We're off to a good start developing a culture of students who own their actions and environment, embrace challenge, pursue clarity, and integrate their learning deeply. Students have participated in team-building activities, vocabulary challenges, pre-tests, small group learning, novel discussions, science simulations ... it's been a busy couple weeks. We're looking forward to the rest of the month as we have the opportunity to dive more deeply into academics and launch some of our semester-long projects.

In the pictures above, students are working collaboratively on a variety of tasks. All the students in the school participated in culture-building discussions, and 7th & 8th graders (bottom left) worked in a shared Google Doc to research background information on the novel they've just started reading, Inside Out and Back Again.

On Wednesday, Fox 29's Good Day Philadelphia came out and filmed our students first foray into learning about the structure of an atom. 6th graders used information from the Periodic Table to identify the number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom of a given element, and then applied the math that they've been learning to calculate the ratio of protons to electrons and neutrons, before finally drawing conclusions about the proportionality of subatomic particles.

In World Language this week, students were introduced to Quizlet Live and thoroughly enjoyed racing in teams to learn and then correctly identify definitions of vocabulary terms related to culture and language families. They liked it so much, we repeated the game on Friday afternoon with vocabulary from their class novels and social studies classes. Nothing but bragging rights was on the line, but they really got into the competition!

Next week, students will be fully in the routine of diving into their academics. During study hall time, we'll be MAP testing to set a baseline in ELA and in Math from which we can measure student growth over the course of the year. On Friday, September 13, we'll welcome our science mentors, who will start working with students on their small group research projects.

Back To School Night and Canada Trip Meeting: September 18 from 4:00-5:30. Come meet all the teachers and learn all the details about the APEX trip to Canada at the end of the school year - please plan to join us!