Lesson Spotlight

Preparing Soon-to-Be Graduates for Middle School and Beyond Terry answers a student’s question about his biography project. Every Meher School graduate has special memories of their days at our school. For some it’s a group of friends or a teacher or a class, or maybe just happy hours spent in aftercare. But one memory they all share is the fifth grade biography project. Spanning weeks of in-class and at-home work, it’s the most challenging project they’ll do while at the sch

Izzy introduced her students to ultraviolet light by stamping her hands and theirs with “invisible” ink (ink visible only under UV light) and shining the UV flashlight on them. “The children came up to me all day during breaks to see if the ink was still there,” she says. “Did you wash your hands?” is a question asked throughout the day in preschool, TK, and kindergarten, often followed by “Did you do a good job?” But how’s a kid to know if they really did a “good job”? TK te

Imagine building your very own tree house, a refuge in nature where you could have complete privacy from the world. Maybe you had a structure like that as a child, but this endeavor is pure fantasy. What would your dream tree house look like? Who would be allowed to come inside? These are questions elementary art educator Lara Cannon posed to second graders as part of one of their art projects. First the students talked about and painted trees with gouache paint, a mixture of

Lara photographs a student’s “tree house,” which she’ll upload to the Artsonia site. Artsonia sent her this light box to help her take quality photos. Our students take home a lot of art they’ve made at school, and it’s always hard for parents to decide what to keep and what not to. Lara Cannon had the same problem when her two children were here—and she’s the art teacher! She’s since found a solution, a website called Artsonia that creates an online digital archive of studen

Meet Sidney the Snake and her human friend Jess, Meher School parent and alumna! Jess, a naturalist from East Bay Regional Parks District, visited some elementary classes this week to teach students about native animals and their habitats. In addition to getting to pet Sidney, students compared teeth of carnivores and herbivores, felt coyote fur, observed a taxidermy acorn woodpecker, and deepened their understandings of the natural world we live in.

Our school librarian, Mari Ponghamsing, asked children to create bookmarks that illustrate important rules about caring for books. She...

A student tries to catch her flying canister, visible as a white spot in front of the sign over the door Fifth graders on Monday took...

When the end of the school year rolls around and the spotlight turns to the fifth grade play, we pause the weekly drama classes for the...

Our younger elementary students had what for most of them was their first taste of opera recently. Andy Truett, a tenor with the San...

Our elementary school librarian, Mari Pongkhamsing, has the fun of observing children’s budding interests as they expand and develop with...

Fourth and fifth graders are building models of the school as they imagine it in 2075, which will be on display during our 50th...

Last Tuesday a swarm of 4,000–5,000 bees descended on the climbing structure behind Room 4 in their search for a new home. While swarming...

The fifth grade recently had a virtual visit with animator and Funko Pop designer Jeff Victor, who answered questions about the business...

How do children perceive themselves? One of the ways we can find out is through their self-portraits. Depicting oneself in art starts in...

Kindergarten teacher Chloe Gilmore teaches an introductory Spanish class for kindergartners and first graders in our Explorations...

Every year the American Library Association awards one Caldecott Medal to the picture book with the best illustrations and several...

Our second through fifth graders recently made fried rice in gardening class, and as often happens when we do cooking lessons, parents...

Think that image you see in the mirror is you in real time? If so, you’d be wrong. As our fifth graders can tell you, when it comes to...

In addition to their academic classes, our elementary students attend “enrichment” classes that support and broaden the classroom...

In addition to their academic classes, our elementary students attend “enrichment” classes that support and broaden the classroom...