Dear Readers,
It's been a bit since we've last connected, and so much has happened! Just to highlight a few biggies:
The middle schoolers made fabulous spa products that are receiving rave reviews!
We hosted a fabulously successful Kids' Night Out!
Pizza lunches are a regular BIG hit - THANK YOU, MANDOLINO'S!
Julie Lang visited for a day - they love Julie!
Our artwork hung in Davidson Public Library!
We traveled to Wilmington for THREE DAYS! (The chaperones likely slept for four more.)
We watched as the trees came down. (This was a sad one. Sorry.)
Thank you, Miss Emily, for taking our tree photos! We will cherish them!
(Notes written by the students. We stuck them in the crook of the Magnolia on Thursday during our peace circle. They were found scattering the ground around the stump on Monday, so the students gathered them back.)
In HISTORY, we completed a small unit on Indigenous people so that we have context as we tackle colonialism and the Revolutionary War. These topics, combined with our Big History lessons in economy and trade, will carry us to the end of this year.
For LITERATURE, we are swimming in poetry. It's an absolutely favorite time of year when we pit poems against each other in our own version of March Madness. Speaking of which, women's basketball starts on Monday the 17th!! Get ready to hear all about ALL. OF. IT. Poetry. Basketball. It fits together.
Additionally, students began new novel studies. We're reading some of my favorites this round; please ask your kiddos if they are keeping up with their reading.
8th - The Marrow Thieves
7th - The Outsiders
6th - Ghost
In SUSTAINABILITY with Emily and me, students are beginning a new unit addressing poverty - SDG #1: No Poverty. This begins in the next week or so. They recently completed a unit study on quality education and ended that SDG by designing their dream schools that could meet the Goal standards.
Additionally, students are starting their long-term projects that will carry them through the end of the year. Each student starts with an Excellent Question and dives down a rabbit trail from there. Last week students wrote their questions and began researching. Ask them about it and help them search for interesting information! It's an opportunity to share in their passions.
Finally, I'd like to recognize their efforts in putting together goodie bags for the currently unhoused in Charlotte. All of the students brought in items and made lovely hand drawn notes for the bags. I delivered them to Room In the Inn the last day of February; they were used that very weekend. A sorority from Queens University volunteered to set up and placed our bags on each bed. The residents loved them! Way to go in spreading kindness, Middle School!
Looking Ahead:
Field trips are in the works. Look for emails soon!
Pizza Lunch next week!