Sep 26, 2022

Weekly Update + Upcoming Offerings

HELLO FALL

This week we welcomed the arrival of Fall with a morning Equinox celebration on Thursday. Right on cue the morning weather has become comfortable enough for us to spend our mornings and lunchtimes outside culminating on Friday with a Branches-built and organized obstacle course for our Roots students to experience and enjoy!

Our fall-inspired week had us celebrating APPLES! Students learned about apples, read about apples, wrote about apples, learned to draw apples, experimented with apples, and cooked apples. Students also pressed leaves, and created their very own fall feast collages.

Branches students pushed themselves this week, spending time in a new offering: Typing Club, where they worked to learn how to use a computer keyboard for word processing. They also explored math, science, civics, and the Holes: Book Club, and kicked off their Odyssey of the Mind long-term problem planning!

Friday brought the fun and learning to a temporary conclusion (Fall Week 2 begins tomorrow!) with an apple-based sensory data collection. Branches students stepped into their 'lab assistant' roles and helped Roots students create their own observation tables. We explored the five senses via apple comparison (Gala, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp). They also sampled apple juice, and spiced apples. The spiced apples cooked in the room all morning, and were a nod to Holes character Ms. Kate Barlow's Spiced Peaches.

Sorry to end on a more serious note, but we will continue to monitor the progress of Hurricane Ian over the next few days. We do not anticipate any closures/impacts to our schedule, but are prepared to update this plan as necessary. We will take leads from SJCSD, DCPS, and the FLDOE on what changes we may need to make this week. Hope you had a great weekend and stay safe this week!