Have you heard about all the great things going on at the Gailer School?

The tulips and garlic are sprouting in the gardens. The students are digging in the dirt. Classeshave taken their learning outside to the hills, fields and streams of the Middlebury area. They aremaking rocket fuel in Chemistry class, playing chess, solving problems in Geometry, and having funmaking connections through these hands-on experiences! Our community is thriving and we are excitedto share it with you. We would like you to help share it with the greater community.We are having an Open House on Monday May 2nd from 6 to 7:30 PM. Please forward this email toanyone who you think might be interested in knowing more about the school. We are in the heart of ourenrollment season and we want to give people a chance to apply for financial aid, and if they wish, forour math and humanities merit scholarships.

Here are just a few things our students are involved in right now:

The entire school is working on an interdisciplinary study of Africa. Students will be exploring thethemes of diversity, community, biology, evolution, culture, music, dance, food, politics, history and

language through Spanish, Science, Humanities and Math.

DV 12 student Robin H. has built a third garden bed as part of his Community Service project and isworking with other students to prepare the beds for planting the seedlings they started inside in March.

DV 7 student David D. is working on building a dog sled for his Inquiry project now that the snow hasmelted and he can no longer run the dogs. He'll be ready to try it out when the snow falls next year.

The Chemistry class is experimenting with different recipes for rocket fuel and using a calorimeter theymade to determine the heat released in the reaction to find the most efficient fuel.

We are playing tennis, basketball and Ultimate Frisbee more as the fields dry out, although some prettyvicious four-square is being played when there are rainy days.

We are starting three new Master Classes: Ceramics is going to be handbuilding and using the wheel atthe Middlebury Studio School downtown. Dance and Movement class will be taking over the great roomon Thursdays. Our Web Design class will be redesigning our school website.

DV 8 student Zach B. is building an electro-static generator as a part of his Inquiry project.

DV 11 international student Rahela M.A. is studying video production for her Inquiry project.

DV 7 and 8 are immersing themselves in African folktales as a way to understand the culture.

The DV 7 and 8 Math Counts team did well at the statewide competition.

DV 12 student Isabel L. had an article published in the Addison Independent about our school trip toSpain in February.

Our graduating seniors have been accepted at the following colleges and universities: Eugene Lang atthe New School, Emerson College in Boston, Boston University, Simmons College, BenningtonCollege, Marlboro College, Skidmore College, and the University of Vermont.

The year has been just packed with amazing, life changing learning events: We wrote and produced aplay, we traveled to Spain, we've learned about being healthy in mind and body. We have built a strongcommunity based on respect and communication. The school is thriving and we want you to be a part ofit.

Yours in Learning,

Lonny EdwardsDirector