Friday, November 18, 2016

November 18. 2016

In this post...

  • Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season: 
  • Spring Journeys
  • Homework
  • Transcript Requests 
  • What We Are Learning...highlights from Language & Literature and Science
  • Upcoming Dress Uniform and Civvies Days
  • Things To Do in our Community

Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season:

For the last few years, as we approach Thanksgiving I typically return to a short book by Anne Lamott, Help, Thanks, Wow: Three Essential Prayers. The book is a meditation of sorts with insights to three words that reflect much more than prayers - they reflect dispositions that are formed from life experiences. When it comes to "Thanks," Lamott explores the origins of gratitude as well as what to do with it when it's felt. Gratitude can be for everything, she writes,
"from the daily break of good luck and found money, to the magical, mystical magnetic force of quiet or exuberant relief, when you know that something - God, fate, luck, kismet, the law, Powerball - has smiled on you big-time...Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides...When you are aware of all that has been given to you, in your lifetime and in the past few days, it is hard not to be humbled, and pleased to give back. Most humbling of all is to comprehend the lifesaving gift that your pit crew of people has been for you, and all the experiences you have shared, the journeys together, the collaborations, births and deaths, divorces, rehab, and vacations. Every so often you realize that without all of them, your life would be barren and pathetic. It would be Death of a Salesman, though with e-mail and texting."
This week, the Middle School was able to translate gratitude into giving back. Many students demonstrated initiative and generosity in encouraging each other to bring donated bags of foodstuffs for the Food Connection. Additionally, in Wednesday's Chapel, students prepared decorations for the annual Gingerbread Jamboree at the Children's Museum, part of our annual commitment to the event. Amidst all the "giving back," it's still important to say "thank you" to, as Lamott describes, the pit crew that gets us through it all. I'm particularly grateful for the diverse talents, gifts, and perspectives in our school community, for our students who are so extraordinary, for our families who show commitment to students and to our mission, and especially to our faculty and staff who care and support our students every school day. For all this - thanks. 
  
 
As the holiday season continues, we will have numerous opportunities to celebrate these aspects of our community. When we return from Thanksgiving Break, you will see a flurry of decorations throughout the school to mark the season and the many winter holidays on the calendar - Diwali, which concluded a couple of weeks ago, Advent and Christmas, Chanukah, Bodhi Day, Kwanzaa... so many ways to celebrate. Engaging our heritage as an Episcopal school, our school honors the annual tradition of Lessons & Carols (December 13), a Christian liturgy that tells a story, through text and through music, about the meaning of Christmas. For us, it also serves as a chance to celebrate the talents of our students and to recognize the power of community. In the Middle School, we also have two much-loved traditions to mark the season - our annual MS Holiday Celebration (December 14), an informal sing-a-long in the Lounge, and our annual Holiday Tea (December 15), a formal afternoon tea in the Great Hall. All of these events will lead up to Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day (December 16), in which we invite our guests to get a glimpse of life in the Middle School and the extraordinary talents and ingenuity of our students, before the Winter Break. Throughout the season, I invite students and families to share any ways that they might celebrate and observe winter holidays. 

Spring Journeys

Homework over the Break

Please note that over the breaks, we encourage students to really take a break! While many students plan to use time during breaks to catch up on work or to get ahead on projects, we encourage students to focus on their families, on being well, and to close their laptops. 

8th Grade: High School Applications and Transcript Requests

Just a gentle reminder: If your student’s application will require any components from Annie Wright, such as a transcript or letters of recommendation from teachers, please notify and deliver any relevant materials, such as forms or templates, to Alicia Mathurin, Middle School Office Coordinator. Please provide any forms that need to be completed at least three weeks ahead of the submission deadline. Teachers’ recommendations, transcripts, and other requested materials will be collated and mailed directly from Annie Wright to the schools unless specifically requested to be picked up. If information or recommendations are to be completed online, please ensure that recommenders receive that link at least three weeks ahead of the submission deadline. For more information about local schools' processes, please refer to the High School Application Process that was emailed out at the beginning of the school year.

What we are learning...

This week, we highlight our Language & Literature and Science programs!

 If you have a student in Middle School who has not developed a habit of reading, the holidays are a great time to work on that. Even just 20 minutes every night before bed can make a big difference, over the long term, in developing better reading comprehension and in building a stronger vocabulary. And studies suggest that people sleep better when they don’t end their days with screen time.

 Talking about books with your kids is also a great way to encourage reading.  6th and 8th graders should by now have chosen their Choice Novel for the semester and hopefully they are enjoying their choice. Engaging them in a conversation about what they are reading  - or what you are reading - can open up new and interesting areas of conversation.

 If you need book suggestions for your kids, you can always talk to Kyle Price, Shelli Strate or Joe Romano.

Eighth Grade Science is still exploring Genetics and Variation and recently completed the popular “Design a Child” activity in which they looked at the variation in facial features that parents can pass on according to Mendel’s Laws. They’ve also spent time determining the probability of inheriting traits through Punnett Squares and tracing the path of traits in families through pedigree analysis. After Thanksgiving break they’ll be researching a genetic disorder that is of interest to them and looking at how science has been applied to improve the lives of individuals with that disorder.

 Seventh Grade Science students were challenged recently with a lot of new vocabulary terms when learning about the organelles that help a cell to carry out the characteristics of life. Ask your student to name some organelles and if they can describe their structure and function. A recent highlight was a few labs using compound microscopes in which students learned about proper microscope technique and were able to make their own slides to look at cheek and onion cells. Ask your student how they identified the differences between animal and plant cells.
Sixth Grade Science students are wrapping up their unit on Earth Science. Over the course of the unit we have enjoyed learning about the Earth’s interior, volcanoes and earthquakes. Students particularly enjoyed modeling the P and S-waves of earthquakes with slinkies. Ask your student about the difference between waves and how they can demonstrate them! After Thanksgiving break we will be transitioning to our next unit: Chemistry.

Upcoming Dress Uniform and Civvies Days
Tuesday, December 13: Dress Uniform (Lessons & Carols)
Wednesday, December 14: Civvies Day (MS Holiday Celebration)
Thursday, December 15: Dress Uniform (MS Holiday Tea)
Friday, December 16: Dress Uniform (Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day), Noon Dismissal

Things To Do in our Community...

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