Articles
Bennett Day Fun Festival: A Musical Project-Based Learning Journey in 1st Grade
“In the end, designing Bennett Day Fun Festival wasn’t really about learning how to run a music festival. It was about working together to achieve developmental milestones in a meaningful and authentic fashion, and, of course, making a little music along the way.” Posted: September 24, 2020Written by: Ms. Camacho and Ms. Washington
Failing Grades: How to Motivate Students to Learn Without Keeping Score
Students need to learn by doing — through problem-solving, project-based learning and being creative. Parents, myself included, need to let go of a system we grew up with and recognize how we experienced school will not prepare students for now, or much less 2040, when two thirds of the jobs that will exist then do…
Bennett Live: Inspiring Joy and Creativity with Project-Based Learning at Home
Bennett Labs is on a mission to inspire young designers, creators, and makers everywhere, through principles of Reggio Emilia and Project-based Learning (PBL) while at home. This is why we created, Bennett Live – a new engaging and educational media program for children aged 3-12 (PreK to Grade 5) and their families. A program you…
Competency-Based Learning During a Pandemic
Martin Moran, Director of Upper School at Bennett Day School, explains how our competency-based system allowed for a seamless transition to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article was originally published on Martin Moran’s LinkedIn on March 31, 2020.
Fun Indoor Explorations with Osmo Kaleidoscope
To keep learning fun at home, we have worked with our friends at Osmo to make Osmo Kaleidoscope app available for FREE download until March 31st. This is a creative and fun Osmo app that works with everyday objects!
Demo Night: How Project-Based Learning Comes to Life at Bennett Day Upper School
At our Trimester 2 Demo Night, attendees explored and asked questions about 5 unique small group projects that dug deeply into migration in an effort to determine how we, as citizens, can make lives better for people around the world who either choose to or are forced to migrate from their home.
#OsmoKaleidoscope on the Go: 5 Ways to Use this App While Traveling
Children of all ages look forward to road-trips and family travels that enrich their lives and expand their horizons. Families who bring an Osmo Base on their family travels will soon discover many reasons why Osmo Kaleidoscope is a great app for enriching family trips. Download the Osmo Kaleidoscope app here to start creating beautiful…
At Bennett Day, High School Starts at 9:00am. Here’s Why.
Inspired by one of Character Lab’s weekly emails, CEO Cameron Smith reflects on grit, growth-mindset, and the power of a good night’s sleep.
Discovering the Shape of Chicago: An Upper School Journey in Project-Based Learning
First Trimester at Bennett Day Upper School came to an incredible conclusion with the students’ very first Demo Night, demonstrating all of their project-based learning (PBL) around “The Shape of Chicago.” https://2487778.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/2487778/Demo%20night%20photo%20video%20that%20i%20made%20and%20edited%20.mp4 Studies show that the endless cross-curricular possibilities of high-quality project-based learning encourage higher student engagement, achievement, and retention of knowledge. We found this…
What is Growth Mindset?
Research shows that our ability to achieve our goals has much more to do with the mindset with which we approach them than the actual goals themselves. That’s why students and faculty at Bennett Day School subscribe to the “growth mindset,” which eschews “all or nothing”/”I succeeded/I failed” modes of thinking in favor of growth (however incremental) and resiliency. What is a growth mindset? Stanford…