7th Grade Hour of Code!

On Friday, Dec. 11, the Peoples Academy Middle Level 7th grade students participated in the Hour of Code. The Hour of Code is an international event to celebrate Computer Science Education Week. Our students joined over 100 million students around the world to build foundational 21st century and computer science skills. By exposing our students to computer science and computer programming we aim to teach them to create technology, not just consume it and encourage them to think about pursuing a future in this field. For more information about the Hour of Code please visit code.org There are really fun coding activities the students can continue to do.

      

Balancing Screen Time

We often get questions about how to balance screen time for students.  Our partners at Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education (TIIE) just had a nice blog post about this topic that I thought our parents might enjoy reading

"Let’s face it, it’s a challenge to balance technology in our lives; but it’s essential. Parents and adults need to guide their young adolescents and children towards developing this balance."  Balancing Screen Time Link

Unbound: Duct Tape Fanatics!

These are 8 different pieces of art on mini canvases.

One of the many offerings this fall through Unbound was Duct Tape Fanatics. Each week was different, but this photos shows the work done one week when each student had a mini canvas and the kids came up with their own designs using duct tape. Many of the students said this was one of the favorite projects during the Duct Tape sessions. The creativity that came through on these were amazing. This Unbound, like many others, is run by students, with an adult chaperone.  It's a wonderful program and there will be many new offerings for the Winter term.

Good Things around PAML

We've had a lot of great things happening around the school, including a food drive, Golden Ticket monthly muffins, community gatherings, and of course our great Positive Post!  Here are a few photos:

7th grade and some of the food collected for the food shelf

The 5th grade side of the Positive Post - it changes all the time so we try to capture with photos.

Ms. Zuke's TA special luncheon - with gratitude placemats that they wrote  for each other! 

Cookies and Cocoa

Positive Behavior Celebration - School-wide!

We reached our 2nd mini cube-tube celebration goal and earned cookies and cocoa for the whole school.  The 8th grade Student Ambassadors helped serve on Nov. 24th. The photos shows some of the preparation work that needed to be done and the video at the end is how one grade level gets served!  Enjoy!

Fundraising for Senegal

Several 7th and 8th grade students interested in cross- cultural communications attended a conference at UVM this week. An exciting moment was when after fundraising over $400, the crew presented their gift of an iPad Air  and hard case to Malick Diop a 5th and 6th grade teacher from our partner school in Dakar, Senegal.  This gift will make having conversations with the students in Dakar easier and more personal than we've been able to achieve so far.  This conference was sponsored by the Green Across the World organization which PAML has been working with for 3 years now.

Recent Happenings at PAML!

We had our second Community Gathering this year on Friday and it was amazing! This time the 5th and 7th grades planned the event and everyone enjoyed it.  There was some bobbing for apples and even a little pumpkin bowling. Students were recognized for receiving Wolf Tracks which connects to the Safe, Respectful and Responsible school-wide behavior expectations.

7th grade has been working on the Lamoille Watershed project.  Today Mrs. Bronner shared a few photos of students meticulously working on their maps.  It's impressive the time, care and details they are putting into these maps as they have learned so much about the Lamoille River.