Hello Families,
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.
In the Classroom
History
This week, we start our discussion of the Columbian Exchange and what happened on the global stage because of it. In order to balance the positive and negative, we will be focusing on food and trade goods, as well as diseases and the Atlantic Slave Trade. Emotional swings will abound for our adolescents.
Literature
To coincide with our History unit, we will be starting Copper Sun, by Sharon Draper. This is a wonderful book filled with vibrant, realistic characters that the author amalgamated from journals and stories from those who experienced life as an enslaved person. As such, there are several moments in the novel that our adolescents might have some difficulty with. As parents, if you have access to the novel, I encourage you to read it alongside the students. They may wish to talk about it at home.
As a teacher, this is my favorite book to teach. It is deep, thought-provoking, and extremely well-written, but is accessible to just about any level of reading ability. It also perfectly illustrates the history through a fictional lens.
Science
In Diversity of Life, the focus will be on Punnett Squares and discussion of Mendel’s experiments with genetic models. The students will use models to determine the ancestry of hamsters and plants.
In Weather and Water, we are discussing the heating rates of different materials and solar angles to understand how various surfaces affect the way convection currents move on Earth.
Microeconomy
Mustang Cafe: We continue to run strong. Our baked goods have been a hit, too! We are willing to accept donations from parents for baked goods to sell or the ingredients to make something specific. Our baking time is limited to Tuesday afternoons, so keep that in mind when thinking about what we are making ourselves.
A Quality Dozen: We are spending some time this week building a hutch for the new quail, as well as preparing the indoor brooders for the hatchlings. T minus 6 days before the first of the eggs is likely to pip.
Shirts?: We are finalizing our business proposal to submit to the office for approval, deciding on our first designs, and filling out our purchase requests for our sample shirt supplies. Things are heating up!
Updates for all three projects should be expected in each upcoming news report.
Electives
We are one lesson into each of our Elective courses. The students are invested in their follow-up work and we’re looking forward to seeing the products that come out of these collaborative efforts.
Parent Ed
Our next parent education night is December 4th: Curriculum Night. Parents can sign up for one of two time slots (to avoid overcrowding): 6:00 – 6:40 pm or 6:50 – 7:30 pm. A signup sheet will be on the classroom door before Thanksgiving. This gives parents the opportunity to get a classroom lesson from the student. They will prepare a lesson or two that parents will receive, then be given a chance to participate in follow-ups or activities.
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: “Guns, Germs, and Guacamole” or “New World, Who Dis?”
Stay Curious,
Jeremy & Kayla
Mark Your Calendars
-
November 26-29: Thanksgiving Break
-
December 1: Extra-Curriculars begin (Middle School led)
-
December 4: Curriculum Night
-
December 10: Chipotle Fundraiser (*Not completely approved yet*)