Middle School Update for the Week of 1/27

Dear Parents,

I hope you’re doing well -- this was a short week but very productive week in the Stone Middle School!

Our 7th and 8th grade students are finishing up their CAD work for the redesign of the Urban Place complex to include green infrastructure to mitigate stormwater runoff (stormwater runoff is the major water problem Lancaster currently faces).  Our students are doing high-level, complex work -- Jay Lance helped guide them through the design process, but also allowed them to struggle deeply and apply the kinds of problem-solving skills we know they have acquired this year.  As always, there is an impending “real world” deadline for their work -- on Friday, Karl Graybill, Urban Planner and Green Infrastructure expert from Lancaster City, hear their CAD redesigns and give them feedback on their work.

This week we also launched the Mod 4 Humanities Design Challenge -- our students will work in teams to write 3-act plays based on their deep research of the Syrian refugee crisis.  Naturally, this research connects directly back to our big question -- “What Is The Power Of Water?” -- in that “drought” was one of the factors in the Syrian civil war and the flight of refugees. The Lancaster Community Foundation is connecting us to local refugee organizations which I hope will inform our students’ writing. Currently, they are diving deep into the history of Syria -- its culture, religion, geography -- as well as the ongoing water crisis and will begin reading the novel Refugee next week.  Meanwhile, Jay will continue work already begun for the Math/Science challenge -- the completion of a large water machine with water wheels and gears designed by the kids on CAD and then printed on our 3d printers.

Take care and I hope to see you tomorrow at the Chili Cook-Off,

Tim