Week 24 -- Greetings from Livonia

Middle school trip to Livonia 

Weeks 12 & 13 -- Time for school, biomes, and grandfriends

We only had two days of school before the Thanksgiving break last week, and we used part of them to begin watching the documentary Time for School. This fascinating film is a longitudinal look at five children from around the world as they progress through some form of schooling system. The filmmakers first visited them in 2003, and have followed up with films every few years ever since. We made note of many things as we watched, such as the amount of family and/or cultural support for school each student experienced. We compared and contrasted the experiences of these kids with each other and with ourselves.

Monarchs & monarchs

The last several weeks have been informed by learning about two types of monarch, both of which have been cast aside by Americans. One was intentional (King George III, during the American Revolution), the other has been an unintended consequence of the rise of industrialized farming in the United States (the migrating monarch butterfly). 

POOT: The Place Out of Time banquet

We began our first week back after Spring Break with a couple of field trips. 

Guest Speaker: Sam French, writer and director of Buzkashi Boys

On Wednesday, March 30, we welcomed Academy Award nominated director Sam French to our school. Sam was in Ann Arbor speaking at the University of Michigan, and we were lucky enough to have him address the Summers-Knoll middle schoolers for an engaging question and answer session about his work. 

Pi, Pie, and Politics

Music Class

We've had a busy week! Here's a sampling of what's been going on lately. 

Fragmentation

In homeroom, we've continued looking into the complicated consequences of human beings affecting the fates of other species. This week, we looked at habitat fragmentation. 

Week 19: Hodge Podge

We kicked off the week with some highly anticipated news: We received our Place Out of Time character assignments from our friends at the University of Michigan. In our class, we'll be spending the next couple of months getting to know Pelé, Millard Fillmore, Rachel Carson, Henry Clay Frick, Raina Telgemeier, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Elon Musk, Richard Nixon, and Manfred con Richthofen (also known as "the Red Baron"). 

Week 11: Fear itself

As with much of the rest of the world, Paris, Beirut, Syria, and the United States were on our minds this week. 

Week 10: What makes a border? Why do people want to cross them?

As discussed last week, we're taking a deeper look into the nature of geography and borders. 

Hodge Podge: Week 8 in review

This was an excellent year for Eco-Fair/Homemade Halloween costumes! 

It is impossible to adequately convey everything that happens each week, which is why a lot of blog posts lately have focused on one aspect of our work. This week, I decided to try to capture a smattering of what happens from day-to-day.

Time for School

Shugufa in 2009

Howell Nature Center Global Village field trip!

Whew! We have successfully completed our once-every-two-years trip to the Howell Nature Center Global Village! There will soon come a day when I will write up a proper post about our experiences, but it is not today, as I am ready for a good, long nap. To tide you over, please check out the page for our class Twitter feed. There, you will find a chronicle of our adventures (tweeted in reverse chronological order). 

Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! - Week one in review

Wow! Just like that, we've completed our first week of school! It's only Friday evening, but the first day jitters seem like a distant memory as we've all settled into our new class. Read on for a brief overview of the various threads of study that we began this week!

But first, say hello to the mysterious, affable, two-headed creature that we call Junella.

Trials, Bias, Prejudice, Baltimore, and Polygons

Some social issues that we've been exploring in class recently have given some context for the recent events in Baltimore.