Hello, Middle School Families,

Thank you all so very much for joining us for Parent Night and joining us for the All School Meeting on Saturday. It was wonderful to see all of you! The class was also very excited for Parent Night to pass so that I could finally tell them about the play and the field trip! They are quite excited. I had many offers to chaperone (thank you all for your enthusiasm), so I will put the names in a hat to pick one! 

We have started the Renaissance block, and the students are truly captivated by this period. This is a listening-intensive block at the beginning, as we are talking about the factors leading up to the Renaissance. It has required the class to actively listen to the lecture and then synthesize what they have heard into notes. 

As a class, we began by reviewing how to take notes by first making an outline using topic headings and then filling in the important details using bullet points. Learning to pull out the main details rather than write what they hear word for word is a skill that will continue to be worked on throughout the block. After the introduction to the Renaissance, the students worked in pairs to synthesize a part of the lecture into a paragraph and present it to the class. Using those presentations, I again demonstrated how to take notes on the board. The class then turned that into a Main Lesson page. 

After this introductory week, the rest of the block will be filled with studying Renaissance biographies. These biographies are key as they help students engage in the material and lead to valuable discussions of art, life, and ideas as the time period arises out of the narratives of these artists' experiences and colorful personalities. To support this further, the class will be reading The Second Mrs. Giaconda by E.L. Konigsburg. This is told from the point of view of Leonardo da Vinci’s wayward apprentice Salai, and helps to paint a picture of the events leading up to the painting of the Mona Lisa. 

Announcements and Reminders for Sixth/Seventh Grade:

The Lunar Festival Fan Dance will be on Thursday, February 6, at 11:30 am. Please remember that students are to wear black pants and a plain red shirt and will be barefoot for the performance.

Please sign up for Sixth/Seventh Grade Parent Conferences. Conferences will be held in the indoor classroom! 

Valentine’s Day: As has been our tradition at The Garden School, please save all student card/gift exchanges for play dates off campus. 

• 2/6: Lunar New Year Performance: 11:30 a.m.

• 2/6: Parent Conferences: Half-Day Dismissal

• 2/7: Parent Conferences: No School

• 2/17-2/21 Mid-Winter Break: No School

• 2/24 Teacher In-Service: No School

• Thank you for the honor of teaching your children,

Ki Lesley