Students in sixth grade have done solid work this week to practice their listening, note-taking, critical thinking, and application skills. As a class, we read a creation story centered in Egypt, and today, students will begin to draft their own stories that answer the questions: “Who are we? Why are we here?” that are tackled in these stories from all over the world. 

Seventh and eighth grade students have continued their study of early European exploration. We’ve discussed the people indigenous to the various regions of the Americas and their early interactions with Christopher Columbus, using his journals and letters back to Spain as primary sources. Yesterday we discussed the Columbian Exchange, which integrated really nicely with the learning students have done in science class related to plant identification and native vs. non-native species. 

In our middle school history classes this year, we’ve started each day with a warm-up question to practice discussion, reasoning, and sharing in class, as well as getting to know each other better. We’ve made great use of “would you rather” questions, and we’ve all learned a lot about each other’s preferences!