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 fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
In Middle School at PNA, we try to build a sense of community within our classes, amongst our grades, throughout our school, and beyond. Recently, we’ve done a variety of activities that have been key in our community development.
Last week we had the Fall Outing where the whole school gathered to play games, eat pizza, and work together while getting to know each other. Our students had “buddies”—younger students who they accompanied during the walk to and from school. Watching our students behave as leaders and mentors was awesome…pretty darn cute, too.
In Middle School at PNA, we try to build a sense of community within our classes, amongst our grades, throughout our school, and beyond. Recently, we’ve done a variety of activities that have been key in our community development.
Last week we had the Fall Outing where the whole school gathered to play games, eat pizza, and work together while getting to know each other. Our students had “buddies”—younger students who they accompanied during the walk to and from school. Watching our students behave as leaders and mentors was awesome…pretty darn cute, too.
In social studies, they’ve been learning about the components of a community. After discussing examples in our Anchorage community, students were put into teams and challenged to design fictional communities of their own. They had to discuss what they thought was important and necessary to support a fully functioning community. Their creativity and compassion couldn’t be contained.
Group projects and activities are a staple to what we do at PNA. Our math curriculum is designed to help our students learn how to work together and rely on each other for support. Spelling groups, reading book clubs, and writers’ workshop all emphasize the idea of community building in our academic classrooms.
Thursday was another perfect example of the greater PNA community coming together to do something positive. Thank you and kudos to all the families who contributed to the Fall Festival. Again though, our middle schoolers stepped up and acted as leaders for our school community. Whether they helped set up, took photos, ran games, or painted faces, their contributions helped make it a joyful (and delicious) evening.
On Friday, the majority of PNA took a field trip to the PAC and supported two of our own students who were in the cast of Alaska Youth Theater’s Mary Poppins Jr.. Going into the Anchorage community and seeing the show was a treat, but it was extra special cheering for our own students. Half of the audience was PNA, you can be sure they got extra loud and well-deserved applause during the curtain call.
We are excited to invite parents to really see our community up close and personal during our first parent lunch. This Friday (10/4) we look forward to having you in our classrooms, participating in a team-building challenges, and getting to experience our Middle School community first hand.
Building community culture is important to us because our goal is not just to be together because we “occupy the same space”. Rather we hope to have that “feeling of fellowship” because of our shared goals, hopes, and dreams. We are very proud of the community the students have built in these first months of school; Sarah and I cannot wait to see it continue to develop.
Building community culture is important to us because our goal is not just to be together because we “occupy the same space”. Rather we hope to have that “feeling of fellowship” because of our shared goals, hopes, and dreams. We are very proud of the community the students have built in these first months of school; Sarah and I cannot wait to see it continue to develop.
