News

This morning during the time block for Affinity Groups, Tenacre fourth, fifth, and sixth graders started the day with options to participate in different activities in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Students could participate in community service options by tying fleece blankets to donate to local shelters, creating birthday cards for the Confetti Foundation, which sends them to local children in hospitals, or joining classmates in a campus clean-up. Students also had the option to take part in an African dance workshop. All of the choices were a wonderful way to start the day.

Tenacre has just released its third “This is Tenacre” podcast. In this edition, Christina Grace, Tenacre's Director of Educational Support and Reading Coordinator, shares her experience growing up with ADHD and how feeling "othered" shaped her teaching philosophy. She emphasizes the importance of understanding, nurturing, and challenging children while recognizing neurodiversity and setting high yet realistic expectations for all learners.

This morning at assembly, Tenacre’s Dance Club presented an interpretive dance titled Dream Variations. The dancers gathered throughout the fall to rehearse their routine. Choreographed by Robin Offley-Thompson, the administrative assistant and assistant to the head of school, the rehearsals focused on teaching the students how to collaborate as a group and navigate their dance space. The seven dancers, representing grades three through six, wore pajamas for their lively and imaginative performance.

The Tenacre Art Gallery (TAG) welcomed artist Mark Heffley to campus today. An artist and climber, Mark uses retired climbing ropes to create art. Climbing rope is generally used for 3 to 5 years before being discarded for safety reasons. Mark uses the rope to create tables, chairs, coasters, and art to hang on walls. In the 10 years since he started his art, he has used 30,300 feet of discarded climbing rope, equal to about 5.75 miles. After hosting an all-school assembly in which he described his art and process, Mark worked with fifth graders in art class as they designed an item that could be created with climbing rope.

Tenacre’s Term 3 Student Council held its first meeting during lunch today—a group of sixth graders and the three faculty advisors discussed the leadership roles sixth graders would take on. Sixth Graders are assigned the responsibility of being co-presidents, treasurers, secretaries, and school reporters for their “term in office.” The Term 3 group will focus on a global organization to support and begin brainstorming ideas next week when fourth and fifth graders join the meetings. Starting at next week’s meeting, all Student Council participants will have the opportunity to offer suggestions for potential projects and how to organize, advertise, and implement them. 

Happy New Year and welcome back! We hope everyone had a relaxing break. We are thrilled to have Tenacre students back on campus.