Friends,
Our campus changes a bit during exam week. Common spaces are kept quiet, reserved for studying. Middle schoolers leave their routines behind for learning in the field.
During exam week, the gym is set up with rows of desks in neat lines. There’s an order to it that is satisfying. Students file in, find their seats, listen to directions, and begin to work. I love to observe our students together, demonstrating their learning — the stillness, the thinking, the intensity.
All-school ice skating is a fitting close to exam week and the fall term. Getting every member of the school to the MetroLink station and onto the train, across streets and to the Steinberg Rink in Forest Park is as fun as it is challenging.
This last field trip keeps the first semester from dissolving into winter break; ending as a community allows us a final opportunity to play together before the holiday. This is energizing to student relationships.
Winter break comes just in time, frankly. We can all use a break after these months of effort, of study and learning. I hope your break is joyful, restful, and safe; I hope our students read and play; and I look forward to all that we will learn and do together in the second semester.
