Top 3 Trends in Schools and Why We Should be Worried.
Trends in education come and go, but these latest trends have significant consequences for an entire generation of children. Lowering Student Expectations and Dumbing Down Academics – Many schools are […]
Getting Middle School Right, Because if We Don’t …
Middle School is more than a bridge from elementary school to high school. Early adolescence (the 11-14 year old) is a time of rapid physical and psychological changes; a time […]
Top 3 Trends in Schools and Why We Should be Worried.
Trends in education come and go, but these latest trends have significant consequences for an entire generation of children. Lowering Student Expectations and Dumbing Down Academics – Many schools are […]
The Right Learning Environment Matters.
Struggling with academics or socially at school is a strong indicator your child’s needs are not being met. Switching schools, especially mid-year or for the second time, might seem too […]
Being an ‘Intentional Misfit’ Can Be Good Parenting!
The rise in childhood disorders is unstoppable – psychological, emotional, behavioral, social and learning disorders. With so many overlapping crises in our time, childhood trauma is overtaking this generation, and […]
Developing a Child’s Initiative, Confidence and Ethical Behavior
This is the first generation of children who are growing up able to push a button here, and something happens over there! We are witnessing the effects of this phenomenon […]
Your Child’s Social-Emotional Development – Why Emoticons are Not Enough
Schools often use social-emotional curriculum activities to help students name their emotions, in hopes they will be able to manage those emotions. A child’s ability to name feelings is not […]
It Starts Around Third Grade
Academics tend to break down around third grade, when children go from learning-to-read to reading-to-learn, or from simple arithmetic to more complex math concepts. In the earlier grades it is more likely that learning differences will go unnoticed because children are quick to develop compensation strategies. As the learning becomes more complex, these strategies tend to fall apart.
A School with a Child Development Perspective
Children are not miniature adults – a second-grader is not a deficient twelfth-grader. Children are not miniature adults – a second-grader is not a deficient twelfth-grader. Children have a unique set of needs that must be met at each developmental stage to progress toward healthy growth and maturity.
Raising Children, Not Test Scores
When my daughter was twelve years old, we bought a new house with a beautiful yard. The gardener, Mikel, had been mowing the grass and tending the flowers at this […]
Why Teaching Academics by Skill Level vs Grade Level is Better for Your Child
Grouping students by skill level rather than grade level for math and language arts meets the needs of those students who are ready for
The Cost of a Missed Childhood
Please enjoy this excerpt from my upcoming book, A Common Sense Education in Uncommon Times: Caulbridge. In writing the chapter, The Cost of a Missed Childhood, I reached out to […]
Your Child’s Self-Regulation is Not Just Self-Control
Self-regulation relates to your child’s ability to successfully participate in the classroom, take turns, understand social cues, make good decisions and be a good friend. Defined as the ability to […]
Your Child’s Hierarchy of Needs for School Success
The chart below compares the basic needs for human development and a child’s school success. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs reminds us that only when the basic physiological and safety needs […]
What is Developmental Movement and Why Does My Child Need It?
Children first learn through the senses and movement of the body. A baby’s reflexes are small movements that help the brain learn; connecting experiences (sensing or touching) with
Are We Giving Up on Our Children – Only to Accommodate the System?
Accommodations in school are generally offered in response to a student’s academic, social-emotional or physical discrepancies. With rare exception, a student’s academic struggles are
Why is My Child Struggling in School?
If your child has difficulties with recalling previous lessons, is easily distracted or generally resists learning, there may be other factors at play. A child’s academic struggles may be indications […]
No Child Left Inside: Connecting Children, Nature and Learning
At the end of the school day, 7-year-old Tyler carries his muddied, wet clothes in a bag like a trophy, greeting his mom with a huge smile and shouts ‘I […]
Common Sense Education in Uncommon Times
In these unprecedented times of change and uncertainty, we cannot begin to know the world our children will inherit. How, then do we trust that we are effectively preparing them? […]
Building Your Child’s Internal Architecture
Your child’s internal architecture refers to their integrity, ethical thinking, initiative, compassion and awareness. As I was speaking of the importance of these qualities, one parent remarked, “Oh, it’s like […]
Explicit Teaching: Old-Fashioned or Essential?
Your child’s well-developed working memory contributes to effective learning, strong executive functioning skills and their social-emotional development. Children are bombarded with sensory inputs that are taxing
A Common Sense Kindergarten
Kindergarten can set the stage for a child’s school experience, laying the foundation for what kind of learner they become. Caulbridge School works to balance a child’s sensory-motor, social-emotional and […]
Animal Tracking as Literacy!
Observation skills are at the core of problem solving, in that one must first identify the problem and all its components before finding solutions that make the most sense. This […]
Your Child’s Neuro Signature
When viewing these colored images of a brain, it may not be obvious if we’re looking at a child or an adult brain. The centers that control critical thinking, spatial […]
Kids are ALWAYS on Their Best Behavior
Surely a child yelling ‘I hate you’ or throwing shoes around the room is not their best behavior. At that moment, yes, it is. Infants will cry to let us […]
Caulbridge School Teaches Oracy
Oracy includes speaking and listening skills, rhetorical techniques, self-regulation and presence. Can a student look you in the eye, listen to another’s perspective and offer a reasoned point of view?
Teaching, Learning, and Measuring What Matters
Preparing children to be adaptive thinkers with strength of heart and character is essential in these unprecedented times of change and uncertainty in the world. Caulbridge School has committed to an in-depth assessment process that measures courageous learning and positive self-concept
Childhood is a Distinct Time
Children are not miniature adults; they have a unique set of needs for healthy development. Only when children are engaged with relevant and developmentally appropriate activities can developmental milestones be reached and real learning occur.
Learning is Acting in New Ways
Acting or behaving in new ways can support healthy brain development and influence learning. Children experience the world through the senses; then interpret those experiences through the intellectual and emotional body, which leads to action.
Learning is Physiological and Begins in the Body
Learning is physiological and begins in the body. Neural processes are not limited to the brain mass, but rather are distributed throughout the body in an extensive network of electrochemical activity.
The School
Curriculum
Contact Info
One St. Vincent Drive
San Rafael, CA 94903
Phone: (415) 481-1243
Email: admin@caulbridgeschool.org