigate their educational journey, and I am thrilled to be along for the ride.

We are grateful to Ms. Park for sharing her insights that provide a glimpse into the vibrant educational ecosystem at BASIS Independent Manhattan where collaboration, personalized learning, and a celebration of curiosity combine to create a unique and enriching experience for students. Having a teacher like Ms. Park who has close relationships with students and families is a treasure, resulting in a rewarding experience of witnessing daily growth and enthusiasm.

Interested in learning more about our passionate teachers and academic program, sign up for our interest list, visit our school, or attend an admissions event.

BASIS Independent Manhattan is a PreK – Grade 12 private school, providing students with an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings.

A Day in the Life: Kindergarten with Maidhili U., Class of 2035

March 25, 2023 by msnyder

Our Day in the Life series for this school year continues in Kindergarten with Maidhili U., Class of 2035!

Unlike our older students, Kindergarten students don’t move classrooms for every subject and primarily remain with their two Early Learning Teachers (ELT) throughout the day. Some subjects, such as Mandarin, are taught by a separate Subject Expert Teacher (SET) in the Mandarin classroom. Depending on the day, they may have six to seven courses. They also have a mid-morning and mid-afternoon recess, along with their lunch and recess time. They begin their day at 8:15 AM and end their last instruction at 3:10 PM.

Maidhili begins her day with her first subject, Enrichment. One of her ELTs, Ms. Oh, leads this subject twice daily, 30 minutes in the morning and at the end of the school day. Enrichment teaches students to develop their social and emotional skills through direct instruction, collaboration, and practical application of social-emotional skills. In today’s lesson, Maidhili practiced writing her numbers on a dry-erase board while collaborating with her classmates to ensure that their numbers were written correctly.

After Enrichment, Maidhili switches gears to Math Foundation with her other ELT, Ms. Chohan. She has Math five times a week for an hour a day. This course allows teachers to scaffold instruction of each concept and continue to review and build on the information introduced. Math topics that are introduced include: skip counting by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s; compare and order numbers; identify ordinal position to tenth; identify a sorting rule; identify and extend patterns; solve routine and non-routine problems; and master all basic addition facts and most of the basic subtraction facts. Ms. Chohan held a math circle on the thinking rug and used flashcards to go over coin values and fractions. Maidhili was quick to raise her hand and give the correct answer to the question asked.

Early Learning Teacher, Ms. Chohan, instructs the class on fractions and coin values

Maidhili is then guided to the playground for her mid-morning recess. She has a 15-minute morning recess every day.

After recess, Maidhili focuses on Language and Literacy Foundation with Ms. Chohan. Kindergarten students have Language and Literacy every day. The instruction is separated into three increments throughout the day that total an hour and 45 minutes. This course will emphasize phonemic awareness, phonics, and handwriting. Students will begin the year developing these skills, and by the end of the year, they will be able to express complete thoughts while writing sentences using subjects and verbs, basic capitalization, and punctuation. Ms. Chohan focuses on students’ reading skills, as the goal for them is to read age-appropriate chapter books based on their reading level. Throughout the year, lessons will engage students to work as a whole class, in groups, or follow individual instructions.

Today’s lesson focused on writing ‘Asking Sentences’ and using the correct punctuation to end each question. Maidhili completed her worksheet and was proud to show her classmates and teachers.

Maidhili with her completed Asking Sentences worksheet

After Language and Literacy, Maidhili heads for lunch! Kindergarten students eat their lunch in the multipurpose room before heading outside for recess. Students can bring their own lunch or purchase one from our provider, My Green Lunch. The lunch period is 45 minutes long. Maidhili enjoyed playing on the slide during the recess portion of her lunch period.

Maidhili playing on the playground during her lunch period

After lunch, Maidhili makes her way back to her classroom and gets ready for Engineering & Technology Foundation with her Subject Expert Teacher (SET) Ms. Hetu. In this course, students will develop problem-solving, logic, and relationship skills through unique and meaningful projects. Solutions created by the students will be analyzed, reported, and communicated using a variety of media. This class is taught twice a week and is 60 minutes long.

Ms. Hetu prepared a fun activity for her students in today’s lesson. She introduced the musical instrument, the saxophone, and gave some background on famous African American artists who use the instrument in their songs. Maidhili learned about Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald while listening to their music and hearing the saxophone play. Ms. Hetu described the working parts of the instrument and had her students draw their own version using their imagination and creativity.

Next, Maidhili gets ready for her Civics, History, and Science Foundation portion of the day with Ms. Chohan. This course is a combination of two programs. Our history program covers several time periods. It gives the opportunity to discuss morals and ethics from great men and women of the past. Classroom discussions reflect on the problems they face today that are similar to problems people have faced in the past. The science program is designed for students to not only understand the world around them but also to foster creativity. It also enables them to be innovative in science and develop problem-solving skills. They learn to apply the Scientific Method and draw conclusions on the basis of observation, investigation, and experimentation.

Ms. Chohan focused on science in today’s lesson. Students learned about the various plants and animals found in nearby ecosystems and drew them on strands of paper. After the drawings were completed, the strands were then weaved together into an ecosystem chain.

Maidhili with her completed ecosystem chain

After Civics, History, and Science Foundation, Maidhili takes a quick 15-minute afternoon recess. During this time, she played with friends on the playground and ate a snack.

Maidhili and her friend on the playground during recess

After recess, Maidhili heads back to her classroom and continues to work on her Language and Literacy Foundation sentence assignment for 30 minutes. Both of her Early Learning Teachers, Ms. Chohan and Ms. Oh, walk around the room helping students correct their sentences and grammar.

Ms. Chohan explains sentence structure and punctuation

Next, Maidhili heads outside to the basketball court with SET Mr. Butler for her Movement Foundation class. This course focuses on the introduction of physical education skills and concepts. Throughout the course, students will learn a number of motor and social skills through physical activity. This class is every day and 30 minutes long.

Maidhili and her classmates played broomball during their class on our basketball court. Broomball helps students focus on their precision, aim, and coordination. Maidhili was picked to be the goalie and did a phenomenal job at securing her post.

Maidhili defending her goalpost while playing broomball

After playing broomball, Maidhili made her way back to her classroom for the last portion of her Language and Literacy Foundation course. This portion is 30 minutes long. Ms. Chohan and Ms. Oh ensure that each student comprehends the material and answer any final questions.

To end her day, Maidhili has her second half of Enrichment for 30 minutes. During this time, Ms. Oh played a popular song called “Ham It Up” and let the students sing and dance. Maidhili and her classmates enjoyed themselves and knew all the words and dance moves to the song!

Maidhili and her classmates dance and sing to “Ham It Up”

Some other classes that Maidhili takes during the week are Mandarin, Visual Arts Foundation, Music Foundation, and Performance Arts Foundation.

She studies Mandarin three times per week for 30 minutes a day and has Visual Arts, Music, and Performance Arts Foundation once a week for 30 minutes.

Thank you to Maidhili and her family for allowing us to document her Day in the Life!

A Day in the Life: Grade 3 with Aditya H., Class of 2032

February 15, 2023 by msnyder

Our Day in the Life series for this school year continues in Grade 3 with Aditya, Class of 2032!

Grade 3 students travel from classroom to classroom with their Learning Expert Teacher (LET). They have six classes a day, five with their Subject Expert Teachers (SET), a mid-morning and mid-afternoon recess, along with their lunch and recess time. Their first class of the day begins at 8:15 AM and their last class ends at 3:50 PM.

Aditya begins his day with his first class, READ. His LET, Ms. Jayapal, leads this class every day. This class teaches students to develop their social and emotional skills through direct instruction, collaboration, and practical application of social-emotional skills. In today’s lesson, Aditya participated in a dialogue about books he and his classmates were reading. The group wrote down interesting facts from the book discussion in their Communication Journal and reflected on the main takeaways from these stories. Although this class is only twenty minutes long, it plays an important role in getting his mind warmed up for the rest of the school day.

Aditya reviewing his communications journal in preparation for the day

After his warmup, Aditya heads to Music with SET Ms. Zhang. He has Music once a week for 85 minutes. Aditya has all his Fine Arts courses – Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Music, and Engineering & Technology – four times a week. This course is designed to provide essential experiences in the five conceptual areas of music: rhythm, melody, harmony, form, and expression. Ms. Zhang focused on rhythm and expression in today’s class and had a fun Lunar New Year lesson plan ready.

Students participated in singing the Happy Lunar New Year song in both Mandarin and English and they even had the chance to do a solo song greeting in Mandarin. When asked who would like to participate in the greeting, Aditya was one of the first to volunteer. He did an exceptional job singing, “Xīn Nián Kuài Lè Tù Nián Dà Jí” which translates to Happy New Year of the Rabbit.

Subject Expert Teacher, Ms. Zhang, instructs Aditya on Lunar New Year Greeting in Mandarin

Aditya heads for a quick break to grab a snack. He has a 10-minute morning recess every day.

After recess, Aditya has Mandarin class with SET Ms. Han. Grade 3 students have Mandarin class every day for 40 minutes. This course is designed to help our primary students learn Mandarin through lessons that are rich in oral language, interactive, and project-based. There are two Mandarin classes that we offer, Heritage and Non-Heritage. Since Aditya is new to learning Mandarin, he is in the Non-Heritage Mandarin class.

In Aditya’s Non-Heritage Mandarin class, communication skills are organized by themes. The theme of the class was learning about the history of the Lunar New Year and the importance of traditions. With the instruction of Ms. Han, the class created mini Chinese lanterns out of yellow and red pipe cleaners. Aditya was thrilled with the outcome.

Aditya with his Lunar New Year lantern made out of crafting pipe cleaners

Next, Aditya heads to the field for his Physical Education & Sports class with his SET Mr. Butler. Aditya has PE every day for 40 minutes. This class aims to build students’ mind, body, and character through physical activity. Students will learn the importance of good sportsmanship and respect for other participants as they learn mechanics for a variety of sports. Aditya and his classmates played volleyball and learned that each player had to work together to accomplish their goals for the win.

Action shot of Aditya and classmates playing volleyball on the field

After working up a sweat in PE, Aditya heads for lunch. Grade 3 students eat their lunch in the multipurpose room before heading outside for recess. Today’s lunch was mac n’ cheese with veggies and apple sauce from our hot lunch provider. Students can bring their own lunch or purchase one from our provider, My Green Lunch. The lunch period is 40 minutes long.

Aditya’s lunchtime in the MPR before heading for recess

After lunch, Aditya makes his way to his SET Ms. Moran’s classroom for Math & Science. These subjects are taught together in an integrated 85-minute block five times a week and teach students number sense and operations, measurement, patterns, and data analysis. The class also covers essential science topics, including science as a process, life science, physical science, and earth and space science.

Ms. Moran had her students work on fractions that included a variety of formatted questions. Aditya quickly went into problem-solving mode and worked with his classmates to find the answers. He informed his teacher that he highly favored the fraction questions that were associated with a geological map.

Subject Expert Teacher, Ms. Moran, and Aditya discussing the geographical math problem in his fraction packet

After Math & Science, Aditya takes a quick 10-minute afternoon recess. During this time, he hung out with his friends and ate a snack.

For his last class of the day, Aditya has Humanities with SET Mr. Rees. This class is also taught in an 85-minute block five times a week and strengthens students’ critical thinking skills through reading fiction and nonfiction texts. Through novel studies, they deepen their understanding of critical comprehension and vocabulary skills, making them more effective readers.

Aditya learned about possessive nouns and the proper way to use them. Mr. Rees had the class come up with sentences containing possessive nouns and the students collaborated to find the correct way to write them.

Aditya waiting with his hand raised to contribute his answer to the class

There is one special class that Aditya didn’t have this day, but does have once a week, Connections. This course will ask students to use hands-on approaches to create unique solutions to scenario-based problems and make connections across the curriculum, which requires the utilization of knowledge and skills taught in their other classes. The course is designed to increase interpersonal skills, build critical thinking skills, and allow students to showcase and refine their creative minds. Connections is taught by his LET Ms. Jayapal and is an 85-minute course.

Thank you to Aditya and his family for allowing us to document his Day in the Life!

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley is a TK – Grade 12 private school, providing students with an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings. Considering joining the Bobcat community?

100 High School Students (and 10 Chaperones) Visit NYC and D.C.

February 7, 2023 by msnyder

For the 2022 – 2023 school year, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley was excited to bring back our New York City and Washington D.C. trip for high school students! 100 of our high school students and their chaperones toured both cities for six days seeing the sights, visiting historical monuments, and experiencing American History “in the room where it happened.”

The high school history curriculum at BASIS Independent Schools includes AP U.S. Government and Politics, AP U.S. History, AP World History, AP European History, and a number of Capstone Courses such as Crime and Punishment: Criminal Justice and the Constitution, Existentialism and the Absurd, and Law and Philosophy.

This trip allowed these students to experience and see much of what they learn in the classroom, in real life.

Day 1

After taking a red-eye and landing in Washington D.C. early that morning, our students wasted no time seeing the sights. First, was a biking tour of the National Mall. Students saw a few historical monuments, the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, and the White House.

After a quick break for lunch, their tour began again at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

To end the first day they gathered together for dinner, arcade games, and bowling!

Day 2

Students were up bright and early to hop on the DC Metro and head to the Capitol Building. Our group took a guided tour through the Capital as well as the Supreme Court.

After stopping for lunch they made their way to the National African American History Museum for the afternoon.

Later after dinner, they joined a night walking tour of some of the national memorials.

Day 3

On day three our students had another early morning. This time heading to the Arlington National Cemetery. They were able to take a private tour and view the grounds before heading on a bus to make their way to New York City.

After checking into a hotel and dropping off their luggage, students got to ride the subway to their last stop of the day – Hamilton the musical. They even got to meet some of the cast after!

Day 4

On Day 4 students got to sleep in a little bit and got a later start before hopping on the subway to their first stop of the day. Students toured the 9/11 Memorial Museum before heading out for their next walking tour.

While walking around Greenwich Village students got to try authentic NYC pizza, bagels, cupcakes, and more sweet treats.

After the Village, students continued their walking tour to Midtown Manhattan. Midtown is home to 30 Rock, Times Square, Trump Tower, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Broadway, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

After doing some shopping and touring Times Square, students got to stop for some famous New York cheesecake before ending the night.

Day 5

On their last full day in NYC, students started their morning by heading to Battery Park and boarding the ferry to Liberty Island. Students then took a guided tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

After lunch, it was time to visit the world-famous Central Park in style! Students took a biking tour of the park and learned about its history with the city and its residents.

To end the night, they made their way to the top of the Empire State Building.

Day 6

Before departing for the airport, students got to take one last walking tour around Lower Manhattan.

After their tour, they grabbed their luggage, headed to the airport, and started to make their way back home.

Airport

On the way back to San Jose, students reflected amongst themselves as well as with their chaperones on their journey. For many, this was their first trip without their family and their first trip to the East Coast. They all had both personal and shared experiences when visiting humbling places such as the Holocaust Museum, Arlington National Cemetery, and Ellis Island. One student commented, “History feels more real to me now because I’ve been here and stood where they stood.”

Memories of a lifetime were made and our students and chaperones, though tired and amazed at the sheer amount of steps they had completed in those six days, were happy to have gone on this adventure together.

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley is a TK – Grade 12 private school, providing students an internationally benchmarked liberal arts and sciences curriculum, with advanced STEM offerings. Considering joining the Bobcat community?