Gates Foundation Grant Announcement  

On Wednesday, student musicians from Conservatory Lab, Edison K-8, and the Saint Columbkille Partnership School performed in a combined concert celebrating a $3.8 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to The Boston Compact, an organizational body which supports collaboration among public, charter, and Catholic schools. The performance served as a press conference, with addresses from the principals of each school, Diana Lam, Mary Driscoll (Edison K-8) and Bill Gartside (Saint Columbkille's), Boston Compact Co-chair Kevin Andrews, the Chair of the Boston Public School Committee, Rev. Groover, and the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, Mary Grassa-O'Neill. 

A portion of the $3.8 million dollars will support collaborations among Conservatory Lab, Edison K-8, and St. Columbkille, to share best practices and professional development opportunities for teachers of English Language Learners and to support exchanges among classroom teachers using data-driven instruction tools such as The Achievement Network. The three schools are also committed to future musical collaborations.

Guests at Wednesday's event heard from Conservatory Lab's Dudamel Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, and Bernstein Wind Ensemble, as well as the band from Edison K-8. A combined choir from all three schools performed Joe South's Walk a Mile and Joanne Hammil's Dreams of Harmony. 

School Advisory Circle 

Dear families,

I wish  to thank the entire parent community for the  enthusiastic response received to the announcement of the establishment of the Conservatory Lab School Advisory Circle and to the call for parent volunteers to serve on the committee.

The School Advisory Circle will be  comprised of a small group of parents, the school Principal, and other staff members (this year we will include the Director of Operations and a teacher) who work together to discuss and explore procedures and initiatives that support our school.  Initially, we believed that the work group would involve 3 parents total, but, due to such a warm response, have decided to broaden the circle to include 5 parents.  The names of the persons selected were drawn out of a hat by an objective volunteer. The members of our school PAC have additionally elected one of the parent volunteers.

We are pleased to announce our School Advisory Circle Volunteers:

• Mr. Doug Bellows
• Mr. Felipe Coehlo
• Ms. Melina O'Grady
• Ms. Hansella Robson
• Ms. Ramika Smith, PAC-elected

Volunteer members of the School Advisory Circle can expect to:

• Meet 3-4 times per year,
• Collaboratively review policy,
• Share joys and concerns from the community,
• Work to strengthen programming and systems,
• Report to PAC the minutes of the School Advisory Circle meetings,
• Support the initiatives outlined in the School's Work Plan.

Brass Ensemble Performs for 2,000 Educators 

The Dudamel Brass Ensemble woke up mighty early on Tuesday, December 4^th.  The five members of the group had to report to the Hynes Convention Center at 6:15 AM for a sound check. At 7:20 the quintet: Nate Wertheimer on trombone, Arianna Rodriguez, Anthony Vega, Kam'Rahn Carter and Brandon Volel on trumpet, along with their teacher Chris Schroeder, performed for the opening of the National Conference of Learning Forward, an international non-profit dedicated to advancing education through the professional development of teachers.  The huge exhibition hall was filled with educators and presenters from around the world and, even though they had just sat down to breakfast, all conversation stopped when our musicians sounded their first note.  The ensemble played a Bach Chorals, an Oh, When the Saints sing-along, and ended with everyone on their feet for the Star Spangled Banner.  The applause was thunderous!

Several conference attendees came up and thanked the students after the performance and told them how impressed they were with their sound and their poise. Jill Mirman, an Expeditionary Learning School Designer who has worked with Conservatory Lab teachers for years, just happened to be in the audience (she was presenting at the conference later that day) and called Principal Annie Sevelius to tell her how proud she was.  According to Nate, the best part was "seeing each other close up on the two jumbotron screens on either side of the stage."  Kam'Rahn said he was proud to be part of a group "that could practice well enough to perform for over 2,000 people and not be nervous!"  We are proud of them all!

Whole School to Go to the Ballet 

On Friday, December 21^st all students and staff will board school buses headed for the Strand Theatre in Dorchester and one of Boston's cultural highlights of the holiday season!  We will be attending a special matinee of the Nutcracker choreographed by José Mateo, and inspired by Tchaikovsky's glorious score. Mateo's Nutcracker brings Clara's dream world to life with festive sets, sumptuous costumes, and spectacular dancing. Over 200 children, ages 6-18 join Ballet Theatre's acclaimed company dancers as Party Children, Mice, Soldiers, Polichinelles, Cherubs, Angels and the lead child role of Clara.

After last year's successful whole school trip to the American Repertory Theater's Snow Queen, we hope to make it an annual school cultural tradition to bring our students to a professional production in the week before our Winter Break.  There are often special tickets available and this year the Nutcracker tickets are $10 each.  The PAC has generously offered to pay for the school buses so we will be sending a note home next week asking families to send in $10 for each child's ticket. Students will return to school at 1 PM for lunch and families are welcome to pick their students up anytime after 1:45.  Buses, however, will be running as usual.

Healthy Treats in the Classroom 

As we move into the middle of our school year and the holiday season, we would like to remind families that we are striving for a healthy food environment in every classroom.  We love classroom celebrations but want the emphasis to be on togetherness and acknowledgement of special days rather than on sweets.  If you send food in for your child's classmates to share for a celebration of any kind, birthdays, academic achievement, or the holidays, it must be healthy for all.  Please do not send in cookies, cupcakes or candy.  One way to recognize your birthday boy or girl (or thank their teacher) is to bring in enough of their favorite fruit to share at snacktime.  

If you want to make a special treat, how about the following recipe:

Fruit Pizza

(makes 24 servings)

48 graham cracker squares               

 2 cups peeled and sliced peaches

16 oz whipped cream                        2 cups sliced bananas

2 cups sliced strawberries                  2 cups blueberries

1 cup strawberry jam

Resident Artist Brad Barrett in Concert 

Brad, along with fellow graduate student

Clayton Dewalt will be performing a recital on Sunday at 12 noon as part of his doctoral program in music at New England Conservatory's Pierce Hall, 241 St. Botolph Street Boston, 02215.  He will be performing some pieces by John Fahey, The Mississippi Sheiks, Steve Lacy, and Thelonious Monk as well as several pieces he composed. They will be joined by fellow musicians Robin Baytas and Ted Reichman.  

This event is free and open to the public.