Spruce Street School

Join us this Friday, May 22, at 12:00pm for a special community marimba performance at the Day 1 Playfield by the Amazon Spheres! Our Oldest Level students will be sharing their full marimba repertoire, and it's free and open to the public. Stop by on your lunch break to check it out—we hope to see you there! 🎶

Our annual Elders' Tea is one of the most special traditions of the year! 🫖

Last Friday, with the help of our amazing family volunteers, our classrooms were transformed into elegant tearooms as students welcomed honored elders including grandparents, older relatives, former preschool teachers, and family friends. In preparation for the event, students practiced formal manners, thoughtful conversation, and the art of hospitality.

The celebration began with marimba performances by each class, including some of our youngest students performing for an audience for the very first time. These moments on stage help children build confidence, take risks, and support one another in a new setting. We are so grateful to the families and guests who help make this meaningful tradition so special each year! 🌷

Yesterday, our Youngest Level classes welcomed a special visitor: Gigi the Geologist! As part of their newly-launched geology study, students got to see and touch fossils, meteorites, and a wide variety of other rocks, minerals, and gems. What a wonderful opportunity to make observations, ask questions, and do some hands-on exploration! 💎

Happy Friday! ☀ This afternoon, our Oldest Level students shared original fictional tales with their friends in the Youngest Level. Each tale included vivid sensory description that brought each scene to life, purposeful dialogue, and a beautifully illustrated full-color cover! This project not only strengthened writing skills, but also deepened students' confidence and connection across grade levels. 📚

In honor of our last day of Arts Week, we are celebrating one of our very own Seattle artists: Felipe Perez! Not only does Felipe teach Art and Spanish here at Spruce Street School, but he also works with countless young artists as one of Urban ArtWorks' longtime teaching artists.

Check out a video about Felipe mentoring young muralists through Urban ArtWorks' Base Crew program at https://youtu.be/M-um3QztGoc?si=ix1wyui6u5MnQ8ig, and read Felipe's artist spotlight here: https://urbanartworks.org/artist-spotlight-felipe-perez

Photo courtesy of Urban ArtWorks.

This morning, we welcomed a special guest from our community—alumni parent Mike McCready of Pearl Jam! As part of our Arts Week theme, “Seattle,” Mike spoke with the entire school about his journey making music here in Seattle and the creative spirit that shaped his work. He also discussed his upcoming graphic novel, "Farewell to Seasons," created in collaboration with Z2 Comics. The story follows fictional Seattle musician David Williams as he finds himself at the center of the city’s music scene in the early 1990s.

Thank you Mike for taking the time to visit, for sharing your story, and for engaging so thoughtfully with our students’ questions!

We kicked off our annual Arts Week this morning with a grand reveal of our theme! Drumroll, please... 🥁

This year, the theme is "Seattle," and we can't wait to dive into all of the artistic possibilities within the city that we call home! Enjoy a few photos from this morning's Opening Ceremony, where the entire school gathered to discover the theme and kick off a week full of creativity, learning, and joy.

Thank you to Lydig Construction for sharing Tim Aspinall with us yesterday to help repair our basketball backboard! 🏀

Tim currently works as an Assistant Superintendent at Lydig, but before that, he worked at Spruce Street School as one of our teachers! It is so special to have our community members return—we always love seeing them again 🧡

Our mid-level students have been on an epic journey with The Odyssey! Both classes' performances are this week—Class 3 has their two performances today, and Class 4 is ready to shine on Thursday! During their play rehearsals, students practiced listening, staying in character, giving and receiving feedback, and supporting one another during whole-group and small-group work. This production is the culmination of an in-depth exploration of Ancient Greece, which is part of the mid-level's annual ancient culture study. Bravo to all of our mid-level actors! 🎭📜

We are so proud of Briel's amazing work with NWAIS' Pathways to Leadership, a cohort that cultivates women leaders in independent schools! Briel, who is one of the cohort's mentors, recently joined her Pathways colleagues (pictured below) at the NAIS Conference in Seattle to share about the program and how other schools can empower the next generation of women leaders ⭐️

On February 26, WMS Head of School Sunita Pailoor spoke at the NAIS -- National Association of Independent Schools Conference on strengthening leadership pathways for women. She joined Briel Schmitz (Spruce Street School), Elaine Christensen (Open Window School), Joan Beauregard (Educators Collaborative), and Liz Swift (Holy Names Academy, Seattle) to share insights from Pathways to Leadership, a cohort program developed through the Northwest Associationof Independent Schools (NWAIS).

We’re proud to see Pathways’ impact reflected at WMS, where Leadership members, including Sunita, a program graduate, participate and bring strengthened skills and deeper connections to their work every day.