Dragon Dispatch: from Superstar Marathon Runners to Terrific Dragon Debaters in November!

Speyer Claims Fourth Place Overall School at the NYS Girls Chess Championship!

18 Speyer Dragons competed in the NYS Girls Chess Championship that was held here in NYC — it was two days of fun, teamwork, and laughs where our Dragons shined.

Our K-6 Championship team came in second, our K-1 Championship team came in seventh, our K-3 Championship team (with only two players!) came in sixth, and our K-6 Under 800 team also tied for sixth! WOW! In the end, Speyer earned fourth place overall school in the state — an amazing ranking that includes ALL schools, including much larger K-12 institutions!! HUZZAH!

Individually, our Dragons also dominated! Abigail Z. placed first in the K-6 division and is the NYS Girls Champion for the K-6 division! Aileen L. placed fifth in the K-6 division and Marianna G. Also placed fifth in the K-3 division. Meanwhile, Emerson L. placed first and earned the class prize for the K-6 Under 800 division! WAHOO!!

Huge shout-out to all of our players and a special thanks to our always-awesome Speyer Chess coaches and parents! GO DRAGONS!!

It's a bird… It's a plane… no, it's seven superstar NYC Marathon runners!!

This morning, we held our annual Speyer Marathon Breakfast to celebrate this awesome achievement earlier this month! Our Middle School art teacher, Allison Moorhead, along with current and alumni parents Kris Berger P’21, Ann Cochran P’23, Manoel Felciano P’28, Yuri Krupp P’24, and Rajesh Mahadevan P’29!

It was awesome to hear about everyone’s race day experiences and what their plans are for next year – we are so proud of them! Thank you to Nurse Allyce and our parents for keeping this tradition alive! Go Dragons!

Spotted on the Boulevard: Head of Middle School Dorothy Sandler Meyer teaching our Fourth Grade students about the history of the English language!

In connection with their year-long humanities theme of globalization, our fourth graders learned how Latin was spread by the Roman Empire, how Old English was brought to the British Isles by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and why (and when!) French was brought to England by the Normans – giving us English as we know it today! After learning all this, they became word detectives, figuring out which word derives from German and which comes from Latin. Through this lesson, our fourth graders gained a deeper understanding of how languages and ideas spread throughout the world!

What can you turn your box into?

Kindergarten spent October reading "Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis, discussing how our imagination can change ordinary things into extraordinary things. Presented with materials and a physical 3D box in their Makers class, they used their imagination to create limitless possibilities. From using boba straws to mimic train tracks to having pipe cleaners be the arcs of a rainbow – our kindergarten students learned how engineers can design remarkable creations with limited resources and their imagination!

Our Kindergarten Dragons spent October reading Not a Box by Antoinette Portis and discussing how our imaginations can change ordinary things into extraordinary things! Presented with materials and a physical 3D box in their Makers classes, they used their imagination to create limitless possibilities. From using boba straws to mimic train tracks to having pipe cleaners act as the arcs of a rainbow, our Kindergarten students learned how engineers can design remarkable creations with limited resources and their imagination! Shout-out to all of our Kindergarten engineers and Academic Technology Integrator Ms. Nguyen for this cool Makers exploration.

Dragon Debate Brings Home Gavels, Wins, and More on Their Home Turf!

It was an amazing Saturday at Speyer, when we hosted the NYDL tournament here at 925 Ninth Avenue. Our Dragon Debaters represented Speyer with an amazing showing on their home turf.

In the Novice division, Kethan S. won the top speaker gavel! In addition, the team of James Y., Saehyun L., and Kethan S. had a remarkable team showing, earning second place in the Novice division! WAHOO! 

With our Eighth Grade debaters away (taking the SHSAT exam for High School), our Sixth and Seventh Grade Varsity debaters carried the torch with aplomb, as Mijo C., Ziva M., Coco B., Naomi W., Leon E., Dean K.-M., and Henry A. all showed up with impressive individual performances, earning top 20 speaker awards. The Varsity team of Mijo C., Naomi W., and Leon E. completed an impressive team performance as well, earning a 3-1 record...and their first bid to the April championship in the season’s opening tournament! AMAZING!

Round of applause to all of our Dragon Debaters and shout-out to our wonderful Debate coaches, our Debate parents, and everyone here at Speyer who helped to make this event happen!! GO DRAGONS!

Friends, family, cats, Volleyball, Speyer, the Speyer community, field trips, cats and more!

These are just some examples of what our Speyer community wrote on the leaves on our Annual Thanksgiving Tree! Special thank you to our PA volunteers who organized and hung this amazing display, created by our students, faculty, and staff, on the pillar in the lobby!