Today in 7th and 8th grade US History class, students were able to hear from guest speaker Mr. Price about the Civil War in the Ozarks. Mr. Price, who works for the Springfield-Greene County Library, spoke to both the blue and yellow groups and shared images and wonderful stories about what he has uncovered in his research on the war. This presentation was perfectly timed, as students are finishing their first research project on the Civil War. They begin presenting on Friday, and I’m excited to see the depth of thought! If your student is in seventh or eighth grade, be sure to check in with them about what they’ve chosen to research.
For middle school advisory today, teachers utilized some skills students picked up on during our Leadership Ranch time last week. Students were given a pile of letters, and their task was to work as a grade-level team to arrange the letters into one word: significance. Once they finished, they had to get to the basketball court and write the unscrambled word using chalk and utilizing each team member. We were grateful to spend a little bit of time outside in this beautiful weather!
High school students have begun their first research project on pre-European settlement in Missouri. Students are learning the challenge of finding good sources for this time period, which is working to encourage asking questions in different ways and changing up search terms. Following up on our trip to the library on Monday, during which students had a lesson on the library’s available databases, students are asked to use databases and peer-reviewed sources to conduct at least portions of their research for this project.
High school also completed its first field trip last week: a bus tour of Springfield. Students brought their journals, buckled up, and sat in quiet for 40 minutes as Mr. Mike drove the shuttle down several different streets in Springfield. Ms. Brown accompanied our tour and guided students through the process of observation and note taking. We ended our trip on Sunshine and had snacks from Starbucks and Chick-fil-a before heading back to The Summit.
The sixth grade history class has jumped right in and is learning about Reconstruction. We began the lesson with vocabulary students would need, and students were asked to define the word “freedom” in their own terms, without using the word free. Reconstruction presents excellent opportunity to discuss the structure of government, so we spent some time ensuring students were solid in their understanding of the branches of government and layers of authority, from federal to the local level. We have also been practicing our knowledge of US geography this week to support what we’re learning about different regions of the country. We’re all very excited to start our first project soon!
