April Newsletter
AVID News at Smith
By Asia Moore, UNC-Chapel Hill Intern with Smith AVID
Recap of AVID Events
Tie Day
All learners were taught to tie a tie. This activity allowed learners to become more independent and learn an important life skill. Graduating 8th-grade learners in AVID will be able to assist other students during graduation with their ties.
Henry IV Field Trip
On April 11th, learners from the rising honors 9th grade ELA class and AVID took a trip to American Shakespeare Center’s Blackfriars Playhouse. We saw Henry Ⅳ in the world’s only replica of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre. Learners also participated in a workshop about the editing process of Shakespeare’s texts. Additionally, we had the opportunity to eat lunch on the campus of Mary Baldwin College.
NC Sustainability Field Trip
On April 16th, we visited the campus of North Carolina State University to learn about their sustainability efforts. We attended a presentation about grand environmental challenges and learned about how the College of Natural Resources is making efforts to address them. We participated in a campus tour and saw different environmentally friendly structures on campus. We look forward to seeing how our AVID learners will contribute to sustainability in their community.
More AVID News
Shakespeare Lesson
We were fortunate enough to have Hope Alexander as a guest presenter in the AVID classroom on April 8th and 12th. Hope Alexander is an American actor from San Francisco, California. She has acted in a multitude of film and theatre productions. Additionally, she has directed and taught for over 30 years.
Ms. Alexander taught AVID learners about Shakespeare as well as the structures that were common in his work. Learners created sonnets and short stories with Shakespearean language.
Resume Building Workshop
Ms. Asia, the AVID intern at Smith taught a brief lesson about resumes. Learners utilized templates to format resumes with their current middle school information. They were tasked with considering what activities and courses they could take in high school to prepare them for their college and career goals.
AVID Quote of the Month
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett
Support our AVID learners at their upcoming events
Beauty and the Beast
Beauty and the Beast is the story of a woman who is cast under a spell by a beast. The Beast is a prince that must learn to love and be loved in order to become human again.
There will be two evening performances on May 9th and 10th from 7:00 - 8:30 PM. Additionally, there will be a daytime performance on May 11th at 2:00 PM.
Sports
Some of our learners participate in athletics. Come cheer for us at the girl’s and boy’s lacrosse, girl’s soccer, track, baseball, tennis, and softball games in April and May. The schedule can be found at http://nc.8to18.com/SmithMS/calendar.