Today, students participated in a first aid and self defense training class. The class was led by Mr. Kereakes, a current Plato parent and retired Chicago police officer and SWAT team member. He currently provides training to a variety of organizations such as hospitals, churches, and schools. He presented age-appropriate strategies to help students feel safe, confident, and prepared in the event of an emergency situation. The session was focused on awareness, confidence, and practical ways students can help themselves and others during an emergency. The overall message was positive and empowering, helping students feel informed, capable, and supported.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2026
Today, we started by taking our White Bird Part 1 Quiz. When students finished their quiz, they had some time to work on Quill. Then, in our next class period, we did some semicolon practice in preparation of their quiz on Friday! Students worked in groups and played one of our favorite review games: Friend or Foe? Friend or Foe is a game we play to complete our study guides. Students work in groups to answer each question, and if each member of the group has the matching correct answer, they can add their team’s symbol to the blank grid. At the end of our time, we reveal the hidden colors of the grid that reveal how many points their team earned with their symbol placement. Congratulations to our lucky group who placed their symbols in high value spots rather than negative squares: Maggie, Kosta, Marina and Gia! While this group may have “won,” the real win came from the fact that everyone completed their study guide and learned from their mistakes through collaboration and determination.
In our afternoon class, we worked on Geometrocity. As we are reaching the end of our unit, student must enter their third and final phase by Monday, which is building their assigned portion of our class Geometrocity using 3D shapes by developing complex shape maps. Any student who has fallen behind in completing phase 2 should take it home to complete for homework.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2026
Today, we started Part 2 of White Bird! Part 2 is exciting because we get to start adding in character analysis, in addition to practicing our inference skills, dissecting symbolism, and connecting the novel to historical events.
We talked a lot about how the color of Sara’s positive memories shifted from bright in Part 1 to Part 2 being much darker and muted – representing her shift in prioritizing a harsh and brutal reality, rather than continuing to live in naivety. We also saw this in conversations between Sara and Julian, where Julian remained hopeful for her reunion with her father; and rather than that hopeful spirit bringing her comfort during this difficult time, she became hostile and doubtful at the possibility. We talked about how her character is expecting the worst case scenario so that she doesn’t get overly hopeful/potentially disappointed when/if these “happy endings” don’t happen. This was a clear character shift from the beginning of our story to now.
Part 2 is rather short (6 chapters), so their quiz on it will be next Friday.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2026
Today, we started with our quick write, where Teddy held onto his championship title! However, we have a challenger coming in hot as Kosta was this week’s runner up… only using 2 words less! Even though our title winner remained, more than half the class were only 3-4 words behind; which was great to see as it deems hopeful for some new champions to (hopefully) emerge soon.
After our exciting quick write, we went into our semicolon quiz. When students finished their quiz, they had time to continue working on their Geometrocity projects. Similarly, in our afternoon class, we took our vocabulary test and when students were done with their test, they had time to continue working on their Geometrocity projects.
During lunch, we learned we had some Plato Academy Olympic Medal Winners! On Tuesday, our class competed in a selection of fitness competitions in P.E. and our top athletes in each category represented our class in the Plato Academy Olympic Medal Ceremony. Congratulations to Lily for taking home the silver medal in long jump and the bronze in wall sit. Another celebration is in order as Teddy took home the bronze in long jump.
Today, we started with our postponed quick write from last week, and I got to say… the battle was intense today! For the first time ever, we had a 4-way tie! Jason, Leo, Maggie and Teddy all tied by using 8 words. First, we had Jason read his story. While the plot was enjoyable, he misused one of last week’s words: Sporadic. After congratulating his strong effort, it was Maggie’s turn to read her story… where she completely forgot to include the word “sporadic” all together! Then, it became a one v. one battle between Leo and Teddy. The tie breaker would be: Who challenged themselves to use more of our complex vocabulary words rather than our simpler ones? Ironically, both of our stories had similar plots about a robber! However, one used much more complex vocabulary terms, and that gave them the tiniest edge to be crowned our winner. Great work to everyone for creating such a close competition on this quick write vocabulary set; and congratulations to Teddy for his win today!
After our postponed Quick Write, students were given some time to finish their Pythagorean Theorem Poster Projects for tomorrow’s Math class. Students were challenged to prove their poster diagrams correct using mathematics, which deemed challenging. During snack, students were given the option to either snack and chat with friends, or snack and learn with me how to prove their diagrams accurate to the Pythagorean Theorem. I’m proud of the students who were able to take some initiative in their learning and acknowledge they needed some extra help proving their theorems correct and spent their snack getting some extra help rather than using that time to socialize; and I’m equally proud of the students who felt solid enough in their studies giving those who needed the extra help respect and space during the snack break for their extra learning.
Then, it was time for us to recognize Black History Month within our studies. We started by doing small-group brainstorms where each group had a whiteboard and 5 minutes to discuss the following prompt: Why do we celebrate Black History Month? What historical events contribute to our observation of Black History Month?
After their whiteboard brainstorms, we created a class master list of historical events while holding mini-discussions about the various events in history. We talked about segregation, the Civil War, the Civil Rights Movement, slavery and the treatment of slaves, racism (along with extremest groups such as the KKK), and more. Once we had a focused head-space, we watched Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Halftime Show to analyze it, using the same skills you would use when analyzing poetry and other forms of traditional literature.
The first time we watched it, it was like we were “skim reading” the poem. We took it in at face value, enjoyed the visual effects, some of us sang along on a couple songs, some of us danced a bit… we just enjoyed the art at its face value. Then, our second viewing was where we began to really interpret the various elements. Students were given a lined sheet of paper, and were required to analyze 5 elements that help deliver the performance’s message. They were encouraged to try their best to find more than 5 if they felt they were able to. As they watched the performance, I posed some guiding questions to help call their attention to various elements they could develop a deeper analysis to. For our third viewing, we paused at the various prompted question points to discuss as our overall analysis of the performance as a class. Most students had between 12-15 analyzed elements on their paper by the end of class, with Vasia gathering the most, with 20! I was incredible to see their faces light up with lightbulb moments in our group analysis, many analyzed points broken down into layered meanings by the end of our discussion.
While all of our class discussions are great, I know when a discussion is truly fantastic when students are able to find something I hadn’t before. It’s always exciting when students are so engaged in analyzing the topic they discover a new point of view I hadn’t thought up despite my hours of prep and anticipated talking points. It would be impossible for me to write our entire discussion, however, I encourage you to ask your student to recap some of their memorable contributions/discussion points at home so they can share their awesome analytical skills with you!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2026
Today, we reunited with Ms. Demetra’s class to help them continue with their graphing project!
Then, we ventured into the magical world of semicolons! We started by doing a class lesson on how to use them, then, we had some fun… yes, FUN! Believe it or not, Grammar can be a lot of fun!
We played Smart Cookie Review. Smart Cookie Review is where we passed around our Smart Cookie plushy, and if you were holding him when the song paused, you were designated as the class’s “Smart Cookie,” and answered the review question. Think of it like hot potato! As we reviewed our semicolon rules, we sang along to the songs, danced a bit, and of course, shared some laughs at some dropped cookie tosses.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2026
Today, we finished reading Part 1 of White Bird. Due to a popular request, we read our next chapters in the cozy reading room together. At the end of Part 1, we learned that our main character’s mom was sent to Auschwitz, and unfortunately, passed away in the camp. We talked a bit about what life in concentration camps was like. Even though we are using White Bird to guide our learning of The Holocaust, there are some important details the book will not cover. What life was like in the concentration camps is an example of one of them.
Life for prisoners in Auschwitz was defined by extreme brutality, starvation, forced labor, fear, and constant death. It was both a concentration camp and, in the case of Auschwitz II–Birkenau, an extermination camp designed for mass murder. We went through an overview of what the daily life of a prisoner would be like:
Arrival and Selection
Prisoners arrived in overcrowded cattle cars after days without food, water, or sanitation. Upon arrival, officers conducted “selections.” Those deemed fit enough for work were sent to labor. The elderly, most women with children, and many others were sent directly to gas chambers as soldiers did not deem them as profitable to keep alive.
Living Conditions
Prisoners were crammed into wooden or brick barracks.They slept on wooden bunks, often three or more per level, sharing space with many others. Sanitation was minimal; due to the overcrowded and filthy living conditions, disease, such as, typhus, dysentery, and/or tuberculosis would spread quickly.
Food and Starvation
Rations were deliberately insufficient. Some examples of their meals were watery soup, a small piece of bread, served occasionally with a tiny portion of margarine or sausage. Most prisoners suffered severe malnutrition and rapid weight loss. This starvation weakened immune systems and led to exhaustion and death.
Forced Labor
Prisoners worked long hours (often 10–12+ hours daily) in harsh conditions. Some examples of these job assignments included, construction, factory labor (including for German companies like IG Farben), sorting belongings of murdered victims, etc. Beatings were common for slowing down or failing to meet quotas.
Violence and Punishment
Guards routinely beat, humiliated, and tortured prisoners. What was determined as minor infractions could lead to public beatings, solitary confinement, and/or execution. Prisoners lived in constant fear.
Medical Experiments
Some prisoners were subjected to cruel and often deadly medical experiments, especially twins and Roma children.
Psychological Impact
Prisoners who survived these camps endured trauma from witnessing mass killings, being separated from family, living in constant uncertainty. Many struggled with despair, though some formed small support networks to survive.
Death and Survival
Over 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, most of them being Jewish. Many died from gas chambers, starvation, disease, exhaustion and execution. Survival often depended on a combination of luck, physical strength, skills useful to the camp authorities, and help from other prisoners. Auschwitz remains one of the most well known and powerful symbols of the Holocaust in the systematic genocide carried out by Nazi Germany – which is why we paused to a deeper discussion of what our main character’s mom’s life would have been like in Auschwitz.
We took a snack break, students completed their reading comprehension worksheet, and were informed about their reading quiz next week. Students were given the option to take a copy of White Bird home to study for their quiz on Wednesday, along with, all their reading comprehension worksheets that serve as completed study guides. After students completed their worksheet, they were given time to work on Geometrocity, and many others entered their final phase in the project.
Finally, we had some fun with a game of Sparkle! It came down to a finale between Rebecca, Lily and Teddy. Congratulations to Teddy for spelling all the words correctly and avoiding being sparkled!
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2026
Today, we started with our weekly quick write. First, Vasia had used the most vocabulary words in her story: 16! So, she read her story out loud to everyone, and we caught that she missed one of this weeks words: resilience. For our quick write, students are required to use all of this week’s new words before duplicated words from previous weeks would count. This, unfortunately, took Vasia out of the running for being crowned this week’s champion. However, we still celebrated her well crafted writing together! Teddy had used 13 words, just barely inching out the win over Becky’s 12. Congratulations to everyone for creating such a tight race!
After our quick write, students took their vocabulary test. Then, it was time for us to get into the fun stuff: Secret Cupid! We started by sharing final predictions, then, exchanged and revealed our valentines.
After that, we solved a Valentine’s Day Mystery! We read our special newspaper and used our inference skills to solve the crime: who played the mean Valentine’s Day prank in Ms. Jessup’s class!?
For any students who were able to crack the case, they earned 3 Dojo points for their accuracy in their inference skills. However, the big win was that we got some practice in forming quality inferences by supporting them with textual evidence, and shared some laughs together in the process. Congratulations to Teddy, Jason, Vasia, Kosta, Marina, Gia and Becky for solving the mystery and getting the answer correct!
Science with Ms. Pam!
Students continued working on their independent research projects.
Math with Mr. Zafeiris!
Students began practicing for the HSPT by taking a practice test, and learning from their mathematical mistakes. They also reviewed their final posters on the Pythagorean Theorem to ensure they fully understood how to prove the theorem true using mathematics.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning with your next week! (:
Today, we started our week with our Olympic Fun Fact Research Race! This Friday, the Winter Olympic opening ceremony takes place, and Plato Academy is hosting our very own Olympics. To get everyone in the spirit, our older students researched some fun facts to put into a presentation and present them to our lower grade students. In my class, we conducted our research in the form of a race… because why not put a fun Olympic twist to our research assignment!? Students had to race to add their fun fact to their slide before a peer researched and found it first as we didn’t want to have any repeating facts for our presentation.
Then, we went over this week’s vocabulary and students had time to study for their test on Friday. We had a discussion about the importance of studying and taking initiative in our learning as some students have been stuck on the same vocabulary set for many weeks… and it has been clear some have not been taking the time to properly study and progress in their vocabulary learning. We talked to some of our vocabulary legends in class to learn about their study methods and improve our own. This is important as we have been beginning to prepare for the HSPT and the vocabulary I assign them is intended to help them on their HSPT exam.
Speaking of test prep, we started learning some test taking strategies as they take lots of practice to master and many aren’t second-nature. Students attempted the question, then, we solved it as a class as I talked them through the various test strategies I could use to help get the correct answer.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2026
Today, we continued our test prep with a few more questions we had to complete our test-prep worksheet we started yesterday. Then, we revisited Truth & Treason to finish our film written response worksheet and have a class discussion. I waited a bit to hold our discussion as I wanted to allow the students who were heavily affected emotionally by the film time and space to process and ensure our discussion would come at a time where there were no lingering raw emotions. We kept our discussion respectful, but still honest and reflective. We discussed how the film events deepen their understanding of historical events, and talked about the large amount of people this devastating event impacted. After they answered my questions to ensure the historical part was thoroughly covered, they were given a chance to pose some questions of their own. A particularly striking question was posed by Jason, where he asked/wanted to make sure there were no remaining Nazi’s. The hunt for Nazi war criminals is ending due to the advanced age of remaining suspects, with most being frail or sick… but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who still carry the ideas uplifted by Nazi Germany in modern-day society. We talked about how, thanks to the freedoms of the United States of America, people have the right to believe whatever they want to believe – including Nazi ideologies. While this was definitely not the warm and fuzzy answer students were hoping for, it was the honest one. I also reminded students that thanks to our freedoms, we have a right to protest those ideologies and speak out against injustice in various forms of protest; just like our film’s main character, Helmuth Hübener, did.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2026
Today was the day we got to present our Olympic Fun Facts to our lower grade audiences! I’m very proud of our class for being able to break down some of their more complicated words in their slides and simplifying them for some of our younger classes to ensure all of our audience could learn more about the history of the Olympics.
Then, we did a quick Grammar review using Kahoot!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2026
Today was all about fun as we went on a field trip to see the Windy City Bulls play! Students even had the opportunity to get on the court and buddy up with a player as the choir sang the National Anthem. Check out the Google Photos Album for some fun memories!
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2026
Today, we had our Plato Academy Olympic Opening Ceremony! Due to the ceremony, we pushed back our Weekly Quick Write to happen on Tuesday next week. Check out some photos from our ceremony in the Google Photos Album!
When we returned to class, students got to work on their Geometrocities and entered the next phase: Building! Each student will pick one of their Geometrocity maps to create into a 3-D model using shape nets and creativity. Then, we will connect all of our maps to create our class’s, very one, 3-D Geometrocity!
Later in the day, students had their vocabulary tests.
Science with Ms. Pam!
Students continued working on their independent research projects.
Math with Mr. Zafeiris!
Students dug into the theory of the Pythagorean Theorem and began creating posted to prove the theory correct in order to deepen their understanding of the mathematics.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning with you next week! (:
Today, we started by practicing our School of Choice Dance in preparation of filming tomorrow.
Then, we did a Quill Grammar Practice period.
Later in the day, we practiced our spelling and critical thinking skills with some Scrabble Monopoly – a class favorite! Today, our critical thinking skills and strategy improvement lead us to our first even incorporation of a vocabulary word! Congratulations to Vasia for incorporating the word “bias” into her groups Scrabble board.
Then, our final class period of the day was spent answering some reflection questions relating to key themes for Truth & Treason in preparation for our viewing tomorrow. These were the questions students reflected upon:
Write about a time when telling the truth might be difficult or risky. Why do you think truth can feel threatening to people or governments in power?
Why do you think some people choose to stay silent when they see injustice happening? What might stop someone from speaking up or helping others?
Imagine living in a time when laws are unfair and harm certain groups of people. How do you think someone might decide whether to follow the rules or stand up for what is right?
Why is it important to learn about the Holocaust and stories like those in Truth & Treason? What lessons do you think people today can learn from the past?
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2026
We started out with some fun today as the whole school danced to “Can’t Stop Us Now” by Pitbull and Zac Brown for our National School Choice Week dance recording.
When we returned to class, it was time for us to get a bit serious. Today was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a time for schools and families to pause, remember, and reflect. It honors the six million Jewish people and millions of others who were murdered during the Holocaust, and it marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
For students, learning about the Holocaust is not only about history—it’s about understanding the consequences of hatred, prejudice, and silence. This day encourages empathy, critical thinking, and a commitment to stand up against discrimination in all its forms. By remembering the past, we help equip young people to build a more just, respectful, and compassionate future.
To honor this day, we watched the film, Truth & Treason. Truth & Treason is a 2025 historical drama film based on the true story of Helmuth Hübener, a German teenager living under Nazi rule during World War II. When Helmuth realizes that his country’s leaders are spreading lies and enforcing injustice, especially after his close friend is taken away because of these laws, he makes a brave choice: he begins secretly listening to banned radio broadcasts and writing underground leaflets to expose the truth. As his resistance grows, so do the risks, and he must decide what it really means to stand up for what is right—even when it could cost him everything. The film explores themes of courage, conscience, and moral responsibility in the face of fear and oppression.
As we watched… we cried, we reflected, but most importantly, we grew determined to make sure something like this would never happen again. I’m incredibly proud of the empathy our class demonstrated and the maturity they showed in studying/discussing this difficult time in history.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2026
Today was all about community! After we did our intense film study, it made us appreciate the awesome classroom community we were a part of… so we took some time to celebrate that today. Our community day started with the introduction of: Secret Cupid!
Each student will draw a secret valentine since, sometimes, Valentine’s Day accidentally leaves students feeling left out due to individual friend group celebrations. Similarly to Secret Santa, today, they filled out a form that shares their interests and a favorite candy.
Secret Cupid gifts are budgeted at $5, as they should really only be getting a favorite (nut-free) snack and/or candy for their valentine.
Not only will students get to practice their pun writing abilities in coming up with a clever Valentine card saying (their cards should be hand-made and reflect effort of customizing it to the interests listed on their valentine’s questionnaire), but they have created clues as subtle hints for the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, so that they can practice their inference skills in trying to guess who their Secret Cupid is!
So, today, we filled out our questionnaires, wrote our clues, and drew names!
As part of our community day, we played some community building games of Sparkle and The Number Game during between activities.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2026
Today, we played The Unfair Game. Think of jeopardy test review… but with an unfair twist – hidden points! Students competed in their table teams to discuss and pick out what they believed was the correct answer. If they got the question correct, they spun the mystery point wheel to determine if they won or lost any points!
We play this game, not only as a great test review, but it takes some of the pressure of getting a question wrong as getting it right could also lose you points. This activity allows students to practice important test taking skills, while also allowing us to have mini-review lessons on missed questions.
Team 3, unfortunately, was quite unlucky. Almost every spin they got… landed negative. However, they were able to end our game review with 40 points – which was a win as they were down to -90 at one point. Congratulations to Nefeli, Leo, Becky and Lily for their tenacity!
Team 2 had lots of ups and downs with their points. Kosta, Vasia, Gia and Jason. They ended in second place with 200 points! Congratulations to this group for keeping their cool despite some of the nail-biting scoring moments for their team.
Team 1 was quite lucky with their wheel spins, almost never losing their points. Congratulations to our winning team, Maggie, Teddy, Marina and Adrian, ending with 500 points!
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2026
Today, we started our day by visiting Ms. Lisa’s class to watch some presentations on some of the great Greek myths.
Then, we did our quick write, where Leo reclaimed his title as this week’s Quick Write Champion!
After our quick write, we joined Ms. Demetra’s class for some Math! Ms. Demetra’s class has been going around the school and collecting data for how many colors of each Plato Uniform shirt students wear each day. Our class joined Ms. Demetra’s today to teach and help her students graph their findings so far. In total, Ms. Demetra’s students will collect 10 days of data, however, we are helping them graph it every few days to minimize the work load. It was awesome to see my class turn into some patient leaders by guiding her class through the steps and helping them complete neatly organized bar graphs. As our groups finished their graphs, we played some games together in celebration of our hard work!
In our afternoon class, students took their vocabulary test and created their own Greece flag in preparation for next week’s Plato Academy Winter Olympics winter ceremony! Each class held a vote to pick which country they were representing, and our class chose Greece!
Science with Ms. Pam!
Students have officially begun working on their independent research projects. So, for the next few weeks, Science photos will be limited as many are taking notes on videos and reading articles rather than performing experiments.
Math with Mr. Zafeiris!
This week in Geometry, we worked on a perpendicular bisector project. Students created equations by solving geometry problems involving unknown angles and side lengths, and then checked their solutions. They did an excellent job! We will continue our hard work in both Algebra and Geometry, with the goal of helping students confidently and efficiently solve problems by combining these skills.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning with you next week! (:
Today, we started our deep dive into White Bird by reading chapters 3 through 8.
With class novel studies, it’s hard to get tons of amazing photos as there’s not much physical action happening… but there is bucket loads of brain action happening! So, I want to highlight a couple of our deeper class discussions for you as a photo replacement.
Discussion Highlight 1: Foreshadowing
In panel 6 of page 42, Leo noticed there was a third character colored in behind our main character Sara, and her seat partner, Tourteau. As a class, we have previously discussed the importance of color and the intention behind the art styles. Our main character is Sara, telling her childhood story to her grandson (Julian) over a video call… and the panels are like what she visualizes in her memories as she retells this story to him. Essentially, we are seeing her memories as we read the story!
We talked about how more detailed and crisp images tell us they were important or core memories for Sara, and images with less detail aren’t seen as important to her. We also talked about how that crisp focus could be symbolizing intense and traumatic situations within the plot of her story, and talked about how the more crisp images told us what she focused on in that specific moment.
Through some discussion, we came to the conclusion that this light use of color was a tool used to foreshadow the Nazi soldiers coming to the school for a round-up of all Jewish students as the Nazi party promoted the idea of a superior “Aryan race,” idealizing Nordic traits like fair skin, light hair, and blue eyes for physical perfection. The character behind her had been colored in with blonde hair and fair skin. While there isn’t tons of other detail given to this background character, the fact that there is any, show that Sara’s fairy tale life was coming to an end… and that Sara was beginning to become aware of that reality, though often still trying to deny it.
Discussion Highlight 2: Hidden Message
On page 50, panel 3, the maquisard was caught by the Nazi soldiers trying to help the Jewish kids escape through the forest. When he was found, the Nazi soldiers made him go to his knees before shooting him dead. We talked about how this was a common tactic used by Nazi soldiers, where they would weaken their opponents (either by weakening them physically through malnourishment in camps, or by placing their bodies in physical positions where they are unable to fight back). Before he was shot, Antoine, said the quote, “Vive L’humanité,” which means, “Long Live Humanity.” I posed the question: Why were these his last words? What was the importance or reason behind him shouting this words before he was killed? A few students guessed it was so he would seem brave, or that it was to make the kids less scared… but Marina was our shining start in analyzing this moment! Marina explained to the class that it was a message to the Nazi officers reminding them that though they may physically kill him, they would never be able to kill their humanity; and eventually, their actions would catch up to them and justice would be served. That was a hard one to figure out, bravo Marina!
After all our discussions and reading of the chapters, students got to work on their written responses, where they practiced restating the questions in their responses, and pulling relevant textual evidence with clear citations. These chapter worksheets will double as a study guide for any tests or quizzes as we continue our reading.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2026
Today was all about improving Plato Academy! First, students presented their School Improvement Plan Pitches to the class.
Then, we narrowed all of our amazing plans and ideas to our top two choices to present at our upcoming Leadership Day. We started with a group debate to discuss and defend which pitch was the stronger choice.
Then, we learned about an extended paragraph structure that allowed us to thoroughly defend our pitch choice. Students went on to write their own extended persuasive paragraph defending their chosen pitch. The student with the best persuasive pitch will determine which idea we pitch as a group at our leadership day event.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2026
Today, we had a Ketchup, Mustard, Pickle day to finish up any lingering assignments. It was so much fun to see students discover the supplies they were “never given,” or had “mysteriously disappeared” as they got some organizing time in. 😉
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2026
Today, we did not have school due to severe weather. Students were assigned an article to read, Searching for the Lost Ship, where they practiced identifying Nonfiction text elements, and completed a reading comprehension quiz. They also watched a video to learn our dance for next week’s observance/celebration of National School Choice Week to allow for some physical activity despite the frigid weather. They were also given a bonus activity where they could research and create a Kahoot or Blooket with 15 Fun Facts about the upcoming Winter Olympics. Students who completed this bonus activity received 5 Dojo Points!
Their vocabulary tests they were supposed to have today will just be moved to next Friday, allowing them some extra studying time on their current vocabulary sets.
Science with Ms. Pam
Students have continued to observe their seeds, and learn all about different types of plant veins through various experiments.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning with you next week! (:
Today, we did another teacher swap for Mr. Joe to continue preparing our class for the Quiz Bowl on Wednesday! In our later class, we had some vocabulary study time in preparation for their tests this Friday. Then, students were given time to work on their Pitch Presentations with their partners before their presentations next Wednesday.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2026
Today was their last day with Mr. Joe to prepare for Quiz Bowl tomorrow. Afterwards, they had some more Pitch Presentation work time.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2026
Today was the day we have all been waiting for: Quiz Bowl Day! Due to the insane weather, the competition schedule was a bit chaotic from arrival delays, but we still had a blast! Many schools have been studying and preparing since August, and most (if not all) of the other teams competing in the Quiz Bowl are specially picked students from a large pool – the energy was very similar to our class’s passion when The Bears prepare to play, almost like this was their school’s Superbowl. Despite our small amount of preparation in comparison to other teams, we won a round! Nobody was a weak-link in our team. Every person had a valuable knowledge specialty that allowed each student to bring strength to our class’s team as they competed, and kept our competing panel very well-rounded. Many of the questions in this round were actually from our regular class studies, it was incredible to watch them answer our classroom content with confidence and pride.
While I wish I was able to take photos during the competition, due to the weather delay, it was very fast paced with no breaks or down time. During the physical rounds, I was busy score keeping, which made me unable to snap a couple images. We ended with a score of 300 points! While we didn’t earn a podium placement in the competition, we learned a lot of fun facts, got to do some team building as we practiced good sportsmanship, and encouraged our peers (rather than judged) when an answer was missed, and we had pride in how well we were able to keep up with these amazing teams from other schools.
When we returned to school, students had a mini-party and late lunch with their Greek teachers where we celebrated our success while eating some food, and listening and dancing to some music. In our later class period, students continued riding the teamwork wave and got back to work on their Pitch Presentations.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2026
Today, we returned to our beloved Geometrocity Projects that we had to take a break from due to rehearsal schedules for the holiday show. Every student was given a goal today, and that goal was to finish Phase 1 by the end of class. Most students had finished, but we had some absent students who were behind, and some students who were taking some extra time to make sure their drawn examples for their building permits were incredibly detailed. I’m thrilled to share that all students rose to the challenge and reached Phase 2 by the end of the class period – meaning they were all starting to map out their Geometrocities in preparation of making them 3-D in Phase 3!
FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2026
We started with our Word of the Day Quick Write, where we had a showdown between Leo and Maggie! Our Quick Write Rules state that you must include all of this week’s words (5 new words) before previous vocabulary can count for points. Originally, Leo had the most words… but he made a fatal mistake: he missed one of our new words this week. However, we cheered on his efforts as he used a lot of interesting vocabulary and plot choices that showed a lot of intentionality in his craftsmanship of his story. Maggie was our runner up for most words included in her story, and she used all of our new words correctly, as well as, created a story with a clear plot! Congratulations to this week’s Quick Write Champion: Maggie!
Then, students were given their final class block to work on their Pitch Presentations. While I have tried to give them as much time as humanly possible this week to work on them, we will not be having any other class time for them to finish their presentations before they present in Wednesday’s class. Most students are close to done with their projects, so this shouldn’t be a heavy homework addition. However, if they are far behind in completing their projects, hopefully they came up with a game plan with their partner(s) to finish it by Wednesday and be presentation ready!
In our afternoon class, students were given their vocabulary tests. When they finished, they were able to continue working on their Geometrocity mapping.
Science with Ms. Pam
This week, students have been learning all about different plants and root types. They have a seed experiment happening, where they prepared a seed and placed them in various habitats to see how their environment and impact their plant’s growth and success. Many students placed them against the window, however, some got creative and placed them in hidden corners, and against the wall near the window. We look forward to seeing which seeds have better sprouting results! Each day, we check and record them to track their progress over time.
Mr. Joe’s Quiz Bowl Lessons
Monday and Tuesday we had two more great practice sessions to help us prepare for the NAQT quiz bowl on Wednesday! This helped to get the students familiarized with the format of the competition as the rules can be a bit complicated at times, as well as to build student confidence in their ability to perform within the format of the competition. These practices also helped students to familiarize themselves with the kind of content they will be expected to know prior to the competition, including topic areas from history and literature to sports and pop culture. Our practices also helped us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our various team members, so that we could begin to formulate a strategy for the day of the competition. I would like to thank all of the students and Ms. Mary for giving me the opportunity to share such a great experience with them, and I would be remiss not to mention how much fun it was getting to know everyone better! I look forward to future competitions and to getting to see the 6th and 7th grade students in my class every day in future school years!
Welcome back! I hope everyone had a fantastic winter break. Today, we jumped right into our next unit: WWII and The Holocaust. We will be using the graphic novel, White Bird, to guide and deepen our learning about The Holocaust. What’s awesome about this novel is it is related to their novel study last year, Wonder! We have already learned about graphic novel terminology to help in our literary discussions, so it was time for our introduction activity in preparation of reading the book tomorrow.
I started by presenting students moral thematic statements in an activity called: Where do you stand?
I would display the statement on the board, and students would walk to one side of the room if they agreed with it, and the other if they disagreed. We then had a brief discussion where students were given an opportunity to share their thinking behind their decision. Here are the statements we discussed:
It takes courage to be kind.
It is sometimes okay to break the law.
There are some choices that are choice-less.
Being a “good person” is more about what you believe rather than what you do when things get difficult.
Silence is a form of acceptance.
The right thing to do is legally obligated by the government through the laws they pass.
Small acts of kindness do not matter in situations of great harm.
Helping strangers is less important than helping people you know.
As we discussed these thematic statements, we started broad, and through discussion, honed our thinking in with the context of The Holocaust. It was awesome to see some students switching their sides as their peers presented arguments as it showed they were thinking very intentionally about their questions. As the activity progress, students involved focused and deeper thinking approaches to their answers naturally, rather than needing as much prompting to do so.
After we went through our statements, we talked in a bit more detail about what happened during The Holocaust. How it took place, why it took so long to end, how it ended, who all was involved, etc. Our discussion was deep, and heavy, but it was also impactful.
To guide our learning of The Holocaust, we analyzed and annotated the opening poem to White Bird. The stanza below is an excerpt from the poem, Fifth Elegy: The Acrobats by Muriel Rukeyser.
They are the children. They have their games.
They made a circle on a map of time,
skipping they entered it, laughing lifted the agate.
I will get you an orange cat, and a pig called Tangerine.
The gladness-bird beats wings against an opaque glass.
There is a white bird in the top of the tree.
They leave their games, and pass.
This allowed them to practice learning history through creative literature, just like we were going to be doing as we read, interpreted, and discussed the rest of White Bird.
We ended on an essential question: Why do we learn about The Holocaust if it was so terrible?
At the end of the day, learning about this stuff is hard. It’s sad, it’s heavy, it doesn’t make us feel good to talk about – but it is still extremely important! We learn how it happened, so we can make sure we never allow it to happen again. We talked about how knowledge is power, and the more things we learn about it, the easier it will be to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself. We talked about how learning about The Holocaust pays respect to those affected by it, and ensures their pain is learned, from rather than forgotten. Students left our class with their hearts heavy, but also with pride in knowing that what they were learning was essential to making sure such a tragedy never happens again.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2026
Our morning class period was spent with Quill for some grammar practice time. This is becuase in our later class periods, today was the day we got to begin reading White Bird! Yay! However, part of our novel study would be written literary responses. We did a Quill period to make sure that our brains were fully awake and ready to write high quality responses with proper grammar.
In our next class period, we read the first two chapters. As we read, we paused to analyze symbolism within the writing and imagery, make inferences to deepen our understanding of the text, connect novel events to the true history being referenced, and reflect on what we had learned.
After our class discussions, students had a chance to practice their written response to literature skills. They were required to restate the question in their answer, and include concrete details from the text in their response. Many of the questions on their chapter worksheets were part of our class discussion, however, we discussed so many things that returning to key ideas was essential to making sure students maintained a deep understanding of the novel.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2026
Today, we had some fun with a teacher-swap! I went to work with Mr. Joe’s class, as Mr. Joe came in to do some trivia in preparation for next week’s Quiz Bowl! Quiz Bowl is an exciting competition where students compete in teams against other schools answering exciting trivia facts. It’s a fun way to learn lots of new things, and a great community team building activity. Since Mr. Joe’s class has competed in the Quiz Bowl earlier this year, he’s kind of an expert on knowing the best way to prepare for the bowl – and we are so excited to continue to work and learn from him in preparation for the competition next week! Here is a blurb from Mr. Joe about how that preparation went:
“This Thursday we began our preparation for the upcoming quiz bowl next Wednesday. First I explained how the competition will work, including the format of the teams, the rules, the scoring, and the expectations that the students can have for what to expect at St. Viator next week. For those interested, it is a 5v5 trivia event where there is a tossup question that is answered by whichever team buzzes in with the answer first, with the successful team getting first chance to answer 3 bonus questions, before the other team gets a chance to steal any questions that were answered incorrectly. Each correct question is worth 10 points, whichever team has the most points after 3 rounds is the winner! We also got to feel out what some of our strengths and weaknesses are in the competition, as we begin to decide what the lineups will look like when our team competes. Students also got to do some learning through exposure by playing trivia and both reviewing things that they already knew, as well as learning some new trivia knowledge in the process! Next week we will continue to prepare by practicing and immersing ourselves in some more questions, while also learning more about how we want our team to look, and getting used to the format of the competition to help quell any nerves that we might have on the day of the competition.”
When I returned to class, we did our word of the day, and talked a bit about Quiz Bowl. Many students said they were nervous… so we talked about the nerves. Some were nervous they’d say the wrong answer, others were nervous they’d be judged for not knowing the answer, some were anxious they’d accidentally press the buzzer prematurely, etc. When asked about if this anxiety was internally motivated out of fear of judging themselves, versus, externally motivated out of fear of their teammates judging them. Collectively, they agreed it was externally motivated. So, we did a team pinky promise! Where we promised to encourage each other, not blame anyone for getting a tough trivia question wrong, and ensure that every member of our team felt supported and valued.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 9 , 2026
Today, there are unfortunately no pictures as I was out for a family emergency. However, students still got to compete in their weekly quick write, and began planning for their Student Leadership Day they will be attending later this year.
Student Leadership Day is a day for our student leaders to meet with student leaders in other schools. This leadership conference is held at the Holocaust Museum, where they get to listen to an incredible presentation by an artist for social justice, and present their own plans to improve Plato Academy. The best part, is that if their plan inspires those at the leadership conference, they will actually receive a grant toward their community project! It takes a lot of time and planning to prepare for, which is why we are starting with the first phase: the initial brainstorm.
Today, students were asked to come up with 3 things they believe they could improve at Plato Academy, and some kind of mock-up plan for how they believe they could improve Plato Academy using the earned grant money. Later on, students will pick what they believe is their strongest plan to make a presentation pitching it to the class for feedback and additional improvements. Then, as a class, we will decide what plan is the strongest, best uses the funding, and would benefit the school the most.
This is an awesome opportunity because it gives our students a chance to practice presentation skills (both in our classroom community, and at the conference), as well as, an opportunity for our students to step up as the incredible leaders they are to improve our school community.
If students finished their initial brainstorm document, they were given time to study for the upcoming Quiz Bowl, read their independent novel, and work on Quill until a small group of early finishers were ready to come together for some critical thinking and game play.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning with you next week! (:
Today, we played with puns and created punny snowman! A Punny Snowman is when the snowman’s name is a winter pun on a well-known name. This is a fun way for students to demonstrate mastery of creating and understanding puns, as it is a type of figurative language that is often encountered but forgotten about and only seen as a joke.
We also put our critical thinking skills to work with some game play – including a brand new game being added to our rotation: Scrambled! Students roll the letter dice and pick out their colors to create a crossword using their rolled letters. Students worked in stations, one playing some UpWords, another beloved game of Cap!
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2025
We did some Quill practice before heading to the theater to practice for our Holiday Program on Thursday!
Unfortunately, due to the ice on the sport court, we were unable to enjoy some outdoor recess in the warmer weather. However, that didn’t phase us as some students took the time to build a blanket fort!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2025
We did our quick write today as our show is tomorrow, and Friday is reserved for some community building holiday fun! Today’s champion was Leo!
Then, we did some final run throughs for our show tomorrow, and used our critical thinking to solve a bit of a holiday riddle. Students practiced reading carefully to read some clues to figure out which person at the ugly sweater parter wore which ugly sweater. They then used their organization skills to chart out their findings to work towards their answers. Finally, they practiced reading charts/graphs to pick out two characters and draw their ugly sweaters.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2025
Today was show day! We hope you all enjoyed our performance!
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2025
Did someone say Secret Santa!? The time has finally come, for students to open their Secret Santa gifts and reveal who they had! So, we got all cozy with some blankets and pillows on the floor, and got to work enjoying our classroom community before break.
Then, it was time for a surprise raffle… for a Labubu! Yes, we fell for the trends, and students were able to enter in an optional raffle for a mystery box Labubu from PopMart. Each student was given a free raffle entry (if they wanted it), but for those who really wanted the Labubu, they could spend 2 dojo points for additional entries. Despite only entering her name twice, Vasia won! We followed blind box opening rules, and had her say which one she hoped it was. She was hoping for Happiness or Hope… and in classic blind box fashion, got Loyalty! If you’ve ever seen a blind box unboxing, you know you almost never get the one you hope for – the Labubu chooses you, not the other way around!
Finally, it was time to spin the wheel to reveal our movie we would watch together. The options were:
The Grinch (Cartoon)
The Naughty Nine
The Santa Clause
The Grinch (With Jim Carrey)
The wheel landed on the 90s classic, The Santa Clause! So, students grabbed their favorite snacks, and enjoyed some candy and hot cocoa from Leo’s Family, and shared some laughs while creating some memories.
Students thought the Labubu Raffle was my hinted surprise… but it was just a distraction for the real surprise. As a class, they have been begging to have Chip join our class. So, what better way to end our last day of school before break together than with a surprise guest cuddle bug!?
I hope everyone has a fantastic winter break! I look forward to sharing more of our learning with you when we return! (:
Today, we started with students taking their pushed-back vocabulary tests. Once students took their tests, they were able to enjoy some silent reading time. In the afternoon, students got their tests back to know which set to study for Friday’s test, and we learned the next set of vocabulary. Since our large group song was changed, it was important we took some time today to ensure we knew all the of the lyrics without our lyric sheets!
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2025
We started with a quill work period to keep our grammar skills up despite all the holiday fun we are having… and speaking of some holiday fun, we finally finished our class song choreography! We are so excited for you to see it on stage next Thursday! (:
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2025
On Wednesday, we had a combined rehearsal for our new large group song with Mr. Joe’s class. Then, it was time for us to begin making some props. We started by making some individualized candy canes for our large group performance proper. We brainstormed some creative ways we could decorate and create our candy canes, and students exercised their critical thinking skills by figuring out how to make their creative candy cane prop dreams a reality with the supplies available to them.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2025
We started with a large group rehearsal of the entire 2nd floor with Ms. Marta. When we returned to class, we took some time to rehearse the song motions we just learned and do a couple of run-throughs of our recently finished choreography. At the beginning of our class dance, our elves need to hold some presents for Santa. However, we didn’t just have fun making this prop – but we practiced some of our math skills! This is the perfect opportunity for our class to get some practice in on building 3-D shapes by designing their own shape nets in preparation for continuing to build their Geometrocity projects when we return from break! Students also utilized some of the skills they learned through our Mindset Math skeptics activity to cover their prop creations in construction paper in a way that was not wasteful, and looked polished. However, we couldn’t resist a couple of holiday song singing/dance breaks while we worked.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2025
We started with our quick write, and it has been amazing to see some new challengers for the title of our weekly quick write champion! Today, it was an intense showdown between Jason and Maggie as they tied for using 15 words. However, Jason made a fatal mistake – he forgot to include today’s word of the day! One of the rules of the quick write is that we must use all of this week’s words before previous words can count for points. So, Maggie was able to maintain her title as this weeks quick write champion! After their quick write, they took their vocabulary test.
During our afternoon block, we took some time to finish up our props. Groups of students who had already finished their props practiced their inference skills by working on a packet predicting what I would be doing during Winter Break. Students use all the things they have learned about me in our classroom community building activities to assist them in making inferences of what I will do over winter break to various prompts. Not only is this a fun way to practice a valuable ELA skill, but there’s a fun incentive for them to try their best – any prompt they infer about my winter break correctly earns them 3 Dojo points!
Science with Ms. Pam!
Students began learning about the importance of adaptation in nature through their bird beak lab. Students became birds and attempted to use different tools as their beaks to learn the advantages and disadvantages of different beak types and emphasize the importance of adaptation in species. Then, students began group research presentations and researched single-cell organisms.
Math with Mr. Zafeiris!
Students continued to practice solving equations and used their knowledge of finding angle measurements with their background knowledge of triangle characteristics to strengthen their understanding of angle relationships and Geometry.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning with you next week! (:
Today, students were eased back into our school routine by learning our new vocabulary words this week. We played some study games, and ended the period by singing our Holiday Concert songs a couple of times to get it back in our brains to begin learning choreography. In our next class period, we assigned our class song roles to set us up for success in choreographing our chorus.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2025
Today, we began working on our Multicultural Monday written reflections to display alongside their beautiful collages. As we began working on our written reflections, students learned what MLA format is, and how to properly format a blank Google Doc to abide by MLA guidelines – a helpful skill they will use for the rest of their academic career!
To ensure our reflections are the highest quality of writing possible, we will be utilizing the writing process. Students will receive feedback on their writing sometime this week, and continue editing and revising next week.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2025
We grouped up with Mr. Joe’s class today in preparation for the Holiday Concert and got some group song rehearsal time in. Then, when we returned to our class, it was time for some community building with setting up our Classroom Secret Santa! Students filled out their questionnaire one period, and once they finished, took some time to practice their grammar with Quill. During our later class period, we drew names!
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2025
Today was our big choreography day. We figured out our stage placements, and choreographed most of the song, being sure to practice singing and dancing. As a reward for their hard work and focus, we played a couple rounds of Desert Island. In this game, we practice our pattern tracking and critical thinking skills! I start by saying something I am bringing the the desert island that follows a secret rule. Students then suggest other items for me to bring – if it follows the rule, I add it to the list. If it does not follow the secret rule, I say I cannot bring it to the island. Their goal is to work together to figure out the secret rule!
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2025
This morning was the time our class has been waiting for – IT WAS TIME TO SHOP THE PLATO ACADEMY HOLIDAY SHOP! Since many students were shopping for their families, I didn’t want to take any photos of them shopping or wrapping to keep any of their gifts a surprise as they were incredibly proud of their gift picking work. However, they were some busy shoppers, so please enjoy a group haul photo!
In our afternoon class, we did our word of the day, and ended up postponing our Vocabulary Test for Monday. This is because, our large group song has been updated to a more upbeat tune. While we are excited for the update, we needed to use our original test time to learn the new song to allow students the weekend to practice it, as our Holiday Concert is quickly approaching! However, it wouldn’t be a Friday without our quick write – and today’s winner was Maggie using 18 vocabulary words!
Science with Ms. Pam!
Students worked on creating review games of everything they learned about DNA, and began researching different animals and learning about their adaptations and how those adaptations help them survive in the wild.
Math with Mr. Zafeiris!
This week we worked on eliminating fractions from equations, and in geometry we combined our algebra skills to form equations and learned strategies for finding angle measures. The students show strong interest in both algebra and geometry.
I look forward to sharing more of our learning and community building with you next week! (:
