January 29 - Subway Night for Blake
January 31 - Sk/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)
iPad Highlights Night at Blake (see details below)
February 7 - Ski/Snowboard Club
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 14 - Happy Valentine's Day!
February 18-22 - Winter Vacation
February 26 - Subway Night for Blake
February 27 - Incoming 6th Grade Parent Night
February 28 - 'Project Moves' at Medfield High School (7 p.m.)
March 7 - Incoming 7th/8th Grade Parent Night
March 20 - MCPE Spelling Bee
'Topic/Question for the Dinner Table'
As a connection to the topic of a 'love of learning', our Topic/Question for the Dinner Table this week is to reflect upon the following question from an anonymous source: Who is happier when the words "I learned something new today" are spoken, the child who says them, or the parent who hears them?
iPad Highlights Night
In an effort to continue our dialogue and share information with the Blake community about our 8th Grade iPad pilot, we are inviting all parents/guardians to attend our iPad Highlights Night on Wednesday, February 6 at 7:00 p.m. Our hope for the evening is for the entire Blake community of parents and guardians to hear and see highlights from the pilot, answer questions, and learn about the progress that has taken place. This event is for parents and guardians only. Please RSVP via our Google Form link (http://tinyurl.com/ipadhighlightnight) to let us know if you are planning on attending so that we can make sure we are prepared. Please fill out the form for each parent/guardian attending the presentation.
School Survey - Executive Summary
The Blake Site Council has taken time throughout the year to review the data collected from last year's survey. Focus areas on the survey centered on the topics of school culture, academic workloads, stress, and habits. I have posted an Executive Summary (located on the Forms and Documents tab of this blog) of the compiled data for your reference, and I hope you are able to find some time to read the highlights. Our intent is to distribute the 2012-2013 survey in the next week in the hopes of gathering the data by February vacation.
Term 2 Interim Reports
Yesterday students brought home their interim reports for the second term. All signature sheets should be returned to advisors by Wednesday, January 30. Our hope is that this communication tool will give you an update on the progress your child is making in school. If you have any questions about your child's work or the reports, please start by having a conversation with your own child. If questions still exist, you should contact the teacher directly to gain more insight.
Twitter in Education - Account
Back in October I e-mailed everyone to let them know that I was exploring Twitter as a communication and resource tool for both the Blake community and my own Professional Learning Network (PLN), with encouragement from one of our Technology Integration Specialists, Diane Horvath. Again, this is by no means an expectation for anyone, but I encourage you to explore the world of Twitter, and along these lines here is a link that I came across that provides and outlines the benefits that can be gained/found for educators...
Five-Minute Film Festival: Twitter in Education
I was not sure how much I would like it or find it useful, but it has been wonderful and enriching. For your interest, I have copied information that was sent out regarding my account and some links that you may find helpful in regards to Twitter...
There two ways to get the tweets from my account...
1. To get the 'real feel' for Twitter- you should sign up for your own twitter account and follow me (@nat_vaughn). This works well when you use the twitter app to get the live feed.
2. Go to this link: https://twitter.com/nat_vaughn where you'll be able to see all my tweets without a twitter account.
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
If you have other questions about Twitter, I encourage you to reach out to Diane Horvath ([email protected]) or Neal Sonnenberg ([email protected]).
Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards
In January of this year, the Blake Middle School Visual Arts Department submitted 7 artworks by six of our students to the Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards; 8th Graders Emily O'Grady, Katie Compson, and Zak Tauscher, along with 7th Graders Jasmine Chan, Jenevieve Erickson, and Sadie Durham. These outstanding Blake Middle School Visual Arts students put their work up-against almost 14,000 entries by more than 6,500 high school and middle school students representing nearly 350 schools throughout Massachusetts. Their work was recognized as representing among the best in the state, with the following receiving awards:
Emily O'Grady 8th Grade Gold Key Award Comic Art
Jasmine Chan 7th Grade Honorable Mention Drawing
Sadie Durham 7th Grade Honorable Mention Drawing
Jenevieve Erickson 7th Grade Honorable Mention Drawing
The Gold Key and Silver Key Art Exhibit at the State Transportation Building will be hanging from Monday, February 11 to Friday, April 19, 2013. The hours are Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, 12:00 noon - 4:00 p.m. There are not Saturday hours or Holiday hours. Groups planning to visit the exhibit need to call the office to arrange an assigned time - 617-973-7290.
Project Moves
Save the Date-- MCPE and Blake CSA are proud to sponsor "Project Moves. . . accept ME" at Medfield High School on Thursday, February 28th at 7:00 p.m. Project Moves Dance Company, Inc., the resident company of The Gold School of Dance Art in Brockton, Mass., features dancers ages 6 to 18. The show uses dance, spoken word, and visual media to promote acceptance. Upon special invitation in 2012, members of the dance company performed on ABC's “Dancing with the Stars”. The mission of the Project Moves Dance Company, Inc. is to advocate a message of acceptance and tolerance through dance art. The company is dedicated to creating a platform that empowers young dance artists with the knowledge, compassion and understanding necessary to create works that address the most pressing issues of today's youth, thus transforming the artists and their audiences. Tickets are free and available at the door. This show is suitable for middle school and high school students, as well as their parents and guardians.
Parent Information Nights
The planning for the 2013-2014 school year has already begun, and our parent information nights have been scheduled. Incoming 6th Grade Parent Information Night is on Wednesday, February 27 and the Incoming 7th/8th Grade Parent Information Night will be on Thursday, March 7. More details will be shared in the coming weeks.
SIPS - Penny Drive
SIPS is partaking in its annual Penny Drive starting February 4th. The drive benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. All proceeds are directly donated to the organization. SIPS members will collect coins during the lunch block. Each grade competes against the other. Pennies are deemed positive points for the grade while sliver coins are assigned negative points for the grade. The competition is a fun way to promote coin donations. The drive lasts two weeks until the Friday before break. Start saving those coins today.
Cradles to Crayons - Pajama Drive
Seventh grade students are having a pajama drive in February for Cradles to Crayons. Please start collecting gently used pajamas or feel free to send in new ones.
'Surviving Adolescents: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast! And the ABC's of Parenting Adolescents' - Parent Presentation
The Medfield SEPAC is hosting a parent presentation by Nadine Briggs, founder of Social Smart Kids (see flyer on the Forms and Documents tab of this blog) on Tuesday, February 5 at 7 p.m. in the Blake Middle School auditorium: 'In these workshops on adolescents, we will explore adolescent development and how this exciting, yet sometimes excruciating, process of growing up can impact family life. Surviving Adolescents will explore why teens become “allergic” to their parents and how boys and girls journey through adolescence in similar and different ways. We will talk about how to gain respect from your teen, strategies for parenting a teen as opposed to a younger child and how to avoid the traps our teens set for us and the ones we set for ourselves to establish a healthy relationship with our adolescents. The ABC's workshop focuses in depth on Collaborative Problem Solving with teens and easy, quick “catch phrases” that parents can use to communicate with their teen as well as hints from teens themselves on how to parent them.' For additional information on this workshop and more, visit www.socialsmartkids.com. RSVP not required but suggested to Una Smith at [email protected].
Blake Drama Production
Callbacks will be held on Tuesday, January 29th. The Cast List will be handled via email notifications to all students who auditioned. As with last year, Blake has purchased a great show with specific boundaries as to how much we can or cannot manipulate the show. Mrs. Dion and Ms. Allen will create as big a cast as possible keeping to those boundaries. If your child is not cast, we all encourage him or her to try again next year.
MCPE News
Save the date for the Annual Spelling Bee on March 20th! All entrants will be entered into a raffle for an iPad Mini!
In other news, total grant investments so far this school year have reached $66,406. Progress towards the fundraising goal of $100,000 continues as the MCPE 25th Anniversary Appeal greets the New Year. MCPE thanks the 364 donors who have contributed nearly $68,000 towards future enrichment programs for Medfield’s schools. The campaign will continue through the end of the school year and contributions are still being gratefully accepted either online at www.medfieldcoalition.org or by mail to MCPE, P.O. Box 452, Medfield, MA 02052.
CSA News
Exciting news at Blake!! Profit from Scrip sales is funding the installation of two communication boards: one for the entry way and one for the cafeteria at Blake Middle School. This interactive communication board will be used to post announcements, highlight events, and keep students, staff, and visitors informed. The goal is to have students be part of the maintenance and 'upkeep' of information being posted. We need more funds for the project. Please buy Scrip!!!
Tuesday is Subway night! Scrip will be available from 5:30-7. Subway cards are $10 each. The Scrip box is well stocked with grocery, coffee and pharmacy cards.
Thank you for supporting Blake Middle School!