It begins with developing character
Growing In Character, Poise, Confidence, and Resilience
What makes a leader? While you may think it entails speaking ability and taking initiative, both of which we teach, we believe leadership starts with character development.
At Park Street School, we seek to recognize the God-given gifts of each child in order to intentionally cultivate and encourage his or her unique development in key areas — academic, spiritual, social-emotional, and physical. Our caring, yet challenging learning environment, produces leaders of influence who exemplify character through responsible behavior, empathy, collaboration, and perseverance.
Poise and Confidence
Public Speaking
Confidence is built over time and with opportunity. At a young age we start engaging students in public speaking. By the time our sixth graders graduate, they are poised, confident, and resilient.
Public speaking opportunities include:
- Saying “Hello!” to Toddler friends at morning circle
- Giving an oral presentation about yourself and answering questions from the audience as “Star of the Week”
- Checking the weather through the window and reporting back to Preschool friends
- Sharing a piece of writing during an Author’s Breakfast with peers and parents in first grade
- Leading the school in the “Pledge of Allegiance” over the loudspeaker
- Explaining what inspired a piece of art at the Day of the Arts (Preschool) or the Evening of the Arts (Elementary School)
- Emceeing for chapel in Grade 6
Performing with Others
- As well as speaking in public, we sing, act, and perform many times a year with our classes.
- For the first time in Preschool, we sing with our class to enthusiastic moms and dads during the school-wide Christmas and Spring concerts. We continue to share songs at these concerts throughout our time at Park Street School.
- At the Pre-Kindergarten graduation, we sing a special graduation song to our parents.
- In Kindergarten, during our “Kings and Queens” unit, we each take a turn to bow and curtsy to the King and Queen (two royal parent guests), and we perform a dance for them.
- For our service project in first grade, we visit the residents of Hale House, a retirement home, and either recite a poem or perform a song for them before we engage them in fun games.
- By second grade, we might take part in a “Westward Expansion” museum. Hit the buzzer and a Pony Express rider or a Gold Rush Digger come to life to tell you his or her story.
- In third grade, we have our first dramatic performance, where we put on a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Hans Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale during the “Evening of the Arts.”
- In Grade 4, we offer medieval monologues, which tell the tales of fair maidens, farmers’ daughters, knights and monks at our medieval banquet.
- On Science Fair years, we write, design, and act out commercials in between Grade 5 and 6 finalists’ presentations. The commercials showcase a product that was tested and researched by fourth grade teams.
- A highlight in fifth grade is to perform Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to our parents, peers and other classes at the elementary school.
- By Grade 6, we are performing Antigone and The Diary of Anne Frank in front of parents, friends, and a few of the younger grades. We also perform dramatic vignettes for the Christmas and Spring Concerts.
Mentoring Others
We provide many opportunities to mentor, encourage, and teach the younger students. They include reading to our younger Reading Buddies, designing games for kindergartners, and figuring out activities for a science lesson for first graders. These activities entail creating, trying out, regrouping, redesigning, and trying again. Along the way, we develop resilience and perseverance.
Service Projects
Each year, our classes brainstorm and select an organization to support and serve for the year. From visiting older residents, to collecting school supplies or books for those in need, we cultivate empathy and learn to reach out beyond ourselves. We learn how to express appreciation to those in our community who help and serve us.
What Others Say About Us
Toni Crothall
PSS Parent
Sofia Altenhoff
Park Street School parent of Grade 4 & 5 children
Max Amadeo
Park Street SchoolClass of 2016
Kim and Greg Lewis
Park Street School parents, Preschool and Elementary
Jill and John Wells
Park Street School parents, Preschool and Elementary