by: Courtney Kooistra, Mosaic Math Teacher and Lead Advisor
Mosaic Students Peer Mentoring for Presentations of Learning
For the last few weeks, Mosaic students have been reflecting on the first trimester of the 2016-2017 school year by planning for their Presentation of Learning (POL). What is a POL? This is a time where students share out with their parents and advisor about the growth they have made throughout the trimester and the goals they have for the future by looking back at the work they accomplished. Today in advisory, 7th and 8th grade advisories paired up with the 6th grade advisories to help model how to choose artifacts and explain how the artifacts can be used as evidence of the growth students have made.
Each older student had a younger student partner, which provided our older students with the opportunity to share with our younger students about how to explain artifacts using enough detail that will help them reflect on the work and help parents understand the work they accomplished. For our sixth grade students, this was an opportunity to connect with an older student and learn from their experience with POLs. It was great to see the connections between our older and younger students as well as hear the older students ask prompting questions similar to those a teacher would ask when guiding a student through a process. We all are looking forward to bringing parents into our community on Monday, November 28th, and Tuesday, November 29th, for them to experience POLs and see the progress all of the students have made this trimester!
by: Rachel Meyer, Mosaic Science
Mosaic field studies at Maywood
In Particles, Mosaic's science class, students have been exploring the question "How does the quality of water affect life?" This real-world question prompts a range of topics from ethics of contamination in Flint, Michigan to the Sheboygan River restoration project that students participated in our first week of school. Particles is designed to give students opportunities to look at these challenges in their tiniest forms, atoms, by designing experiments and substantiating their conclusions with data.
by: Erica Brown
Information Night
The Mosaic School is hosting an event to discuss the unique opportunities and programs that are offered to students. If you are interested in learning more about the program and may be exploring other options for your child, please consider joining our staff and students on Thursday, October 20th from 6:00 pm.-7:30 pm for Information Night, Students will guide tours while staff members share detailed information about the various programs that make up The Mosaic School. Camp Étude cooking club members will be serving some delicious treats. Please join us!
by: Courtney Koositra, Lead Advisor
Mosaic Intentionally Prepares for Intellectual and Professional Engagement
Over the last three days, students at The Mosaic School participated in their first Town Hall, attended seminar previews, got a glimpse of what their academic classes will be like, and spent more time together with their advisory building community through multiple activities and discussions. The first Town Hall allowed students to meet each other, share out a movement that represented their advisory group, and share goals that they had for how Town Hall should be run this year. Town Hall is a whole school gathering that happens every Wednesday in an effort to build community, share out important information, enhance student leadership, and discuss community issues.
by: Courtney Kooistra, Lead Advisor
Mosaic Develops Habits of Professionalism at Camp Anokijig
Today our students and advisors loaded up the busses and headed out to Camp Anokijig for a day full of activities that tested our ability to collaborate and communicate effectively to work toward a goal in an outdoor setting. Throughout the day, groups consisting of two advisories each completed three different activities which all had different goals. A student favorite was the voyager canoe, which allowed an entire advisory to get into the canoe together and navigate around the lake. Mr. Fredrichsen’s advisory collaborated by singing a song as a group which allowed them to row in rhythm. Other groups identified roles, noticing that once they had a leader it was much easier to row together and move the canoe effectively. While reflecting on this activity, Mr. Laborde and Miss Kooistra’s advisees identified that in order to be successful as a group they needed to listen to each student’s ideas, put forth maximum effort, focus on the task at hand, encourage each other, and take on leadership opportunities when appropriate. Students then tried to improve at each of these aspects throughout the rest of the day.
by: Courtney Kooistra, Lead Advisory & Math Teacher
Mosaic Community, Service, Learning
What is service learning? Today Mosaic students had the opportunity to go out into the Sheboygan community as they learned valuable skills throughout a day filled with providing service to different organizations. Each grade level went to a different location and fulfilled needs that we identified within the community outside of our school. Our sixth graders had the opportunity to go to the Sheboygan River[http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/greatlakes/sheboygan.html] area surrounding the UW Sheboygan and pull weeds as they learned a little about invasive species. Seventh grade students went to Nourish[http://www.nourishfarms.org/], a non profit organization in Sheboygan County, and helped harvest within the nourish garden as well as learn about the services of the Nourish organization. Eighth grade students headed over to the Habitat Restore[http://www.habitatlakeside.com/] building to provide extra hands in organization, taking care of the lot, and helping stock donated items.
by: Courtney Kooistra, Lead Advisor & Math Teacher
Mosaic Reflections
Anticipation was building this morning as we finally got to welcome students back into our community to participate in activities we had been planning for the last several weeks! Today at Mosaic we focused on introducing students to the creative process by allowing them to experience it within their advisories. The creative process is a component of our schools that is used to develop new ideas or solutions to problems within project seminars and academics.
Welcome Back Mosaic School!
We are excited to start the 2016 - 2017 school year! Our first few days and weeks of school are intentionally designed to introduce students to the ideas of our school culture. While the school days will still begin at 8:05am and end 3:10pm, we have a arranged the schedule differently for the first few days. The details of those days are below:
by: Beth Carreno
MAKER Break at Sheboygan Summer Music Series
MAKER Break, the creative makerspace program developed by The Étude Group’s IDEAS Academy and The ARTery of the John Michael Kohler Art Center, was a featured program at the August 11th Levitt Amp Sheboygan Summer Music Series.
by: Beth Carreno
Announcing MAKER BREAK: A Summer Makerspace Program
We are excited to announce a free summer makerspace program developed by IDEAS Academy[ideas/] and The ARTery of The John Michael Kohler Arts Center. MAKER BREAK is a series of summer workshops and sessions that explore a wide range of making practices and activities. Participants can explore everything from circuitry and mic building at IDEAS Academy to knotsmanship and screenprinting in The ARTery.
by: Zoe Farrell, Writing Apprentice for Étude Studios
Mosaic School Students Present Learning to The Public
Zoe Farrell is a sophomore at IDEAS Academy and a writing apprentice for the Étude Studios. She took time from completing her own Exhibition of Learning (EOL) this week to share an article on the process students follow and some of their projects.
by: Beth Carreno
Mosaic Student's EOL Takes on Autism and Bullying Through Songwriting
Abigail, a middle school student at Mosaic, began her Exhibition of Learning (EOL) with an introduction to the project process and a 3-2-1 bridge. She asked those in attendance to share three short explanations for the creative process in all art forms; two questions they still held about the creative process in all art forms; and one analogy for the creative process in the art forms. This component was valuable in preparing the audience for her creative interpretation of the topic.
by: Tad Phippen Wente, College Readiness Coordinator
Mosaic students visit colleges and workplaces
All Mosaic School students sampled college and career choices April 27 when they toured local post-secondary schools and a community giant.
by: Beth Carreno
The Étude Group's Maker Movement
There is a lot of talk in education these days about “makerspaces.” It seems to be a new buzz word. The reality is that while it may be a new concept for some in the education community, it’s one of the foundations for The Étude Group. While the concepts of making and creating are not new for us, our role in sharing this concept at a greater level with the community is.
by: Erica Brown
Information Night
Help us share the great things that happen at The Mosaic School by inviting your friends and families to attend our Information Night on Thursday, April 21st from 6:00-7:30 p.m. in room 3402. This will be the final Information Night, so please join us!
by: Erica Brown
The Mosaic School Final Shadow Day
The Mosaic School is hosting a final Shadow Day on Thursday, March 17th.
by: Erica Brown
Student Shadow Day
*Student Shadow Day, February 25th, 2016 8:00 am-3:10 pm*
by: Erica Brown
Information Night
The Mosaic School is hosting an information night on Tuesday, February 9th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm in room 3402. I.D.E.A.S. Academy staff will provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student guided tours will be available and the evening will close with a question and answer session. All community members are welcome.
by: Janelle Bane
The Mosaic School's Winter Exhibitions of Learning
Last week, Mosaic students participated in the Winter session of Exhibitions of Learning (EoLs). This is the chance for students to pick a topic from one of their academic classes and spend a semester conducting research and proposing a plan to interpret their findings through a medium of their choice.
by: Erica Brown
Student Shadow Day
The Mosaic School is hosting a student Shadow Day on February 4th from 8:05 am to 3:10 pm. Students interested in experiencing a day at Mosaic are welcome to attend. For further information, contact Erica Brown at ebrown@etudegroup.org, or visit our website at www.etudegroup.org.
by: Erica Brown
Mosaic Information Night
The Mosaic School is hosting an information night on January 26th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm in room 3402. Staff will provide a brief overview of the curriculum, student guided tours will be available and the evening will close with a question and answer session. All community members are welcome.
