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Due to a fluke of demographics and an unusually large number of students moving to the mainland this summer, the 7th and 8th grades at Connections Public Charter School have a few openings for this school year still available. We added another kindergarten, so that has openings as well.
Our students stay with the same teacher for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade, then a different teacher for 4th 5th and 6th grade. This looping allows the teachers to become real experts on the needs of those students. I am not sure which classes have openings for elementary at this time.
Connections offers small class sizes (no bigger than 22 for middle school), personal attention, and a genuinely supportive environment. Electives include the Makery project featuring high tech laser cutters and 3-D printers, ukulele classes with Cyril Pahinui, ocean swimming, drama, and art.
Bus transportation is available from much of Puna. Applications can be picked up at the Connections office in the Kress building on the Hilo Bayfront.
Carol
edited to revise openings
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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Bumping this up since school hasn't started yet.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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I was a total goof-off in the 8th grade. Can I repeat?
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Most 8th graders are at least totally goofy, and most are goof offs, so you are in good company. Part of why I love teaching middle school is how goofy the kids are, it is amazing how much they grow and change in just 2 years.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Carol, what makes the kids goofballs in 8th grade? I'm curious.
Is it the age or the grade? Last stop before high school?
I didn't have an 8th grade experience, and I've always felt like I missed something important.
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Kathy,
It is all of middle school that is so goofy, not just 8th grade, although each year certainly has its own flavor. Middle school is this funny in between time, they aren't little kids anymore, but they aren't young adults by a long shot, plus the developmental gaps within middle school are the greatest of any time. Two kids sitting side by side in the same class, who are within a year in age, can be closer to five years apart in physical, emotional, and cognitive development. One minute the kids are being mental giants, the next minute they are purely silly over something as basic as a fart. One student can look like she is twenty and ready for college, while the boy next to her will be trying to crawl around on the floor and play aliens vs monsters, complete with exploding sound effects. Hormonal changes, family dynamics, social pressures to fit in, and attempting to find themselves all play a part in why middle school students are so goofy.
What I like about this age group is watching them find themselves in so many different ways, both lasting and meaningful, and also purely matters of personal style. So at the same time that a student finds his social conscience and becomes incensed about modern child slavery he might also come to school with neon yellow sneakers, purple hair, and his latest love interest's name shaved across the back of his head. They are still people pleasers at this age, not yet angst filled and projecting a bitter "Adults are just a conspiracy to ruin my day!" attitude like high school students do, instead they still show all kinds of emotion, are very caring and fiercely loyal to their friends, and still care about what the adults around them think. This is when many of them develop life long interests, they are open to learning new things, and excited about becoming good at new skills. As much as the core content subjects, middle school is when they learn the life and academic skills that they need to carry them through high school, college, and life beyond school; along the way we also learn history, geography, and political science.
My current mantra is "Middle School Rocks!" because it does.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Carol,
thanks for your thoughtful reply. Your passion and empathy for your students shines through! [  ] As does your intellectual understanding of their passage. Is it 7-9 here or 6-8?
I remember my excitement about middle school (which we called junior high), because we would no longer be in one class all day, and would get two electives (one was to plant a garden, woohoo! and the other photography, yea!). We would have a locker instead of storing our stuff in our one desk. To me those were signs of increasing freedoms and independence. Oh, and the dreaded gym showers, not so great ...
6th grade was still elementary, so I only had 7th grade, as we moved away after that and I went into high school. My middle school year was not lighthearted, because JFK was shot when I was three months in, and the world changed.
I do remember making a bet with my core teacher that in 10 years (by 1973), if you mentioned the Beatles, the average person would have no idea what you were talking about. I never did collect on that bet. [:p] Do you ever bet with your students about pop culture?
Thanks for the reminder ...
I totally agree that you have them when they are not "set" yet as to their direction. You can really make a difference, and I have no doubt that you do so. I wish I had had a middle school teacher like you! [ ]
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Middle School in most Big Island schools is 6-8. At Connections we keep 6th in upper elementary and 7th & 8th are middle school, although we try to build bridges within our school between 6th and 7th. Because we are a small charter school we have that kind of flexibility, for instance our middle school English teacher has a core of students who meet with her at lunch a few days a week all year, and do extra reading and writing that earns them a semester of high school Language Arts credit. It gives capable students a way to be challenged and get a head start on High School. At our high school we have many students who take UHH or community college classes while still in high school, in fact to graduate it is required to take at least one class at a post secondary level. These are the kinds of things we could never do in a big DOE school, but charter schools can.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Posts: 3,035
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Joined: Aug 2006
Bumping this again because we still have a few openings for 8th and also 3rd grade.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
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quote:
Originally posted by csgray
Electives include the Makery project featuring high tech laser cutters and 3-D printers,
Oh well, can't stand it anymore! What in the name of all that is unjust and unfair allows 7th and 8th graders laser cutters and 3D printers? When I was in 8th grade, if we had paper mach'e planets painted with poster paint, we were lucky and damn well liked it or experience the Stick of Rule.
CAD/CAM 3D Printing is the future of almost everything. Who could not want their own little Mini-ME to sit on top of their PC monitor and have delightful discussions with someone that totally understands and agrees with you?
http://imgur.com/gallery/yZOYq
*Japanese tourist on bus through Pahoa, "Is this still America?*
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