The Brooklyn Green School in Crown Heights, a new progressive middle school with a special focus on sustainability, environmental issues and social justice concerns, is ready to welcome the next cohort of students and has opened its enrollment process.
Located within the historic Weeksville community, Middle School 898 opened its doors in September to an inaugural class of sixth graders and will add additional grades each year, up to eight grade by 2020.
The school's mission is to encourage students to spend time investigating their community, their city and their world. The teachers thereby serve as a guide, not a taskmaster, the school emphasizes in its mission statement.
"At The Brooklyn Green School, we are committed to cultivating the joy of learning in every classroom, through a constructivist approach that values student agency, collaborative inquiry, project-based and service learning, community alliance, diversity and social justice," said Marcella Carr - Gay, the school's founding principal.
Through its curriculum and service learning projects, BKG guides students to embrace their civic responsibility, show empathy and practice eco-consciousness. In addition to the traditional academic subjects like math, the humanities and sciences, which incorporate sustainability studies, students also receive instruction in health education which includes mental and emotional health, wellness, nutrition, physical activity, as well as community and environmental health.
Essential skills that all BKG graduates must possess include strong reading, coherent and clear writing, effective studying, sound reasoning, thoughtful questioning and standing up for what they believe in, the school emphasizes.
As guides, the teachers help students to develop a deep understanding of their coursework and to foster awareness and connections to the world around them.
"In a progressive education setting the child is placed at the center of the learning process," the school's website reads. "Educators who are progressive thinkers believe that children have a natural love of learning, are rational thinkers and are capable of understanding their responsibilities as future participants in society."
Interested parents and students can visit the Brooklyn Green School and participate in a tour, or learn more online.
