The National History Day theme was Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History. Each and every one of my seventh and eighth grade students did an outstanding job presenting at Texas A&M-Texarkana. We entered 4 categories and came home with several wins! More importantly, my students took charge of their own learning. They chose their topic and conducted their researched (with real books!), planned/developed, executed, and presented their work with confidence.

Individual Exhibit Category: 1st place-Elliot Enqvist ‘Capital Crawl’

3rd place-Reece Altenbaumer ‘Schwalbe ME-262’

Group Exhibit Category: 2nd place-Hattie Berry & Rivers Moss ‘Leader of Freedom-Harriet Tubman’

Documentary Category: 3rd place-Lennox Armstrong & Christopher Ivers ‘Romanian Revolution’

Website Category: 2nd place-Sander Gunter ‘The Apollo Mission’

Did you know that approximately 60% of English words have Latin roots? For example, scrib is a Latin root/word meaning ‘to write’, and the following English words branch from the root scrib; scripture, inscribe, manuscript, prescribe, subscription.

Check out the creative process that went into each students’ derivative tree!!

It is my honor to announce the winners of the DAR History Essay & Video Contest!

Essay Winners:

Ryer Irvin-Grade 5

Lainey Horton-Grade 6

Christopher Ivers-Grade 8

Video Winners:

Hazel Burkes & Mia Grove- Grade 5

Caroline Harp & Saige Marshall- Grade 6

Anna Scott Bruner & Amelia Taylor- Grade 7

This years’ theme was “Lunch with a Signer” Question: America will celebrate her 250th birthday on July 4, 2026! If you could go back in time and meet one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence for lunch, who would you choose? How did their actions and service contribute to our Country becoming independent?

Pencil to paper learning improves memory retention, cognitive processing, and comprehension by physically engaging the brain through handwriting. This ‘old fashioned’ tactile method is a slower process in a time when our children are used to instant results. Pencil to paper also aids in building fine motor skills and fosters a deeper focus for children of all ages. The majority of my Latin and history assignments are handwritten in class. Don’t get me wrong, we still use and are thankful for all of our tech tools, but its not uncommon for us to hit the actual books and all you need to bring to my class is a pencil and a positive attitude.

Sixth grade students have been studying the Paleolithic cave paintings found in France, and recreated their own cave art.

Fifth grade Latin students were tasked to created a study guide unique to their individual learning style. The students could create a poster, book, or use their tech to create a slideshow. After the study guides were complete we put our study skills to use in a Latin Blooket competition!