Fifth Graders Write Free Verse Poetry
Over the past week, our fifth graders have been writing their own free-verse poetry. The fifth graders’ definition of free verse poetry is a poem that has no rules but requires the author to work hard at creating a piece that is beautiful and meaningful without any specific guidelines around rhyme and meter. Students then took this knowledge and took the perspective of an immigrant at Angel Island as they “carved” their own poetry onto paper using sharpies and watercolors. Great work fifth graders!
– Vaniecia Skinner, fifth grade teacher
Second Grade Learns About the Sources of Our Food
This week the second graders read How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World, a story of a little girl who travels the world to get ingredients to make an apple pie. We have been talking about the food we eat and the sources of that food. We are collecting stickers and labels that indicate the sources of the fresh food that we buy. As part of our social studies unit, we will be examining different world maps to locate some of the countries that provide this food to our local supermarkets. We will also look at providing equitable access to food, the nutritional and environmental impacts of transporting food, and local food sources.
– The Second Grade Team
Arts Update: Using New Tech Skills To Help Locally
Students in the grades seven and eight technology arts elective are learning how to use the tools in the IMPACT lab to make objects that will help others in the school. Several students are designing iPad holders to replace the current ones that are used in the library for book checkout. Students are also using the 3D design software Tinkercad to create extra guitar capos for music class. The class is greatly enjoying the fact that their new programming and design skills will have a direct impact by helping their teachers and fellow students at BDS.
– Kurt Robinson, assistant director of innovation and IMPACT Lab
PE Update: Out With the Snow, In With the Mud!
Our physical education classes are used to braving the cold for a winter hike or sledding. But now that the snow has finally melted we are returning outside on a more consistent basis. Whether it is fourth graders flinging frisbees, first graders warming up with hill sprints, third graders running laps around the Barn, or fifth graders crushing a fitness circuit, our outdoor spaces have been full of activity lately. Given the season that also means we’ve had sneakers full of mud, knees covered in dirt, and elbows that dipped into the business end of a puddle. In order to help support all of this outdoor action please help your student remember a change of footwear for PE and perhaps a change of clothes for when we decide to go through rather than around those natural obstacles.
– Alex Tzelnic, physical education teacher and mindfulness director
