Beechwood Students at work

“Beechwood extends beyond a child’s K-8th education. A relationship with Beechwood means a lifelong relationship with members of staff and other students.”

— Isabella Hill, Middle School Language Arts Teacher

Beechwood Student Showcase

Art Video

Expressing Gratitude through Art

This slide show features artwork from Beechwood students throughout the grade levels. They were asked to create an image and an accompanying “artist statement” that shows gratitude toward an important adult in their life. The project was carried out by Beechwood’s Resilience Consultant Chris Chiochios. Chris is a counselor from the Cleo Eulau Center, an organization that Beechwood partners with to help us address the Social and Emotional Well Being of our staff and our students. We hope you will visit their website – cleoeulaucenter.org – to learn more about this outstanding organization. Enjoy these delightful drawings and inspirational statements.

Vocabulary Video

4th Graders Get Creative with Vocabulary

Social Studies Video

7th Graders Re-enact Medieval Times

Our theme for this year is creativity — at Beechwood we believe that students can learn in a variety of ways. Students were assigned an aspect of everyday life to investigate (trade, commerce, leisure activities or crime and punishment) and present to the class. The students captured on video here — Barbara, Nariko and Yessica — are re-enacting trade and commerce. The students wrote the script and gathered their own props, working together to accomplish a goal. In the middle school, where peer relationships are so important, we are happy to see that they are learning from each other as well as from their teacher.

Creative Writing

Collective Blessing Poem

May hearts not be broken, but may they be spoken
May we sleep for as long as we want
May wishes come true
May dogs not chase cats
May birds please wear hats
May I get to see space
May we reach the stars
May nobody have cancer
May we all have pools in our yards
May life be like a show
May people never die
May we not lie
May all days be holidays
May people live in Jell-O
May we never go to school
May I someday go to college
May it snow inside our house
May there be no hurt or sorrow
May you dance in the rain
May I hear dogs talk
May your heart beat until the end of time
May this poem never end
May I never see tomorrow
May our hearts pour out of what we are all about

– by Beechwood Creative Writing Class (2/09)

Collective Truth Poem

Truth is unique. It’s not easy to come around.
The texture of truth feels like a warm bubbling Jacuzzi.
Truth is the color of kindness.
Truth soars when someone opens up to someone or something!
Truth soars when love is around.
Truthfulness tastes like ice cream.
Truth has the scent of something clean.
Truth looks like the face of an honest friend.
Truth is when people are happy.
Truth is the color of the loving blue sky.
Truth is the color yellow.
Truth soars when a person opens her or his heart and tells the truth.
Truth tastes like popcorn with extra butter!
Truth has the scent of vanilla.
Truth is being honest.
Truth looks like a redwood tree, standing tall, weathering storms.

– by Beechwood Creative Writing Class (2/09)

8th Grade Haiku

Beechwood alumnus Carmelite Souffront is the mother of a third grader at Beechwood and an accomplished poet. The students got to hear how Ms. Souffront creates her poems and then they got to create a poem of their own. We are so proud of our alumni and our 8th graders.

Public Speaking

On Thursday, October 23rd, Beechwood School held its first annual “Speak Out Beechwood”, a celebration of public speaking. Each class from Kinderprep on up to 8th grade participated by featuring a different aspect of public speaking. Group poetry, individual poetry recitation, original poetry recitation, persuasive speech, Spanish poetry and historical speech all were on display. The audience was attentive and appreciative, especially when 7th grader Johnathan Piper made his persuasive argument for less homework! We are so proud of our teachers and parents who helped make this happen. More than that, we have great admiration for the brave souls who got up in front of the whole school to “Speak Out Beechwood”.

Creative Writing

Assembled in this booklet “The Right to Write!” are pieces selected by the writers in a creative writing group at Beechwood School. All the pieces were written in 10-minute time periods, in response to prompts given by the leader (me). The writers dared to tap – without censoring – into their own original imaginations, memories, fantasies, personal preferences and thoughts. This takes courage and trust! Their writing is fresh, unedited and contains many delightful and moving images, humor, poems, and stories. While reading this booklet, I hope you will enjoy the sensation of witnessing newborn creative writing as it is written in the moment.

It was a true pleasure and privilege to lead these young writers through this writing adventure together. I hope they will continue to nurture their creative writing spirits through journaling and other avenues in the future! – Terri Lobdell, volunteer (3/17/08)