What’s Happening
From September’s opening day to June’s closing ceremonies, we document and share events from all over our campus in an attempt to continuously communicate all the diverse goings-on at The Unquowa School. From school-wide events, assemblies, visiting presenters and other highlights from around campus, here’s a sample of what’s happening…
Black History Month – a Time For Reflection
Posted by Krissy Ponden
In the month of February Unquowa celebrated Black leaders, recognizing their innovations in science and contributions to history, literature, art, and mathematics.
- PreK students enjoyed reading and discussing the famous Black women in the book, Dream Big Little Leader. They asked lots of questions and celebrated each other’s uniqueness.
- Kindergarten students read a variety of books and discussed important historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Ruby Bridges, and George Washington Carver.
- First graders began each morning in BHM month reading and discussing figures from both the past and the present. Students focused on artist Kehinde Wiley, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, and gymnast Simone Biles among others.
- Second graders incorporated BHM into their literacy time. After a group read aloud, students read independently or in small groups to practice reading strategies. They discovered the stories of Henry Box Brown, Dave the Potter, Satchel Page, and Jackie Robinson.
- Each third grader researched a famous Black leader, created detailed portraits and wrote a poem about the life and achievements of that leader.
- Fourth graders puzzled together a large portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and decorated it with their own dreams. They created illustrated timelines highlighting important events in history to recognize the efforts that African Americans have made in the struggle for equity and justice.
- In literature class, fifth graders read Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, a story about a young African American girl who sewed a map to freedom in a quilt. In humanities, students also read about Etta James and listened to her music, learned about Jean Michel Basquiat in art and created mixed media paintings inspired by his work.
- Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade art classes learned about a different Black artist each week and sixth graders further discussed artists such as Kerry James Marshall and Bisa Butler.
- Seventh graders watched Titus Kaphar’s TED talk, “Can Art Amend History?” and in Mr. Izen’s Spanish class students were tasked with a project to create a video or an essay highlighting both a Black and Hispanic person that has brought a positive contribution to society.
- Eighth graders visited the Ruby and Calvin Fletcher African American History Museum to deepen their historical analysis on their studies of race, slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow America They also learned about the origins and innovations of Afrofuturism.
Teachers also participated in professional development discussions on how to ensure they are presenting inclusive and celebratory representation during Black History Month. They had the opportunity to create “zines” inspired by Black-Latina educator and art activist Jennifer White-Johnson’s project, “Zine-Making for Justice and Joy”, that she led at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.
While February was a time to celebrate Black individuals in history, we recognize that Black History is American History, and we strive to embed these lessons and discussions throughout the year at all levels and in all disciplines. It was important to pause and reflect this month to honor the contributions and sacrifices of those who paved the way and those who are continuing to work towards a just and equitable society.
7th Grade Spanish Celebrates Black History Month!
Posted by Thomas Iezin
For the last couple of weeks the students in 7th Grade Spanish class have been working on their Black History Month Project. For this project the students have decided to either make a video or an essay in Spanish highlighting both a Black and Hispanic person that has brought a positive contribution to society. Along this research the students also highlighted the reason we should be celebrating the person they selected. The students have chosen to highlight the following people: Rosie Perez, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Sylvia del Villard, Carmelo Anthony, and Jennifer Maritza McCauley.
Feeling the Love in Black History Month
Posted by Faith Barbuto
We started the month learning about Alma Woodsey Thomas, a Black American artist who did not become famous for her art until she was in her 80s! We made Valentine hearts inspired by her signature style. We learned about Mae Jemmison and turned ourselves into astronauts. After reading about Bessie Coleman we imagined where we would fly our planes to if we were pilots. Our 5th grade reading buddies joined us to read about more bold women in Black history. Our story this month was Cinderella. This year I found many new books with Black lead characters, such as a new personal favorite, Cityrella, whose fairy godmother owns the local bodega. This woven with our stories and crafts about famous Black figures from history made for what I hope was a joyful representation of people in color in our classroom. More than anything I want the books I read to show faces that the kids can relate to and have them feel that anything is possible!
Energy Pyramid Jenga
Posted by Joshua Bartosiewicz
As the 7th graders continue to learn about relationships in Ecosystems, we were able to play a game that demonstrated the potential effects of an energy Pyramid or food web when the balance is thrown off. After learning about producers (organisms that make their own food for energy for survival), consumers (organisms that eat other organisms for energy for survival) and decomposers (organisms that breakdown rotting or decaying material) and the food web; the class indulged in a game of Jenga, but this was no ordinary game of Jenga.
The Jenga tower represented the energy pyramid. The Jenga tower had sections of different colors and each color would represent a certain category of organisms. For example, the base level color represented the producers because every living organism that can’t produce its own food relies on the producers for survival. The next level up from the producers would represent the primary consumers (the animals that are eating the plants/producers) like small rodents. Moving up from there would be the secondary consumers (animals that eat other animals) like snakes and fox. The next level would be the tertiary consumers or apex predators like sharks, grizzly bears or eagles. The final level is representative of the sun considering most living organisms (with the exception of chemotrophs and a few other organisms!) need sunlight for survival.
This game showed how one disturbance to any section of the jenga tower (energy pyramid/food web) can have a ripple effect and result in the ecosystem failing or in this case, the tower to fall down. In the end of the lab, students had a better understanding of how each organism in an ecosystem rely on each other for various things such as food.
Observing Friction & Magnetism!
Posted by Joshua Bartosiewicz
Coming back from president’s weekend, the 8th graders dove head first into Physics which is a new topic of science for our young scholars. We opened our discussion with their personal definitions of “force” and then we compared it to the scientific definition which states, “A force is when a push or pull is exerted on an object causing it to change its relative position or shape”. After we shed some light on the subject, the students participated in a lab dealing with friction (the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving) and magnetism (a physical phenomenon produced by the movement of an electric charge, resulting in the attraction or repulsive force between objects).
The first part of the lab dealt with friction. Students had a ramp and a set of various objects including; a block of wood, a rubber eraser, a set of wheels, a marble, and a pencil. The students would place one object at a time onto the ramp and slowly begin to lift the ramp. As soon as the object rolled or moved, another student measured the height of the ramp and recorded it in their lab write-up. After every object had been tested, students compared the ramp heights at which the objects moved, this allowed them to compare the frictional forces between each item. They concluded that the higher the ramp was before the object finally moved, the larger the frictional forces must have been in order to keep the object from moving for so long.
The second part of the lab involved Magnetism. Students were given the following items; a bar magnet, a magnetic marble, two paper clips (one with a plastic coating, one without the plastic coating), a copper wire, an iron nail and coins (a penny, nickel, dime and quarter). On their lab write-up, students listed the objects previously mentioned and one by one they would use a bar magnet to see which objects reacted to the attraction or repulsion and which did not. This part of the lab was followed by a class discussion on how magnetism is used in today’s life to complete certain tasks (for example, recycling centers use magnets to help sort out metals from other materials in the recycling process). By the end of this lab, students gained a much clearer understanding of frictional and magnetic forces.
Investigating the Schoolyard!
Posted by Joshua Bartosiewicz
The 7th graders have been learning all about biology but more specifically, the relationships between species and nonliving objects (such as water, shelter, dirt, etc.) in Ecosystems. In this lab, students trekked outside to a couple of survey areas down near the brook. Once we reached the survey points, students listed all of the abiotic (nonliving things) and biotic (living things) in the area. After the students compiled their list in the lab write-up, they were asked to sketch the survey areas. Upon completing the drawings, students then labeled their drawings of each factor present in their survey areas. The intent of this lab was to get our young scholars thinking about how the living organisms interact with the nonliving objects in Ecosystems on a daily basis and how they can be crucial for survival. Students were also able to witness multiple living organisms interact with each other (a school of fish, a flock of birds and plants/saplings). In the end, the students gained an appreciation for the interconnectedness of all biotic and abiotic factors on our planet.