NOVEMBER 18, 2021

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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL NEWS

Team ES Champs!

For Halloween, our school professionals from the Elementary School chose the theme of "Olympians!" In true champion style, they banded together to show their school spirit.


Clusters C & D Election Day Learning

Students in Clusters C and D participated in a busy and exciting Election Day on Tuesday, November 2nd. Before the election, students were engaged in lessons about democracy, local elections, primaries, voting rights, and the responsibilities of mayors and city council members. Students then exercised their right to vote in mock “local” elections in their classrooms. With their voter registration cards in-hand, they headed into the voting booth and voted on various topics, including classroom mascots, special events, and rewards. The excitement was palpable leading up to Election Day, complete with creative campaign posters, slogans, and the power of persuasion. Once votes were cast, everyone was excited to receive an “I Voted” sticker. All in all, it was a very successful Election Day at Churchill!


Cluster D Activist Club

The Elementary School Activist Club is back, and our Cluster D students are bringing their passions, talents, and personalities to the incredible work they’re doing. Inspired by Amanda Gorman’s children’s anthem, Change Sings, students have been busy collaborating on an Activist Club mural. Their artwork incorporates themes that are important to them, including Black Lives Matter, standing as allies with our AAPI neighbors, gender equality, solutions to the climate crisis, and protecting endangered species, just to name a few! They're discovering how art and self expression can be powerful tools when fighting for positive change.


Cluster B's Slime Time

Cluster B made crunchy slime this week! They had so much fun following a sequence of directions and adding colorful beads to their slime!

MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWS

Middle School Election Results

Churchill's Middle School went to the polls on November 2! 6th, 7th and 8th grade candidates spent the prior week campaigning for positions in our Middle School Student Council, and delivered speeches to their classmates on the first Tuesday in November. Students then voted for grade representatives, as well as a President, Vice President, Reporter and Treasurer. Congratulations to all of our fantastic candidates!


6th Graders Learn About Artifacts

For the last few weeks, 6th graders in Ms. Conger and Mr. Russell's history classes have been studying powerful empires from Africa, North America and South America. On October 30, they had the opportunity to put on their archaeology hats, and illustrate or create artifacts from an empire we studied that could be included in a museum exhibit. Students were incredibly creative, using their artistic, and even some engineering skills to create awesome artifacts based on what they'd learned!


ISLearning Update

A huge heartfelt thank you to everyone for your continued support of our ISLearning Program. These past two school years have been difficult in many ways but we were still able to continue connecting our 8th Graders with students internationally in Asia. With the added understanding of remote technology, it actually lends to stronger connections and more developed video chats amongst our students.

The ISLearning Program is a nonprofit organization that shows our students around the world that despite the distance between them, people can still have strong international human connections to grow and learn together. We are so excited to be able to continue the ISLearning Program this school year.

Unfortunately, the Lokkhipur School in Bangladesh was heavily impacted by COVID and unable to provide their students the technology resources to connect with us this and last school year. We were lucky to have the support from Canopy Nepal, a nonprofit created and led by Nepali youth visionaries, to help us organize and connect with students at schools in Kathmandu. Our students made some amazing friendships over the years by sharing stories through letters and pictures and meeting with their friends over zoom to chat face to face.


Middle School Students Invited to Join Affinity Groups

The Middle School has established four groups that students can opt into joining. The groups are the Students of Color Affinity Group, the Jewish Affinity Group, the Social Justice Initiative, and PRISM, an LGBTQ+ alliance group. Each group meets once a month during lunch to discuss and share common interests and/or identities.


Dia de los Muertos

The Middle School celebrated Dia de los Muertos, which took place on November 1st and 2nd. Students learned about the origins and traditions of this holiday, as well as its purpose to honor friends and family who have passed away. Some students created “papel picado” by folding and cutting paper into intricate designs to decorate for the holiday.


Indigenous Peoples Month

This month, the Middle School is observing Indigenous Peoples Month. Students first explored the origins of the month and learned about the Lenape tribe, Manhattan's original inhabitants. Next, we celebrated Indigenous contributions to popular culture, focusing specifically on Indigenous influences on sports, literature and television. Students will continue to honor Indigenous people and cultures throughout the month of November.

6th grade students learned about the colorful beadwork of The Lenape Tribe, who were known for both their beadwork and weaving. The students designed and colored their own Bandolier Bags.

7th Grade students have been learning about the Haida people, an indigenous group located in the Pacific Northwest, having inhabited the island of Haida Gwaii for over 1000 years. They are renowned for their artworks which include a variety of techniques including wood carving, totem poles and printmaking. The 7th grade learned about the origins of Haida art, in particular their symbolic crests of animals; made up of lines and shapes, often carved into wood or printing blocks, they are used for storytelling and can represent individuals, families and whole communities. 7th grade students took inspiration from Haida artworks and carved printing blocks of animals using their own shapes and patterns to create their chosen animal’s characteristics. They learned different techniques including how to create gradient effects, which involves blending two harmonious colors together to make a soft seamless blend.

HIGH SCHOOL NEWS

Art History Field Trip

11th and 12th grade art history students had been studying Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and we took a break from the classroom to visit The Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The Cathedral is an excellent example of these types of architecture in our very own city, and we embarked on a vertical tour of the cathedral, climbing up a narrow circular stairwell stopping at every level, and made it all the way up to the roof. The following week we looked at other religious architecture around the world, including synagogues, mosques, Buddhist temples, and Shinto shrines.


Juniors Take Practice ACT and Get a Visit from Maisie

Juniors took their first Practice ACT at Churchill last weekend! To help ease their nerves, Ms. Hugger brought her dog Maisie to serve as an emotional support dog and honorary ACT mascot. Students did a great job at managing this stressful test!


Our Seniors Are Applying to College!

Seniors have been busy putting the final touches on their college applications and many had the joy of finally pressing "submit" this month! We're so proud of all the hard work they've been doing and can't wait until the acceptances start rolling in!


Service Learning Club's Trash Party Community Cleanup

The Service Learning Club worked together to research community needs, then planned, and led a trash party community cleanup competition. Volunteers met in four different classrooms for a presentation led by Service Learning Club leaders. They were given their materials and a clean-up route. At the end of the event, everyone had hot chocolate as a reward for their hard work. The team with the most trash collected was named"Less Trash, and won a $25 donation to the charity of their choice. Overall we collected 9 large bags of garbage around the Kips Bay neighborhood in just 25 minutes!