Outdoor Activities:  Olympics! Design some physical challenges! Maybe a parkour course, or create a fitness course to see who is the best “athlete” in the household. Include biking, ping pong, shoveling dirt, felling a tree (a small one that isn’t going to hurt anyone), pruning, planting…wait, maybe this is Kimber trying to get a garden started! Ultimate dodgeball in costumes! Go on a long bike ride Learn to skateboard Go for a walk!  Gazzam Lake, the Grand Forest, or one of the Island’s beaches are great places to start. Indoor Rainy Days:  Ultimate Champion of board…

Every week in our family newsletter we share an article called the “Window of the Week” to give parents a glimpse of something that happened during the school day. This week the window takes you into the hearts and minds of our teachers as they shifted everything about their work to ensure that learning still happens for Hyla students. This was far more than a logistical feat. The way it happened is because our teachers care so much about their students. This week we are happy to share some reflections from teachers about what they saw…

With the art room in a totally remodeled space this year, the 8th graders had a rare opportunity to freshly interpret the long-standing 8th grade art installation tradition. “This is the culminating project in the art program at Hyla,” explains Kate, “and everything before this point over their three years has worked up to this moment.” The art installation project is a chance for the oldest students at Hyla to make their mark on campus before they graduate. This 8th grade class was the first to apply this tradition to a brand-new space and re-imagine it…

“I was interested in exploring the idea of the end justifying the means,” said history teacher David Maron about the recent 8th grade debates that are part of a unit focused on the ethics of warfare. “I wanted students to understand that each difficult question has various sides that can be argued,” he explained. “I wanted them to have to imagine how the arguments match up with one another…with the hope that they would more wholly see the worth of the arguments.”  After several classes discussing Just War Theory, students chose a position from a set…

“Imagine you are born with autism and paralyzed from the waist down at birth. You have to use a wheelchair wherever you go. You feel invisible because ‘everyone is taught not to stare.’ Then you receive Service Dog Nelson from Assistance Dogs North West, and it changes everything.” So began an essay in eighth grade English to compete for grant money raised from tickets sold to school dances. Knowing that they had $250 to donate, students were motivated to get that money sent to the nonprofits they chose and researched during the advocacy journalism unit earlier this…

We do a lot of inter-disciplinary projects at Hyla because they allow students to create something. And in the act of creation, students cement their learning. To move from knowledge absorption to mastery, there is a complex zone where students must apply what they’ve learned and do something new with that information. “When they apply knowledge to create something new, that’s where the hard work happens,” says Suzanne. “Creation forces them to ask more and more questions,” she continues, “and reconcile the facts they know with the creative decisions they need to make.”     7th graders…

  “Four months ago you were 21 people who didn’t know each other as a group and now you’re a team.” That’s how Chris began rehearsals this week, the first time the actors took to the stage where they will perform as an ensemble this weekend before the entire community. Chris’ words speak to the process of theater: what actors learn about themselves and about each other and what they accomplish together. What’s unique about this work is that it doesn’t end after the last show. At Hyla, this work continues on: for the duration of their…

As the 7th graders took their seats in the Madison House common area, more and more curious residents trickled in to investigate. This was the first of what will become many visits to the senior living center from the Hyla 7th graders, and there was an air of mutual curiosity and respect as elders and students alike joined each other at the small round tables. This coming together was facilitated by a partnership between Kim’s Global Education class and Silver Kite, an award-winning nonprofit which specializes in inter-generational programs that foster relationships between youth and elders…

Last Tuesday, renowned Seattle Times journalist Nina Shapiro and videographer Corinne Chin visited Hyla to discuss their piece, titled “Life After Deportation.” Over the course of the morning, each grade had the opportunity to sit with Nina and Corinne and discuss the issues surrounding deportation and immigration, as well as hear what it means to be a good journalist.   This collaboration was brought to Hyla through a partnership with the Pulitzer Center, which Jeff had established last year. The organization launched a new program this year called Bringing Stories Home as an effort to shed…

 As the Hyla community begins to gear up for both Mini-Term and Thanksgiving, community, social justice, and service are on all of our minds. Nothing is a more timely or relevant example of these values than our Monday visits to Helpline House with Cami.  A partnership between Hyla and Helpline has existed since the early days of the school, when former Math teacher Chris Johnson began to take groups of students to volunteer, and the weekly visits have carried on ever since. The tradition was taken over by Cami, our Special Programs Teacher, about eight years…