Week 21 -- Writing resumes and eating cake

The focus of our homeroom time remains learning about our Place Out of Time characters. Over the course of the week, the timelines of our lives have been completed and posted in the Middle School Commons, allowing us to see how our characters relate to one another in time. We also began speaking in character with one another, having first learned a little about the rules of improvisational acting.

Ella and company fixing our class decor

We’re also wrapping up the composition of our character “resumes,” which are brief (about 3-4 paragraph) introductions written in the first person. These will be posted on each character’s profile page on the Place Out of Time website.

One of the many ways that we’re learning about these figures is by seeking out documentaries and docudramas that feature them. Since we happen to have both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in our class, we watched some key selections from the 1999 film Pirates of Silicon Valley. The entire class learned about the birth of the personal computer (as well as a bit about how stocks work), and we got to see how actors dramatize people who actually exist.

Scenes from our weekly cleaning of the lunchroom 

We also got to spend some time with the 7/8s this week. They’re engaged in a unit about food, and they baked a variety of cakes from historic recipes. They were kind enough to invite us to sample their efforts, while telling us a bit about what they had learned.

In math, we continued exploring the concept of Flatland, this week moving to an adaptation that hews a little more closely to the original novel, including aspects that parody social conventions and stereotypes. We also spent two days this week working in our Singapore books.

The daily lunch session of Magic: The Gathering 

Week 20 -- Snow, poetry, timelines, and Flatland

We had Monday off, and we were all greeted on Tuesday morning with a blanket of snow, but no snow day. Instead, our warm-up was “write a poem about what you would have done/how you’d be feeling if today had been a snow day.” Responses varied, and I was a little surprised to find that not everyone loves snow days. (Others, of course, decidedly do.) I didn’t specify the form, so there were rhyming couplets, acrostics, haiku, and acrostic-haiku, which may be something that was just invented. The bulk of our homeroom time was devoted to Place Out of Time research, including creating a timeline of the major events of each character’s life. The finished results will soon be going up on the wall next to our classroom, so the next time you’re in the building, come take a look and see how the lives of Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking, or Jazz Jennings line up with one another.

Bora/Peter Jackson posts the timeline of his life (so far).

We’ve also been making quick progress through our current read aloud book, When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead. The mystery is getting…substantially weirder, and only Evie has a good handle on what might happen next (because she has already read the book.)

This week also saw the return of our weekly journal prompts. We responded to the quote, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” We respond to these quotes completely individually and in (relative) silence, so I was surprised to see how many kids ended up using math problems to articulate their interpretations. Without consulting each other at all, several students talked about knowing how to solve a math problem is a good thing, but understanding how the math actually works is also very important.

Speaking of math, we spent one session of our math group watching a short film adaptation of the novel Flatland, then another class session discussing it. Flatland is populated by two dimensional creatures who are largely oblivious to the the heretical notion of a mysterious third dimension. A couple of rabble-rousing free-thinkers defy the powers that be, with the help of a unique guide. After the film, we spent time thinking through what it would be like to live in a two-dimensional world. Can a Flatlander tie a knot? How would you play tennis? What would a picket fence look like? How can a Flatlander have a digestive system without being completely bisected? We also dipped our toes into the idea of what four dimensional objects might look like, which strained brains mightily. On Friday, we retreated to our Singapore books to rest our brains and exercise our skills.

(Don't call it) Spirit Week

The week before Spring Break was positively packed with activity, even though there were only four days of school. Here's a quick recap. 

The Summers-Knoll student government organized the second annual Super Happy Fun Week. The schedule was as follows: 

Monday: Character Day Dress as a favorite character (from a book, from a movie etc).Tuesday: Pajama Day Wear your PJs.Wednesday: Fun RunThursday: Culture Day. The 7-8s will prepare lunchtime snacks from Sweden, Uganda, Argentina, and Japan (same menu as last year). The Choir will serenade us with songs from Kenya, Australia, and Texas

This photo is from character day, which might not be immediately obvious, given that many students were clearly determined to hide from the camera. 

Wednesday ended with an all-school Fun Run. It was particularly fun to see so many members of our community participating beyond just the students. Look carefully, and you'll spot teachers, staff, and parents also taking part. 

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The kids in Jason's math group have learned a lot about 'Flatland' this year. Originally published in 1884, there have been several adaptations of it over the years, and we've explored a few of them. It's a topic that we revisit from time to time, most recently as a project: Kids are creating their own games based on aspects of Flatland. 

We've brainstormed a number of different possibilities in terms of game mechanics and objectives, and lately kids have been constructing game materials, writing instructions, and play-testing prototypes with their classmates. 

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One of the lovely things about our school is that students have the opportunity to take time from our regularly scheduled curriculum and activities to pursue individual projects. Bora and Eva have used this opportunity to develop clay-based projects, guided by Monica, our middle school art teacher. Check out their progress!

Bora and his cat

Eva and her dragon

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We also recently hosted another Middle School Game Night. These are quickly becoming a tradition at Summers-Knoll, and they're a fun, low-stakes way to socialize and have fun. 

Upon reflection, I'm realizing that "low stakes" was the incorrect term to use, as I have rarely seen a group of people so invested in a game of Jenga.