Brightworks Blog

Brightworks is a flurry of activity and we are thrilled to share peeks into the lives of the students, our school and the community.

Featured

Happy Black History / Black Futures Month

Brightworks ABC’s

Spreading Love, Peace and Hope

Disability Awareness & Justice

Well Lit Book Club

Recognizing Indigenous Heritage Month

Building Our Future! Brightworks 2024 Annual Fund

Body Arc

Boxbots at Brightworks - November Event

Educating the Next Generation at the Intersection of AI and Technology – Virtual Event

New Tuition Assistance Tool!

Evening Salon with Gever - October

BI&PoC Fall Family Kickback

Mexican Heritage Dance Party

Exploring Brightworks, for prospective families

We have started the Exploration phase of Space Arc, in which our students get to explore all things related to Space! We are already seeing a multitude of approaches and are looking forward to so much more!

And if anyone was wondering - yes, the mu

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Our wonderful Sapphires took it upon themselves today to make up sweet little bouquets and hand out to their younger school mates and some special loved ones!

We love their creative displays of friendship, love &am

Remembering Body Arc Expo Night a couple of weeks back! What a magic evening!
We always put on Expo Night as a community wide culmination and celebration of all the learning that has happened during the Arc! We are treated to all the individual and

Two of our Upper School Students had the delightful opportunity to show their Expression project work at @butterlovebakeshop 🎨🥐

Check it out and grab a pastry or donut and support this community-minded small business while you’re there!

Body Arc Expo Night is here! Our students have explored, researched, iterated, produced and presented on a wide range of topics related to the body! They have a wealth of knowledge they want to share with us and tonight it all comes together!

Curre

Ushering in the Year of the Snake!
Happy Lunar New Year from the Brightworks Community!

#sfbrightworks #everythingisinteresting #bwxlunarnewyear #liondanceme

We are at the presentations stages of Body Arc as our students are finishing up their individual and small group projects to showcase at Expo Night next week!

Prior to Expo each student gives a presentation for friends, family, experts and staff th

We are very proud of our Power & Privilege Committee!

Consisting of community members, including family, staff, collaborator and students representatives, they are tasked with examining existing layers of power, access & inclusion within th

Melissa Nocero 9/25/17 Melissa Nocero 9/25/17

Finding Value All Over the Place

The Teal Band began their second week of the Coin Arc exploring US dollar bills in pretty much every way they could think of. Hearing there is an owl hidden in the corner of the one dollar bill, the band called on Rich to lend them a dissection microscope to take a closer look. They all agree they saw one. We tried a number of techniques to look closer at the security thread in the $5, $10, $20 and $50 bills. The band looked for all the anticounterfeiting techniques used in the bills they were examining. These included the security thread and watermarks, as well as unique serial numbers. We recorded details of each bill we examined, including mottos, symbols of value, and drawings of people and places. Sometimes we even became the old, white men we found on the bills. Reflecting on the symbols of value we found on the dollar bills the previous day, we went on a scavenger hunt for them and other symbols of value in the Financial District along with the Violet and Amber Bands. We certainly found a large number of eagles adorning the massive buildings, housing everything from banks to Starbucks to gyms. We learned about William Alexander Leidsdorff, a West Indian immigrant of African Cuban ancestry. He built the City Hotel, the first hotel in San Francisco, and the first commercial shipping warehouse, along with becoming San Francisco's first treasurer. Leidsdorff was also one of the earliest supporters of San Francisco's public school system. He was good with money and knew where to put it. Continuing to look beyond just monetary currency in regards to symbols of value, we stopped to observe and take rubbings of our Zodiac signs in front of a Wells Fargo bank. It's interesting to find out how different people value their Zodiac sign and the qualities attributed to them. Moving on from the Financial District, we took our exploration of symbols of value to the SFMoMA. We found value in the artwork we encountered, especially those focused on sound. We valued the calm, meditative qualities of the bowls beautifully chiming as they came together in Céleste Boursier-Mougenot's clinamen. Many of us even discussed how we could build our own at Brightworks. Exploring a number of other works of art in Soundtracks, we reflected on how much we value our ability to hear. It is amazing to explore a piece of art, both silently and when accompanied by sound. We learned about Wells Fargo's stagecoach history of carrying money, people and mail across the US. How many times have you screamed, "SHOTGUN!" in hopes of riding in the front passenger seat of the car. Well, if you rode in that seat on the stagecoach, you'd certainly need a shotgun since it was your job to protect the bags of gold and money tucked under your feet. After all this money talk, who doesn't value a day out at the ballpark with their friends? The Teal Band certainly values it, especially when tickets are as cheap as $6 a piece. We also value getting the chance to see how our hands compare to those of Barry Bonds. Thanks to our early arrival, we were able to make our way down next to the visiting bullpen mound. Getting this close to the field and the players afforded us the first two baseballs we collected that day.