Electives

Electives are both fun and serious mini-courses at Friends Middle School. Electives run weekly for an hour and aim to provide students with knowledge on subjects that interest them. As a smaller school, we do not offer an array of choices but poll our students to determine their interests. If possible, we develop classes that can satisfy their interests. This year we have had electives in cooking, outdoor games, felting, Dungeons and Dragons, movie making, and something called genius hour. Our students have learned the rules to many outdoor games, produced a movie on bullying, felted unique creatures and learned how to make a Chicken Piccata dinner. In the genius hour elective, students were encouraged to research a topic of their choice and do something related to this topic. You may remember Grayson, staging a used book sale to support dolphin research (she raised over $300.00) but you didn’t see William’s numerous presentations on our presidents and their accomplishments or other student led presentations on subjects of their choice.

Electives have always been part of our middle school program as they offer our students a chance to gain knowledge in unique areas. In the past, I have used this time to teach students how to paint a room, hammer a nail, and use a screwdriver. Bailey has taught outdoor survival skills, animal husbandry and even studied fairy habitat. Each year we try to balance our desire to impart useful skills with our students’ need for exploration and fun. In addition, middle school students also participate in a life issues course that explores topics such as anger, alcohol, drugs, and peer pressure. In this important course, students are introduced to these issues through thoughtful presentation of the facts and encouraged to talk more about them in an open, caring environment.

These courses serve a significant purpose in our middle school. They provide students with an opportunity to explore their world and get to know their teachers in ways that are not present in a typical classroom. It gives them a safe outlet for their questions, builds confidence, and opens new avenues of thinking about themselves and others. Electives serve a vital role in a quality middle school program.


ANNOUNCEMENTS

Open Houses - An Open House specifically for the middle school program will be held this Wednesday, February 15th, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. This lunch time informational session and tour will give all parents the opportunity to learn about our research-based, developmentally-appropriate program. All interested parents are invited to attend. Additional Open Houses are scheduled for the following dates and times.

First Wednesday of every month, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm: Walk Thru Wednesdays
Wednesday, February 15th, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm: Middle School Lunch and Tour
Saturday, February 18th, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: K-8 Open House and Winter Play Day
Saturday, March 18th, 9:30 am – 12:00 pm: K-8 & Pre-K Open Houses / Winter Play Day
Saturday, April 29th, 9:30 – 11:30 am: Pre-K Open House

Please tell your friends and encourage them to take a tour.

Free Winter Play Days - On Saturdays, February 18th and March 18th, we are hosting Winter Play Days for children ages 3-7. The Community Room will be open for supervised active and imaginative play. This is a great opportunity to bring a friend to the school and enjoy a morning out of the cold. All are welcome. Check above for times.

Flexible Tuition - The deadline for submitting financial information for the first round of flexible tuition is this Sunday, February 19th. If you need information on how to do this or have questions, contact Tr. Lisa at lgamble@scfriends.org.

The Friends School Seed Sale! - The seed sale is ongoing. You can print forms using this link to the pdf: http:// www.fedcoseeds.com/forms/friendsOG.pdf. Please attach payment to the form. This year, a portion of the proceeds will be used to support the Slab Cabin Run Initiative to preserve the farmland across the road from our school Quakers in the Classroom - On Friday, February 24th, every classroom will have a visitor from the State College Friends Meeting join them for some discussion and activities to help students understand what Quakers believe and the choices they make in their lives.

Parent-Teacher Conference & Child Care Signups - Parent-Teacher conferences are scheduled for Thursday and Friday, March 2nd and 3rd. Please contact the front desk to arrange for your conference and sign up for child care (if needed) during those days. Childcare is free during the conference time; regular rates ($4.50/hour) will apply beyond that.

Meeting For Worship and Right Sharing Lunch - On Sunday, March 26, State College Friends Meeting will hold their Meeting for Worship at our school at 11:15. All are welcome. Directly following Meeting, we will host a Right Sharing Meal, with the help of the Middle School. This meal helps us consider Right Sharing of world resources and understand more deeply the disparity of resources around the world. Look for more details soon.

Summer Camp - Registration for Summer Camp for school families begins this Wednesday, February 15. This year, all registration materials will be available online. So, visit the our summer camp page and register. Please let Tr. Jackie know if you have any questions.