Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful spring break. My family and I traveled to Southwest Florida (Sanibel Island) during break where we enjoyed the warm weather, and everything the outdoors had to offer during our two week respite. While it was hard to leave the sunshine and warmth, I am excited to be back on campus and looking forward to the many events scheduled this spring. To that end, please keep a lookout for communication from me about grades and comments and Steep Week. Grades and comments are scheduled to be posted on the Parent Portal the week of April 14 and Steep Week is scheduled for Wednesday, May 21 - Friday, May 23. Lastly, below is the academic spotlight, highlighting the interesting work being done in 5th grade Social Studies and 6th Grade English.
Academic Spotlight: 5th Grade Social Studies and 6th Grade English
5th Grade Social Studies: Students in Grade 5 are well on their way in their Landback Unit. The Landback Unit is a simulation that recreates the hardship and excitement of starting a life in a new place in the early 17th Century. Each student is a member of a community that has made the decision to start life anew on another continent, one that their ancestors previously inhabited. The first task is to write a Charter for their new lives in a new land: what do they want to keep, and what are the principles that will guide them in their new life? Once they write and sign their Charter, they need funds to make their journey and new life possible. Each community has the opportunity to earn wealth units by working together as a community, increasing their knowledge of maps and geography, demonstrating their creativity, and doing the hard work necessary to survive. We have just finished our third mapping assignment. Ask your fifth grade how they are doing — What has come easily? What has been hard? How do fate, natural resources, and reliance on each other affect their success? Soon we will choose what to bring with us and begin our ocean crossing with all the surprises that trip has in store. Once we land, can we keep our community alive and find a way to get our Landback? Stay tuned!
6th Grade English: Students will begin work on Declamation --- next week will be poem selection week (students will get a LOT of information and the guidelines on Monday). Class time will be used to select poems from the approved sites and students will map out our work- some of it will happen in class and some of it will occur outside of class as homework! They wrapped up their dystopian novel study this week by working on a final character and power analysis. They will be reading a book called Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia. The back excerpt from this novel states: "Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he's going to spend on his grandparents' farm in Alabama, where he's being sent to heal from the tragedy. On his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie's journal. Tristan chases it --- is that a doll? --- through the forest, and a tug-of-war ensues by his grandmother's mysterious and off-limits Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature's hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this strange world." They will adventure with Tristan as he learns more about the world he has discovered!
Lastly, a reminder that Student Led Conferences are scheduled for Thursday, April 10 from 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. and Friday, April 11 from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. If you have questions about your conference or need to make any schedule adjustments, please reach out to your child’s advisor. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly should you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jay Tebbens
Head of Upper School
