October 15 - Subway Night for Blake
'Thinking Outside the Classroom' (see details below)
October 16 - Blake CSA Mtg (7:00 p.m. in Blake LMC)
October 18 - Magazine Drive Kick-Off Assembly (Info coming soon)
October 23 - iPad Initiative Information Night (details coming soon)
October 25 - Term 1 Interim Reports go home
7th/8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
October 29 - Picture Retake Day
October 30 - 8th Grade Field Trip to Salem
October 31 - Happy Halloween!
November 4 - Site Council Mtg (3:15 p.m. at Blake LMC)
November 5 - 8th Grade Field Trip to Tri-County
November 11 - Veterans Day (No school)
November 12 - Royal Pizza Night for Blake
November 19 - Subway Night for Blake
Topic/Question(s) for the Dinner Table
To help continue fostering the spirit of connectedness and conversations into the dialogue this week, our Topic/Question for the Dinner Table this week is: What dinner days are better, the meals where no one has a story to tell about their day, or the meals where the stories flow?
7th/8th Grade Dance Information
The first 7th & 8th Dance will be held on Friday, October 25. Next week, students will receive Dance Contracts that must be signed by parents and returned in homeroom to Student Council Representatives by Thursday, October 24, 2013. Extra contracts and Guest Contracts (for children who are 7th or 8th grade Medfield residents not attending Blake) will be available in the Blake office and online. Please review the expectations for behavior at dances with your children prior to dance night and make arrangements to pick up your child promptly at 9:00 pm. If a student will be arriving late from sporting events, please email Kelly Campbell at [email protected] prior to the dance.
Connected Educator Month - Twitter Account (@nat_vaughn)
As noted in the weekly blog update, October is Connected Educator Month and I am encouraging both staff and students to explore the world of Twitter. For the past year I have used this technology as a communication and resource tool for both the Blake community and my own learning network. If you are interested in exploring with me, my account is @nat_vaughn. In addition to the weekly blog to our community, I plan on continuing tweeting up-to-date information, Blake happenings, links to sites, and articles of interest on a daily or more frequent basis. We have established the hashtag (#bmsed) for education-related tweets of interest and Blake events and (#bmstech) for technology tweets of interest at Blake, so be sure to check them out! Admittedly I had some reservations at first, but Diane Horvath (one of our Technology Integration Specialists) encouraged me to get out of my 'comfort zone' - thanks, Diane! This is by no means an expectation for anyone, but I thought you may find it of interest - I have found the 'dialogue and network' via Twitter to be relevant, engaging, tangible, and simply put - useful.
There are two ways to get my tweets...
1. To get the 'real feel' for Twitter- you should sign up for your own twitter account and follow me. This works well when you use the twitter app to get the live feed.
2. Go to this link: http://twitter.com/nat_vaughn where you'll be able to see all my tweets without a twitter account.
Health Information from the Nurse's Office
Medications from the 7th grade Nature's Classroom trip should be picked up in the main office by parents within the next two weeks. Medications not picked up by Friday, October 25 will be disposed of in an appropriate manner.
Blake Magazine Drive
Blake's annual Magazine Drive kicks off this Friday, October 18 and will run through Wednesday, October 30. Blake will receive 40 % of every order placed and these much needed funds will go toward special field trips, outside speakers, summer reading programs, and more. In addition, 30 % of the profits from eighth graders' sales will help offset the cost of their trip to Washington, D.C. It's easy and fun for students to participate with many levels of motivational prizes! Look for information packets that will be sent home with students on Wednesday.
Private School Applications
Students who plan on applying to private school need to contact their guidance counselor. For more information, please call the guidance office or visit the guidance website: http://blakeguidancepage.weebly.com/index.html. Reminders of application deadlines will be noted in future blog updates.
Pumpkin Contest
Student Council is currently holding our annual October Pumpkin Decorating contest. Each advisory will design a pumpkin according to the rules laid out by the Student Council and the faculty will vote for their favorite pumpkin the morning of November 1st. There will be a prize for the winning pumpkin!
Music at Blake - Guess the Blake Pandora Jockey!
Last week's winner of the Blake Pandora Jockey was Lauren Tritcak, correctly guessing Mr. Marenghi as the Staff DJ. Each week I will ask a different staff member to be the DJ, or PJ (Pandora Jockey) for Blake Tuesday-Thursday. The teacher will select different music 'stations' to be played and students will be able to vote who the Blake PJ of the week is. Diane Horvath, our Technology Integration Specialist, has set up an online system for voting, Blake Pandora Jockey Link, and all entries must be registered by Thursday evening at 8 p.m. An 'electronic selector' will highlight a winner each week, and the winning student will be the Blake PJ for the following Monday. Each student may register only one vote. Encourage your students to participate!
Curriculum Highlights - Art and Science
In our continued efforts to keep families informed and updated about the curriculum at Blake, each week we will be 'highlighting' curriculum updates from two different departments. This week's updates come from the art (Jim Cousens, Content Specialist) and science (Orla Berry, Content Specialist) departments...
Art
In the art room students are just finishing up projects related to the all school summer reading book "Wonder". 8th grade is making block prints conceptually based on a precept or quote of their choice. 7th grade is making altered self portraits. 6th grade is drawing a still life that contains objects inspired by the book.
Outside of the art room we are planning a mural design which will cover the large back wall of the guidance office. In the next few weeks we will be looking for students interested in painting after school.
Science
Led by grade 8 science teachers, and supported by many other Blakers and intrepid parent volunteers who braved the rapids of the Charles, the annual grade 8 canoe trip was held from mid-September to October. Aside from having fun with their friends in the natural beauty of the Charles, student toured the Medfield wastewater treatment facility to learn how it operates, and also collect water samples at various points on the river. These samples will later be analyzed, and students will make determinations about the relative health of the river based on their field-collected data. Just like real scientists! Along with (or despite) all of the learning, a great time is always had by all.
Seventh grade science is in the midst of an exciting topic - microscopes and cells. Students have begun to master the basics of microscope work as we head into the cell unit. Students always have a great time looking at onion cells, their own cheek cells, and even protozoans. As we head into the late fall and early winter, we will be looking at how cell parts function and how materials cross the cell membrane.
6th grade has just completed a foundational unit on Thinking Like a Scientist and we are now entering into our Scientific Method Unit. Newly developed Pre-tests will drive instruction and kids will engage in a number of in-class experiments to learn the Scientific Method. In addition, this unit culminates with the creation and implementation of experiments of their own choosing and design at home, the results of which will be communicated in class!
Medfield Food Cupboard Drive for 6th Grade
Attention 6th grade families: October is the 6th grade's month to support the Medfield Food Cupboard. The most needed items this month are:
- Cookies
- Tissues
- Toilet paper - individual or 4-pack
- Hair products
- Laundry products
- Condiments (ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.)
- Raisins
- Peanut butter
- Rice
- Juice - juice boxes or jugs
- Thank you in advance for your generosity!
Creativity at Blake - A Message from Mr. Cousens
I am happy to inform our Blake Community that we have created a new web page for Blake students (and their families) to upload images of their CREATIVITY! This web page is part of our K-12 Fine Arts website, and can be accessed by the link below...
Blake Creativity Gallery
Once we begin receiving uploaded images we will be creating a Gallery on our site to showcase these images as well (all images are verified for content prior to posting). We are looking for images of creativity from all areas of our students' Blake experience, so please share! Also, if you are not following us on Twitter yet... @Medfieldk12Arts please do so for updates and information about this set of pages as well as our Blake Art Program and the rest of our K-12 Fine Arts Program. Feel free to pass this along as well. Thanks, and I can't wait to see what shows up!
Thinking Outside the Classroom
Tonight, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. the Medfield SEPAC will host 'Thinking Outside the Classroom', a presentation about executive functioning skills offered by Jackie Stachel.
MCPE News
MCPE Community Trivia Night: Register Now Before It's Too Late -- We're Nearly Sold Out!
The MCPE is pleased to report that more than THIRTY teams from across our community have signed up to compete in the first ever “MCPE Community Trivia Night!” Register now, before we reach our capacity! It’s easy:
(1) Create a team of four adult players (choose friends, colleagues, neighbors, and/or family members)
(2) Sign up at our web site: www.MedfieldCoalition.org
(3) Enjoy a fun night of trivia, music, refreshments and prizes!
This fantastic fund-raising event will be held at the Senior Center on Ice House Road on Friday, November 15th at 7 pm. The proceeds will help support future educational grants awarded by the MCPE.
CSA News
Your trash, Blake's cash! Clip and send in your box tops. Collection box in the office.
8th grade parents, please note, for students going to Washington, D.C. fundraising through SCRIP is happening now! Register with ShopWithScrip and Presto Pay asap to get going. The last day to place orders is October 31st. All information can be found under the Student/Parent Information tab on the Blake website under "Washington Trip". Contact Diane Smith with any questions at [email protected].