In art class the students have completed their study of the Lascaux cave paintings. They did a wonderful job making their own paint and paintbrushes from primitive supplies such as bones, horse hair, and ground minerals.
I have been bringing Fezzik, my Great Pyrenees dog to school quite a bit. Although he is too young to be a certified therapy dog, he meets all of the qualifications for a therapy dog and the students love him! He makes his rounds from student to student in each class and is always ready to be petted and hugged. Dogs are wonderful for lowering blood pressure and stress levels, and having Fezzik around definitely brings happiness to the classroom.
Last week the entire upper school took a field trip to see a Casa Manana performance of To Kill a Mockingbird. We read this book last year as it corresponded with our study of modern history, so the majority of the upper school students were very familiar with the story. The performance was amazing and the students were wonderfully behaved!
This week in writing class the students are learning a brainstorming technique from The Lost Tools of Writing, called the ANI column. The students take an issue and then write arguments for and against the issue (Affirmative and Negative) and also facts (Interesting) about the issue. This is a good way to think of lots of ideas before we even begin writing, and a wonderful way to start thinking logically beyond their own personal opinions. The students are creating an ANI column on the issue "Whether David Copperfield should have bitten Mr. Murdstone" which is drawn from our reading!
Earlier in the month we discussed foreshadowing in literature, and the students wrote the stories of their own births, imitating the account that David Copperfield gave of his birth. The students also explored possible foreshadowing in their birth stories. Here is a sample essay by seventh grader Brett Oatridge:
I was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1998. The day I was born my mom woke up immediately in labor. She was in labor for twenty-one hours. Then she had to have a C-section. My dad held me in his hands while my mom was unconscious. My dad said I looked like Mister Magoo, which is funny, because I still love to make people laugh. I had a red face and every nurse in the room wanted me as their son, and even asked my mom, but she said, "No, he's mine."
We are looking forward to some exciting upcoming events in October, including the start of the Flint Falcons basketball season, our Barnes and Noble fundraiser, and Fall Fest!
