Tilden Traditions

While the day-to-day activities of school are memorable in their own right, many of the most memorable aspects of your child's time at Tilden will be recollections of the fun and unique experiences that break out from a routine day. Whether it is a field trip, a play, a unit of study, or a special classroom event, engaging with one another, or engaging with material in a special way, creates both great memories, and super-boosted learning. Year to year, we embrace our school traditions and look forward to the added layer of inspiration they bring into the classroom.

The most treasured whole-school tradition is the Halloween Carnival. This parent-driven event consists of a top secret, themed carnival that occurs on the last Friday in October prior to Halloween. On that special day, the pure joy that comes from costumes, classic carnival games and treats take over the school.

Other whole-school traditions include Field Day, Valentine’s Day Class Parties, Poem-in-your-Pocket Day, Teacher Appreciation Week, the Learning Celebration, Read-a-Thon and various community service events that are organized through the TAFA team. As every new group of families brings new ideas and energy into the school, we are always open to onboarding new traditions!

Each grade level also has unique and special traditions. Though impossible to describe them all, here is a sampling:

Kindergarten Junction: Each K student creates a business to form our own commercial district that rivals the creativity of the businesses in each of our West Seattle Junction neighborhoods.
Leprechaun Traps: Every March, the K/1 classroom is chaotically overrun by overnight Leprechaun visitors who upend order and inevitably evade capture.
Teddy Bear Picnic: The first-graders gather – in PJs and with their favorite stuffed animal in tow – to have a special in-class picnic.
SAM Field Trip: In second grade, students receive their first year of instruction in Art History. Content is synched to exhibits or installations at SAM and the class takes a trip to experience art up close.
Math Talks: Open-ended math strategy and comparative thinking conversations involving looking at a math-related image and kids offering their ways of seeing something or their ways of solving a problem . . . usually there are multiple correct answers, the goal being to encourage flexible thinking and practice explaining one’s strategies to peers.
In October, Pumpkin-Palooza takes over the third grade classroom. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are used to inspire poetry, math concepts, literacy projects, introduce graphing skills, creative writing, and art.
Native American Region Poster Project: The fourth grade year kicks off with each student researching a different region in which they research the native tribal communities that lived within the region, including exploring clothing, traditions, climate, resources, types of homes, languages, hunting, and interesting facts.
Fifth grade is packed with traditions as we do as much as we can to squeeze in experiential learning with our departing grads. Traditions range from daily community meetings to alumni visits, from guest speakers to an overnight week at Islandwood, and from the Spring Shakespeare play to special graduation events!