UP Packing List

PACKING LIST: POINTS NORTH

OCTOBER 2-4, 2013

• one bag lunch for the bus ride on Wednesday
• one tent (optional) -- the kids can share tents, or sleep alone in them, or sleep outdoors in the open, or in the house; however, for those who want to share, I will determine who sleeps in which tents (I'd rather take everyone's blame than risk hurt feelings)
• one sleeping bag & pillow (even those sleeping indoors will need these)
• toothbrush etc (the house has three showers)
• plenty of layers (it's Michigan; who knows how cold it'll get?) -- I always suggest extra socks
• a bathing suit 
• good shoes for walking; hard-core hiking boots aren't necessary, but we will be walking on woodland trails, clambering over rocks, and running on sandy beaches
• a water bottle
• a little backpack
• electronics are welcome for the bus ride; as with Mammoth Cave and Scattergood, I will tally them up before we leave, and the kids will give them to me every night
• no giant suitcases (we won't be gone THAT long, and the bus doesn't have unlimited space)

As for food, we will plan meals together and do our grocery-shopping at the local supermarket. When the trip is over, I'll tally up the bill and ask for equal contributions to cover this expense.

Odysseys

At present, we are reading eight Odysseys. One is a conventional translation in free verse. One is a gorgeous children's version, which the third and fourth grades are also reading. One is a theatrical rendition. Two are graphic novels. One is a simplified telling of the tale. One has a Caribbean setting and was written by a Nobel Prize-winning poet. One is a screenplay set in the 1930s American South.

Our play this winter will be adapted from the theatrical version. We will cast the play next week, after our return from the Upper Peninsula and before our trip to Howell. As with last year's production, all seventh and eighth graders will participate; younger students may opt to. We have a few new tricks up our collective classical sleeves.

Odyssey authors and illustrators:

Simon Armitage

Joel and Ethan Coen

Gillian Cross

Robert Fitzgerald

Gareth Hinds

Geraldine McCaughrean

Li Sidong & Fiona Macdonald

Derek Walcott

Themes and Exhibitions

We have four themes on the docket this year: Explorers, Cities, Identity, and Mythology.

For each unit of study, the first month will be spent in some formal excavation of the many definitions and angles of the theme. Thus far, Explorers has seen us looking at missions to Mars (fictional and actual), the Buddha under the Bo Tree, Richard Feynman looking at a flower, Wallace Stevens looking at a blackbird, disastrous treks across the Antarctic, mapmaking, Diana Nyad's swim, Vasco da Gama, Cheng Ho and the usual suspects from the Age of Exploration. We'll also be looking at the amazing tale of Etienne Brule, the first European to explore Michigan. He was sixteen years old when he set out west from Champlain's camp way up the St Lawrence.

Where have we found these (and other) fascinating angles? In the coursepack, entitled Explorers of the World, 140 toothsome pages of writing, from Grace Ogot to Bruce Catton to Homer to Sara Wheeler. When a new theme is introduced, a coursepack like this one will be handed out. All seventh and eighth graders will be expected to read the coursepack, cover to cover, over the course of the first month of the unit. (The Explorers collection should be finished by October 2.) At that point, when the kids have processed the theme from a number of different perspectives, I will meet with each student individually to make plans for Exhibitions.

Exhibitions will take place at the end of the theme unit. Each of the two lessons in the Exhibition will show the student's new knowledge about the theme. We will conduct our Explorers Exhibitions over the last week in October and first week in November.

Flows of the Days

		Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8:45:00	45	Collection, Q&A,	Collection, Q&A,	Collection, Q&A,	Collection, Q&A,	All School
	50	Reading	Reading	Reading	Reading	Assembly
	55	Karl	Karl	Karl	Karl	Joanna
9:00:00		Homeroom	Wake-Up PE	Wake-Up PE	Health	Wake-Up PE
	5	Karl	Karl	Karl	(Our Whole Lives)	Karl
	10				Karl & Rachel
	15
	20
	25
	30
	35
	40		French	French		French
	45		or	or		or
	50	Music	Mandarin	Mandarin	Music	Mandarin
	55	Latin	Imogen or Shiyu	Imogen or Shiyu	Latin	Imogen or Shiyu
10:00:00		Josh or Imogen			Josh or Imogen
	5		9:40 - 10:25	9:40 - 10:25		9:40 - 10:25
	10	9:55 - 10:45
	15
	20
	25
	30		Math	Art		Math
	35		Sam, Jason & Karl	Monica		Sam, Jason & Karl
	40
	45	Math	10:30 - 11:25	10:30 - 11:25	Math	10:30 - 11:25
	50	Latin			Latin
	55	Sam or Imogen			Sam or Imogen
11:00:00
	5	10:45 - 11:30			10:45 - 11:30
	10
	15
	20
	25
	30
	35	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
	40	Science Club		Science Club		Science Club
	45	George		George		George
	50
	55
12:00:00		Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
	5
	10
	15
	20
	25
	30	Math	Art /	Work Crews	Math	Homeroom
	35	Music	Homeroom /	Nick, Fran, Elaine,	Music	Flex
	40	Sam or Josh	Flex time: at least	Josh, Rachel,	Sam or Josh	Karl
	45		one hour of art,	James, George
	50	12:30 - 1:20	potentially split		12:30 - 1:20
	55		into smaller	12:30 - 1:25
1:00:00			groups as
	5		appropriate.
	10
	15		Remainder of time
	20		is homeroom
	25	PE/Flex	projects.		Writing
	30	Karl & Nick		STEM /	Workshop /
	35		Monica & Karl	Humanities /	Flex
	40			Flex	Jason
	45			Karl, Jason & Sam
	50
	55
2:00:00
	5
	10
	15
	20
	25
	30
	35
	40
	45
	50
	55
3:00:00
	5
	10
	15
3:20:00	20	Gather	Gather	Gather	Gather	Gather
	25	Karl	Karl	Karl	Karl	Karl