Frankford Friends School

It's our home! It holds the people we love. The biodiversity is amazing! On #EarthDay last week, fourth graders were inspired to create a video declaring their love for the Earth. They were guided by the questions: What is it about Earth that we appreciate? Why do we believe in the fight for helping our precious planet?... The top three reasons they believe in helping the Earth: We only have one shot. It gives us so much but we aren't giving back. Our life is beautiful and we must protect it. Featured in their video is the @tededucation Earth Day Medley video. Fourth graders watched the TED-Ed animated video, Climate Change: Earth’s Giant Game of Tetris, during Morning Meeting to kickstart their Earth Day discussions they loved it!

With the weather conducive to learning outside again, our Early Childhood classes have begun having Spanish outside in person. The Pre-Kers and Kindergarteners started learning new fruit words through drawing and games, like Telephone / Whisper Down the Lane, where they whispered and passed plastic fruits to each other. Over the past few winter months, they’ve been meeting for Spanish with Teacher Blythe over Zoom. It’s so nice to be back together in person!

For chip paleontologists, the process of excavating specimens out of the crumbly ground is extremely difficult. It’s impossible for the paleontologist to know the exact layout of the scrumptious specimens that are waiting to be discovered beneath the un-crumbled crust. As they excavate the surface-level specimens, they must be very careful not to damage the delicate specimens in the layers below... Our sixth graders are heading into irresistibly exciting territory in their new project, The Dig: A Brief History of Several Billion Years. They’ll be investigating the geological, environmental, and climatological changes of the past. To kick off the unit, students excavated chocolate chip cookies. Curiously, the site and specimens were nowhere to be found after the dig wrapped up...

What is the social, economic, environmental impact of a product? What is the true cost of consumption? How do our habits of consumption impact our world? Eighth graders analyzed the life cycle of a product by looking deeply at the design, the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution and packaging, product use, and its end-of-life. In small groups, they created impact diagrams by first picking a product and then tracing it down to its raw materials. This exposed the various social, economic, and environmental impacts that each product has on our world. They’ll continue to explore consumption in their new unit, Garbology: The Scoop on our Stuff.

As they began writing their realistic fiction stories, first graders created characters and sketched out interesting background information to bring their character to life. They acted out scenarios and conversations that the characters might encounter to better envision the character’s feelings, thoughts, and actions. It’s all about the details in the phase of writing!

Across campus, students and teachers began exploring the first of 4 weekly themes Black Activists of the Past that the FFS Black History Month Committee created to unify and guide our celebration. Eighth grade students began with the query, How can we look at Black Activism in the past, and learn from it for our future? They split up into groups, researched Black activists, wrote biographies about each person, and then recorded and edited informational videos about thei...r activist to share with the rest of the school. Their biographies covered: Sojourner Truth, a former slave, abolitionist, activist for women’s rights, leader, and speaker who was the first black person to win a legal case against a white man in court. Ida B. Wells, a journalist, civil rights activist, and researcher who used the written word to expose racist practices. Naomi Anderson, a writer, leader, civil rights activist, and suffragist who wrote poems and gave speeches to advocate for equal rights for all genders and races. Lillie Mae Bradford, an early civil rights activist who, like Rosa Parks, performed an act of civil disobedience on a Montgomery, AL bus. Ralph Abernathy, a baptist minister and civil rights activist who planned the Montgomery Bus boycott and formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr.

Cultivating a growth mindset is a big deal for our younger learners. Second graders are exploring how to react when they experience difficulties. Students started with a challenge to build the tallest tower possible. Afterwards, they had a class discussion about the power of the words that they used while building. Teacher Gabby shared the different words and phrases that she heard. They transformed from "Aaaack" to "Wait! What if we did it this way instead?" and from "Eeek! This is baaaad" to "Hmmm...this is gonna be so good!" This week, they did a gallery walk around the room in pairs defining words, drawing pictures and making connections to words such as risk, challenge, struggle, mistakes and determination. Next, students will identify something they can't do yet but brainstorm ways they can accomplish it.

New year, new approach to the self portrait! Kindergarteners began by creating an abstract background of shape and color to try and convey their personality. Students were photographed, and they dictated qualities about themselves (I like that the sky changes, and it’s sunny even when it’s cold. I like my sister because she’s really cute. I like playing with my hair.) which were then arranged on their paintings after a discussion about composition and design.

What does it mean to matter? Third and Fourth Grade offered some of their own thoughts during a discussion about racism last week. As January comes to a close, our whole community is looking forward to the themed explorations, discussions, and all-school celebrations that the Black History Month Committee has prepared. #blackhistorymonth

Voting helps you say what you wanna say. It gives you a voice. First graders held an election to choose a song for their pod. More than that, they learned about the election process, the many jobs that make elections possible, and the importance of voting. First and second grade want you to get out and VOTE!

Many of our classes have been focusing on learning about how the government works, how to vote, and most importantly, WHY we vote. Our students are learning that a democracy is contingent on their participation and that their voice is crucial in the fight to create equality for oppressed groups. The right to vote is one to be cherished and respected. During this Election Day, we encourage everyone to go out and VOTE!

This week we celebrated the FFS tradition of Quaker Week. Our eighth grade leaders set the tone each morning over the school intercom, presenting the daily Quaker testimony for reflection. We spent our week thinking and talking about community, equality, stewardship and simplicity, and along with these conversations, how we can use our voice and take action to make positive change in the lives of people all over the world.

The votes are in. Unique the Unicorn and Kathryn the Kitten are now the President and Vice President of the stuffed animals! In their study of elections, Pre-Kers explored leadership, how leaders are selected, and the qualities that make for a good leader. Their consensus: leaders should care for others, keep people safe, and show positive actions. Each student filled out voter registration cards, stood in line to vote, signed in, and cast their ballots. The class sorted and ...counted the ballots and then celebrated the results in a grand ‘ole victory bash. At first, the class was undecided about whether or not it’s important for everyone to be able to cast a vote. But by the end of the voting process, the decision was unanimous: every child felt that everyone should have the chance to make their voice heard. Election lessons are super special to us! If you have a memory of a time when you studied elections as a student, send it our way and we’ll share it with the class.

This year we are missing our grandfriends! Every fall we host grandfriends on campus for our annual Grandfriends Day event. We'll be planning some special virtual opportunities to connect with grandfriends this year. Meanwhile, we’d love to hear from our Grandfriends let us know how you're doing this year and whether you’d like to participate in a virtual event by contacting Joy Bowman Lim at [email protected].

In the third and fourth grade pod, students are learning about the different levels and branches of government. They’re talking about how elections work and why it's important to make all voices heard. They’ve discussed the purpose of a government, what a democracy and what voting is, the city/state/ federal government structure, the 3 branches of government at each level, and how a bill becomes a law. Pictured: a bulletin board with questions that came up during third and fourth grade lessons. In the coming days, they’ll discuss the qualities that make a good president and collectively make a list of the literary characters that would fit the bill. Soon, an official 3rd/4th pod primary and general election will determine the next literary president!

Over the past six weeks, sixth grade explored the diverse cultural and ethnic connections that they have in their class. Starting on day 1 of school, they each shared their name stories to establish a culture of respect within their classroom. Later, they mapped where their ancestors came from and created self portraits that used symbols, patterns, and images to express their identity, beliefs, and cultural heritage. Along the way, they read and wrote poetry and essays as a way of exploring what race, racism, and anti-racism means. Through this study of themselves and others they’ve built a launch pad to appreciate Black American studies no matter their race or background.

Teacher Danielle and Teacher Lisa revived the classic story of The Little Red Hen in an impromptu puppet show production. The audience of kindergarteners was absolutely abuzz with excitement! Afterwards, they talked about the main idea of the story and brainstormed some jobs that they could create in their own classroom to help evenly distribute responsibility for the care of their shared spaces and community. We can’t wait to read the show’s reviews in the paper. Bravo!

In the spirit of 'can-do' and 'making the most out of a little', middle schoolers grabbed a pair of sticks and a bucket, and made some music! The buckets were formerly used for ice cream and were generously saved and given to FFS by @arctic_scoop in South Philadelphia. The result? Chill beats.

As they gear up for their first PBL unit, first grade is sharpening their observation skills by making use of all five of their senses. They’re learning new sensory words to describe the world around them and producing scientific diagrams of found natural objects in The Nest. It’s all about the details! Message us your most impressive nature shots and we’ll pass them along to first grade

We all have bodies, eyes, and clothes. We all can get hurt. We all need homes. We all need love. How do we differ? We have different color skin, different color eyes, different sizes. Some kids are shy. Some are bold. We are all the same and yet we are all different. We are each wonderfully unique! A handful of important thoughts from our Pre-K friends, as they learn to recognize and celebrate the ways in which we are all similar and different. They’ll be expanding their awareness and appreciation for the unfamiliar all year long. This is crucial to building confidence in themselves and empathy towards others. Unfamiliar things/experiences/people/ideas are beautiful!

Middle schoolers are learning the strategies and skills of team volleyball! They’ve progressed so quickly that our teachers have had to engage in rigorous volleyball training just to keep up. We won’t name names, but one teacher was last seen putting ice on his knee after a recent practice...