Highlights from the 23-24 school year

Every June I love to reflect on the past school year and I'm always blown away by everything we did! This year was my 5th year at Obama, and while I have a lot of things that have become tradition (like the games and music competition), this year brought exciting new experiences to enrich learning! Here are some of the activities that stand out from the 23-24 school year, in chronological order going from most recent to oldest. 

Obama and CDS students outside the African American History Museum in Washington DC.

7th graders to go Washington DC

The last full week of school we had 12 7th graders from Obama go on a 4 day trip to Washington DC. This trip was the culminating activity of a year-long partnership with Community Day School. This group of Obama 7th graders have been participating in events with CDS 7th graders throughout the year focusing on cultural traditions of the diverse groups of students we have in Pittsburgh. We've watched documentaries, visited museum exhibits and shared meals with traditional food from different cultures. During the trip we went to the Holocaust Museum, the African American History Museum, the American History Museum, the Whitehouse, many memorials, the capitol and even met Senator Bob Casey. We hope this partnership continues and becomes part of the 7th grade experience at Obama!

Obama 7th graders reading their stories to Liberty elementary students.

The collection of storybooks made by 7th grade Obama students

Making & reading storybooks 

During quarter 4 the 7th grade Spanish students created storybooks based on stories we had read during our 6th and 7th grade Spanish classes. Students illustrated the stories and rehearsed reading them. Then we went to Liberty Elementary and read the stories to students in the Spanish magnet elementary school! Many Obama 7th graders loved getting to visit their old teachers and the elementary students loved seeing big middle school students share what they do in middle school! We celebrated with a lunch at La Feria, a Peruvian restaurant near Liberty. Students tried traditional Peruvian cuisine! The books that were made will also be kept for our class library in the future. 

Obama's first Kids of Steel Run Club racers on race day!

Kids of Steel Run Club

This was the first year I lead an after school organization. I have a passion for running and wanted to share that with our middle school students. We had our first Kids of Steel Run Club. We practiced weekly in March and April and the first weekend of May we ran the Kids of Steel one mile race as part of the Pittsburgh Marathon weekend! We had an 8th grader finish top female in the entire race of thousands of runners! I'm looking forward to building the program next year!

6th graders playing the Royal Game of Ur

6th graders playing Tower of Knowledge

Games

I always love game days because the fun and competitiveness really come out! This year the two big hits were Tower of Knowledge (a Spanish writing and building game) as well as the Royal Game of Ur (a game invented in one of the first civilizations in Mesopotamia).

Many of the 7th graders in Spanish class wanted to try the crickets (chapulines)!

Food

This year the "Qué Asco" (disgusting) food combo day took a fun turn when students recorded themselves trying the food. It's always fun to see the different reactions to new food. Some students have strong negative reactions and some are surprised when they realize it's tasty!

Lego representation of Africa

Lego Continents

In the fall my 6th grade Geography class partnered with the STEAM class to re-create continents out of Legos. The challenge to make a map of a continent using different Lego shapes on a Lego board was a fun way to learn about geography in a unique way. 

Obama's Dia de los Muertos Ofrenda

Our School Day of the Dead Altar

For the first time this year our school community came together to create a Day of the Dead altar. Art classes created decorations specific to Day of the Dead celebrations. Students could bring in photos of friends and family that have passed to be showcased in our ofrenda. Spanish classes from all grades came down to the ofrenda and were invited to add post-it notes to honor anyone they wanted. 

What's amazing to me as I wrap this year up is how each year we are able to do new, fun, exciting things! I'm looking forward to the new things we did this year becoming traditions. I can't wait to see what we can add for the 24-25 school year!