This past Thursday during the Parent-Teacher Conference afternoon, our beloved MS students were, well, “teacher less”. So what did they do? They took advantage of what SDFAS does best. Innovate, improvise and implement activities that fully engage students, then vary those activities so that all students get a taste of something they like best. In this case, 6th and 7th graders each at different moments alternated between fun and engaging athletic games on the field with Ms. Seidel, and Scrabble/Upwords gaming challenges with Mark our Head of School. Students were assigned randomly to their teams for bilingually-played word game challenges designed to foster collaboration and encouragement among students as well as stretch their language brains and strategy-building ability! Featured in the first photo below is the 6th grade group that collectively used every tile in their Upwords game box to score a fully played out game board of scrabble-like words that both spread out linked to each other as well as “stack” vertically. Controlled high energy chaos and fun!” As for the 8th grade, they had the privilege of going to Aerial Revolution (https://aerialrevolution.com/ )for an afternoon of sheer fun and the building of class cohesion. Go SDFAS. (text by Mark Rosenblum)

Two years ago, our JMUN club was fortunate enough to have been visited by a delegation of representatives from the San Diego Diplomacy Council. As a part of that visit, students were able to learn about foreign policy and domestic initiatives related to youth empowerment from individuals from around the globe. We were recently invited to attend another event of the same nature at La Jolla Country Day School on Wednesday, February 5th. Along with the AP French Class at LJCDS, our JMUN delegates were able to converse and exchange stories with another delegation of representatives from a variety of countries, including Senegal, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Morocco, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Madagascar, and Djibouti. Students learned about the professional careers of their delegates, the passions that they have, and their hopes for the future. On the bus ride home, students were buzzing with excitement after their conversations with their delegates. It was an enriching and thought-provoking experience for all. Thank you to La Jolla Country Day School for extending such a warm welcome and for hosting a wonderful event! (by Shelby Aseltine, JMUN Advisor)

Eleanor Meyer (6th grade) placed FIRST in this year’s international writing competition for grades 4 to 6, on Sarah Brennan’s Blog.  

For her winning entry, Eleanor won a signed copy of Storm Whale, a book by Sarah Brennan which was nominated and short-listed for multiple prizes in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Describing Eleanor’s poem Sarah Brennan wrote: “Eleanor’s entry was a real standout, with its lyrical riddle, with gorgeous similes in the first two lines, and the solution in the final line! A very original and beautiful poem, which thoroughly deserves first place. Congratulations Eleanor!” 

Below is the winning haiku:

Ruby and black skirts,

Delicate maidens dancing,

A sea of poppies.

The Coast to Coast Global Issues Leadership Initiative is a signature Middle School student exchange program between network French-American schools (SDFAS on the West coast and FASRI on the East coast of the United States).  It is an inquiry-based and student-centered, cross age, cross curricular, cross school, & cross country collaborative. 

Using the classroom, independent research, fieldwork, and a cross country exchange, students from the San Diego French American School and the French American School of Rhode Island are working collaboratively to explore questions of their choosing related to a broad global theme (this year’s theme, Ocean Uses).  Students from each school will create a final product demonstrating what they learned and will prepare a presentation to share with their own school upon their return. (Text taken from the Coast to Coast brochure.) 

We hope that growing empathy in our students  will guide them throughout their lives.  In December, BLANKIDS , a Non-Profit organization, came to work with the Middle Schoolers to make blankets that were sent to orphaned children around the world.  We are proud to help our students move from concepts to tangible actions.   The assembly started with a short documentary about the work BLANKIDS does, and then we all got to work  making as many blankets as we could in 90 minutes!  We want to teach our students how to use their resources to have a positive impact, and this  activity taught them how to tie good knots in fabric and lend a helping hand to those in need. Find out more here: Children Helping Children Website

The Joshua Tree camping trip to the California desert supports experiential learning at SDFAS.  Studying the surrounding area while hiking, exploring and observing the desert environment is not only a great way to get to know your state better. It also helps students bond with classmates and teachers.

This Joshua Tree trip gives the material to work on a writing project that supports the students learning in Science and in English Language Arts.

Enjoy the pictures of our Sixth graders hard at work on their essays!