Updates!

Class Updates 3/26/25

ELA Group 1

Heather Gray

Since our January updates, we have been busy! We finished reading The Very, Very Far North and students wrote their associated writing pieces. Each student chose from several writing prompts they had begun over the course of the unit and expanded on one of them. When completed, each child had an opportunity to read their piece at our book party! The book party this time was a Very, Very Fancy Tea Party! Real china teacups, tiered tea tray, tablecloth and all. The boys requested ham and cheese for finger sandwiches, all things dainty and delicious for tea cakes, and hot cocoa in their cups. All of those appeared, along with a surprise “Duane’s Snow Delight” treat! They also chose to build igloos out of sugar cubes as their activity, and discovered that building an igloo was a bit trickier than they imagined. 

Last week we also began a new spelling program, called “Apples and Pears” (read more about how it works here:  Sound Foundations).  The students are learning this new routine and encountering some words that they didn’t already know how to spell, so I think we’ve found the sweet spot that is a “just right challenge”.  We have now begun reading Wilderlore: The Accidental Apprentice and returned to our weekly Brave Writer rhythm – looking at a passage from the book each week to see what we can learn about good writing. The students frequently impress me by noticing for themselves the reason the passage was selected, and we have had some really wonderful conversations! Sometimes we focus on a broader topic like writing a great opening hook, and sometimes something smaller but no less important, like how to make nouns plural, or brushing up on proper punctuation. And we also try to spend some time diving down rabbit holes touched on in our books! Because Barclay begins the book as a mushroom farmer’s apprentice, last week we spent a bit of time exploring the life cycle of mushrooms and got a mushroom growing kit started, so hopefully (fingers crossed!!) we’ll get to taste test some home-grown mushrooms soon! 

We’ll finish up reading Wilderlore soon, and students will work on a writing piece related to it and we’ll celebrate the conclusion of this unit with a book party. Then I think we’ll have time to read one more book before the end of the school year! I’ll bring a few options for them to choose from – stay tuned for what they choose!

ELA Group 2

Kristine Fringer

We begin class with our Daily Dose of vocabulary, proofreading & editing a short paragraph, and identifying figurative language like similes, metaphors, idioms, hyperbole, personification, alliteration, and symbolism.  (Everyone did great on the quiz last week!)  We do a brief check-in on everyone’s independent reading book and share some of our favorite parts.  As students read their books, as well as the one we are reading as a class, The Doorman’s Repose, they identify sections of indirect characterization where we learn about the character by what they Say, Think, their Effect on others, their Actions, and their Looks (known as the STEAL method).  Students are learning about different types of writing, including expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative.  This week, students read an informative article about the history of chocolate chip cookies and wrote a summary in their own words, using evidence from the text.  They learned how to cite quotes using the  “The Sandwich Quote” method:  First, you introduce the quote with a signal phrase like “According to the author…,” “In the article entitled….,” or “The author argues that…,” then you include your quote using quotation marks, then you explain why the quote is important. Their final draft is typed in MLA (Modern Language Association) format – a good idea to get into the habit now!  Next week we will finish up our drafts and continue to work on improving our writing.  Students will pick a topic out of a hat (lions, castle, turtles, spaceship, hot fudge, hippos, dragon, math class, pancakes, etc.) and write a simple sentence about the topic, i.e., “Hippos are grey,” then walk around the classroom to the seven writing stations where they will need to add to their writing.  The stations include instructions on how to add a  compound sentence, complex sentence, compound-complex sentence, transition statement, how to  write for a purpose, how to appeal to the senses, and how to show details, not tell.  The other writing pieces we will focus on are a personal narrative, and a final book report.     

ELA Group 3

Kristine Fringer

We begin class looking up a new vocabulary word in the dictionary.  Some of our new words include jingoistic, cantankerous, deride, demure, gregarious, bilk, tenacious, pallid, ubiquitous, sycophant, non sequitur, diatribe, replete, and tenacious!  Then we do a short activity that focuses on a new literary term, common grammar errors, identifying analogies, or solving a brain teaser or puzzle.  On Wednesdays, students all share a current event from a news article that they have read.  Students learned about archetypes and how writers will use them to help readers quickly identify a character, i.e., the hero, villain, temptress, princess, dumb jock, computer hacker, tortured artist, wise old man, etc. We have read and discussed a few short stories, including “Lamb of the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, and “The Interlopers” by Saki, and “The Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and students worked on  literary analysis essay questions for each piece..  For fun we annotated and did a close analysis of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.  The first writing assignment was a personal narrative, or an autobiographical incident, using sensory details, dialog, and a message for the reader. Next week we will learn research skills to form a strong argument thesis and essay.  Students will learn how to identify legitimate sources and peer-reviewed journal articles, and how to avoid plagiarism with in-text citations and a works cited page.  Students will take some of their research to write a blog post.  I am still putting together a reading list for the remaining weeks which may include some Shakespeare or a classic like To Kill A Mockingbird, Animal Farm or Of Mice And Men.  Here is a link to our Google Classroom for more details on what students are working on: Google Classroom Link for ELA Group 3 

Middle School Chemistry 

Samantha Bohanon-Rowe

Since our last update, the middle school students explored the ability of water to dissolve different substances, including salt and sugar. Students made two-dimensional models of salt crystals and used water molecule cut-outs to show how polar water molecules dissolve salt. They compared how well water and alcohol dissolve salt after observing animations. We related these observations and discussed the structures of salt, water, and alcohol on a molecular level. Next we started a new unit, Chemical Change. We used a candle flame to demonstrate a chemical reaction between the candle wax and oxygen in the air. Students observed a molecular animation of the combustion of methane and oxygen as a model of a similar reaction. We used atom model cut-outs to model the reaction and see that all the atoms in the reactants show up in the products. The class analyzed the chemical equation for the reaction between vinegar and baking soda in order to make the connection between the written chemical equation, the molecular model, and the real substances in the reaction. We observed that the gas produced in the reaction is also written in the products of the equation and that changing the amount of one or more reactants affects the amount of products. Students also performed the DNA Extraction Lab using bananas or berries. They were able to observe the precipitation of DNA and that ions or molecules in two solutions can react to form a solid. Next up for the middle school chemistry students will be exploring how temperature or a catalyst can affect the rate of a reaction. We will also learn about energy changes in chemical reactions and how we can use chemical change to identify an unknown substance.

High School Chemistry (Nathaniel A., Milo, Ciaran, Sebastian, Nicholas)

Samantha Bohanon-Rowe

The weeks since our last class update have been busy and productive in High School Chemistry. Here is a summary of the key concepts we have covered and what is coming up next:

1. Chemical Bonding
We wrapped up our Chemical Bonding unit, where students learned about:

• How atoms interact through transferring and sharing valence electrons to form bonds.
• Defining molecules and writing molecular formulas.
• The formation of covalent bonds and the difference between intermolecular and intramolecular forces.
• The relationship between potential energy, bond formation, bond length, and bond energy.
• The Octet Rule and how it explains chemical stability.
• Drawing Lewis Structures for single, double, and triple bonds, as well as resonance structures.
• Predicting molecular shapes using VSEPR Theory and the effect of lone pairs on molecular geometry.
• Differentiating between ionic and covalent bonds, including their properties.
• Understanding why metals are good conductors, malleable, ductile, and shiny.
• Determining molecular polarity based on electronegativity and dipole moments.
• Identifying and comparing intermolecular forces (dipole-dipole, London dispersion, and hydrogen bonding) and their effect on physical properties like boiling point.

2. Naming and Writing Chemical Formulas
We also completed the Naming and Writing Chemical Formulas unit, which covered:

• Naming and writing formulas for binary and ternary ionic compounds (including polyatomic ions).
• Naming and writing formulas for multivalent cations and acids.
• Naming and writing formulas for hydrates and molecular compounds.
• Calculating percent composition and deriving empirical formulas.

3. Percentage Composition, Empirical & Molecular Formulas
Students practiced:

• Using Avogadro’s number and molar mass for mole calculations.
• Finding percent composition of compounds.
• Determining empirical and molecular formulas from composition data.
• Understanding the relationship between empirical and molecular formulas.

Students have been doing a great job grasping these complex concepts, and it has been exciting to see students build their understanding and confidence in chemistry. The next units we will learn about are Chemical Reactions, Stoichiometry, Gas Laws, and Thermochemistry.

Math Groups

Samantha Bohanon-Rowe (aides: Sebastian Rowe & Nicholas Adams)

4th Grade Math

Addition and subtraction review, patterns in mental math, identifying skip-counting patterns, writing symbols for skip-counting patterns, solving word problems with addition and subtraction, using bar models for addition and subtraction with and without word problems, order of operations, simple division, division vocabulary, division with zero, dividing with whole tens and hundreds, order of operations with division, long division with and without remainders. 

5th Grade Math

The four operations with decimals, including multiplying and dividing by powers of ten, multiplying decimals by decimals, multiplication as scaling, multiplying and dividing decimals mentally, adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers, equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, word problems with decimals and fractions, converting metric units of measurement, converting between custom units of measurement, geometry vocabulary review, types of triangles/quadrilaterals/polygons, types of angles, measuring and drawing angles with a protractor, classifying triangles and quadrilaterals, volume of irregular objects and rectangular prisms, volume is additive, area and perimeter problems.

6th Grade Math

Applications with decimal operations, converting and comparing fractions and decimals, evaluating variable expressions, translating words into variable expressions, writing and evaluating variable expressions, identifying parts of an expression: variables/coefficients/constants, combining like terms, using the distributive property to simplify variable expressions.

7th Grade Math

Add and subtract expressions, add/subtract/multiply monomials, divide monomials, powers of monomials, exponent rules, properties in math, ratios, rates, proportional vs. non proportional relationships, proportions, proportion word problems, similar figures, percent proportion, percent equations.

8th Grade Math

Slope from a graph, slope formula, slope-intercept form, standard form of equation of a line, x- and y-intercepts, vertical and horizontal lines, writing linear equations given slope and one point, writing linear equations given two points, parallel and perpendicular lines, operations with exponents, roots and radicals, multiplying and dividing monomials, the distributive property and division with polynomials, classify polynomials and indicate the degree, add and subtract polynomials, factor GCF from polynomials, solve algebraic equations with canceling fractions and eliminating decimals, simplify radical expressions, solve two-variable equations and find ordered pair solutions.

Social Studies 

Kristen Kimball

Mid February, students completed their independent country research projects.  Each student chose a country that their own family has some connection to, and created a poster, slideshow, or written paper to teach themselves and their classmates about the culture of the country.  Research included music, clothing, weather and geography, food, government, and more.  We then shared what we learned with each other as a class, and capped the project off with a potluck of foods from the various cultures studied.

Between projects, we covered different types of economy and economic structures through lectures and discussion.  With our existing familiarity with the term “free market capitalism” and how it functions, we went more in-depth into market, command, and mixed economies, followed by capitalism, communism and socialism as rough examples of each (with the understanding that, in practice, nearly all modern economies are in some way mixed).  

Onto our current project, students are wrapping up a worksheet on one of the US States.  Students chose any of the states (other than MA), and researched its population, capital, state symbols, local sports and landmarks, and how the territory became a state to begin with.  We have paired this with exercises aimed at helping students become more familiar with the locations of the states around the country (including a fillable map), and this week, students will share some of what they learned about the state they chose to research.

Moving forward, we’ll pause between projects again for a small unit on world religions, in order to continue our focus on cultures and cultural diffusion through understanding religious practices around the globe.  After this, we’ll return to focus on student work, with a project focused on their own home towns.

History (Ciaran, Milo, Nathaniel A., Liv)

Kristen Kimball

From early February until now, our class has covered:

• The segregation era, Black Codes and Jim Crow laws, the KKK
• Manifest Destiny, American Expansionism, and the era of the “wild west.”  We discussed a more grounded view of the Gold Rush, cowboy culture, and settler conflicts with Native peoples.
• Free Market Capitalism, the publication of The Wealth of Nations, and the lead-in to the Industrial Revolution, including the progression of innovations which brought forth a period of unprecedented technological and economic growth.
• The continued effects of the Industrial Revolution, including philosophical and ideological concepts like Social Darwinism and “the White Man’s Burden,” and the Imperialist efforts they supported.  Terms and practices of the time such as “yellow journalism,” “muckraking,” and “crony capitalism.” 
• Annexation of Alaska and Hawaii, leading into America’s involvement in Spain’s overseas territories, leading to the Spanish-American War and the results thereof.
• The Progressive Era of the turn of the century, and its socio-political movements, including direct democracy, federal regulation of industries and consumer goods, social welfare, prohibition and universal suffrage.

Students are currently reading first-hand accounts of the lives of immigrants to the US during this time, and next week we will review their written assignment on the Industrial Revolution together, before finishing our unit on the Progressive Era.

Art History 

Kristen Kimball

In recent lessons, we discussed the sculptor Henry Moore and painter Jackson Pollock, followed by a class discussion to help understand the concepts of Abstract Expressionism.  Students were shown four paintings in the style, then asked to personify, or emotionally respond to these paintings by answering questions like “which one of these paintings would be the most fun to talk to?” and “which one would you trust to help you with your homework?” and so on.  After this, we look at Piet Mondrian and his style called “de stijl,” and Kazimir Malevich, and his style known as “suprematism.” These are both challenging minimalist pieces, and our discussions emphasized the importance of investigating a piece and understanding its concepts, while validating one’s own opinions and experiences with it.  Most recently, we learned about the style of Italian Futurism (featuring works by Umberto Boccioni and Ivo Pannaggi), what it means for something to “look” futuristic, and how we envision the future for ourselves.

Art

Kristen Kimball

Recently, we had the opportunity to experiment with photography, keeping in mind that the qualities that make a nice drawing or painting often will also make a nice photograph, and using the principles of color, light and shadow, balance and so on to take their own pictures.  

Concurrent with our discussion in Art History on Abstract Expressionism, we tried out the style ourselves by using only lines, general shapes and colors to express specific emotions or ideas. The following lesson, we played with this same idea by using these methods to express a variety of songs as we listened to them, considering what sorts of lines, textures, shapes, colors, motions, etc. come to mind with the music.  

This past week, students practiced finding and utilizing reference images, including tips for finding reliable, quality images, and looking critically at them to support one’s own drawings.  And of course, whenever possible, we throw in some free drawing after or between lessons to keep things loose and fresh!

Spanish Geography

Kristine Fringer

Each week we explore a new Spanish speaking country and so far these have included Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, and Cuba.  Students use Google Earth to zoom in on the coast line, Andes, and Amazon in Ecuador; the Periot Moreno Glacier in Argentina; El Yunque tropical forest in Puerto Rico; and Old Havana in Cuba.  We learned about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author and recipient of a Nobel Prize in Literature; that Bolivia has two capitals; and that capybaras are the largest rodent in the world.  Students also have been learning to engage in simple Spanish greetings and conversations.  

Growing Young Minds

Meena Tondravi

We have made it through half way of the GYM program! Every session we begin with jump roping, building stamina, coordination, grit and confidence from learning a new skill.  The growth in jump roping has been amazing.  After 10 weeks, the students are now looking forward to setting a new goal and accomplishing new records each class. Some don’t want to stop! I love seeing the growth from: this is hard, this is new, I’m frustrated; to I don’t like jumping rope, it’s too hard; to I can do 5, I can do 10!; to I beat my goal! I’m going to go for 50! It’s a simple exercise that helps shape a growth mindset and build grit over time.  

The first half of GYM, we have discussed what it means to have a growth mindset; build self awareness for strengths, weaknesses and goals we want to achieve; executive function skills of time management, problem solving, organization of materials, asking for help to build consistent habits; and understand that achieving goals takes grit, patience, self compassion and play.  Goal setting can be intimidating for some and for others it comes easily.  We have discussed each week why we set goals, the importance of goals be driven by their interests, making small reachable goals at first so it’s not overwhelming, being courageous to actually set a goal and stick with it when its hard (building grit!).  This past week, each student has now identified solid goals that they are passionate about and ready to focus on for the remainder of the session. Its a big step and I’m so pleased that the students have embraced the challenge and made goals that are fun and meaningful to each of them.  We will reinforce each week using a system to track progress, schedule consistent practice and build problem solving skills for when they arise. 

The second half of GYM, which we began these past two weeks, focuses on understanding the brain in regards to emotions, emotional regulation, and mindfulness strategies (positive self talk, breathing, gratitude and building a supportive environment). We brainstormed emotions, focusing beyond happy, sad, mad to include emotions such as embarrassed, annoyed, disappointed, anxious, joyful and grateful.  The students identified how the brain sends signals to our bodies so we can identify how we are feeling, making us self aware of our emotions so we can identify then move through them.  Last week, the class identified emotional regulation strategies that work to calm, elevate moods, etc. that work for each student. Everyone is different; some like music to motivate and initiate a task while others prefer quiet.  Its important to understand what works for you.  

Class Updates 9/23/24 – 10/31/24

Brave Writer, English Language Arts 

Heather Gray

This month we finished reading Julieta and the Diamond Enigma and explored more aspects of really engaging writing. For example, one week we read an excellent example of “showing rather than telling” – Julieta saw her father’s body language during a phone conversation and could tell from that how he was feeling. We discussed how this helps readers imagine a scene in their minds, rather than telling them point-blank. Instead of writing, “Julieta smelled a good smell,” the author might say, “Julieta inhaled deeply and let out a blissful sigh.” I’ve seen some lovely examples of this in the mystery stories students are working on! We spent some time defining parts of mystery stories and planning out the elements that should be included and then students got to writing… it was hard to hold them back!! I really love their enthusiasm for telling their stories. They are working on including interesting “hooks” in the beginning of the story to engage the reader’s curiosity, a few clues hidden along the way for their sleuth (and the reader!) to uncover, some interesting dialogue between characters, a resolution to the mystery, and a satisfying conclusion that wraps up the story. 

As I mentioned in the Google Classroom, we DO plan to have our Julieta and the Diamond Enigma book party on Wednesday (Nov 6th) during class. Please send in fillings for crepes – chocolate chips or fruit or something else tasty! Cynthia will come in and make them with the kids, as long as Forest is ok with that! I also have a virtual tour of Paris for them to explore – it should be a really fun time!

We’ll also spend some time this week finishing up their mystery writing and introducing the next book, “Solimar and the Sword of the Monarchs” – learning a bit about Mexico and monarch butterflies! The first reading assignment in that book will be over the weekend of Nov 8-10. 

English Language Arts 

Sheila Armstrong

We are continuing our short story unit to learn about the elements of fiction. Students read and wrote fables to learn about “the moral of the story” to start our journey toward understanding theme. We also learned about plot and, specifically, how the conflict drives the plot. We studied different types of conflict and came up with examples of each. Eighth graders had a chance to apply their knowledge of conflict to a creative halloween writing prompt! When we are done with our short-story unit, we will read a book as a class and apply what we have learned about the different elements of fiction to our class novel.  Every student should now have an independent reading book that comes with them to every class meeting. Students will read at their own pace and present a project or book report when they finish the book. Throughout the year, students will always be either reading an independent book, or working on their project/report, so please ask your child what book they have chosen and what their reading goal is. 

MATH – Samantha Rowe

5th Grade Math

Review of the four operations, multiplication with partial products, multiplication algorithm, multi-step word problems, graphing on the coordinate plane.

6th Grade Math 

Reading, writing, and solving powers and exponents; perfect squares; order of operations; prime and composite numbers; prime factorization; greatest common factor.

7th Grade Math (Prealgebra) 

Adding and subtracting fractions and mixed numbers, multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers, writing and evaluating exponents, perfect squares, square roots, perfect cubes, cube roots, order of operations, evaluating algebraic expressions.

Algebra 1

Matrices; combining like terms; simplifying expressions (distribute/combine); translating expressions, equations, and inequalities; solving two-step equations; solving and graphing two-step inequalities; multi-step equations; variables on both sides; infinite and no solution equations.

Geometry 

Distance and midpoint formulas, partitioning a segment, naming and classifying angles, angle addition postulate, angle relationships, finding angle measures.

Precalculus

Increasing, decreasing, and piecewise functions; the algebra and composition of functions; symmetry and transformations; quadratic functions and equations; inequalities; polynomial functions and rational functions; exponential and logarithmic functions; trigonometric functions and identities; inverse functions and equations.

Chemistry – Middle School

Samantha Rowe

In middle school chemistry students completed a cotton candy chemistry lab to observe the physical and chemical properties of substances. They learned a process to separate mixtures with the candy chromatography lab. They observed through this exploration the different pigments found in different colors of skittles and what pigments are more soluble. With the introduction of atomic structure, students learned the subatomic particles and their roles in determining the properties of elements. We discussed ions and isotopes and briefly examined what are radioisotopes. Students completed the half-life of a twizzler lab with graphing to understand the concept of half-life and radioactive decay. Students learned about the concept of the mole and weighed out a mole of sugar, table salt, baking soda, and water for comparison. We examined how the arrangement of elements in the periodic table reflects atomic structure, focusing on groups, periods, and the significance of atomic number and mass. We looked closely at the periodic table. They were introduced to the basic information given for the elements in most periodic tables: the name, symbol, atomic number, and average atomic mass for each element. We focused on the first 20 elements, learning about the arrangement of electrons and numbers of protons and neutrons. Students are now learning about covalent and ionic bonding.

Chemistry – High School & 8th Grade

Samantha Rowe

The eighth grade and high school students completed the Chemistry Calculations, Dimensional Analysis, and Measurement unit. This unit included concepts of accuracy, precision, and measurement. Students learned the importance of significant figures and how to record measurements properly, so that anyone who reads the measurement will know the precision of the measuring device used. This is very important in science!  They extensively practiced significant figure and scientific notation calculations and dimensional analysis. The next unit was Atomic Structure where we learned the particles in an atom and related the mass, charge, and location of the three primary subatomic particles. Students identified elements using information on the periodic table, identifying atomic number, mass number, etc. Ions and isotopes were explored, and students categorized ions as a cation or anion, and using the nuclear symbol for the element, calculated the number of electrons, protons, neutrons, and charge. Students learned the concept of the mole and used the periodic table to determine molar masses of pure substances. They also performed calculations involving mass, number of moles, number of atoms/particles, and molar volume. Students also completed the Nuclear Chemistry unit learning the different types of radiation, writing nuclear equations, half-life calculations, and fission/fusion. With all the excitement around these discussions, the students this week asked if we could build rockets. I’m going to try to work that into the plan for the remainder of the term.

Visual Art 

Kristen Kimball

Our main class has spent a few weeks developing drawing skills and practicing facial features. Students learned and diagramed the proportions of the parts of the face relative to one another, including some shortcuts to help them remember these proportions for times when they aim to draw realistically, while bearing in mind that they can intentionally alter these proportions if they want to develop a more abstracted or “cartoon” style. After understanding the general proportions, we spent time practicing the individual parts of the face.

After this, we moved on to some basic color theory, discussing the color wheel, pairs of complementary colors and how they function, etc, while practicing using them in various combinations. Along with this, students practiced using color to create light and shadow, gradients of tone, and contrast.  

The older students have been hard at work on longer-term, more self-driven projects. I have advised each of them as they brainstormed, planned, and have begun to work through projects of their own design. Through this process, students are learning to plan ahead, set expectations, and follow through on a concept while adjusting to changes and setbacks along the way. I’ve been very impressed with their work thus far and am excited to see the results!

Art History 

Kristen Kimball

We’ve progressed through the modern era of western art history in a roughly chronological order, moving on to Van Gogh, Monet and other impressionists to discuss how modernism emphasizes the message, feeling or concept of a piece, rather than the desire to realistically replicate real life. We also discussed how the invention and popularization of photography encouraged the development of more individualized and innovative, but less representational art styles. Briefly, we took a lesson to discuss early photo editing/manipulation and look at examples where photographs were altered to achieve a fashionable ideal, or to portray fantastical subject matter like fairies and ghosts. Next, we moved on to Alphonse Mucha and the Art Nouveau movement, including a class discussion about whether advertisements can be considered “art.” Most recently, we’ve reached the Cubists, Picasso and Braque, and learned how these artists were influenced by their times and the culture of the day.

History 

Kristen Kimball

Our survey of American history has progressed from the colonial period through the Revolution, discussing the various causes and factors leading into American independence along the way. This lead us through the Enlightenment movement and the philosophies of John Locke, the French and Indian War which lead to various oppressive Acts enacted by Great Britain with the goal of profiting from the colonies to recover their war debt, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, Lexington & Concord, and the Lee Resolution. Once the reasons for the Revolution were well established and understood, we covered the Revolution itself quickly, as my focus in this class is always understanding of concepts and context, rather than an over-emphasis on individual battles and dates. We went into detail regarding the reasons for the success of the American Revolution, such as aid from the French and Dutch, US use of guerilla tactics, etc.  

Most recently, we’ve been learning more about the early government of America as it reformed itself as a new nation. We first covered the Articles of Confederation and their insufficiency in the new America, which led to the Constitutional convention and the writing of our own Constitution and Bill of Rights. Moving forward, students will research the three branches of government established by the Constitution to better understand their function and purpose as we move on chronologically in classes.

Social Studies

Kristen Kimball

Since establishing the methods and reasons why humanity leaves the state of nature to form societies, our class has been learning about various forms of government and how they function. We discussed monarchy, why and how it is utilized, and the different forms it takes both historically and in the modern day. We have also gone over feudalism and its similarities and differences with other forms of monarch-centric government.  

For the past several weeks, we have focused on forms of representational government; beginning with the Athenian democracy, then the Roman Republic, and the “Iroqois” (Haudenosaunee) Confederacy which helped to form the basis for the US constitutional government. Most recently, we have discussed the foundation of America’s 3-branches of government, their intended functions, checks and balances, and duties. This past week was focused on the Executive branch of government, as we went into detail about the president’s powers and responsibilities, in addition to the other members of this branch.  

Throughout the semester, we’ve been sure to pause for interactive activities along the way to ensure students are able to fully understand and practice what we’ve learned- from acting out a monarchy to developing a campaign and policies for their own presidential candidate (posters included!).

Media Literacy

Sheila Armstrong

We have been having great discussions in Media Literacy and the students are very patient with their “digital immigrant” teacher! We have been discussing and learning skills to tell fact from fiction online (not an easy task) and having discussions around different types of “screen time”. We discussed creating a mindful approach to technology use but the most important thing we did did not involve technology at all. We went for a mindfulness walk outside where we used our senses to get grounded in the moment. The students did a tremendous job embracing this activity and we applied this mindfulness technique to assessing how we spend our time online. 

Music 

Victor McSurely

We have had four sessions with Victor. These classes have focussed on understanding some of the basic actions and terms of making music.

These were:

1. Directed Attention. Also, its categorical difference to Distracted Attention

2. Call and Response. The building block of learning music, and all communication.

And the three main elements of Music:

1. Rhythm. What is the beat or bounce which gives us a unit of time, and how can it be subdivided?

2.Harmony. The relational qualities of notes within a scale, and why they are the way they are.

3. Narrative. Understanding Narrative requires understanding how what we give our attention to becomes a mirror for seeing ourself. We observed that there are two categories of intention mirrors we find made by others. One is to catch our attention and to hold it for making money or popularity. Another is the opportunity to create something that will help others know something Meaningful about themselves, or about life. (Although these do not have to be exclusive of each other.) We heard about the story of John Lennon’s song Imagine, and heard how it described a new way of seeing what it is to be human which had consequence going forward. We then followed along reading the lyrics of the song Crazy Train. Again, there was large agreement that it described, in a useful way, something nearly all of us were going through. This was somewhat surprising for several of us.

Spanish Club 

Nicholas Adams and Kristine FringerSo far in Spanish club this year, we have gone over the Spanish alphabet and simple greetings such as “¿Cómo estás?” Students enjoy the “alphabet song” that we sing at the start of each class and the games we play on the white board taking turns choosing a response  to common greetings and questions.  One of the challenges learning the Spanish language is understanding that there are “masculine” and “feminine” words and when to use the “el” and “la”. We will soon transition into using the plural “los/las” and  “un/uno”.  In the advanced group, students are enjoying using Duolingo together.

Class Updates September 2024

Brave Writer, English Language Arts 

Heather Gray

It’s been so great to re-acquainted with this crew of sweet kiddos as we settle into how we’ll work and play together this year! We’ve been starting each day with a mixture of spelling and grammar work and then moving into activities related to Julieta and the Diamond Enigma. We always discuss whatever comes up for the kids as they read and then we explore what makes a passage from the book an example of great writing, with the goal of including aspects of that in our own writing eventually. So far, choosing interesting, descriptive words (what Judy always referred to as “juicy words”!) and the importance of remembering some of those basics (capitalization and punctuation) have been among our topics of conversation. 

What’s coming up soon? I like to celebrate the turning of each season with a “poetry teatime” – I’ll bring a pile of poetry books and kids will select poems to share with each other while enjoying a seasonal treat. That will happen near the equinox or solstice that marks the change of the season. Then we’ll start to pick apart characteristics of mystery stories, and kids will try their hand at writing a mystery of their own! We’ll wrap up our time with Julieta’s book with a book party, most likely on Wednesday, October 23rd.  Stay tuned for the next book we read together! The kids will be invited to choose their top three titles from an assortment of books and I’ll make sure that books from everyone’s list make it into our schedule.

English Language Arts 

Sheila Armstrong

Students in both classes are reading short stories to learn about the elements of fiction. We have read a different story for each element and so far we have covered characters and setting. We used venn diagrams to compare and contrast characters, learned about how the setting of a story can determine its  mood, and discussed the importance of understanding how we make inferences.  When we are done with our short-story unit, we will read a book as a class and apply what we have learned about the different elements of fiction to our class novel. 

MATH – Samantha Rowe

5th Grade Math

We started the school year reviewing mental math strategies for adding, subtracting, and multiplying multi-digit numbers. Students learned the order of operations with parentheses and many operations, wrote calculations from word problems with multiple operations and found the solutions to the 

problems. They learned the definitions of equations and expressions and solved for the unknown in equations. We also began our introduction to using bar models to solve problems, first focusing on addition and subtraction bar models.

6th Grade Math 

Students learned the real number category of numbers called integers. They practiced adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with integers. They also compared and ordered integers.

Students began working with large whole numbers, including place value with large numbers, writing whole numbers from words, and comparing and rounding.

7th Grade Math (Prealgebra) 

Students learned the real number category of numbers called Integers. They practiced adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing with integers. They practiced comparing and ordering integers and writing them from word descriptions. Students learned about absolute value and practiced solving absolute value expressions. We started working with fractions, learning about the parts of a fraction and writing fractions in simplest form. They also were introduced to the difference between improper fractions and mixed numbers and converting between the two forms.

Algebra 1

Students practiced categorizing numbers in the real number system. They learned about the properties of real numbers, defining and identifying examples of each. Other topics introduced included simplifying absolute value expressions, practicing order of operations with complex expressions, and understanding the substitution property as it relates to evaluating algebraic expressions.

Geometry 

Students began an introduction to geometry with identifying and naming points, lines, planes, intersecting lines and planes, and understanding the intersection of lines and planes. They also studied segments, congruent segments, the segment addition postulate, midpoints, segment bisectors, and calculating length of segments using algebraic equations. The distance formula was also introduced. 

Precalculus

In this class, students finished Chapter 1 which covered an introduction to graphing; functions and graphs; linear functions, slope, and applications; equations of lines and modeling; linear equations, functions, zeros, and application and solving linear inequalities. Students completed their first chapter text and are moving on to Chapter 2, More on Functions.

Chemistry – Middle School

For our introduction to chemistry the students were introduced to the steps of the scientific method, properties of matter, and density. Students performed the Floating Egg Lab to demonstrate and understand density. They also completed the Measuring and Graphing Lab where they reviewed and reinforced basic math skills relevant to chemistry. This lab also provided the opportunity to practice taking accurate measurements and using graphs to make inferences. We began our study of atomic structure learning about the particles that make up an atom.

Chemistry – High School & 8th Grade

Students completed the Introduction to Chemistry unit, including discussing the divisions of science and branches of chemistry, reviewing the steps of the scientific method, and understanding qualitative and quantitative observations. Classification of matter included the three states of matter, the Kinetic-Molecular Theory of Matter, mixtures and methods of separation. Students were introduced to the properties and changes in matter and performed the Floating Egg and Graphing and Measuring Labs. They began the next unit, Chemistry Calculations, Dimensional Analysis, and Measurement which will give them

Visual Art 

Kristen Kern

At first, I spent some time getting to know the students’ influences and inspirations, so I gave everyone an opportunity to write down for me the different art and media they’re interested in, including everything from any historical artists they know and enjoy, to video games, music and youtubers/streamers.  Since then, we’ve spent time practicing portraiture by breaking down facial features into some basic concepts and easy “short cuts,” starting by learning more realistic, naturalistic proportions.  From here, we’ll work on breaking what we see into basic lines and shapes, then examining the individual parts of the face, plus playing with some more exaggerated, stylized types of faces.  In addition, whenever students manage to finish a lesson with a little extra time, I do my best to give them a chance to do some free drawing and sketching in their own sketchbooks.  

Older students have practiced proportion and perspective with a more challenging exercise, selecting objects around our school to observe from a variety of different angles, then draw as they see them in their sketchbooks.  Moving forward, I hope to allow the older group of students to talk with me about what kind of art they’re most interested in, and develop longer-spanning projects that they can work on independently over long periods of time, while checking in with me on their progress and for any advice needed. 

Art History 

Kristen Kern

We’ve spent our first weeks building students’ visual vocabularies and practicing looking at and discussing art.  Using a variety of artworks, we’ve discussed as a class terms like ‘medium,’ ‘technique,’ ‘composition,’ and so on, while noting how a piece draws our eye and presents its subject matter to tell a story or convey a message.  Generally, we have emphasized that, when discussing art, there are any number of completely valid opinions one can come away with- but it’s essential to be able to express your thoughts and opinions about subjective material accurately and effectively.

Beginning with Jacques Louis David, often considered the first “modernist,” we’ve started to venture into the world of modern and contemporary art.  We’ve noted that modern art tends to be defined by its concepts and messages, and the artists’ decisions are oriented around effectively conveying these ideas first and foremost.  

History 

Kristen Kern

We started the semester examining the causes for the Pilgrims settlement of the northeast US colonies, beginning with the Protestant Reformation, then into the oppression of the Puritans in Anglican England, the need for new trade routes from Spain to India and China, and the host of other reasons settlers decided to take the long and perilous trip to the ‘New World.’  From there, we went into the founding of the various colonies, their relationships with the Native tribes, and their early struggles to survive.  

We’ve discussed the inception of American slavery practice, compared and contrasted this with the practice of indentured servitude, then went into the details of Bacon’s rebellion, and how it spurred a mass transition into harsher segregation and the prioritization of slavery over indentured servitude. 

Most recently, we covered King Philip’s war, an incident which decimated populations of both natives and colonists in New England and helped to solidify the need for the colonies to function independently from the Crown.  This, in addition to the founding of local governments throughout the colonies, would set the stage for the eventual independence of the United States, which will mark the next unit of our class material.  In the meantime, students were given a separate assignment to watch a video about the governmental structure of the northeastern Native tribes and answer a handful of prompts. 

Social Studies

Kristen Kern

Our classes have, overall, focused on discussing the ways in which humans come together to rise out of the so-called “State of Nature” to create civilization for their mutual benefit.  Through the lenses of the three philosophers, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, we learned about their varied views on the State of Nature, how humans leave this state, and why.  Along the way, we also traded ideas about what it means for humans to be “civilized,” and separate themselves from any other type of animal. 

We’ve learned about the Code of Hammurabi, one of the oldest known legal codes, and discussed some of the individual laws and why they would be necessary for society to function. 

In terms of how we create civilizations, we’ve seen that monarchy has historically been the most popular form of governance for most of human history; we discussed why that is, then learned about various types of monarchies, how they function, and a few examples in the modern day.  Along the way, we’ve tried a number of class games and exercises meant to practice making governmental decisions, such as making a ranking of favorite snacks first individually and then as a group with others, and choosing a Monarch to present with problems to see how they’re solved.  

Media Literacy

Sheila Armstrong

We have been looking at different tactics that content creators use online to distract us. We learned about how to tell if something is click bait, and even tried our hand at creating our own! Last week students worked in groups to label the different sections of an online news article. We will continue to work towards an understanding of what information online is accurate and helpful and what is not. 

Dungeons and Dragons

Kristen Kern

The first order of business is always to create everyone’s characters and set up our groups.  From there, we’ve discussed some of the basic rules and how the games function, plus ground rules for the school setting, what will and will not be allowed in-game, etc. 

Then, we began our adventures.  Thus far, each party has found themselves mysteriously knocked out, kidnapped, and taken to a mysterious underground dungeon.  They’ve fought off a room full of rocky squid-like creatures (they’re called Dark Mantles if you’d like to look them up- nasty looking guys), and have been informed that they’ve been taken here to reach the bottom of the dungeon.  Hopefully, having fought off the monsters for now, they’ll be able to learn more about their circumstances and rally themselves for the trials ahead.  Good luck, adventurers!

Music with Ryan Cimon

We have been learning about different concepts in music theory.  We played a game of Bingo using the names of each note as the Bingo numbers, shared our prior musical knowledge and had interactive classes on the formation of major scales.  Students are encouraged to bring their instruments to class to jam together!  It would be great to form a band, too.

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Class Updates 

January & February 2024

English Language Arts (Upper Middle School) – Kristine Fringer

We started this term studying common types of analogies, and how to use logic to discover relationships between pairs.  Students learned how to express the idea that something is to something as something else is to something else using the symbols _____:_____::_____:_____.  We then moved on to reading O. Henry’s short stories “Hearts and Hands” and “After Twenty Years.”  Students researched the author’s life and works, and classroom discussions centered around his use of irony, surprise endings, and wit, and themes around identity, friendship, and morality.  We also studied Rudyard Kipling and his story “Rikki Tikki-Tavi.”  Theme, setting, imagery, and other literary elements were explored.  We have begun our unit on poetry looking at how songs are a form of poetry. On the first day, we learned important poetry lingo like alliteration, assonance, rhyme scheme, symbolism, metaphor, simile, diction, onomatopoeia, stanza, etc.  Students compared and contrasted the song, “Stereo Hearts,” by Gym Class Heroes, to Robert Burns’ classic poem, “A Red, Red Rose.” Both poems use simile and metaphor to describe the feeling of falling in love.  Students also compared and contrasted The Script’s song, “Breakeven,” with Edmund Spenser’s “Sonnet 30.” Both works discuss the paradox of emotions that accompany a broken heart.  After our poetry unity, we will move on to how to write a strong argument paper, using MLA formatting, in-text citations, a works cited page, and how to find strong reliable sources.  We will then work on personal narratives and a short unit on learning from podcasts. Some of our new vocabulary include the following words: brusque, espouse, odious, posterity, transgress, lithe, saccharine, aloof, traverse, sacrosanct, livid, opaque, trite, opulent, nullify, labyrinth, reprehensible, blatant, and plausible.  Students continue to work on their weekly journals, following reading prompts that require reflection and a deeper understanding of the text.

English Language Arts (Lower Middle School) – Kristine Fringer

Students are reviewing how authors tell the reader about their characters through direct and indirect characterization.  Using the acronym STEAL, students explore how characters reveal who they are through what they Say, what they Think, the Effects they have on others, their Actions, and by their Looks.  We also learned about plot structure, and how most stories follow a clear arc that includes an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. One of our goals this year is to learn how to write a clear and organized paragraph.  We are reading excellent examples of strong paragraphs about sharks, birds, and plants, to name a few.  Students use color coding to identify the topic and concluding sentences; supporting ideas; and details. This color-coding reinforces the concept of a paragraph and gives students a basic ‘recipe’ for it.  Please encourage your students to bring in books they enjoy at home.  I will be spending more time individually with each student on their reading and writing skills.

Environmental Science – Samantha Rowe

We began the term with the Oxygen and Fire Lab as part of our study of the atmosphere. This lab explores how oxygen is needed for a combustion reaction. Then we focused on understanding climate, including factors that affect the global climate, different stages of Earth’s climate history, and how climate and environment are connected. Students performed the Sun and Seasons Lab where they constructed a model of the Earth and Sun to demonstrate how the tilted Earth rotates on its axis around the Sun, causing day and night as well as the change in seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. We studied the water cycle and the three physical states of water. Students demonstrated the processes of evaporation and condensation. Most recently we have focused on clouds and the ten different types of cloud formations. Students learned about how different cloud types form different types of precipitation. Next week we will complete the Cloud Formation Lab. Students also read and discussed a scientific article from the STEM learning publication OYLA about biological diversity and the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and the implications. We also viewed and talked about a video about water quality around Cape Cod and the environmental impacts. This video was a collaboration between Scientific American and WBUR:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/cape-cod-faces-a-rising-yellow-tide

Middle School Math – Samantha Rowe

We have three groups of students working at different levels of middle school math. The concepts covered range from fifth to seventh grade. 

5th grade:  the four operations, large numbers and the calculator, problem solving, decimals parts 1 & 2, and graphing in the coordinate plane.

6th grade:  the four operations, expressions and equations, graphing in the coordinate plane, decimals and fractions, problem solving with decimals .

7th grade (prealgebra):  solving one-step equations, rational numbers, equations and inequalities, ratios and proportions, and percent.

Honors Physics

Students studied motion in two dimensions and applied kinematics equations to solve river boat, freefall, projectile motion, non-horizontal projectile, and centripetal acceleration problems. They also studied the concepts of circular motion, universal gravitation, centripetal force and acceleration, and tangential velocity. Students solved problems of centripetal force in regards to horizontal and vertical motion. They developed an understanding and completed problems with conical pendulums and banked curves. Students were introduced to universal gravitation and completed problems, including those involving orbits. They are currently working through the Energy and Work chapter, developing a conceptual understanding and solving problems of gravitational potential energy, kinetic energy, and elastic potential energy. 

Honors Algebra 2

Products and Factors of Polynomials: factoring polynomials and quadratics, solving polynomial equations, problem solving using polynomials, factoring completely.

Rational Expressions: quotients of monomials, zero and negative exponents, rational algebraic expressions, complex fractions, fractional coefficients and equations.

Irrational and Complex Numbers: roots of real numbers, properties of radicals, sum of radicals, binomials and equations with radicals, imaginary numbers, complex numbers.

Quadratic Equations and Functions: completing the square, the quadratic formula, the discriminant, equations in quadratic forms, graphing with the vertex form, quadratic functions, writing quadratic equations and functions.

Variation and Polynomial Equations: dividing polynomials, synthetic division, remainder and factor theorems

Beginner Spanish – Devon Angelini

We have been working on conversation skills and developing basic vocabulary.  Our class routine includes conversation practice in pairs or in a larger group, asking and answering basic questions about personal information.  Students have had a wonderful time getting up out of their seats to learn songs, practice new phrases, and describe parts of the classroom.  We covered various topics, such as colors, days of the week, months, weather, classroom objects, location and describing where something is located.  We practiced using basic vocabulary to read a map, and students learned how to find stores and important locations in a town or a city.  After the break, we talked about leisure activities, sports, hobbies, and things we like to do in our free time.  Students are also learning some animal and reptile names and have the chance to visit the tank room at Base Camp to talk about and describe each creature.

Visual Art – Kristen Kimball

So far this semester, we’ve focused primarily on drawing and sketching.  Students have helped guide our focus by telling me what kinds of subject matter they’re most interested in, and so we’ve spent time working on gesture drawings to practice drawing animals, and most recently, a class on landscapes.  We looked at the works of Cezanne, William Turner and Bob Ross to get a sense for different approaches to landscapes, then students gave it a try for themselves, focusing in particular on textures rather than needlessly specific details, in addition to observing the broader shapes of the composition, and balance of light and dark.

Art History – Kristen Kimball

–  This semester has been all about introducing and exploring the Renaissance.  While the movement began and was centered around Florence, Italy, we have been sure to remind ourselves of the context of what’s happening in the UK, Germany, and the Middle East during this time as well.  However, for the most part, we’ve enjoyed getting to meet the eccentric cast of characters responsible for producing the stunning sculpture, architecture and painting that we think of when we think “Renaissance.”

–  So far we’ve discussed Giotto, Jan Van Eyck, Brunelleschi, Donatello, and others, and investigated their contributions not only to art, but also to physics, engineering, and technology.  Through in-class exercises, we were able to make our own egg-based tempera paint to understand the materials used in the late Medieval period into the very early Renaissance (and appreciate the huge difference that the popularity of oil paints made), and practiced drawing with one-point perspective, which would be mastered and popularized during this time.

–  We’ve also been sure to keep in mind the societal shifts and causes behind the advent of the Renaissance; the reinvigoration of interest in Greco-Roman art and philosophy, in particular the philosophy of Humanism, and very notably, the invention of the industrial printing press.

–  To better understand and appreciate the methods behind both the printing press and Renaissance era etching and engraving techniques, students tried out block-printing for themselves, and were guided through designing, sketching, carving, and finally printing their own ink images using lino-cutters and carving blocks.

Drama – Kristen Kimball

–  Students continued to develop their performance skills and comfort with collaborating together with their peers through improv exercises and short improvised skits.

–  The class has also been working on helping me to write up a short play for them to practice and hopefully perform.  Moving forward, I plan to use this play (more like a series of skits or vignettes) to allow students to gain experience not only with rehearsing, memorizing and performing, but also with production elements of a play, such as learning and using cues, developing sets and costumes, and so on.

Outdoor Adventures with Ricky! – Kristen Kimball

–  Ricky and I have had the opportunity to lead students in a number of exciting outdoor activities this semester!  Thus far, we’ve gone hiking, snow-shoeing and sledding, and learned about and constructed different kinds of shelters and fires (and got to cook some marshmallows in the process).  We’ve also learned various best practices and safety precautions for all of these activities, and for outdoor play and survival in general. 

Dungeons and Dragons – Kristen Kimball

–  Our adventurers have made their way to the Elven forest to speak to their elders and gain more information as they work to uncover a grand conspiracy!  Their recent allies have revealed themselves as part of a resistance against the Exalt, the leader of the capitol city who they claim has been kidnapping magic users and using their magic for his own purposes.  Our party has quite a mystery to unravel and some daunting battles to face!  Good luck, adventurers!

Music – Lisa Hausman

Students have been working on their original blues songs this January & February, and have been doing a wonderful job! Most students have written at least one verse and a chorus, and will be adding additional verses, in anticipation of a “Blues Party” we will be putting together where they can share their songs. We also spent some time the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day discussing MLK’s work and legacy, and singing Civil Rights songs. We are looking forward to doing more songwriting and musical exploration!

September 18 – October 5, 2023

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 1 

The fables we have read since our last update are “The Miser,” “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” and “The Four Oxen and the Lioness.”  Students are retelling and rewriting the fables in their own words using their Key Word Outlines (KWO).  This week we are learning how to “dress up” our writing with adverbs.  In their written version of each fable, students are adding an adverb like “angrily,” “excitedly,” “humbly,” or “joyfully.”  The next “dress up” will be the who/which clause.  Students will learn to add either a “who” or “which” clause to one of their sentences.  Some of the students have asked me to save a little time at the end of class to read them a story which I am very happy to do!  They chose Monsters & Creatures, a guide to Dungeons & Dragons.  I am learning a lot of new vocabulary and the special powers of the Beholder and the Bugbear.  Ask your child how to say “hello” in Swahili and to point out on a map where it is spoken. 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 2

Students did great on the vocabulary quiz last week!  We continue to start each class with a mini punctuation and grammar lesson.  This week we have been tackling run-on sentences with semi-colons and coordinating conjunctions.  The mnemonic device FANBOY (for, and, nor, but, or, yet)  is a great way to remember these! This week we also looked at commonly confused words like site vs. sight, and farther vs. further; and its and it’s.  As a class, we read “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant, and discussed the themes of ambition, greed, materialism, sacrifice, martyrdom, and happiness.  This week we began our unity on Identity with George Ella Lyon’s poem  “Where I’m From,” and students wrote their own personal version of the poem.  We will decorate one of the Egan hallways with our “identity silhouettes” filled with images and words that are important to us and that define who we are.  Next week we will start a new unit with new vocabulary, grammar, stories, and writing!

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE (Monday/Wednesday students) Samantha Rowe

For our wetland models we are culturing zooplankton, Daphnia magna, and they finally hatched after 10 days. The Daphnia are being fed daily a mixture of spirulina and yeast, and we are expecting our populations to increase in size. The wheatgrass sprouted and is growing, and we will be assembling the models next week. Students learned about and discussed the steps of the scientific method and practiced those steps during the celery experiment. This lab helped to answer the question: How long does it take for colored water to be absorbed via capillary action through the stem and leaves of a celery stalk? Finally, students talked about the rock cycle and modeled this cycle with the three types of rocks using starburst candies. All of the information, labs, data, observations, and conclusions are being recorded in their environmental science notebooks.

MATH Samantha Rowe

This math group has been studying multiplication with multi-digit numbers. They practiced multiplying using different strategies, including breaking numbers into parts, partial products, area models, and learning the multiplication algorithm. They also completed problems using the order of operations. Students learned about using variables and writing variable expressions and equations from word phrases and sentences. Inequalities were also introduced. 

MATH Samantha Rowe

Students practiced writing and solving expressions with powers and exponents. They used this to express and solve problems with the area of a square and volume of a cube. They also worked with place value with large numbers to the trillions period. Students reviewed terminology for the four operations and used variables to write variable expressions and equations from word phrases and sentences. They were introduced to inequalities and writing inequalities from word sentences. 

PREALGEBRA  Samantha Rowe

Students finished Unit 1, An Introduction to Algebra. They reviewed the decimal system with graphing, rounding, and simplifying with decimals. They also wrote decimals in standard and exponential expanded form. Students reviewed the properties of real numbers and used the properties to simplify expressions. We started a study of integers with Unit 2. This included sums and differences with integers and absolute value. They simplified expressions and graphed integers on a number line. Absolute value notation was introduced, and students simplified absolute value expressions. Adding and subtracting integers with symbols and on a number line was also introduced.

HONORS PHYSICS Samantha Rowe

Nicholas and Sebastian finished up the one-dimensional kinematics chapter solving challenging free fall problems and interpreting kinematic graphs (position vs time, velocity vs time, acceleration vs time) and motion diagrams. They started the chapter on vectors, practicing drawing and graphing vectors as well as finding the resultant vector by mathematically adding. Next, they will solve relative velocity problems and use unit vector notation.

HONORS ALGEBRA 2 Samantha Rowe

Students are continuing to master their algebra skills and have completed sections covering compound inequalities, multiplying polynomials, slope formula, graphing and writing linear equations, factoring polynomials, solving systems of equations with graphing/substitution/elimination, solving absolute value equations, graphing linear inequalities, simplifying radicals, multiplying and dividing radicals, and graphing two-variable linear inequalities. 

GEOGRAPHY OF FOOD (Tuesdays & Thursdays) Lisa Franz

In Geography of Food, we have been learning about the connections between food and culture. We watched excerpts from Hulu’s Taste the Nation’s episode on “Korean Lunar New Year.” We talked about how food defines culture, family, and identity. And how food can represent more than a meal. The show was the kick-off to our project about a food tradition in our families. Your child has probably come home asking for a recipe. If they haven’t, they may have found one online. If you aren’t sure, reach out. 

This project will ask students to write about and research the geography of ONE ingredient in a food that is part of a family tradition. This will be done in class. Students will present their work in the coming weeks and have the opportunity to bring in their food to share. More on that later as I get a better sense of the foods and the timeline of presentations. If you are worried about helping your child bring in food (because, let’s be honest, we are all busy), I can work something out to either taste-test one ingredient or work around your busy schedule when scheduling presentations. 

INTRO TO CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH (Wednesdays) 

In Spanish we are learning introductory conversation skills, focusing on ways to tell information about ourselves and find out more about people.  We are learning the verbs SER, ESTAR and TENER.  New vocabulary includes ways to describe people we know: family, friends, classmates, and people we meet for the first time.  We have learned the lyrics in the song “Amigos” by Juan Luis Guerra to see new vocabulary and grammar in context.  We will look at the geography, flags, and diversity of cuisines of the Spanish speaking world, as well as the Day of the Dead and other cultural traditions in the Spanish speaking world this month.

The beginner students are now in a separate class with Kristine learning basic vocabulary and conversation.  This week we learned how to introduce ourselves to another person and say “hello,” “how are you?,” and “I am fine, and you?”  Students watched the Pixar movie Coco and we will do some fun activities based on the movie in our next class.  Learning the alphabet will be a goal for the next few classes.

VISUAL ART (Mondays) Kristen Kimball

Last week we tried a unique paper folding challenge that I guided the class through step-by-step. This wasn’t easy and was everyone’s first time attempting this activity, so I was really impressed with everyone’s efforts!  We’ll be revisiting these projects in the future to build on everyone’s prior work.

This week, while I’d initially planned to expand on our paper folding project, it was so beautiful outside that instead I decided to share a few artists with the class who drew inspiration from nature (Hokusai and Georgia O’Keeffe in particular), discuss their methods and focus, and then spent the class outside drawing from our own observations of the natural world ourselves

ART HISTORY (Tuesdays & Thursdays) Kristen Kimball

We have finished our time with ancient Egypt and have moved to Mesopotamia, emphasizing the immense technological and philosophical contributions of this culture to human civilization as a whole

We studied cuneiform, the oldest known writing system, heard music in an ancient Sumerian language, and even read the oldest known customer complaint (basically an ancient bad Yelp review!).

This week, we focused more on the art of Mesopotamia itself, including samples of their pottery and sculpture, and focusing largely on the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. Through these discussions, we’ve been able to learn new vocabulary for artistic techniques and concepts, and have had interesting side conversations about things like who should own certain artifacts and artworks, how ancient art is discovered and preserved, and more.

DRAMA (Wednesdays) Kristen Kimball

Last week, students worked in pairs or trios, and were given a monologue prompt- or the prompt could be turned into a skit with multiple people depending on who was comfortable to perform and where their creativity took them. Examples included: “you’re a wildly unprepared tour guide making things up as they go,” or, “you’re giving a speech to convince voters to elect you as president of space,” etc. 

Everyone put in a great effort and learned a bit about the balance between preparing general ideas, while still allowing yourself the freedom and flexibility to improvise and have fun with your fellow performers.

This week we returned to more general performance exercises and games, including a round of “zip, zap, zip” which is about keeping focus and remembering certain cues, and a round of statues, where students had to approach a “spotter” while not being seen moving- but for this version of the game, students also had to continuously act out an action while approaching the spotter (“you’re eating a huge meal,” “you’re grocery shopping,” etc.)

NATURE JOURNALING (Tuesdays) Kristen Kimball

Last week, as a way to encourage active observation and (respectful) curiosity in our natural surroundings, students were tasked with finding three interesting objects along the trails to bring back and show off to one another (of course excluding any animals, bugs, or living plants).  Then, as a group, we looked at what everyone gathered, took some pictures to look things up and learn more later, then choose an object or two to sketch and/or describe in our journals

This week, students chose one of several paint swatches I’d gathered and were challenged to find something in nature that matched their swatch color as closely as possible.  Everyone did a great job trying to be as accurate as they could, and as a result we got to examine a lot of different types of rocks, mushrooms and leaves

SURPRISE BLOCK (Thursdays) Kristen Kimball

Last week, we enjoyed a walk through one of the local trails, and a stop at a small brook, then spent some time playing a few rounds of Camouflage together in the woods. 

This week, we’ll be starting an exciting project involving rock buddies and some high-octane, high-stakes competition!  

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS (Mondays or Thursdays) Kristen Kimball

Both groups have successfully solved a murder mystery! They’re looking forward to their reward from the town guards’ sergeant, then continuing on their journey to the nearby temple festival. Good luck, adventurers!

MUSIC (Tuesdays) Lisa Hausman and David Falk

We’re delving into music history in music class, with our current focus on the evolution of blues music in this country. The blues has had a huge influence on most forms of modern music, including Rock & Roll, Pop, and R &B, so is a nice starting point. 

We sang the song “Funga Alafia”, a traditional Yoruba song from West Africa, together, along with accompanying body/dance  movements. The song is a welcoming song, wishing good health and peace, and demonstrates the “call and response” song form that was introduced into American music by people of African descent in the 1700’s.

We discussed the conditions of slavery, and the students were given cotton bolls to explore and take home, if they wish. This strain of cotton will grow well in a flower pot, should students wish to plant any of their seeds. 

Together we discussed and sang “Steal Away”, an early black spiritual song containing coded messages about meeting and escaping from slavery, and discussed the imagery and symbolism in the song, as well as how it was used to convey information.

In the next class, we will be learning about the musical differences brought over to this country by the West African Negritic tradition, namely the minor pentatonic and blues scales, as well as the bent notes and slides used in blues music, and will be exploring early blues songs, including “When the Levee Breaks”.

I am attaching a blues challenge worksheet we plan to give students in the next class. This assignment is optional, but highly recommended. The students will be given a printed copy to take home, but since those often get lost, I figured it would be helpful to include it as an attachment here, as well.

It has been a pleasure teaching your children, who continue to impress us with thoughtful and intelligent questions, ideas, and observations.

September 6 – 14, 2023

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 1

In our first class, we talked about the elements that make up a fable.  Students came up with a lot of ideas, including that fables always have a moral or teach a lesson, are short, silly, and usually have animals acting like humans.  We talked about how fables are like folk tales and reflect the customs and ideas of the country where they come from.  Some of the fables we have read in class are “The Lion and the Mouse,” “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” “The Miser,” “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” and “The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner.”  Students are learning how to write Key Word Outlines (KWO) by choosing only three key words in each sentence of a particular fable.  Students retell the fable to a partner by looking only at their KWO.  We save part of class time to learn about different parts of speech.  We have talked about the three kinds of nouns, including common, proper, and compound; and what words need to be capitalized.  I start each class with how to greet people in different languages.  I do not assign homework in this class, but if your child would like some, I let them know they can complete any work they don’t finish in class.  They can also ask me for more to do at home.  Ask your child how to say “hello” in Bulgaria and where it is on the map!

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS 2

Each class starts out with new vocabulary, a short grammar exercise, and a literary term of the day.  New vocabulary has included pernicious, ubiquitous, sycophant, impregnable, non sequitur, nefarious, precursor, and diatribe.  We also spend a little time talking about the books we are reading and what we wrote in our weekly journals.  We read “Thank You, Ma’am” by Langston Hughes in class and students worked in pairs to research his biography.  As a group, we discussed the story and explored themes of poverty, dignity, forgiveness, second chances, trust, and how appearances can be deceiving.  I was impressed with the ideas and thoughts shared by everyone.  After our discussion, students filled out a bubble organizer with their thesis and evidence to support their central idea.  We will work on how to craft a strong introductory paragraph in the next few classes as well as move on to our next story, “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant.  Please remind your child that all that is required for this class is engagement and curiosity.  Everyone is at different comfort levels with their writing and there is no requirement to submit written assignments if they are not ready.  

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

We started our study of environmental science by learning what it means to have good scientific observational skills, the importance of recording scientific measurements accurately, and understanding the relationship between mass, volume, weight, and density. The students performed two lab activities. The first was constructing and calibrating a clepsydra, or water clock. The second was a density lab where they calculated the densities of several objects by measuring mass and volume, using water displacement in some cases. Over the next couple of weeks we will be diving into an exploration of our environment in the Blue Hills by studying wetland ecosystems and gaining an understanding of the scientific method in the process. 

MATH

We began the year with a review of the four operations with whole numbers. Students practiced simplifying mathematical expressions and evaluating variable expressions. They were introduced to some of the categories of real numbers and properties of addition and multiplication. 

PREALGEBRA

This class started with a review of the four operations with whole and decimal numbers. They began an introduction to algebra and practiced simplifying mathematical expressions and evaluating variable expressions. They also used the order of operations to simplify and evaluate numerical and variable expressions. Solving problems with exponents was introduced and students simplified exponential expressions.

HONORS PHYSICS

The first unit for this course is One-Dimensional Kinematics. Students were introduced to definitions and examples of distance, displacement, scalars, vectors, speed, velocity, and acceleration. Students learned the five kinematic formulas. They performed speed, velocity, and acceleration problems, including those that were more complex and challenging. Students also studied position vs. time graphs and solved example problems related to these types of graphs. 

HONORS ALGEBRA 2

Students completed an extensive algebra 1 review that included algebraic concepts such as real numbers and their graphs, simplifying expressions, and properties of real numbers. They solved equations in one variable and word problems with equations. Students worked on solving inequalities and combined inequalities. They worked with absolute value in open sentences and solving these graphically. 

GEOGRAPHY OF FOOD

To launch our introduction to the Geography of Food, we spent the first-week discussing food, defining geography, and understanding the interaction of geography and culture. We also mapped our favorite places. In the second week, we played some geography board games to familiarize ourselves with the world map and dive deeper into world cultures. Lastly, we ended the week with an exploration of the history of cane sugar, mapping its dissemination, and connecting it to culturally significant shifts in our history.

INTRO TO CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH

We started Spanish class learning basic conversation phrases and practicing speaking to new friends.  In addition, we practiced the numbers 1-20, including learning how to share phone numbers.  Next week, we will work on expanding our conversation skills with new friends with introductions, names, and introducing more personal details using the verbs ser and estar.  Students will also expand their fluency with numbers to practice larger numbers when used in mathematics and telling time.  We will spend time in each class learning a new song, practicing speaking and listening, as well as reading and writing.  This class impressed me with their knowledge and enthusiasm for the Spanish language!  Within each class and homework assignment, students will be given the chance to expand on their learning of the Spanish language.   

VISUAL ART

Week 1: no class

Week 2: We spent some time first discussing and writing about what art and media the students are interested in, and thinking about what inspires us (and allowing me to get a better grasp on what sort of media they’re consuming and engaging with).  This includes everything from “fine art” to video games, comics and music.  After this, students filled the first page of their sketchbooks, being sure to include their name, but primarily just enjoying personalizing their sketchbooks and filling the first page with the things they enjoy.

ART HISTORY

Week 1: we began with the Venus of Willendorf and the Lascaux cave paintings – some of the oldest known pieces of human artwork.  We discussed how art historians have interpreted these works, the lives of the people who created them, and how to connect with those people by thinking about the things we ourselves create.

Week 2: we dove into ancient Egyptian art, gaining a sense for the massive scale and timespan of what that encompasses, and the most common traits of the art and artifacts discovered.  In particular, we’ve discussed hieroglyphs as a writing system, and how they relate to the ancient Egyptian culture of illustrations serving a utilitarian purpose with direct and intentional interpretations.

DRAMA

Week 1: to start getting to know each other, we began with a few basic name games, then moved on to a brief improv exercise in which students introduced themselves in the most dramatic and over-the-top fashion they could come up with.

Week 2: we first spent some time more thoroughly going over the rules of what isn’t and isn’t acceptable behavior for performance (being a good audience member, never touching a fellow student without consent no matter how funny you think it’ll be, etc.), then, for the class proper, we played the “bench game” or “bus stop game” where someone is sitting in the only available seat at a bus stop, and another person approaches to try to get them to leave or give up their seat in whatever way they can think of. 

NATURE JOURNALING

Week 1:  we began familiarizing ourselves with the surrounding area by taking a nature walk, then discussing some of the aims of the class and practicing a “grounding exercise” to tune into all of our senses and observe what we could see, hear, touch, taste and smell of our surroundings.  We of course also reviewed general rules for safe and appropriate behavior as we explore and engage with the natural world around us.

Week 2:  using a slower and more in-depth version of the prior grounding exercise, we made our observations of our surroundings, but this time, discussed what we observed together, and took the time to write or sketch about our observations in our journals. 

SURPRISE BLOCK

Week 1:  this week was primarily about explaining the idea of the Thursday time block, where we’ll have the ability to run a variety of activities such as games, discussion groups, and potentially even movie days.  I also opened the floor for students to bring their ideas to me, either by mentioning them aloud or writing them down for me to see later.

Week 2:  while we’re still at the start of the semester, we took this time to play a couple of “getting to know each other” games, including two truths and a lie, and a bingo card with the goal to fill in your squares by finding a fellow student who fulfills the description in the box (“someone who’s left handed,” “someone who read a book this summer,” and so on).  Then, we had some extra time to chat about what we learned about one another.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS

So far, we’ve mostly worked on explaining the basic concepts of the game, discussing do’s and don’ts, and making everyone’s characters.  We’re just now getting into the plot of the game itself, and it’s looking like it’s going to be a fun and exciting game this semester!

MUSIC

In our first class, we talked about the various reasons that people write songs, and learned about some Boston history with the song “Charlie on the MTA”. 

The students did a great job singing, asking questions, sharing information and thoughts on public transportation both in Massachusetts and in other places they have been, and coming up with creative solutions to the problems faced by Charlie, who couldn’t get off the train due to being a nickel short.

Special thanks to Owen for voicing the low “Poor Old Charlie” line, and to O.B. for holding up the chart paper when the chart paper holder went missing.

In our second class, we further explored songs calling for social/political change, with the song “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell and “We Shall Overcome” (trad). We discussed the environmental issues caused by the use of toxic pesticides and deforestation, and the students shared thoughts and ideas on helpful solutions, as well as the techniques used by Joni Mitchell to present these issues in song. 

The students raised many interesting points, which will be followed up on in the next class.

Next up, we will be learning about the history and evolution of blues music, and will be writing blues songs, both in groups and individually, and students will be challenged to learn a blues scale, either vocally or on their instrument of choice.

If students can bring their clipboards and a songwriting notebook to class on Tuesday next week, that would be great! 

March 2023

Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families!

As some of you may have heard, we have been in negotiations with New England Base Camp in Milton https://www.newenglandbasecamp.org/ about moving our school to their location.  They currently have a K through 5th grade program and have been looking for a middle and high school program that shares their overall mission and philosophy to provide a nurturing, holistic, and positive learning environment for students.  We visited their campus and were very excited about the possibilities for Symbiosis Learning Center students and families.  

Located on 200 acres, nestled in the beautiful Blue Hills, the many outdoor activities include hiking, archery, a high ropes course, ice skating, kayaking, and many others (we are already talking about building a greenhouse and garden to have an Ecological Gardening Program!!)… indoor swimming pool, cool animal room (Cruella the hedgehog, tortoises, a bearded dragon, a snake, fish, a gecko), music room, rock climbing wall, and so much more!  We feel like it’s truly meant to be.

I know that a few of you have been exploring other options for next year, but I hope that all of you will join us on this new and exciting chapter.  With plans being made for next year and students from the Home Base Learning Center already committing to joining us, I need to ask that you secure your child’s enrollment for AY2023-24 before March 20th.  You can do so by responding to this email or by completing the online enrollment form https://symbiosislearningcenter.com/enrollment-2/.  Once this form is submitted, you will receive an invoice for a deposit of $1,500 due by June 1st.

This big news is the perfect opportunity to invite all of you to a Zoom Meet & Greet to talk about plans for next year, get to know new families, catch up with old friends, and to share each of our unique educational journeys – which we know can be exciting, scary, bewildering, and mostly awesome! (Carpooling possibilities will be on the agenda, too!) Here are some possible days and time below – please let me know when you are available, and I will send out a Zoom link:

• Monday, February 27, 6PM – 8PM
• Tuesday, February 28, 6PM – 8PM
• Thursday, March 2, 6PM – 8PM

Reminders:  

• We are closed Monday, February 20, but are open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday!
• Winter & Spring breaks are the weeks of March 13 and April 17
• Wednesdays are pajama/wacky dress-up day!
• Some of our students are performing in Rapunzel at the Walpole Children’s Theater on February 24, 25, 26, and March 3 and 4.  Tickets can be purchased at https://www.walpolechildrenstheatre.org/

I look forward to hearing back from you and hearing your thoughts, questions, plans, ideas, feedback, etc!

Have a wonderfully awesome weekend.

Kristine

Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families, Teachers, and Interns!

I hope you are all enjoying these last days of summer and are as excited as I am to start classes next week!  

Our first day of classes is on Tuesday, September 6.  Students should arrive between 830 and 9 am and once everyone arrives, we will come together to share summer experiences, goals for the year, and anything else students would like to talk about.  We will think of ways we can create a positive and kind community around the theme of “What You Do Matters” and “Pass on the Positivity.”  We’ll write or draw our ideas on sticky notes and post them on our community bulletin board.  Some of these can be as simple as “be kind,” “be respectful,” and “” and ““.  Feel free to talk about it this week at home! After our morning activity, we will go over the daily schedule for each student.

List of what to bring!

Students should bring lunch, a water bottle, and a laptop.  We have a refrigerator and microwave.  

A pocket folder and planner or small notebook is a good idea, unless students prefer to use an app or iphone/laptop calendar.  We will help students keep organized and on top of assignments.  They will also need a notebook and pencil/pen for the classes listed below (if a class is not listed, students do not need anything for that class with exception of laptop in some cases).  Worksheets and handouts for class will be kept in labeled folders in the classroom.  A small set of magic markers and/or colored pencils are nice for them to have, too!

Civic Life and Government – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales Writing Lessons (Middle School) – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

Reading & Writing (High School) – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

World History II: The Rise of the Nation State to the Present – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology – pencil/pen

Math – pencil with eraser

Financial Literacy – pencil/pen

Spanish 101 – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

Spelling & Grammar – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

Media Literacy – 1 subject notebook and pencil/pen

It is absolutely fine if students do not have all of these supplies during the first week.  We have plenty of extra notebooks, pencils, and art supplies!

Snack Sign-up Sheet

Please sign up to bring in snacks for the week!  These can include fruit, chips, cookies, rice krispies treats, granola bars, popcorn, and/or whatever your favorites are at home. 

Consent and Medical/Emergency Contact Forms

If you have not done so already, please be sure to complete these forms by Tuesday!  I have attached blank ones below.  If you have additional documentation  that would help us understand your child’s learning profile (IEP’s, transcripts, neuropsych evaluations, etc.), please let me know.

Next week’s update:  Pizza Day, Cooking, Field Trips, New teacher and intern bios, and more!

SIGN UP FOR ONE OF OUR OPEN HOUSES! You will see and sense the calm and peaceful environment where students feel nurtured and appreciated for who they are and how they learn.

Please sign up here for the 17th: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4DACAE29A6FE3-open1

Please sign up here for the 24th: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B4DACAE29A6FE3-open2

July 2022

Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families and Teachers!

Summer is flying by – as it always does – and the start of July reminds me it’s time to get to work getting ready for the fall!  Just a few items in this email, including the fall term calendar dates, August Open House information, and a summer suggested reading list.

Be in touch with any questions, thoughts, concerns, suggestions, etc! 

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer!  

Kristine

Fall 2022 Calendar

Tuesday, September 6	First Day of Classes
Monday, September 26 – Tuesday, September 27	Rosh Hashanah, Center is closed
Wednesday,  October 5	Yom Kippur, Center is closed
Monday, October 10	Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Center is closed
Wednesday, November 23 – Friday, November 25	Thanksgiving Break, Center is closed
Monday, December 19 – January 6, 2023	Winter Break (Classes start on January 9, 2023)

Open Houses

All families & friends welcome!

Wednesday, August 10  4:00 – 6:00

Wednesday, August 17 4:00 – 6:00

Summer Reading List

There are so many wonderful books that it is difficult to choose ones for a summer reading list!  With the help from many online resources, local school recommendations, my children, friends, our Dungeon Master and Book Club leader, Kristen Kern, the following are my “final picks.”  We encourage parents and children to look through the list and see what interests them.  I also advise parents just do a quick review to make sure any book that catches their student’s eye is age appropriate in terms of both content and reading level, since some of these are more aimed toward older teens.  Please PLEASE reply with any additional recommendations to add to the list and I will share with the group.  I think the younger readers (11-12) may not find a lot on this list, so I welcome suggestions from these students, and their siblings, cousins, friends, parents, etc.!!  

There is no required reading, but we ask that each student choose 1-2 books to complete before classes start in September.  Students will be given writing assignments and discussion prompts about their summer reading book(s). 

*The high school Language Arts class will be reading To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in class, so I do recommend they start reading over the summer.  I have attached a pdf to this email and there are many audio versions available as well.  As you know, the book uses sensitive language and topics that will require careful consideration and discussion around these topics.  Lee deliberately uses the “N” word because it is central to the injustice of the story and important to convey the society in which the story is based.  For your reference, this link has helpful information for educators around how to discuss sensitive topics in the classroom: https://www.facinghistory.org/mockingbird/discussing-sensitive-topics-classroom.  Here also is a 60 Minutes episode about a publisher who changed the word to “slave” in Huckleberry Finn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW9-qee1m9o&feature=youtu.be

Final Picks:

Redwall, by Brian Jacques

Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer

Fangirl, by Rainbow Rowell

Pop, by Gordon Korman

New to town, Marcus spends the summer before his junior year practicing football alone at a local park hoping to meet someone from the high school team. Instead, he meets an eccentric middle-aged man named Charlie who teaches Marcus more about football, tackling, and the art of the “pop” than he could have imagined, and the two strike up an unusual friendship… Gradually, Marcus figures out that Charlie is an ex-NFL star hiding a secret.  Despite the obstacles, he is determined to help his friend.

This might be the book for you if you like football, characters who are great athletes, and themes of persistence, overcoming obstacles, and friendship.

The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name… What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.  But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

This might be the book for you if you like current events, drama, strong female role models, and themes of resilience, social justice, and perspective-taking.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Divided into the four marking periods of an academic year, the novel, narrated by Melinda Sordino, begins on her first day as a high school freshman. No one will sit with Melinda on the bus. At school, students call her names and harass her; her best friends from junior high scatter to different cliques and abandon her… A girl at a school pep rally offers an explanation of the heroine’s pariah status when she confronts Melinda about calling the police at a summer party, resulting in several arrests. But readers do not learn why Melinda made the call until much later… Only through her work in art class, and with the support of a compassionate teacher there, does she begin to reach out to others and eventually find her voice. 

This might be the book for you if you like art, characters who face real-life teenage issues like bullying, and themes of fear, courage, identity, friendship, and trust.

Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas

Yadriel is a gay, trans,16-year-old boy in California, and when Yadriel’s traditional Latinx family is unwilling to accept his gender, he takes it upon himself to prove that he is a true brujo (sorcerer) by secretly performing the sacred initiation rite ritual with his cousin, Maritza. However, what he doesn’t count on is summoning the ghost of his classmate who doesn’t even know he’s dead – or how he died. A romantic mystery as poignant as it is spellbinding, the novel weaves in a mosaic of culture, acceptance, and identity, where intricately crafted characters are the pieces and love—platonic, romantic, familial, and communal—is the glue. 

This might be the book for you if you like fantasy, exploring Latinx culture, emotional vulnerability, and topics like LGBTQ+ acceptance, deportation, colonization, and racism within authoritative establishments.

The Arc of a Scythe Trilogy: Scythe; Thunderhead; The Toll, by Neal Shusterman

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon

Love, Hate, and Other Filters, by Samira Ahmed

All American Boys, by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely

Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents or How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accent, by Julia Alvarez

Speak No Evil, by Uzodinma Iweala

Kite Runner or And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini

Joy Luck Club or Kitchen God’s Wife, by Amy Tan

Interpreter of Maladies or Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri

House of the Spirits or Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende

The Purple Hibiscus, by Chimamanda Adichie

Speak No Evil, by Uzodinma Iweala

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi

Homegoing, by Yaa Gyasi

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. 

Joshua’s Song, by Joan Harlow

Life As We Knew It, by Susan Pfeffer

The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephan Chbosky

Guards Guard and/or Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett

Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu (graphic novel), by Junji Ito

Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo

Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradberry

Everworld, by K. A. Applegate

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, by Weiss & Hickman

Dracula, by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

Student suggestions:

Freya and the Dragon Egg, by K. W. Penndorf

Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase, by Jonathan Stroud

Coraline, by Neil Gaimen 

Smile (graphic novel), by Raina Telgemeier

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

—

MIDTERM UPDATE FOR DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS, BOOK CLUB, AND VISUAL ART! 4/4 Mon DnD The small, silver lizard that has been following the group seemed agitated, and took off in a random direction.  The party pursued it, and it led them to an old ruin where they met a young researcher and inventor named Newman Rossbach.  The group made a deal with Newman to escort him through the ruins in exchange for his knowledge about the area, so that they can both find out more.   On the way inside, they triggered a trap that caused a chunk of the ceiling to descend rapidly on top of them.  With strength and a bit of finesse, they managed to escape from under it, and found themselves in a temple dedicated to ancient dragons. 4/4 Improv We did a couple quick rounds of Categories to warm up first (US States and flavors of ice cream) Our main exercise for the day was a type of skit we’ve done before, but with three participants instead of two.  One person is the “suspect,” and two are the “good cop” and “bad cop,” interrogating the suspect for a crime decided on by the group (examples include “climbing into the drive-through window,” and, “not celebrating their own birthday”)  4/6 Book Club We did something pretty different this week in honor of the first week of April (and April Fool’s day!) and took the time to look at the man often called the “worst poet in history,” William Topaz McGonagall.  We read through one of his most (in)famous poems, The Tay Bridge Disaster, and discussed why certain elements weren’t successful. This led to a larger discussion about art and media in general that we consider “bad” or “unsuccessful,” of course always keeping in mind that these judgements are subjective.  In fact, one of the key purposes of this discussion was to emphasize that even “failed” art has value, and is worth examining on its own terms.   The students had a lot of interesting thoughts about various pieces of media they liked and disliked, so I’m considering using this as a jumping off point to a whole discussion day about media analysis and critique 4/7 Thurs DnD This group has already entered the old dragon temple and has discovered that they need four weighted objects to place on pedestals to proceed.  They’ve found one- a stone that looks like a dragon egg- in one of the six mysterious rooms of the temple.  This session, they went through a door bearing a blue gem and found themselves in a series of illusions with different requirements to break through.  This culminated in a fight against a dark creature that had disguised itself as their guide, Newman.   They also discovered that, through the door with a silver gemstone, there’s a small pool of water that has healing properties, which will be very helpful as they continue to explore.  4/7 Art  We began with a video focusing on several elements of character design- assembling references and inspiration, then using those images and ideas to build costumes, color schemes, and so on.  After this, students were welcome to either find a reference image to draw a character they love, or try out designing their own original characters, depending on their comfort level. This way, we were able to practice finding and using references, and considering various elements of design.  FIELD TRIP NEXT FRIDAY! Where: Metropolitan Waterworks Museum, 2450 Beacon Street, Boston Date: Friday, January 28 Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM Cost: $7/student. Please let me know if your child(ren) will be attending (parents and siblings welcome). Students can bring cash to me this week. Venmo is fine, too. Program: Taking Action for Safe Water Schedule: 10:00 – 10:10 Arrive/Intro 10:10 – 10:20 Yoke and Bucket Challenge 10:20 – 10:50 Primary Source Analysis 10:50 – 11:20 Great Engines Hall Tour & Demos 11:20 – 11:50 Lunch/Restrooms (please bring lunch) 11:50 – 12:25 Water Testing 12:25 – 1:00 Filter Build/Conclusion COURSE DESCRIPTIONS AND SUMMARIES Financial Literacy This course introduces students to the mathematical concepts related to financial literacy. This course will provide students with the knowledge  and skills they need to become self-supporting and able to make critical decisions regarding personal finances. Topics this term will include paying for post-secondary education, entering the workforce, taxes, retirement readiness and more. Upon completion of this course students should gain an increased confidence in their mathematical ability and be able to make informed decisions about several real life financial situations of today.  Class Update 1/21/2022 So far this term we have learned about and discussed knowing how to determine approximate post-secondary education expenses, how to save for these education expenses, and how to combine  savings with financial aid, student loans, scholarships, and work to finance post-secondary education to make career goals more attainable. Chemistry Chemistry is the study of matter through observation and experimentation. In this course, students get a rigorous hands-on introduction to the topics, tools, terms, mathematics, and practices of the study of chemistry. Students will engage in hands-on activities, inquiry-based quick labs, written assignments, and creative ways to explore chemistry principles and their real-world applications. Using the scientific method, data analysis, powers of observation, and critical thinking, students will learn to solve problems and perform comprehensive labs.  Class Update 1/21/2022 Students have been learning about physically changing matter and the properties of gases, including the gas laws. We have discussed and practiced how to do temperature conversions, how rainfall is measured, and the relationship between volume and density, as well as the relationship between volume and temperature, and how these concepts are applied to weather forecasting. We completed an experiment that demonstrated Charles’s Law and the relationship between volume and temperature.  English Language Arts – High School Coursework is designed to help students become better readers, writers, speakers, and thinkers. Along the way, we’ll enjoy great pieces of classic literature, including Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. We’ll improve grammar knowledge, advance vocabulary, sharpen public speaking skills, and, I hope, have a great time learning. Class Update 1/21/22 Students have been learning the importance of punctuation and how it can completely alter meaning. We will be working on weekly M.U.G.s (Mechanics, Usage, and Grammar) and correcting grammar and punctuation on practice sentences. We will also be looking at one literary term each week, starting this week with the importance of theme.  We also studied the qualities of a personal narrative and read Gary Soto’s “The Pie.” Students were assigned their first writing assignment this week to write their own personal narrative. English Language Arts – Middle School This class is designed to enhance each student’s reading, writing, and oral skills. It is also specially designed to encourage open and clear communication, and foster reading for comprehension, information, and enjoyment.   English Language Arts is a reading and writing centered course in which students increasingly become more willing and able writers and readers while appreciating the diversity and beauty of the human experience. The course focuses on narrative, descriptive, and analytical writing. Readings and discussions focus on the five major genres particularly as they serve the goal of growth in writing.  Class Update – 1/21/2022 This class will begin on Monday, January 24 studying Arthur Conan Boyle’s Sherlock Holmes.  Students will learn about the author and the methods of Sherlock Holmes while studying the structure of story, character analysis, and why his stories became so popular. Students will also hopefully enjoy considering whether they would make a good detective! Writing Prompts This week’s prompts included:  Write a letter to yourself to read one year in the future. Sometimes adults find it hard to remember what it’s like to be a student.  Tell them the most important things they need to know about people your age. (Expository) Reflect on the following quotation:  “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Spelling and Grammar Using a morphemic strategy, students learn basic spelling patterns and progress to new and more irregular spellings.  Carefully planned multisensory sound discrimination exercises are utilized to nurture and develop phonological awareness and segmenting skills. Students do dictation exercises including sentence writing to learn and practice correct punctuation and grammar. The objective is to enable students to feel confident writing academic-level compositions. Class Update 1/21/2022 This term we continue to review and practice previously taught and newly introduced spelling patterns,  including new prefixes, suffixes and morphographs. The emphasis will shift to words of Greek and  Latin origin. These are highly predictable in morphology, but they cannot be spelled as they sound.  Learning the morphology will reduce the amount that must be memorized to a minimum.  Additionally, the meanings of these words will be taught via definitions and in context.  Math Groups Update 1/21/2022 Middle School Math: multiplication and order of operations Pre Algebra: An introduction to solving linear equations Algebra 1: Simplifying radicals, translating word problems into algebraic equations, graphing on the coordinate plane Geometry: Volume and surface area of geometric solids Spanish Update 1/21/2022 Hola, families! So far this semester, we have been practicing the pronunciation of the Spanish alphabet, and learning about aspects of the calendar such as days of the week, months and how to say the date. Next week, we will begin reading a beginners level book in Spanish and continue studying calendar aspects. The seasons and weather are next week’s topics. Further ahead, we will be learning vocabulary words for classroom items and daily schedules in Unit 2.   World History In our World History class we finished the Italian Renaissance and are now learning about the Northern Renaissance. Up north, we studied Thomas More and read passages of his book Utopia. We also discussed More’s falling out with King Henry the VIII over the King’s divorce and re-marriage. More’s devotion to his religious faith caused him to literally lose his head, which was then put on public display. In this period of Royal Absolutism, it was dangerous to quarrel with the monarch. Moving to the south into Germany, another risk-taking writer named Martin Luther is taking chances by questioning Papal Infallibility. In this cliff-hanger, will Luther’s refusal to renounce his ’95 Thesis’ lead to another execution? In this period, heretics could be burned at the stake. Will his loyal criticism of the Catholic Religion be forgotten? Or will the newly invented printing press spread the word? Students must stay tuned for the next installment of The Reformation. As the new semester began, we spent two days skipping ahead to look at and discuss the major events of the last 500 years on a spreadsheet. I’m sure many parents use spreadsheets for work, it’s an important life skill to learn early. So on Tuesday, we used a spreadsheet to vote for what I call the ‘Fun Five’ major topics we will cover in class. In this election the leading topics are: 1. Major developments in Chinese & Japanese history in the 19th and early 20th centuries 2. The Great Wars, 1914-1945 3. The Growth of the Nation State in Europe & causes and events of the French Revolution One benefit of using the spreadsheet is it can be used by our students to assist in deciding what topic they will independently study to create an ‘artifact of social relevance’ for their final World History project. The artifact must demonstrate knowledge of ‘something important’ from the period 472 AD to 2022 AD in World History. Each student should choose something that is intrinsically interesting to them, because most of the work will be done outside class. This artifact should be high quality so it can be included in their college application portfolio. By Valentine’s Day each student should find a topic they ‘love’ and be ready to commit to this final project, See the Homework Log in Google Classroom for more info. An integrated reading and writing approach is used to teach reading skills and the writing process through the study of literature. Units are developed to present literary forms including short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. The use of class novels supplements the numerous self-selected novels read throughout the year.  The six traits of writing provide the framework for writing instruction.   Peer editing and revision are also emphasized.  Students are required to demonstrate the ability to compose argumentative, informative, and narrative pieces of writing that address a specific topic, purpose, and audience.  Students are also required to demonstrate the ability to compose an essay based on text dependent evidence (TDA).  The curriculum is aligned to the PA Core Standards.   An integrated reading and writing approach is used to teach reading skills and the writing process through the study of literature. Units are developed to present literary forms including short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. The use of class novels supplements the numerous self-selected novels read throughout the year.  The six traits of writing provide the framework for writing instruction.   Peer editing and revision are also emphasized.  Students are required to demonstrate the ability to compose argumentative, informative, and narrative pieces of writing that address a specific topic, purpose, and audience.  Students are also required to demonstrate the ability to compose an essay based on text dependent evidence (TDA).  The curriculum is aligned to the PA Core Standards. Improv Our Improv class is focused primarily on teaching students the techniques to feel more comfortable and confident with thinking on their feet and presenting or “performing” in front of groups.  We use games and exercises that encourage creativity, spontaneity and collaboration.  While much of what the students will practice is based on improv comedy in the traditional sense, the true goal is to train the skills that help students to improvise in a variety of ways.   Book Club This week, we read the poem “The Highwayman,” by Alfred Noyes.  We took time throughout our reading to stop and break down complex or antiquated language, and get a solid sense of the story’s plot. Afterwards, we chatted about why people read, watch and enjoy tragedies like this one- why do we intentionally experience something that makes us feel sad?  We tossed around some ideas, but were not concerned with coming to one solid conclusion. Dungeons and Dragons We finalized our new students’ character sheet and got a few items and supplies set for everyone else. In-game, the players navigated a dark underground market inside of a pyramid, and earned a bit of trust with the less-than-savory folks down there. Once prepared, they set out towards the mountains to the East in search of the lost adventurers they’ve been hired to find.  On the way, they’ve disturbed an Earth Elemental, which emerged from the side of a mountain and attacks the party.  Visual Art This week was all about portraits and faces.  We began by practicing our diagram of a human face and reviewing several of the proportions we’ve discussed in past semesters (and catching up new students) After that, we used a number of photo references, a painting by Alice Neel (after a brief discussion of her work), and my own drawings all as different faces and styles to practice from. December 3, 2021 Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families, Teachers, and Interns! This update will include: Intern news Invoice reminder – please respond Monday lunch menu – please respond Winter/Spring 2022 calendar  Field Trip to ICA next Thursday – please respond Class News INTERN NEWS This week, we have had several new interns join us from the Intro to Human Services class.  They are required to volunteer for 10 hours at Symbiosis Learning Center and have already made wonderful connections with the students.  Ask your child about Jessica (and her unicycle!), Jade, Sophie, Caitlin, and Arianna!  Anh will be coming in for her last days of internship on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  We will really miss her so much!   INVOICE REMINDER Invoices for the Winter/Spring 2022 term were sent out last week.  If you have made a payment or arrangements for a payment plan, thank you!  If you have not made a payment, please make a payment as soon as possible.  You can pay either by check, Venmo, Paypal, or Apple Pay.  If you need to set up a payment plan, please let me know. MONDAY LUNCH MENU Kitchen stove is in working order, so we are back to the spaghetti and meatball plan! If your child would like a plate of pasta with salad and garlic bread, please send in $2.50 with them on Monday and let me know if they prefer the vegetarian option. WINTER/SPRING 2022 CALENDAR Here is the Winter/Spring 2022 calendar for you to plan ahead https://symbiosislearningcenter.com/about-us/academic-calendar-fall-2020/.  We are working on our weekly schedule of classes and will send this out within the next couple of weeks.  The class offerings will remain the same, with major changes to the writing curriculum.  We will be adding separate writing workshops for the middle and high school students, with more opportunities for students to practice and improve their writing skills in our classroom with the assistance of writing coaches and instructors.     FIELD TRIP TO INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART NEXT THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9 Our Visual Art teacher (and DnD dungeon master and Book Club leader), Kristen Kern, has organized a field trip to the Institute of Contemporary Art next Thursday, December 9th. Thank you, Kristen!  We plan to take public transit via the green and red lines (about 45 minutes) starting at Riverside at around 11 AM and returning to Symbiosis at 3 or 330. The ICA is not extremely large- the galleries are all on the fourth floor.  If we take our time and stop to discuss the works with the gallery attendants (many are very well educated in art and/or art history, and are able to flesh out our understanding of the works on view), it may be two hours to three hours actually in the galleries.   Admission will be free for everyone under 18 years old, and for any other visitor information and/or details about the exhibits on view, feel free to poke around the ICA website https://www.icaboston.org/ There are quite a few lunch options nearby, including Shake Shack and Chipotle, so we will fit in a lunch after the train ride.   Please let me know if you give your child permission to go on this field trip with Samantha, Kristen, and me (and perhaps a few interns) as chaperones.  (Parents and siblings are welcome to join!) CLASS NEWS: Advisory This week, we downloaded a Myhomework app to our phones/computers and added our classes and assignments.  This app is a great way to stay on top of assignments and learn important organizational and time management skills.  It is still new and we will continue to practice using it and setting notifications with deadline reminders.  For students who did not attend advisory on Thursday, we will be working on this again on Tuesday.  You can download it at home as well and see how you like it!  https://myhomeworkapp.com/  I have heard from some of our students that they struggle with understanding what the homework is in some of their classes, and we are working to improve communication from teachers.  If you are helping your child with homework and need clarification, do not hesitate to contact me via email, text, or a call.  We will be using the app consistently next term and making sure that teachers give students part of their class time to enter updates to their assignments.  As you know, we do not want to overload students with homework, and we schedule time in the day to work on it at Symbiosis, so if you feel your child has too much, let me know!! The app is a good tool to develop important skills and we will refer to it throughout the week to see what they can be working on during their independent study time at Symbiosis. Chemistry Since the last class update, students completed their formal lab reports for the Flame Test of Ionic Compounds lab. This was the first formal lab report written for this class, and everyone did a really great job! We are currently learning the ins and outs of covalent compounds and finished Chapter 8 on covalent bonding. We saw how valence electrons paired and were “shared” by atoms, the octet rule and exceptions, and the different mechanisms of covalent bonding, including double and triple bonds and coordinate covalent bonds. We also looked further into the theories and structures of covalent bonds, including quantum mechanical models, 3D models of molecules, and bond and molecular polarity, a very important chemical characteristic. We completed the Paper Chromatography of Food Dyes lab to separate and identify food dyes in various samples. We are moving on to Chapter 9 where we will learn how to name and write formulas for acids and bases and learn the laws governing formulas and names. Our next lab (coming up this Wednesday, 12/8) is Double Replacement Reactions, where students will be introduced to microchemistry assays.   Financial Literacy We spent a couple of weeks discussing and learning about credit cards, the good and the bad. We went over credit card basics, interest and fees, choosing a credit card, and consumer protection. We also practiced calculating minimum payments, finance charges, total cost when using credit for purchases, and evaluating and interpreting credit card statements. The next unit, which we started this week, is Paths to Employment. We began by talking about the students’ interests, strengths, skills, and aptitudes that can help them identify a number of different career options as they move toward adulthood. We will be studying wage and employment trends, salaries, job growth and rates of income change in various career paths. After that, we will discuss how to determine approximate post-secondary education expenses, how to save for these education expenses, and how to combine savings with financial aid, student loans, scholarships, and work to finance post-secondary education to make career goals more attainable. Spelling The spelling class is progressing forward with our program, focusing on homophones, possessives, and contractions. In addition to new irregular words and learning new morphemes and how to combine them, I’m challenging the students by adding to the number of dictation exercises they complete in one class period.   Middle School Math Regrouping in Addition and Subtraction Regrouping Twice in Subtraction Regrouping with Zero Tens Rounding 2-Digit Numbers to the Nearest Ten Rounding 3-Digit Numbers to the Nearest Ten Focus on Word Problems with the Above Concepts Division by 6 Finding the Area of a Triangle Division by 4 Finding the Average Prealgebra Negative Numbers with Exponents: Raise an integer to a power, Explain how the use of parentheses affects the value of an integer raised to a power  Roots and Radicals: Identify the square root symbol, Find square roots of perfect squares  Solve for an Unknown: Explain how adding the same amount to both sides of an equation does not affect its validity, Solve equations for an unknown by using the additive inverse Algebra 1 Solving More Complex Equations: Solve linear equations with variables on both sides of the equation Polynomials: Know the vocabulary for polynomials, Indicate the degree of polynomials Factors and Factoring: Identify prime numbers, Write numbers in prime factored form, Factor algebraic terms containing a coefficient and variables Adding Polynomials Greatest Common Factor: Find the greatest common factor of whole numbers and algebraic terms using prime factorization Complex Relationship Between Values: Write algebraic expressions for three related unknown values Solving Equations with Fractions or Decimals: Solve equations with fractions as coefficients by clearing the fractions, Solve equations with decimals as coefficients by multiplying by least exponent on 10 to eliminate decimal points Subtracting Polynomials Geometry Area: Define the terms area, height, and base,  Find the area of a rectangle, parallelogram, triangle, square, and trapezoid  Constructing and Identifying Triangles: Define the terms equilateral, equiangular, isosceles, and scalene, Define the terms obtuse, right, and acute as they relate to triangles, Explain why the sum of the lengths of the shorter two sides of a triangle must be greater than the length of the longest side of the triangle Regular Polygons: Define the terms polygon, concave polygon, convex polygon, regular polygon, pentagon, hexagon, octagon, decagon, dodecagon, interior angle, and exterior angle, Calculate the sum of the measures of the interior angles of a polygon, State the measure of one interior angle of a regular polygon, State that the sum of the measures of the exterior angles of a polygon is 360 Advanced Geometry Chapter 3, Congruent Triangles:  Understand the concept of congruence Accurately identify the corresponding parts of figures Identify included angles and sides Apply SSS, SAS and ASA postulates Apply the principle of CPCTC Recognize some basic properties of circles Apply the formulas for the area and the circumference of a circle Identify medians and altitudes of triangles Understand why auxiliary lines are used in some proofs Write proofs involving steps beyond CPCTC Spanish In Spanish 101 we have just started our fourth and final unit of the semester: El cuerpo y la ropa  [The body and clothes]. This week in class we were introduced to the new vocabulary words we will be studying for this unit, and we created our own crazy creatures made up of all different animal body parts in a partnered writing and art activity. Last week we finished up unit 3 with a test and everybody did really well! Going forward, we will be learning more about the Spanish words for body parts and articles of clothing, and the use of related verbs such as “llevar” – to wear and other grammar. World History We have been learning about Asian history with an emphasis on China and Japan. In our last class we read samples from the Kokin Wakashu, an anthology of poems from 12th century Japan with an emphasis on timeless topics such as nature, friendship and life. Students are to write a 5-line Waka, the form of poem found in Kokin. To avoid writer’s block, we learned about the ‘free-write’ strategy to connect what they are thinking onto their computer screen or paper ASAP.  We also learned about personification, metaphor/analogy and simile. For Chinese history we spent several days learning about the longest-reigning Han Dynasty Emperor, Wudi, through videos and text. In one class we learned debate strategies and divided into two teams debating the wisdom of Emperor Wudi’s policies- were they wise or unwise? After the debate, students wrote the lyrics to a song offering advice to the emperor, using a Jamaican Ska/Rocksteady song as an example of song lyrics. Of course no trip to China is complete without a trip to the Great Wall, So, we polished our geography and inference skills learning about this wonder of the world. We introduced the students to the philosopher Confucius through the primary source of ‘The Analects’. Confucian thought was instrumental in the unification of China, which we also studied. In the remainder of the term, we travel to Europe to learn about the Renaissance and the Reformation. Building Confidence in Writing The week of Thanksgiving, we did the creative writing exercises in which each student wrote a sentence and then passed the story on and also one where I gave a prompt and let them write whatever came to mind. For some reason, we ended up with a lot of stories about dead cats! This week, we reviewed evidence and analysis and how each is used in a standard MEAL (i.e., Main Idea/Evidence/Analysis/Link) paragraph and then discussed types of author’s purpose (e.g., to inform, entertain, instruct, etc.). Homework this week is to write a new MEAL paragraph and to write a sentence that demonstrates each author’s purpose. Book Club (11/17) We read two poems from the Harlem Renaissance: “We Wear the Mask,” by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, and “If We Must Die,” by Claude McKay.  These are emotionally intense pieces about two opposite but equally valid responses to oppression, so we took care to discuss the experience of being mistreated and how one responds to that treatment- by “wearing a mask” or by raising your voice and fighting.  Naturally, we also discussed the comparison of Dunbar’s metaphorical mask with our recent experience with literal masks, and how both are meant to protect.  We spent a chunk of our time chatting about everyone’s individual books as well, getting an update on what everyone’s reading and how they feel about it so far. Visual Art (11/19) Today we did our color lesson; this was a bit of a refresher for my students who were in my class last semester, but color is best learned through experience!  We reviewed what we learned about Josef Albers (and his wife and fellow artist, Anni Albers), widely considered the father of modern color theory.  We reviewed primary and secondary colors, the color wheel, and how color combinations with pigment function. After spending some time practicing mixing secondary colors, we tried a challenge where I mixed a color of my own, and the students had to try to imitate it, doing their best to figure out how I arrived at that specific shade using what we’d learned.  Everyone did impressively well, and I was grateful that everyone also did their part to clean up. Dungeons & Dragons Tuesday Group 11/16 The gang finally managed to find concrete evidence that the  Captain of the Guard is the one who planned the sabotage of the protective barrier around the village.  On investigating his home, they found a secret study area underground and were ambushed.  After fighting off their attackers, they investigated the room. They found an ashtray full of burned letters, and schematics for the magical barrier- both incriminating evidence.  Once they brought the ashes to the village Elder, another elf was able to magically restore the burned letters, providing even more damning evidence.  Now, the party have been asked to help apprehend the subject. Thursday Group 11/18 This group also spent the bulk of their session investigating the Guard Captain’s home, getting ambushed, and gathering some evidence.  However this group also captured one of their attackers as a witness, and decided to forgo meeting with the Elder about their evidence, instead going directly to confront the Captain.  Both groups will level up at the start of next session, then move into the final phase of clearing their name- apprehending the true criminal. That is all for now! Be in touch with any questions, concerns, thoughts, or ideas about how we can improve your child’s experience at Symbiosis. Thank you, Kristine October 15, 2021 Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families, Teachers, and Interns! Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weekend!  Here is some of what’s happening in our classrooms! (Math is individualized for each student and not included here. Let us know if you would like an update on your child’s math progress.) Also, a few other notes: 1. Spaghetti & Meatballs tomorrow! Vegan option available.   2. Hayride and pick-your-own pumpkin field trip is Friday at 11:00 AM to 1:15 PM at Ward’s Berry Farm in Sharon, MA.  $10 per family. Let’s meet there at 10:45 – park in regular parking lot and walk down to our reserved picnic area.  Bring lunch. Let me know if you can come! Class Updates! Chemistry A World of Particles:  The students have been learning more details about atomic structure. Using the periodic table, we determined the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons of different atoms. We also discussed isotopes, including those that are stable and radioactive. To understand radioactive decay and half-life, we completed an activity using red licorice as our radioactive isotope. Our next chapter is called Moving Electrons, and we will learn about electron configurations in an atom and the role electrons play in forming ionic compounds. Financial Literacy Spending Wisely:  We have been learning about savings accounts and the process of saving money. The students learned how to calculate interest payments and ending/beginning balances. We also studied the power of compound interest and applied present and future value to calculate discount factors. We analyzed data from savings spreadsheets to draw conclusions about savings strategies and to determine the amount of time it would take to save a specific amount of money. Next week we will begin learning the ins and outs of checking accounts.  Writing your way to confidence  As we prepare to craft our first formal writing, we are taking our time and working through the all-important steps of the Writing Process together. Though they may be at a bit of a disadvantage, the fact that some students were absent last week gave us ample reason (as if we needed more) to review. The plan is to take at least one class on each step (i.e., rewrite, draft, revision, and editing) and to guide the students step-by-step through the Process. As we will be starting the draft Monday, I also plan (thanks to Kristine’s idea) to turn what had been planned as a Review Day (in which students would be invited and encouraged to ask questions) to a combination Review/Conference day in which I will also spend time individually with each student discussing their progress and hopefully eliciting some comments and questions that they might have otherwise been reticent to share. The students have already shared some fascinating and diverse ideas for their papers and I look forward to proceeding with and learning from them!   10/12 Tues DnD We started by leveling everyone’s character up to level 2 The party continued travelling northward, and their new companion, Tony, told them he had a task to complete as initiation into a “group” he’s joining, and he wants their help.  He has to retrieve a certain flower- but that flower tends to attract monsters.  Today was a bit looser and more casual than usual- wanted to make sure everyone got to enjoy their pasta lunch and the start of a short week!  10/13 Weds Book Club We read Anton Chekhov’s short story, Joy.  We discussed whether the man in the story is under the influence of the head injury he has suffered- or whether his behavior is actually more understandable and more common than it seems.  We discussed the desire for fame and attention, and what people are willing to do to achieve it.  We also went over the concept of Chekhov’s Gun, since we were already talking about him- including how it’s used in well known stories to this day.  As always, the last chunk of class was set aside for the students to read on their own 10/14 Thurs DnD This group also leveled up to start the session, and then were asked by Tony to help with his mission.  He brought them to the gorge where a cluster of flowers he was told to retrieve are blooming- but they’re being guarded by a Griffon (who seems to see these flowers as a ‘catnip’ of sorts) Through some shenanigans and some strategy, they manage to distract the Griffon and snag the flowers, then escape The flowers bloom and open up at midnight, creating a glowing trail that continues North, presumably leading them to their next clue on this mission. 10/14 Art We looked once again at an artist we discussed once last semester- Manga author, Yoshihiro Togashi- as an example of using ink, pens and paints to create varied types of lines and textures.   Then, students picked “the weirdest pumpkins they could find,” to use as reference for their drawings.  Using a collection of paint pens, brush pens, and other ink based tools, they illustrated their pumpkins at a variety of angles, paying close attention to the unique bumps and shapes of each one. Spanish 101 This week in Spanish 101 we have been continuing our Unit 2 theme of la familia y la casa. Today we presented our family tree projects! We started talking about la casa and the Spanish words for the rooms in a house. We will be learning more Spanish words to describe furniture and other parts of the house next week. Upcoming events in class include a “my dream house” project and a fiesta at the end of the month! Have a great weekend! World History We wrapped up the Encounters Between Christianity and Islam section, so we made the short trip to the continent of Africa. In our African history section we are exploring the role of oral history and storytelling, and our reliance on Griots. Griots are poets, musicians, and storytellers who maintain a tradition of oral history in Africa. Pre-1490s Africa is unique in regards to primary source material because we do not have as much written documentation as ancient Greece or Rome. Some theorize that the modern day successors to Griots are ‘slam poets’ and Rappers. We analyzed a Griot poem about hunting and gathering for food, specifically elephants. Then we learned about the Aksum kingdom that reached the height of its power in the fourth century A.D. Aksum is located in modern-day Ethiopia, across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday we mapped out trading routes and the economics of providing goods and services in the port city of Adulis, the chief seaport of Aksum. We are fortunate to have a travelers and a shopper’s guide to Adulis written by a Greek sailor 2000 years ago so we read and made notes about that together. October 7, 2021 Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families, Teachers, Interns, and Staff! Please enjoy update on what is happening in our classrooms!  Monday we will  be having spaghetti & salad lunch using an electric countertop burner brought in by one of our families (thank you Makaih!).  Vegetarian and non-vegetarian options will be available.  Let me know if your child will want spaghetti and please have them bring in $3-5 and/or some salad fixins, pasta, sauce, or parmesan cheese. (Please remind your child to have some money with them in the event they join the Starbucks group when they walk over with intern(s) to get a treat!) Advisory During “Advisory,” students have an opportunity to ask questions about assignments and share thoughts about classes.  This is also a time when they log in to their Google Classroom Advisory & Homework Folder and review the homework for the week.  In their groups, they complete the “What I learned this week” form together.  Students also spend some time organizing their handouts and notes in their binders – and having their homework ready to turn in that day. World History I – Dave Tamasy This month we focused on Encounters Between Christianity and Islam to 1500. Class activities have been focusing on complex and very old primary sources with challenging vocabulary. We’ve been learning about the religious and political origins of conflicts between Islam and Christianity, including the causes, course, and consequences of the European Crusades against Islam in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries.   We read a primary source from 1191 by Beha-Ed-Din describing The Massacre at Acre of prisoners during the battles between Muslim leader Saladin and English King Richard (the Lion Hearted). Crusaders took over the city of Acre and killed 3,000 Muslim prisoners. The goal is to consider the point of view and the motives on each side of the conflict.   We just finished an active reading and note-taking project about the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries.  Here we read a primary source document dated 1493 titled “The Tribute of Children” describing the form of slavery in the Ottoman social structure. Slavery was common and slaves had the opportunity for social and political advancement.  The readings assigned as homework describe cultural diffusion in 3 Muslim empires and the building of the Taj Mahal during the Mugal Empire in India. Chemistry – Samantha Rowe The first three weeks of chemistry have been an exciting introduction for the students with hands-on activities, discussions and focused work. We started with an introduction to chemistry and matter. We went over laboratory safety rules and basic laboratory equipment. We talked about matter vs. non-matter and how to distinguish between them. The students learned about the tools chemists use and got to practice performing and recording measurements with a ruler, digital scale, and graduated cylinder. They used the water displacement method to calculate the volume of different objects and used that information to calculate densities. They each constructed a graph with their data and used it to determine the volume of oddly shaped substances that are difficult to directly measure. This past week we started a new chapter where the students were introduced to chemical vs physical properties and reactions, the differences between an element and a compound, and the law of conservation of mass. The activities this week included making oobleck to observe the different states of matter and color-coding a blank periodic table in order to learn the groups, basic trends and structure of this important tool in chemistry. Next week we will be busy learning all about atoms and the particles which are contained within them and how they behave. Other important topics for this week will be the composition of stable and radioactive isotopes, fission, fusion, and radioactive decay. Writing your way to confidence – Matt Robinson Since the beginning of class, we have been building a foundation for improved communication (and thus stronger communication confidence). Starting with grammar, we moved on to sentence structure and then the basic elements of a paragraph. Along the way, we looked at some effective note-taking methods that will hopefully help engage texts in an efficient way and also talked about bias and other matters to consider when engaging and writing texts. We are currently discussing various parts of an essay (e.g., introduction, conclusion) and are on our way to our first formal writing assignment which will be a summary. Everyone seems to be engaged and the questions and comments are flying. A teacher could not ask for much more! Spanish 101 – Rachel Taylor Hola, families! So far in Spanish 101 we have been reviewing and learning more about the Spanish basics. This includes: Colors, numbers 0-100, animals, and an introduction to some basic grammar such as definite and indefinite articles and verbs. Recently we have combined our knowledge of articles, colors, and animals by writing short sentences to describe the color each animal is. Coming up, we will be beginning Unit 2 and learning the different phrases that can be used to describe the people in a family and the Spanish words for household items. This week we completed Unit 1 and everyone did really well on the Unit 1 test! Next week, we will begin Unit 2 which will cover more grammar material and the new themes of “families” and “in the house.”  Math Groups – Samantha Rowe Geometry The geometry group learned how to recognize and name points, lines, segments, rays, planes, and angles. We discussed sets and the meaning and symbols for union, intersection, subset, and empty or null set. The students identified coplanar and noncoplanar geometric elements. Interpreting geometric diagrams is critical for this class and the student had lots of practice over the last three weeks. They also used a protractor to measure and draw angles and learned to recognize the vertex of an angle.  Algebra 1 The algebra group has been reviewing and practicing pre algebra skills. These include, types of numbers, graphing real numbers, absolute values, real number properties, fractions and integers (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing), variables, constants, and algebraic expressions.  Pre Algebra The pre algebra students have been reviewing arithmetic and order of operations. We are now focused on understanding the language of algebra. Topics included expressions and equations, properties of the four operations, simplifying expressions and the distributive property. Middle School Math Group  We are reviewing and honing our skills using the four basic operations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The students are learning mental math strategies to help them find solutions. We are also cementing multiplication facts using  mnemonic strategies. Financial Literacy – Samantha Rowe The students began learning important aspects of building a solid financial foundation on their path to building their future. First they learned some astonishing statistics about trends in the U.S. with regard to spending, debt and saving. We discussed key considerations important for deciding how to spend money. These included needs vs. wants, total cost, taxes, and long-term value. Then the students discussed how to establish a good plan which includes creating a budget. We went over different types of income, monthly expenses and how to put it all together in a spreadsheet to stay on track and analyze the estimated vs. actual budget. Next, we will discuss smart saving including the different ways to save money and creating savings goals. Teen Talk – Interns Abby, Anh, Sofia The past few weeks we have been encouraging the kids to interact and connect with their peers.  We have looked at common interests that they share and other hobbies as well.  We have also encouraged the kids to come up with some healthy coping mechanisms that they can use at points where they feel overwhelmed or stressed.  We also discussed how they can support one another as a community.   Next week we will start “Mythology for Teens,” reading aloud classical myths and relating ancient stories to the culture, history, art, and literature of today.  The book we will be using prompts students to question topics such as vanity and greed, fate, revenge, forgiveness, love, and national identity.  All topics and discussions are age-appropriate and the “tweens” may at times form their own group separate from the older students.   Book Club – Kristen Kern Week 1-2 We read “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, then went through the poem and replaced all of the “nonsense” words with “real” words to create a very different story.  Then, we repeated this exercise, but could not repeat any of the same words chosen for the first version.  This way, we ended up with two very different moods and stories from the same base. The goal is to emphasize the importance of choosing certain words to create a specific image for the reader.  Word choices matter!  Week 3 We discussed two Emily Dickinson poems- “Because I could not stop for Death” and “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”, in addition to talking a bit about Emily Dickinson herself and her life.  We covered some of her struggles as a deeply introverted, possibly neurodivergent and possibly queer female writer, and that her poems were mostly published post-humously. We related the themes in her work to the pressures of social media to be seen and known (particularly relevant in “I’m Nobody!”), and discussed the complications of work being “adapted,” separately from the original intent of the author, which happens constantly now, with holywood currently obsessed with adaptations. As always, we ended the ‘class’ with ten minutes of time for the students to read their own books of their choosing.  Dungeons & Dragons – Kristen Kern Tuesday Group 1.  Woke up in Fairland on a dirt road with a note in their hand directing them to the second floor of the Dandelion Tavern that evening. They go and are told the second floor is reserved, but they show the notes they have and are allowed up.  They introduce themselves to each other, then are joined by a man who calls himself Matthias.  He claims he’s met people like them before- people who were taken from their home place and time and shunted into this world. He offers them gold and information in exchange for acting as his bodyguards for a time, but doesn’t offer much detail.  They agree, only to immediately be attacked by a bunch of thugs storming the tavern looking for Matthias 2. The group finished off the thugs who were trying to attack their new employer, but quickly noticed the scent of lantern oil, and so used some creative means to escape the now-burning tavern.  In a panic, they escaped town on horseback, while still pursued by the remaining members of whatever group is after Matthias.As night falls, the party and their horses need rest, so they take cover in some bushes off the main road, hoping that their pursuers also need rest and if they keep out of sight, they should be safe for the evening. Thursday GroupThis group began the session dealing with the now-on-fire-tavern situation.  The party managed to escape through various means, while checking to ensure that the civilians got out as well (notably, Felix’s character knocked an enemy out by accidentally falling on him from a second story window) A chase on foot and then on horseback followed, and then the party set up camp when night fell.  During Alex’s watch, he discovered some kind of oversized wolf monster, and we’ll pick up next session with figuring out how to deal with that. Thursday Group 1. Their circumstances are the same as the other group- having woken up in a strange place with a note guiding them to a nearby tavern, where they meet Matthias, who makes them an offer of gold and information in exchange for protection. The attack on the tavern commences, and some of the party keep their distance and try not to get involved while the others fight alongside Matthias.  However, when we wrapped up the session, at least one of them had picked up the scent of lantern oil from downstairs, and it seems the situation is rapidly escalating.  2. This group began the session dealing with the now-on-fire-tavern situation.  The party managed to escape through various means, while checking to ensure that the civilians got out as well (notably, Felix’s character knocked an enemy out by accidentally falling on him from a second story window). A chase on foot and then on horseback followed, and then the party set up camp when night fell.  During Alex’s watch, he discovered some kind of oversized wolf monster, and we’ll pick up next session with figuring out how to deal with that. Art – Kristen Kern 1. We looked at the work of Art Nouveau pioneer, Alphonse Mucha, as an example of how to properly use references from photos and real life to guide your artwork.  Afterwards, we reviewed and discussed facial proportions.  We first made a loose diagram of a face to understand the generic proportions of a human face, then we looked at a few illustrated characters to see how those proportions were utilized or subverted.  We used these characters as reference for a few practice drawings. 2. We tried something a bit different this week- I had the students draw a portrait step-by-step along with me.  I used the whiteboard to break down the process of drawing a face so that they could each follow along. After the initial portrait, I opened up the floor for some suggestions for characters to draw, so we did two more together, noting the ways in which even very different looking characters can be broken down into the same basic process.  Music – Ryan Cimon For music class this year, I hope to engage students in learning musical concepts taking a less traditional approach to musical education.  We focus on learning music, while also making sure everybody is happy and comfortable.  Students can learn music they bring to me, as well as songs we like to make up.  The goal is to surround ourselves with music that doesn’t overwhelm, but excites. March 4, 2021 Here is an update on our classes, details about the field trip tomorrow, a request for permission to post student testimonials on our website; and enrollment for Fall 2021. Field trip tomorrow  (TICKETS MUST BE PRESENTED AT ENTRANCE OF PARK – DIGITAL TICKETS FROM THE TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS WILL BE FORWARDED TO YOU.)  COST IS $10 PER PERSON.  Please give to Kristine in cash or check payable to Symbiosis Learning Center. Student testimonials Fall 2021 Class News Field Trip tomorrow:   Those of you who are coming on Friday, let’s meet there at 11:00 AM.  Our allotted time is from 11:00 – 1:00, and the indoor museum is only accessible to us during the 11:00 – 12:00 window.  Guests must present ticket at entrance.  I will forward the tickets to you via email.  The cost for tickets is $10. You can give me cash or check payable to Symbiosis Learning Center.  Here is a link to their website for the address and more information:  de Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum.  (Text or call me at 617 564 1089 if you need to reach me.)  List of RSVP Yes’s! Kristine & Lucinda The Rowe Family Brad, Lilah, Kristopher Staeban Alex and Joel and Cyon Sawady Jimmy Driscoll Ella and Nicholas Adams Godson Tompson Jamie Herland Fall 2021: If you are planning on returning for Fall 2021, please let me know as soon as possible by completing the Enrollment Form here.  Once I receive the enrollment form, I will send out an invoice requesting a deposit by May 1st and payment in full by July 15th.  As always, installment options are available. Class Updates: Earth and Environmental Science –  In Earth and Environmental Science we finished the unit on environmental health with an in-depth look at toxic substances in the environment and how they affect living organisms. The students were introduced to the topics of bioaccumulation (the buildup of toxic substances in living organisms) and biomagnification (the increased concentration of toxic substances at each step in the food chain). Another aspect of environmental health introduced was how natural disasters affect living things. Volcanoes, earthquakes, storms and avalanches were discussed. As an extension of our discussion on household products and environmental health, students learned about the chemical reaction that produces soap (saponification) in which a fat, lipid or oil reacts with an aqueous alkali to form a fatty acid salt (soap). This week students made their own bars of soap. 3D Design – This week continued our introduction to the new software Blender.  We finished making the basic shape of a wine bottle, with its curves, bends, and bumps.  We finished the week with starting the project of making a tree shape.  This uses the same tools as the wine bottle project.  The tree is just a larger project that requires more fiddling, tinkering, and trusting your eye.  This should give the students something to consider and fiddle with over the break week, should they be inspired by Blender. Brad’s math – This week we finished folding the modular crane and then began talking about how all the angles and shapes talk to each other.  How one shape informs another and can let you know what the angles are.  We also measured all the angles with protractors to see if we were speaking the correct language.  We finished off the week by looking at the area of a circle and how that formula is created just by drawing triangles in a circle.   Dungeons and Dragons Weds 2/24 (Kristopher, Lilah, Nick, Ella, Shane): First investigated the camp where the missing soldiers were last spotted.  They found it picked clean of anything valuable, but did manage to follow some tracks towards a nearby forest.  Once there, they attracted the attention of two Oni, who were fearsome, but entirely blind.  Once the party discovered this, they used magic and misdirection to get away, then investigate the forest further.   Eventually, they found a secret trap door in an old, rotted out tree trunk.  On entering, they’ve met what appears to be a commune of thieves who all share the same name to avoid detection.  Next session, they hope to learn more from these thieves.    Thurs 2/25 (Alex, Sebastian, Jimmy, Ben): The gang spent most of this session in combat against the two blind Oni that had been attracted to their location by seemingly intentional sounds used to get their attention. It was a tough fight, Alex’s character even getting briefly knocked out.  Overall though, everyone handled the challenge well and used their characters’ abilities to the fullest.  They survived the encounter, killing one Oni and scaring off the other, and we left off on the party discovering the tree trunk concealing a trap door into the ground.  Art – This week, we started working with color!  We began by reviewing the color wheel, primary/secondary colors, and looking at the works and theories of Josef Albers, Then, we applied what we learned to looking at movie posters, superhero designs, and other modern color choices.  – The students then created color “swatches” of the primary colors, then practiced mixing the secondary colors, then lighter and darker shades.   – Finally, we tried out a quick song exercise – we listened to “Riders on the Storm” (jointly chosen by me and a couple of the students) and the students used colors and lines to express what the song felt like to them.  I hope to try this sort of thing repeatedly in the future as a more relaxed “cool down” activity that will allow the students to work with color more freely  – I was thrilled to see that they were fascinated by how brush cleaner works lol.  Everyone helped me clean up a bit, which was lovely, since we did go a few minutes over-time. Academic Writing  These past few weeks we have been working on picking a topic and creating a research paper. This week we have been discussing how to find articles and use them as resources. The students have been working one-on-one with the interns who have been helping them develop their ideas and begin the writing process. We can’t wait to see where their research will take them!  Spanish Conversation  This week in Spanish we played Spanish BINGO where the students were exposed to a variety of words, and were able to practice them throughout the game. Throughout this class we are trying to come up with fun interactive ideas, and this past week we also watched COCO in Spanish, which was a big hit. We are excited to learn more about the Spanish language and the culture.  Teen talk  In Teen Talk we had an open discussion about “social thinking” and our nonverbal communication skills. During our discussion we talked about how to present ourselves appropriately by the way we use our body language and tone of voice. We discussed how these are important skills to have and will continue to practice in the future, and the students were able to connect and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. February 3, 2021 We are happy to welcome our new intern, Godson Tompson, a senior psychology major at Lasell University. Godson loves sports and looks forward to getting us all outside to play some kickball, basketball, and volleyball when the weather warms a bit. He also enjoys bowling, go-carting, museums, music and anything that keeps him active.  We are also so happy that Jackie, Isabel, and Jamie are back this week.  It isn’t quite the same here without them! Upcoming important dates: February 15 – 19 – Center is closed April 19 – 23 – Center is closed Below are updates on what is happening in History, Earth and Environmental Science, 3D Design and Printing, Brad’s Math Group, Art, and Dungeons and Dragons!  Will send notes on Raspberry Pi, American Sign Language, Spanish Conversation, and Creative and Academic Writing soon!     History In History we have been discussing the history of the House of Tudor monarchy from England. We discussed the reign of Henry VIII and how his desire to have a male heir and his multiple marriages forever changed the power of the monarchy in England. Plus we discussed how his six marriages and the murdes of two of his wives reflect on his legacy and character. We also discussed his eldest daughter Mary I who is best remembered for the many executions under her reign that mainly attacked Protestants and how she struggled as a Catholic ruler in a mainly Protestant country. In one class, students were asked to write a paragraph using text-based evidence to support their claims on why Mary is widely remembered for the executions she ordered. We will be wrapping up our study of the House of Tudor by studying Henry’s youngest daughter Elizabeth I and her legacy and will compare it to her father and sister.  In current events, we talked about several things including the inauguration of Joe biden, the second impeachment of Donald Trump, and Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Earth and Environmental Science The past two weeks the students have been learning about environmental health, including environmental and social health hazards, infectious diseases, epidemiology, and toxicology. They have begun an in-depth chemical investigation to assess the health hazards of common household products. We will continue to explore the chemistry of hazardous chemicals present in the home by creating structural models of these chemicals and understanding how they react with other substances in the environment. 3D Design and Printing This session in 3d Design/Printing we have started off with a large class project.  Creating a castle siege game.  We have brainstormed the basic make up of the game, targeted the parts that need to be engineered, and assigned teams and individuals to begin making and testing prototypes.  This is our largest project yet and will take the next 2 to 3 months to complete. Brad’s Math Group This week we have delved into geometry.  We are using origami to look at how shapes, angles, and lines are interacting.  Geometry is about how all of these pieces talk to each other.  Realizing what that conversation is reveals many things.  We made a modular compass star and started on a modular crane.  Along the way we are analyzing the shapes and angles, measuring them, and discussing the interactions between them all.   Dungeons & Dragons Wednesday group Lilah’s character discovered that the ‘dead end’ in front of them was an illusion by charging into it and falling on the floor on the other side.  From here, the final challenge against a stone golem began.  It was a tough fight, but they eventually took it out. The Sphinx gaved them several rewards for surviving the labyrinth, including gold, healing, and a bag of magic beans.  It then teleported them back to the capital where their whole first job had begun.   Back just outside of the city gates, they decided to try out one of those magic beans, and by random dice roll, it spawned a monster they had to fight off.  Nbd.   Thursday group The bulk of the session was the combat encounter with the stone golem.  This was tough going, but Jimmy’s character eventually managed to force the golem to remain inactive long enough that the sphinx appeared and yelled at them for being “dumb mean cheaters.”  At this point, they managed to make a deal with the sphinx that they would play with her for a bit before leaving, and she was thrilled about this arrangement. The party received the same rewards as the other group, plus one small extra protective item for Sebastian’s character, then were teleported back home.  They spent some time identifying the magic beans and learning a bit about magic items in general The group returned to their employer, the Exalt, who was pleased to hear of their successes.  Their boss, Brutus, received word during this meeting that a battalion of soldiers had gone missing, and so tasked the party with hunting them down.  Art  Students filled out an index card with info about what kind of art they’re interested in learning, what kind of art they like to look at, their favorite movies, shows, video games, etc. and a few songs that have been stuck in their heads. With this, Kristen has a fairly solid idea of their own goals and what kind of media interests and engages them. – We discussed that making art comes down to 1. technical skill, developed through practice, critical observation, and challenging our own assumptions, and 2. making conscious decisions.  To illustrate the first point, we did an exercise where each student drew an eye first from memory, then with a reference.  For the second point, we looked at two paintings (The Death of Socrates and The Treachery of Images) and had a group discussion about what choices were made to create the piece and why.   To give students the tools to break down anything they want to draw into basic shapes, we practiced by drawing the shapes and lines identified in a collection of still-life images.  Then, the students drew their own still-life compositions, first from a photo reference on screen, and then from real life objects in front of them, always focusing on making the process easier and more effective by focusing on basic lines and shapes, critical observations, and comparing objects to one another. January 31, 2021 Due to the impending snow storm, Symbiosis Learning Center will be closed tomorrow, Monday, February 1st and Tuesday, February 2nd. Stay safe and warm, everyone! December 11, 2020 Greetings Symbiosis Learning Center Families, Interns, and Staff! I would like to first say THANK YOU to our wonderful and amazing interns, Jackie, Isabel, Sydney, and Jamie for everything you do for us.  Your kindness, positive energy, and hard work are invaluable to the success of our learning center.  To Sydney, we didn’t get to give you a proper good-bye, but please come visit us when you return from winter break!  (We have to get your handprint on our “Intern Wall”!)  To Jackie, Isabel, and Jamie, we are so happy you will be returning next semester to continue your internship with us.  Have a peaceful, safe, and relaxing winter break with your loved ones!  We are so grateful for you.  As we begin our final week of the term, I wanted to send out a few updates to families and staff – Students will be working on completing their final projects during the final week and I will be sending out photos and videos, so please stay tuned! On Friday, December 18th, from 11AM to 2PM, we will be celebrating with waffles and hot cocoa, bingo and prizes, and other fun activities!  Please let me know who can come. We will be sharing final student assessments with you by the end of the week!  If you would like to discuss your student’s progress and learning with us, please let me know and we can schedule a time to meet. In the meantime, here are a few of our class updates… Earth and Environmental Science For the past few weeks in Earth and Environmental Science we have covered a unit on communities and ecology. This included identifying the different trophic levels in an ecosystem, understanding how inefficient energy transfer affects community structure, and examples of the way the laws of physics control ecosystem function and the interaction between biotic and abiotic factors. We also completed an exploration lab where the students dissected owl pellets to determine the owl’s diet and to construct a food chain to show how energy is passed from one organism to another in an ecosystem. The students assembled and identified the bones present in the owl pellets and constructed a display. They also learned the process of owl digestion, including anatomy of the digestive system.  Finally, the students were introduced to soundscape ecology, a specialized field of ecology and environmental research. In addition to learning the new term, soundscape, they were also introduced to the terms bioacoustics, geophony, biophony, anthrophony and anthropogenic, all important aspects of soundscape ecology and bioacoustics research. They watched a short TED Talk given by a leading soundscape ecologist, Dr. Bernie Krause. He discussed how soundscapes have been altered by human actions in the last few decades and how this indicates the negative impacts on ecosystems.  3D Design & Printing The last couple weeks have been “Let’s focus and get things finished.”  Throughout the class there is a mix of in-class projects, to teach certain techniques or thought processes, and personal projects.  With multiple projects there have been many students with projects at a late prototype stage.  We are working on getting those final issues overcome and final creations manufactured. Language Arts We completed our identity projects with everyone creating a silhouette cutout of images and words that shape who we are.  As part of the project, students wrote poems and narrative essays about important events and memories that have influenced them.  This last week we read the fable, “The Moth and the Star,” and compared the message with the story of Philippe Petit who walked across a tightrope between the Twin Towers.  Students learned the difference between a formal and informal email by sending their essay analysis in email format to the teacher.  (This makes me think that students might begin thinking about opening a more professional email account.  We can open a Symbiosis email account for those who would like one.) Dungeons and Dragons – Wednesday was almost entirely housekeeping matters- everyone leveled up (level 6) and Shane and Michael created their characters (Jimmy was a huge help getting Shane set up), and we caught up newbies and each other on basic plot stuff up to this point.- The party arrived safely on the shores of the mainland and were guided to the capital city, where they will soon meet the Exalt and learn more about the types of adventures they’ve been employed to undertake. – We all discussed their answers to my character prompts as a group, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that just about everyone had responses for every question and seemed comfortable discussing it in person,- On thursday, Alex’s character got involved with some shady folks, who promised riches stashed away in the sewers beneath the city.  They and their companions went forward with this plan, and our session ended in the middle of combat with some ooze-like creatures in the sewage.

OCTOBER 24, 2020

• Next Friday, October 30th, we are planning a Halloween party from 11AM – 3PM.  The plan is to carve pumpkins (and roast a lot of pumpkin seeds!) and watch the movie, Princess Bride.  Students can wear a costume and should bring lunch and a pumpkin and carving tools!

• On Friday, November 13th, at noon, Mitchell College is planning a Zoom meeting presentation for us on its different programs and admissions requirements.  I’ve asked that the presentation address the application process specifically for students who complete their requirements with Symbiosis Learning Center.  Please let me know if you will be attending and send along any questions you might have now and I will ask him to answer during the presentation.

• This Wednesday, October 28th, at 330 PM, an admission counselor from Landmark College (and a mother of an alumnus who has ADHD), developed a webcast to provide in-depth information about the range of supports for neurodiverse students in post-secondary education today.  Here is a link to the webcast for those interested:  Navigating the College Search for Students Who Learn Differently.  Admissions will also send me a copy of the slideshow that I will forward to all of you.

• We are sad to say goodbye to our second Dungeon Master, Matt.  Matt has accepted a full time job offer and has brought on a friend, Kristen, to take over the position.  We hope this one stays with us!!

• Leo Rusinov, the Math in Real Life teacher, has also let us know that he will not be continuing teaching due to his concerns about the virus.  We have been filling this time with other activities, including improv games, an Astronomy lesson with Alex, and independent work.  If you have any work you would like your student to work on at the center with a tutor/teacher, please let us know.

• I will be sharing with all of you a google doc with class updates and student progress reports at the end of this week.  I will send out a sign up link next week for any parents and caregivers who would like to schedule a meeting with me and the other teachers to discuss your child’s learning and their experience here at Symbiosis.

• I will also be sending out invoices for the spring term requesting half of the tuition payment by December 5th, and the other half by January 5th.  If there are any changes in enrollment, please let me know, and/or any need for an adjusted payment plan.

OCTOBER 3, 2020

Earth and Environmental Science

This week in Earth and Environmental Science we investigated the relationship between climate and trees as well as the Vermont maple syrup industry. Students considered the habitat and living conditions of a typical maple tree, and the ideal weather conditions for maple syrup production. Students graphed and analyzed long-term climate data from the region in and around Burlington, VT.  

3D Design and Printing

This week was independent study on both the class project and personal projects.  The main challenge for some of the students is the need to clearly define their personal projects, while for others it is not.  Everyone has made good progress on the class project of reverse engineering the spinner.

Nature Journaling

This week, we read aloud short biographies of two environmentalists, Rachel Carson and Jane Goodall, and discussed the impact of their work.  While some of the students focused on independent work and enjoyed our natural surroundings, others worked on using graphic organizers to outline their compare and contrast observation notes on trees from last week.  Some of the students chose to write about Carson and Goodall in their compare and contrast essay.  I’ve encouraged students to continue working on their essay independently and share what they’ve written next week.  On Tuesday, we will be creating “found poems.”  Found poems enable students to compose poetry by ‘borrowing’ lines from a text, or several texts.  For this activity, we will be looking at national park brochures and generating a list of words and phrases, then combining them into a poem, filling in with words of their own.  I will include some examples in my next update!  We will also visit the Lasell pond and take notes in our journal and create some other forms of poetry – zigzag, haiku, and acrostic.

Yoga

On Tuesday, we focused on discussing the 4th Social Ethic in the yogic practice: moderation. We explored where we find ourselves out of balance off the mat (eating too much sweets, not enough sleep, too much TV, etc.) and then did a flow, paying attention to where creating balance between effort and ease helps to sustain the pose. Next week we focus on the 5th and final Social Ethic, letting go of expectation. Can’t wait to discuss with these amazing yogis!   
Updates on Dungeons and Dragons, Music, History, Teen Talk, and Math in Real Life next time!  Math at Your Level is very individualized and difficult to include here – will be part of student progress report.

I’m excited for our owl visit on Friday.  I am a lifelong owl lover. My nickname when I was little was búho – the Spanish word for owl, because I didn’t sleep at night but would sit at the window and look out at the moon.  

Have a peaceful evening and rest of your weekend.  

My Best, Kristine

OCTOBER 3, 2020

Weather permitting, next Friday, October 9th, from 1:00 – 1:45, “Eyes on Owls” will be visiting Symbiosis Learning Center!  A dynamic team of passionate bird lovers will introduce us to live owls and teach us about their habitats and adaptations, food chains, predator-prey relationships, anatomy, physiology, ecology and wildlife observation, all in an interactive forum. Mark and Marcia Wilson both have a degree in Biology, and are teachers, photographers, and writers.  Here is a link to their website for more details:  http://eyesonowls.com/.  I’ve attached below a description of Mark Wilson’s book Owling:  Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of the Night (Storey) 2019 for anyone interested. They will bring copies of the book to the presentation. Program will include a slide show and ‘hooting’ lesson!
Let’s plan on arriving between 11:30 and 12 and enjoy lunch together (hopefully outside).  Interns will have planned activities starting at 1030 for those students who would like to arrive earlier.  We will plan to end the day by 2:30 PM.
Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be able to join us.  If not enough people are able to join, we will need to reschedule.  All family and friends are welcome! (Let me know who will be attending so I have an accurate count for the presenter).  
I hope you all have a nice and relaxing weekend.  Stay tuned for a weekly update on class activities and projects a bit later today.
My Best, Kristine

SEPTEMBER 24, 2020

This update includes details about our hike tomorrow; an upcoming Zoom presentation; as well as a brief summary of what we have been learning in some of our classes.
Hike tomorrow, Friday, September 25Let’s plan to meet at 1030 (changed from the original 10:00 time) at the Trailside Museum at 1902 Canton Ave in Milton, MA.  Bring water and a picnic lunch and an extra layer.  I’m thinking we will be back to the bottom by 2-3.  Let me know if the change in time is a problem – I can be there at 10 if necessary to meet anyone who is being dropped off.
Here’s who I have on the list as coming:
Ella and NicholasBen and Sebastian (and mom and dad)Lilah and Kristopher (and dad)KeiraAlex (and dad)
Please let me know if you are coming and not included on the list!
Mitchell College Zoom PresentationFriday, November 6, 2020 at 12 noon.  Colin Brady, Director of External Recruitment and Student Success, as well as current students at Mitchell will talk with us about the programs offered at Mitchell as well as the admissions requirements and application process with a focus on Symbiosis Learning Center students. Please let me know if you will be attending – and the time that works best for you on this day.
Class Update:
Morning meetings – This time gives us an opportunity to check in with each other and share a personal story, project, or thoughts about classes or anything else.  We have been practicing some simple Spanish conversation as well.  Martin Haroutounian has been joining us with an “instrument of the day” and given us a little ethnomusicology lesson on each as well as a brief musical excerpt from a popular song.  

On Tuesday, he brought in a saz (Persian: ساز‎, “to make; to compose”, pronounced [sāz]) and played for us showing us his circular breathing technique.

On Wednesday, he brought in a hulusi (traditional: 葫蘆絲; simplified: 葫芦丝; pinyin: húlúsī), also known as the cucurbit flute and the gourd flute.  It is a free reed wind instrument from China, Vietnam and the Shan State and by the indigenous people of Assam.

Today he brought in a quena (hispanicized spelling of Quechua qina, sometimes also written kena in English).

Earth and Environmental Science (Samantha Rowe)

9/9 

The first day of class was an introduction to Earth system science and the four interconnected spheres that make up the Earth system. We walked to the pond at Lasell University. This became our study site to observe and infer connections between the different elements of the Earth system contained within the biosphere, atmosphere, biosphere and hydrosphere. There was a great blue heron awaiting us when we arrived. 

9/14

Continuing our study of the Earth system, the students annotated a photograph of the pond and its surroundings. They described interactions between elements of the different spheres. We discussed the movement of energy and matter throughout the Earth System.

9/16

This class period introduced students to the scientific method, and we discussed how scientists investigate the natural world using a transparent method of inquiry and peer review. We discussed the scientific method in relation to the work of bat scientists studying white nose syndrome, a fungal infection that has threatened bat populations in the U.S.

9/21

We continued our study of the Earth system by comparing our study site to other regions. Some specific topics covered included:  Earth’s energy balance, how a change in one element of the Earth systems affects others, the movement of matter between spheres, and the differences between open and closed systems.

9/23

We began a new module focusing on climate, weather and the biosphere. Students chose a tree to study to observe and understand the effects of changes in climate on the health and growth of the tree. We discussed the differences between climate and weather, as well as natural climate variability vs. climate change.
3D Design and Printing (Brad Staeben)
In design we approached an in-class project that started with a focus on building using negative space.  This showed the need to plan ahead in many projects and helped students learn or re-familiarize themselves with the most important tools in Tinkercad.
In the printing aspect we have downloaded the slicer for everyone and began showing everyone how to manufacture with the 3d printer. 
Nature Journaling (Kristine Fringer)
The first week of class we spent observing the natural surroundings of our learning center.  Through a combination of sketching, labeling, recording thoughts, and forming questions, we used numbers, words, and drawings to record in our journal what we noticed with our eyes, ears, nose, and touch.  During one of our classes, we each selected leaves from various trees and bushes and sat quietly with our journals to record our observations.  We then placed our leaves in a central area and shared with the class our observations.  Students then tried to guess which leaf was being described.  Next week we will be taking our “compare and contrast” notes on different trees to develop a short essay.  
U.S. History (Katie Marotta)
9/10:-we started to talk about the constitution, asked students if they knew anything about the constitution beforehand. We also spent the first 15ish minutes of class talking about the events of September 11th as the anniversary fell on the day after we had class.
9/15:- We started to go through Article 1 of the constitution which discusses the Legislative Branch. We talked about the Senate and House of Representatives, the requirements to be in Congress, etc.
9/17:We finished Article 1 of the Constitution by discussing the powers of Congress and different things they are able to do under the Constitution. The 17th also marked the anniversary of the signing of the constitution so at the beginning of class we went over some interesting facts about the constitution. 
9/22:- At the beginning of class we talked about the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and watched some videos about her life and talked about her legacy. We then began the second article of the Constitution.

Math in Real Life (Leo Rusinov)Aluminum Foil Boats! Students learned about the math behind buoyancy and why heavy objects can still float. We talked about weight, mass, and density. We calculated (using the metric system) the density of objects given mass and volume, and discussed whether or not they would float in water. The students were given a container with water and a piece of aluminum foil, and tasked to spread out a handful of pennies on the sheet such that it still floated. Then, they were asked to take the same number of pennies and the same sheet, but this time crumple it up into a tight ball – they discovered that even though the mass stayed the same, the volume decreased, so the density increased and it sank. Then they were given another piece of foil and asked to experiment creating a design that holds the most number of pennies…they reflected on what they designed and considered how the shape of the foil (tall sides, short sides, etc.) and the placement of the pennies (spread out, all in one place etc.) affected the buoyancy of their boat. A few students even successfully floated rocks on aluminum foil! 
The Great Egg Drop! We connected last week’s lesson on buoyancy to acceleration and gravity. Students learned about the difference between speed and velocity, as well as the formula to calculate force. We talked about how the gravity on Earth is close to 9.8m/s squared, while on Jupiter, and other planets, it is different. We even talked about how scientists consider gravity when looking for life on other planets. We performed some calculations including figuring out the speed of an object vs time after it is dropped from a building. Then, we talked about how an egg breaks when it is dropped because it cannot withstand the force of impact…so we came up with a few strategies to create a contraption to house the egg that would mitigate the force of impact. Ideas included reducing acceleration (using a parachute), increasing the contact surface area (popsicle stick frame), and absorbing the shock (sponges). Finally, students used various household supplies to create their egg casing, and dropped it from several heights to discover which ideas worked. They were asked to explain their best design and think about why it worked so well. 
Yoga (Mary Walek)
The focus in this class is on the Yamas and Niyamas (the social and personal ethics) within the yogic practice. So far we have talked about the first 3 Yamas – Kindness and Honesty and Nonstealing. 
With each class, we discuss one concept and how we are ideally supposed to practice it in our daily lives. We then have a physical practice, where I incorporate that topic as the theme of the physical practice. For example, with kindness, we focused on not over exerting to the point of discomfort, as well as being aware of how our thoughts can become unkind quickly so that we can reframe them to something more positive. 

Because the math class is so individualized, updates are different for each student.  These will be included on student progress report I will send out in early November, unless requested sooner.
As always, please let me know any questions, thoughts, suggestions, etc!
My Best,Kristine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2020

• Please visit our website to see our staff and intern bios (if you haven’t seen Facebook updates).  There are a few bios that still need to be added, but will be updated soon!  About Us 
• I am still in search of a music teacher – I have invited Anna Dushanin to join us this coming Wednesday to see if she might be a good fit. She is a college student who teaches piano and music.  She is full of positive energy and absolutely loves teaching music!  
• For students enrolled in the 3D Design and Printing class on Mondays and Wednesdays, next week they will be starting to use the 3d printer.  To do that, students will need to install the slicer.  They can do in class, but if you would like to download and install Flashprint before Monday, here is the link:  https://www.flashforge.com/download-center.  If you do not wish to install Flashprint on their laptop, Brad can do the slicing for the student, although they would need to email the file to Brad and would miss out on an important part of the process.
•  For students who attend Math in Real Life with Leo, he has requested a list of supplies for Tuesday’s activity, the Egg Drop Challenge.  If I had more time, I would have no problem collecting all of the materials, but if I could ask that each student bring in some, any, or all of the following 3 raw eggs and as much raw material as you have, for example:  styrofoam, packing peanuts, coffee filters, paper cups/plates, straws, construction paper, rubber bands, a lot of popsicle sticks (10-15 per student), boxes/cardboard, cotton balls, plastic shopping bags, sponges, string/rope (few feet per student), toothpicks, paper clips, masking tape, “a lot of glue” .. in Leo’s words, “literally anything you have lying around..”  I think if we collect everything in one big box for everyone to share, they can figure it out… I have been collecting recycling and plastic bags and will bring in as much as I can, but anything you can contribute would be appreciated!  
• We will be closed next Friday, September 18, but will be announcing events, workshops, and activities on future Fridays.  Please let me know if your student(s) has interest in attending September 25, October 9, 16, and/or 23 for a day filled with fun activities, crafts, and games with the interns and other guests, including pizza and music (and a movie on some days).  November dates will be forthcoming. Times will be 10AM – 330/4.
• In November, I would like to begin a series of virtual presentations from several local college admissions representatives.  These presentations will include an overview of the college and its programs; and importantly, the admission process and requirements.  These will focus on Symbiosis Learning Center students specifically, and how our program meets their requirements.  The colleges that will be presenting include Landmark, Mitchell, Lasell, and MassBay.  Please let me know if you are interested in attending and if Fridays work for your schedule.  We will continue the series throughout December and the new year.  I know that it is early for many of you, but if college is or might be a goal for your child, and you would like some peace of mind that Symbiosis (and/or homeschooling) puts you on the right track, hearing it from college admissions can be validating!

I think that is all for now… please do remind your children to wash their hands throughout the day here at the center.  Besides our masks, it really is the best way for all of us to keep from spreading germs!
As always, I welcome your thoughts, feedback, comments, suggestions…Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing all of you next week!
My Best,Kristine
—

AUGUST 28, 2020

Below are some of our class descriptions, including Earth and Environmental Science, Math at Your Level, 3D Design & Printing, Nature Journaling, and Math in Real Life.  The descriptions of Teen Talk, Yoga, History, and Music will be coming soon.  Also below is a list of supplies and other necessities students need to bring to the center on the first day of classes. 

FALL CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

Earth & Environmental Science

Earth and Environmental Science at Symbiosis Learning Center  is a laboratory and project-based course that will explore multidisciplinary scientific principles from biology, chemistry, physics, geology, meteorology, astronomy and others, in order to provide an understanding of the natural functioning of our planet.  Students will study Earth’s four spheres, the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere, and explore the interactions between this intricate system and all living things. Students will delve further into the biosphere, learning about energy resources, major biomes, ecosystems, chemical cycles and the role of living things in ecosystems. We will learn about fundamental ecological concepts and focus on the consequences of human interactions within our environment. In addition to learning about environmental problems, students explore practical alternatives for protecting the environment, moving toward a sustainable future.  This course will help to increase students’ awareness of global environmental issues, as well as their role on a local and global scale.  

Math at Your Level

21 + 22 is 43.  That is a fact, and what is all this new math about?  While 21 + 22 equals 43 is true, there is more than one way to figure out that fact.  You can memorize it.  You can stack the numbers on top of each other.  You could focus on the place values and say 2 tens + 2 tens is 4 tens and 1 + 2 is 3 ones. Together they are 43. You could also build the problem with manipulatives, as some people prefer a visual representation when solving math problems. Everyone’s brain approaches math differently, and there are different ways to solve even the simplest problems.  In the end mathematics is about thinking and puzzling out a path to the answer you need.  When learning mathematics, effort and the process of discovery count more than how fast you get the answer. 

Here at Symbiosis Learning Center we endeavor to find approaches to learning mathematics that fit each student.  What official level the student is at does not matter, as people learn different aspects at different paces.  An area that is particularly frustrating can be touched on, left behind for a while, and circled back to multiple times if need be, until a better learning approach is found or the student simply has that “Aha!” moment.  Conversely, some students may quickly achieve goals in math and require a faster pace. Understanding in the end is what matters, not how fast that understanding happens. 

In this course, we will help each student create an individual plan for their mathematics education and provide the instruction and guidance to support their success along the way. 

3D Design and Printing

In the past you could draw and render in 3 dimensions on your computer screen.  Now you can manufacture your creation right in front of your eyes.  Whether you are looking to replace something that broke around the house, create a one of a kind toy, or a work of art.  The possibilities of 3d printing are both staggering and extremely fun! This class combines learning how to use the software to create 3d designs, as well as learning what is necessary in the designs so that a 3d printer can actually manufacture your creations.  We will encourage personal projects in this class, which will allow the students to create a personal emphasis on engineering or art, whichever path their passion lies.  Symbiosis owns a 3d printer and students will be taught how to use it to manufacture their creations, as well as maintenance for the machine. 

Nature Journaling

This class will broaden and deepen student curiosity, wonder, and attention.  Through a combination of sketching, labeling, recording thoughts, and forming questions and explanations, students will embark on a journey of scientific inquiry and self expression.  Using such prompts as “I notice… I wonder… This reminds me of…” class will focus on recording and reflecting on observations made in nature (a leaf, clouds, grass, flowers, tree, acorn, etc.) The goal will be to sharpen critical and creative thinking skills, build self-confidence, and improve writing skills.  Activities will focus on using metaphors, similes, and descriptive writing and will include poetry, persuasive writing, narratives, descriptive essays, map making, etc.    

Math in Real Life

Hey – have you ever looked around the world and wondered how math is in pretty much everything around us?  Me too!  This course explores real world math applications.  We will look at how numbers, patterns, and relationships show up in everyday life.  The goal is to provide a fun, interactive, and hands-on learning experience for students looking to see how math concepts apply beyond the classroom ranging from paying your bills, to bridge construction, to parachute design, the election process, stock market, and everything in between!”

US History

For the fall of 2020,  students will be studying several different US History topics. To start out the course, students will be studying the US Constitution and be examining different sections and amendments to understand the Constitution. Students will also learn about the US election process, what happens when you cast a ballot, what the Electoral College is and how it works in order to better understand the 2020 election. Another possible topic students will look at this semester is Westward Expansion with an in-depth look at topics such as The Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Oregon Trail, the Mexican American War, Gold Rush, etc. and one final possible topic would be the Cold War which would cover topics such as the Space Race, The Cuban Missile Crisis, etc. And during each class there will be a few minutes set aside to discuss current events that are going on. This will vary depending on what events are going on at the time and student interest.

American Sign Language

In American Sign Language this semester we have been reviewing the alphabet and numbers, as well as colors, foods, animals, and jobs. We have also covered basic ASL grammar and syntax and are working on applying our vocabulary to beginner conversational skills. In class we also discuss Deaf culture in order to ensure a well rounded understanding of the Deaf community and language.

Teen Talk

Welcome to Teen Talk! In this discussion group we will be building connections with one another while exploring various topics. These topics include mental health, forming healthy relationships, developing mindfulness skills, stress management strategies, exploring current events, planning for life after highschool, and much more! The goal of this discussion group is to support one another in a positive light and experience personal growth as individuals and as a collective. The number one rule for Teen Talk is to HAVE FUN! This is YOUR group. Let’s make it memorable! 

SUPPLIES & OTHER NECESSITIES

• facemask (Symbiosis can provide one for students who need one)
• laptop and charger (let me know if you need Symbiosis to provide one for you)
• fold-up chair and/or blanket for outdoor classes
• lunch and snacks
• water bottle
• yoga mat (if attending)
• 5 subject notebook
• journal for Nature Journaling class (can be lined or unlined – unlined may be better for sketching, any size, can also be loose leaf paper in a binder)
• colored pens and/or pencils for Nature Journaling class
• pen and pencil and eraser for note-taking and math worksheets
• book for quiet reading
• outside classwork that can be done at Symbiosis during independent work time (teachers and tutors available to help)
• sunscreen and bug spray

If you have not submitted an enrollment form, you can complete one here: Enrollment Form

As always, please be in touch with questions, concerns, and/or suggestions.  

JULY 22, 2020

Keeping everyone safe and healthy and minimizing the risk of virus transmission is our priority. In compliance with Newton Department of Public Health COVID-19 health and safety requirements, we are working closely with the United Parish of Auburndale to implement the safety and precautionary guidelines listed below.

Daily Checks: We will screen all students daily for symptoms, including a temperature check at the entrance. We ask that any student who has symptoms or any risk of being exposed to the virus, stay at home and self-quarantine for 14 days. We will have online options in the event that a student may need to stay home.

Face coverings: All students, staff, and visitors will be required to wear face masks at the center. We will have some classes outside where the mask requirement may be loosened if students are far enough apart from each other. We will provide students with face masks but we ask that students also bring additional personal face coverings.

Social Distancing: Classrooms, offices, hallways, and meeting rooms are being reconfigured to allow for social distancing of at least six feet and in some instances (hallways and some offices and classrooms) no less than 4 feet apart. Our modest enrollment, large open spaces, and access to the outdoors work in our favor. We hope to hold many of our classes and workshops, as well as breaks and lunchtime outdoors whenever possible.

Cleaning and Disinfecting: Our staff and intern team will continue to perform regular intense cleaning of all public spaces. They will consistently disinfect classrooms, common areas, and workspaces to help minimize transmission. Hand sanitizing stations will be installed throughout the center and periodic reminders for hand washing will be announced throughout the day. At the end of the day after all students leave, a cleaning crew will clean and disinfect all classrooms, offices, bathrooms, floors, doors, etc.

We are still working to make sure all guidelines and precautions are in place before the fall. I hope this update on our plans to return to the clean, open, and safe space of our learning center gives peace of mind as families plan for the fall during these unprecedented times.

JUNE 26, 2020

Dear Prospective Families,

I am so very happy (and relieved!) to report that the church has informed me that we are welcome to return to the center in September.  The church administrators and I are currently working together on developing safety procedures to minimize exposure to Covid-19 and keep everyone in the building safe and healthy.  Guidelines will be posted on the website and sent to all families once they have been finalized.

As I work to develop the schedule of classes, I ask that you please confirm Fall enrollment as soon as possible.  Even if you have confirmed verbally or via email, please do complete the enrollment form here:  Enrollment Form.  In the space provided on the form for additional comments, please indicate any requests for a specific class topic.  If you are missing only a few high school requirements and are hoping to graduate this coming academic year, please indicate what those missing requirements are.

Fall classes and days offered, if scheduled:  

Science Math (Mondays and Wednesdays)

3D Design & Printing (Mondays and Wednesdays)

ELA – Nature Journaling (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

Music with Ryan (Wednesdays)

Yoga (Thursdays)

Financial Literacy with Leo (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

Teen Talk It Out

History (World and/or US)

Psychology (Intro or Adolescent)

Art (and possibly Ceramics)

*I am also hoping to start a Dungeons & Dragons group depending on interest. Are you?

Due to public health concerns over the spread of the virus in our shared kitchen, we will not be offering a cooking class this fall.  (We will have plenty of pizza days, however!)

Some other notes:

• Student updated progress reports should be available in Google folders by July 6.  You will receive an email notification.
• Ryan Cimon’s summer plans have changed and he will be teaching his music class on Wednesday afternoons beginning July 6 – please let me know if you are interested in participating via Discord.  Class fee depends on the number of students enrolled.
• We currently have five Lasell students fulfilling their internship requirement with us in the fall!  We love those interns!
• My hope is to get back into the space by mid-August so that I can offer tours to prospective students.  If you have not done so already,  and if you are so inclined – no pressure 🙂 – I would appreciate if you could take the time to write a review on the website!  These make a difference!  Here is a link for your convenience:  Reviews
• Once I receive your enrollment form, I will send out an invoice for payment in full by August 14th.  Fees remain the same as academic year 2019-2020 and are as follows:  Part-time is $2,500 per semester.  Full-time is $5,000 per semester.  Additional fees for field trips and some supplies may apply.  If you would like to request a payment plan with the option to pay in installments, please let me know.
• Classes start on Tuesday, September 8.    

Be on the lookout for more updates and news as we prepare to come back together in September.  

I look forward to seeing all of you! 

My Best,

Kristine