Our Middle School Journalism class published its first issue of The Hive.
In this issue, you will find pictures and stories from our first few weeks of school, including; harrowing tales from the 7th grade camp out, updates on middle school football and soccer, encouraging news about vaping in our school, an extensive weather report, and MORE! Our class will publish new stories each Friday.
Heather Wolfe, dietician and nutritionist at Dartmouth Hitchcock and author of the cookbook Sustainable Kitchen, returned this week to the school kitchen where she took her first cooking class and decided her career path. Heather joined this year’s middle school cooking class to share her passion for healthy, sustainable living, and some recipes from her book.
Students made hummus with her and were able to sample homemade kale chips, energy balls, aquafaba meringue cookies, and watermelon basil water. No leftovers! Here you see two photos of Heather in the WUHSMS teaching kitchen - one from 1997 (making homemade pasta) and the other with this year's ms class! (More connections - some people will remember Heather’s mother, Karen Hawkes who taught French at Woodstock for many years. Heather is married to Woodstock social studies teacher Nick Wolfe.)
On May 7, language students, along with their parents, enjoyed a tapas-style dinner as their culminating activity of their immersive trip to Spain and France. After dinner, which was held outside in deference to the weather and to the European habit of eating al fresco, the group watched a slide presentation of photos of the trip.
Students prepared for this educational experience by attending “immersive” lessons twice a month, every month, beginning in September. These meetings were organized in such a way that students would be familiar with both the geography and culture of the sites they visited. The goal was for the students to be able to maximize the travel experience by having some knowledge of what they were doing and seeing.
The cities of Madrid and Paris were chosen as the center pieces of the trip because the student group was made up of upper level French and Spanish students. Many of them were scheduled to travel in April of 2020, but that trip was canceled due to COVID-19. Going to Spain and France offered these students a last chance to travel together before heading off to college! And for some, the trip may turn out to be a preview of a study abroad experience they may embark on in the future.
The 12-day trip began in Toledo, Spain, which is located about an hour southwest of Madrid. The city is known for its beautiful medieval architecture. Toledo was once home to Christians, Muslims and Jews, therefore the architecture reflects this confluence of religion and culture. In addition to touring historical sites, students (and the “Madames”) got an aerial view of the city on a zipline over the Tagus River. From Toledo, the group went to Madrid and visited many of the city’s iconic sites, such as Sofia Reina and the Prado. Mr. Villaneuva helped the group organize a two-day visit at the Colegio Salesianos. The visit gave Woodstock students the opportunity to experience a sense of school life in Spain. They also participated in activities in both Spanish and French classes.
After a week experiencing the life of a Madrileno/Madrilena, the group flew to Paris and started the day with a pretty comprehensive tour of Paris. Based in the 18th arrondissement, on the right bank of the Seine, and just streets away from Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, students moved through a very busy Paris by bus, metro, train and foot. The group visited such iconic sites as the Louvre, the Musee d’Orsay, the Tour Eiffel, and Versailles. They made a significant dent in the consummation of and other fine French foods! Students were also able to visit a school just 20 miles southwest of Paris. They spent the day at Sophie Barat, a private school with a wonderful climate and welcoming teachers and peers. Students participated in French and Spanish classes and had a typical French lunch thanks to the teachers who organized the visit. Sophie Barat school is the future partner of the Woodstock French Exchange Program.
In a quiet moment during the trip, Marie Anderson and Colleen O’Connell, reflected on the students traveling with them. Their thoughts were as follows: this group was fully engaged and we enjoyed seeing them squeeze every ounce of experience from everything we did. There was a good bit of history, art and culture; there was street life and food. No matter what we did, no matter how far we had to walk, the students were cheerful, adaptable and very much in awe of what they were seeing and doing. We could depend on them to meet us at designated times and designated places. They made their way through Madrid and Paris without any problems or fears. They listened to our advice about precautions to take when traveling in a city, and they shared with us their own small adventures as they made their way on their own. They rallied despite a few being sick, some family concerns; they rallied at the schools and showed the very best that Woodstock has to offer. They participated in classes, in the target language, and they made friends in both Madrid and Paris. We are grateful to have had such a wonderful experience together.
The Spring Plant Sale will run from May 1st-31st. It will be open from 9 am-2 pm on school days. On the first day of the sale (Monday, the 1st), the sale will be open until 6 pm for WCSU staff!!
The sale is located in the Large Greenhouse (behind/riverside of the WUHS/MS building).
All proceeds directly benefit the Woodstock Union Agriculture Department. Your support helps to ensure that our greenhouse and gardens are thriving spaces where we can continue to teach and learn about agriculture, stewardship, sustainability, and systems thinking through experiential learning.
We will also be holding a plant pot collection drive! Bring your used plant pots and we will either wash, sanitize, and reuse them or sort them by plastic type and recycle them with a company that specializes in horticulture pots! If you bring in plastic pots, you can take home one free 4-inch potted plant! As always, bring cardboard boxes if you have them for transporting your plants to you car.
This year, we are focusing on selling native, perennial plants — specifically, ones that benefit pollinators — and vegetables/herbs. We will still have many of the fan favorites. See the CRAFT website for the list of plants (subject to change). We will also be selling bird houses, No Mow May signs, and seeds.
Middle school students are cooking! Starting with a couple of easy dishes, students are learning some basic skills in the kitchen through a new quarter elective—and they are enjoying the fruits of their labor with some left to share. (Food photography skills may be next!)
C.R.A.F.T. was super excited to host David Andrews (Class of 2012) and his partner Erin Donahue along with Phil Rice from Cobb Hill to lead our students in a mushroom cultivation workshop.
David first learned how to grow mushrooms as a student at WUHS at Cobb Hill, and has since gone on to own and run his own very successful vegetable and mushroom farm in Maine, Tiny Acres Farm. This was a true partnership venture, as Field and Forest Products donated the mushroom spawn and Pat Bartlett donated the sugar maple logs.
David, Erin, and Phil lead the students in a 'drill, fill, and seal' process to inoculate 60 logs with shiitake and chestnut mushroom spores. We also learned about mushroom varieties, economics, and ecological benefits. We are planning on a big harvest in the spring of 2024, so patience is also emphasized!
A big shout out to Kevin Nunan for helping us move and store the logs too!
CRAFT has hosted two exciting events in the past week! The second in our trilogy of Career Panels focused on the theme of Conservation Careers. Students learned from the following panelists:
Holly Knox, US Forest Service
Hannah Dallas, Windsor County Forester
Rudi Ruddell, White River Partnership
Lorne Currier, Green Mountain Club
They were intrigued to learn about the winding and interconnected career paths of these folks, how mountain bike trails are cited, and designed, and how climate change is influencing each of their work in a variety of ways. We can sense some great collaborations and even internship possibilities cooking up with these fantastic community partners!
We also hosted our second student retreat. Each student currently working toward the CRAFT credential gathered at the Vermont Land Trust's King Farm this week to build community, reflect on stewardship and sustainability themes emerging in their learning, and to elicit some good old fashioned JOY.
The Intermediate Math Team (grades 9 and 10) won the math meet in their division yesterday at Lebanon High School! They competed against 5 other teams from other high schools in the area.
The team members include Lia Gugliotta, Jack Quicker, Dex Namkung, Aubrey Seman and Lucy Drebitko. Congratulations to our mathletes!!!!!!!!
Our SAP students have been working in varying capacities this fall to be stewards of the land and our community. As part of the Abenaki Land Link Project, students harvest, dried and separated out the seed of native plants including the cranberry bean and red flint corn. The seeds we grew go back to the Abenaki people in Vermont and provide them with additional seed to grow crops and food to eat for those in need.
SAP students gleaned apples at Sunrise Orchard in Reading with the non-profit Willing Hands. The apples they harvested go into storage in the Willing Hands facility and will be distributed to people through the winter.
After gleaning apples, there were so many that were not the best to give to people but were great for baking and applesauce. Thanks to their hard work ALL classes got to make apple muffins and applesauce!
SAP students volunteered with Veggie Van Go to help hand out monthly food items provided by the Vermont Food Bank. They also went to the Thompson Senior Center to put together several meals on wheels for the elderly in our community. The senior center delivers over 18,000 meals annually within our community!
