Upcoming Events
October 8
Columbus Day, No School
October 12
Picture Day &
Open House 5:30 PM
October 26
All School Assembly 9 AM
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Conservatory Lab
25 Arlington Street
Brighton, MA 02315
617.254.8904
www.conservatorylab.org
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| Family Notes
September 28, 2012
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Dear Families,
Children learn responsibility when they are entrusted with it. There are no training wheels. In order to become leaders, they must be given an opportunity to lead. Allowed to face the challenges and triumphs of leadership, they will discover strength in themselves that we cannot give them.
As with all that we teach, we scaffold these opportunities. In each grade, students take on more autonomy than the year before. Bit by bit, their learning becomes more self-guided and they are asked to solve problems using their own resources. As the supports gradually fall away, young leaders learn that they can do more for themselves than they realized.
This year we are introducing a new leadership opportunity to students in grades 3-6. Representatives will be elected by their peers to serve on a student council. Interested candidates have prepared position papers, outlining visions of hope for their community, which range from recess reform to new structures for peer-to-peer mentoring. We look forward to engaging with their ideas. Those elected will face the challenges of balancing competing needs and desires within their constituency. Those among the electorate will learn to make their voices heard through their representatives. Together, they will feel the pride of making changes that improve conditions for their peers. Most of all, they will gain faith in themselves as leaders, decision makers, and participants in Democracy. Warmly,  Diana Lam
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Student Council Elections
It's election time across the country. At our school, we are beginning the process of creating a Student Council. All this week and next, students in grades 3 through 6 are writing and reading position papers as they prepare to choose one boy and one girl from each class to represent their grade on the newly created Student Council. Position papers are typed and then read aloud or posted by the classroom teachers.
 Many students are showing great courage by throwing their hat into the ring and writing about their ideas and their qualifications to be a great student council representative. 4th grade nominee, Junior Fuentes, writes "I would make a school play and put short plays into assembly." Another 4th grade nominee, Kayleen Guzman, writes "I will be very responsible with all challenges and tasks to be a good student council representative. I will always listen to other people's ideas because they can help our community."
Students are voting based on which positions they feel will best represent their class in meetings over the year. These eight representatives will meet for lunch once a month with Ms. Sevelius to share their classmates' questions, compliments and concerns with the administration.
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Sistema Fellows Visit
Our school is the most complete El Sistema program in the country. Ms. Levi, the Program Director, is from the first graduating class of Abreu Fellows studying at NEC. Every year we have been a popular site for visits and internships for each class of Fellows.
The current cohort, now named Sistema Fellows, come from countries all over the world, including Germany, Cape Verde, and Ecuador. On Tuesday, all 10 Fellows spent the day visiting classrooms, learning about the history of our program and sitting in on rehearsals and lessons. They all were very impressed with the school and felt the visit was a valuable experience. Many expressed interest in returning as part of their studies this year and several have already come back to observe and assist.
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Choir Residency
The fifty-eight musicians of the Bernstein Orchestra gathered for the first time on Monday to rehearse as a combined choral ensemble, under the direction of guest teacher Joanne Hammil. Their voices danced together in two and three-part harmonies as they sang vocal jazz, a freedom song from South Africa, and an original song by Hammil with words in nine different languages!
 A renowned educator, performer, and song-writer, Ms. Hammil has toured throughout the United States giving concerts, workshops, and classes in community singing and songwriting. She has released two celebrated children's recordings, "Pizza Boogie" and "The World's Gonna Listen," as well as three adult recordings of rounds and partner songs. She also directs children's choruses and intergenerational choirs in Boston. Over the next six weeks, Ms. Hammil will rehearse with the Bernstein and Abreu ensembles twice a week, preparing a variety of repertoire. This year, students receive vocal instruction during their musicianship classes, which are smaller in size than our choral ensembles have been, have a greater focus on music literacy, and are not performing ensembles. Through this residency, Ms. Hammil will help us to assess the potential for a more robust choral program at Conservatory Lab. |
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Important Dates and Updates
The date of Open House has been changed to 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 12th. Join us in two weeks to hear from your child(ren)'s teachers, tour their classrooms and learn more about what goes on at school every day. Please make arrangements for your children to not stay at school for this event. We appreciate your cooperation to make this adults-only meeting a productive learning time for all attendees.
Meet with Head of School, Diana Lam. If you haven't already participated in one of these conversations this year, please choose one of the following dates and contact Emily Coalson, emilycoalson@gmail.com to RSVP. Ms. Lam wants to meet with as many families as possible in small groups.
October 2nd - 6 p.m. October 3rd - 6 p.m. October 4th - 6 p.m. October 10th - 6 p.m. October 16th - 6 p.m.
October 23rd - 5:30 p.m. October 24th - 5:30 p.m.
October 29th - 5:30 p.m. Nov. 2nd - 8:30 a.m. Nov. 5th - 6 p.m.
Special Meeting to discuss Movement, Recess & Physical Education October 9th, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Please RSVP to Beth Greene, beth.greene@comcast.net, and let her know if you will need childcare. The Board of Trustees meet at the school on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted: October 25th November 15th December 20th - Meeting at Longy School of Music January 24th March 14th April 11th May 16th June 20th Other notes: - School lunch menus are now available on the website.
- Please label all fleece jackets. Lost jackets will be held in Ms. Sevelius' office for two weeks.
- We now recycle! We have special recycling bins in every classroom and office.
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