4/12 - Grade 7 ELA MCAS
Blake Site Council Meeting
Grade 6 Band Concert
4/13 - Grade 7 ELA MCAS
Blake Student Council
4/14 - Blake GSA
4/15 - No School
4/18-4/22 - April Vacation
4/25 - DEI Task Force Meeting
4/27 - Grade 8 ELA MCAS
Blake Student Council Mtg
4/28 - Grade 8 ELA MCAS
Blake GSA
5/3 - Grade 6 Math MCAS
5/4 - Grade 6 Math MCAS
5/6 - Grade 7 Math MCAS
5/9 - Grade 7 Math MCAS
5/11 - Grade 8 Math MCAS
5/12 - Grade 8 Math MCAS
5/24 - Grade 8 Science MCAS
5/25 - Grade 8 Science MCAS
Blake’s Question of the Week
To encourage dialogue and reflection about the things we enjoy and how we can incorporate them into our days and lives, our question of the week is: What do you enjoy most about school? Why? Finding Your Enjoyment (Week of 4/10/22) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
Blake Site Council Meeting -SBR Updates/Discussion
Rescheduled Date - TBD
These meetings are open and everyone is welcome to attend.
At this meeting, we will be taking some time to provide an update on the progress and changes that have been made to our formal systems of feedback and reporting at Blake. These adaptations address the recommendations from Dr. Christine Power’s 'Analysis of Standards-Based Reporting Assessment Practices' (Spring, 2021). The structure of feedback that is taking place this term (Term 3) is outlined below...
- All Blake classes will shift from the current 1-3 scale to a 1-4 scale for the priority standards to report a finer-grained level of understanding.
- 7th and 8th grade students will receive a single end-of-term letter grade for 'academic' classes (math, science, SS, ELA, and World Language) based on their work throughout the term. This grade will align to the following format: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, Does Not Meet Standard.**
- Feedback on the Learning Skills will remain the same format
These adaptations have been made in consultation with Dr. Nathaniel Brown, Associate Research Professor of Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment at Boston College's Lynch School of Education. Dr. Brown is a leading expert in assessment and evaluation and he has provided professional development for our staff. Dr. Brown and Dr. Power will be joining our meeting, and we look forward to this opportunity to share the progress taking place and answer questions.
Later this term we will be holding an informational session for families, in an effort to collaboratively support the learning process for our students. Our overarching goal remains to continue steadfast efforts to provide meaningful, actionable, learner-centered feedback for all of our learners via...
- more descriptive and actionable feedback to students and families
- more meaningful and personalized assessment and grading practices
- greater calibration of expectations and assessment practices between/amongst teachers
World Language Form for All Incoming 6th Grade Parents/Guardians - Please complete!
All incoming 6th grade parents/guardians must complete this course selection form…
2022-2023 Blake Middle School World Language Selection Google Form
Music Ensemble Form for All Incoming 6th-8th Grade Parents/Guardians - Please complete!
All incoming 6th-8th grade parents/guardians must complete this course selection form…
2022-2023 Blake Middle School Music Ensemble Selection Google Form
Empty Bowls
You didn't get a chance to participate in our Empty Bowls Workshop? There is still time to sign up and support the Food Cupboard. Come to the Empty Bowls Dinner! Choose a handmade bowl at dinner, fill it with delicious soup donated by local restaurants, and take your bowl home with you!
Empty Bowls Dinner 2022 will be served on 5/12 at 6-8 in the HS Cafe. INFO
Zullo Gallery Art Exhibition
6th Graders - Mason Cotter, Annie Flippo, Allan Han and Anne Zhang
7th Graders - Cecilia Puthiaparambil, Owen Marsette and Thomas Rosa
8th Graders - Emma Birdsong, Isabella LaFrancesca, Lily Lewis, Rose McEntee, Brooke Russell and Lottie Swirbalus
The Zullo Gallery is also open every Saturday and Sunday from 12 noon until 5 PM. Over the course of the exhibit, the Zullo Gallery is typically visited by hundreds of viewers, enjoying the display of our wonderful student artwork.
Follow Up from Incoming 6th-8th Grade Info Sessions
For your reference, I have copied links to the presentations and handouts from our incoming information sessions for the 2022-2023 school year…
Incoming 6th Grade Zoom Presentation for Families - 3/9/22
Password: 3EP?0wp%
** The formal presentation starts at '40 minutes' into the recording, as the first 40 minutes is while we were setting up and attendees were arriving.
Incoming 6th Grade Info Night Presentation Slides for Families - 3/9/22
Incoming 7th/8th Info Night Presentation for Families - March 2022
Blake Parent/Guardian Resources 22-23
Blake Program of Studies 2022-2023
Here are direct links to the Music Ensemble Video/'talk' and 'Day in the Life of a 6th Grader' video...
Music Ensembles at Blake Overview
(4:08)
A Day in the Life of a 6th Grader Video
(5:55)
Here are direct links to the videos/'talks' shared within the slides...
Dr. Tony Wagner - 7 Survival Skills
(6:42)
'Inside Out' Pixar Clip
(3:25)
A conversation with Bryan Stevenson: What role does education play in making change possible?
(2:36)
Jesse Jackson - I am Somebody
(1:25)
Creative Person - Fred Rogers
(0:39)
MCAS 2022
We are approaching that time of year again, when our statewide assessment for grades 6-8, MCAS will occur. For planning purposes, we are sharing the dates below for these assessments. It is important that students are present during the MCAS testing window.
4/13 - Grade 7 ELA MCAS
4/27 - Grade 8 ELA MCAS
4/28 - Grade 8 ELA MCAS
5/3 - Grade 6 Math MCAS
5/4 - Grade 6 Math MCAS
5/6 - Grade 7 Math MCAS
5/9 - Grade 7 Math MCAS
5/11 - Grade 8 Math MCAS
5/12 - Grade 8 Math MCAS
5/24 - Grade 8 Science MCAS
5/25 - Grade 8 Science MCAS
Putting for Patients
On Saturday, April 30th from 12:00-3:00pm, Medfield High School’s Student Council is partnering with the Jimmy Fund to put on our 7th Putting for Patients event! Bring your family and friends to the MHS gym to take part in the 18 hole mini-golf course, hole-in-one contest, opportunity drawing, caricaturist, and photo booth! The link below contains all the information for the event, as well as the link to register online. If you can’t make the event but would still like to contribute, the same link doubles as our donation page. All contributions go directly to the Jimmy Fund to find a cure for cancer! We’ve raised over $29,000 through our years with the Jimmy Fund. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions.
Here is the link to more information: https://sites.google.com/view/mhsstudentcouncil/home
Math Placement Process
Our seventh grade math teachers at Blake will soon start the process of course placement for the 2021-2022 school year. The goal of the process is to see that every student is placed in a class that allows them to learn math well while feeling good about their efforts. For current 7th grade students, decisions on student placement are made by considering current class performance, placement test scores, and teacher recommendations. For current 8th grade students, placement is determined by success in their current class level and teacher recommendation. We are very mindful during this time to consider the whole child while making these decisions. Additionally, it is important to us that parents/guardians feel they have a voice in this process. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your child's teacher. If your questions involve long-term planning for math, do not hesitate to email Jess Safer, Math Department Chair at [email protected]. Thank you!
If a student will be absent from school, please call Blake's absence line at (508) 242-8501. If a student needs to be dismissed from school before 2:07 p.m.,an email must be sent by the parent/guardian to [email protected]. Please include the following information:
- Date
- Time of dismissal
- Student name
- Reason for dismissal
- Person picking up
Substitute Applications
Blake is always looking for substitute teacher applicants. Applicants need not have teaching licensure but should be energetic, flexible and enjoy working with children. For more information or to apply, please visit Medfield Public Schools - Employment Opportunities and look under ‘Substitute Teaching’. Please contact Nat Vaughn at [email protected] with any questions.
Blake Affinity Groups
The purpose of an affinity group is to provide a forum of support for students who may feel a disconnection relative to identity to their larger school community. Such disconnections to identity may include, but not be limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, ability, and sexual orientation. An affinity group’s goal is to play a vital role in ensuring an inclusive environment where all are valued, included, and empowered to succeed.
An affinity group is open to students across every grade level. It is arranged for students in an affinity group to meet at least once a month during a mutually agreed upon time and the meetings are supervised by at least one staff member at Blake.
As the need for an affinity group may stem from a lack of or weaker connection to the larger Medfield community, efforts will be made to strengthen connections to the community. To this end, members of the community are welcome and at times will be invited to attend affinity group meetings.
For more information about starting or joining an affinity group at Blake, please contact Matt Marenghi, Guidance Counselor: [email protected] or 508-359-2445.
Medfield Outreach is available for consultation appointments. E-mail [email protected] to sign up for a free confidential specific time slot via telehealth.
Webinars of Interest
What School Could Be Game Changer Series: A Conversation with Mike Flanagan, D'Andre Weaver & Kedra Ishop
Thursday, 4/14 at 1:00 p.m.
The circumstances of the past two years have exposed significant challenges associated with our industrial-era education systems. Parents, educators and policymakers now recognize that "seat time," the basic construct undergirding conventional schooling, has outlived its usefulness. Instructional approaches such as mastery learning, which enable learners to develop skills and competencies at different rates, have shown enormous potential to generate more equitable learning outcomes and equip students for 21st century jobs. In this conversation, MTC's CEO Mike Flanagan and two MTC board members — USC's Kedra Ishop along with D'Andre Weaver of Digital Promise — will describe how mastery learning is a powerful strategy driving K–12 school transformation and how MTC's Mastery Transcript is helping to break new ground in college admissions practices.
About Our Guests
Mike Flanagan is the CEO of the Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC), a growing group of high schools creating a digital high school transcript that opens up opportunity for each and every student — from all backgrounds, locations, and types of schools — to have their unique strengths, abilities, interests, and histories fostered, understood, and celebrated.
Mike oversaw the design and development of Mastery Transcript software products, connecting with members and advisors to manage the MTC product roadmap till May, 2021. He is an experienced education technology executive, most recently having served as CEO of the Services Division at the National Association of Independent Schools, where he led a complete redesign and relaunch of their School and Student Services financial aid platforms.
D’Andre J. Weaver. Ph.D. is a native of Chicago’s South Side who understands the life-changing power of effective teachers and a quality public education. As a former public school teacher, principal, senior leader, and superintendent, D’Andre cares deeply about helping students realize their dreams. His leadership is centered around equity and access, learner-centered approaches, advancing digital equity, and organizational health. Under D’Andre’s leadership as superintendent, DeSoto ISD – a Dallas, TX-area school system –experienced a 12-point gain in the District’s state accountability rating and saw increases in student learning, student connectedness, district finances, talent management, and stakeholder engagement. He also spearheaded an ambitious community driven and learner-centered strategic plan which prioritized a whole-child/whole-family approach to education as well as an emphasis on personalization, competency-based education, and passion-driven learning. Last fall D’Andre became the inaugural Chief Digital Equity Officer of Digital Promise, who ultimately furthers the goal of improving digital equity.
Dr. Kedra Ishop is Vice President for Enrollment Management and also serves as an Adjunct AssociateProfessor in the Rossier School of Education. In her administrative capacity, she oversees the admissions, financial aid, and registrars' offices, including orientation and a multi-office collaborative effort regarding the Veterans Resource Center.
She came to USC from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, where she served as the school’s first Vice Provost for Enrollment Management from 2014-2020. During her tenure there, she advanced a student-centered vision while overseeing undergraduate admissions, financial aid, new student programs, and the registrar. To support this work, she expanded the Enrollment Management support structures to include Marketing and Communications, Enrollment Research, Data and Analytics, Strategic Initiatives, and Operational Effectiveness. Prior to Michigan, she served for 17 years in admissions at the University of Texas at Austin, concluding her service there as Vice Provost and Director of Admissions.
Dr. Ishop is a nationally recognized expert, speaker, and advisor on issues in higher education focused on issues of access and opportunity for low-income and students of traditionally under-represented backgrounds, recruitment and enrollment practices, standardized testing, legal and policy issues in admissions and enrollment, and curriculum development. She has also contributed to the Center forEnrollment Research, Policy and Practice, the Coalition for College Access, the National CollegiateAthletic Association, American Council on Education, Graduate School Council, Council of Graduate Schools, among others.
Dr. Ishop holds three degrees from UT-Austin: a B.A. in sociology, a master of education in higher education administration, and a PhD in educational administration.
Hosted by Ted Dintersmith (author, film producer, innovation expert, 2018 recipient of NEA’s Friend of Education Award) and guest co-host Tony Wagner (Senior Research Fellow, Learning Policy Institute, author of Learning By Heart and many other great books)!
This event is part of the Game Changer Series, a collection of conversations between Ted and some of the leading education change makers. Make sure to check out all the events in the series. Just look for the What School Could Be: Game Changer Series in the app.
Between a Rock and a Calm Place: Practical Strategies to Reduce Anxiety and Challenging Behavior in Students
Thursday, 4/14 3-5:30 p.m.
Join a LIVE ONLY extended workshop with our Summit keynote Jessica Minahan, education expert and Co-Author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students.
With up to one in three children struggling with anxiety in this country, overwhelmed adults are in need of a new approach as well as an effective and easy-to-implement toolkit of strategies. Understanding the role anxiety plays in a student’s behavior is crucial and using preventive strategies are key to successful intervention. In addition to preventive strategies, it is crucial to teach coping skills, self-monitoring, and alternative responses.
Through the use of case studies, humorous stories, and examples of common challenging situations, participants will learn easy-to-implement preventive strategies for reducing anxiety, increasing self-regulation, accurate thinking, and self-monitoring in students.
Join us for an extended workshop led by Jessica Minahan, Co-Author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students, focusing on proven practices to help teachers, counselors, leaders, and parents identify the messages underlying challenging student behaviors and respond in supportive ways. This event will be a review of her keynote Summit session, but with time to go even deeper into the content.
Jessica Minahan, MEd, BCBA, is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst, special educator, as well as a consultant to schools internationally. Jessica has over 17 years of experience supporting students who exhibit challenging behavior in public school systems. She is the co-author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students and author of The Behavior Code Companion: Strategies, Tools, and Interventions for Supporting Students with Anxiety-Related or Oppositional Behaviors.
Drug Use Is On The Rise: How To Identify The Signs In Your Child Or Loved One
Wednesday, 5/4 at 7 p.m.
This event will highlight the types of drugs that are circulating in our communities, ways to recognize the signs of drug use in your child or loved one and how to talk with your kids about drug use before it starts.
Hosted by the NWH Substance Use Services Council
The Addiction Inoculation with Jessica Lahey
Wednesday, 5/11 at 7 p.m.
Author/educator Jessica Lahey offers comprehensive information for parents/educators on how to prevent substance use disorder in children.
About this event
All children, regardless of their genetics, are at some risk for substance use disorder. New York Times bestselling author and educator Jessica Lahey helps parents, caregivers, and educators understand the roots of substance use disorder and identify who is most at risk for addiction, while offering practical steps for prevention.
"The Addiction Inoculation" provides evidence-based strategies and practical tools adults need to understand, support, and educate resilient, addiction-resistant children. The guidelines are age-appropriate and actionable—from navigating a child’s risk for addiction, to interpreting signs of early misuse, to advice for broaching difficult conversations with children.
This program is a collaboration between the Dover-Sherborn Challenge Success Program and Natick 180, with support from SPARK Kindness.
Jessica Lahey is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed and The Addiction Inoculation: Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence. Over twenty years, Jess has taught every grade from sixth to twelfth in both public and private schools, and spent five years teaching in a drug and alcohol rehab for adolescents in Vermont, and serves as a prevention and recovery coach at Sana at Stowe, a medical detox and recovery center in Stowe, Vermont. She writes about education, parenting, and child welfare for The Washington Post, The Atlantic, is a book critic for Air Mail, and her biweekly column “The Parent Teacher Conference” ran for three years at the New York Times. She designed and wrote the educational curriculum for Amazon Kids’ award-winning animated series The Stinky and Dirty Show, and was a 2019 Pushcart Prize nominee for her Creative Nonfiction magazine essay, “I’ve Taught Monsters.” Jess holds the dubious honor of having written an article that was later adapted as a writing prompt for the 2018 SAT. She co-hosts the #AmWriting podcast with bestselling authors KJ Dell’Antonia and Sarina Bowen, and lives in Vermont with her husband, two sons, and a lot of dogs.
Spirit Store Info - Blake PTO
Medfield K-8 PTO Announces A Year-Round MEDFIELD SPIRIT WEAR STORE! Thanks to local business Day St Sports, we have answered the question – where can I find Medfield Spirit Wear? Over 100 options currently listed, all proceeds will be donated to the individual school K-8 PTOs. Shipping takes about 3 weeks. Medfield Spirit Wear
Link (Hyperlink to https://ts020252.prospherefanshop.com/)