November 13-19 - Cancer Awareness Week at Blake (see details below)
November 13 - Royal Pizza Night for Blake
SEPAC 'Create a Vision' Workshop (7 p.m. in Blake Middle School Library)
Medfield Music Association Meeting (7 p.m. in Band/Orchestra Room)
November 15 - Magazine Drive Wheel Spin
Student Council Mtg at 2:15 p.m.
Lip Sync Mtg at 2:15 p.m. - see details below
Meadows Farms Pick-Up (see details below)
November 16 - Picture Retake Day
CSA Mtg (9:30 a.m. at Blake)
Grade 8 Higgins Armory Presentations
November 19 - MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey Administration (Grades 6-8)
November 21 - No School
November 22 - Happy Thanksgiving!
November 23 - No School
November 27 - MCAS Presentation/Discussion (7 p.m.) - see details below
November 29 - Student Council Mtg at 2:15 p.m.
Internet Safety Presentation for all Blake Parents/Guardians (7 p.m.)
December 3-7 - Scholastic Book Fair
December 3 - Blake Site Council (3:15 p.m. in Blake LMC)
December 4 - Grades 6-8 Band Winter Concert
December 5 - Spaghetti with Santa
December 7 - 7th/8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m. in Blake Cafeteria)
December 12 - Blake Ski & Snowboard Club Rental Fittings
December 13 - Grades 7-8 Chorus/Orchestra Concert
December 19 - CSA Mtg (7:30 p.m. in Blake LMC)
December 20 - Grade 7 to A Christmas Carol
December 24-January 1 - Holiday Vacation
2012-2013 Yearbook
The 2012-2013 Yearbook goes on sale this week. Orders will be taken until November 15. The book costs $30, with checks payable to the Blake Middle School. Orders are being collected in Advisory. Order now to ensure that you will receive a book in June. Please contact Mrs. Boulos ([email protected]) with any questions.
MCAS Information Session for Parents/Guardians - Night Meeting
Do you have questions about the MCAS assessments? Would you like to better understand the data that has been provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education? Do you want to gain insight about the terminology (growth percentiles, CPI, PPI, etc.) and understand the context for your students and the schools? If the answer to any or all of these questions is 'yes', we would like to extend an invitation to all parents/guardians in the Blake community to join us for parent information coffee on Tuesday, November 27 at 7 p.m. at Blake. Nat Vaughn and Susan Bycoff, our Mathematics Content Specialist, will give a brief presentation, followed by a question and answer and 'open discussion' about the tests. This is not a forum to discuss individual scores, but rather to better understand the assessments, data, and reports from the DESE. If you are interested and able to attend the session, please e-mail me ([email protected]) so we have an understanding of interest and numbers.
Internet Safety Night for Parents/Guardians
We will be having an Internet Safety night for all Blake parents on Thursday, November 29 (see flyer on Forms and Documents tab of this blog). As a follow-up to the cybersafety parent information night on Thursday, November 29th, the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council will be presenting grade level assemblies for all Blake students around the important topic of Cybersafety on Friday, November 30th during the school day. The goal is to raise student awareness about online safety issues, including essential tools to reduce safety risks to middle school children while engaging in activities on the Internet. Our hope is that this will continue our parent outreach as well as inform students in a thoughtful manner, prior to the holidays.
Cradles to Crayons
On Thursday, November 15th, the seventh grade will kick off their community service initiative with a presentation by Cradles to Crayons. From December 4th to 11th students will be collecting children's books to donate and later in the winter they will be organizing a pajama and clothing drive. Cradles to Crayons provides clothing, books and school supplies to low income children in Boston from birth to age 12.
Cancer Awareness Week
November 13th through the 19th will be Cancer Awareness Week at Blake sponsored by students in Ms. Allen's Community Service Class. Each day will represent a different type of cancer, and students are encouraged to wear the color of the awareness ribbon of that cancer. Each morning, students will read an explanation of the type of cancer and how many people it affects on the morning announcements.
Tuesday 11/13 - Leukemia/Prostate Cancer -- Orange/ Light blue
Wednesday 11/14 -- Pancreatic Cancer -- Purple
Thursday 11/15 -- Breast Cancer -- Pink
Friday 11/16 - Colon Cancer -- Blue
Monday 11/19 - Lung Cancer -- White
Lip Sync Contest
The 14th Annual Blake Lip Sync will take place on January 25 and 26th. The Lip Sync is a great Blake tradition that allows all students the opportunity to put together a dance routine and lip sync to their favorite (school appropriate) song. Any interested performers MUST attend a pre meeting on November 15th at 2:15. Other important dates include...
November 28th-All song lyrics must be handed into Mrs. Dondero in the guidance office
December 5th - Meeting to go over songs from 2:15-3
January 4th- Final music must be submitted on a CD to Mrs. Dondero in the guidance office. Late music will not be accepted. Music must be on a CD not a flash drive or MP3 player/ipod.
January 16th and 17th- Dress Rehearsal from approximately 215-530
January 25th and 26th- Performances
Students MUST be available for both nights of the dress rehearsal and performance. Please contact Jen Dondero at [email protected] with any questions.
Twitter Account (@nat_vaughn)
As noted in last week's blog entry, I encourage you to explore the world of Twitter. I am exploring 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 tweeting up-to-date information, Blake happenings, links to sites, and articles of interest on a daily or more frequent basis. Admittedly I had some reservations, but Diane Horvath (one of our Technology Integration Specialists) has been encouraging 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. Go to this link: http://twitter.com/nat_vaughn where you'll be able to see all my tweets without a twitter account.
2. 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.
Here are two links that may be of interest or of help regarding Twitter...
A Twitter Guide: http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
'How to Get Started with Twitter' video tutorial from the 'Twitter Guide': http://youtu.be/4YGp4cWdndc
Private School Applications
Students who plan on applying to private school need to contact their guidance counselor by no later than November 30th. For more information, please call the guidance office or visit the guidance website: http://blakeguidancepage.weebly.com/index.html.
iPad Pilot Information on Website
A new tab on the Blake Middle School website has been established with information about the iPad pilot. Please click on this link if you are interested in learning some information about the pilot. We will be adding more information throughout the year and I will be highlighting the components as they are developed.
Nashoba Valley Ski/Snowboard Club
Nashoba Valley Ski Area offers a winter ski and snowboard program. This will be Blake Middle School's third year participating in this program. It is a great opportunity to sharpen skills for skiers and snowboarders while enjoying fresh air. The program begins our first week back from break, January 3rd and runs for 6 consecutive Thursdays, until February 7th. The bus will leave Blake at 2:15 p.m. We will plan to arrive at the mountain by 3:45 p.m. to give students time to get their rentals and equipment on. We will leave the mountain at 7:00pm, arriving at Blake around 7:50-8:00 p.m. For those interested in ski and snowboard lessons, they will begin at 4:00 p.m. All paper work for this program is located on the Forms and Documents tab of this blog. Please email Eileen Hurley at [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
Hypnotist Night at Medfield High School
Come see Hypnotist Steve Marino on Friday, November 18 at 7 PM to support the Class of 2014! The show will be in the high school auditorium and will be entertaining and appropriate for all ages. Tickets cost $8 and they will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis at the door. Steve Marino has over two decades of experience, including several years of well-received appearances at Medfield High School. Prepare to be amazed!
Medfield Music Association
The Medfield Music Association has extended its Wreath Sale order deadline to Monday, Nov. 19 so that students have an additional weekend to earn trip credits. If you will be placing a last-minute order, please contact Jean Nizinkirck at [email protected]. For the Wreath Sale flyer and worksheet, just click on the link below. Proceeds from the sale will help to reduce out-of-pocket costs for your student's school music trip - either this spring, or next year.
http://www.medfieldmusicassociation.com/page4/page4.html
The MMA is also hosting a fun shopping/fundraising gathering from 7 to 9 p.m., this Friday, Nov. 16, at Jenny Boston, 479 Main St. A percentage of sales will go toward the Music Program. For the invitation, click here: http://new.evite.com/#view_invite:eid=0146AAQZXGL24EYRUEPCE6DQW2HNLY (We will also accept Wreath Sale orders at this event.)
MCPE News
MCPE's community wide campaign kicks off on November 1st. Look in your mailbox at the end of the week for your opportunity to support continued enrichment programs at Blake or visit www.medfieldcoalition.org for more information on our 25th anniversary appeal.
CSA News
Tuesday Nov 13th is Royal Pizza night take a night off from cooking and support Blake!!
Come join us on Wednesday, Nov. 16th at 9:30 am at Blake for the next CSA meeting. The meeting agenda will be available on the Thursday Packet.
MEADOW FARMS ORDERS ...
Meadow Farms orders will be available for pick on Thursday, November 15 from 2:30-7:00pm in the Blake Gymnasium.
Blake will be selling scrip at Lords on Friday from 9:30-10:30. Use scrip for Thanksgiving groceries. Stock up for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Amazon.com, Macy's, GAP, JCrew, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Barnes & Noble, LLBean, etc.