Intermediate School Dec. Newsletter (21–22)

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

-Aesop

Dear Intermediate School Families,

I hope you had a chance to spend some quality time with friends and family during the Thanksgiving break, and you were able to reconnect with the people you hold so dear. The time between now and our Winter break will continue to foster opportunities to learn and explore in all content areas, and I encourage you to discuss and participate alongside your student. Please find below some questions that you can ask your child about their school day.

What did you learn today that you feel you can teach others?
What was the hardest thing you had to learn today and what did you do to stick with it?
Why did you learn it and how could you use it outside of school?
What did you learn today and what do you still need to know?

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Laura Williams
Intermediate School Principal

What’s new at the Intermediate School?

A note from Ms. LP: Enrichment Explorations
We are providing increased opportunities for deeper and sustained dives into content, creativity, and curiosity throughout the school year by offering all students an opportunity to participate in Enrichment Explorations. During this time, we use Big Concepts as a way to explore strengths, interests, and interconnectedness. By creating Explorations around concepts as opposed to content, we hope to help students organize information in a rich network of knowledge with many connections between ideas.

All students have an Exploration Class during Flex Wednesday and opportunities to continue that work during Literacy ME Time. Each Quarter we will focus on a different Big Concept. Quarter One was all about Change. Quarter Two is all about Perspective.

If you would like to extend this thinking at home, you can...

Find opportunities to connect to our Perspective generalizations:

Perspectives can be individual or shared.
Perspectives are influenced by a variety of factors: people, places, experiences, beliefs, etc.
Perspectives can change.
Being open to multiple perspectives brings better understanding, empathy, and open-mindedness.

Ask simple, but powerful questions:

What makes you say that?
What do you notice?
What do you wonder?

It is important to not only understand other people's perspectives but to understand how our own perspectives are shaped!

A note from E-Day
E-Day Intermediate seats are opening for the Third and Fourth grades! Our waitlist is moving fast with seats that could be available as early as the first week of December!

Your child will join Venture Outdoors during after-school hours to connect to nature, have fun, and learn new outdoor skills. E-Day provides aftercare every full school day from 3:15–6 p.m. at the Intermediate school with a snack provided. So far this school year, E-Day students have…

Hiked, and hiked, and hiked
Conducted a stream study
Built survival shelters
Launched bottle rockets
Designed and constructed kites and airplanes
Learned how to build a proper fire (and eat a proper s’more)
Participated in so many fun games!

Sign your child up to join the after-school fun and continue outdoor learning all day long! Your student will enjoy all of the very cool activities that come with this partnership! Please add your child to our waiting list for immediate consideration!

Third Grade E-Day

Fourth Grade E-Day

Questions? Email After School Manager Amy.Bianco@ecspgh.org

In Case You Missed It

Enrollment for the 22–23 School Year is Open
Siblings Preference: Please complete an application for any siblings of current students that would like to attend ECS for the 2022–23 school year. Current students do not need to apply, and ECS will send re-enrollment information to all current families in January. Learn more about sibling preference...

Intermediate School Hawk Highlights From Last Month!

Students in the 5th Grade Edible School Yard celebrated Native American Heritage Month by making Three Sisters Stew.

Students district-wide wrote notes of encouragement, drew on butterflies, and made blue ribbons for Children’s Grief Awareness Day.
Intermediate School students collected food and packed more than 100 bags for people in need of Thanksgiving meals.