May 26, 2017

In this post: 

• Spring Break in China
• What we are learning.
• Finals

Spring Break in China

Thanks to all who have already registered for the Spring Break 2018 trip to China! We're excited to announce that World Strides has extended the early registration deadline (which includes a discounted rate) to June 15. Some details: 

• WHO: Middle and Upper School Students, accompanied by Annie Wright faculty. We need 5 students for the trip to run.
• WHAT: A 10 day trip to Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai. WorldStrides, the tour company we are partnering with, emphasizes hands on learning, so the group will get to experience Chinese cooking and calligraphy first hand, and they’ll also be able to have lunch with a family and visit a school to connect with local students. 
• WHEN: Spring Break! March 22-31, 2018. The departure date is Spring Conferences, and March 23 is a faculty in-service day.
• COST: The cost per student is $3,664. WorldStrides provides several options for payment, including a monthly EZPay, as well as financial assistance through the FLAG program.
• HOW TO SIGN UP: Go to www.worldstrides.com/enroll! Username: travel; Password: wright. This page gives you all the information you need regarding itinerary, cost, and payment options. If you enroll before June 15 (with a $300 non-refundable deposit), you’ll be eligible for a discounted trip price; the final deadline for committing to the trip is September 15. 
• DOES MY STUDENT NEED A PASSPORT AND VISA FOR THIS TRIP? Yes! According to the US Department of State, US residents need a passport that is valid for 6 months after the visit and a tourist visa. WorldStrides provides an online system to check visa requirements and instructions to apply for visas. 
• TIMELINE: Sign up with a non-refundable deposit of $300 by June 15, 2017 for a discounted rate! The final, non-refundable date to enroll is September 15, 2017.

What we are learning...

On Thursday, the Middle School celebrated the 16th Annual Milk Boat Regatta at American Lake. While Milk Boats began as an interdisciplinary project that explored water, with the implementation of the MYP framework it has become an in-depth study of systems across four subject areas - Individuals & Societies, Science, Math, and Design - guided by the Statement of Inquiry, "Cooperative and collaborative systems lead to improved consequences and progress. In short, systems improve progress." 

The most important system in the project is not the design or construction of the boat, or the effectiveness or entertainment value of presentations that precede the race. It is the collaborative process itself. Milk Boat teams are constructed randomly as names are drawn out of a hat, and over the course of several months students work toward awareness of their own roles on a team, a deeper understanding of group dynamics, and develop critical skills for leadership and membership in a community. This year, all of the boats completed the race in tact - which is a compliment to 7th Graders' capacity for design and construction! - but students also experienced an impromptu lesson in collaboration and cooperation. When the Green Team lost a couple of paddlers, a group of first responders who were training in water rescues on the adjacent dock cruised over to provide help for the last lap of the race!

While the regatta is primarily an event for 7th Grade students, the day invites 8th Graders to reflect back on their experience of collaborating, building, and racing, and it provides a preview for 6th Graders, planting a seed both for the coming year. It is also a unique chance for Middle School faculty and parents to witness the intersection of community and curriculum. 

Finals

The draft schedule for finals is below. Each day includes a mix of final assessments and time to work on year-end projects, including the 6th Grade Rube Goldberg Project, 7th Grade Mass Transit Field Trip, and the 8th Grade Oral History Project.

Please note the following abbreviations:
A: Arts
IS: Individuals & Societies
LA: Language Acquisition
LL: Language & Literature
M: Math
SCI: Science
PHE: Physical & Health Education

Thursday, June 8
Start time	End time		6A	6B	7A	7B	8A	8B	8C
8:00 AM	8:15 AM	Advisory	Advisory
8:15 AM	9:45 AM	Block 1	A	A	LL	LL	M	M	M
9:45 AM	10:15 AM	Flex	Flex
10:15 AM	11:45 AM	Block 2	M	M	LA	LA	LL	LL	LL
11:45 AM	12:30 PM	Lunch	Lunch
12:30 PM	2:00 PM	Block 3	Rube Goldberg Project		SCI	SCI	A	A	A
2:00 PM	2:10 PM	Break
2:10 PM	3:10 PM	Block 4	Rube Goldberg Project		Leadership		PHE	PHE	PHE

Friday, June 9
Start time	End time		6A	6B	7A	7B	8A	8B	8C
8:00 AM	8:15 AM	Advisory	Advisory
8:15 AM	9:45 AM	Block 1	LL	LL	A	A	IS	IS	IS
9:45 AM	10:15 AM	Flex	Flex
10:15 AM	11:45 AM	Block 2	Rube Goldberg Project		M	M	LA	LA	LA
11:45 AM	12:30 PM	Lunch	Lunch
12:30 PM	2:00 PM	Block 3	Rube Goldberg Project		MT Prep		Oral History Project
2:00 PM	2:10 PM	Break
2:10 PM	3:10 PM	Block 4	PHE	PHE	Advisory Challenge		Oral History Project

May 12, 2017

In this post... 

• Traveling to China!
• Preparing for Finals
• What we are learning: the Journeys

Traveling to China!

Thanks to all who came to last week’s informational meeting about a trip to China for Middle and Upper School Students during Spring Break 2018! For more information about World Strides and the itinerary, visit this presentation (requires Adobe Flash). If your student is interested but you couldn’t make the meeting, please contact Ms. Alice Flores as soon as possible and visit the blog for more details.

Some details:

• WHO: Middle and Upper School Students, accompanied by Annie Wright faculty. We need 5 students for the trip to run.
• WHAT: A 10 day trip to Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai. WorldStrides, the tour company we are partnering with, emphasizes hands on learning, so the group will get to experience Chinese cooking and calligraphy first hand, and they’ll also be able to have lunch with a family and visit a school to connect with local students. 
• WHEN: Spring Break! March 22-31, 2018. The departure date is Spring Conferences, and March 23 is a faculty in-service day.
• COST: The cost per student is $3,664. WorldStrides provides several options for payment, including a monthly EZPay, as well as financial assistance through the FLAG program.
• HOW TO SIGN UP: Go to www.worldstrides.com/enroll! Username: travel; Password: wright. This page gives you all the information you need regarding itinerary, cost, and payment options. If you enroll before May 25 (with a $300 non-refundable deposit), you’ll be eligible for a discounted trip price; the final deadline for committing to the trip is September 15. 
• DOES MY STUDENT NEED A PASSPORT AND VISA FOR THIS TRIP? Yes! According to the US Department of State, US residents need a passport that is valid for 6 months after the visit and a tourist visa. WorldStrides provides an online system to check visa requirements and instructions to apply for visas. 
• TIMELINE: Sign up with a non-refundable deposit of $300 by May 25, 2017 for a discounted rate! The final, non-refundable date to enroll is September 15, 2017. 

Preparing for Finals

Second Semester Final Assessments will be given on June 8 and 9. Accustomed to more traditional or conventional approaches to Finals, many people refer to these assessments as "exams," which is a but misleading. Traditional "final examinations" are cumulative and often daunting tests and that heavily sway students' grades. As a result, students sometimes approach "exams" with dread, adding a psychological barrier to feeling successful. For our Middle School students, finals include a variety of forms of assessments, from traditional tests that reflect of mastered content and skills, to demonstrating mastery in some other way, like an extended essay, a presentation, or a project. Our finals do not disproportionately influence students' grades any more than a unit test or summative assessment. Students do not take a final for every course; instead, certain courses require a block of time for a final assessment, and other courses finish via other means before finals week. 

These distinctions are important for clarifying the purpose of finals, which is consistent with our broader academic goals. "Success" is not reflected in an isolated grade. Instead, "success" reflects a student's ability to demonstrate mastery of key skills, to apply knowledge and content, and to understand herself or himself as a learner. Of course, the ability to do any of this requires preparation, but that preparation began on the first day of classes in September, and teachers are helping students to prepare specifically for these assessments in class. The skills associated with long-term planning are so crucial to academic success throughout and beyond Middle School. A comprehensive schedule for finals week will be available next week and sent directly to students.

To prepare for finals, please consider the following tips: 

• Don't schedule off-campus appointments on June 7 (a review day), 8 or 9. 
• Ensure that your student is sleeping and eating well in the days leading up to finals. 
• Keep the temperature low - don't put any more pressure on a student's performance during finals than you would on any other assessment. 
• Remind your student that finals are about good preparation and demonstrating mastery and growth. 

What we are learning...

This week, we returned from our Journeys to California, the Southwest, and Costa Rica. Now in its third year, our Journeys program is quite unique. It grows out of our total program - not only particular subjects or areas of academic exploration, but also our commitment to cultivate learners who are well-educated, creative, and responsible citizens. The Journeys embody our Key Characteristics, too. Each Journey takes students out of their comfort zones and challenges them to be their best. Each connects our students to different parts of the world, expanding their notion of "community." Each follows in the tradition of innovative programming and contributes to a new tradition for our community. Each provides a chance for students and faculty to know each other - and themselves - better. Below are just a few insights from our Journeys Coordinators, but the best sources of information will be your students. Don't just ask them how the trip was or what their favorite part was. Ask them about specific experiences, where they felt challenged, where they felt engaged. Ask them what they learned about themselves on the journey. 

On our journey, the 6th graders explored the CA coast through the lenses of both an author and a scientist, and now they are working on putting their observations about the natural world in writing. Encourage them to read their contrasting pieces out loud to you – can you tell which voice they using in each?

One of these photos capture the natural beauty of Elkhorn Slough, where the group explored the unique ecological environment of the slough and learned about the California coast. The other captures the group as we entered the Steinbeck Center in the author's hometown of Salinas. The Center afforded students to engage with the life of John Steinbeck and learn about the cultural, social, and economic context in which he lived and wrote. 

Tara and Caroline taking notes in the Grand Canyon geology museum.

There are a number of curricular connections to the 7th Grade Southwest Trip, but several of them are subtle pieces of the overall experience. For instance, students investigated native Southwest art styles, which were on display in shops and restaurants on the trip. To prepare for 8th Grade Language and Literature, which focuses on building voice in writing, students kept track of experiences that they might incorporate into a piece of creative nonfiction. There was also the obvious connection to Science as students explored the desert biome and thought about how humans have interacted with and impacted their habitats. But the biggest connection between the Southwest Trip and the Middle School program is the strengthening of the Learner Profile. Students take risks, reflect on their experiences, approach new experiences with open minds, and care for their fellow travelers and for themselves. That kind of social-emotional growth is an important piece of the middle school years, and it’s a prominent piece of the Southwest Trip.

Supporting friends on the tough Zion trail.

A little risk taking at Lake Powell.

The 8th Grade Journey provided us the opportunity to experience the wonderful culture of Costa Rica with both direct and indirect ties to our curriculum. The students previous knowledge of indigenous art came through when we visited the cultural heritage site in Sarapiqui. There was also the obvious connection to Science as we explored the volcanoes of Costa Rica. The students also developed a sense of the Costa Rican desire be at the forefront of sustainability with 200 plus days of running the whole country's electricity using only renewable energy sources. The biggest curricular connection came in Language Acquisition. Travel affords all students the opportunity to step out of their comfort zone and forces them to problem solve using the tools they develop as they learn any language. A simple smile or being comfortable to use a few catch phrases goes a long way. All of our students walked away with tremendous growth in their ability to take risks and be independent as world travelers. The 8th Grade is an amazing group. Pura Vida!

April 28, 2017

In this post... 

• And away we go!
• What we are learning

And away we go!

It's that time of year - time for Middle School students to travel to the far corners of the world! Well, not the farthest corners perhaps, but California, the Southwest, and Costa Rica represent a big slice of the Western Hemisphere. 

There are so many advantages that come with the Journeys program, but for us three rise to the top. First, the Journey ties the academic curriculum together in a unique and outward-thinking way. It's a privilege to travel with students and watch them apply what they've learned to the world that is not only beyond the walls of the school but beyond the distances that most students have traveled! There are explicit ties, like connecting the geological features of the Grand Canyon to earth science units or visiting the world that Steinbeck lived in while reading The Red Pony, but there are implicit and interdisciplinary connections, too - some of which we don't even anticipate until our students make the connections for us. Symbolically, too, the Journeys represent an "end" or a "summit" for our students' academic experience with a global focus. 

Second, the Journeys bring students - quite literally - outside their comfort zones. From the trip in general to particular activities throughout the itinerary, students are challenged to try new things, to engage with their peers differently, and to see themselves from new vantage points. Whether it's kayaking on Monterey Bay or ziplining through the jungle, each trip presents opportunities to try new things. 

Finally, the Journeys build community in a unique way. A children's book called The Treasure tells the story of an old man named Isaac who follows a dream to take a long journey to find a buried treasure, only to find it buried under his own stove. The concluding moral of the story is, "Sometimes one must travel far to discover what is near." Getting out of the normal boundaries of our campus and the school day, and finding themselves experiencing new things together, students have the potential to see themselves as part of a community in a new, perhaps even deeper way, and they bring that sense of community back to campus. 

For all these reasons and more, the Journeys provide an experience that is not only unforgettable but also invaluable in building a distinct program. 

What we are learning...

In Sixth Grade I&S we took the summative assessment on Rome and the students all have feedback on their essays. While for 6th grader preparing for and writing an essay can be often loathsome and feared it is always reassure for me to see how well this group does at synthesizing information and then putting it in their own words to prove what they know.  The assessment was not easy, they were asked to use previous knowledge, research organize and ultimately write a 3 paragraph in class essay, but they did well.  The grades will be given back, but more importantly is the conversation about what skills do they need to continue to develop in their writing. I was very impressed with the depth and detail they are developing. We are jumping into our next unit on Medieval Europe and the book has changed. There is a lot of excitement about the upcoming Medieval Day as well as the idea that we get to talk about knights, castles, chivalry and the Black Death. We will hit the ground running after the trips.

In 8th Grade Individuals and Societies we are in the middle of our WWI and WWII unit exploring the involvement of governments and technologies that were developed and utilized. The students just finished their technology projects with which I was thoroughly impressed with the creativity and information they provided. Their presentation skills have also improved immensely throughout the year.  Once they return from Costa Rica we will finish up the World at War unit and go into our Civil Rights unit.  They will continue with research for their Oral History Projects and I look forward to seeing the compilation of their work.

April 21, 2017

In this post... 

• Telling the Story
• Shameless Plug 
• What we are learning...
• Things To Do in our Community

Telling the Story

On Wednesday, we welcomed Henry Friedman to speak to the 7th and 8th Grades. Mr. Friedman shared a terrible story - he was born in Brody, Poland (now in Ukraine), in 1928. With the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939, Friedman and his family experienced the systematic discrimination and isolation imposed with Nazi occupation, and his family went into hiding, protected by Ukrainian families, before they could be forced into the ghetto in Brody or deported. For 18 months, he lived in a crawlspace above a barn with his mother, brother, and a teacher, while his father hid in a different family's barn. He shared with our students some of the most painful moments of that period.

This week, students in 8th Grade also screened the 1956 documentary "Night and Fog," one of the earliest documentary film attempts to disseminate and interpret the Holocaust. Both of these experiences are rooted in our Individuals & Societies curriculum, part of students' inquiry into the events and impact of World War II, but they also coincide with preparations around the world for Yom Ha-Shoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, when people around the world are called not only to commemorate the lives lost in the Holocaust but also to contemplate the ways we can prevent such horrors from happening again. Of course, we know that the Holocaust was not the last genocide - the history of the 20th and now 21st centuries is scarred by genocides around the world. 

It is hard to imagine how, at 88, Mr. Friedman has the stamina to tell his story, but there is a clue in the way he framed his presentation on Wednesday - he started and concluded with an emphasis on hope. He tells his story over and over again, he shared, so that young people might - actually, he believes that they will - hear it and prevent history from repeating itself. Friedman ended his presentation with "The Paradoxical Ten Commandments," a twist on the ethical norms that are central to Jewish and Christian religious practice. These commandments urge listeners to do good, even in the face of evil, hopelessness, or apathy. A few examples: 

People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. 

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. 

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

Education is a fundamentally optimistic profession. People go into teaching or other roles in school life with a certain amount of hope - we believe that the work we are doing will have a positive impact on the world, or at least on one student's life. That hope is reinvigorated every day when we see students demonstrating growth and mastery but especially when we see them demonstrate kindness, love, and care, even in the face of apathy or animosity. We are so proud of our students' ability to lean into difficult territory, such as learning about the Holocaust, but, more importantly, we are grateful for the hope they continue to inspire as they commit to creating a more peaceful, inclusive, and loving world, starting with our school community. 

Shameless Plug for MS Auction Projects

Sixth Grade: Fabulous fire pit beautifully decorated with hand painted titles by members of the Class of 2023! This is a one of a kind masterpiece, and it also comes equipped with a waterproof cover, stocked with all the workings to make s'mores, and full of love from the Sixth Grade.

Seventh Grade: Seventh Graders put forward a number of auction ideas this year, and they eventually decided on custom sweatshirts. Instead of one person winning the Seventh Grade auction item, everyone can win! Just select a color for the sweatshirt, and then choose from a variety of student-designed logos and pictures. The logos and pictures, again, came about through a winnowing process where students presented their ideas.

Eighth Grade: Giant Jenga anyone? Have your own 3ft Jenga game for your backyard to entertain all your friends. With its own wheeling storage case and personalized with the Annie Wright colors and words that represent the AWS experience, how can you not jump at the chance?   

What we are learning...

Sixth graders continue to explore integers and rational numbers. This week students are focusing on performing operations with rational numbers and connecting rational numbers to integers. In the coming week, students will be introduced to their Summative Assessment, where they will be responsible for identifying, demonstrating, and writing rules for patterns in operations as well as modeling their rule.

Seventh Grade mathematicians continue to explore probability and statistics. This week’s work includes a problem of maximizing profit.  Students must analyze a data sample and then make decisions about what type of soup and bread to buy to so a soup maker can sell the most soup to the most customers and not have a lot left over at the end of the day. It requires accurate computation and analysis of the answers found to make reasonable and profitable decisions.

Eighth graders are factoring polynomials. This is one of the most difficult challenges to overcome in the first year of algebra. The numbers interact with multiplication, addition, and subtraction at the same time. There are many possibilities but only one answer. With some perseverance the trinomials do yield their secrets. What we will finally do with those answers will be the subject of our work after the Costa Rica trip.     

In the Sixth Grade Strings Class, we have finished our unit on Instrumental Technique and now will move forward with learning songs to perform for the All School Orchestra Concert on May 10 and May Day. Middle School Orchestra will do a special performance in All Schools Chapel on Monday April 24 of the very silly and scary “Rosin Eating Zombies from Outer Space”. They are also preparing for the May 10 concert and looking forward to joining forces with the Upper School Orchestra on one piece there.

To Do in our Community...

• Saturday, April 22nd is Parks Appreciation Day in Pierce County! Parks throughout the county will be hosting  volunteer work parties during the morning. There’s no need to register - just show up and be ready to help remove invasive species and clean up these wonderful spaces. For a full listing of parks participating in Parks Appreciation Day, visit Parks Appreciation Day Sites.
• Looking for ways to explore Tacoma and Seattle? Stay up to date with the events calendar on The Tacoma Weekly and Visit Seattle.

April 14, 2017

In this post... 

• MYP Visit: Being a Risk-Taker
• PHE Curriculum
• Things To Do in our Community

MYP Visit: Being a Risk-Taker

We approach uncertainty with forethought and determination; we work independently and cooperatively to explore new ideas and innovative strategies. We are resourceful and resilient in the face of challenges and change.

In Chapel this month, we are exploring the Learner Profile attribute "Risk Taker," as defined by the IB (above). For the IB, it's less about escaping one's comfort zone and more about how we prepare for unknown space, untested limits, or undefined boundaries. Put another way, being a Risk-Taker is about knowing what to do when you don't know what to do. Over the last two days, we hosted three educators of very different backgrounds who serve as our MYP Verification Visiting Team. Their task: verify that we are doing what we said we were doing in our application, document that we are continuing to make progress in implementing the spirit and the structure of the MYP, and provide feedback on the things we're doing well and where we still need to work. For us as a Middle School Team, the Verification Visit has been an exercise in Risk Taking - preparing (for several years!), exploring and implementing new ideas and strategies, and facing the uncertainty that comes with welcoming educators whose fresh eyes might both celebrate and criticize our work. 

The Visiting Team met with groups of faculty, administrators, a small group of parents, and a handful of Trustees, and our students were on call to give tours, get our guests from meeting place to meeting place, and to talk about their experience. At the end of the first day, our guests (not surprisingly) were eager to comment on how impressed they were by our students. That certainly made us proud! They also acknowledged that our application, the binders and binders (and bytes and bytes) of documentation we supplied them, and the conversations they had already had with teachers demonstrated the hard work that we continued to put into this process. We won't receive any formal feedback or update on the status of our candidacy until the summer, but for now the acknowledgement of the many gifts of our students and the talent and hard work of our faculty have made it all worth the risk. 

PHE Curriculum

As part of our physical and health education program and ongoing commitment to prevention and wellness, we have invited prevention specialists from FCD Prevention Works to join our community and speak to our 8th grade students on April 17th during their PHE class.   A part of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, FCD is a non-profit organization that provides substance abuse prevention education for schools. Since 1976, they have taught over a million students of all ages. Their mission is to:

• Encourage and support the non-use of alcohol and other illegal or illicit drugs during the growing years

• Empower young people to make healthy, responsible choices regarding alcohol and other drug use 

• Teach students and adults how to recognize the early warning signs of substance abuse and to intervene appropriately

• Educate students, parents, teachers, and administrators on the physiological and psychological effects of alcohol and other drugs

• Promote awareness of drug addiction, including alcoholism, as a progressive, chronic, and often fatal disease

• Provide educational communities with the guidance and training necessary to implement comprehensive, effective approaches to substance abuse prevention

FCD prevention specialists are highly trained professionals who have achieved long-term recovery from alcohol or other drug addictions. This unique perspective enhances the credibility of their message and provides students with role models for happy, healthy, drug-free living  

The FCD prevention specialist will present a parent workshop on April 17th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. In the library to offer support and guidance in helping your children enjoy a drug-free adolescence. Some of the topics to be addressed include:

• Effective ways to communicate with your child about drugs and drug use
• Up-to-date facts about current drug use and trends
• What to say about your own experiences with alcohol and/or drug experimentation
• How to spot early warning signs of trouble and effective ways to respond.

This program presents a perfect opportunity for discussing alcohol and other drug-related issues with your children. Parental involvement is crucial to our efforts to reduce the risks teenagers face. We want our students to hear from both school and home that we are concerned about alcohol, tobacco and other drug use by adolescents, and that we are committed to keeping our children safe.

To Do in our Community...

• Looking for a family volunteer opportunity? Join “Pitch In For Parks” on Saturday, March 11, from 10:00am-12:00pm at Spanaway Park. See this flyer for more information.
• Looking for ways to explore Tacoma and Seattle? Stay up to date with the events calendar on The Tacoma Weekly and Visit Seattle.

March 10, 2017

In this post... 

• MS Academic Honesty Policy
• What we are learning...
• Things To Do in our Community

MS Academic Honesty Policy

This week, Advisory groups reviewed the Middle School Academic Honesty Policy - not in response to an uptick in academic dishonesty, but in an effort for teachers and students to continually refresh and deepen our understanding of the parameters, expectations, and characteristics of our community. The policy, embedded in our broader MS Handbook, was developed last year as part of our efforts toward MYP authorization, but nothing new or radical was introduced with this policy. Instead, it's a clear, succinct summary of our practices in supporting students as they develop their academic and ethical participation in the community. In a digital age, paying attention to where ideas are gleaned requires considered effort. Please take a moment to review the policy and to engage your student in a conversation about it. To prompt a conversation, you might ask your student whether it's difficult to understand what constitutes plagiarism, collusion, or unethical use of materials, or what is challenging about maintaining academic integrity.

MS Academic Honesty Policy

What we are learning...

The sixth grade Chinese finished the Unit “My Family” and then continues on the Unit “Chinese Calligraphy and Painting”. The seventh grade Chinese finished the Unit “Chinese Money and Chinese Food” and then continues on the Unit “Free Market”. The eighth grade Chinese finished a part of the Unit “Chinese New Year and Vacation” and then continues on the Unit “City Dwelling”. We had fun and educational activities to celebrate Chinese New Year. Students watched Chinese New Year program, cooked and ate Chinese food, wrote calligraphy, made paper craft, and danced Chinese dance. We are learning Chinese following our MYP unit plan and preparing for MYP visit in April.

This month, our AW 8th graders are embarking on what could be considered a capstone project of their middle school experience: The Oral History Project (OHP).  An interdisciplinary project encompassing Language and Literature, Individuals and Societies, and Design, they start by considering historical events they would like to learn more about, and then once they have decided upon a general topic, they reach out to those in their community with the goal of finding someone to interview who has firsthand experience in their area of interest.  Right now, they are beginning to craft their guiding question for their research - and that will drive all future steps in the project.  Some guiding questions of current 8th graders include:

• How did the experience of fighting in the Vietnam War affect soldiers when they returned home?
• What is the process that soldiers go through to make it possible for them to learn to pull the trigger?
• What is it like to be an immigrant forced to leave his/her country due to political unrest?
• What did it truly mean to be a prisoner of war in Vietnam?
• What was the effect of WWII on the homefront? How did life change for women?
• How did surviving the Holocaust shape survivors’ lives after the war?

The OHP gives students the opportunity to demonstrate all they have learned about public speaking, writing, the research process, and the design cycle, and it gives them some incredible opportunities to interview those of a different generation, learn about history from the stories of those who experienced it firsthand, and share the stories of those who helped them answer their guiding question as they create their own podcasts.  We can’t wait to celebrate their accomplishments with you on June 13th at the OHP Expo in the Great Hall.

6th grade Science wrapped up their Chemistry unit last week and this week, they dived into our ecosystems units, where we will focus on how relationships impact our environment. Students particularly enjoyed learning about parasitic relationships and they will be working on a mini-project to examine one type of symbiotic relationship over the weekend.

In 7th grade Science we’ve taken a “timeout” from our Chemistry unit to dive into our interdisciplinary Milk Boat unit on Density and Buoyancy before Spring Break. Students are learning about these concepts through a number of hands-on activities and hopefully will be apply to apply their understanding to make progress on their Milk Boat designs. Next week we’ll test styrofoam boat models in the school pool so if you have any sheets or blocks of styrofoam at home please send them to school with your student on Monday. Thanks!

The 8th graders have been working intensely on their rate of reaction design lab over the past few weeks. Each student investigated a factor that changes the rate of the reaction when an effervescent tablet is dropped in water. Ask your student about their results and what improvements they would make to their methods if they repeated their experiment. We’ll wrap up our Chemical Reaction unit next week and begin the Tropical Ecology unit for the Journey just before Spring Break. Expect to see to two summative assessment grades and two formative assessment grades added to the gradebook prior to conferences.

Things To Do in our Community...

• Looking for a family volunteer opportunity? Join “Pitch In For Parks” on Saturday, March 11, from 10:00am-12:00pm at Spanaway Park. See this flyer for more information.
• Looking for ways to explore Tacoma and Seattle? Stay up to date with the events calendar on The Tacoma Weekly and Visit Seattle.

February 17, 2017

In this post...

• Service Learning Days
• What we are learning: highlights from Individuals & Societies
• Things to do in our community

Service Learning Days

On Thursday and Friday, Middle School students engaged in our first Service Learning Days. SL Days are guided by two important goals. First, SL Days give students a chance to engage in direct service, indirect service, and advocacy with a variety of organizations in our region. These days gave students to intersect across grade levels, reinforcing and expanding our own sense of community. In a broader sense, it engages with our Schools' initiative to engage with Tacoma, the region, and the world, inviting students to step outside their "comfort zones" and learn about the experiences, challenges, and structures that shape our world. To do this, students rely on all of the information, concepts, and skills that they develop at school and apply them to the service of other people. 

The second goal of SL Days is to lay a foundation for a Middle School service program that not only responds to the goals of the MYP but also shapes our curriculum. Our students are smart, savvy, and sophisticated in many regards, and they have the ability to serve and to shape so much more than our program. Our service program will grow organically, and these annual SL Days will be the "high point," an outgrowth of students' own inquiries into the problems and needs of our world. 

This year's SL Days have been an experiment - in structures, schedules, partnerships - and they will evolve over time. If you are aware of organizations in the area that would be positive partners for our MS Students, please reach out to Bill Hulseman or Tiffany Shaw!

What we are learning...

In 7th Grade the students delivered presentations this week on a revolution or civil war in another country and then tried to compare that conflict to the American experience. In addition to deepening their conceptual understanding, the project was another opportunity to work on research and presentation skills. If you didn’t get an opportunity to be a practice audience, you should ask for a showing.

In 8th Grade we are in nearing the end  of our Civil War unit, reviewing what was learned in 7th grade and building on our previous knowledge to tackle bigger concepts.  Cause and effect as well as states’ rights issues have been a constant theme throughout the unit.  The students are finishing up their essays for the Gilder Lehrman Institute and we will be starting our unit on Immigration when they return from the break.

Things to do in our community...

• Looking for ways to explore Tacoma and Seattle? Stay up to date with the events calendar on The Tacoma Weekly and Visit Seattle.