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| Yet another newcomer has taken up residence in the Middle School Commons. Drop by to take a peek at the lovely new habitat the next time you're in the building! |
It was a short week, as we had parent/teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday. What time we did have was very heavy on Art. In addition to our two regularly-scheduled sessions, we also had an additional all-middle school gathering to hear about and see the work of visiting artist Leslie Sobel. Check out Monica's Middle School Art Blog for more info (and to see some of Leslie's work).
In my Journalism elective, we unveiled the very first issue of the Summers-Knoll Wall Paper, which is our school-newspaper-on-a-wall. We opted to publish one large edition in a public space, rather than printing out individual copies in order to minimize the use of resources, as well as to create a space where students can gather to read and talk about the articles and features. (A blog version is also in the works...) The S-K Wall Paper is located right across from the large community chalk board as you enter the school. Take a look!
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| As you can see, it's a team effort from kids ranging from 3rd grade to 8th grade. |
Last week in homeroom, we decided as a group that our collective geography skills could use some substantial work. There are a lot of ways to address this, and something that clicks for one kid doesn't necessarily work for others. One thing that has worked for at least a subset our group is a very competitive (but friendly!) attempt to get the highest possible score in the shortest possible time (with 100% accuracy) on this online Place the State game. (It's sort of like Tetris, but with states.)
There are a few kids who have gone from near complete ignorance of the 50 states, to borderline mastery of them. (Of course, knowing the names and locations of the states is fairly arbitrary without learning more about the states themselves, but this has been an excellent first step for many kids.)
Two kids who have consistently achieved excellent scores have been tasked with a new project: Freehand drawing all fifty states without a reference. Here's Kaz delighting in how challenging it can be:
He has pleaded with me not to show a close-up of his work, but I can tell you that his first draft is probably substantially more accurate than most people in the country could manage. (And his second draft will be excellent.) WARNING: I've suggested that kids start challenging the adults in their life to try their hands at this. Study up!
For inspiration, here's Senator Al Franken drawing a map of the United States of America freehand and from memory:
Finally, in addition to making progress in our class read aloud Esperanza Rising, we're also making sure to devote chunks of class time to free reading. Student choice in reading material has a significant impact on their motivation and enjoyment. Here we see Eva flaunting the gendered implication of this anthology of short stories:
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