Good morning from Oregon!

Wow! What a couple of days. Yesterday was a busy day with stage combat in the morning (expect some theatrics when your students come home), Great Expectations in the afternoon, and a late night with Hamlet in the evening.

Hamlet was amazing! The production that OSF put on was a combination of modern and Elizabethan, with a very brooding, guitar-playing Hamlet, and Elizabethan-esq costuming. The production was outside in a beautiful theatre and it was actually the opening night!

Today we had a late morning so the students could sleep in, and a discussion with the actor who played Laertes in Hamlet. The kids had great insight and observation and it was so fun to hear their questions and debates.

Later today we have a renaissance dance workshop and an actors workshop this evening. Then, back home tomorrow!

Safe and Sound in Ashland!

Hello families!

We are safe and sound in Ashland. We had a nice drive down, a quick dinner, and then walked to our first class of the week- masks and movement. Students explored movement through the design of masks and had fun dancing, wiggling, and trying on the masks, of course. Tomorrow’s a busy day of plays and workshops, with Great Expectations in the afternoon and Hamlet in the evening.
Look for more updates soon!

Watershed Study with Foss Waterway Seaport

This year, we had the lucky opportunity to participate in a study of the Puyallup River Watershed with four other middle schools in the South Sound area. The study is in partnership with the Foss Waterway Seaport, and fits in perfectly with our “home” theme this year!

Students began the study by learning about plastics in different water systems around the world and why looking at plastic levels matters.

We then went on a field study of Swan Creek, a small creek at the bottom of the watershed. We gathered dirt and gravel samples from the banks of the creek, and tested the water’s Ph, velocity, turbidity, and for copper, which affects salmon’s ability to smell their way back to their breeding grounds. We also took water samples for plastics in the water, that will be sent to a lab.

We still have one more field study to complete and then we’ll compile our results with the other groups! Stay tuned!

Art + Social Studies

Here at the middle school, we try to integrate as many subjects as possible to expand and solidify learning. Right now, students have started a unit on Tacoma history in their social studies class. They are also studying and making glass art in Art, as well as interviewing local Tacoma artists.

To begin our social studies unit, students “question stormed” and came up with inquiries about Tacoma. Here are some of their questions:

Students have also been making glass-esque chandeliers and mobiles that mimic the glass art around Tacoma.

We’ve also been exploring the city’s art and recently took a trip to the Glass Museum to see the hot shop and learn about the glass movement in Tacoma.

This week we’ll be going to a hot shop to make our own glass art. Stay tuned to see our creations!

Snow Shoeing and Semester Showcase

It’s been a big week at the middle school! On Wednesday, we went up to Mt. Rainier with Dr. Todd (glaciologist, PLU) to see the differences in seasons with the glaciers and rivers. We talked about how the park was different a few months ago, a few years ago, 100 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 10,000 years ago, and one million years ago. We also got to snow shoe around Longmire and see the hot springs and remnants of the turn of the century retreat that used to be there. What a great day! Huge thank yous to Dr. Todd for coming with us and sharing her expertise on glaciers and Mt. Rainier, Cory for securing the snow shoes, and students S. and F. for helping plan the day.

Thursday night was our big Semester Showcase. We had a great turn out of current, former, and prospective Seabury parents and students. There were presentations on students’ Washington history Social Studies projects as well as creative writing projects on the Mima Mounds. The evening ended with a bang and a rattle as the students tried out their Earth Science final projects on the shaking table. Students were challenged to create a 1/15 scale model three-story building that would withstand a strong earthquake. On Thursday, each student got a chance to explain their philosophy and strategy in their design and try out the finished product on the shaking table. The diversity of strategies and products was truly amazing and the kind of thing you can only see at Seabury. We were finally able to topple one project by putting the shaking table on full-bore-destruction-mode for quite a while, which was strangely satisfying and fun. But amazingly, all the buildings survived the regular trials! Another great day! A huge, enormous thank you to Carlos for building the shaking table!!

Brief Update 12.11.15

It’s been a busy week at the middle school as we’re getting closer to Winter Break. Over the past couple weeks, students were reading myths that native peoples all over the world have written about volcanoes and earthquakes. Last week and this week, they got a chance to write their own myths. Math has been moving along as well. Geometry students have been working on ways of proving triangles are congruent and writing proofs, while Algebra students have been working on writing equations of parallel and perpendicular lines in point-slope, slope-intercept, and standard form. In Social Studies, students are working in small groups on various topics related to Washington State history. They’ll be writing papers and making presentations on these topics before the end of the semester.

Field Studies and a very happy Thanksgiving

One of the tenets of Seabury Middle School is using the community around us as an extension of our classroom. This takes many forms throughout the school year- using the YMCA for PE, partnering with local experts and organizations, and utilizing the resources around us to connect with our curriculum on a deeper level.

We’ve had quite a few field studies lately! To supplement our study of Washington state history, we rode the light rail down to the history museum to look at the Clovis points and explore their exhibits about Isaac Stevens and the first Europeans in WA state.

We also had the opportunity to go to the Seattle Art Museum to check out their impressionist exhibit as an introduction to impressionist painting in art class.

Also, this year we got to join the Lower School at their annual Thanksgiving feast! We kept the usual middle school traditions in the morning (having a read in and watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”), and then headed over to the lower school’s campus where we spent some time in the makers’ space and had quite the feast!

Yum!!

Doing Science

At Seabury, students are scientists, historians, mathematicians, writers, etymologists, linguists, and engineers. We don’t just learn about subjects, we actively engage in them. A great example of this is our current study of geology. Instead of reading about glaciers in a book, we’ve been taking field studies to Mount Rainier and observing rock formations with Dr. Claire Todd, a professor at PLU.

This week, we had the opportunity to go to the PLU campus for lunch and field work with Dr. Todd.

Students eating lunch in the University Center

After lunch, we made our way to the Rieke Science Center, where Dr. Todd showed us maps of the Pacific Northwest, and how glaciers had affected the region. We found where Seabury was in the Puget Sound and what would have happened if we were around when the ice sheet covered the area. We discussed geologic sorting and how glaciers don’t sort rock like rivers and lakes do.

After that, we headed outside to really do some geological research. PLU has a pit that’s used by the geology department to study rocks in the area. Our students made observations on how we could tell glaciers were once in the area using geological clues.

Here are the observations they came up with:

• Most of the rocks are smooth, which is evidence of glacial erosion.
• There was no rock sorting like you’d see in places with rivers and lakes. Glaciers are unique in that they don’t sort rocks by size, like rivers and lakes do. You can see this in the layers of rocks in the pit.
• There were scratches on the rocks, which is evidence of glacial erosion.
• Most of the rocks were the same type.
• Most of the rocks were faceted with rounded features.

Dr. Todd also mentioned that most of the rocks were the same type that you would find in Canada, which is more evidence that they were brought down by glaciers.

Dr. Todd then showed us a faceted, glacial rock and students hypothesized theories about why it was so uniquely shaped. They came to the conclusion that because the tops of glaciers move faster than the bottom, the rock would flip and then get smoothed out again and again, which gave it its faceted shape. They then named the rock Clarence (they are still middle schoolers, after all).

It was a great opportunity for our students to really do science, and we thank Dr. Todd for all of her expertise and help!

New Space and Science Update

Whoa! The new space has been working out beautifully this week! The new classroom is quiet and cozy and set up perfectly for learning. The new Math room is quieter and larger and enclosed. There’s still a bunch of unpacking to do, mainly with the library and in the student lounge, and we’ll get to that in the coming couple of weeks.

Students worked on a challenging and fun Science activity this week. We’ve been studying plate tectonics and where the continents have been in the past. This week students worked on figuring out, based on the current information we have about how fast and what direction the continents are currently moving, where the continents will be in 100 million years. There was a lot of math and a lot of complex problem solving involved in this lesson, as students used the raw data and maps available to make the conjectures.

Electives!

Each quarter, we poll the students on their interests and have them brainstorm enrichment classes they would like to take. This year, they came up with quite a few good ideas like, entomology, astronomy, ancient history, and book club. After much deliberation, we decided on cryptozoology, film club, and debate. We had students rank them in order of interest, and last week, we started on our electives cycle for this quarter.

In debate, we’ve been researching debate topics such as “Democracy is the best form of government”, “We should only use solar energy”, and “Students under the age of 14 should not be allowed to use Facebook.”
We’ve been discussing why it’s important to have evidence backing up your arguments and why it’s important to be able to see both sides of an issue.
This Monday, students did their first Lincoln-Douglas debate style about whether or not kids should be able to use Facebook. They did a great job and came up with compelling arguments!
Check back soon to see what the other electives have been up to.

Why Your Kids Are at Seabury

It’s been a busy week here at the middle school! The highlight was Monday when we spent the day up at Mt. Rainier with Dr. Claire Todd, a glaciologist and professor at Pacific Lutheran University. We met Dr. Todd up at Paradise and hiked up to a spot where we had a beautiful view of the Nisqually Glacier on the mountain. There we talked about how glaciers grow in the winter and shrink in the summer, made a bunch of observations about how and where they pick up rocks as they move, learned a bunch of new vocabulary, and noted the difference between peaks that had been shaped by glaciers like the mountain and the peaks 180 degrees from the mountain that haven’t and are therefore still very jagged. After eating lunch at the visitor’s center, we drove down to an access point where we could hike down to the Nisqually River. Here we found evidence that the glaciers on Mt. Rainier were once much, much larger and noted the effects of river flooding on the landscape. It was an amazing day, and really this is exactly why your kids are at Seabury. This would not be possible at other schools! In the coming weeks, we’ll meet with Dr. Todd again at PLU and hear her lecture about how the Washington landscape has been shaped by glaciers.

Learning about the Library and Makers’ Space

One of the things that we’re pretty proud of at the middle school is that we use the resources in our community as supplements to our program. This not only allows our students to form a greater connection to their community (something that’s important for middle schoolers), but also broadens the resources that are available to them.

We use the Tacoma Public Library a lot throughout the year for research, students’ personal reading, and extension activities in Social Studies and Science. This week, we were lucky enough to get a tour of the library from the Teen Librarian at the Tacoma Public Library. Ms. Holloway showed the middle schoolers how to work the library’s catalog system and narrow their search to find what they need, went over the myriad of resources available online, and gave us a tour of the Northwest Room and some of the unique features of the library. For example, did you know that they have a time capsule of human hair that will (hopefully) be opened in the year 3000? That way, civilization in the year 3000 will have a genetic record of us.

This week, we were also able to go to the Lower School campus to use their newly created Makers’ Space! This is an area filled with odds and ends that students can tinker with and put together. Makers’ spaces encourage engineering, creativity, and spacial awareness. We had students create miniature zip-lines, futuristic looking vehicles, and some beautifully decorated flower pots. Middle schoolers are also allowed to use basic tools, and it turns out we have some stealth woodworkers in the group!

First Full Week and Some Exciting News

We’re incredibly lucky that Dr. Claire Todd, a glaciologist from the Geosciences department at PLU, has agreed to work with us over the course of this semester. We’ll be heading up to Mt. Rainier in a couple weeks to talk to her about glacier basics– how they form, how they move, etc. This will be the first in a series of talks with her about glaciers and how they’ve shaped the Washington landscape. Super excited about this. More info soon!

As a part of our PNW Earth Sciences unit this semester, we’ve also been tracking the world’s daily earthquakes over 4.7 and marking them on a map. We’re using this website: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/ The hope is that after doing this for a month or so, we’ll be able to see the Ring of Fire and other major fault systems. On a normal day, there are usually around a dozen 4.7 or greater earthquakes to map. But because of the 8.3 earthquake in Chile and all its aftershocks, yesterday there were over 50 to map!

This was our first full week for the school year, and it was a busy one! We started Math groups. Mr. G is taking Algebra and Geometry students, and Caitlin is taking everyone else. Caitlin made a nifty comic book-style expectations sheet for Math this year:

Today was also the first lesson from Ms. Head, our new Art teacher. The subject was how photography changed Art and the world, and today’s lesson was on realist art before photography. Cool stuff!

Camp Colman 2015!

 

And we’re back from camp! What a trip! When we first arrived on Wednesday, students learned about all of the energy that goes into growing, producing, shipping, and cooking their food and why it’s important not to waste food. This continued throughout the trip, with students trying to get “zero ort (scraps of food)” at each meal. The middle schoolers met that challenge head on, and we had several cabins that had zero food waste during the week!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One of the primary reasons we go to camp at the beginning of the school year is so we can build a healthy community between students and teachers, and so students can work on problem solving together. Because of this, we had students complete many team-building activities together, where they worked on communication, grit, and cooperation. It was so interesting seeing their different solutions to the challenges they were given!

Students also got to participate in traditional camp activities like archery, the ever popular Gaga Ball, boating, and arts and crafts. We also were able to go on a night walk with the Camp Colman counselors, where we learned about nocturnal night life, experienced echo-location, and watched a beautiful sunset over the Sound. We ended the week with a lesson on Pacific Northwest Geography, and a couple rounds of  “Jedi Tag”. It was a great week!

We were sharing photos throughout the week on Instagram, so be sure to check out @seaburyschool to see more photos!

Also, look for more photos on the blog this week! (Your blogger was having some technical difficulties at press time)

First Week!

It’s been a fantastic first week! We’ve been settling in to our temporary home at Urban Grace, while getting started with several Math activities and a couple engineering challenges. Students have had two PE and two French sessions as well.

The picture is of the engineering challenge we did the first day of school. Students were given 15 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, three large marshmallows and a length of string and asked to build the tallest structure they could. This got the students thinking creatively and also served as an ice breaker. There were several cool strategies, including building a kind of trestle using triangles like in the photo. Our winning height was 24.5″!

Next week we’ll be starting PE at the Y and Math groups before heading to Camp Colman for a few days for outdoor ed activities and high ropes courses!

2015 Capstone Symposium

Last Wednesday, we hosted our very first Capstone Symposium!

This year, eighth grade students worked hard on their Capstone projects. They picked a topic that they found interesting, wrote and researched papers on that topic, and then developed a long-term project. On Wednesday, they presented their hard work to friends, family, and the greater Seabury community. For their presentations, they were asked to reflect on what they had learned through the process.

Here are the Capstone projects that students did this year:

 

An avid artist, A.A. researched the importance of public art, and worked on designing and painting a mural at the end of Court C. She had to submit a design and artist’s statement into Spaceworks Tacoma, and was granted a space in which to paint her mural! Her final design was based on a woman who, while growing up, reflects on the way her city has changed.

B.S.’s project was based around learning graphic design, and creating an open-source website for the images he created. He is interested in graphic design, and learned about design elements, Photoshop, and web design during his Capstone project. You can check out his website here:

http://bencapstone.businesscatalyst.com/index.html

C.H. has been an athlete for his whole life, and so wanted to base his project on athletics. Because social change can also be seen in professional sports, he researched athletes who broke down social barriers in order to play professionally and who had an effect on the civil rights movement. He also learned the elements of Photoshop to create informational posters, which he put on a blog. You can see them here:

https://connorcapstone.wordpress.com/

L.B. is interested in both geography and teaching, so he thought he would combine the two for his project. He worked with Seabury teachers to develop a geography curriculum, and then taught it to classes at our lower school Campus. During the process, he learned a lot about lesson pacing, classroom management, and curriculum development.

M.B. has been making jewelry since she was young, so she incorporated that passion into her Capstone project. She undertook a complex research project that looked at the history of marketing and fashion, and how they affect our society today. She then filmed and edited a video where she explains how to create a piece of jewelry. She submitted the video in a contest on instructables.com, and won! You can see it here:

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Glitter-Moon-Necklace/

A.W. researched solar power. He looked at how it works, the pros and cons of solar energy, and what makes it better than energy from fossil fuels. Likewise, he interviewed experts in the solar energy field and looked at how miniature solar power generators can help people who don’t have access to consistent power.

A.G. is an avid musician, singer, and songwriter. She wanted to use her talents to create an EP, so she researched the process, wrote two original songs, and, with the help of Mr. G, recorded them along with two covers. During the process, she learned a lot about songwriting, and the technical aspects of recording music.

Z.K. wants to be a doctor when she grows up. In order to get a good sense of what that entails, she interviewed several doctors on their experiences. She also researched important medical professionals throughout history including Virginia Apgar, and Ivan Pavlov. She wanted to also volunteer in a hospital but unfortunately, there were age restrictions. She’ll be continuing her project next year as well!

We are so proud of all of the hard work that the eighth graders did this year! Their Capstone projects required a lot of research, insight, and creativity, and they all did a fantastic job!

Theater Worksop with Tacoma Youth Theater.

The students had a chance to work with artists from Tacoma Youth Theater the last few weeks. They performed improv and short scenes from famous plays. Everyone had a chance to participate in the many elements that make up the theatrical arts.  

Vocal warm ups
  Beauty and the Beast, or something…
  Improv is much harder than it looks! 

  Robin Hood! 
  An incredible moment of magic onstage.  
 “Oh Tom, I’m all ashiver.” Tom Sawer and Huck Finn. 

Normandy

We started the day with a bus ride from Paris to the town of Arromanches, home of the Mulberry Harbors. Remnants of these portable harbors made from sunken ships and floating barges can still be seen today.  

          

We then made our way to Omaha Beach and the Normady American Cemetery. It is a powerful testament to the sacrifice made by the thousands  of soldiers and other helpers that died in the Normady attacks. 

   

                

In the gale force winds it was uplifting to see the kids bring joy to this hallowed ground. 

   

     

 Our last stop was Point du Hoc, 

     

The Louvre, crazy metros, and French Pizza

Bon nuit!

We have been quite busy here in France! Yesterday, we made it to Paris from Amsterdam, and then headed to Notre Dame Cathedral. After looking around a bit at the amazing gothic architecture, a few students headed over the river to check out Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore.

We then went to a lovely dinner in the Latin Quarter and to the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, the top was closed so we went to the second floor, which has great views of the city.

The next day, we headed out to the Louvre Museum. Students got to see the Mona Lisa and then broke into smaller groups to check out the other parts of the museum. It was great going with this group of students because they would offer interesting tidbits to whichever exhibit you were looking at. For example, one group was lucky enough to have a amateur Egyptologist with them while looking at the Egyptian artifacts.

After lunch, we went on a great bus tour of Paris. Highlights included Napoleon’s tomb, the Arc de Triomphe, parliament buildings, the Pantheon, and the Champs de Élysées. For dinner, we had Flammekueche, which is a pizza-like food traditional to France. We were proud of the students handling very crowded metros and new foods!

                         

  

  We’re off to bed! Tomorrow-Normandy!

(Note from Tacoma: The official photographers on the trip have been dealing with scarce and slow wifi in uploading pictures to the blog. Several photos that were originally on this post didn’t load all the way, so we’ve deleted them for now. They’re doing a great job despite the technological difficulties and we promise a big show of photographs when they get back!)

Amsterdam to Paris

It’s quite late so here’s somes quick pics. We made it to Paris via Thalys train, then onto Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower. In the rain! Everyone’s having a great time!  

                       

Anne Frank Museum and Windmills

Hallo again!

Today we had the great opportunity to see the moving and poignant Anne Frank House. In the words of one student, “She represented those who didn’t have a voice.” The experience was meaningful and really brought Anne’s diary and the experience of those in hiding during the holocaust to life.

After that, we stopped for a quick lunch and drove to two traditional Dutch villages where students got to see the inner workings of windmills (one even made paint!), learn how cheese and chocolate are made, and see the process of making a wooden clog! We also got to stop for some souvenir shopping.

For dinner, we had wonderful Indonesian food. There are a lot of Indonesian immigrants in Amsterdam and its food has become popular with native Dutch people. We were particularly proud of the kids because everyone, including some notoriously picky eaters, tried new foods!

We’re up again early tomorrow morning to catch our train to Paris. More updates to come!

Hallo from Amsterdam!

Hallo! The kids (and adults) are doing great here in Amsterdam! We’re well rested after a good night’s sleep and a busy first day.
After a walk through the city, yesterday, we took a beautiful canal cruise (did you know that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice?) and then stopped for a delicious lunch. After that, students explored the Rijksmuseum and got the opportunity to see Rembrandt’s Night Watch.
Right now, we are standing in line for the Anne Frank house and later we’re visiting traditional Amsterdam villages. We’ll post more as we go along and as wifi allows!

Pics to follow (wifi is being… Interesting)!

Amsterdam Day 1

Internet very spotty but here’s a few pics from today everyone is tired but loving Amsterdam! 

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

  

  

    

                 

And we’re off!

We’ve completed the hard part, getting to the airport and loading the plane. We’re all set and ready to takeoff shortly on our Amsterdam, Paris and Normandy adventure.  We’ll post when we arrive. Bon voyage! 

   

Japanese Imperialism in WWII

Last week, in keeping with our study on WWII, students had the opportunity to learn about Japanese Imperialism from guest speaker, Garry Bush! Students used latitude and longitude to graph places on the Pacific, researched who was in control of those countries, and what resources they produced. Along with information about Japanese culture and nationalism, students used this information to explore why Japan needed to expand in the Pacific, and why it was important for them to win World War II. This further developed their understanding of the different players in WWII, their motivations, and the underlying motives for their interactions with other countries.

Thank you for visiting, Garry!

WWII Veteran Talks to Seabury Students

Today we were so fortunate to have John Plesha, who was a navigator in a B-24 during WWII, talk with the students. the B-24s “The Liberators” also had the nickname “The Flying Coffin” due to their unreliability and tendency to, well, crash. Often.

At 91 years old,Mr. Plesha is a vibrant storyteller who regaled the students with amazing stories. Did you know that the crews on the B-24s carried pigeons? If the plane was going down, the navigator would yell out the coordinates, a crew member would write it on a message, strap it to the pigeon’s leg and throw the pigeon out the window.The crew, hopefully having deployed a life raft, would have to hope for the best.  No GPS then!

He told them about the time his plane lost three out of four engines. One of the crew panicked and jumped out, becoming a German prisoner of war. Mr. Plesha stayed in the plane with the rest of crew. They managed to get two of the engines started again, but they had to fly over the Alps with just 3 working engines. They weren’t able to gain enough  altitude so they flew over Brenner Pass and manged to get back to the base, just after they were given up for missing.

 

Mr. Plesha went on to become a math teacher for 30 years in Edmonds, WA. He figured his odds of staying alive on his 50 missions were 50% each time he flew. The students are so lucky to have the chance to meet him, ask him questions and get to know someone who could tell them what it was really like to fly during WWII.

Seabury Alumnus Comes Back to Teach About WWII.

We were thrilled to welcome back a member of Seabury Middle School’s first graduating class. He is currently a high school senior, taking Running Start classes this year and a passionate historian. He came back and talked to our students to share his extensive WWII knowledge. A few students asked him to come back and teach all day!

Author Rushton Howard Visits Seabury

Students had the chance to meet with  Rushton Howard, author of the Sebastian Reckless series. He gave some great advice to our young authors while making them laugh uproariously. They will never forget the importance of the outline after his visit!

 

 

Mr. Howard offered many great tips such as:

Brainstorm! Use an outline! Just write, write, write- you can fix it later! If you tell yourself you’re going to make mistakes it frees you up to write. The most important words of your rough draft is -THE END!

He also shared his process for illustrating his novels- which involves many many drafts and practicing to get his illustrations just right.

Students can still order copies of his books if they would like their own copy.

We’re looking forward to seeing more creative stories with OUTLINES! 🙂

LeMay- America’s Car Museum

We had a chance to visit the LeMay car Museum and had a chance to see the changes in car manufacturing before and after WWII.

We had a great time taking the Link and walking up to the museum.

Students were able to see  one of the few cars that was made during WWII. Why is there no chrome? Ask a student!

One of the volunteer docents was none other than Mrs. R’s father- who once raced stockcars at Limerock. He enjoyed showing the students his picture of him winning a race and telling them stories as they checkout out the Limerock virtual simulator at the museum.

Students had a chance to race their own derby cars and try out some driving.

We had time to see many more of the interesting cars at the LeMay, including the one and only car built in Tacoma! The 1922 Olympic

 

It was awesome to see history come to life through the automobile.

Electives

This year, Seabury Middle School has added a choice of elective classes every Monday. They are driven by student interest and available expertise. We’ve been able to offer psychology, music recording, cartooning, coding, cooking, painting and community service. We’ve got a few more options that are in the works for the spring.

Making gingerbread!

These kids packed over 100 bags of food for St. Leo’s Food Connection. The food is distributed to students in Tacoma Public Schools to help with food scarcity over the weekends.

Students writing their own code.