Admissions: WNS Middle School InFlight News

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1: SEPTEMBER 2023

INFLIGHT NEWS The WNS Middle School Newsletter

First Days of School It’s been wonderful welcoming back our middle schoolers to campus. Seeing them run to hug their friends across grade levels, laugh in advisories, and start forging new connections with others on a deeper level has warmed our hearts.

In this issue First Days of School & Curriculum Highlights PAGES 1-2 Middle School Retreats PAGES 3-4 Buddies PAGES 5 Family Groups PAGE 6 Pen Ceremony PAGES 7 Upcoming Dates and Announcements from Ms. Rod PAGE 8

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While the first few days were focused on reviewing expectations, receiving devices, and discovering upgrades to our campus, students also had the chance to meet their teachers and start their classes.

Students reviewed their summer math packets, discussed their summer reading, and began learning about the essential questions and units they would explore throughout the year.

CUR R ICULUM H IG H LIG H T S Sixth grade: Sixth graders started year two of the program Managing Me in Advisory. Managing Me was developed by a team of educators, including a psychologist, a doctor, expert teachers, and a PhD-level researcher, to directly teach TEMPO skills: Training the brain (self-control, study habits, etc.), Executive functioning skills (planning, prioritizing, time management, etc.), Mindset, Preparation, and Organization. In classes, students are critically examining sources and determining which sources are reliable. They are continuing to look at stories from multiple perspectives and looking to primary and secondary source material.

Seventh grade: Seventh graders are delving into Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Theatre Arts, exploring The Giver in English class, and investigating ancient civilizations in social studies. They are building their ability to think like mathematicians, scientists, writers, and artists. They are finding evidence to support their claims and distinguishing between fact and fiction.

Eighth grade: Inspired by John Lewis’s call to action to this next generation, students are writing their eighth-grade show about how we can move from injustice to actionable love. On September 12, Paris Crayton III, a professional playwright, actor, and director, led a workshop on how to write powerful scenes on social justice (pictured below). On September 18, eighth graders went to the Grammy Museum to learn about music from the civil rights movement and began writing lyrics to their own protest songs. They are connecting their learning from their summer reading, theatre arts, social studies, English, and music classes to inspire powerful scenes.

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Middle School Retreat: Sept, 8

Eighth graders went to Fulcrum in Culver City in the morning to bond as a class and venture on the ropes course. They had the opportunity to support one another and take on various challenges in their advisory groups as well as spend time together as a whole grade.

Sixth and seventh graders went to Tumbleweed Camp for a morning of activities around the site from hiking to archery to rock wall climbing. They had a chance to bond in their respective grade levels.

In the afternoon, the entire middle school returned for more fun planned by the WNS faculty! They were in mixed groups having the chance to connect with other sixth, seventh, and eighth graders as they competed in the middle school challenge.

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Middle School Retreat

One of the highlights for students was the dunk tank. When they hit the target from a distance with a ball, they were able to dunk some of our brave faculty who volunteered to be in the “hot seat.”

Students rotated through a myriad of stations testing their ability to reason, collaborate, think outside of the box, and use their intellectual and physical prowess. The campus was filled with happy busy middle schoolers playing laser tag, solving puzzles, scoring trivia points, and rocking indoor/outdoor games. At the end of the day, winning teams were announced. They earned a delicious pizza lunch... but in truth, everyone got to enjoy the pizza.

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Buddies: Sept, 14

During the first days of school, students brainstormed different kinds of activities they could do with their buddies. As middle schoolers, they take the lead in planning activities and finding ways to ensure their younger buddies feel happy, safe, seen, and heard. Middle school students created cards as a gift for their buddies and read the cards to their buddies in their first meeting together on September 14.

Sixth graders read stories with their buddies and drew pictures together.

Seventh graders created paper airplanes and tested them outside. They had fun together and learned about aerodynamics.

Eighth graders wrote a story their kindergarten buddy told them. Then the kindergarten buddy illustrated their story. This story and illustration will go into a buddy book the eighth graders will give to their buddies at the end of the year.

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Family Groups: Sept, 19

Middle school students look forward to leading their family groups.

Each middle school student has a role to play in leading the group while eighth graders teach the mini-lesson. Students pick up their younger students and bring them to their family group meeting place.

Then, middle school students lead the K-8 mixed group of students and faculty/staff through a greeting, share, activity, and closing.

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Pen Ceremony: Sept, 27 The Pen Ceremony has been a tradition at WNS for 16 years. Eighth graders each receive an engraved pen to mark the beginning of their eighth-grade year, demonstrating the importance of the words and actions they choose to take and how those can have a tremendous impact on their peers, their school, and the community at large. Brad Zacuto highlighted a few important social activists who used the power of their words to make change. Eighth graders are our future changemakers, world movers, and shakers.

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