Upper Level School News

The upper elementary students have had a lot of great things going on! As we worked towards the final weeks of school before winter break, the upper elementary students were very busy with work their Shakespeare experience. Members of Des Moines Social Club came into each classroom once a week and mentored the students in their Shakespeare studies. The end result was the famous Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, performed by the students. Students started their Shakespeare experience by working in small groups working on different scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. Next, there were open castings and students were given roles for the production of Romeo and Juliet.  Each class performed one of the acts as well as a sonnet. Ms. Lori’s class performed act one, Ms. Stacey’s class performed the second act, Mrs. Maxwell’s class performed act three, Ms. Gibson’s class performed the fourth act, and lastly, Mr. Egherman’s class performed the final act. The production was held at the Viking Theatre at Grandview University on December 17th. Students were extra excited for this opportunity and it showed with the enthusiasm and effort that they put into it.

Mrs. Brown and Miss Milena finished up their final days of student teaching at Cowles and they had an amazing experience. Miss Milena enjoyed being in the upper elementary environment with Ms. Lori. She is grateful for the knowledge that she has gained from Ms. Lori and the students she has been working with over the past 16 weeks. The opportunity to work in a Montessori was unexpected, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Miss Milena hopes to learn more about Montessori in the future and bring what she has learned at Cowles into her own classroom. She will miss all of the wonderful students and teachers and hopes to visit often!

Mrs. Brown enjoyed being in Mr. Egherman’s classroom and working with the upper elementary level. She learned a lot from the students and Mr. Egherman about being a teacher and Montessori methods. Being placed in a Montessori setting was scary at first, but turned out to be a great gift! She hopes to be able to incorporate some of what she learned into her future classroom. Mrs. Brown would love to be a part of Montessori in the future and she will continue to learn all she can about it. She will miss working with, not only her class, but also all of the upper elementary students and staff.

Miss Milena and Mrs. Brown send out their greatest thanks to all who helped make their student teaching experience so positive and wonderful! Thank you!