A Wonder Fair

One of our favorite deep-dive explorations this fall was into the novel Wonder by RJ Palacio. We read carefully for symbolism, character change, and analysis of theme. Together we've discussed our ideas with evidence from the novel, often returning to the book to reread a passage to answer our questions about character motivation or various perspectives. We continued our journey into the sequel novel, Auggie & Me, as we read the Julian Chapter and sought to understand the antagonist's point of view. Reading about Daisy's death, the family pet, we cried together and asked the ourselves about the author's choice. Attending the premiere of the movie was another highlight, one that led to many discussions, additional insight, and a general feeling that the book is better than the movie.

Our concluding experience with this book was to create a claim statement and support it with evidence from the book. We used active listening skills to help each other find the heart of our claim by asking questions that caused the speaker to dig deeper into their thinking. A few of our claims were: Julian's actions reflect his family's values; There is more to Auggie than his appearance; Bear symbolizes a new start; and Auggie is like the sled. We created models to represent our claim and evidence and then presented them to Mrs. Duden's class. Our greatest challenge was presenting them to our parents at home, and asking them to engage in one of our Thinking Routines.

Always finding our parents' voice as a source of insight into our learning, we reflected deeply on our parents' thoughtful and authentic questions and statements. Below are some examples of how we were inspired by our parents' thoughts around our learning.

"My mom's question, 'Is the book about friendship?' makes me think the book is only focused on Auggie. It is also focused on keeping friends and making the right friends."

"Mom's statement, 'It doesn't matter how you look, there is no connection between how you look and who you are.' It makes me think, how am I going to apply this to my life?"

"My mom's statement, 'I normally think of family values as positive, and your first three examples are negative. I'm wondering why that stuck out to you?' My first thoughts lead me to agree with my mom. Family values are usually positive. Once I thought like them, I understood that their family value are positive in their eyes. I wonder if everyone in the book knew each other's values and why they were their values, if everyone would be a little kinder to each other."

Secret Friends

We've really enjoyed the homemade gifts from our Secret Friends. Today we shared the puzzles we've made for each other. There were lots of word searches, crosswords, and a couple of creative marble rolls. The most challenging puzzles were the actual puzzles that we had to put together. It is such a gift to hear their genuine joy and appreciation for each other's thoughtfulness and creative efforts.

Off to the Theater

As we continue to explore how to tell stories, and with our love of theatrical arts, we attended the NWCT production of Cinderella. We enjoyed all the tap dancing feet, costume changes, and theatrical elements. Mostly we loved the miles of sequins and feather boas used to tell the story of a tap dancing prince and a very feminist and independent Cinderella.

Giving Chapel

After several months of learning, we used our hands to share the OES heart at Giving Chapel on Friday. Prior to the special chapel, the kids kicked off their learning about the agencies with a conversation about our values around education. Together we visited Woodburn Learning Center with Maestra Kelola and explored our love of language with the preschool students. After our visit, we worked to present our understandings to the Lower School, created several sets of bilingual learning games for the school, and welcomed the organization into our school. 

Giving Chapel day saw us all a buzz with plenty of energy and excitement. We helped carry gift bags and wrapping paper to the service, presented the agencies during the chapel, and then began to sort all of those gifts given. Sorting proved to be a bit daunting as we unpacked over 250 bags of gifts. Our favorite part was loading all of those gifts into the waiting vans and cars to be delivered to the people in our community. In reflecting on our experience we wrote, "Now that I’m in fifth, I feel like I understand the big change that these tiny toys create." "I was surprised how much stuff was brought. And it was stuff that made you really think about who was receiving it."

"How fortunate we are and how important it is to share. It isn’t that hard to make someone’s day. Even the smallest gifts add up to so much that it doesn’t fit into cars."

Reflecting & Listening

We have been working hard on listening deeply to each other for understanding. In this short clip, you will see two girls sharing either their reflection or a synthesis of what they heard their partner say. The most powerful part of this learning experience happened when the kids reflected about how much they learned from listening to each other. Enjoy!