FlexFriday includes time to make academics real, learn more about our community and culture, experience the arts, and learn from those in the FlexSchool community.
A cornerstone of the FlexSchool experience has always been FlexFriday – a weekly opportunity for students to apply their classroom learning to the real world through experiences such as field trips, service projects, science labs, hands-on activities and live interactions with professionals in the field. We are pleased to say that we continue to provide FlexFriday enrichment programming despite the Covid-19 crisis. When restrictions are in place, our FlexFriday options each week may include:
In-person option: An outdoor opportunity for students to connect in person for fun, hands-on, experiential learning activities, while practicing all safety protocols.
Virtual option: FlexSchool’s virtual speaker series features exciting activities such as live, guided tours, learning activities, speakers from a variety of fascinating professions and more!
See a sampling of some of our recent experiential learning outings below.
On a recent FlexFriday visit, FlexSchool students were treated to a highly engaging hands-on fiber arts workshop! FlexSchool's own Susan Hemingway brought her spinning wheel for a demonstration, as well as a variety of different fibers, tools and finished products. Students manipulated pieces of prepared fiber, called "roving," to see the effects of adding twist. Then it was time to try their hands at making their own fiber arts creations! Susan led a workshop on spinning with a drop spindle, while Bronxville art teacher Brianna Hooijberg led the knitting workshop.
At last week’s special multi-campus FlexFriday event, FlexSchool students crafted handmade messages of kindness and support, and attached the notes to warm blankets to be distributed to individuals experiencing homelessness. Then they were treated to a live Q&A with Mike and Nick Fiorito, founders of the charity Blankets of Hope. Students shared some of their own charitable endeavors and were able to get advice from the experts on how to take it to the next level.
“Superposition is SO COOL!” This comment by a FlexSchool 5th grader was one of many enthusiastic chats, during a lively FlexFriday discussion with graduate student Felicity Hills about the limitations of our knowledge of physics. “Gravity is a good example. We have Newton’s laws and day to day, most of what we interact with can be described with Newton’s Laws. But for really large, black holes, Newton’s laws are no longer sufficient,” Felicity explained. “What we always do in physics is ask questions about things that sort of push on them: Why can’t we explain this? We want to add to the standard model. We do have a set of equations that explain the standard model, but we know those equations aren’t complete because there are things we can’t understand. We want to refine that and make a better theory.”
Bronxville students were riveted on Friday as medieval studies fellow Dr. Christine Axen, Ph.D. led them on a fascinating tour through time to explore the history of alchemy.
November is Native American Heritage Month, and in honor of this cultural celebration, Bronxville students traveled by bus to our Berkeley Heights campus to share a special FlexFriday event.
Bronxville students learned how to fool the eye, predict human behavior and more — and then got to try out some tricks themselves — when professional magician “Magic Dave” Ferst led a workshop on a recent FlexFriday visit.
As we prepare for a special multi-campus event with the Red Hawk Native American Arts Council later this month, our respective campuses have been busy exploring different parts of Native American history and culture.
If you dig something up from the soil on Mars, is it still called “unearthing”? FlexSchool students dug into this and other fun debates as they dug for crops they’d planted in the spring on a recent FlexFriday service day.
Harvesting potatoes is surprisingly fun: First you use a spading fork to gently rock the plant back and forth to loosen the roots. Then you search through the soil for potatoes. There’s a little thrill when you spot one – almost like an Easter egg hunt.
And it’s even better when it’s for a great cause: Everything we grow at the Pleasantville Community Garden goes directly to local food pantries.
We can’t think of a nicer way to spend a gorgeous autumn afternoon!
This enormous Madagascar hissing cockroach was just the first of five creepy creatures -- including a tarantula, a frog and more -- that this brave museum educator handled live, all for the benefit of our latest FlexFriday program.
In this two-campus event, our live guide from the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum and the Leslie Nature Center, introduced FlexSchool students to an entire cast of characters who each play a key role in a food chain. Students were then invited to create a paper model of the food chain themselves.
Along this guided tour up the food chain, we discussed how these animals are all connected, and learned about the delicate balance that allows them to survive both individually and as wildlife sharing a habitat.
This discussion tied in beautifully to FlexSchool’s theme of the year, which was introduced earlier that morning during Town Hall: Systems.
At FlexSchool, we love hands-on, project-based learning! This week, FlexSchoolers were challenged to transform math class into their own bubble factory. They applied their math skills to every stage – from calculating their daily output, to comparing shipping rates to making and testing a real bubble solution. Who knew math class could be so much fun?
Students from both FlexSchool campuses rolled up their sleeves for a FlexFriday volunteer day at the Pleasantville Community Garden, which grows fresh, nutritious food for donation to local food pantries – an important component of a crucial food supply that might otherwise only include nonperishable and canned foods.
FlexSchool students got to meet video game producer Steve Patterson on a recent FlexFriday virtual visit. Steve told the story of how he broke into the business, and shared his best tips for building a successful career in this exciting field!
Ever since cardboard entrepreneur Zachary Rotholz of Chairigami introduced FlexSchool kids to the art, science and business of cardboard carpentry in a hands-on workshop, our students have been busy designing and executing their own original creations for our Cardboard Box Challenge. Last week, the students exhibited their work in our Virtual Fair -- and Zachary even returned for the event, to see everyone’s finished products!
Notice anything unusual about this multi-sport athlete? Alanna Flax-Clark has tried all kinds of sports – from surfing to skiing, kayaking to curling, and rock climbing to ziplining – all despite having a wheelchair! After showing signs of quadriplegia at a young age, Alanna persevered and rebuilt her life – twice!
The competitive para-equestrian and disability advocate shared her inspiring story during a special FlexFriday virtual visit.
Meet our oldest FlexFriday visitor ever: Otzi – a 5,300-year-old mummy with a mysterious past. FlexSchool students got to meet Otzi and learn about DNA science on a virtual visit to Cold Spring Harbor Lab.
What do functioning gears, sturdy dorm furniture and a pair of goggles have in common? They can all be crafted out of cardboard! At a special all-campus event, The Cardboard Carpentry Workshop, FlexSchool students got a crash course in creative cardboard engineering and artistry from entrepreneur Zachary Rotholz -- and then got a chance to put their new skills into action.
In the second of our special three-part FlexFriday series on media literacy, visiting speaker Ashley Yates gave students an eye-opening tour of the many ways misinformation – and disinformation – can sneak into our lives.
In a thought-provoking FlexFriday event, the second of a special three-part series, FlexSchool students watched the conclusion of the important Netflix original docu-drama The Social Dilemma. They then acted as cultural ethnographers and journeyed into a guided intellectual discourse surrounding the history of digital media, as it relates to the film, and what it all might mean to us today. Students then created a special presentation to share what they learned with their younger classmates.
This afternoon, students in FlexSchool’s Build Your Own Alexa Skill class celebrated a big accomplishment: A skill they built together is now certified and published by Amazon!