Just How It Should Be

"But women can be strong athletes, too," commented one of the 7th graders. "Yes," added another student, "look at [her]. She's a 7th grader and she's on varsity basketball." Everyone turned to look at the girl, one of the youngest and smallest students in the school and a strong and skilled athlete. She smiled her pride as several students congratulated her, sharing vicariously in this achievement by one of their own.

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The middle school instrumental classes continue to work the fundamentals of notation (note recognition and rhythms), as well as rehearse the following pieces: "Jump, Jive, and Wail," "Highlights From Harry Potter," and "A Friend Like Me."

The beginner class has been working on "Jump, Jive, and Wail "which is a challenge in respect to its rhythm. Most of the notes lie within an octave, but the rhythm is in a swing style and heavily syncopated. As they are finding out, it is one thing to be able to play the right notes, it is quite another to be able to play them in the correct rhythm. Wind players are also being challenged to extend their range on their instruments. To help prepare the students for the piece, they have been working on the Bb major scale, the key in which the piece was written.

The advanced class is almost getting through both the "Harry Potter" piece and "A Friend Like Me" without stopping. Nice job! As a class we have analyzed the meter changes and rhythms of the full score of the Harry Potter. This medley is not as difficult in respect to its rhythm as it is in its melodic content. The melodies have many accidentals (sharps and flats) that the students haven’t seen before.

All students are doing well in class, but most are in need of more outside practice time. More pieces will be introduced to both classes this term, so practicing will become even more important.

In Algebra, the winter trimester began with a continuation of problem solving and applications of our skills in word problems. We have since moved on to factoring and division of monomials. This prepares us for learning the factoring patterns for polynomials. The girls are enthusiastic as they see the connections between material they know and are comfortable with and what we are now learning. As we work with factoring, we will continue to develop our problem solving skills.

The bowling activity with Bement went very well, and several students at both schools have asked if we can do something together again. Meanwhile, MOCA voted to request an ice skating activity that would just be for our school.

The students have also agreed on four charities for which they would like to do fundraising: Heifer International, the Dakin-Pioneer Valley Humane Society, cancer and AIDS research, and the Smile Train. They have divided into four groups, each of which has been working separately on specific ideas for fund-raising.

Finally, the 7th and 8th grade representatives to Student Council for winter term have been elected. Current StuCo projects include Adopt-a-Family, where we as a school have agreed to provide Christmas presents and dinner to a family of four, and Secret Snowflake, where students and faculty/staff may sign up to deliver little presents and notes in secret to a special Snowflake person whose name they draw, revealing themselves at the all-school holiday dinner.

The 7th grade dance class will be presenting their piece, "Cuban Cafe" during the school's Winter Solstice Concert, Thursday, December 17 at 7:00 P.M. in the school's Emerson Hall. The dancers have been working on this Afro-Cuban dance piece every Friday since school began in the fall, and they are excited to finally share their work with the school’s community. Their dance piece is an investigation of the dance movement and music found on the island of Cuba. Since the Cuban Revolution, this country has made a concentrated effort to preserve and honor its African cultural influences. During the time of the slave trade, large numbers of people, originally from Nigeria, were brought to work on Cuban plantations. Africans kept their religious traditions alive by merging them with Cuban rhythms and music. The 7th graders have embraced this dance style and have made it their own.

The "raiseURvoice" unit is progressing well. Since our return, the students have been focusing on sexism in athletics. They have viewed and discussed a video about how female athletes are portrayed in the media, read a document explaining Title IX, and read and discussed a New York Times article on one person's fight to ensure Title IX is being adhered to in suburban Philadelphia. Most recently, the students asked why anyone would act in a racist or sexist way in the first place, which is a great question that will provide another direction for study. Additionally, we are now reading If You Come Softly, which is about an interracial romance in a private high school in Manhattan; this has generated many lively and thought-provoking discussions, so typical of this class. The small groups are continuing their work to publish a website, produce a video, organize a day of debate and discussion, and set up a foundation to engage in fundraising. It is an exciting unit, and it will be fun to see everything these girls learn along the way.

The winter term is off to an exciting start! We are studying about heredity and genetics. Our first project involves creating a family of paper pets with specific traits that they pass to ther offspring. In this project, the students learn to apply probability, create Punnett squares (which show potential genotypes), organize data, use creativity and use new vocabulary. The questions that the class comes up with guide our learning as we continue our study of genetics and learn about human genetics.

The Winter Performing Arts Presentation will take place on Thursday night, December 17 from 7:00-9:00 P.M. in Geissler Gallery. The performance is free and everyone is welcome to attend. Middle schoolers will appear with Advanced Dance, Big Band, Chorus, and Rock Band; the Dance 7 class will also be performing. The first half of the performance will include all music groups, with dancers performing following a short intermission. Featured in the second half of the show will be the dance piece "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."

Fall Trimester Progress Reports were discussed with the students on Thursday, December 3 and mailed out the following day.  By now, most if not all families should have received their copies. It was a successful term for the students, with strong evidence of solid growth in many areas. If you have any questions, please contact Bill and/or your daughter's advisor.

Students may leave on winter break after the performing arts presentation on Thursday, December 17. For students who stay overnight, dorms will close at 4:00 P.M. on Friday, December 18.

Boarding students need to return by 7:00 P.M. on Monday, January 4, and classes will resume Tuesday morning.

We wish everyone a wonderful vacation and a Happy New Year!

The School maintains an online calendar of events for use by parents, students, and other members of our community. You may access this calendar at

http://www.sbschool.org/home/calendar.asp

You may also access a copy of the academic calendar through the parent portal, signing in at:

http://www.sbschool.org/home/content.asp?section=parents

If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you!