Students in sixth grade did a fantastic job on their passion presentations! From here, we’ve begun looking closely at the world map to understand different important features and early human existence on earth. This has been a great time for observation and questions. We’re practicing classroom routines and listening to peers when they speak, and we’re working to build a classroom community that demonstrates care for its members. Students worked to define the words “history” and “power” on Monday, and they’ve brought them up over the past few days in great references that demonstrate their understanding and strength of connection-making. We’ve discussed communication in early groups of people and the ways that language and later writing developed over time. Today, we’ll play a game of charades to test out our ability to communicate using body language and facial expressions. This curious group of learners is doing a great job at asking questions!

Seventh and eighth grade students have continued their study of the Renaissance and the 15th century this week, including some key inventions that led to the Age of Discovery. They, too, are working on building a strong classroom community that demonstrates care for its members by listening while each other shares. This class has enjoyed “warm-ups” each day in the form of “would you rather” questions. They’re demonstrating good recall in class discussions, and they’re making strong connections between events. Today, we discussed the person of Christopher Columbus, the reasons for his travels, his supporters, and his writings, as well as his impact on the indigenous people of the Americas. 

Students in culinary arts had some great days in the kitchen this week. On Monday, they learned my favorite sourdough waffle recipe, and it seemed to be a hit. Wednesday, students practiced reading recipes carefully and working in teams to create three different muffin recipes (apple, blueberry, and peach). This awesome group has jumped in to grab ingredients, to support each other, and to clean up the kitchen after each recipe.