News & Events

Did you know that 93% of people experience some level of math anxiety? Rock Point School math teacher Leda Sommerville certainly does! Leda is passionate about helping kids love math, “We're living in a world where competitive math and rote memorization early on have turned kids off to math or created a false belief that some can and some cannot ‘do’ math. We're here, together in this classroom, to smash that myth.”

Each year, our teachers work with students to offer electives that appeal to their interests. This fall, our English teacher, Kristy, collaborated with a group of students to create a Makeup and Hair Design Elective, in part to prepare for our school play this spring and, in part to offer a new avenue for creative expression at school.

In 1995, Jake and Donna Carpenter started the CHILL Foundation to teach young people how to snowboard. Every year since then, Rock Point students have joined the CHILL team on the mountain. We love CHILL because we share many values with the organization. While learning to snowboard is one of the goals, seeing their progress each week helps students build strength, confidence, and resilience.

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C.J., Jeanine, and Alyssa getting in their miles around Vermont During a typical year in Burlington, the last Sunday in May is reserved for the Vermont City Marathon. It’s one of the city’s largest events, drawing thousands of people for 26.2 miles of celebration. The marathon is known for its joyous, inclusive atmosphere. You can run the whole thing, run half as a relay pair, or run a leg on relay teams of up to five people. This flexibility means the marathon is filled with dedicated die-hards and weekend warriors alike. You’ll see Boston hopefuls and young kiddos all on the same course, and this community atmosphere brings everyone—from runners to spectators—together for a whole lot of fun and camaraderie.

Rock Point School staff have been using some of their time at home to read! Here are some books staff have enjoyed lately:

While students are engaged in distance learning, as part of our history classes, they are being asked to keep journals in order to create primary sources for future generations. These journals include documenting their own experiences (through writing, art, and music), documenting the experiences of the people they live with, and documenting (through remote Question & Answer) the weekly experiences of two people with whom they do not live. Students also will record a "news item of the day" and a photo of the day. We hope this assignment will help students reflect on their own experiences during the pandemic and see how their own experiences fit in with the larger trends in society at this time.

Each year, Rock Point School makes an effort to participate in the grand tradition of Vermont Town Meeting day. The overall vision for Town Meeting Day is to explore how we live and participate in community.

This year our students started the year reading the graphic novel March: Book One by civil rights leader and congressman, John Lewis, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and award-winning graphic artist Nate Powell. Teachers selected this book, not only because it is an inspiring and compelling historical narrative, but also because it was the Vermont Reads selection for 2019. Vermont Reads invites people across the state to read the same book and participate in a wide variety of community activities related to the book’s themes.