BAYWATCH ON THE CHESAPEAKE
"It's going to be wet, but its going to be good." Confident words from Mr. Vantine, a 6th grade English teacher and one of the counselors for the Baywatch on the Chesapeake, just moments before the mini-course left for the adventures. He and the other leaders were rushing around, preparing the supplies for the actual trips while the students ran around the hall talking and doing some last minute checks on their own supplies,
Below: (left to right) Rachel, Mary, Kendall, and Hope
Though
every now and then some of them were eager to pose for the camera.
The students wereexcited for what lay ahead in the 3 days on the
water. After a few minutes of anticipation, the leaders called
the group together with all the odds and ends they would be
carrying with them and left through the door and to the bus that
led them to the water.
Above: (left to right) Maggie, Laura, Amy, Amanda(in front), Carey, Addie, Christina, and Pooja
LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE
Above: Katie, Alyssa, and Mackey making their pinatas
Hola! Even during the first day's line of events, the Latin American Culture mini course was in full blast with not only learning about the culture by movies and talks, but also by making one of the main objects used in some of the festivals there, the pinata. The pinatas made by this group took many differents forms depending on each of the students' personalities. "This is one of the messiest and most fun things I've ever done in this school!" says Robin, a 6th grade student taking part in the mini course.
Above: Ms. Penzine, one of the two leaders of the Latin American Culture mini course
Looking around at the plain paper-mache balls slowly turning into colorful creatures each personally designed, Ms. Penzine and Ms Kennedy, the leaders of this mini course, commented together "This is just a fabulous way to share and explore new interests".
Everyone around them in the classroom was constantly commenting "La clase es muy divertida!" or for those who do not take Spanish: "This class is very fun!".
The second day they went straight into the history of Latin America-those events that made it and its culture what it is today. The students spent their time watching documentaries on the tribes that slowly grew into modern Latin America.
ADVENTURES IN JOURNALISM
Since journalism is all over the place with Washington DC being so close, the Adventures in Journalism mini course gave students a real taste of how reporters find some of the "top stories" that we see on the front page of a newspaper.
On the first day, they plunged right in to the world of journalism by calling up and interviewing some stores and restaurants in the area, like McDonalds and Sports Authority, to find out exactly what it is like to conduct an interview and use their newly learned skills of writing news. Afterwards they worked on their writing skills by either writing about the interviews they had just made or choosing a new topic.For example, Alicia and Saudiee are writing about Dress Down Days, movies and the lives of new students.
Above: Stephanie and Greg use their reporter skills to interview a passerby in the hall for their newspaper.
The second day of their three day experience of journalism they started making a newspaper of their own by interviewing those of the other mini courses. One of the topics was talking about the Oscars and finding out why people enjoy them, and asking for predictions about who will win best Actress and Actor as well as Best Picture. Another topic is one that is closer to most people's lives; sports and the field, of course. This ventured to include all the types of sports that interest many different types of sports fans. This newspaper is blooming with the originality and creativity that has come out of these students.
Below: Alicia was working on her part of the newspaper this mini course was making on an iBook.
CIVIL WAR
Mr. Joyce and Mr. Spaeth led the way into the Civil War's battles for the boys participating in the Civil War mini course. On the first day, Mr. Joyce started on the tales of glory, sorrow,and suffering by actually dressing up as a Union soldier to bring the stories he told about the battles more alive and almost active in the boys' minds. During this time they also saw some documentaries on some of the battles that prepared them for the activities for the next day.
The second day allowed the students to become more active in the learning process by first starting with watching the movie
"Glory", which was about the training of African
Americans for the war while Mr. Joyce put in the fill-ins on some
of the explanations needed for some of the detail in the movie
and made some links to the information the students had already learned and discussed. Later, they headed to the Middle School building's neighbor, Fort Ward Park,where they toured the museum there to see some of the artifacts preserved from the battles and by seeing those to expand their understanding of the actual events that took place. 
Above: Mr. Joyce, dressed up as a Union soldier, was explaining some of the finer points of the battles and leaders in the Civil War
The third day they jumped into the vans and headed to Gettysburg,PA, where they toured the battlefield there with Mr. Joyce as their tour guide.