A wind storm, Halloween, the Book Fair, and the Walk-a-Thon for Puerto Rico; this week was anything but the usual. Wonderful costumes were abound on Tuesday, and the middle school students enjoyed watching their younger classmates become enthralled in the day.

Despite the hectic hum of the school this week, classes moved forward. 6th year Humanities students did some creative Halloween-themed writing and began their final writing piece to wrap up their unit on empathy and compassion, 7th year students are still finalizing persuasive writing in groups for their community project, and 8th years began reading Ronald Takaki’s, A Different Mirror for Young People: A History of Multicultural America and discussed the concept of freedom in the U.S. by analyzing the Declaration of Independence and how it applies to different groups of people living in our country. In math, 6th years continued working on percent word problems, 7th years on solving and checking algebraic equations, and 8th years worked on factoring. In Science, 6th years are studying the properties of minerals, 7th years focused on isolating copper by electrolysis, and 8th years are learning about the minerals in Earth’s crust.

This weekend’s Fall Family Festival on Saturday from 10-2 will be the end of an exciting week at FWM. See you there!

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion.” – Walt Whitman

Every Tuesday, 6th, 7th, and 8th year Humanities classes start with poetry. While it is no secret among my students that I am a poetry enthusiast, there is a method to my madness. Poetry is an important part of a student’s journey as a growing reader and writer. Some of the top educators in the field use poetry regularly in their classes. I take great pleasure in Poetry Tuesdays in my classroom, when I share a poem or two and have fantastic discussions about the piece(s) revolving around meaning, opinion, poet’s word choice, etc. Sometimes, we even compose.

Nanci Atwell, author of In the Middle, founder of the Center for Teaching and Learning in Maine, and recipient of several national and global teaching awards, is an educator that has inspired my teaching since I was in graduate school. She used poetry daily in her middle school English classes. After attending one of her writing conferences for educators several ago, she validated something that was already brewing inside me from a young age: poetry is the most important genre for budding readers and writers.

What amazes me the most is the writing process, which I share with the middle school students. Word choice is critical in a poem; each word must be carefully considered because so much meaning is conveyed in few words. Robert Frost said,”No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader”- a mantra I use frequently in the classroom. I try to instill in the students consideration for their words, emotions, and senses in order to relay them to their readers in all forms of writing.

I want my students to realize that poetry isn’t just about love or death; it’s about anything and everything. A poem can be written about poetry itself, food, places, art, people, emotions, experiences, objects -anything! The middle school students have read mostly contemporary poems containing purposeful messages, beautiful figurative language, imagery, humor, philosophy, and feeling. Poetry is a treasure that I share with 6th, 7th, and 8th years, and weekly poems can be viewed on my door (an idea from sixth grade), with the current poems in the center.

 

 

 

This week brought more excitement in Middle School. In Humanities classes, 6th years finished their class novel, Out of My Mind, 7th years are finishing up drafts of their persuasive papers for their utopias, and 8th years revised their irony in literature essays. In Science, 6th years wrapped up their unit on Earth’s Surface, including topography and land forms. 7th years enjoyed creating marble roller coasters made of foam pieces of insulation cut in half, exhibiting both potential and kinetic energy. 8th years finished their 3-D representations of topography along with labs determining density and the conservation of mass. Finally in Math, 6th years worked on percentages, 7th years worked on equations, and 8th years wrapped up a unit on linear equations.

*A friendly reminder: Advisory period begins promptly at 8:10 am.  This is when Advisor check-ins, Mindfulness practices, and 8th grade Leadership meetings take place.  Thank you for your support. 

This week’s classes brought about creative labs, different forms of writing,  collaboration, and more practice in mindfulness.

The purpose of mindfulness is to be able to focus on the present. Tied in with inner resiliency, which is one’s ability to recognize and handle your emotions in productive ways, and emotional intelligence, these practices can help reduce anxiety and stress while improving focus both in and out of school. One huge benefit of mindfulness is to help students focus on the positive experiences they encounter each day.

Throughout the year, the middle school has spent 2-3 advisory periods a week working on mindfulness and inner resiliency. They have done exercises in focus and emotional intelligence. Also, they have learned the importance of using their breath as an anchor to keep them focused and different techniques of breathing that allow the most oxygen to enter their lungs. Through a variety of meditations, students are learning what does and does not work to help relax them. Some forms of meditation can actually create stress, so with students beginning to meditate, it is important to do different types for short periods of time.

Why meditation as a mindfulness practice? Students are instructed through the guided meditations to focus on the breath. If any thought, emotion, or physical tension is noticed during this time, they are to recognize it and then go back to the breath. Some may even visualize it being blown away or floating off. The more this is practiced, the quicker students can become focused on their breathing, thus improving overall focus. Like it has been explained to the middle school, it isn’t a sprint; you can’t expect to be able to feel completely relaxed and able to clear your mind after only a few tries. It is a practice. 

Whether you are a believer in these practices or not, you are urged to look into it. Who doesn’t want to focus on the positive experiences and be able to navigate the negative ones a bit easier? Maybe it’s just a conversation with your child about some of the exercises we have done (ask them about Body Scan and Mood Meter) or look into some research. You may even be interested in a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR). You could even talk about how you use mindfulness in every day life; perhaps you are someone who needs to go for a run, listen to music, or write when you are feeling stressed. Those are mindful, resilient practices you may use to get focused and relieve stress. We are excited to see the benefits as the year continues!

“Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing.” -Jon Kabat Zinn

 

 

Another exciting week has come and gone in Middle School! In Math, 6th years are loving their work on ratios and proportions, 7th years are continuing with their algebraic foundations, and 8th years are exploring linear equations.

In Science class, 6th years worked on creating topographic maps. Students represented elevation change using Plexiglass, stones, colored water, and markers. 7th years experimented how mass affects an object’s momentum by completing a lab titled, Swing Time. 8th years tested the conservation of mass using baking soda in an open and closed system. They are also discussing the ecological effects of global warming on the coral reef.

Humanities classes were productive this week with 6th years working on figurative language and descriptive writing, discussing discrimination faced by those with special needs, and continuing their reading of Out of My Mind; 7th years working on outlining as a prewriting tool, beginning their community project, and continuing to read The Giver; and, 8th years working on writing strong introductions and thesis statements as well as completing the short stories, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Jackson’s shocking short story elicited discussion about continuing traditions for the sake of keeping them versus changing with the times.

The days have been flying by, and we can’t believe it is already October! More to come next week!