Classroom News
January 7, 2026
Hello Families and welcome to 2026!
Here’s the weekly update from the MSBG Adolescent Classroom! Below you’ll find important upcoming dates, followed by highlights from our work together this week.
Mark Your Calendars
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January 19 – Dr. MLK, Jr. Day [no school]
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January 20 – Extracurricular Activities begin again!
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First Week of February (TBD) – My Own Museum presentations during the school day
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February 12-13 – Winter Conferences
In the Classroom
History
The Renaissance is coming! The Roman Empire fell, bringing about the Middle Ages, but Enlightenment is around the corner… at least for the Medici family and others with monumental wealth. Art, Literature, and the grand displays of culture get the glory, and humanism is the talk of the town. The students will be studying art, labor, and the trades thereof for the next few weeks.
Literature
Everyone is choosing their own novels for an Independent Novel Study. They will be completing packets that contain project work and comprehension tasks, checking in with teachers once a week to ensure they are on task. By the time of this reading, they should be nearly 25% through the book (or more), have started an outline, and begun choosing the projects on which they will work. Ask an Adolescent what they are reading!
Science
We have begun our unit on Human Systems Interactions. In this unit, we will be breaking down each individual system, starting with the Skeletal System, going into how each of them affects the others. Some of the work in this unit will come with images that may make some students uncomfortable (internal organs, surgical procedures, etc).
Writing
We are shifting our focus from the writing of a paper to the presentation of the information found inside the papers. These presentations will be organized for viewing by our Lower Elementary students, and parents of our adolescents will be invited to participate. The My Own Museum pieces will be presented visually on a tri-fold presentation board and will contain an interactive component.
Microeconomy & Fundraising.
A Quality Dozen: With a total of 18 birds, 11 of them presenting as female, we should start seeing some eggs laid very soon. While we wait for that to happen, we will be caring for them as best we can and planning for what we can do with the eggs when we have them.
Shirts?: We have ordered our test run products! The first design is ready, shirts and prints have been ordered, and in a week or so (when things arrive), the team will generate the first products available for sale.
Student-Run Extracurricular Activities: Our three-week trial run of extracurricular activities was a total success, earning us nearly $900 in December. We will start the next wave of these activities on January 20, 2026. The forms will be going out to all families this week.
Fundraising Event: The students are hard at work planning another fundraising event, likely to be held on the Wednesday before Winter Conferences (Feb. 11th). We have a lead on a venue and confirmation will be announced when we have it. Details are forthcoming.
That’s it for this week! As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Jeremy or Kayla at middle@montessorischoolbg.org. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Stay tuned for next week’s update, titled: “Read it and Weep,” or “Cry For Help Desk.”
With enthusiasm set to MAX energy,
Jeremy & Kayla
