We Know Kids!

EACH WEEKDAY MORNING I PARK MY CAR and walk through part of our beautiful campus to the main building of our school. It always feels good to be here. Why is that? Well, to begin with, our grounds, which change in appearance seasonally, are beautiful, and I am always greeted with a smile and kind or funny remark by Ray. Perhaps I should just allow these gratifying feelings to exist without any further thought, but for some reason I found myself slowly reflecting on 'why' I continually feel this way, day after day, and year after year. The following are some of my thoughts.

The children at Oak Lane Day School are a joy to teach. Their curiosity knows no bounds, which is stimulating, exciting and challenging for those of us fortunate enough to be teaching them. This curious state of being is perhaps one of the most important traits of a good student, as without it, their minds would not grow in directions needed for self fulfillment, success, and contentment. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "At the birth of a child, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that gift should be curiosity."

Another reason our school shines is because my colleagues, the teachers of your children, reflect the highest qualities of educators. They are full of positive energy, have profound respect for education and children, and continually demand what often seems to be the impossible from themselves. New ideas are embraced while traditions are carried on, and difficulties are analyzed and tackled. They are able to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge in their students, and they understand and believe that there is no limit to their own personal growth as teachers and human beings.

Last and far from least, you, our parents, round out our community. You have placed your most valuable treasure(s) with us, and your faith and support is reflected in all that you do for your children, for the faculty, and for our school.

How fortunate for all of us here at Oak Lane Day School to have found a place where students, teachers, and parents work together with mutual respect to create a place of learning where every one of us, both children and adults, can thrive and shine.

-- Ruth Solomon, Learning Skills --

Spend Summer Days at Oak Lane Day School

Imagine, summer at Oak Lane!

Art, swimming, archery, drama, music, cooking, rocketry, science and nature exploration and many, many other fun activities are waiting for summer to arrive when The Camp at Oak Lane Day School will be in full swing.

If you value the importance of childhood, the arts, friendship and fun, you found the right place!

For parents with children ages 3-12, we invite you to apply. Check out our Summer Camp Program online.

On Being an Oak Lane Parent and Teacher

My first experience of Oak Lane was as a parent, when my son Jhamir entered Allen Garner's class last year as a third grader. For the first time, Jhamir actually loved going to school.

He couldn't wait to get there each morning and was crestfallen every afternoon when we collected him at the extended day program. One typically imagines a child's first year at a new school as a source of parental anxiety, but for us the only negative emotion we might have had in thinking of Jhamir at Oak Lane during the day was envy.

What a pleasure it was to bring him each day to a place that looks more like an inviting park than a school, and to know that the fields and the pond would be part of his classroom, as well as places for tag and hide-and-go-seek. Soon, our living room was transformed into a gallery of monumental sculptures from Mr. Mednick's amazing art classes, and our house filled with songs learned from Marlis. Jhamir brought home math games, told us about the Battle of Germantown, and pointed out the trees and birds in our neighborhood he had learned about with Dottie. Jhamir also began asking thoughtful questions about everything, his curiosity and imagination having been sparked by an approach to teaching that values wonder.

The Oak Lane staff quickly won our complete trust. It was evident that they had taken the time to really understand our son, and because of this, their expectations for him as a student and as a classmate truly fit him. We've actually learned quite a bit about him ourselves from these caring and perceptive teachers.

From my first visits to Oak Lane, when my son was a prospective student, I thought it would be a great place to be a teacher. So I felt very lucky when I joined the Oak Lane staff this year as the kindergarten teacher. With every passing week, my respect grows for the experience, intelligence, commitment, and hard work that goes into creating this remarkable learning environment.

In the pre-primary division, Fairlight and Judy are relentless advocates for young children. At times I am awed by their knowledge of young children and their mastery of every aspect of working with this age group. Everything that takes place in their rooms has such an impressive clarity and coherence of intention.

This coherence and clarity of educational approach is evident in everything taking place at the school. In other parts of the building, I see the teachers in the primary and intermediate divisions discussing curriculum, visiting one another's rooms, planning activities together, and evaluating each other's work. The specials teachers routinely ask me about my curriculum and plan learning experiences to complement and extend what we are doing in the kindergarten classroom. In staff meeting, teachers think as a group about children and about our mission as a school.

I feel very fortunate to work at Oak Lane and that my son attends a school that cares so deeply for its children.

-- Rochelle Krauss, Kindergarten --