Today was the climax of our International Week celebrations! K and 1st graders sang two songs, preschoolers paraded around the school, and then they visited middle school classrooms. They travelled to Canada and experienced a traditional folk dance, to Guatemala where they exercised their memory skills, to India where they enjoyed a dance performance from 6th grade girls and tasted food, to Norway where they admired wonderful landscapes, and Haiti where they learned about the country and played games.

Thank you to all involved, hosts and guests, and all teachers!

The 7th grade recently visited the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park with the goal to better understand how different ecosystems in southern California function, as well as understand how erosion can impact these different ecosystems. Students met with paleontologists and research experts to better understand these two subjects. This trip coincides with the ongoing interdisciplinary project in 7th grade between the Science, Language Arts, and Math classes, in which students are designing public spaces to be constructed in the southern California area with minimal environmental impact. Students will be presenting their final projects at the end of the school year.

The L.I.V.E club is an initiative from our English middle school teacher, Ms. Aseltine. Under her leadership, students enrolled in the club have selected sustainability as one of their major themes of action this school year. Following up on the momentum created by the Plastic Sustainability Event, the L.I.V.E club is now trying to raise awareness and impact daily habits such as the use of a bamboo toothbrush.

The first bamboo toothbrush sale happened this morning.

Thank you, L.I.V.E club!

Balinese gamelan is a beautiful instrument, and the 7th graders are currently enjoying learning to play it. Thank you to our partner, the Center for World Music, and the gamelan teacher!

As part of the music program for which SDFAS partners with the Center for World Music, 8th grade A and B are visiting a banjo factory. The Deering Banjo Company is a family-owned business located in Spring Valley, which produces most of the banjo instruments in the nation. Students were able to enjoy a unique experience that complements their discovery of playing the banjo in music classes this trimester.

On April 16, 2019, SDFAS welcomed Sebastien Gavignet who is the vice-champion of French of Poetry SLAM. Each grade benefitted from a 1h30-workshop. Students learned how SLAM was born, the rules of Poetry Slam, or performed in front of others. We are all slammers now!

Thank you to Mme Addo for coordinating and organizing! This was meant to be a starting point, and we hope that Slam will infuse its creativity into the classroom and across subject areas!

This morning, Ms. Jacoway and Ms. Denis awarded well-deserved prizes to the winners of the Science Fair Project Competition! Congratulations to our winners, and to all students who submitted a project.

Thank you, Ms. Jacoway and Ms. Denis for your tireless dedication, enthusiasm, and energy to communicate the scientific mindset to the SDFAS students!

On March 30, 6th and 7th graders participated in a writing contest in French for 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The writing contest federates 6th grade and 7th grade students around a final production, whose recipient is not the teacher but an audience related to the project itself. It therefore imposes a specific temporality, which modifies the ordinary of the class. It is also characterized by the close association of writing and reading.

The project builds connections among peers, 8th graders included since they will read and identify the best pieces. While creating a class dynamic, the writing contest dramatizes the act of writing. It also stimulates the imagination of students and generates pleasure to write.

Thank you to Ms. Bunod and Ms. Addo for organizing the contest!

P.S: That very same day was also Crazy Hair Day at school!

The students of the Maker Space elective have designed fun and pretty outdoors games of cornhole for the middle school area! Thank you, Ms. Jacoway, thank you, students!