The Faculty Fun Committee organized an afternoon of bowling at Sunray Lanes, not far from our house. Maggie opted out, but the rest of us had a great time. (And Griffin beat Andrew!)
Faculty Family Bowling
Tag Archives: school
Not All Men
Piece by a former student—now a junior—hanging in the art gallery at school. It gives me chills.
(The weird angle of my photo was to reduce glass reflections; sorry for the distraction.)
Fluffy
This is another song that Oliver wrote at school last month. Here’s the transcript followed by the original.
Fluffy monkey puppy pants.
Ya ya ya.
If you don’t like it, you will be a saw.
Ha ha ha.
Fluffy monkey puppy pants.
Ya ya ya.
If you don’t like it, you will be a saw.
Ha ha ha.
Trees
This is a song that Oliver wrote in school in the last month. He says that it is not in his best handwriting. Here’s a transcription with the original below.
There’s trees there. There’s trees here. There’s trees everywhere. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I love trees. Trees are the best. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
There’s trees there. There’s trees here. There’s trees everywhere. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I love trees. Trees are the best. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Classroom Life
This evening, hours after I got home from school, I received this email from a student about a project that’s due tomorrow morning:
Hi mr Roy I was wondering if you could put this picture on the smart board to make sure you can read the lettering. if you cant read it then I will change the picture. thanks bye
I guess it’s true that students believe that their teachers live in the classroom 24-7!
(Yes, it is also riddled with mechanical errors, but that’s pretty common with emails from middle-schoolers. He probably felt like he was being super-formal by putting in periods and saying hi.)
Halloween at School
Our cafeteria crew went over the top today with a horror-themed lunch.
And, of course the eighth-grade team had a group costume for the assembly.
First Day of SPA, 2023
Well, it was Griffin’s first day, even if I had already been at school for a week of meetings and classroom prep. It’s hard to believe that Griffin is done with middle school!
Oliver Flies Up!
Today was Oliver’s “Fly-up” ceremony where he transitions from Children’s House into the elementary school. In Montessori terms, he’s not only moving into a new classroom next year (as a first grader), but he is moving into another developmental stage (or “plane of development”). Here’s how his teacher described it in a recent email:
Fly-up is a celebration to mark the passing from one plane of development to the next. You probably already see signs of your second plane child: abstract thinking, reasoning mind, strong sense of what is just and fair, strong inclination to be with and work alongside peers. The fly-up ceremony is a visual representation of this internal growth.
At the celebration, each child will run down the hallway from the Children’s House wing, out the door and into the elementary courtyard where they are greeted by the elementary children, teachers and parents.
In honor of the occasion, Oliver decided to wear a festive fancy shirt and a top hat from our costume closet. He looks pretty dashing! (Maggie dressed up for the occasion, too.)
Mind Powers
Oliver’s wonderful Kindergarten teacher, Molly, sent us this picture and quote. The “bead bars” represent numbers (by the number of color-coded beads on each bar) and can be used to explore a lot of mathematical operations (including addition and multiplication). It’s amazing to see how these manipulatives give kids real confidence around number manipulation. Oliver regularly stops me from solving math problems so that he can do them himself.
Lion Dance
One of my favorite middle school events in the years before COVID was the Chinese New Years Assembly. Put together by my amazing friend and colleague, Neil Bray, it features music and skits by students and culminates in a lion dance by a local family troupe (the Ha family). This year, we were happy to have the Ha family back at school for an in-person event. I caught a bit of the dance on video: