Walk for Fun!

Camp Orkila

Learning Through Service Learning

Personal Challenge Day

In preparation for Camp Orkila, we headed to the woods with our Synergo ropes-course facilitators and engaged in a high elements challenge, the Cat Walk. The element is a log suspended about 40 feet in the air and requires you to climb a ladder, giant tree staples, to scramble onto the log and potentially walk across it where you are lowered back to the ground. This challenge requires 10 people to assist you with belaying and 1 person to direct the belayers. Our 5th graders loved it! Each classmate made their own personal goal that was the appropriate level of challenge; some to complete the entire task, others to touch the log, and some to make up the ladder and to the staples.

The following day we watched video footage of themselves and their interactions. In reflecting on themselves, they created some class goals for the learning community. These include:

• Trust each other; be trustworthy
• Value silence; it welcomes quieter voices and offers time to think deeply about what is said
• Listen to understand, not just hear
• Honor each others' needs for success

Creating A BUZZ About Books

Ringing in 5th Grade

When asked for a moment that you knew 5th grade would be a great year, many students claimed this right-of-passage moment on the first day. Indeed, it will be a great year!

The Heart of New Beginnings

And we are off...

Attitude of Gratitude

Tomorrow is our LAST Lower School Chapel! In preparing for this, Chaplain Phillip asked us to complete the sentence: Here at the end of the school year, our class is grateful for ... Together we brainstormed a list of answers, and then collaborated to create our final sentence. It feels fitting to read this beautiful sentence while studying their "before" and "after" 5th grade class photos. Indeed, it has been a year full of magic, community, friendship, and laughter.

Learning Celebration

On Friday we loved sharing our year's worth of learning, reflecting, and exploration with our parents. One highlight was revealing our year-long self-identity scrapbook project. These were filled with pomes, photos, essays, and art pieces that explore who we are through various lenses. Our other favorite part was giving a tour through the "I Believe" art collection, sharing many other artist's statements and pieces. Mostly, we loved having our families there to listen to our year's journey and growth. Thank you Moms, Dads, Sisters, and Grandmas for joining us!

How Did Our Time at Camp Orkila Change Us?

Flossing At Camp

Disclaimers: 

1. This video is being played at normal speed. 

2. No one was harmed in the making of this video.

3. Teachers are unable to demonstrate these dance moves.

Our kids are amazing! 

Camp Orkila

Sunshine, challenges, and friends wove together to create a memorable week at Camp Orkila. We will share the kids' written reflections of their personal growth once they've finished writing, but here are a few highlights of our week together.

Committing to Literacy

MHCSD - How did we leave our fingerprints on the hearts of others?

A collaborative poem written together by the K9s in Shades, reflecting on our experiences during MHCSD.

The Immigration Journey

It is hard to choose a handful of photos when there are so many amazing moments captured. Here are a few that capture the range of emotional experiences on their journey.

Our Immigrants!

Our photo journalist captured our immigrants as they either applied for Naturalization or traveled undocumented into the country. Their images capture the intensity of the day and experience. They are in a rough chronological order to their arrival to the United States.

Immigrants Arrived!

What a day! Our immigrants, spanning from 1624 on the Liberte ship to Plymouth, to fleeing North Korea in 2018, all arrived this morning dressed in their immigrant best.

Our kids traveled through a refugee camp that Ms. Busick's class based on Kakuma, a refugee camp in Northern Kenya that is home to thousands of Somalians. The kids researched and met with a Somali refugee family that is settled in Salem, and attended a refugee simulation hosted by Doctors Without Borders. In the experience, the refugees lugged water, settled in tents, built toys, and were vetted by some serious UN Refugee Workers.

Their next task was to enter the United States. This story came from our class's deep research into various refugee stories, and was deeply inspired by the novel, Refugee. Together they identified that there are two types of entries, that of the documented and those who enter undocumented or illegal. Our kids were vying to earn 1 of the 9 visa spots to enter. Those who did took a civics test, completed a medical exam, were interviewed intensely, and had their identification photos taken. Those who were unable to enter legally had to seek a smuggler who sold them life jackets, phone chargers, and water. They built a boat, paid for illegal identification, waited for safe passage in a tent, and then ran to the United States hoping to avoid the US Coast Guard who operated under the wet foot, dry foot system.

Upon entering the United States, they entered Mrs. Duden's room whose students worked to create a simulation that would help you feel as confused as new immigrants might. This included operating under a foreign language made of symbols, attending an English class or school, applying for housing and employment. There were ICE raids that deported students who were not documented.

We concluded the experience with a remarkable feast with foods from all over the world. Thank you to all the hands that helped prepare these delicious foods!

The kids had an amazing time; Flynn and James declared, "It was the best school day EVER!" A million thanks to the MANY parents who acted out the many roles and captured the day with photos, the high school students who ran after our illegal immigrants and deported them, and all the moms and grandmas who organized the feast and then cleaned. We could not do this day without ALL the helping hands that work to create the experience for our kids. THANK YOU!

PS. Our class loved seeing the creative costumes our parents created. It helped make the day even better.

From Perspective to Experience - An Immigration Day in the Making

Reading Refugee by Alan Gratz created a set of shared refugee stories that helped us reference and further our ideas while trying to make sense of the complicated and often daring immigration stories that are a part of United States history. 

When discussing the different experiences immigrants might have in entering the country, an new idea arose for the undocumented perspective. Ben K passionately spoke that not having documents didn't just determine how you entered the states, but how that would limit your experience for life. The kids began creating a list of events that required having appropriate documentation. This included: getting a driver's license, going to school, gaining employment, renting an apartment, or paying taxes. The conversation continued to discuss how challenging any of these tasks would be in a new language with new cultural norms. 

They are excited to apply these ideas to their experience in Immigration Day.

A Small Wonder

It was a morning where nothing was going right. Our pens were running out of ink, our geo-board bands were breaking, and we were rushed with all the learning that needed to happen. Ms. Akehurst even messed up and took us to the woods to do some team building with Tom Handel, only to learn that it was scheduled for the following day. After a quick game of Infection Tag, we headed back inside. And then it happened.

As if we were of one body and mind, all 19 of us froze in place, and a wondering silence instantly fell over us as we watched in awe. There, by the tree, was a mama duck with her brace of ducklings carefully camouflaged against the mottled bark. As the mama gained confidence in our silence, she led her ducklings into the forest we just exited. Together, we stood and watched this small cluster of wonder toddle on their way through the grass. And, while they paid us no heed, we thought back to the morning's message in chapel. Our planet is an endless sea of small wonders, we just have to slow down and look. What a blessing for our class; our day of broken frustrations and mistaken schedules led us to this quiet moment that we shared together.

Following Student Voice into Immigration

We've concluded our deep dive into Jamestown, forming the colonies, and the events leading up to the American Revolution. We even declared independence with some rousing and heartfelt speeches. 

Bridging the gap between the American Revolution to the USA history of Immigration we reflected on the following quote,

"Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists."

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The student reflections about the connections between being a country of both revolutionists and immigrants showed that we are a people made of bravery and perseverance; we are a people who are willing to fight for opportunities and what we believe is right. The students' thoughts around this are inspirational, and a powerful way to jump into our current study on immigration.

After some research on Ellis Island and Angel Island, we were ready to form our own questions about immigration.  

• Why did they come?
• What did they have to leave behind?
• Is this still happening today?
• Were some of the immigrants treated differently because of their race or religion?

 Using a limited number of votes, each partner pair chose 5 photos they wanted to know more about. Our curiosity is piqued, and we are intrigued to know more about these photos.

After our careful observations, we entered a Grand Conversation where we talked about our wonderings and began to connect ideas. A few of our thoughts included:

"How was the image of the slave boat connected to immigration?"
"Well, they were migrants, but not by choice."
"They were forced to come to this country...but does that mean they were immigrants?"
"I thought slavery was ended by the time this ship image was created."

"I am curious about the literacy test picture."
"It said underneath that it was home to the land of the free. But the picture made it clear you were only free if you could pass the literacy test."
"I think the wall in the photo is a metaphor. I think it represents that people aren't really welcomed"
"Are there literacy tests today? Are they really hard?"
"What are some of the other things people have to do today to enter the US?"

It is exciting to wonder where these thoughtful voices will take us as we embark on a new journey...one that connects student interest and curiosity to creating their own immigration experience.

Revolution Board Games

We finished our week playing each other's  revolutionary board games. Our class loved sharing our games with pride, and playing all the other games with interest and curiosity. We also really enjoyed sharing our games with the other 5th grade classes!

World Premieres of Stop Motion Films on The American Revolution

Drum roll please......Here they are! The original productions of the American Revolution Stop-Motion films. Grab some popcorn, turn off the lights, and enjoy!

Models to Algorithms

Revolutionary Games

Our deep dive into the Colonial times in America is coming to an end. Recently, the kids finished different historic-fiction novels about the American Revolution. They were asked to select one aspect of the novel to research further. This could be a perspective, event, artifact, daily life, or trade. The list of ideas was endless! With their deeper research, they were asked to create a board game that brings their research to life. While we gathered research materials at school, most of this project is being completed at home. We can't wait to play each other's games next week!

Presenting in Gathering

Last Friday our class was asked to share their reflective poems from their play experience at Cassius Clay. While all read their poems aloud in class, only a few wanted to present their creations to the Lower School community. Here is a glimpse of the words they chose to tell the story and their reflection.

Archaeologists Uncovering the Past

Throughout our learning about Jamestown and the American Revolution, archaeology, artifacts, and other primary sources offered a lot of insight into the past. We adopted the roles of archaeologists when trying to understand colonial trades and towns. Together we looked at artifacts that were gathered in a city plot, and made initial observations about what we saw. We began to hypothesize about what colonial trade resided in that space based on the proximity of objects and how they were used together. Using primary source photos, art, and books, we found evidence to support our theories and arrive at conclusions. We discovered our archaeology plot was home to the milliner, blacksmith, tavern, and armory to name a few. Of the intriguing finds, a wig curler caused the most interest from the wiggery. We we were astonished to learn that most wealthy people wore wigs out of fashionable interests. Finding a brown rag doll amidst a bunch of broken kitchen pottery also piqued our curiosity. It was concluded that it was .a kitchen and the doll was that of an enslaved child, which led to a lot of storytelling. Together, the kids decided that archaeology was a science that helps tell the stories of the past.

Musicians!

American Revolution Meets Stop Motion

In our journey to understand different historical events leading to the American Revolution, we began by creating colonial characters that were dressed according to colonial fashions and their class. Our fashionable characters then made their way into a stop-motion movie. These movies have their characters either telling the story or responding to one historical event.

Beginning with research, the kids created a story board that helped them plan their story and how the characters respond.  Their story boards informed the scenes and story telling. Using a green screen, the movie-makers added backdrops that created the setting and added to telling the story. Finishing touches came from adding voice overs, sound, and editing. Stay tuned for the world premiere viewing of these fantastic short films!

Cassius Clay

On Tuesday, our class was off to the theater, where we attended Cassius Clay. The kids loved the story, and the theatrical experience, however, the play also prompted a lot of discussion upon our return to class. When asked what felt important in the story, what nuggets do we want to tuck into our mental pockets, there was no shortage of answers. The highlights included:

• There are two types of fighters; those who fight for themselves, and those who fight for people who can't
• Why it is important to retell history with accurate details, including hateful language
• The story of Emmett Till, and its connections with today
• The power of youth activism in the lunch counter sit-ins, and its connection with today
• How, despite his accomplishments, he remained a Black American who wasn't warranted equal rights
• There are important beliefs that are worth fighting for, whether peacefully or  physically

Our Auction Project

The unveiling of our finished auction project brought a lot of excitement to our class this afternoon. The kids loved looking at each person's art, talking about the colors, the motion, and the symbolism in the quilt. They are in love!

Meditating with Mo

This year, our class is delving deeply into practicing mindfulness. Together, we engage in daily mindfulness experiences that help us to understand its importance in increasing our attention, self-control, and lowering stress and anxiety. We've increased our meditative abilities to a sustainable 10 minutes, and have different student leaders.



When Mo Copeland shared her intention to attend a 7-day meditation retreat, our class wanted to share their experiences with her. With their first grade buddies, we created a book of suggestions and strategies to apply when meditating. Today, we shared our book with her after inviting her to join all 36 of us for some collaborative mindfulness. Our first grade buddies, fifth grade selves, and Mo really enjoyed the time together!

The New Playground

Prior to the grand opening, our class was invited to explore the new playground together. We gave the turf slide our full attention. Having just finished a discussion about Algonquian language during Jamestown, we loved yelling, "Wingapo!" as we slid down. Ask your local fifth grader for a translation to English. It is fair to say we were pioneers in discovering some needed agreements around avoiding the puppy pile slide. The K9s give the new playground a two-thumbs-up rating!

Loving the Snow

We have had a lot of fun this week with the snow. Whether it was waiting and hoping for early dismissal, playing in the snow at home, or the added bonus of our new playground buried in snow, the K9s in Shades love the snow.