Who: The entire RPMS school community participated in a paper airplane challenge to kick-off SEVEN and the new school year! 

What: Students went through several parts of the design process including: exploration, research (using videos and articles online), testing, improving, trying different types/sizes of paper, etc. The school held Team competitions, then grade level competitions, and finally a championship between the 6th-8th grade winners. The final competitions were live streamed via a Google Meet for the school to view. 

Where: Students and teachers collaborated to design spaces for each competition. Some competitions took place in the classrooms, in the hallways, outside, in the gym, in the cafeteria, and more

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Who: The RPMS community participated in a number of meaningful events during October/November to enrich the students' understanding about the 2024 Election. 

What: Students created morning announcements about several topics including: government, democracy, the branches of government, the role of the President of the United States, the history of government/democracy, citizenship, the Founding Fathers, the Electoral College, and more! Our podcast team also interviewed 11 of the 16 local and federal representatives that impact/represent Danbury including US Senator Chris Murphy! Other SEVEN classes contributed to this project by: creating presentations about the presidential candidates, helping students "register" to vote, polling the school community, and more!

Finally, our students designed election centers for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to vote at. During our Election Day, students checked off the names of the voters to make sure they were "registered," helped with the online voting system, acted as security, passed out "I Voted" stickers, and helped design the voting locations! 

Where: Our Election Day took place in three different locations around the building as students voted based on their grade level. 

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Who: Students in a 6th grade SEVEN class opened up the school store for the first time in years! 

What: Students researched what makes a successful school store, conducted market research around the school to determine what items should be sold, redesigned the look of the store, created advertisements, created items to be sold at the store (bracelets, stress balls), and so much more!

Where: Students opened the store during 6th grade lunches. To date, the store has generated over $500 this year!

Who: Students in a 7th grade SEVEN class created the RPMS How-To-Crew YouTube page! How-To Crew is run by students at RPMS who are eager to learn and share skills they don’t typically have the opportunity to explore in school. 

What: Our channel is filled with easy-to-follow tutorials on a variety of topics, from DIY projects and life hacks to creative how-to's. Whether you’re a fellow student or someone looking to pick up a new skill, join our crew and learn alongside us! Students did videos on: Cooking (check out our special episode where we went to FAVI Deli!), baking, beauty, how to throw a football, how to play chess, and more!

Where: Students record these episodes around our school and post them to their YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@How_To_Crew

Who: Students in a 6th grade SEVEN class created a podcast with the goal of interviewing and connecting with prominent, exciting, and important members of our school and local communities. To date, the students have recorded over 60 interviews this year!

What: Students connect with potential guests via email. Students decide who they would like to interview, email the individual/business, book a date using our podcast calendar, research the interviewee, develop questions for the interview, and finally host the podcast. Students have interviewed several exciting guests this year including: local politicians (11), US Senator Chris Murphy, an ESPN soccer analyst, a local meteorologist, a judge, teachers, principals of local high schools, a street artist in Atlanta, a former NFL player, the CEO of LesserEvil Snacks and so many more! Students have also had an opportunity to interview several RPMS alumni who are now working in exciting professional fields. 

Where: The students record these episodes in a newly created podcast studio called The ROARcording Studio. Our episodes are then posted to our YouTube channel for our school community to view. 

Rogers That! Podcast - YouTube Channel

Who: The entire RPMS community joined together to celebrate the people that help make our building run smoothly and effectively! We celebrated our custodians, our secretarial staff, our lunch staff, and our tech leader!

What: Students celebrated our staff is so many fun and meaningful ways. Students created cards, bracelets, and posters to either give to them or hang in the hallway to show their appreciation. Students helped the custodial staff clean the cafeteria after lunch, the lunch staff prepare breakfast bags for the next day, our secretaries deliver boxes to the classrooms, our tech leader organize Chromebooks and cords, and more! Some really creative students designed paper flower bouquets and others made bracelets with messages of appreciation and/or school pride. This was an amazing project that let our entire school community celebrate the people that work so hard behind the scenes to make our building run smoothly. 

Where: The entire building had projects going on over the course of this SEVEN class!

Slideshow; Introduction Slideshow

Who: Students in an 8th grade SEVEN class crafted hats for children in need. 

What: Students knitted hats using looms. This activity not only gives back to the community but also enhances students' problem-solving and critical thinking skills in a creative and hands-on way.

The initiative aims to teach students the value of giving back while simultaneously developing essential life skills. Knitting on a loom fosters patience, concentration, and critical thinking—skills that are useful both in and out of the classroom. The ultimate goal is to bring warmth and joy to children in need, showing the power of kindness and creativity. Update: The students have already been actively engaged by reaching out to the custodian and nurse to request and gather supplies, which has been a great opportunity to strengthen their communication and problem-solving skills. In addition, we’re continuing our knitting project, transitioning from making hats to scarves. Thanks to a generous contribution from DonorsChoose, we’ve received new kits that will allow the students to continue developing their skills while helping others in need. 

Where: As a proud update, the hats the students previously made were donated to The Center for Empowerment and Education. We received a beautiful thank-you letter from the organization, which I plan to frame and display in the classroom to highlight their kindness and hard work.

Who: Students in 7th and 8th grade classes organized and participated in a gingerbread house making competition for the holiday season!

What: For project ROOTS, the students decided to host a gingerbread house competition, to represent different buildings in our communities that meant something to them. Other SEVEN classes focused on building more traditional style gingerbread houses.

Where: Students displayed and presented their final gingerbread houses in their SEVEN classrooms. Other classes, from all grade levels, were invited to view their projects and to vote the projects they liked best!

Who: Students in a 6th grade SEVEN class are working in pairs and individually to design different components of a city. 

What: We have looked at the different permits. Students will ultimately combine their different city blocks to make one cohesive 3-dimension city with the important components of a city. Students have learned about perimeter, area, geometric shapes, and physical planning (spatial awareness). The students discussed the process of building cities, starting with filing for permits, determining what buildings are crucial for a city’s success, and what buildings we would like to include for luxuries/recreation.

Where: Students presented these projects to teachers in the building! Each student presented their individual contribution to the project and how it contributed to the city design. 

Who: Students in an 8th grade SEVEN class organized a futsal tournament that took place during our SEVEN block!

What: Students wanted to build community in our school through this tournament. They spent the end of November and the beginning of December organizing the event. They signed up teams during lunch and during block 7. They asked gym teachers for the space to compete and ask Officer Contreras to assist in running  the tournament. Students set up the random wheel of teams to assign who was playing whom as well as writing up the announcements and the team lists.

Where: The tournament took place in our gym during SEVEN!

Who: Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade SEVEN classes created Christmas/Winter Festivals and invited other SEVEN classes to participate in their activities! 

What: Students planned and carried out a Christmas Festival that included multiple activities for students to engage and participate in. Students spent The last week before Thanksgiving and the first two weeks of December brainstorming possible activities, picking an event they would want to host/supervise, planning which materials they would need, and planning how to facilitate their activity. The end result was a festival in the cafeteria that other classes were invited to attend.  Events included gingerbread house competition, bingo in multiple languages, and coloring station. Students researched prices of materials they needed, along with looking up materials they could get in the school or print.

In an 8th grade SEVEN class, students researched the different ways in which Christmas is celebrated all around the world. Students created a visual display that reveals an important Christmas cultural tradition in the country they have decided to research for this assignment. Classes were invited to come see the different visual displays, so that they can develop a better understanding of the different ways in which the Christmas holiday is celebrated all around the world. 

Where: These events took place in several locations throughout the building including classrooms and the cafeteria.

Who: Students in 6th grade SEVEN classes collaborated to design and write children's books!

What: Students wrote, illustrated, and shared children’s books. Students researched for this project by reading various children’s books and analyzing the story elements. Then, students brainstormed a plan for their own story in groups and began to write. Students collaborated on editing their writing and illustrated their finished work. Students finalized this project by reading aloud their finished book for other students. 

Where: The students presented their books to other students in their SEVEN class. 

Who: Students in a 7th grade SEVEN class had an amazing opportunity to learn about, research, and play traditional games!

What: The students explored the history of traditional games from around the world as part of our project-based learning experience. They selected one game to showcase, researched its origins and rules, and hosted several events for their peers to share in on the fun each game provides as well as their cultural significance. 

Where: The students brought their games to our Multicultural Night and invited families to experience the games first hand!

Who: Students in a 7th grade SEVEN class took the lead in planning and hosting a special Valentine’s Day dance for 7th and 8th grade students!

What: This student-led reward day was entirely developed and executed by the SEVEN class. They organized the event schedule, created a security team with custom T-shirts to monitor the dance, collected music requests in advance, and designed and sold tickets—while also tracking eligibility based on reward points and grades. To make the event even more meaningful, students sold snacks and tickets to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. They also designed creative photo booths, decorated the cafeteria beautifully, and ensured that every detail was in place for a fun and successful event. Most impressively, they ran the entire event from start to finish!

Where: The dance took place in the school cafeteria during the school day, the week before Valentine’s Day, giving students a chance to celebrate, socialize, and enjoy an event entirely planned by their peers!

Who: Students in an 8th grade SEVEN class collaborated with 6th grade students to clean the hallway on the 2nd floor!

What: Students continued the idea of gratitude and community by designing projects to benefit others. The class split into two teams, with one team beautifying the 6th grade hallway with the help of 6th graders, and the other spreading awareness about recycling.

Where: The students worked together on the 2nd floor where 6th grade classrooms are. 

Who: Students in a 6th grade SEVEN class designed and created scarecrows to hang on Main Street in Danbury!

What: Students received scarecrows from CityCenter Danbury to decorate and hang on Main Street. This initiative is in its 7th year and supports local businesses. The students were able to utilize their creativity and collaboration skills to design awesome scarecrows!

Where: The students displayed their scarecrows among the others on Main Street in Danbury.