Primary Thoughts
Head of School Blog
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New Year’s Gratitude
Each new year’s I like to make a list of the many things for which I feel grateful. The list is long, and I revisit it and add to it […]
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A Merle-Smith Holiday
As our children put the finishing touches on this week’s Seasons of Light Beako, I was reminded of the light that was embodied by a formative figure in my career, […]
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The Need for Light
In this Season of Light, I have found myself increasingly troubled by the fevered rhetoric of our nation’s leaders and what impact that will have on our children. On […]
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Primary Points: A Strategic Plan for The Primary Day School for 2025-26
Parents whose students were enrolled last year will remember being invited to a few “listening sessions” aimed at gathering families’ ideas for the school’s new strategic plan which was formed […]
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A.I. & Parenting
At Back to School Night I made the case that, as parents and educators of Primary Day-aged children, we have the opportunity to avert our children’s paths from the deleterious […]
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How Do You Assess Growth?
When my children were small, like many of you probably do, we devoted a door jamb to marking their height at least a couple of times a year. It was […]
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Fostering Transformation
This past weekend, as I read your children’s end of year reports, I was moved, as I always am at this time of year, by all the beautiful transformations that […]
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Is Quitting OK?
A few years ago, when Primary Day parents and faculty discerned the most important values we wanted to inculcate within our children, determination – our PDS value for April – […]
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The Morning Handshake as Symbol and Connection
With the coming of March and some flowers poking through the soil, we have reinstituted an esteemed tradition at Primary Day that was set aside during COVID: the morning handshake. […]
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Some Simple Opportunities of Winter
Given the cold and the dark, January and February can be challenging months for adults, with accompanying books, products, therapies, and methods devoted to more successful “wintering.” For young children, […]