This Monday felt extra special to me—not only because it was a snow day, but because my favorite band, Tophouse, is releasing a new song every Monday in February. This week’s release, “Morning Cup of Coffee,” felt like the perfect soundtrack for a quiet winter morning. Beyond its cozy, uplifting sound, one lyric especially stood out to me: “Day’s calling, wake on up. You will decide, are you living or alive.”
In a cheerful song about a familiar morning ritual, there’s a gentle but powerful reminder to choose how we show up each day—to live fully, intentionally, and with joy. That idea has stayed with me this week as students began preparing for their self-assessments and reflecting on the school year.
As they look back on their growth, challenges, and accomplishments, my hope is that each student carries with them that same spirit: the courage to choose to thrive, to notice the small moments, and to step into each day with purpose.
—Amanda
Upcoming Dates:
- February 13 – Valentine’s Day Bake Sale and Bingo (1:30pm)
- February 16-17 – February Break (No School)
- Please fill out this form for James Island County Parks. We will be doing PE there starting soon!
- February 27 – Middle School Dance!!
ELA: This week in 8th grade, students continued to read Six Crimson Cranes with an eye for plotting, new characters, and tracking magical elements. For the Folklore and Symbology portfolio project (due 2/20), students researched and recorded facts about their chosen culture’s folklore, read and summarized culture-specific fairy tales, and illustrated and defined common symbols in their culture. It’s been a rich study of stories across the world. We also continued our study of verbs and verbals this week.
Next week, 8th graders have their grammar test on Thursday, 2/12. They will continue to read Six Crimson Cranes, looking closely for how the folklore and symbols in this story are similar and different to the cultures they’re studying for their project.
Science: This week in Science, our 8th graders finalized their Science Fair questions and began researching their ideas. Students explored strategies for locating reliable scientific sources and practiced keeping organized research logs, building important skills for independent inquiry.
Students also assessed their understanding of waves, bringing that unit to a close—be on the lookout for those grades next week.
Next week, students will continue their research and begin designing methods for their Science Fair projects, taking the next steps in turning their questions into meaningful investigations.
Social Studies: We have begun our unit in WW1, focusing on the early stages of the war as well as the war’s impact on civilians and especially the home front. This will lead into our discussion next week of the role of women expanding in the early 1900’s as well as the rise of new technologies, changing both warfare and civilian life forever.
Math: This week in math, 8th graders wrapped up unit 6 with lots of practice with equations of different figures (circles, parapolas, and lines) on a coordinate grid. We took a test on Thursday that assessed their mastery of these skills before we move into unit 7 next week. Unit 7 continues our exploration of circles, triangles, curves, and lines on the coordinate plane and uses more trigonometry to help us solve missing parts (angles, side lengths, ratios, etc) of those figures.
Sports Club Outing to Park Circle for frisbee golf!
