Middle School

Culminating weeks of lessons, labs, and homework, students in Grade 6 put their knowledge to the test during the annual STEM Build-a-Boat Challenge. The competition tasked groups of students with designing and constructing a boat less dense than water at room temperature to ensure its buoyancy. While students had nearly unlimited access to materials, each material came with a fictional cost, with the total budget calculated into each vessel’s final score.

Last weekend, King School’s Performing Arts Center reverberated with passion as 160 students, 20 professional musicians, and numerous dedicated parent volunteers convened for the ninth annual El Sistema residency. The beloved event was a testament to King’s commitment to music and its ability to foster connections between communities of different socioeconomic backgrounds, give voice to diverse cultural identities, and amplify lived experiences.

Math classrooms in the Lower School and Middle School were buzzing with excitement – not just the students, but the teachers too! That's what happened at King School recently when Susan Resnick, the mastermind behind the popular "Math in Focus: Singapore Math" curriculum, came to visit.

King’s middle school choir brought harmony to Providence! Thirteen talented students journeyed to Providence, Rhode Island, for the ACDA Eastern Regional Honor Choir. Selected from over 1,800 auditions, they showcased their a cappella skills, made new friends, and wowed the audience. Thanks to Ms. Bach's guidance, our students hit all the right notes. It was a celebration of dedication, friendship, and the power of music! 

Since 2021, King students have gathered for Give Back Tuesdays to work with community partners on various King Cares Projects. The students select an area of interest and volunteer to help the King community with its philanthropic endeavors. This week was particularly special as students gathered to work with a company formed by four King siblings to package cookies for The Villa at Stamford, a rehabilitation center and King partner organization.

Continuing an annual tradition, Grade 8 students welcomed peers from The Greenwich Japanese School on Wednesday, January 10, as part of their Cultural Exchange Program. The meeting marked a decade of exchanges and provided a valuable opportunity for students to examine the similarities and differences between the two communities.

Upper and middle school students explored the art of cyanotype printing from Monday, December 4, to Friday, December 8, with visiting artist Leah Caroline, culminating in a large-scale installation in the Performing Arts Center. Cyanotype is a nineteenth-century photographic printing technique originally used for recording natural elements. In this process, plant materials, found objects or film negatives are placed on chemically treated paper or fabric, exposed to sunlight, and then developed in water. This development process transforms the paper from a bright yellow-green to a brilliant Prussian blue, leaving the unexposed areas white. 

From the impact of genetics and ethnicity on breast cancer and the environmental effects of candles to American football's history and the ball's aerodynamic design, Grade 8 students showcased a diverse range of interests through their semester-long R.E.A.D.Y. projects. Friends and family of the young researchers buzzed around the middle school atrium on Friday, December 8, listening to the students’ R.E.A.D.Y. presentations, an acronym that stands for Research, Experience, Action, Designed by You. 

Students in science teacher Katie O’Connor’s Grade 8 Concepts in Physical Science class used ClassVR, a technology that introduces virtual and augmented reality in classrooms, to see things invisible to the naked eye through augmented reality. More specifically, they had the chance to see models of elements and compounds that are ubiquitous in their world.