A Difference

Earlier this week, the Food Bank emailed us with a question. They had a special project and were wondering if the students would be capable of the precision needed to double-check written invoices against the printed versions. Thinking that the girls would enjoy a break from sorting through donated food in various states of dilapidation and feeling a quiet pride that we had earned their trust enough for them to even ask the question, I double-checked myself to be sure I wasn’t exaggerating the students’ capabilities and then wrote an email back accepting the job. (...)

Continue reading at http://sbsmiddleschool.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/a-difference/.

Moving On Up

(...) In a quiet moment today, Catherine and I were talking about how extraordinary this 8th grade class is, how many kids have achieved such a high level of sophistication of thought and such a thirst for knowledge. While the 8th graders are definitely taking care to ensure they make the most of their short time left in the middle school, they are also quite clearly more than ready to move on to high school. Both individually and collectively, they inspire our pride. (..)

Read the entire entry at http://bit.ly/bCqWvw.

The annual middle school performance will take place on Friday, May 21 at 7:00 p.m. The evening will begin in Emerson Hall with performances by the Middle School Band and Advanced Ensemble, Dance 8 class, Select Chorus, and Rock Band, as well as several solos including original compositions by middle school students. After a brief intermission, we will reconvene in Geissler Gallery to enjoy the Theatre 7 presentation of three original one-act plays on the theme of "learning from and coming together through conflict." It is truly stunning to see how much talent we have in the middle school, and how involved the students are in many and diverse ways. The performance is free and open to family and friends.

The Dance 8 class is in the final preparation stages to share their bhangra dance in the Middle School Performing Arts presentation Friday, May 21 at 7:00pm. The term bhangra originally designated a particular dance performed by men in the farming districts of the Punjab region of India. Our dance combines movements done by women and men. This style of dance has become popular in the West primarily through Indian films. The dancing in Bollywood films, especially older ones, is primarily modeled on classical Indian dance. In modern films, Indian dance elements often blend with Western dance styles, though it is not unusual to see Western pop and pure classical dance numbers side by side in the same film. The girls have done a wonderful job mastering the specialized technique.

Theatre 7 will perform their three original short plays for the Middle School Performing Arts Presentation on Friday, May 21 at 7:00pm. The scripts are developed each year as part of the winter trimester’s Humanities 7 class. There are three writing teams and all students are involved as actors. This spring, students have honed their scripts and created characters to best tell the stories. They have composed a physical score – or “blocking” - for each text, and have offered input into the final design of the sets, costumes and lights. This is a very collaborative effort with each student participating in all artistic and practical decisions about the final project.

Middle school instrumental classes are putting the finishing touches on their pieces for the May 21st Middle School Performing Arts Presentation. We have a wonderful mix of pieces for the instrumental program: "Thriller," a tribute to Michael Jackson, "Jump, Jive, and Wail" an up-tempo swing tune, ""Promenade from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," "Highlights from Harry Potter," a medley of John Williams' film scores, and "So Long," an original R&B ballad by Maraina, a 7th grader. The beginner and advanced players have worked all year on these pieces. Their progress has been tremendous. Considering most of the beginners started playing their instruments this year, audience members will be very surprised at the performance level. They play very well as an ensemble as well as individually. Some would even say...THEY ROCK! Good luck to all the students on the up-coming performance and keep up the practicing!

The Select Chorus, a close harmony group which meets concurrently with Dance 8 and which includes four middle school students, has been meeting once a week through the spring term. This will be their second appearance, following up on their successful performance at the live auction on Family Weekend. They will be performing three songs: "Please Mr. Postman," "Up, Up and Away," and "Serenade."

Though not a formal class, the six members of the Middle School Rock Band have been meeting together once or twice a week all year. Some brought a wealth of experience to the group, others were pure beginners. All have improved greatly. They have melded into a solid group, listening well to each other and fitting their parts together skillfully. Some have even been experimenting with improvisation, as you will hear in the performance on May 21. Their set will include three songs, "Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects, "Take a Bow" by Rihanna, and "I Wanna Rock and Roll all Night" by Kiss. Favourite moment of the year: one of the bass players stopping mid-song and, once the rest of the band had all stopped and I asked her what was going on, exclaiming, "We sound so good!" Yes, they do.

Humanities 8 is currently in the midst of finishing up their World War II unit while segueing into their final unit on immigration. Having just finished Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki, the class wrote a persuasive letter to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt either supporting or condemning the United States' decision to intern over 100,000 Japanese-Americans during the war. The class also organized a viewing of Schindler's List outside of class by asking for parent permission while coordinating the time. Also of note, Humanities 8 will be heading to the New York State Museum in Albany, New York, where there are relevant exhibits on the Holocaust and immigration. The class will finish the year by reading A Step from Heaven by An Na, a novel that tracks the life of a South Korean immigrant in the United States.

Foundations in Language and Culture is having a great time with the Spanish unit.  Students presented “travel guides” about different Spanish-speaking countries.  They are learning basic important expressions and practicing their pronunciation with Renata, our eighth grade guest teacher from Mexico.  We have also begun a Spanish video instruction mystery series through the BBC languages website called, “Mi Vida Loca.”  We are relating the different months of the year to celebrations such as Cinco de Mayo, Navidad and Día de los Muertos in order to learn about the cultures, values and traditions of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will also be able to describe in Spanish their likes and dislikes as we try various games, songs, and foods.       

The students are wrapping up the penultimate unit of the year on "How has food evolved over time?" The documentary "Food, Inc." describing the pervasive effect of the fast food industry on industrializing farming, generated a good deal of discussion. The students also visited websites created by Monsanto and the beef and poultry industries to refute claims made in the movie. While they recognize the documentary is presenting a specific perspective and picked and chose images that reinforced their point of view, the students, in individually written paragraphs, unanimously found the logic used and information presented in the documentary more persuasive than the counterpoint provided by the industry. A visit to Mapleline Farm in Hadley, run by one of the 7th grader's families, provided a valuable look into more humane and sustainable practices than those depicted in "Food, Inc." as well as a convincing taste of how delicious fresh, locally produced milk can be. The students chose individual topics for compare-contrast essays ranging from Northern vs. Southern food to eating habits several decades ago vs. today to what royals eat vs. common people.

The final unit will be focused on Ethics, with specific questions (as always) coming directly from the students. We will finish up Fairy Dust as a morning reading book, and welcome author Jane Denitz Smith to our classroom on Monday, May 24. The group novel will be Just Ella. For the final writing project of the year, students will write literary analysis essays on a book of their choice. It will be an intensive but enjoyable final few weeks to the year.

As it happened, the final MOCA meeting before Founders' Day took place on the Day of Silence which was being observed  by the entire middle school. They did an impressive job of completing the planning for an afternoon full of games by a mix of gesticulating, using the chalkboard to summarize finalized plans, and using one white board for questions and suggestions. Founders' Day itself was a great success; if you haven't already, you may read more about it (and link to pictures) on the SBS Middle School blog.

More recently, MOCA has been primarily focused on planning the middle school booth for Spearth Day. The students felt a sense of accomplishment in completing this plan, and seem to feel that they have learned a lot about how to work together effectively this year. Additionally, we found time for the various fund-raising groups to meet, and donation cans have sprouted to benefit the Dakin-Pioneer Valley Humane Society, while the Heifer International project is coordinating efforts with the Upper School Community Service Club which has independently taken on a similar project.

Finally, as there are a number of projects that need to be wrapped up, we have formed a number of ad hoc work groups to discuss and make suggestions in four different areas of school life. These include proposed revisions to the dress code, ideas for next year's Fall Overnight, proposed revisions to off-campus permissions, and deciding who will be the recipient of a $25 microloan through Kiva which Apex Middle School in Virginia has enabled through a generous gift.

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!