A year ago, the school entertained a 2011-12 calendar that did not include Project Period. The outcry that ensued--in large part by students--prompted wholesale reconsideration and the implementation of the program underway today.

 




Summer-like temperatures may depress the quantity of our maple syrup production, but there's plenty of work to do. Kindergarteners visited to explore the process and taste liquid gold.



Thirty-seven projects are underway; about a third of them are off-campus. Calendar and budgetary matters favored a shorter, three-and-a-half day period. I sense an unexpected result....

Below, Madison and Tim return (as alumni!) to Andover Elementary and Middle School to teach as interns in the first grade.


 

Those of us who feel welcomed to Andover--by wonderful folk whose families have been here for hundreds of years--are welcomed by families like Tim's. Here, he interns in a first grade class that includes five of his cousins!



The unexpected result I see is the degree of total focus and commitment exhibited by everyone--students and teachers--in a program that is concentrated to this time frame. For example, the task of learning to read music on the piano--a project balanced with pin hole camera photography--could be considered tedious. Yet, with three hours dedicated per day, we find participants to be absorbed and progressing at lightning speed.

 

Dan opens the pinhole of his immense cardboard camera for a 90-second exposure.



Steel Drums....

 

These kids are headed off to be with elderly friends at a local extended care facility.

 

Mural Mania is extending a biological mural started years ago.... with the era of human existence.





Videography.

 

One of the more extraordinary projects is FlashMob, which prepares for a once-in-a-lifetime event tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:00 AM at The Mall Of New Hampshire. If you can be there, be there!