The New School

The greenhouse is coming along in spite of the delay in getting our building permit.  It was approved last Wednesday, but hasn't come to us yet.  We have dug the foundation ditches with pick ax due to hitting hardpan.  This will make us the strongest people in the whole school.  Muscle men and women!  C.N. Brown has donated all the crushed stone for the foundation and floor.  Deering Lumber donated all the pressure treated beams and gave us a big discount on lumber, so with this community generosity we are financially sailing.  The weather is, of course, our biggest worry [...]

On a cool autumn morning, a bus full of K-8 School Around Us students and their three teachers arrived at The New School ready to work together on collaborative science explorations.   Evan Dewdney was already stoking the fire in our brick oven, generously built for the school as a senior project a few years back.  The goal of the day was to foster connection between the sister schools and create nurturing peer mentorships. Each TNS student was paired with an SAU student based on interests and ages.  After an initial meeting to talk about the day, each pair rushed [...]

In order to function effectively in a democratic organization with shared leadership, responsibilities and honoring all voices, the teachers at The New School recognize how integral it is to have good communication skills.  This week, as the students worked on their annual community agreements for the school, they are also learned how to better work within and as a group.  Lauren Tenney is an experienced facilitator, coach, and trainer working specifically with groups to improve function and communication.  Lauren provided an array of exercises to prepare students to actively participate in their own governance. Two days this week, the students [...]

To begin the school year, The New School traveled to the Joe Dodge Lodge at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center in the famous White Mountains of New Hampshire. For many students this was an exciting, yet challenging way to begin the school year. Upon arrival, they were met by the outstanding AMC Education Staff, including Rachel, Lucy, Owen, and Josh, who we spent the majority of our time with at Pinkham Notch. As students unpacked and got coordinated, groups gathered together and met their AMC Guide. Each group then met with their guide and started to form team names and approach. [...]

This summer we've had the pleasure of getting to know our new science teacher and her lively, four-legged sidekick, Cooper!  Ally Muir grew up in New Jersey, but spent summers and college in Maine where she has always felt most at home. After graduating from Colby with a major in Geology and minor in Russian, she taught at The Ecology School in Saco. In the summers she lead long distance bike tours (across country, down the Pacific Coast) and backpacking trips (in the Alps). While living in Colorado she taught at an alternative, residential High School in the mountains and [...]