In early May we wrapped up the multigenre project that we had been working on since late March. There were such a wide range of topics, from scientists, athletes, politicians, and even some semi-famous family members. These projects are fun and creative. Look for them at curriculum celebration! In May we turned our attention to […]
Middle School Social Studies
It’s been six long years since the last one, but the middle school is gearing up for Trader Joe’s Big Bartering Bonanza this Thursday, May10 and Friday, May 11. During this event students incorporate all of their knowledge about microeconomics and create a product to market to students in younger grades. In return, K-5 students […]
Middle School Math – May 2018
I some ways the school year seems to have flown by, like we just returned from Camp Tamarack and getting into the flow of classes. And, at the same time we have learned so much, me, as well as the students, that it’s a good years worth of work. In three of the classes we […]
Middle School Language Arts
In the month of March, we finished up reading Nancy Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion, and turned our attention to nonfiction. Middle school students are completing the “big project” of the year, a multigenre biography project. Students self selected a biography or autobiography to read, and they are constructing a project with multiple different pieces of […]
Middle School Social Studies
We’ve just wrapped up a very successful unit on homelessness, culminating with a huge poverty simulation involving nearly all of the middle school students and many of their parents. MLive did an article on the event which can be found at http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2018/03/middle_school_homelessness_sim.html. Students also participated in a debate taking on a variety of roles, as […]
Middle School Math – March 2018
The change in curriculum to use Eureka Math has been going well. The program is inquiry based and has provided the students with lots of opportunities to explore, practice, challenge, prove, and discuss various mathematical concept. I have learned a lot myself. In Course 1 we are finishing up our understanding of the four operations […]
Social Studies
We are currently in the heart of our unit on homelessness, having hosted Dan Kelly – head of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County – for a Q & A a few weeks back and having just taken a field trip to the Delonis Center in Ann Arbor. Students have moved beyond common stereotypes and […]
Middle School Language Arts
In February, we began our study of Science Fiction, reading Nancy Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion. We have talked about issues of science, ethics, the future, and what sets the genre of sci-fi apart from realistic fiction and fantasy. Additionally, students have been writing around or in the genre of science fiction, focusing their monthly writing […]
Middle School Language Arts
In the month of January we continued with the writing workshop, some students choosing to pursue short fiction writing. We wrapped up reading our books about Cambodia before winter break, and wrote literary analysis in the form of letter essays about these books. In February, we’ve started reading Nancy Farmer’s book, The House of the Scorpion. Throughout […]
Middle School Social Studies
We are on to our third unit of the year: homelessness. Students will be starting the unit by writing a narrative about and drawing a picture of a homeless person. An imaginary homeless person that, in theory, should symbolize a lot of their preconceived notions about homeless people. I am asking them to describe the […]
