New and Now

We had such a fun time at HarvestFest on Saturday and we were glad to see so many familiar faces. We saw a lot of really great costumes and happy smiling faces. Here are the highlights from the past week and upcoming news:

• Last Monday we introduced the new Invading Forces project for History. Students chose an invading force to research this week and do some pre-writing on their histories. Students chose groups like the Vikings, the Celts, the Goths, and several other groups. A bulk of the work last week involved researching and reflecting on the lives of these cultures. Students have been researching a page worth of notes on each of the following topics for their culture: Art, Religion & Death, Daily Life, Leaders, Dress & Ornament, Tools & Technology, Warfare, and a general "Others" page. Students are recording their notes using what's called a "Double Duty" log. They are writing their facts and notes on the left-hand side while they reflect about their own thoughts and opinions about the fact on the right hand side. Students will finish up their Pre-Writing Research early next week and will move into their draft writing portion.
  
  
• During Informal Writing we talked about fact-based vs opinion-based writing. We discussed how much of the written history of many civilizations was written by the Romans which led to questioning whether certain writings had a bias of their opinion put in them. This was to lead into our History Project writing proponent. 
  
  
• In Geometry, 4th Years worked on Equivalence with Hexagons and a few others worked on either Area  of a Triangle or Area of a Rectangle.
  
  
• For one group, Ms. Nicole taught a grammar lesson on compound predicates while others worked on Common and Proper noun work.
  
  
• The 6th Years will be presenting the first chunk of their Island Projects tomorrow to the class. They have been working everyday with each other to help finish their Nearest Neighbor reports and their basic Island Information for the presentation.
  
  
• Program Director tea with Ms. Nicole is happening Wednesday morning from 9:30-10:30 AM. Here is the description of the event:  Elementary Coffee Talk with Ms. Nicole: Can You Hear Me Now? November 1, 9:30 - 10:30 a.m. at La Casa

Communicating with children can be hard! It’s important to lay a solid foundation throughout the Elementary years in order to be an in-touch, supportive, responsive parent who is raising a responsible, confident, healthy child. Join Ms. Nicole, Elementary Program Director in a lively discussion about how to have real, authentic conversations with your child.
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Including a lot of discussion about how to: 
- Start a conversation 
- Really hear what your child’s saying 
- Ensure that your communication builds trust 
- Give your child hard news 
- Learn what your child is thinking about 
- Find out what your child is worried about 
- Share your honest opinions 
- Help your child build a sense of your family history 
- Give your child constructive feedback and coaching in way that helps them make good decisions 
- Much more
Please bring your questions, challenges and suggestions. We’ll provide hand-outs and other suggested resources, refreshments and coffee.

We hope you have a nice week and enjoy the sun. Have a fun, happy, and safe Halloween!

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