The Fessy Den Blog

3 Things You Can Learn About Educating Young Boys – A Male Early Education Teacher’s Perspective

1 Comment | September 06, 2017

Male teachers are a rarity in American elementary schools, in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten education, especially. According to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the more than 600,000 preschool and kindergarten teachers in the U.S. in 2014, less than three percent were men. So, as a male kindergarten teacher, Fessenden’s Keith Fortier has a unique perspective. Keith spends most of ...
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Designed For Play: How Fessenden’s New Playground Helps Boys Learn

Leave a Comment | May 24, 2017

When visiting families see the new playground at The Fessenden School, one thing stands out right away: It doesn’t look anything like a playground—not the ones they grew up with, anyway. Fessenden’s playground has no slides, swings, or monkey bars. In fact, it has nothing you would recognize as traditional playground equipment. “A traditional playground tend to foster chaos: a lot of running, a lot...
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3 Ways a 12-Year-Old Can Learn to Be a Leader

Leave a Comment | May 17, 2017

Some people are born leaders. They take control of difficult situations with confidence. They inspire others naturally. And it all seems to come so easily. But research has shown that the leadership abilities that appear to be inborn traits can actually be developed and nurtured during childhood: Researcher Carl Brungardt found in 1997 that leadership skills, “like the ability to work with others, ...
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4 Skills That Will Help Your Son Do Well in Kindergarten

Leave a Comment | May 10, 2017

Whether your son is starting kindergarten at 5 or 6, that fateful day will be here faster than you think. You know you’ll never be truly prepared to let him go but you want to make sure he’s ready. Kindergarten brings with it all kinds of new experiences, expectations, and interactions for your son. It’s also the beginning of his academic career, a new stage...
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3 Reasons to Give Single-Sex Pre-K a Second Chance

1 Comment | May 03, 2017

Your quest to find the pre-kindergarten program in the Boston area that fits your son perfectly has stalled. Nothing seems quite right. Is it time to give up or compromise? Before you relax your standards, we suggest taking a second look at a category of pre-K programs you may have dismissed out of hand when you first compiled your shortlist of schools: single-sex pre-Ks, specifically, all-boys...
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A Magical Story About Community

Leave a Comment | March 22, 2017

In February, Fessenden families once again gathered in the Performing Arts Center for an event that has become an annual crowd pleaser — the Staffulty Cabaret. This tradition has become a staple of the Fessenden experience, with countless staff and faculty performing in front of hundreds, even thousands, of Fessenden students and parents over the past thirty-five years. This recent edition of the show, ...
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Parents & Children Both Struggle In The Digital World

Leave a Comment | February 08, 2017

Parenting is hard. Being a child is just as difficult. And in today’s 24/7 digital world, both roles have become even trickier and more rife with conflict and confusion. It seems like every day there’s a new article about the impact of social media and other digital tools on the young developing mind — and most of it stresses the negative effects. At a recent...
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Is “Screen Time” Hurting Your Son’s Reading Development? A School Librarian Weighs In

Leave a Comment | February 01, 2017

You grew up with a single TV in the living room and maybe a second in your parents’ bedroom, but children today are surrounded by electronic screens. Smartphones, tablets, laptop computers, and video gaming consoles are only the tip of the iceberg. Once-exotic electronic devices like smartwatches and virtual reality goggles have already made inroads into our everyday existence. As electronic screens steadily ...
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Knowledge Is More Than a Google Search

Leave a Comment | January 18, 2017

There’s a story that goes like this. A man comes across three men laying bricks. He pauses to watch them and then walks over to the first man. “What are you doing?” he asks. The first bricklayer shrugs and says, “I’m making $15 an hour.” The man then moves on to the second bricklayer and asks the same question. The second bricklayer glances up and...
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How Some Schools Work Against Boys’ Natural Learning Styles

Leave a Comment | January 10, 2017

It’s common knowledge that many girls mature faster than boys, particularly with regard to social and physical maturation. When it comes to education, however, the immaturity of boys often expresses itself in them being less verbal and more active. These differences result in many boys — even those with a strong desire to learn — not performing as well as the girls in their classes....
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