Last week 8th graders invited us to glimpse the future and tour their invented cities designed entirely for the health of their inhabitants and the earth. Having imagined possibilities, designed blueprints, and built prototypes, students created presentations to showcase the scientific features of their invented future cities. Teachers and students from other grades toured the expo to learn about the problems and solutions on display.  Throughout this interdisciplinary unit, students answer a series of questions that integrate biology, urban design, and physics. The first question asks students, “what would our cities look like if human health…

Upper School Spanish Trivia Podcast: To celebrate Hispanic/Latino/Latinx Heritage Month, Hyla students in Spanish (levels 3 and 4) created a trivia podcast in a sound studio at BARN, thanks to BARN teachers Frank Charlton and Bob Ross. While learning the technical side of podcast creation, students used their language skills in a meaningful context as they created something to share with all of you. Test your comprehension skills and knowledge of the Spanish-speaking world! Click here for the trivia podcast. Answers below. Spanish teacher Tom Neal uses hands-on activities that inject a sense of urgency into…

9th Grade Biology By Erik Saksa, teacher Biological Communities After starting the year with the framework of food chains/webs to understand the structure of biological communities, our Biology students zoomed in to investigate the interspecific interactions between individual species that comprise those communities. Students explored exploitative relationships (predation, herbivory, and parasitism) and positive interactions (mutualism and commensalism) with endless examples found in nature. Our first unit ended with case studies examining the role Ecosystem Engineers (beavers) and Keystone Species (sea otters) play in maintaining balance in their respective ecosystems.  Hands-on Labs Through a series of hands-on…

Bainbridge Island, WA, July 29, 2022 – On Friday, July 29th, Hyla School finalized purchase of the Ericksen Avenue Office Park, an exciting step in the school’s expansion into grades 9-12 that provides local families with a new and progressive educational option for high school. Nearly 30 years after Hyla opened, and two years after a full renovation of its middle school campus, Hyla’s upper school program will move into the newly renovated 355 building on Ericksen Avenue this August. Hyla will continue to lease the other three buildings on the property with plans to renovate…

A CLOSE-UP LOOK. Each semester in our upper school program, we break from our standard academic schedule for Panoramas – multi-week, immersive and interdisciplinary courses that explore and investigate a range of topics through hands-on labs, seminars, creative projects, travel, and critical work. Each Panorama focuses on a central theme and core goal to inspire students to discover something new about themselves and about the world. The Deep Dive Panorama happening in spring 2022 uses a case study methodology to explore the connection between the natural environment and human activity. To compare and contrast threats to…

Connecting language and action in middle school and beyond: The growth from 6th to 8th grade is tremendous. While the physical changes are most obvious, academic and personal growth is also profound during these years. As students assert their identities with more and more maturity and independence, the language they use evolves with them. They use it to express who they are, and also to connect with others – and it takes practice. Communication is at the core of Human Relations, and teacher Cooper explains that language is “at its best, how we express our emotions,…

One of the core beliefs underpinning Hyla’s high school math program is that mathematics is a human pursuit akin to art, music and literature. And, just as when we become artists, musicians and writers when we draw a picture, sing along or pen a love letter, so too when we do mathematics we become mathematicians. To help students see more clearly this human side of math we recently introduced them to a charming BBC podcast called The Life Scientific. In each episode an accomplished scientist or mathematician is interviewed, sharing their intellectual struggles and also providing…

HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY: Students in Biology are continuing to add detail to their investigation of organelle structure and function, starting with the cell’s plasma membrane. Through exploring the topic of diffusion, or the tendency of molecules to move from regions of higher concentration to areas of lower concentration, students could explain both the presence of passive and active transport proteins in the plasma membrane and their function of moving solutes in and out of the cell. (Photo: Visualization of diffusion with a simple Skittles experiment.) Moving within the cell, students are elucidating how different organelles work…

If you’re new to Ultimate Frisbee, you might ask “where’s the ref?” The answer is: everywhere. That’s because every person on the field is their own referee who trusts every other player to also be their own referee. A game that relies so heavily on self-awareness, internal mediation, and advocacy is a natural fit for Hyla, which explains why it has been a beloved school tradition for many years.  This year, we joyfully welcome new coaches into that tradition. Alongside Cooper and David, three high school students -Trey Field-Bennett, Carson Cramer, and Spencer Freeman – are…

Where does advanced work happen at Hyla? Everywhere! In every core class at Hyla, students can choose a “core pathway” or an “advanced pathway.” In American History, students on these pathways take two different approaches to examining the past and understanding its impacts on this country and its people Take a look!    Core: H300 Students are looking closely at major historical developments radically reshaping America in the 19th century: economic disruption, a political quagmire, a religious awakening, stark regional differences, and questions about the role of the government in the daily lives of ordinary people. …