Apparel Magazine’s publisher, Susan Nichols, attended Five Oaks Academy’s ten year anniversary event Synergy with  Dr. Yong Zhao in September at the Hyatt downtown. Dr. Zhao is an internationally known scholar, author and speaker whose work focuses on the implications of globalization and technology on education.  Dr. Zhao’s quick wit and amazing insight enthralled hundreds on his recent visit to the upstate and his message resonated with many parents, educators and leaders in our business community. Susan shares what she took away from the evening from an industry standpoint in Apparel Magazine’s November publisher’s note. She writes, “One of the most compelling issues our industry faces today is education —how do we attract, prepare, train, motivate and inspire incoming talent to do great things in our companies.”  To read Susan’s article in it’s entirety go to http://apparel.edgl.com/magazine/November-2013/Don%E2%80%99t-Be-A-Wiener89236.

While Dr. Zhao is not a proclaimed Montessorian, his beliefs of cultivating the talents of each individual child and his focus on creativity, innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship fit well with the Montessori philosophy. With the advancement of technology, many of the jobs that will be available in the 21st Century will require students to have a much higher level of skills than rote memorization, regurgitating facts for tests and following directions.  It is up to the educators of today to cultivate these higher level skills within our students.

On Thursday, October 16, Five Oaks Academy was proud to welcome Jerry DeCaire to Five Oaks as a guest artist for the Upper Elementary and Middle School students. Jerry has served as an artist for Wolverine, Thor, X-Men, Conan and many other famous comic book and film characters. His presentation showed how mathematics, science and art can merge to create superheros! Jerry had all of the students on the edge of their seats with excitement as they watched him create a superhero while explaining the math and geometry he was using to create his art. They were thrilled to be given copies of the drawings he made that day. It was a great opportunity for them to see how the subjects they are  learning in the classroom are applied in the “real world”.

On Friday, October 18,  Five Oaks Academy Annual Fund held their annual Fall Fete. The Fete is an evening devoted to creating community among our parents and faculty as well as a time for our Annual Fund committee to give a short report on the Annual Fund.  Tara Ann Garrett, Director of the Annual Fund, talked briefly about the purpose of the annual fund and what it provides for our school. The Annual Fund is an integral part of providing funds for program excellence, faculty excellence, and student excellence. The combination of perfect fall weather with dinner, drinks, dancing, and laughter created a magical evening as we celebrated the milestone of  our tenth anniversary.

On October 4, Five Oaks Academy held our annual Fall Festival.  As parents watched, FOA students performed songs about fall in both English and Spanish and performed songs practiced in their World Music class. Our talented and poised Middle School students, Ari Flanagan and Sydney Pinochet, were the masters of ceremony. As part of our cultural program, the students and parents enjoyed a special presentation of songs played on a  didgeridoo, a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago. After the performance, the students enjoyed pony rides, petting goats, arts and crafts, and snow cones. This festival is a favorite of the students, parents and faculty. It is a wonderful way to welcome fall while creating a sense of community.

Dr. Zhao is pictured with FOA’s Director, Kathleen Trewhella Grant and Executive Coordinator, Jessica Greer, at a reception at the Hyatt prior to his speech.

The Greenville News recently gave Five Oaks Academy recognition of our 10th Anniversary by saying, “One Upstate school is trying to change education, and not just in the way it teaches kids inside its own walls.” One of Five Oaks Academy’s missions is to improve education for all children and for this reason we invited Dr. Yong Zhao to the Upstate to speak to the Greenville community. Our goal was to open a community-wide dialogue on “how” we are educating our countries children.

Dr. Zhao, an internationally known scholar, writer, and speaker, has studied education globally and presents a unique cross-cultural perspective on education.  Dr. Zhao’s examination of educational systems worldwide has given him insight into China’s educational struggles. On his recent visit to Greenville, he pointed out that by looking at the international test scores alone you would think that American children are significantly behind their Chinese counterparts and by these reports should not be as successful as the Chinese students. However, if you look at that data and compare it to the amount of patent applications the Chinese have applied for versus the American’s patent application for the same time period, then you can start to look at the significance of testing a little differently. Americans actually applied for significantly more patents than the Chinese.  Dr. Zhao has examined why China has failed to produce the creative and entrepreneurial talents that have been found in the United States and if the Chinese students being spoon fed material has prohibited them from learning how to learn.

Dr. Yong Zhao held a book signing at FOA during is recent visit to the Upstate.

Dr. Zhao cautions educators against putting so much emphasis on standardized testing because of the narrow focus of these tests. He believes that the standardized tests are not an accurate indication of a child’s success. Because of their narrow focus, they lack the ability to gauge the child’s creativity and own personal strengths. With the introduction of technology, the jobs and the skill sets needed to be successful have become very different for the 21st century work force. Technology has replaced many of the jobs that have traditionally employed our middle class workers. Dr. Zhao believes that “To succeed in this ever-changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourcefully, flexibly, creatively, and globally.” To read more on what Dr Yong Zhao has to say, you can pick up his latest books World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students and Catching Up or Leading the Way.

Dr. Maria Montessori was far ahead of her time when she developed the Montessori method of learning. Her astute understanding of  how children learn aided her scientific approach to designing the materials the children use. She developed a method that allows children to authentically learn how to problem solve, use critical thinking skills and to think flexibly and creatively.  The Montessori method also has the ability to address the needs of each individual child and can propel a child forward in areas in which they excel while giving additional support in areas in which they are weak. For more information on the Montessori method, please contact us for a tour of Five Oaks Academy.

To read the article in the Greenville News go to http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013309190006&nclick_check=1

On September 27, Five Oaks Academy held an International Tea to welcome our new international families and celebrate the unique diversity of our community. We appreciate all who attended and made this event a success. It was so exciting to find out where each person was from and see how many countries are represented by the FOA community. New connections and friendships were made by parents from different classrooms. A special thank you to the PTO and parent volunteers that made this event possible.

In celebration of our ten year anniversary, Five Oaks Academy is working with community partners to bring internationally known scholar, author and speaker, Dr. Yong Zhao, to the Upstate for a very special event. His works focus on the implications of globalization and technology on education. On September 19 at 6pm, Dr. Zhao will host an evening of  “Synergy”. This unique event will be held at the Hyatt, downtown and bring the Business, Education and Art communities of the upstate together to examine “how” we need to educate this generation of children to get them ready for the 21st century workforce and global economy. This event is free to all of our families as well as the Greenville community but does require reserving the complimentary tickets.

Dr. Zhao, named one of 2012 Tech & Learning Magazine’s Top 10 Most Influential People in Educational Technology and the recipient of the Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association, will challenge us to examine our current obsession with test scores and common core curriculum standards. He will address questions such as: how do we prepare this generation for a globalized world and how do we create more entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs? Dr Zhao’s presentation will not focus on education reform, but instead will present a compelling argument for a complete transformation in the way we educate. Zhao believes, “To succeed in this ever changing world, students need to be able to think like entrepreneurs: resourcefully, flexibly, creatively, and globally.”

Dr. Zhao has written and published more than 100 articles and books, including Catching Up or Leading the Way: American Education in the Age of Globalization and World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students. He has designed schools that cultivate global competence, developed computer games for language learning, and founded research and development institutions to explore innovative education models.

Please request your complimentary tickets online and join us for this exciting event.

One of our Lower Elementary parents, Kelly Barnhardt,  has shared her experience with FOA’s  Art Program and Annual Art Show on her blog.  Her blogs are wonderfully written and this particular blog post, “Heart and Soul”,  is a testament to our art program. You can read more of her blogs posts at http://peekawhoo.com .

“On Thursday after the Boston Marathon, the kids’ school hosted its annual art show, where all the students proudly display the work they’ve created under the tutelage of Jill, the school’s amazingly talented and energetic art teacher. It’s always such a lovely event, with art displayed all over the campus in the classrooms, in the office, on the walkways. Jill, an artist herself, is one of those remarkable teachers who is able to convey fact, technique, and fun, instilling a love and appreciation for the process and study of art.

Jill teaches the kids about the great artists, the great works-Degas, Monet, Van Gogh this year, Picasso and Leonardo da Vinci in years past. They listen, they learn, they emulate, they experiment, they create. They learn the rules so that one day, they can break them, they can move beyond and outside the lines and make their own magic.

These are good things, these paintings. The kids were proud to see their work displayed, to see their investments admired. Though kids may not feel the anxiety as acutely as adults, it’s often difficult to release something you’ve made out into the world for fear of its critique or misunderstanding or that people just flat out won’t like it. You’re putting a piece of yourself out there-writing, painting, drawing, dancing, singing-these forms of creativity allow us to express ourselves in ways different from our typical greetings and correspondences; they bring beauty and perspective and form to emotion, to feeling.

In our home, we have lots of art. It’s not necessarily fine or expensive, but it covers our walls. As a former Art History minor, the daughter of an artist, and someone often billed as “creative”, I enjoy the study and history of art, its relationship to and critical foundation in the formation of culture.

And what I’ve also learned through the years about art is that I like art because you made it. Because it came from you. Because you went out on a limb and put some of yourself into it, because you shared with the rest of the world.”

We are very excited about a innovative new high school that is scheduled to open in Greenville for the 2014-2015 academic year. FOA’s Executive Director, Kathleen Trewhella-Grant and Executive Coordinator, Jessica Greer, attended the Next High School Education Summit where the plan was unveiled to create the Next High School. The Next High School, modeled after Cart High School in Fresno C.A., will be a public charter school. The pioneer of this school is the Next Group, a group of entrepreneurial businesses dedicated to bringing commerce to Greenville. Their mission is to bring community leaders and businesses together to create a school that will have project-based learning with an emphasis on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The school will have flexible work spaces and work schedules with a focus on creating real life connections to help prepare students for “life after school”.  The Next High School’s philosophies fit very well with what Montessori has been doing for 100 years. To get more information please go to www.nexthighschool.org. They would like feedback on your level of interest in enrolling your child at enroll@nexthighschool.com.We feel our students would be great candidates for the Next High School.

On Friday, May 3, FOA held our annual community wide International  Festival to celebrate our wonderful cultural differences. We are very proud that FOA’s student body is composed of students from over 16 countries. We seek to expose our students to a global vision of our world.  This festival is a favorite of many of our students  because everyone dresses in the traditional garb from a variety of cultures and each family prepares an international dish for all to enjoy. The classrooms prepare special songs for the students to perform along with our Spanish, World Music and Classical Music departments.  A special presentation of dancing and cultural sharing was giving by Cordao de Ouro,a Brazilian dance group.  This festival is a day our students look forward to each year and many of them were planning their outfit for next year’s festival at the end of the day.

Our culture curriculum is geared towards giving our students authentic cultural experiences they can identify with all year long. It is only fitting that we top it off with a very special festival at the end of the school year.