At almost the same time, 7th grade students were channeling their inner 7-year-old as they recorded their earliest memories of their home, family, and neighborhood. Writing these memories down, with as much detail as possible, is a scaffold to writing a vignette, a short form of writing that focuses on vivid memory and emotion.
While 7th grade focused on their own memories, 6th grade looked way back in time to Ancient Greece and how a small group of contentious, independent city-states withstood the invasion of the Persian Empire. Over the course of their study 6th grade students will consider how we remember these events, people, and beliefs from the distant past.
On Tuesday Middle School students met on ZOOM with Friends Committee on National Legislation’s Clarence Edwards. Clarence talked with students about FCNL’s work to help Congress pass legislation protecting the environment and working for environmental justice. To help students understand the work of environmental justice, Clarence used nearby Chester, PA with one of the largest trash to energy incinerators in the country as an example of how toxic industries are often located in poorer communities and unfairly impact the health of those communities. A student asked how Clarence does his work in today’s contentious environment. He explained that he meets with Congress people from all political parties. He tries to begin with an area of agreement, such as that children should grow up safe from the environmental causes of asthma. Then he listens to them share how they might work towards this goal. He explained that a very large part of his daily work is listening to others’ ideas and then seeking areas of agreement. He finished by sharing ideas and resources with students and teachers for being engaged citizen advocates.
This weekend, weather permitting, I hope you will come to Parents and Guardian Council’s Palmyra Cove Beach Clean-up on Saturday morning. A few students insisted that we should do this work rain or shine! Please come worship with me and Westfield Meeting this Sunday morning. Later on Sunday I hope to see many Middle School families at the Friends School High School Fair which we cohost at Haddonfield Friends School.
Warmly
Margaret
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