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235 Hope Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724  /  732.542.4777

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First-grade teacher JoAnn Petrantis on how Ranney is growing imaginations and problem solving, starting at Age 3.

JoAnn Petrantis

First-Grade Teacher

JoAnn Petrantis, First-Grade Teacher

Mrs. Petrantis is a first-grade teacher at Ranney School, a member of our Strategic Planning Committee and the 2014 Carol Ann Presley Memorial Award Recipient for Excellence in Teaching

I am proud to be part of a school community that realizes the importance of offering students the opportunity to learn and create using their imagination. Research proves that STEAM-based education (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) prepares students to be critical thinkers and enhances the skills and confidence they need to move forward in a global 21st Century.

Ranney School has committed to this goal by creating Innovation Stations for our students. Essentially “MakerSpaces,” the first of these labs has been established in our Lower School (Age 3-Grade 5). The station provides a dedicated classroom for students to talk about, plan and create teacher-directed projects. What I love the most about this program is that it is available to all students regardless of their age and that our Middle and Upper School friends are able to explore and mentor our elementary-age students in the station as well.

Young children have a natural quest to find answers to the puzzling world around them. Yet, this acute curiosity can often be overlooked and underappreciated. As students grow older, their thirst for knowledge can wane as they start to look for only “right” or “wrong” answers.  Ranney is taking a bold and necessary step to integrate and re-introduce for children of all ages the concept of looking for an answer–even at the risk of making a mistake. This move is an incredible gift to give to our students. We owe them nothing less than the opportunity to try and solve problems and to create things that they find important.  

Through these Innovation Stations and other design-thinking projects, Ranney students will experience first-hand everyone working, creating, trying—and sometimes failing—together, including their teachers. I am thrilled to be a part of the enthusiasm and pride our students gain when they complete a project from scratch. Students will learn that they are limited only by their imagination. That is education.
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Ranney School

235 Hope Road
Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
Tel. 732.542.4777
Our mission is to know and value every child, nurturing intellectual curiosity and confidence, and inspiring students to lead honorably, think creatively, and contribute meaningfully to society. 

We envision Ranney School as a nurturing learning community, in which families, faculty, alumni, and all of Ranney’s constituents collaborate to know and value every child, foster individual talents, sustain powerful connections between children and adults, and graduate resilient, globally-minded citizens.