First grade has been very busy these first eight days of school. Team building has been our main priority during this time. We participated in lots of activities which helped us work as a group and practice communicating. We saved Fred the gummy worm, stacked cups only using one rubber band and strings, and made spaghetti towers using tape, ten pieces of spaghetti, and a marshmallow. 

We have had a great first few days in 2nd grade! We have spent our time getting to know each other better with our "All About Me" bags, learning our classroom procedures and expectations, and working together as a team! I am looking forward to an awesome year! :)

In Middle School Social Studies, the 5/6 is doing some background research on world geography and continental cultures. In the next week or two they'll discuss, then vote on, a continent to study in depth. Opinions already vary wildly, and I'm looking forward to their choice!

Meanwhile, the 7/8 is hitting the ground running with their unit on civil rights--we're doing some research on factory conditions and labor rights at the turn of the 20th century, and soon we'll move on to the first wave women's rights movement.

Math classes started off the year with everyone actively exploring new concepts while revisiting previous ones. The fifth grade was using Omnifix cubes to find all the ways that 24 boxes can be packed together in order for baseballs to be shipped in the most efficient way. They even thought to make the model more realistic by putting marbles into the cubes--quite creative!

Courage. We have talked a lot about courage and what that means. In Performing Arts we will likely face situations that are uncomfortable: acting/singing in front of--and with--peers; improvisation; trying new things. My hope is that the students will push their respective limitations and realize what they are capable of doing. 

We've explored that a bit with Human Rock, Paper, Scissor games with the older kids, as well as Charades. In 7/8 we also talked about various songs, complete with an impromptu ballet lesson. K/1 has been enjoying music and movement. 

Looking forward to a year of bravery and fun. 

In PE we have been working on team building and working towards goals together in groups. We will continue to focus on group work for another week or so and then jump into our first round of fitness testing.