Students Speak:

Class of 2011

Hey, I’m Joe. I’ve been at RDS for almost six years now. One of the reasons my parents picked RDS is that it has a great, open, international feel. Our family had travelled a lot and moved here from Africa where I went to an international school, and my parents wanted that diverse experience to continue.  

I started in the middle of the year in third grade, and it was a pretty easy, smooth transition. My third-grade teacher was one of my favourite teachers ever, especially in writing, since we got to write about whatever we wanted in Writer’s Workshop. At recess, we would even talk about what we wanted to write (plus we played a lot of tag!). Our families would come in, and we would read our stories to them.  

In fourth grade was our first Outdoor Ed which was really exciting, and we stayed in tents by the river where the gold rush started. Fourth grade was all about reading books and an exciting reading year for me. Ms Ammenti was very good at teaching reading skills.  

Fifth-grade science was incredible! I learned so much in science that year. Ms. Solís was new to teaching younger students, and we looked at lots of political issues in our class since it was the year of elections. It was also the first year we studied world history.

It felt pretty comfortable moving on to Middle School after fifth grade, and I felt ready for the new responsibilities. It was nice to have a range of teachers and quite a few perspectives, start a conversation in one class and carry on to another class and hear teachers’ varying ideas. You could really get into your subjects too, since each teacher teaches one subject and focuses on that.

I did a play in sixth grade, and I play tennis and fence and run track. The play was fun, and we put a lot of effort into it. It was all worth it on the night of the performance! It was a challenge to keep up with homework and rehearsals though!

Redwood is very open to new ideas and welcoming. It’s not a single-minded school; the philosophy is to be open, and you can think whatever you want and you can talk about in class. You might have the same idea or a different one when you leave, but everyone gets to say their opinion and the teachers invite lots of discussion.