With Space Week approaching, this past week our middle schoolers did a lot of ground work for their mission to Mars. Each time we do a creative, “big picture” project like this one, our kids impress us with their creativity and sense of wonder. We received questions...

What does the word community mean to you? If you “google it” you get two primary definitions. First: a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. That’s a fair definition, yet I prefer the second one: a feeling of...

Working with a team can be challenging.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a sports or a work team, many of the necessary skills are the same: communication, understanding the goal, problem solving, knowing the resources available, and many others. The pipe cleaner challenge...

It is the beginning of a new chapter for many students in the PNA Middle School.  Gone are the days of little to no homework. The challenge of this new Personal Responsibility is presenting itself daily, and middle schoolers are still in the learning stages.  Students...

It is hard to believe that we have been in school for 3 weeks already!  For teachers and students alike, these first weeks of establishing routine, navigating a new social dynamic, and laying the groundwork for clear expectations in middle school seem exhausting,...

​We've had a wonderful start to our school year! Middle Schoolers have been very busy these past two weeks. Last week we read picture books and discussed overarching themes in stories. This week, we discussed specific guidelines that the students think are important...

They may look like your average group of teenagers. But they are not. They are Superheros. The PNA 8th grade class of 2019 has left a lasting legacy in the Ruth Arcand Park Project.  Over the last two years, These students put 476 hours into this project (~12 work...

  When asked to reflect on our recent trip to Washington DC, students naturally focused on the many museums we visited. (High point of the trip? “The cool museums!” Low point of the trip? “So many museums!”) DC is the mother lode of museums, and we visited many...

By far, a highlight of the 8th grade Spring Trip was the afternoon spent in Williamsburg touring the living museum of this important colonial town.  We began our tour at the colonial capital building, sitting in the seats where the House of Burgesses met and discussed...

Day 3: On Wednesday, after checking out the White House and the White House Visitior’s Center (they now DEFINITELY know the difference between the Capitol building and the White House...), we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the newest Smithsonian: the Museum...