Although candy, chocolate, flowers, and gifts are great, did you know that Valentine’s Day was actually created because marriage was outlawed? Seems pretty counterintuitive, but according to legend, Valentine was a priest during the third century in Rome. The Emperor at the time decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, therefore, he prohibited marriage! Priest Valentine realized this was unjust and ended up defying the Emperor, and performed marriages in secret…

Of course the Emperor found out, and Priest Valentine lost his head… 

Candy anyone?

Middle schoolers admired their classmates by creating individual compliment books for each of their peers this week. The covers feature an anatomically correct heart since ya know… we are middle schoolers now and the typical red heart, just isn’t scientifically correct anymore. We all enjoyed spending the time celebrating all the things that we love about one another this week; as a teacher, it’s truly inspiring to witness the close bond that we have formed with one another. TCS has the type of environment that naturally fosters a small tight-knit community, and it was a great time to be able to celebrate these genuine deep relationships that we have made in this special place.

Also, This wouldn’t be a proper “Valentines” Newsletter if I didn’t let you know that Miss Lindsay did some blushing of her own discussing a love match in Grade 5’s book club book. There may have even been some…gasp…kissing! 

What’s happening in Science:

This week in science, we were able to see what TCS is made of on a new level…microscopically to be exact! Scientists inoculated petri dishes by swabbing different areas around the school. After incubation, we were able to observe the microbes we have around us. It is definitive, there is definitely bacteria and fungus among us. 

What’s up in Math?

Fifth Graders have been demonstrating their understanding of the correlation between division and fractions by creating their own word problem. They then brought their problem to life and created Play-Doh models to represent the number sentence. After creating the models they used alligator clips to create closed circuits alongside a programmed code to narrate their interactive word-problem. Fifth Grade students are very excited to present these interactive models to their parents during conferences! 

Sixth Graders demonstrated their understanding of rational numbers, integers and their opposites, ordered pairs, and coordinate planes by creating a robot computer programmed presentation that they are excited to present during their self-assessment conferences! 

In Writing:

Writers completed, edited, finalized, and presented the final drafts of their literary essays on “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara. We also worked on letter writing for compliment books this week.

Important Dates:

February 15-16- Winter Break: No School

February 24- Class Social (3pm-4pm)

March 1-2 Conferences (11:30 Dismissal)

March 29- April 6 Spring Break