Building a strong “sense of place” is one of nine school-wide outcomes at New Roots Charter School. It’s also the name of our fall intensive program, designed to orient students to our school culture and important landmarks in our community. Getting our students rooted not just to their school building, but to downtown Ithaca as a whole, makes sense for both philosophical and practical...
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Jhakeem Haltom September 18, 2017
In the Summer of 2015 New Roots' founder and Principal, Tina Nilsen-Hodges, sent our lead science instructor, David Streib, and myself as the Dean of Student Life to a science teachers’ conference hosted by the SUNY College of Envirionmental Science and Forestry and developed by the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force. The conference was focused on ways of incorporating a local...
Joel Tolman July 23, 2017
This spring and summer, Common Ground is trying to do something we’ve never done before. Well, two things actually. We’re trying to build a new, integrated 9th grade experience. Imagine four big units of study, each lasting a quarter of the school year, tackling really big questions like, “How do we feed ourselves, and what does our food tell us about ourselves?” Imagine these units bring...