Fifth graders in Ms. Dorsey’s science class are hard at work learning about the weather! Last week they did an experiment involving evaporation and condensation by placing a cup with water in a plastic ziplock bag and hanging it outside their homes. This week, the fifth graders started their weather journals, sampling daily temperatures at various times to note trends and averages over the next few weeks.
Eighth grade history with Mr. Byrd started the year with a project on the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy. There were 5 original tribes that made up the Confederacy, so, students were divided into groups per class with 3 or 4 group members. Each group researched a native tribe of the Confederacy. The groups are putting together a slideshow on each tribe with each group member responsible for one aspect of their tribe’s society. With the help of Ms. Hamm Mr. Byrd provided resources for them to conduct research and complete their individual slides to make up one slideshow. The goal was for them to learn about native tribes before European settlement of the Americas, while building their research skills.
Sixth grade Civics teacher Mr. Staten has worked with the Why America? Program spearheaded by the Center for Education Reform to help build civics education. It involves asking questions about how the Founder’s vision for America is reflected today. He is currently in his third year working with them. As a result of his work, the sixth grade has had the opportunity to go to Capitol Hill to meet U.S. Senator Tim Scott, the National Theater to meet Former Miss America Nia Franklin, and the National Archives to see Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constitution.
Latin teacher and Classicist in Residence Mr. Whitchurch is helping keep the school connected with other classical institutions. He organized a visit to Philadelphia Boys’ Latin for last fall with Mr. Clausen and Mr. Kelly. In May he planned an upcoming visit for Brooklyn Latin School’s entire class 9th graders to come and visit Washington Latin, hopefully this spring and he is working to organize a panel for a major annual Classics conference which will feature seasoned educators from several Latin schools. He also organized a declamation ceremony for the Advanced Latin Seminar students as their capstone this past year.
Fifth graders in Mr. Bane’s English class wrote short memoirs about childhood experiences. Each student wrote about two memories from when they were younger and they shared the stories anonymously with the class through a shared Google Doc. This writing assignment accompanies the memoir Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson. Memories students depicted including meeting Barack Obama, injuries playing football, surviving a car accident, winning a sports competition, and getting a new pet.