On Thursday, Nov. 28, the Secondary section engaged in off-timetable activities for the half-day, focusing on ATL skills in a so-called “Thrive Day”. While the grade 10s focused on their Personal Projects; the grade 11s on collaborative team-building; the grade 12s on finishing their Extended Essays; and the Cabaret Night artists on technical rehearsals; the remaining grade 6-9 students engaged in over 11 different self-selected activities that boosted their Approaches to Learning (ATLs).
One workshop offered was a special crash course in collaborative reporting for the school newspaper, The Bite. The goal was to report on Thrive Day in a timely, organized, and collaborative fashion. What follows are the results of that rapid reporting, photographing, transcribing, and copyediting: all completed in just under two hours (plus a few hours of finishing work by The Bite‘s advisor). Enjoy the student reporting!
Feel the Beat
In the Feel the Beat workshop’s morning routine, led by MYP Coordinator Kate Sorrell, students created a group dance routine consisting of eight different dance moves to a song of their choice. Grade 9 student Aylin enjoyed the activity, stating, “I really like dancing in general and improvisation has always been quite interesting and quite fun to me.”
—Vlad O. & Filipp S.
Business Challenge
Vice Principal David Hughes led the Business Challenge workshop in the secondary gym. In part one of the workshop, students got introduced on how to effectively pitch a product and brainstormed on how to effectively pitch a brown paper bag. After that, students in groups of twos and threes presented their pitch of the brown paper bag.
Hughes says that students just finished their sales pitch where students were practicing how to pitch using the guiding question: What makes brown paper bags so special? Hughes stated, “So we were coming up with creative ways, and then solutions, and presenting to others.”
—Vlad O. & Filipp S.
Autumn Colors
In this calm, relaxing, drawing and glueing activity, led by Learning Support teacher Anna Valero Domenech, students engaged and collaborated with each other to produce artwork inspired by the autumn season. They collected dry and dead leaves off the frigid grass, then glued them, cut them, and turned them into wonderful pictures!
Grade 8 student Toma O. says “we just collected dead leaves and put them together to make artwork, and that’s collaborating.”
—Katherine S. & Stefania S.
Fantasy Tabletop Game Production
The Fantasy Tabletop Game Production workshop, led by MYP Design teacher Ben Miller, worked on making a fantastical tabletop game with dragons and castles. Over 15 students signed up for the activity, including a grade 9 student, Tomasz, who stated, “I signed up for this workshop because I like making physical things, and this one pretty much fits that description.”
—Vlad O. & Filipp S.
Baking Monsters
In Baking Monsters, about 20 students gathered together to challenge themselves in the Science Lab to bake cakes and cupcakes. EAL teacher Seba Olivares gave the students instructions on how to bake and afterwards were put into different groups to bake. Some students were interviewed on what made them sign up for baking and why:
What inspired students to sign up for Baking Monsters?
“My mom is a baker and she has a bakery, and I just wanted to see what it’s like to be a baker.” —Grade 6 student Selin N.T.
“Last time I did baking was in grade 7, so I decided to challenge myself again.” —Grade 9 student Addy L.
“Let’s just say that the other options weren’t as fun as baking.” —Grade 9 student Roman Y.
— Hyunwoo S. & David S.S.
Outdoor Survival
After meeting in room 404 to go over the basics of Outdoor Survival, the 10 students in this workshop learned some survival skills from PHE teachers Magnus Holmstrom and Arif Akhundov. The group left for the Baneasa Forest before interviews could be conducted, though the leaders shared wonderful photos from their shelter-building activity in the Baneasa Forest.
Photography
Grade 7 student Felix reported that the Photography workshop, led by Photography and Film teacher Eliza Zdru, consisted of taking 50 photos of different items at the school in a scavenger hunt-style task. During this activity students must go around the school campus and find the different subjects that they are supposed to take photos of. This taught the students about engagement, collaboration, and organization, while having fun and engaging with each other throughout the activity.
—Clayton F. & Andy Z.
Self-Affirmation Bracelets
In Self-Affirmation Bracelet Making, led by Learning Support teacher Jamie Hernandez and English teacher Ashley Reinhardt, students collected positive thoughts to boost their self-esteem in order to have a positive mood. Afterwards they started making bracelets with beads by placing them on a string.
Grade 9 student Luna came up with this affirmation:
“How people view themselves is powerful.”
Grade 6 student Cariana generated her own affirmation:
“Not caring what other people think.”
—Katherine S. & Stefania S.
Collaborative Art
In this fun, artistic activity, Collaborative Art, led by Secondary substitute teacher Svetlana Akhundova and EAL and Humanities teacher Lina Tovar in room 318, students collaborated together to create a graffiti-style zen tangle mural of our school’s motto, “Creative, Courageous, Compassionate,” to put on the wall to inspire our community.
— Zoey L. & Myra H.
Science for Fun
Led by a team of Science teachers, Science for Fun engaged students in a variety of fun experiments. Grade 7 student Taha explained what they’ve done so far: “We used a type of paper to test if you have coronavirus. It works the same as the coronavirus tests, which show you if you have a coronavirus or not. And right now we are making oobleck, [which is] not a solid or a liquid; its called a non-Newtonian fluid.”
—Ares T. & Victor T.
The Bite Reporting Workshop
Over 12 students gathered in the Journalism Attic to learn the basics of reporting for the school newspaper for The Bite Reporting Workshop. Journalism teacher Chuck Adams led the students in a quick interviewing and photography crash course, intended to introduce middle school students to the skills they can develop in grades 9-12 as a writer and photographer for The Bite. Then students spread out and reported on the main event of the day: Thrive Day.
Upon returning from the reporting session, grade 8 student Filipp exclaimed: “That was a good first experience as a journalist.”
The Bite Reporting: Debrief
In the debrief segment, led in part by grade 11 student David G., students reflected on the Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills they relied on for success with the entire project. “Respectful Communication,” says grade 8 student Stefania S. “If we need their story we obviously need to talk to them.”
“Listening skills,” says grade 9 student David S. “We had to listen to people to get their exact statements, their experiences and their activities.”
“Collaboration,” says grade 7 student Myra H. “Working with a partner [for the interviewing and photographing] as well working as a whole team to produce this article.” Indeed, all of the amateur journalists did extraordinary work, and were able to finish the article by the deadline. Enjoy!
—Chuck Adams
What was your favorite part about Thrive Day? Leave a comment!
It was such a fun day, getting to hang out with friends during these engaging activities. Can’t wait for Thrive Day, happening this Wednesday led by HS STUCO!