December 7, 2018
Hello Quest Families,
Hi there! Let’s get straight to the good stuff. This week was especially fun. Why? For the first time Middle School used microscopes, and discovered there were so many different parts to them! We looked at zooplankton (animal plankton) and phytoplankton (plant plankton). When we looked at them it was so cool because each and every organism was different. We spent time creating our own diagrams of microscopes to get to know them better.
Each month the Middle School does water quality testing. The tests show how polluted the water is, and how good of a habitat the estuary is. An estuary is a semi-enclosed river that has a free connection with the ocean. Estuaries are one of the most vital ecosystems on the planet, right up there with rainforests. Quest does water tests on the Narrow River estuary so we can see how the water changes over the course of the year.
Microbusiness
This year the Middle School has gone in a wonderful new direction. Even the micro-business changed in a spectacular way when Narrow River Naturals made its first appearance at the Coastal Growers’ Market! We sold out of candles before the market had ended.
Write Rhode Island!
Today is the deadline for the School One WriteRI Short Story competition, which quite a few middle schoolers participated in. The fictional stories were required to be 2500 words or less and had to involve our very own Ocean State. We have some talented writers and I’m positive that everyone will do wonderfully in the end. 
The Giving Season
In other news, Quest is having a winter gear drive put together by two Quest students, Ella and Max. If you have winter gear that you have grown out of but is still in excellent conditions, please consider donating it before the fourteenth of December. We are accepting hats, gloves, scarves, winter jackets, snow pants, and boots.
This holiday season the Middle School is participating in the Greggs Giving Tree. We are working together to provide gifts from the wish lists of three students our age. As people always say, the holiday season is a season of giving! I highly encourage as many families as possible to pick out one child and grant a wish of theirs.
Participating is easy. At the North Kingstown Greggs Restaurant there is a tree with tags you can choose showing the wish lists of area children in need. Unwrapped items are then returned to the restaurant. Be quick, though, you only have until Tuesday the 11th to help make the holidays special for one of these children.
The newsletter will be back in January 2019 – we wish you a happy holiday season!
Your Middle School correspondent,
Juliana C.