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Class of '22, Tried and True!

6/20/2022

It's finally here! After months of work and preparation, we are so happy to announce our graduating Class of 2022! It's been a year; with everything slowly returning from a global pandemic, students and teachers everywhere have faced many challenges in returning to the classroom world. Together, we readjusted to the in-person classroom environment, rediscovered our social connections, and remembered what it was like to learn as a real life community. And how do you celebrate milestones like this? With a graduation ceremony of course!

During our celebration, students showcased a bit of the work they had completed throughout the year. Some of these projects included their Wellness masks, which depict what they feel they show others on the outside, versus what they feel inside. To demonstrate their amazing ability to break through learning barriers, they also broke boards during the ceremony with our talented martial arts instructor, Master Pope. Last but not least, some of our students even put on a performance from the Shakespeare play we studied across multiple classes (this year was Hamlet!) Students spent months in English classes translating the work from Old English for comprehension, learning the original lines, and designing set pieces and costumes for their characters. They did such an amazing job, and put on an incredible show!

As a precursor to our graduation, students also presented their SPARK projects to teachers, parents, and professionals online. These projects are always so amazing to see, because students choose a topic that holds a passionate interest to them. This year we had a wide variety of project topics; from addiction awareness to clothing the homeless to proper cyber security for kids, everyone put forth such momentous effort and created amazing projects that truly made a difference in the world outside our classroom. All their hard work helps educate others, and create a voice for those who may not be able to have one. We're so thrilled with their work, and are so excited for their next steps into their learning journey!

Congratulations, Class of 2022! You did it!

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The SPARK is Lit!

4/26/2022

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The year is slowly starting to wrap up, but that doesn't mean our work is done! Students are working hard on our end of the year projects, including SPARK. Each year, our students find a cause they are passionate about that sparks interest for them, and they create an end of the year project about it. This process includes research, finding credible sources, and creating a call to action to help get others involved. Topics range from gaining support for LD classrooms, to creating pamphlets to raise awareness about water conservation. We can't wait to see how their final projects turn out!

In addition to SPARK, MCS kids are also publishing a poetry book for their LA class. Over the course of the year, students have been writing a variety of different types of poems to strengthen their writing skills. As a class, they are taking these poems, and working in teams to help write, proofread, design and publish a class poetry book (which will even have it's own ISBN!) By the end of the year, the students will have a complete book that they created together to share with the world. We're so proud of the hard work they've been doing, and can't wait to share their book with everyone!

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Mix it up in March!

3/29/2022

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It's officially Springtime, and we've jumped in to learning head first! This month marks the start of our yearly Shakespeare unit, in which our Literature and Theatre classes work together to study Shakespearian works and language, while preparing for our end of the year play performance. Students learn about Shakespeare's place in history, how he has influenced English over time, and how to embody and translate his plays, both as academics and actors. All this work comes together in a student play performance, which takes place during our graduation (this year's piece is from Hamlet.) We can't wait to see what our students come up with, and to take our journey into Shakespeare's brilliant mind!

This month students also completed and presented their Social Studies projects. Students put together detailed slideshow presentations about an important event in American History which led up to the Civil War to help introduce our next unit. We're so proud of their hard work, and all the research they put in to their amazing presentations!

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Science Fair Success!

2/7/2022

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Another year, another science fair! For the past few months, our students have been working hard on their group science fair projects, and their end results were amazing! In their groups, they collected a wealth of data and have been working diligently over the last couple weeks to analyze their data, write a report, and complete their presentations. Students also had to follow detailed criteria as they created the scientific report on their process, including inserting pictures and making graphs of their recorded results. This type of project is extremely important for our students, and provides a chance to exercise skills like leadership, teamwork, executive functioning, research and analysis, and sequence and processing. Through their studies, they discovered some awesome results; ice melts fastest in water, Zipoloc is the best for fingerprints, and people just don't really like green cupcakes! We are so proud of them and all their incredible perseverance in thinking like real scientists - congratulations you guys!

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Wonderful Winter Learning

11/15/2021

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The weather is turning colder, but that doesn't mean our learning has to freeze! We've been doing some great hands-on work in Science to help stretch our brains, and truly start to understand the world around us.

Recently, we took an amazing trip to the Academy of Sciences to study genealogy and beneficial traits. Students got to interact with exhibits showcasing different changes in geological makeup, and watch how beneficial mutations stay with certain species throughout their evolution. It's such a great opportunity to see this stuff in person and interact with it, and really helps to connect the dots from scientific concepts to real life! Hurray for Experiential Learning!

We have also been working on prepping for the great San Francisco Science Fair, which all students will be participating in this winter. After discussing how to create scientific claims and questions, students will chose a topic relevant to them and begin their research. This prep work is invaluable for high school, and requires students to exercise team work, critical thinking, scientific language and process, executive functioning, and statistics in order to properly test their hypothesis. There are so many curious and creative minds in our class - we can't wait to see what they chose to study!

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Our Month So Far

10/19/2021

Our first month of class is complete! Students have been working so hard completing their projects, and we are so excited about all the progress everyone has made!

In Literature and Language Arts, students have been learning about poetry, the mechanics of what makes pieces flow poetically, and how to use figurative language for self expression. Using our writing process, students have completed both Odes to items/activities they love, and individualized Identity poems that expresses who they feel they are inside. They presented their pieces to the class, and showed some truly amazing writing skills - Way to Go!

Social Studies just wrapped up our Colonial unit with group presentations on the early settlements. Students read an article about their settlement, pulled out key information, and presented this information to the class. Soon, we'll start our American Revolution unit, which will culminate in a debate between British and colonial perspective. We can't wait to see what the students come up with to defend in their debate!

In Math, we have been focusing on visual-spacial awareness, and how we view the world in three dimensions. Students built shapes in 3D, exercising their executive functioning skills as well as visualization, and translated this to the page to solve for area and perimeter on complex shapes. Tying these real world pieces to traditional math engages students and brings the math world to life!

This year has been so great so far, and we are so excited to see what the rest of our learning will uncover. Here's to more projects, and a Happy Fall for everyone! Happy Halloween!

Welcome Back, 2022!

8/26/2021

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We're back, folks! As the new school year begins, we are so completely excited to be back in person to learn together in our classroom once more! Our MCS team and community is working extra hard to keep everyone engaged and safe, and we're looking forward to creating new and interesting ways of learning in our new environment.

This first week, students focused on their learning needs, and explored what aspects of a learning environment help them to best engage with learning. They worked together to create a list of Community Values, which help us all (students and teachers) cultivate a learning environment where everyone feels supported. Students also did a deep dive into their feelings in Wellness to explore how they feel about learning both at school and at home, and to see what drives them. We even got to make a huge list of things that we love to do that make us feel happy and inspired! These lists are great to reference later in the year as well, when students need reminders of things that help them stay motivated and tools that allow them to thrive.

In Language Arts, students worked on their descriptive writing skills by describing a mystery object using descriptive language. Using a structure word chart, students had to describe their mystery object to the class. The class had to guess what the object was based purely on the words alone! Working on these skills early in the year helps to create a platform for students to work from when they begin writing, and to note what type of language they usually gravitate towards first. This helps teachers develop a writing system for them throughout the year, and highlight any strengths that may appear with their descriptive language.

We can't wait to see what this school year has in store for our learning, and hope that everyone both inside and outside our community stays safe this school year. We're all in this together - Let's support each other and keep learning alive!

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Graduation 2021 is here!

6/11/2021

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It's finally here - Graduation 2021. This year has been trying for many of us; Together we've faced huge obstacles, had our spirits challenged and pushed, and above all, struggled to keep education moving and our minds learning through a very difficult time. Students and teachers had to adjust to our changing world in the blink of an eye, crafting new lessons and re-learning how to learn and interact with in our new environment with each passing day. This year was so hard for all of us. But ultimately, we did it. And we are SO proud of all of our students for sticking through it all. Learning is hard enough without a global pandemic, and you not only got through this year, but ended it with smiles on. We could not have finished this year without your perseverance and positivity, your receptiveness to learning, or your desire to make the world a better place. Thank you, to both students and teachers, for everything you've done. Together, we can move mountains :)

Congratulations, class of 2021. YOU DID IT!

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Safely Learning - Outdoors!

4/27/2021

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We're back! This week, MCS is happy to be able to come back together (distanced and safely) to learn in person with our wonderful students and staff. We are so thankful to have so many families and teachers who are able to adjust to our ever-changing world and continue the learning process with us.

Recently, we've been working on our Midsummer Night's Dream unit, studying story structure in Literature. By creating their own comic books of the story, students practice Brainstorming, Outlining, Composition, and Sequencing - all with a visual art form component. It's a great way to showcase all our students' amazing strengths AND study Shakespeare all at once; we're so proud of them!

We also revisited our values as a class, and created a list for our ideal learning environment. It's great to hear students' voices, and give them space to help shape the world in which they learn!

As we prep for the end of the year, students continue preparing their SPARK projects, practicing for their performance of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream for our graduation, AND writing learning reflections for each one of their classes. They are practicing hard, and very excited to share all of their incredible work with their peers and families!

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A Midsummer Night's Story Mountain

3/9/2021

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It's Spring, which means it's a perfect time for Shakespeare! Each year, we chose a different Shakespearian play to study in depth, and perform in our Theater Class at our year end graduation. This year, we're studying A Midsummer Night's Dream, discussing Story Structure and plot devices in Literature, Character Traits in LA, and behavior, movement, and motive in Theater. At home, the students worked on creating their own Story Mountain by inserting the plot points at their appropriate place on the story arch. This exercise helps focus not only on story structure, but sequencing and working memory as well. Students also practiced their Shakespeare through pre-learning by practicing a dinner scene with their families that introduced Elizabethan vocabulary. Learning about Shakespeare is so much fun, and it gives us such a wonderful opportunity to integrate our curriculums. We're can't wait to take the stage!

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