Oh. My. Gosh.

We love your children. 

Today’s challenge was 100%, absolutely, incredibly, beyond belief magical! Or maybe we just thought so– but really, it was pretty amazing! 

Check out these slides to see exactly how the class played out.

This video also captures the essence of the class. If you listen carefully, you can hear their support for each other. 

It was seriously a dream come true to watch and listen to your children work so seamlessly together. The work they’ve been doing around teamwork, the entire quarter, has been absorbed and is being lived in the 5th and 6th grade.  

In our reflection discussion at the end of class, it came out that even the kids were amazed at how marvelously they worked together. They couldn’t pick just one “I can” statement to reflect upon because they felt like they did all of them SO well in the challenge. They were actually eager to document about the experience on their rubrics! 

They shared that because they’ve been working with their classmates so closely, they feel like they know what they need from each other and how to collaborate so they can find success — even if working with someone who operates totally different from them. 

We asked the kids, “How many of you found it difficult to work with someone on an earlier challenge that you now find yourself working with really well?” Twelve out of our 20 students raised their hands. 

These critical skills– collaboration, communication, planning and managing for results, adaptability, higher-order thinking– are transferring into their other classes and will hopefully stick with them as they are such valuable, important life skills. 

Even as we write this, hours after the challenge, we cant help but smile. We are so proud of the work your kids are doing at MJDS. It feels wonderful to be a part of this kind of teaching and learning.