9/12-9/30 - Meadows Farms Fundraiser
9/16 - Subway Night for Blake
9/17 - Canoe/RIM Field Trip (Eagles Cluster)
Grade 6 PIN at 7 p.m.
Grade 6 Band/Chorus/Orchestra Mtgs at 6:30 p.m.
9/18 - MMA Kick-Off Gathering (See details below)
9/18-9/19 - Canoe/RIM Field Trip (Stripes Cluster)
9/23-9/24 - Canoe/RIM Field Trip (Stars Cluster)
9/25 - Rosh Hashanah (No School)
9/26 - Twitter Workshop for Parents (see details below)
9/29-10/2 - Nature's Classroom for 7th Grade
10/1 - Grade 8 Parent Coffee at 9:15 a.m. (see details below)
10/6 - Blake Site Council Mtg (3:15 p.m. in Blake LMC)
10/7 - Grade 6 Parent Coffee at 9:15 a.m. (see details below)
Canoe/RIM Field Trip (Eagles Cluster)
10/10 - Teacher Professional Day (No School for Students)
10/13 - Columbus Day (No School)
10/16 - Grade 7 Parent Coffee at 10:15 a.m. (see details below)
10/24 - Term 1 Interim Reports go home
10/28 - Blake Picture Retake Day
10/30 - 8th grade to Salem
10/31 - Happy Halloween!
11/3 - Navigating Social Media with Your Tweens/Teens (see details below)
Topic/Question for the Dinner Table
To help bring the idea of staying centered into the conversations this week, our Topic/Question(s) for the Dinner Table this week is: What does this mean to you - "keep your ear to the ground, find the rhythm inside the noise; remember what you came to do"?
8th Grade Trip Information
The 8th grade trip (Memorials, Monuments, and Museums) information packets were sent home last Friday, 9/12 and the deposit and permission slip are due by October 10. For your reference and for more information, here is a link to the 8th grade trip presentation...
Memorials, Monuments, and Museums
Parent Information Night (Grade 6)
Our Parent Information Nights (PINs) for grade 6 will take place on Wednesday, September 17 for grade six. This night will provide you with an opportunity to visit your student's classrooms and hear about the curriculum and exciting programs that will take place throughout the year. Sixth grade chorus, band, and orchestra parents are invited to informational meetings at 6:30 p.m. on September 17, prior to PIN. For your reference and information, here are links to the other parent nights...
Grade 7 Fall PIN Presentation
Grade 8 Fall PIN Presentation
Seventh Grade Trip to Nature's Classroom
The trip to Nature's Classroom is right around the corner. The excitement in the seventh grade is building! Please be sure to turn in all medications to Mrs. Williams by this Wednesday, September 15th. The packing list and final details for the trip can be found here: Nature's Classroom Packing List and Final Details. A copy of the Parent PowerPoint shown at PIN can be found here: Nature's Classroom PowerPoint. The PowerPoint shown to the students is on Judy Silva's website. Happy packing!
Wizard of Oz Summary
Over the summer, a committee of teachers designed lessons and activities in their respective content areas which were inspired by some aspect of Blake’s all-school book, The Wizard of Oz. This past week, all things Wizard took place. English discussions and activities, designed by Kathleen Caprio, Erin Winter, and Ian Gagne, focused on the major themes of the story – the importance of home, friendship, self-reliance, and the discovery and development of inner strengths. Jeff Cincota directed health classes along their own “Yellow Brick Road” which was filled with several potential adolescent pitfalls along the way. Christina Delaney motivated students in art classes to create pictures they could associate with intelligence, heart, or courage. Social studies teacher John Sullivan oversaw the comparison of cultural events taking place in 1900, the year Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz, with today’s happenings. Students also made predictions on what current cultural events might be remembered by people 114 years into the future. Jason Heim had science students track storms moving across the country on their Ipads – what are the odds one of them could ever touch down as a twister and hit Medfield? Ask your son or daughter. Matt Millard had students solve math problems based on real problems Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tim Woodsman, and Cowardly Lion encountered on their journey to Oz. Diane Horvath provided technical and website expertise. The week culminated with grade-level presentations by Oz expert and author of The Annotated Wizard of Oz, Michael Patrick Hearn. Michael explained how Baum came up with the idea for the book and its impact on our culture, which continues to this day. He also answered dozens of excellent student questions. Thanks to parents for working on the Wizard Take-Home Sheet with your sons and daughters. It was nice to see families sharing their Wizard of Oz histories. - Jon Haycock
Parent Coffees
Are you feeling like you had just mastered your child's last grade's norms and now you have a new set of expectations to adjust to? Maybe your student is in a whole new building with even greater expectations. The Blake guidance counselors would like to help put your mind at ease by talking about what each grade level looks like and answering your questions. The coffees will take place on October 1 from 9:15am-10:15am (8th grade), October 7 from 9:15am-10:15am (6th grade) and October 16 from 10:15am-11:30am (7th grade). To RSVP, please go to this link - Parent Coffee Signup Form.
Blake Intramurals
Sign-ups for fall intramurals will run from Monday, 9/15 through Friday, 9/19. Sign-up information will be posted on the Blake Intramural page by Monday, 9/15. Students will be able to register for an intramural from this site, although they still need to bring in a physical copy of the indemnity form and a check covering the fee for the intramural. Please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Gavaghan in you have any questions. If you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions, please contact Brian Gavaghan ([email protected]).
Twitter??? Tweets are for kids!! (And adults…)
Friday, 9/26 at 10:00 a.m.
Come explore the Twitterverse with Jason Heim (@jasonj1507) and Nat Vaughn (@nat_vaughn)! This workshop is for all Blake parents (both social media fans and those with 'socialmediaphobia' - learn about tweets, hashtags, following, and being followed. We hope to share lessons about Twitter and highlight how the educators at Blake are building professional learning networks and using the tool to enhance the learning environment at Blake. Feel free to bring your own device, an established Twitter account (we can help with that), and a willingness to learn! Please RSVP via our Google Form: Twitter Workshop for Blake Parents (9/26/14)
Navigating Social Media with Your Tweens/Teens - Save the Date!
Monday, November 3rd at 6:30 p.m. in the Blake auditorium
Please join us for an evening with Dr. Elizabeth Englander from the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridegwater State University. Dr. Englander was part of our two-part series on technology use last fall and received very positive feedback about her practical and engaging strategies for parents children in the age of social media.
Parents of children of all ages are welcome to attend!
Blake Cross Country
The Cross Country team had a great first week of practice. The athletes worked very hard and are already completing the 2 mile distance that they run for meets. Our first meet will be this Thurs. 9/18 at Bellingham. The bus will leave right after school and return to the middle school usually sometime between 5 or 6 PM. We will practice Mon. through Wed. this week and we are really looking forward to the meet on Thursday!
Blake Field Hockey
8th grade field hockey has their first game this week, Thursday the 18th, at Wellesley.
Blake Volleyball
Gearing up for game one, a home game, this Tuesday!
MHS Science Olympiad Message
The MHS Science Olympiad will be hosting bake sales during the sixth grade parent night (Wednesday 9/17). The funds raised will go to support activities and meets during the school year. Not only will there be classic baked goods such as brownies and cookies, but international treats from China and India will also be available, along with a gluten-free option and water bottles! We will be located at the main entrance.
Science Olympiad is a student-run organization dedicated to inspire a lifelong passion for the sciences in MHS students. Through challenging, competitive meets against other schools across the state, students will be introduced to geology, astronomy, chemistry, entomology, and dozens more. They'll build levitating vehicles in engineering events, solve health crises in Disease Detectives, and, of course, set things on fire in Forensics. By the end of the year, they'll walk away with a newfound appreciation of the sciences upon which their world is built.
Angel Run
The Angel Run is coming Sunday, December 7, 2014 and registration opens this weekend. Visit the Angel Run table at Medfield Day this Saturday, September 20th from 9am - 3pm to pick up your 5k training plan and a candy cane. Register online at Medfield Foundation and follow us on Twitter @MedfieldFndn and on Facebook for weekly training tips. Register by November 3rd to receive an Angel Run tee shirt.
CSA News
The new Baystate Textile Fundraiser for Town Wide CSA is up and running! You'll notice the white bins at each school. The town wide CSA will get $100 for every ton of textiles. Neighboring communities have raised upwards of $4000/year. This is a great way to help our schools. Look for the flyer in the Thursday Packet!
Please support The Blake CSA's Meadow Fundraiser!
Don't forget to bring in your box tops!
Our first Subway Night of the year will be Tuesday September 16th! Take a break from cooking and support the fundraiser! Thank-You Subway for supporting Blake Middle School.
Look for upcoming fundraisers Including Royal Pizza and Go Fresh!
MCPE News
E4E (Entertaining for Education) is back! MCPE is bringing E4E back this year as our big fundraiser of the year. The idea is simple: pick a date, have a party (big or small, for adults or kids, with a theme or without), invite your friends, with a donation as their "ticket" to the event, and raise money for the Medfield public schools.
Trivia Events – Registration is now open! MCPE is pleased to announce not one, but TWO trivia events this fall featuring an all-new trivia company: Putterboy Productions. These events promise to be fast-paced and humor-filled, testing your knowledge in geography, sports, music, science, history and pop culture. The MCPE Community Trivia Night is set for Friday, November 14, 2014(21 and over please), and the Student Trivia Challenge for Blake and MHS students will take place the afternoon of Monday, November 10th. For those who cannot attend, you can still purchase raffle tickets for our fabulous Legacy Place gift basket (a $450 value).
For more information, to register for our events and to purchase raffle tickets, please visit our web site: www.MedfieldCoalition.org.
Medfield Music Association
The Medfield Music Association's kick-off gathering will be at the Zullo Gallery, 7-8:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 18, that would be great. The night will feature music, light food & beverages, recognition of our business and community supporters, plus a meet & greet with our officers and volunteers so that parents can learn how to get involved. Doug Olsen will also be there greeting parents and providing highlights on the upcoming year in music. This will be more of a social gathering vs. traditional MMA meeting.