Mural project: We are excited to announce that part one of our spring mural has been mounted on Court C! Make sure to swing through our little street and check it out — you won’t be sorry. Part two will be installed in the coming weeks.

Check out the picture and see if you can figure out what it is. Stumped? Check this out.

You can also view a student-made Powerpoint presentation about our painting process here. And, as always, make sure to check out our Flickr page!

Upcoming events: No school tomorrow or Monday! We’ll see you all on Tuesday to kick off a shortened week.

Next Friday is Beach Day! We will meet at the Middle School as usual in the morning, then bus over to the Lower School for group transportation to Dash Point State Park. We’ll have fun at the beach all day, then end the day back at the Middle School for regular pick-up.

Field Day is coming up the following week, on Wednesday June 9th. MSers will be running the events for the younger students, so we’ll be heading over to the Lower School around lunchtime for set-up. Students who live in Northeast Tacoma and Federal Way, or who stay for after care, have the option of staying at the Lower School as they return from the field. Everyone else will hop on the bus and return to downtown for pick-up as usual.

We’ll also have a topsy-turvy schedule on the last day of school, June 11. We’ll be attending an all-school Gathering at 9 a.m., then returning to the Middle School. School lets out at the M.S. at 11:30 a.m. to allow busing to the L.S. when they get out at noon. THERE WILL BE NO AFTERCARE AVAILABLE on the last day. Happy summer everybody!

Middle School Exams: Final exam prep begins next week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!

This year, middle school students will be taking End of Year Exams. The exams will be comprehensive in nature, although we will not be covering the full year’s worth of material. We will be placing specific emphasis on how to study for an exam rather than the results of the exams. This is not a “high stakes” exam and will not have a disproportionate impact on the students’ final grade in any subject. As this is the first year that students have taken an exam, our focus will be to generate a successful experience.

The goals are:

• To understand what a comprehensive test constitutes
• To further develop study skills
• To develop test taking strategies
• To have students derive some success around taking exams
• To prepare students for high school
• To assist in drawing closure to the school year

Schedule: We will begin to review material during the week of June 1. Students will receive information from their teachers about the content of the exam and to develop outlines and strategies for studying that material.

Exams will be taken June 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Students will have an exam in English, Math, Integrated Studies (Glaciology, Tacoma history, Civics, Architecture) and French.