Conservatory Lab
Charter School

In This Issue

Experts work with 6th Grade

7/4 Ensemble

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, June 11

3:30 PM

Spring Concert I

Ben Franklin Institute

Wednesday, June 18

3:30 PM

Spring Concert II

Ben Franklin Institute

Conservatory Lab

Grades 3 - 7

25 Arlington Street
Brighton, MA 02315
617.254.8904

Grades K1 - 2

320 Washington Street

Brighton, MA 02315
617.208.6200

www.conservatorylab.org

Family Notes

April 18, 2014

Dear Families,

Although it seems like spring is teasing us, peeking its beautiful head out and then scurrying away behind grey clouds and cold blasts, it is here and with it comes great evidence of rebirth. That tender, delicate new green is everywhere in the trees, grass and flowers and lifts our spirits. The glorious sunshine not only makes the flowers bloom, it gives warmth and gladness to our hearts and bodies, it makes us springtime types of people, full of hope, anticipating good, fun and joy!

This anticipation is a part of hope which is an emotion, a state of mind that gives us courage and augments our abilities to face difficulty. Hope motivates behavior and increases our perseverance to strive towards our goals.

My best wishes to every member of our Conservatory Lab family for a spring break full of hope and renewal of purpose.

Warmly,

Ms. Lam

Diana Lam

Paper Orchestra Performs Beautifully at the Boston Children's Museum

This Tuesday, both K2 classes travelled to the Boston Children's Museum to present their Paper Orchestra concert. This event is an important milestone for the K2 musicians, who have now graduated to their Real Instruments.

The Paper Orchestra has been practicing important skills, including Rest and Playing positions, making beautiful bow-holds, moving their bows together as an orchestra, and learning how to take care of their instruments. Above all, they have been learning that "an Orchestra works together" and by working together makes big, beautiful sound. They sang and "played" some old favorites like The Grand Old Duke of York and some specially written songs like The Bow Hold Highway.The audience of over 100 family, friends and lucky museum-goers were hugely impressed with the program of songs and movements that showcase all the work of this group of young people.

Each instrument section has also been working on their individual skills and unity and camaraderie within their section. Part of being in an orchestra means paying close attention to the movements and sounds of those around you. The violins, the violas, the cellos and the basses are very excited to begin their work on Real Instruments when we return from April Break. They can't wait to wow you all at the Spring Concert on June 11!

Robyn Pretlow

We are happy to welcome Robyn Pretlow as our new Upper School Director. With her background and experience, she will take our upper school to the next level.

Robyn is an experienced and enthusiastic educational leader who is currently an Adjunct Professor at Hunter College teaching Adolescent Development and Educational Psychology. Prior to moving to Boston, Robyn was Director of Academic Programs for New Heights, an educational non-profit in New York. Robyn was a co-founder and school administrator of Capital City PCS Upper School in Washington, D.C. and Expeditionary Learning school and member of the Coalition for Essential Schools Small Schools Project. Robyn began her career in education through the New Teacher Project as a DC Teaching Fellow. She received a Masters Degree in Education from George Washington University, a Law Degree from Georgetown University Law Center and a degree in Comparative Area Studies from Duke University.

Robyn looks forward to her work with our school with great eagerness. She will spend some time getting to know our school this spring. If you see her, say hello.

Venezuelan 7/4 Ensemble - In Residence and in Performance

This past week, Conservatory Lab has been lucky to host the 7/4 Ensemble, a brass band consisting of musicians from the original El Sistema program in Venezuela. A band of seven, they graduated from their El Sistema program and went on to form an innovative musical act of their own, focusing specifically on forms of music from South American cultures-- playing everything from Argentinian Tango to Brazilian Bossa Nova. Since the group's formation, they have refined their unique artistic voice and established themselves as innovators within the music world, actively fusing together new forms, rhythms, melodies, and colors.

The members of the 7/4 Ensemble came to Conservatory Lab as part of their tour to the US. During their visits to our school, they participated in a series of rehearsals and preparations for their second Boston concert at the Strand Theatre Friday night at 7:30pm. They also performed for many of our ensembles and then listened (and gave critiques) as each group played for them.

Friday's performance, which was free and open to the public, also featured Conservatory Lab Resident Artist Chris Schroeder and the trumpet students of the Dudamel Brass. Once again, we are inspired to see our students show the world that they can hang with the pros and add something truly special to a concert.

Grade 2 Goes to Broadmoor Audobon Sanctuary

Over the past few months 2nd grade students have been working hard learning about the habitat, physical features, behaviors, and the life cycle of both captive and wild corn snakes. This week 2nd grade students are traveling to the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick, MA to conduct field research as budding herpetologists. After a long cold winter the snakes have come out of hibernation and students went out researching the three different snake habitats that exist at Broadmoor. In addition, students learned from experts to deepen their knowledge of local snakes and even had a chance to see one.

Students got to pet and hold a hog nose snake, milk snakes, a ball python, and an Australian lizard. In the wild, on our nature walk they saw painted turtles and a water snake warming itself in the sun.

Students recorded notes in their fieldwork journals about the different snake habitats at Broadmoor, and why snakes are important. They generated questions beforehand that they got to ask Joy Merzolf, a herpetologist at the Broadmoor Sanctuary. Joy emphasized multiple times how important it was to do LOTS and LOTS of research before deciding to get a pet- a lot of students wrote in a reflection this was the most important thing they learned.

Fourth Grade Math

This week the 4th graders played math concept games to hone their foundational knowledge of fractions and decimals. Beloved games such as Bingo, Slap Jack, Memory and War now have a math twist! Students used materials, such as pattern blocks and base ten blocks to learn as they played the game thus leveling the playing field for all to enjoy the game, regardless of their level. Excitement to win a game turned into an urge to add two fractions to find a whole or find two equivalent fractions.

One of the most popular games was Slap Jack, which is a great game to play at home! Players take turns putting one card down into the middle pile and they slap on equivalents of � and 1 whole. Print and cut out cards with different fractions and make sure to include lots of equivalents of � and 1 whole! In fourth grade, students are expected to recognize these equivalents quickly, and the game provides a fun avenue to learning.

Fourth Grade Writing

Fourth graders had a chance to celebrate their writing last week with a Poetry Publishing Party. They have been honing their work and reading it out loud to one another in order to improve their word choice and create word pictures. They appreciated the opportunity to share their poems with a new audience of parents, older siblings and teachers and staff from around the building.

The highlight of the morning was the guest appearance of Rainey's parents, Jenny Rosario and Juan Toribio, who came to not only listen to the poetry of their son and his classmates but also to sing a song for the celebration. While Juan played guitar and sang, Jenny showed the students how she could read the lyrics from a sheet of braille. They were poetry in motion and a fitting end to the celebration. Thank you!

Ms. Levi Visits

Ms. Rebecca Levi, one of our founding co-directors of the El Sistema program, dropped by for a visit this week and pitched in to help out wherever she could. She spent time with the younger students at 320 Washington and accompanied the K2 students to the Children's Museum to warm them up for the Paper Orchestra Concert.

She also spent time at the Upper School translating for our visitors from Venezuela (see above) and even helping out at dismissal! Next week she will return to her new home in Medellin, Colombia. We look forward to more news and more visits from our dear Ms. Levi!

Designer's Circus Fundraiser

Join the Conservatory Lab PAC (Parent Advisory Council) and lots of friends for an afternoon of shopping for women's clothing and accessories at the Designers Circus in Allston.

Designers Circus is a warehouse sale, sample sale and a fabulous social experience all rolled into one shop. They carry one of a kind designer women's clothing and accessories from over 70 local and national designers and artists, all under one "big top".

The shop will be ours to enjoy from 2-4pm Sunday May 4th, and we'll have drinks and snacks to make the shopping experience flow! They accept major credit cards, checks and always cash!

Come prepared to try on unique clothing in a shared fitting room! A throwback to the fitting rooms at the original Filene's Basement in Boston.

The afternoon promises to be lots of fun and a great time to shop for Mother's Day or just yourself. We will also have a fun 50/50 raffle going on, including a gift certificate, tickets sold throughout the evening for $1.00 each. Take a chance, you may be the winner! The best part of all is a portion of the sales made this afternoon will go directly to the Conservatory PAC Fund. Our innovative academic and music programs benefit from all of our fundraising events.

We hope you join us and spread the word to any friends or family members that would enjoy this. Please feel free to contact Felice Rutstein, feliceandspence@yahoo.com, with any questions.