Middle School

Building Robots and Skills: Local Teacher Participates in Math and Science Training

Sitting near containers filled with assorted plastic K’Nex and Lego Mindstorm pieces, two seventh grade girls laugh as they put the finishing touches on their robot creation, and joke about what to name it. Nearby, other students concentrate on working with the program software and syncing it to correctly control their robot.

Middle School Spanish: Talking Story and Teaching Language

Standing in front of the class, the sandy-haired boy shuffles his feet, avoiding eye contact with the middle school students seated before him. He looks up, shyly meets his classmates’ gaze, and takes a deep breath. Exhaling, he begins telling a story in Spanish. The words come haltingly at first, then, as his confidence improves, he relaxes and expands his vocabulary, exploring different sentence structures and verb conjugations.

Changes and Challenges: Middle School ‘Voices’ Onstage

“Okay, let’s be honest. We’re in middle school, so we’re not adults and we’re not little kids either. By term, we’re somewhere in between. That can be annoying.”

“I’m in no hurry to grow up. Seeing adults all stressed out is no big temptation to join your team. I’m fine to skateboard around…play video games, hang out with friends, and stay out of trouble.”

Kids Helping Kids: Students Unite to Collect Food

Gazing out from the stage in the school’s Assembly Room, fifteen second grade students stood and collectively asked the assembled audience some objective questions: “What if you only had one meal a day, could you be happy? Could you concentrate in school? Probably not,” they answered. “Your stomach would ache, your head would hurt and your heart would be broken.”