Oct 3, 20232 min read

Tales from the Loft

Hello Readers,

In the past week or so, middle school has taken off on two adventures, and is preparing for our overnight camping excursion. We are busy!

Recently, we had the opportunity to give back by volunteering at Rocky Creek Ranch and spent the day receiving far more nourishment from such a scenic space than we likely gave.

We pet donkeys.

We sat on the ground.

We painted fences.

And wooden mushrooms.

We dug our toes in a sandy beach by a pond.

We caught tadpoles. (Poor tadpoles.)

We picnicked.

And kayaked.

And painted for fun.

We came back tired and rejuvenated and then, the very next day, ....

We walked to the library.

We oriented ourselves with the database collection.

We completed a scavenger hunt.

We checked out climate fiction.

We took math from Miss Kim. (She brought her textbooks to the library. She does not skip lessons for silly things like days of research!)

We picnicked.

And played freeze tag on the green.

And walked home.

And then we did two hours of engineering with Mr. Ed. (Because he also doesn't skip lessons for silly things like being sweaty from walks or just because it's a Friday right before a break. Hard core sciencing until the bitter end here at DGS.)

In between then and now, students have continued listening to A Long Walk to Water and begun reading their own climate fiction book. They will share their projects and introduce their books to the class on October 19th and 20th. I look forward to hearing their thoughts!

Additionally, we are beginning our unit study of SDG#6, Clean Water and Sanitation; we are also diving into the expansion era of Big History once we get back from camping. So much to study!

The ELFT is underway and students are also gearing up for a full season of fundraising while they simultaneously explore our possible locations. Students did an excellent job presenting our options! Kudos to all of them for putting themselves out there and offering up ideas! After listening to many presentations, the students have narrowed the choice down to four locations -