Week of 9/24/13-9/30/13

Important Dates
September 24, 27 - Charles River/Russian Icon Museum Field Trip for Stars Cluster
September 26 - Social Media Trends #medfieldkidsonline Part 1 (see details below)
October 1 - Social Media Trends #medfieldkidsonline Part 2 (see details below)
October 1, 3 - Charles River/Russian Icon Museum Field Trip for Eagles Cluster
October 7 - Site Council Mtg (3:15 p.m. in Blake LMC)
October 8-11 - 7th Grade to Nature's Classroom
October 8-9 - Charles River/Russian Icon Museum Field Trip for Stripes Cluster
October 10, 11, 15 - Charles River/Russian Icon Museum Field Trip Rain Dates
October 14 - Columbus Day (No School)
October 18 - Magazine Drive Kick-Off Assembly (Info coming soon)
October 25 - 7th/8th Grade Dance (7-9 p.m.)
October 29 - Picture Retake Day
October 30 - 8th Grade Field Trip to Salem
October 31 - Happy Halloween!

Topic/Question(s) for the Dinner Table
To help bring the ideas and values of mistakes into conversations this week, our Topic/Question for the Dinner Table this week is:  Which is more rewarding to you, hearing stories of success or hearing stories of the mistakes made along the way to success? Would you rather talk about your success stories without mentioning the mistakes you made to get there?

Professional Day Update
While our students were hopefully enjoying an early start to the weekend, our staff had a productive professional day last Friday.  The majority of the morning was spent outlining our new evaluation system for staff and discussing the goal-setting process for the year.  Departments and teams worked collaboratively to develop and brainstorm goals in their respective fields.  After lunch together departments continued their work on goals, while also working on initiatives that pertain to their roles. 

Recess Donations

As you know, this year we are continuing with recess as part of our Advisory structure.  There has been a great deal of research and evidence that shows students are more productive and intellectually engaged when a physical and or mental 'break' is provided in the middle of the day.  We are looking for donations from families to provide options for students during this time:  frisbees, wiffle balls/bats, kickballs, tennis balls, single and double jump ropes, volleyballs, foam footballs, soccer balls, and hula hoops.  If you have done some 'fall cleaning' and have extra items that could be donated, have students drop them off in the main office.  Thank you in advance for your help.

Student Council
Thank you to all students who voted and ran for Student Council this year!  Your bravery and integrity with the voting process has yielded a promising group of this year's Student Council Representatives!  Congratulations to the following representatives:  Grade 6 - Connor Adams, Jack Mahoney, Katie Barrett, Jane O'Donnell, Kayla Keegan, Sophia Gustafson, Arianna Tristani, Katelyn Pelkey, Drew Baacke, Sam Joline, and Lucas Borrelli; Grade 7 - Perri Cahill, Nolan Hogan, Jane D'Abate, Breanna Morgan, Thomas McGowan, Maggie Scales, Owen Previte, Jackson Newman, Joe Pagliazzo, Kasey Douglas, Alena Ockerbloom, Rachel Stewart, and Henry Mitchell; Grade 8 - Amanda Dumais, Abby Crofts, Emma Anderson, Devan Venkataraman, Alanna Cooney, Matt McGlone, Will Graziano, Allie Clower, John Churchill, Connor Haskell, Griffin Murphy, Jack Lane, Jenevieve Erickson, Mark Bissell, and James Cawley.

Nature's Classroom

Seventh Grade Parents: Please turn in all medications for Nature's Classroom to Tricia Williams by Wednesday, September 25.  If you have any questions about the trip, please contact Judy Silva at jsilva@medfield.mec.edu. 

Cybersafety Series for parents of students in grades 4 - 8:  Social Media Trends #medfieldkidsonline

The Medfield Wellness and Technology Departments present a 2-part parent information series.  Please join us for one or both evenings.

Part 1: Thursday, September 26th at 7 p.m.

Blake Middle School Auditorium

An evening for parents of 4th -8th graders, with Dr. Elizabeth Englander, a professor of psychology and the director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University.  MARC is an organization founded with the purpose of understanding and reducing bullying and cyberbullying.  Dr. Englander will answer your questions about supervising and guiding your children through their use of social media, as well as other concerns related to cyberbullying. Submit your questions in advance, anonymously through this link, http://socialmediatrends/medfield2013  also available on the Blake Middle School and Dale St. School websites. 

Part 2: Tuesday, October 1st at 7p.m.

Blake Middle School Auditorium

Have you been on Snapchat? Twitter? AskFM? Instagram? Did you know that kids can text without a phone? Find out more! 

An evening for parents of 4th -8th graders, with Medfield's Director of Technology, Eoin O'Corcora and Technology Integration Specialist, Diane Horvath. Learn more about these popular social media trends, how to find and use them, and how to monitor your child's usage. 

Curriculum Highlights - Mathematics and Wellness

In our continued efforts to keep families informed and updated about the curriculum at Blake, each week we will be 'highlighting' curriculum updates from two different departments.  This week's updates come from the Mathematics (Susan Bycoff, Content Specialist) and Wellness (Susan Cowell, Content Specialist) departments...

Health Education

Grade 6 began the year with a unit on self-esteem. They are learning how to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses; to understand the relationships between their physical appearance, their changing adolescent body and their self-esteem; and the role that one's family plays in the development of self-esteem.

Our Grade 7 unit is titled, "In Quest of Self." Students will explore how they fit in at Blake, and in the world around them. They will also explore how they may change mentally, physically and emotionally this year, as well as the roles their family, friends and society play in their life.

Students in Grade 8 are exploring the psychology of learning. They will discover their personal learning style, and determine whether they are right, left, or uni-brained thinkers. They will learn what multiple intelligences are, and will inquire about their own possible multiple intelligences, while acquiring study skills and hints to help them maximize their learning potential.

Mathematics

The 2013-2014 school year has begun.  Students at Blake Middle School are hard at work flexing their math muscles!  If you are looking for a little extra help balancing your checkbook, you may wish to ask a sixth grader.  Students are working on a project called “Checks and Balances.”  Items will be purchased and checks will be written all in the name of learning real math.   If a seventh grade Blake student is getting paid $5 per hour to walk a neighbor's dog, does their paycheck and the number of hours they walk the dog have a proportional relationship?  Just ask them.  They are studying patterns in algebra and will soon be able to answer this question.  Our eighth grade students have entered the world of formal Algebra.  They will tap into their abstraction skills and begin studying relations and functions.  Although the study of Algebra dates back more than 4000 years, classes are busy utilizing iPads…a perfect mixture of the old with the new!

WAR-P.A.T.H.- Warriors Proactively Advocating Teen Health

WAR-P.A.T.H. was initiated by the class of 2014 after attending a YOU LEAD conference put on by the MIAA.  The students felt there was a need for a SADD club at MHS, but they wanted a group that stood for more than drugs and alcohol.  The club’s mission statement is: to proactively advocate for teen health, this promotes success through healthy life choices.  WAR- P.A.T.H. is in its’ infant stages, but plans to make a big impact this year.   After the Blue and White campaign of 2013, high school faculty members wrote stories of how positive or negative decision making made an impact on them in either their high school or college years.  These stories were well received by the student body right before the May prom.  WAR-P.A.T.H.  hopes to sponsor an event a month to give students the opportunity to make safe decisions.  The group is open to working with any organization that desires to promote the same message or would like our assistance.  Please contact Erik Ormberg or Melinda Lohan, the club advisors, until officers are elected for the club.

Substitute Nurses

As with our teaching positions, from time to time our nurse, Tricia Williams, will be out of the building and we need a substitute nurse for these days.  We are fortunate that we have several substitute nurses in the district who are able to work on those days.  If you are a registered nurse and have an interest in potentially serving as a substitute throughout the year, please let us know.  You can contact me (nvaughn@medfield.mec.edu) or Tricia Williams (twilliams@medfield.mec.edu).  By the same token, if you have friends in the area who would have an interest in serving as a substitute, please let them know that they can contact us as well.  The safety and well-being of our students is always our top priority, and we would appreciate your interest in one of these roles.

Arts in Education Month
The month of September is 'Arts in Education' month (Arts in Education).  With Blake's theme of Creativity for 2013-2014, we are looking forward to highlighting the arts throughout this month (and the year).  Please keep this in mind when talking to your students about cultural events, music, and the arts with your children this month.

Blake Intramurals

Fall intramurals at Blake will begin in early October.  Look for signup information on the intramural page of the website this week.  Parents/guardians are welcome to run intramurals as well.  If you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions, please contact Brian Gavaghan (bgavaghan@medfield.mec.edu).

MCPE News
Mark your calendars, gather together a team, and support our fantastic Medfield Schools! The first annual “MCPE Community Trivia Night” is scheduled for Friday, November 15th at 7 pm. Teams from across our community will compete for prizes at The Center at Medfield on Ice House Road. This event will be led by a “trivia jockey” provided by Stump Trivia, a leading trivia event company. Come test your knowledge across an assortment of topics -- from anatomy to history, literature to movies. Teams of up to four adult players (21 and over, please) can register NOW at www.MedfieldCoalition.org. The cost is $100 per team. Proceeds from this event will be used by the MCPE to support public education in Medfield.

CSA News
BLAKE MIDDLE SCHOOL FALL FUNDRAISER  September 12 - 30, 2013
BE COOL. HELP OUR SCHOOL.  Proceeds from this fundraiser enhance the educational experience for all students at Blake!  Check out the Innisbrook catalog online - visit www.innisbrook.com  Blake School Number: 107126
KIDS RULE!  For every 6 items sold, student's name gets entered into a raffle to win a Gift Card! (multiple winners)
DONATE TO SCHOOL!  Don't see anything to purchase but still want to participate ...Make a monetary donation to Blake Middle School CSA - student will still be entered into raffle!
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING BLAKE!

Questions: Contact Kim Lipsy at klipsy@murthalaw.com or 508 423 9765.

Attention 8th grade families! It is time to start planning your SCRIP purchases to save on Washington, D.C. trip tuition. Registering for the new online SCRIP purchasing system is the first step. Please go to the Washington, D.C. tab on the Blake website for easy step-by-step instructions. Registration is simple but there is a little lead time to get set up. The first orders to credit your trip will be placed on September 26th, so set your account up this week to be ready. Your participation helps your student as well as the Blake CSA Scholarship Fund.