Reflection, Preparation and Celebration

This past week has been a busy one in the middle school!  There have been a flurry of activities and full calendar's worth of weather, well, almost!  Here's a look into a few things I've had the opportunity to do with the students.

REFLECTION
I met with the 7th grade students recently to reflect on their first experience with final exams.  We talked in large groups about the measures they took to prepare for finals and then had some think time to determine how successful those efforts were.  From there the students helped to create a document they can access with finals tips and advice for spring semester.  I also plan to share this document with the class of 2021 as they approach their first set of finals.  You can find the document here: Class of 2020 Finals Tips and Advice

PREPARATION
On Monday I had the pleasure of joining the students in Mr. Guthrie's math classes.  Together we created individual portfolios on www.missouriconnections.org.  Students took the Interest Profiler and compared these results to a paper/pencil questionnaire we did in November.  With the upcoming 8th Grade Shadow Day in March, the goal of this activity was to provide students with more information regarding the variety of careers that make up our workforce and to encourage them to learn about options they may have never considered or heard of.  Having a math teacher in the room, and information about salary and cost of living on the website, we often found ourselves in intriguing conversations about money, percentages, comparisons between cities, etc.  Students who do not have Mr Guthrie for math or who were absent have been working me in small groups or individually to complete this activity as well.

CELEBRATION
During yesterday's assembly 18 kids helped me announce to our student body and staff that we have successfully raised the $5,000 needed to fulfill Haley's wish!!!!  What an amazing accomplishment!  And in fact, we have OVER $5,000.  For the Make-A-Wish organization to grant a full wish, it actually takes about $10,000.  So any extra we raise still goes to Haley's trip to swim with the dolphins.  The Upper School Student Government met with some of our students to learn about our Bows and Bowties campaign.  Currently Bows and Bowties are on sale in the Upper School.  On February 19 at 7:00 Pembroke Hill will host the "Bow-sket Ball Game" when the Varsity basketball team plays Barstow here at PHS.  Students from the Ward Parkway Campus will be in attendance wearing their bows, bowties, and/or sweatshirts.  Haley and her family will be our guests of honor that evening as well!  I'm currently looking for students who would like to assist in planning a send off party here in the middle school for Haley!

And in case you didn't make it in the building this week, I just had to share the plethora of campaign posters that decorated the hallways!  What courageous and inspiring students we have!  It's always fun to hear their determination to bring in new ice cream flavors and food trucks :)