Humanities 8 is wrapping up its unit on the Antebellum South. The students recently read and analyzed a speech delivered by pro-slave Senator John Henry Hammond in 1858. Afterward, the students decided on several points to debunk and they wrote a persuasive essay defending their position. Humanities 8 is nearly finished with its reading of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, which has been a difficult but meaningful narrative for the class to read through. The class will soon be moving into its examination of governments and late eighteenth-century Industrial Revolution unit. After that, the class will read Animal Farm, by George Orwell. This will bring the class right up to about Spring Break.

We've begun work on several new songs since winter vacation, including "For The Beauty Of The Earth" (John Rutter), "Go Out With Joy" (Hank Beebe), "Fly Away Home" (Take 6), and "Nowhere Man" (The Beatles). The students have given me their requests as well and I am going to do my best to arrange some of them for the spring.

We begin each rehearsal with a good amount of vocalizing, covering basic concepts of breath control, posture, flexibility, and tone production. There is also an element of ear-training to our warm ups which will help them learn both to sing and read music better. Above all, I am committed to creating a fun environment for these students so that they will enjoy making music. It's exciting to see all that energy channeled into song - I can't wait for them to share their music with you at the spring concert!

The Select group is currently working on two songs that I arranged just for them: "Africa" (Toto) and "Hide And Seek" (Imogen Heep). Both songs were requested by the students themselves and I am amazed at how much passion they pour into learning their parts. I find their talent and dedication incredibly motivating and I guarantee you are not going to believe your ears when you hear them. Do not miss it!

Humanities 7 students are starting to wrap up their theatre unit. They watched "Steel Magnolias," discussing it in light of their chosen theme of "Love in different types of relationships." The three script-writing groups are making steady progress, and working hard to make the deadline of February 16. Meanwhile, the students have begun to make plans for the next unit. Their chosen theme question is “How has judgment affected our mindset through history and today?” This unit will integrate three required areas of inquiry: Aesthetics, Ethics and History. The group novel will be Millicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee. Between now and the end of the year, students will practice writing in four different genres: compare-contrast essay, literary analysis essay, persuasive essay/speech, and research paper; each student will choose one of these genres for her final project in this unit. Meanwhile, we are continuing our morning reading of out of my mind, and this connects to the upcoming unit through the related question, “How would my friends support me if I developed a serious condition?”

MOCA has proposed Friday, February 25 as one of two Bring a Friend School Days, and this proposal has been approved. They still need to choose between April 18-21 for a second date, Friday the 22nd being impossible because that is the first day of Family Weekend.

The 7^th grade students in Art and Culture completed the Chinese Calligraphy unit the week before Long Winter Weekend. Each student practiced three basic strokes (vertical stroke, horizontal stroke, and dot) and then combined the strokes to write characters. They concluded the unit with a painting of bamboo. Our new unit, African Masks, is in full swing. Each student designed a mask representing a power or spirit important to her. Then each mask is made of a modeling material called Paperclay, and must incorporate three geometric shapes or patterns, and three raised surfaces. Each mask will then be painted using acrylic paints. We will begin our final unit, which is an exploration of South American weaving, next week.
- Sara Gibbons

One of the beloved traditions of Stoneleigh-Burnham, Spirit Week begins on Monday, February 14 with Pajama Day. Tuesday will be Twin Day, when students (and/or faculty) dress identically in groups of two or more. Wednesday will be SBS Spirit Day, when students and faculty dress in Stoneleigh-Burnham clothing and anything blue and white. Thursday will be a brand new creation, Would You Still Be My Best Friend If I Really Dressed Like This Day. Friday will be Colour Wars, for which each class and the faculty create skits displaying and honoring their colour of choice. As noted above, the middle school has pink this year. They won last year, and have set a mission of repeating. We wish them luck!