Dear Madrona Families,
November has been a month filled with celebration alongside hard work. Coming back from the Thanksgiving Break, the children showed an exuberance and enthusiasm for working on their Fall Study and delving into follow up to lessons. They did not miss a beat! While the weeks have been shortened for holidays (this last week of November has been the only full week) the children brought steadfast focus to return to their work and follow-through with their goals.
This month we have been honing foundational geometry concepts and moving forward in math sequences (like fractions, decimals, coordinate plane, linear algebra); initiating our history studies with the First and Second Timeline of Humans, human migration stories, and the indigenous perspectives on Thanksgiving; enriching our Fall Study on native birds by looking at ecology and food webs; and developing analytic language skills with sentence analysis and diagramming, as well as book report and expository writing.
We wrapped up our Lit Circle books (Wonder, Esperanza Rising, and The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora) this month and children shared their final projects: clay sculptures, dioramas, book reports, cardboard towers, empanadas, and tres leches cake. We enjoyed seeing how students connected to the stories and what they learned from the different perspectives. We will start up a new Lit Circle grouping in January.
An exciting development outside of the classroom: our woods’ boundary was expanded and the children have renewed their passions for fort building and exploring the “deep woods.” It is joyful watching them collaborate and create together in the natural spaces.
At the end of October, the students raised enough money for a class paludarium. Upon further research and reflection, they decided to scale back and put the money towards one new class pet. Several groups researched and presented options: rabbit, hamster, bearded dragon, leopard gecko, and chameleon. After three votes, we are still tied between a hamster and leopard gecko. We will see what a re-vote yields and likely welcome a new pet in the new year!
Recent class meetings have been forum for spontaneous creative idea proposals: an Elementary Newspaper (first monthly printing to be in December) and a class play (brainstorming meetings and writing have just begun).
We close out the month welcoming a new 4th year, Annabelle Osbourne. Some of you may know Annabelle from her days in the Spruce classroom with several of our current Elementary students. Say hello and introduce yourselves when you get the chance! Connor also celebrated his 10th birthday this past week; Happy Birthday, Connor!
Looking forward to the month ahead, while it will be a short one, it will be eventful!
Jaclyn and Zach
