We see our students as creators. Through design challenges, free builds, and inventions, our students learn that they are capable. They embody an “I can” attitude. Believing in themselves provides space to embrace mistakes and motivates them to try and try again. This is exactly the mindset we encourage our students to bring to game development! Making a game is not easy. To gather experience about what makes a good game, the Kindergartners played lots and lots of games.

Many children’s books and curricula about the states of matter begin by telling children the meaning of the terms solid, liquid and gas. But what if we didn’t start that way? What if we gave students examples of these materials and let them develop their own definitions through hands-on experimentation and observation? Even though we couldn’t know exactly where the exploration would lead, this is exactly what my partner teacher and I decided to do with our class of 3rd and 4t

"Time to hit the road!", one student exclaimed as the class piled into the twelve-passenger van on their way to explore Olvera Street for the celebration of Día de los Muertos. The excitement was palpable as the students embarked on this new experience into the real world. This year at Sycamore, the school has been generously supplied with two vans for the purpose of taking students on field trips. By having transportation readily available to the community, students have fre