January 24 - Ski/Snowboard Club
January 25 - Lip Sync Performance
January 28 - Term 2 Interim Reports go home
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 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!
Ski/Snowboard Club
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
'Topic/Question for the Dinner Table'
As a connection to Dr. MLK, Jr.'s quotation about the purpose of education, our 'Topic/Question for the Dinner Table' this week is: Will learning about the strength of your character help you to become a better critical thinker? Will learning how to be a better critical thinker help you to develop the strength of your character?
MLK, Jr. Day of Service
Thank you to Cynthia McClelland for spearheading and organizing the 'Day of Service' at Blake. It was a wonderful scene at Blake Monday morning, as student and staff volunteers worked together, and we are thrilled that this is becoming a tradition for our community.
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
As noted throughout the year, one of the goals for our students is to continually gain an understanding of the true meaning of perseverance. In addition to our 'Day of Service' last Monday, our students and staff took time over the last week to reflect upon the impact and efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr. Below please find a description of the efforts that took place. I encourage you to talk with your students about the discussions.
6th Grade: The sixth grade discussed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. Students shared their prior knowledge of the happenings during the 1960's. They also viewed a clip from the History Channel on King's March on Washington and watched a video link of "Pride in the Name of Love"as performed by U2 and discussed their reactions to the clip. In addition, the sixth graders discussed a quotation from MKL and viewed a clip from the "Legacy of Service," which lead to discussions about Monday's 'Day On, not Off' service project.
7th Grade: The seventh grade will be studying the lyrics to the U2 song "In the Name of Love" and also be reading a summary of Dr. King's life. Students will complete a links sheet on which they will make connections between the U2 song and some of Dr. King's more memorable quotes, they will write an acrostic poem, and also create captions for some pictures of Dr. King.
8th Grade: The eighth grade took some time in Advisory to review a PowerPoint presentation with talking points and a link to a music video about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After viewing the slideshow, each advisory received individual blank puzzle pieces (one for each student) for students to express their impressions (pictures, words, phrases, quotes, ...) about MLK, Jr. and MLK, Jr. day. Eventually the puzzle pieces will be presented as a centralized larger mural on the cafeteria wall.
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.
School Survey
The Blake Site Council this year has taken time to review the data collected from last year's survey and an Executive Summary will be distributed to families in the coming week. Focus areas on the survey centered on the topics of school culture, academic workloads, stress, and habits. Our intent is to distribute the 2012-2013 survey in early February in the hopes of gathering the data by February vacation.
Term 2 Interim Reports
Next Monday students will be bringing home their interim reports for the second term. They will be spending time in their advisories reflecting upon the work they have accomplished thus far, and setting healthy/measured goals for the second half of the term. 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.
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.
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].
Lip Sync Contest
Tickets will be on sale for the public on January 22nd during all lunches and after school in the guidance office. Tickets are $5 each. The lip sync will be on January 25th doors will open at 6:40 and the performance will begin at 7pm. Please contact Jen Dondero at [email protected] with any questions.
Blake Drama Production
Auditions start Tuesday for Cat in the Hat and Seussical the Musical. Please continue to visit http://www.medfield.net/blake/activities/school-theatre.html for updates on rehearsal and crew schedules.
MCPE News
Progress toward the goal of $100,000 continues as the MCPE 25th Anniversary Appeal greets the New Year. MCPE is pleased with the response of the community and thanks the 324 donors who have contributed $65,000 towards future enrichment programs for Medfield’s schools. We closed 2012 with total grant investments so far this school year of $66,406." The campaign will continue through the school year and contributions are still being gratefully accepted either online at www.medfieldcoalition.orgor by mail to MCPE, P.O. Box 452, Medfield, MA 02052.
MCPE has a full agenda for the coming months. Save the date for the Annual Spelling Bee on March 20th.
CSA News
We are still in need of a cookie dough coordinator for the 7th grade. If you are interested, please email Colleen Hawley at [email protected] for more information.