January 10 - Geography Bee - Championship Round
Ski/Snowboard Club
Grades 5/6 Chorus/Orchestra Winter Concert
January 15 - SEPAC Mtg (7:00 p.m.)
Royal Pizza Night for Blake
January 17 - Ski/Snowboard Club
January 17-18 - Grade 8 Mathematics Mid-Term
January 18 - CSA Meeting (9:30 a.m.)
January 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - No School
January 24 - Ski/Snowboard Club
January 25 - Lip Sync Performance
January 29 - Subway Night for Blake
January 31 - Ski/Snowboard Club
February 4 - Blake Site Council Mtg (3:15 p.m. in Blake LMC)
February 5 - 'Surviving Adolescents' Parent Presentation (see details below)
February 6 - Superintendent's Advisory Council (8:45 a.m. at HS)
February 8 - 7th/8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
February 12 - CSA Meeting (7:30 p.m.)
Royal Pizza Night for Blake
February 13 - Grade 8 Band/High School Step-Up Concert
February 18-22 - Winter Vacation
February 26 - Subway Night for Blake
'Topic/Question for the Dinner Table'
To bring our Blake theme of Perseverance back to the forefront of our thinking, our question for the week is: What would you rather do, try and fail, or not try at all?
26 Acts of Kindness
After much consideration, we have decided to honor the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy by asking the staff and the students to complete 26 Acts of Kindness. On the Forms and Documents tab of this blog, you will find a list of potential ideas as well as the tracking sheet for students to record their acts. You will find the link to the list of ideas, though we encourage the kids to come up with their own. The tracking sheets will then be posted around the school. In school, we are also making snowflakes. They were intended to be sent to the new school the children of Sandy Hook Elementary will be attending, at the request of the Sandy Hook PTA. Because of the overwhelming response they received, the request now is that the snowflakes be hung in school buildings across the country as a sign of solidarity with Sandy Hook. Blake will stand with Sandy Hook and hang our snowflakes throughout the building.
Geography Bee
Our students this past week participated in the National Geography Bee. The grade level finalists in each grade were:
Grade 6: Katie Predella, Rachel Stewart, Kasey Douglas, Brian Qian, Michael Dailey, Michael Koellner, James Kirk, Patrick Thompson, Patrick Denning, Frannie Compton, and Nathan Parry
Grade 7: Liam Conran, Sam Evans, Liam Farrell, Gideon Lung, Mason Giunta, Joe Johnson, Ben Mason, Jack Nedell, Mark Bissell, Robin Oliver, and Steven Sabia
Grade 8: Anna Pagliarulo, Billy Regan, Dan Stromland, Amy Pinto, Kiera Bohen, Liam Durham, Jack McCormick, Cam Young, Brock Mangiacotti, Liam Dewey, Liam Keane, Zak Tauscher, Liam O'Leary
The grade level winners are: Nathan Parry (Grade 6), Gideon Lung (Grade 7), and Billy Regan (Grade 8). Our championship round will take place after school on Thursday, January 10. I commend all of our students for their participation. Thank you to the Social Studies teachers for facilitating the Bee.
Music in the Halls at Blake - Donations Welcome
As you may know we are fortunate to use music rather than bells for 'passing time' at Blake. Rather than trying to tune into the radio, we have been using an old iPod Touch to listen to different genres throughout the week - 60's, 80's rock, oldies, swing, salsa, etc. Unfortunately, our iPod Touch is dying, and if any family is willing to donate an old iPod Touch after an upgrade, we would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!
Winter Intramurals
Winter intramural sign-ups began on Monday, January 7 and will run through Friday, January 11. The intramural offerings are scheduled to begin the week of January 14. The offerings and sign-up sheets can be found on the Blake home page under intramural information starting on Monday. Hard copies of the offerings and sign-up sheets will also be available in the main office.
Lip Sync Contest
Due to the number of performing acts, we will have one night of the Lip Sync on January 25th at 7pm. The performance will likely run 2.5 hours. Performers should around between 6 and 6:15. Stage crew and tech should arrive between 5:45 and 6pm. We will also only hold one dress rehearsal on Wednesday, January 16th from 2:15-6. It may take less time but we allot that amount of time to run through the acts and work out any issues with sound and lighting. Please note all performers must attend the dress rehearsal and stay through the entire rehearsal. Students can bring homework to work on during the dress rehearsal while the other acts are performing. Tickets will go on sale on January 14th during lunches for performers. Performers can purchase 2 tickets each during the week of January 14th. If your child is performing, please mark your calendar and send in either send a check made out to Blake Middle school or cash. Tickets will be $5 each. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Tuesday, January 22. There are a limited number of seats in the auditorium and we always sell out! Its bound to be a GREAT Performance!!!
All performers and members of the tech crew must attend a mandatory meeting on January 10th. Performers must bring and wear their costumes. Performers also must be prepared to walk the tech crew through their performance.
- Coats for Kids
- SIPS is running its annual coat drive sponsored by Anton's Cleaners. Over the past 8 years, SIPS has collected nearly 800 coats which have helped needy families across neighborhoods of Massachusetts. Parents and students are encouraged to donate "gently used" coats from Wednesday, 12/12 until Friday, 1/11. A donation box will be located at the main entrance of the school. Thank you in advance.
MCPE News
As the Medfield Coalition for Public Education’s 25th Anniversary Appeal continues toward its goal of raising $100,000 through on-line donations and mailed in contributions, grant funding has kept an equally rigorous pace. At the November meeting MCPE’s Board of Directors approved four grants totaling $33,000 bringing funding so far this school year to $62,000. To make your tax deductible donation before year end, please visit out website (www.medfieldcoalition.org).
CSA News
We need your help...the volunteer form is now available for Winter and Spring opportunities! The Blake CSA is in need of volunteers to continue our support of Blake Middle School initiatives and programs. Thank you for supporting our school...Go to http://medfieldcsa.org/blakevolunteer.html
The next CSA meeting is going to be on Friday, January 18th at 9:30am. We hope you can join us! We are still in need of a cookie dough coordinator for the 7th grade. If you are interested, please email Colleen at [email protected] for more information.
Blake will be selling scrip at Lord's Friday, Jan 11 from 9:30 to 10:30.