10/15 - Confucius Institute Celebration (see details below)
10/16 - 7th Grade Parent Coffee (see details below)
Tri-County Visit for 8th Grade
10/17 - Google Workshop for Parents (see details below)
10/21 - Subway Night for Blake
10/24 - Term 1 Interim Reports go home
7th/8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
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)
11/4 - Grade 7 Egypt Presentation
11/6 - Go Fresh Night for Blake
11/8-11/12 - No Homework Weekend
11/10 - Student Trivia Challenge (see details below)
Royal Pizza Night for Blake
11/11 - Veterans Day (No School)
MCPE Meeting
11/14 - MCPE Community Trivia Event
11/18 - Subway Night for Blake
Topic/Question for the Dinner Table
To help bring the ideas of being 'open to change' into the conversations this week, our Topic/Question(s) for the Dinner Table this week is: Safety, Fun and Learning should include being curious about the unknown and the untried.
Professional Day Wrap-Up
We had a productive professional day at Blake this past Friday, taking time as a staff to examine our practices in an effort to make progress towards our overarching goals for the year - Experimentation/Innovation; Professional Growth- Supervision/Evaluation; and Progress Reporting and Feedback. The structure of the day allowed for reflection, planning of goals, group discussions, and time to work on departmental initiatives. Our focus in the morning was on our homework practices - discussing and sharing methods for creating purposeful learning opportunities. We also took time to review our evaluation process, namely S.M.A.R.T. Goals and Educator Plan Development. I have encouraged our staff to pilot various methods and alternatives for homework and progress reporting as we look towards a standards-based system of feedback and assessment. We are looking forward to this work.
Google for Parents
As part of our continued efforts to engage and support parents in our mobile learning initiative, we are offering a Google Workshop 3-part series. Come work with Diane Horvath (@techmonstah), our Technology Integration Specialist, and learn about the power of Google. We hope to share lessons about Google to help you with your own learning and to better support the learning of your students. All sessions are at 10 a.m., and the dates are as follows:
10/17 - Google Overview and GMail
10/24 - Google Calendar (iPad vs Computer)
10/31 - Google Drive
Please bring your own device, an established Gmail account, any questions you have, and a willingness to learn! Please RSVP via our Google Form: Google Workshop Series for Parents Fall 2014
iPad Student/Parent Survey Fall 2014
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to complete the Fall 2014 Student/Parent iPad Survey. For those of you who have not had a chance, my hope is that you will be able to find some time this weekend. As of Tuesday morning, we have received 142 responses: 6th Grade Parents - 70 (out of 202); 7th Grade Parents - 73 (out of 216); 8th Grade Parents - 68 (out of 213). Students will be taking the survey in school. We sincerely appreciate your honest responses and are hoping for 100% participation from the student body and parents. The survey should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. Your sincere responses are essential to our information-gathering vision and mission. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Link to the survey Student/Parent iPad Survey Fall 2014
Lion Dance, Traditional Chinese Music, Kung Fu and Drumming
If you love Lion Dance, traditional Chinese music, Kung Fu or Drumming, get ready, because we are going to have an event on Oct 15 at Blake to celebrate Confucius Institute 10th anniversary and welcome Performance for our visitors from Bengbu, China. Focal Chinese Music is going to perform traditional Chinese music. Woo Chinese White Crane Academy is going to perform Lion Dance, Kung Fu and Drumming. For more information, please visit the website,
www.medfieldchinese.weebly.com
Tri-County Field Trip
On Thursday, October 16, the 8th grade will be visiting Tri- County. Please make sure that all permission slips are turned in.
Blake Theatrical Productions
The announcement is coming October 31st. Auditions will be the week of December 1st. More to come.
6th Grade Food Drive
The 6th grade is collecting for the Medfield Food cupboard in the month of October. The following are the Medfield Food Cupboard current needs: cereal, soup, juice, pasta sauces, canned tuna, canned chicken, peanut butter, applesauce, canned veggies and fruits.
Costume Drive
The Community Service Club of Blake is holding its third annual Costume Drive to benefit the Medfield Food Pantry. We are asking families to donate gently used costumes starting October 15th and ending on the 22nd. Please have your child bring the costume to Mr. Gow's room.
Winter Shoveling Program
The Community Service Club of Blake is working with the Council of Aging in its efforts to recruit middle school students to help in its winter shoveling program. Volunteers are assigned to a house near where they live and are mostly responsible for maintaining walkways, steps, and the mailbox area. This opportunity is a great way to help your community and serve the public good. If interested, please have your child contact Mr. Gow for more information.
7th/8th Grade Dances
7th and 8th grade dances this year will be held:
- Friday, October 24, 2014
- Friday, December 5, 2014
- and Friday, May 15, 2015
Connected Educator Month - Twitter Account (@nat_vaughn)
As noted in the weekly blog update, October is Connected Educator Month and I am encouraging both staff and students to explore the world of Twitter. For the past year I have used 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 continuing tweeting up-to-date information, Blake happenings, links to sites, and articles of interest on a daily or more frequent basis. We have established the hashtag (#bmsed) for education-related tweets of interest and Blake events and (#bmstech) for technology tweets of interest at Blake, so be sure to check them out! 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.
Blake Music Department Information
Blake Chorus students have been working hard to prepare for our upcoming concerts. The 6th Grade Chorus will perform on Tuesday, December 2 at 7pm in the High School Auditorium. Students should wear concert dress and arrive at 6:30pm for a warm-up. The 7th and 8th Grade Choruses will perform on Thursday, December 18th at 7pm also in the High School Auditorium. Students should again arrive at 6:30pm in their concert dress.
General Music at Blake is going strong this fall! We are learning about Gustav Holst's composition titled "The Planets" in 6th Grade and using our Ipads to play guitar and write music using Garageband in the 8th grade. 7th Graders are continuing to learn about Rock and Roll music and have just completed lessons on the Beatles.
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. Thank you to all of the 7th and 8th grade parents who attended our parent coffee. Please join us for the 7th grade coffee on October 16 from 10:15am-11:30am (7th grade). To RSVP, please go to this link - Parent Coffee Signup Form.
Music at Blake - Guess the Blake Pandora Jockey
In an effort to continue finding ways to foster a positive school culture and make connections between students and adults, we are continuing our Blake Pandora Jockey contest this year. Each week I will ask a different staff member to be the DJ, or PJ (Pandora Jockey) for Blake Tuesday-Thursday. The teacher will select different music 'stations' to be played and students will be able to cast their votes for who the Blake PJ of the week is. We have established an online voting system, Blake Pandora Jockey Form, and all entries must be registered by Thursday evening at 8 p.m. An 'electronic selector' will highlight a winner each week, and the winning student will be the Blake PJ for the following Monday. Each student may register only one vote. Encourage your students to participate!
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!
Capture Blake!
At Blake we have launched a new blog called CaptureBlake. Please check out our mobile learning blog for more details - Mobile Learning in Medfield.
Blake Cross Country
Blake Cross Country travelled to Mendon on Monday 10/6. Nipmuc (a regional school combining Mendon and Upton), had a large squad of runners who were able to beat Medfield overall. Breanna Morgan ran a gutsy race, finishing first, 13 seconds in front of the next runner. Dylan Hogan was third to cross the finish line and Matt Morgan was the fifth runner to come across. On Thursday Medfield lost at their home field to Hopkinton. Next week Medfield will compete against Medway in their last meet of the season at their home field onThursday 10/16. The team will practice on Tues. and Wed.
Blake Football
Come cheer on the team this Wednesday against Weston!
Angel Run
Have you registered yet? 11/3 is the early bird price and t-shirt deadline. Trainees here is Week #3 of the Training Plan. Five cycles of 3 minutes of running followed by 3 minutes of walking (30 minutes total). Do 3 times this week.
'Connecting Kids Who Have With Kids Who Need'
My name is Julia Steeger and I am an 11th grader working on my Girl Scout Gold Award Project “Connecting Kids Who Have With Kids Who Need.” For my Gold Award Project, I would like to raise awareness on the issue of how poverty affects kids and to address issues that affect kids who live in poverty. For instance, kids in poverty usually do not have access to enough food to eat; or the clothes they need to go to school like warm jackets or boots during the winter months; or books that would help them be able to read at home; or toys to play with that would be fun and also increase their ability to learn. My idea is to connect kids in Medfield with organizations who are helping kids in poverty so that hopefully, together, we can make a difference. Please see the two links below for more information...
Cradles to Crayons Collection Project
Cradles to Crayons Collection Unit Flyer
CSA News
Please keep sending in your box tops!
Please join us for our next Blake CSA meeting this Thurd=sday at 7:00 PM in the Blake Library.
MCPE Update:
MCPE is saddened by the passing of Andrea Trasher, who was a tireless advocate for Medfield's youngest students. She brought innovative programs to Memorial School, keeping the whole student in mind. We were fortunate to have worked with her and offer our sincerest condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. In recognition of Andrea's love for children and education, a memorial scholarship fund has been established. To donate, please send a check to:
Medfield High School
88R South Street
Medfield, MA 02052
Attn: Maryjean Ingram
Please make checks payable to "Medfield High School" and note "Andrea Trasher Scholarship Fund" on the memo line.
Student Trivia Challenge – Monday, November 10th
MCPE is so pleased you bring you this new event for students in grades 6-12. Student Trivia promises to be fast-paced and humor-filled, testing students’ knowledge in geography, sports, music, pop culture and more. The middle school and high school will compete at different times, but both have prizes for winners PLUS a $50 Visa gift card raffle! In fact, all students who compete will have their name automatically entered in our raffle. (Please note, there is no school on Tuesday, November 11th.)
Community Trivia Night – SOLD OUT!
Community Trivia Night is sold out! If you missed signing up and are interested in competing, please add your team to the wait list. Last year we did have cancellations. We also encourage you to buy tickets to our fabulous Legacy Place raffle worth more than $450. (You need not be present to win.)
E4E (Entertaining for Education)
E4E is back and will be our primary fundraiser this 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, and raise money for the Medfield public schools! Many thanks to those who have already had, scheduled and/or attended E4E parties!
For more information on all of the above, click on MedfieldCoalition.org.