Corbett School District» Ms. Church

Service Project for Outdoor School by Carrie Church

Carrie Church — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:37:09 +0000

My name is Ryan Welch and I’m an eighth-grader at Corbett middle school. I have organized a bottle drive for outdoor school as my service project. It will be at the Corbett country market this Friday and Saturday from 12 to 5. We accept pop cans and plastic bottles and glass bottles we
also have chosen to accept cash donations that will be placed in the jar that the Corbett country market has designated for outdoor school. Please join us and help support outdoor school for Corbett.

When I was in a sixth grade I went to Outdoor School. I was a bit nervous at first but the staff there makes you feel at home, you stay in cabins and get to eat great food. Animal life and plant life are some of the thing your kid learns. It is also a way for the kids to enjoy the wonders of the outdoors and have fun. Environmental education is important because you can
understand more about nature and you learn respect nature. When you’re there you learn things that you didn’t know and by the end you don’t want to leave.

I’d like for the experience of Outdoor School to continue for everyone.

Stories: Then and Now by Carrie Church

Carrie Church — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:07:33 +0000

In the MS, our social studies focus this year has been, and will continue to be, ancient civilizations. For the past three weeks, our class has been running a simulation in order to learn about the Fertile Crescent, and the birth of civilizations. The basic idea of our simulation is that the class is divided among five tribes of hunter-gatherers in the Fertile Crescent region (Hittites, Babylonians, Persians, Phoenicians, and Medes). The clans must work together to build public works projects, use written language, plan military strategy, and compete against the other tribes in the region to become The Greatest Empire of the Ancient World. Along the way, students read, write, create art projects and models, and present speeches and dramatic presentations to learn how civilization arose in Mesopotamia. I’ve rarely seen a class so excited! We could easily spend all day, every day, learning about Mesopotamia (and battling neighboring tribes, and completing projects), but we can’t.

We have other important work to do, and other histories to learn about. In addition to learning about the stories of people who lived five or six thousand years ago, middle school students are learning that their own stories are important, and worthy of telling. A month ago, when I began to ask that students write their stories down, I heard a lot of, “Nothing I do is very interesting. I haven’t done anything to write about. Nothing I can write about is good enough!” It took a couple of weeks for some kids, but now everyone realizes that their lives are important, and stories about those small moments in our lives, properly recorded and told, are powerful. I’ve read and heard stories about 4-H projects, new pets, old pets, road trips, fender-benders, amusement parks, family vacations, cat vomit, cancer, video games, wipe-outs and near misses, heavy equipment. . . the list goes on and on. And that’s what I asked for: everyday stories, of everyday life. And guess what? They are good enough. In fact, they are amazing.

The kids and staff at the Middle School would like to share these stories with you on Wednesday, October 19th. Check with your middle school student to find out when, and in which classroom, they will be telling their stories, and please plan on staying throughout the entire session (check with your student for a handout with their sessions time). You won’t want to miss this evening of storytelling entertainment!

Welcome to another great school year! by Carrie Church

Carrie Church — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:13:38 +0000

The end of August! Back to school time is my favorite time of the year. I am looking forward to seeing the “old” students, and getting to know all of our new kids. We have a great year planned for you. Our major topics of study will be ancient civilizations (mummies!) and simple machines / physical sciences (Rube Goldberg machines!). Of course, we’ll begin each day at 7:55 with our astounding Morning Meeting, and our fall overnight field trip promises to be better than ever. Let’s get started!