Launch Pad: Session 5, Week 3

Welcome to the 5th session’s third newsletter!

This week, we began writing our short stories. On Monday, we read examples of excellent short stories to familiarize ourselves with our end goal and started with a 1000-word limit. We worked every day to create, edit, and finalize our first draft by Friday. 

During Class, we discussed geography and poverty. On Wednesday, we explored the significant role that land, resources, and biomes play in the rise and fall of civilizations. We also saw how the cultures, foods, and customs of different civilizations might change due to the geographic area in which they are located. On Thursday, we read and wrote about poverty and why geographically close areas can vary significantly in wealth.  

For Quest, we continued to learn more Spanish every day. On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to test the Spanish we have been working on over the past three weeks. We each spoke with Saiim or Perla for five minutes, only in Spanish. We introduced ourselves, asked at least three questions, and said goodbye, all in Spanish. On Wednesday, we spent time searching for a Spanish recipe to follow and make on Friday. 

Thursday, we had an exciting field trip related to our Spanish Quest. We visited El Museo del Barrio, a Museum in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, showcasing work by Latin American artists. We also took a tour around the area and explored the culture of Puerto-Ricans who lived in that area. This was done through murals, graffiti, works of art, and symbols created over the years. In these pieces of art, we saw the elements that make up Puerto Rican culture, such as the game of dominoes, traditional food, shaved ice, and everyday people.

Thank you for reading! Hope to see you again for next week’s newsletter!