Spotted on the Boulevard: Speyer Students Celebrate Their Passions with Speyer Summer Assignments!

Researching a state of their choosing and discovering a plethora of fun facts to share. Reading 1984 and answering the question “Who am I?” in whatever medium they choose. Tracing the globalization of a topic/person/thing they are curious about. Creating a pamphlet to describe a place or topic they are passionate about (inspired by the pamphlet author E.B. White designed to highlight his vacation area in Maine).

These are just a few examples of the Summer Assignments our Dragons completed during their time away from Speyer. Intentionally designed around each grade’s first Humanities theme of the year, Summer Assignments help spark curiosity for the upcoming school year. In addition to channeling their passions, the assignments are also used as a catalyst for building community during the first days of the new school year. Of course, there were other opportunities provided (including book lists, nature explorations, and Math challenges) to help our Dragons continue their learning adventures during the summer months.

But what do all of our Summer Assignments have in common? They all emphasize choice and creativity. Our students were encouraged to go deep on something they are passionate about and present their thoughts in any way they wanted to — with no ceilings and no limits, our Summer Assignments nurture each student’s passion and strengthens those creative and imaginative muscles that are essential for problem-solving and collaboration.

Third Grade students kicked off their year-long focus on the United States by choosing a state to explore and presenting what special information they found (and questions they still have!) about that state in a visual representation. Fun facts about Wisconsin, Hawaii, Maryland, Wyoming, and more states were shared in so many different ways! Meanwhile, after reading Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White, Speyer sixth graders created pamphlets with topics that ran the gamut from America Ninja Warrior to the history of Soccer, the Liberty Science Center to the North Fork.

Fourth Grade’s Humanities theme of globalization was launched with a challenge to research the movement of an idea, a good, or a group of people or a person and then present their research to their classmates. Students were encouraged to have fun and be imaginative — and they didn't disappoint! Presentations ranged from an educational video to a set of trading cards to a pinball machine (which represented the student’s family’s movement around the world). During the grade's gallery walk, we spotted projects tracing the movement of everything from Chess to cats to the inventor of Alfredo sauce.

In addition to reading Orwell’s 1984 and producing journal entries, our oldest Dragons were asked to create a visual representation of themselves answering the question "Who am I?”. Our eight graders submitted mind maps, artwork, poems, songs, card tricks, chess puzzles, essays, and origami crane towers. You can see some of their responses in the photo above — completely covering the bulletin board in Eight Grade Humanities teacher Mr. Deard’s office.

If Summer Assignments are a taste of what’s to come this school year, we can’t wait to see everything our Dragons will discover!