Upcoming Events
January 16
MLK Jr. Day
(No School)
January 18
PAC Meeting
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Conservatory Lab
25 Arlington Street
Brighton, MA 02315
617.254.8904
www.conservatorylab.org
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| Family Notes
January 13, 2012
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Dear Families,
Each new year is a new adventure. There are surprises, discoveries, and revelations, as well as new ideas to try and new situations to respond to. We enter the unknown guided by our past experience and the experiences of our friends and mentors.
As I watch each class's expeditions unfold this year for a new group of students, I am struck by the ways they both follow in the tradition of what has gone before and blaze new paths, guided by their own interests and experience. Our students support one another across grades in their learning, and they are influenced by the successes and failures of those that have gone before. They attend presentations of grades above and below, reinforcing what they learned last year and forecasting the projects they will do next year.
In orchestra, the same mentorships happen both formally and organically. The K2 class studies the instruments they will soon learn by watching rehearsals of older students, absorbing the culture of the orchestra that they will soon pass on to the next generation of kindergartners. Within multi-grade ensembles, older students instruct younger students, passing on musical knowledge as well as a standard of professionalism and rehearsal etiquette that becomes more established with each new group.
Cross-grade mentorship is a great strength of Conservatory Lab. It both preserves tradition and fuels innovation. With each new year students come into their musical experiences and learning expeditions with a broader and deeper background knowledge, preparing them to go further than each class that preceded them.
Warmly,
Diana Lam
Head of School
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This Land is Our Land
The first grade class wowed friends, family and staff with their poise at the celebration of their This Land is Your Land Expedition on Wednesday afternoon. The students began the event by describing the process of the Expedition. They directed the audience to their research posters, the word wall and the pictures of the American symbols they studied.
The Expedition culminated in the production of beautiful and informative bookmarks with drawings of and facts about several important American symbols. These bookmarks, along with their binders of research were prominently on display in the classroom for visitors.
After half the students described the learning process, Ms. Bollacker led the students in a rousing rendition of This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie. The students sang and signed their way through several verses. After the song, students shared their reflections on what they had learned and how they had learned it. Thiago described how he applied the Expeditionary Learning Design Principle of "Success and Failure". He wasnąt satisfied with his first attempt at drawing the dome on the Capitol Building so he made multiple drafts until he was satisfied with his work.
Once the presentations were over, there was a "juice and cookies" reception where families could look at their child's work and socialize with other families. A great time was had by all!
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Are You My Instrument?
 On Thursday afternoon, the K2 class presented the play, "Are You My Instrument," to an audience of students, teachers, and families. The performance marked a pivotal step in their journey to becoming an orchestra this year, as they concluded the research stage of their study and moved into the "paper orchestra" phase. For several weeks, the class has been studying the instruments of the orchestra by watching rehearsals, interviewing older students about their instruments, listening to recordings, and making sketches of each instrument. This week, they took the stage to perform a play about a young violist looking for her place in the orchestra. Each student assumed the personae of the instrument they had most closely researched, and first grader Emma Sophia made a guest appearance as the "lost violist." Next, the students will begin construction of their paper orchestra and prepare for rehearsals with their paper instruments, the penultimate step to becoming a real orchestra! Watch the performance on YouTube . |
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Conservatory Lab Gathers for First Assembly of 2012
Last Friday, students, teachers, and families celebrated the first school assembly of the new year in the gymnasium. The event featured an original composition and dance performance by members of the first grade class, a serenade by four resident artists, and group singing led by the K2 class, the fifth and sixth grade, and El Sistema program director Rebecca Levi. Students demonstrated cooperation and joy as they listened to performances and participated in the school-wide singing.
 The quartet of resident artists featured Adam Eccleston on flute, Joshua Garver on violin, Levi Comstock on viola, and Josue Gonzalez on cello. Together they performed movements by Wolfgang Mozart and Andre Eler. Students were delighted by the false endings which Mozart put into his music as a joke for the audience, and they cheered vigorously for the upbeat French style of Andre Eler. Live listening experiences are an opportunity for resident artists to share with students the music they love to perform. Mr. Eccleston introduced each piece, offering students a few ideas about what to listen for.
The Kindergarten taught the audience one of their favorite songs, "Yonder Come Day," a spiritual in three-part harmony. The assembled students picked it up quickly, and its catching strains were later heard in hallways and at recess.
The next assembly will be moved to Friday, February 10th. Please join us!
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The Math Corner (Part Two)
Families often ask about basic math skills, "why aren't students learning to add, subtract, multiply, and divide like we did?" This week's Math Corner looks at how math teachers have changed the way they think about basic computation and "number sense."
Part II:
Computation and Number Sense
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