Upper School Student News - Early Spring

The Upper School Student News is an online publication written by students Alia, Olive, and Lily S., with help from faculty supervisor Jonell. 

Colony Fair

The Civil Rights group had a fair on Friday, February 8th about the 13 Colonies. They set up presentations in the Parent Education room. 

Each person got a colony passport, and when they went to different stands, they got the stamp to go with it. Each colony featured a kind of food. All of the 13 colonies were represented, and all had very interesting presentations. 

Katie loved learning about the colonies and especially enjoyed the johnnycakes from Samuel’s North Carolina presentation. 

Amelia thought that learning about the colonies was very interesting. One group of people made a music video describing life from a colony wife's point of view. Sarah decided to research Delaware because it became the first state.

Max chose Virginia and said that the project was challenging, but it was a great experience.

Lillie chose New Hampshire. Something she learned was that colonial New Hampshire was half the size of modern-day New Hampshire.

Lillie also took part in filming the music video Colony Wives, along with Tula, Kiki, Anabel, and Marissa. Here’s the link to their music video.

Library Update

US2 students Hazel, Olive, and Alia have been working to expand the fiction library. They went to McKay's on January 10th with Sherry and found plenty of great books for students who are between the ages of 8 and 12. Some of the books that they bought are: When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead; Refugee by Alan Gratz; Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, The Gallery by Laura Mark Fitzgerald, True (sort of) by Katherine Hannigan, and Hello Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. Lily S is reading True (sort of) and commented that she is enjoying it so far. “The book is a little depressing, but it is getting better”. They have created a book return box so that the library stays organized. A shipment of new books is on the way. This has been a six month project thus far initiated by these three students.

Spanish

Maria Asunción's Spanish students are doing a fun project to expand on their variety of learning. Students can make a commercial, be a teacher for a day, cook, or even write jokes in Spanish. Reina and Sofia are making mocktails. 

Bob and Oleja are writing Spanish jokes. Students who are going to be a teacher for a day have to memorize the lesson they will teach. 

Alia is going to teach grammar, do a vocabulary expansion activity, and lead bingo and handwork.

Goals and Resolutions for 2019

In January, the newsletter staff surveyed students in the upper school to learn their resolutions and goals for 2019. They divided the survey into four sections: school, health, away from school, and personal. Students were permitted to submit their surveys anonymously. Some common health goals are to improve eating habits, exercise more, and to stay mostly healthy by getting the proper amount of sleep and washing hands frequently. Amelia wrote, “I want to have a healthy lunch and run with my sister.” A few students wrote that they want to help the poor and make more friends. Several students wrote that they want to cut back on the time that they spend playing video games. Ahna wants to learn to play the piano. Another student who already plays an instrument wants to learn to play a complicated piece of music. One student wrote that she wants to learn a harder dance skill. Some of the personal goals submitted were about spending time with family, while others want to learn to cook or get more organized. Sofia wants to keep her room cleaner. Hazel wants to be more productive in life and not get as easily upset by her classmates. Another student wants to improve in art. Olive wants to get more organized. One student wants to snuggle with her dogs more often, and Jack wants to get one of every Harry Potter Lego set.