School news
VT Supreme Court Justice visits 8th grade class
VT Supreme Court Justice Harold Eaton and his intern, Camille, visited with the 8th grade class as part of our study of the Bill of Rights & the US Constitution. Students are reading the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson as part of their study of the judicial branch of government. Justice Eaton answered student questions about his work and the role of the judiciary in our state and national governments.
Justice Eaton is very much a homegrown Woodstocker. His parents both graduated from WUHS, as he himself did in 1973, and then also his son, Matt. He went on to attend UVM and Vermont Law School and he was appointed to Vermont's highest court in 2014. We were able to dig out his yearbook from our archives!
Middle school students and teachers enjoy Winter Carnival
On March 5th, middle schoolers traded class for an afternoon at the annual Winter Carnival. The Spirit Club kicked things off with an assembly full of games and raffles, then students and teachers spread out across activities — ice skating, ping pong, Bingo, bracelet making, Just Dance, a movie, and more. The day wrapped up with cookies and cocoa outside as a whole middle school.
Students loved having the freedom to move between activities at their own pace — a detail that came up more than once. A well-earned thanks to the School Spirit Club for pulling it all together.
IDEA program students take flight with polyhedral kite design
IDEA—Innovation, Design, Engineering, Action—is a project-based elective at Woodstock Union that challenges students to learn by doing, tackling real design and engineering problems with their hands and their minds.
This semester, middle school IDEA students are putting that spirit to work in a big way: designing and building kites inspired by Alexander Graham Bell's famous Tetrahedral Kites from the early 1900s. To kick things off, students dove into polyhedral geometry—the study of three-dimensional solids made from polygons—and built their own small models from scratch. It was a lot of fun, and the kites are just getting started.
WUHSMS musicians participate in Connecticut Valley Honors Music Festival
Twelve musicians from WUHSMS were accepted and participated in the Connecticut Valley Honors Music Festival last weekend. This festival brings together the very best middle and high school musicians from throughout the state for a two day festival, this year hosted at Bellows Falls Union High School. The festival includes over 10 hours of rehearsal followed by a featured performance. Lia Gugliotta performed with the high school jazz ensemble and all other musicians performed with the middle school concert band. Bravo tutti!
Pictured from left to right: Josiah DeWerth, Mina Gugliotta, Izzy Gieder, Josie Flaster, Lia Gugliotta, Ava Byrne, Genevieve Williams, Norah Wolfe, Sadie Rowlee, Mari Maxham, Malina Siciliano and Anabelle Park
December library news and book club festivities
In this week's From the Library newsletter, learn about the Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club's winter party and book swap, see a snow-themed book display and read about Red Stars, the new Middle School Book Club book by Davide Morosinotto.
Young Adult Book Books Book Club
On December 9, members of the Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club gathered for a festive winter celebration during ARE time. The cozy event combined delicious treats, literary discoveries, and the joy of sharing favorite reads with fellow book lovers.
Schuyler Hagge brought a homemade hot cocoa cake, while Maya Sluka contributed tasty toffee for everyone to enjoy. As students sampled the sweet treats, they dove into discussions about this year's National Book Award finalists and winner in Young Adult Literature, exploring what makes these books stand out in contemporary teen fiction.
The group also looked ahead to Teen Lit Mob in April, an event that celebrates young adult literature and brings readers together around powerful stories. Students shared enthusiastic book recommendations with each other, highlighting diverse voices and perspectives in YA literature, before participating in a book swap where everyone could take home a new-to-them title.
The Young Adult Diverse Books Book Club continues to create a welcoming space for students to discover stories that reflect a wide range of experiences and identities while building community around their shared love of reading.
Middle School Book Club
The Middle School Book Club is just finishing up The Lost Year by Katerine Marsh and looking forward to their next book Red Stars: The Case of Viktor and Nadya's Notebooks by Davide Morosinotto. During the first quarter students have been reading The Lost Year, discussing Russian and Ukranian history during the 1930s and journaling in their notebooks about the characters' experiences and their own. With this background knowledge, students will be learning about Russian history during World War II in the 1940s through the notebooks of Viktor and Nadya. Red Stars is translated from the Italian into English and is told through journal entries, photos, maps and documents. The publisher's note states, "... this fictionalized account of the Nazi siege of Leningrad during the Second World War, this heart-stopping story of danger, courage and bravery emphasizes the power of truth and what it means to be a hero."
