Special Note to Grade 6 Parents: Sixth Grade is going on a Trip Jan 3rd! We are excited to be going to MoMath during the school day on Wednesday after the break. Please see Mrs. Segar’s letter for details. Note that we are coming back to campus before the end of the day, and students will attend TAG and their last period classes. For this reason, we do NOT recommend parents pick up in the city after this trip. However, if you want to make any special arrangements, please e-mail Tasha Urbanowski no later than noon on January 2nd. Thank you!
From our Studio Art Classes:
The 6th graders completed a personalized puzzle piece as part of a collaborative project with the Chorus classes for the Winter Arts Festival concert. In class, students have studied the component of an effective still-life, and practiced watercolor painting techniques to create their own pieces. We are finishing up this month with an introduction to portrait drawing, which will be the focus of the last project of the semester.
In 7th grade, students are creating their online digital portfolios in the Seesaw app. Students will be able to see the work done in the other sections of studio art, as well as comment on one another’s work. This week we are very excited to have begun the Coloring Page Project, our PBL for studio art. There will be a coloring book printed and distributed to local hospital patients and members of the D-E Community. Look for more information about this wonderful endeavor after the winter break.
Last month the 8th grade students were visited by the art teachers to guide students on their set designs for the Living Wax Museum. By using the “flipped classroom” model, students were able to view a “helpful tips and examples” slideshow before the visit in order to help with the discussions during the visit. Receiving and giving feedback to one another according to their preliminary sketches proved to be a useful tool for the design component of this multi-faceted work.
In the studio, the 8th grade artists designed a skateboard deck that reflected his/her personality. By using an online tool for collaborative discussion called “Scatterspoke”, students were able to reflect on their own work and on the project design.
From Drama Classes/Theater: The 8th grade will be participating in their first semester Coffee House on Thursday. The 7th grade finished their Mindfulness Unit, and Lion King Jr., our Spring Musical, has been cast!
From Chorus classes: We just finished our production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat for the Winter Arts Festival 2017.
In the World Language classes, our 6th grade students are learning how to write simple sentences with the verb SER and will create a song with the verb conjugation as well as write a short paragraph in Spanish talking about their favorite cartoon show. Our 7th graders are learning how to write sentences with AR verbs and will be creating a video describing their daily school life. Some of our 8th graders are creating conversations at a store between a store clerk and a customer, using a variety of difficult grammar such as indirect and direct object pronouns, the two “know” verbs and demonstrative adjectives. Others are learning about the importance of technology as a way of faster communication in Latin America.
Our 7th Latin students completed their mini PBL …based on the video, Roman City. They worked collaboratively to learn material about Roman urban planning, values, and Empire building. They produced an assessment and designed an artistic component. Students also studied the first declension, cases, sentence analysis, and the life style of the upper classes and Roman cuisine. In Latin 8th Advanced, we recently learned about Roman politics – discussing whether the Romans (and the students) prized fame or wealth more highly and using Caesar’s famous quote “I would rather be first here [i.e. in Gaul] than second in Rome” to talk about ambition. We also wrote political speeches in the Roman style attacking Mark Antony to better understand ancient political invective.
In French, our 7th graders studied and used the “Big 4”….the most important verbs…irregular and essential. They also learned vocabulary (often through songs) about homes, cities, classroom materials, and directions. Students are using French more assertively to communicate in oral and written expression.
