Little Red School House
and Elisabeth Irwin High School

A Pre-K-12 Progressive Education

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Back in the Building

Ana

Dear Middle School Families,

Over the last few days I have asked middle schoolers how things felt now that we’re back. “Weird but good,” was the most common answer. If you speak tween, then you know this translates roughly to “Great. Amazing. Wonderful.” Whether you take their answers at face value or read more enthusiasm into them, they’re right.

Having middle schoolers in the building again has made this strange time delightfully normal. They are so much themselves - unfiltered, funny, awkward - even when they are sitting in rows all facing the same direction. Even with masks on, with a dozen handwashing breaks, middle schoolers are full of arguments and punchlines and opinions. Their energy is contagious.

I asked in this week’s Middle School Meeting what has been a pleasant surprise and here are some of the chat answers: Lunch! Seeing friends. LUNCH! Having breaks. Lunch. My classes. Luuuuunch.

When I asked what they were looking forward to, predictably, I got a lot more LUNCH (haha). They also wrote about clubs, about upcoming big projects, and art class. Finally, I asked them to put in the chat one act of kindness they witnessed and they wrote, you guessed it: People making lunch! Also: maintenance staff cleaning the whole building all day, teachers keeping us safe, classmates helping and welcoming each other.

I found myself thinking as I walked through classrooms today, “What would Elisabeth Irwin think?” Would she have thought of something better? How much would she hate these rows? Or would she be proud of the daily innovations that make learning possible? I believe she’d be moved by the way we’re adapting, that learning continues and that we stay connected. After all, school is not preparation for life, but actual real life. Life is weird now, but still good.

Click this link to see some of the slides from Curriculum Night as promised.

See you next week at our open parent rep meeting about diversity, equity and inclusion. Check the Community Events Page for the link.

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