Sabot School

🚨 Sabot School will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday, February 11, due to the projected weather forecast. Tuesday's Extended Day and Beyond the Classroom activities are also canceled. Stay safe, Dragons, and enjoy the snow day!

Dear Sabot Families,

Re-enrollment is due today! Sabot is more than a school—it’s a place where your children are known, their voices heard, and their ideas valued. We can’t wait for another year together!

A Sabot moment shared by one of our parents that perfectly captures the magic of our approach to learning. A few weeks ago, 6th Grader Riker excitedly shared his reflections on the Revolutionary War after reading multiple books on the topic. What started as a curiosity about the conflict’s early stages led him to a deeper question: Who “should” have won, and how do the stories we tell shape our understanding of history?

This moment highlights the beauty of the Reggio Emilia Approach® at Sabot: student-driven inquiry, deep engagement with topics from multiple perspectives, and a classroom culture where questions are just as important as answers.

Riker’s journey—reading 300+ pages of nonfiction, reflecting on multiple narratives, and feeling excited to engage with his classmates—shows how powerful it is when learning is driven by curiosity and personal connection. This is the kind of environment we strive for every day at Sabot: a place where students feel seen, heard, and supported in their intellectual journeys.

Did you know that Philly Vegan, a local Southside restaurant, is owned by the family of Samuel (Grade 1) and JahZaRa (Kindergarten)? This family-owned, plant-based restaurant’s mission is to “spread love through our food,” and we wanted to take a moment to highlight the amazing work that they are doing for the Richmond community.

The restaurant typically offers a “pay-what-you-can” menu once per month. In the wake of the water crisis, owners Samuel, Celicia, and Ratha extended this menu to ensure no one went without a hot meal. Their generosity and dedication to helping others, especially during challenging times, is truly inspiring. We are so glad that they are part of our Sabot family.

Click here to learn more about their extraordinary work: https://tinyurl.com/PhillyVegan

🌟 School Counselor Spotlight: Ann Reavey 🌟

This week, we celebrate National School Counseling Week by shining a special light on Ann Reavey, who has been supporting Sabot students for 14 years with warmth, wisdom, and deep care.

Ann believes that truly listening to another person's experience has the power to change the world, one conversation at a time. She brings this belief into her work every day, creating a space where children feel heard, valued, and understood.

Beyond Sabot, Ann enjoys knitting, hiking, baking, and traveling—especially when it takes her somewhere magical, like Ghibli Park in Japan!

Ann, your kindness, empathy, and unwavering dedication make such a difference in our community. We are so grateful for you! ❤️

Yesterday, we had a surprise fire alarm (Don’t worry—no fire!). Our friendly firemen rushed to the scene, and our students loved meeting them and learning all about their important work. Amira even got to sit in the driver’s seat!

Thank you for all you do! 🚒

8th Grader Grayson L. is leading his 6th annual Food Drive for Feed More, an organization dedicated to hunger relief across Central Virginia. This year, Grayson’s goal is to collect 400 lbs of non-perishable food items!

You can help by donating items like nut butters, canned protein, pasta, tomato products, soups, vegetables, olive oil, beans, lentils, fruits, and spices.

Donation boxes are set up on campus—one near Mary’s desk in Honor Hall and one near Mabrey’s desk in the Main House. Let’s support Grayson’s initiative and help fight hunger in our community!

The energy in The Nest is palpable these days!
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Great news! The Mending Walls Screening & Artist Panel has been rescheduled to Friday, February 28, 2025, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

If you’ve already reserved a ticket, your space is secure. If you cannot attend the new date, email Jess at [email protected]. To reserve a ticket or learn more, you can do so here: https://www.sabotschool.org/sabot-school-to-host-mending-walls-screening-artist-panel

The evening will include a screening of the Emmy Award-winning documentary Mending Walls: A Healing Art Project by Hamilton Glass, followed by a panel discussion with local muralists on how art fosters empathy and unity.
This pay-what-you-can event will raise funds for a Sabot workshop where students will work closely with Hamilton Glass to understand their role as makers in the community and create a collaborative mural to represent our beloved school. Attendance is limited to 100 people, ages 21 and older. Wine, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, and light hors d'oeuvres will be served.

The preschoolers in the Rainbow Room recently made their own PlayDoh, but they ran into a dilemma when they learned they couldn’t take the wet dough home. Instead of giving up, they put their heads together and came up with a plan: maybe leaving it out in the air would help it dry.

After some reflection and investigation, they discovered their prediction was correct—the PlayDoh dried just as they hoped!

The Village Project is an ongoing 5th-grade provocation that is now in full swing and will continue throughout the year. Each year, the class creates a unique "village" full of residents with real jobs, salaries, and responsibilities. While the project is an annual tradition, it always evolves based on the children’s interests, making each year different.

The project begins with the creation of people, aka "peeps," who are the residents of the village. Each student develops a fully realized character, complete with a biography, family background, education, special skills, and a resume. Peeps then go on job interviews, applying for roles that align with their character's strengths and skills.

The Village is a space where the group learns by doing. With both guidance and freedom, students test out ideas and reflect on the outcomes as a group. Along the way, they develop real-world skills, such as giving a professional handshake and responding professionally in a job interview, while also learning how to address community issues, draft legislation, and refine their village’s rules.

Since the project has so many facets, there are areas where each class member can be a leader and help others, and areas where each class member will need help from a peer. When each class member is both a giver and a receiver of help, it not only builds the peep society but also strengthens the community within our group of humans.

Early in the year, the three-year-olds in the Burrow adopted some pet beetles. When one of the beetles passed away, the children responded with care and empathy, deciding to hold a funeral.

As a school that uses the Reggio-Emilia Approach™, we follow the children’s ideas, guiding their learning based on their interests. Teachers Eliese and Audrey saw this as an opportunity to discuss challenging topics, encouraging the children to respond authentically. Together, they read The Dead Bird by Margaret Wise Brown, created artwork as offerings, and joined a musical procession led by Atelierista Jāna to honor their small friend.

This thoughtful moment reflects the empathy nurtured in Sabot classrooms. By caring for even the smallest creatures, children learn respect for the natural world and their role within it.

Kindergarteners in Amy and Jake’s class have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes and recently had the chance to experiment with marshmallows and toothpicks to see how many shapes they could create. 🔵 🔶 🔺

In inquiry-based classrooms like ours, teachers leave the door open for exploration, allowing children to take the lead in their learning. As they built familiar shapes, the children began to experiment and create their own. Leaning into their discoveries sparked rich conversations and questions:

💬 “What is a shape that has seven sides?”
💬 “I made a pyramid, which has a square at the bottom!”
💬 “Look, a square can become a diamond.”
💬 “I noticed three triangles can make a trapezoid.”

Yesterday, members of our community came together to assemble Cold Weather Kits for Blessings Warriors, a small, volunteer-led nonprofit that provides food, clothing, and other resources to meet the basic needs of Richmond’s unsheltered community. This schoolwide service project, organized by Parents@Sabot, reflects the spirit of service and compassion that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. championed. As we honor his legacy, we are reminded that each of us has the power to make a positive impact on our community and help those in need.

Thank you to everyone who came out, everyone who donated, P@S for organizing this project, and a special thank you to Pam (the Grandmother of Solace S) for knitting 10 hats to donate!