Three of our middle school students participated in a four-session workshop designed to enhance the skills of developing writers. In preparation, the students read “War Horse” by Michael Morpurgo — a story of World War I told through the eyes of a horse. Students discussed the the book and author’s writing style, and then wrote Read More >>
Archives for May 2019
A Study of Honeybees
This spring, the students in grades 3-6 engaged in an exploratory study of honeybees that touched on their physiology, role in the natural environment, and current threats affecting their population today. We read from Gail Gibbon’s The Honey Makersto acquire some background knowledge of the life cycle of honeybees, conducted a honey tasting to analyze Read More >>
Children of the Longhouse Book Club
This spring, the students in grades 3-4 participated in a book club for Children of the Longhouse, by Joseph Bruchac. The focus of this book club was for students to practice making three different kinds of textual connections: text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world connections. The students eagerly shared their perspectives and interpretations of Children of the Read More >>
Clarence Randall, World War II veteran
History is about real people and the places they lived. It is about their stories. Too often in the study of history, our education misses this facet. Last week our older students were part of an extraordinary discussion. One of our students told us her grandfather was in World War II. He is now 99 Read More >>
The Great Depression Through the Eyes of Artists
The causes and effects of the Great Depression were studied through the eyes of artists Dorothea Lange, John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, a political cartoonist of the era and Langston Hughes. Children created a one-page written and visual response based on one of Lange’s photographs making connections to its historical context by creating. They listened to excerpts Read More >>
Kate Woodle, Children’s Book Illustrator
Kate Woodle conducted a four-week, illustration workshop for the seven oldest students. Kate kicked off her workshop as a Mystery Guest for the whole school, where she described the process of illustrating a children’s picture book. To the smaller class, students had to bring a fictional story they had written. Kate showed them how to Read More >>
World War 1
The oldest students spent three months studying the causes and effects of World War 1. The causes were complex. Students looked at world maps showing imperialism around the world prior to the war. Having identified the colonialists gave meaning to the complicated alliances that were formed prior to the war. This led to an examination Read More >>