Adventures at Pinnacle

The 7th and 8th grade students had a memorable camping trip to Pinnacle Leadership Academy in New Hampshire last Thursday and Friday.  For a number of these 22 students this was the first time that they had been away from home without their families and they made some great discoveries, about themselves and the world around them.

The goal of the trip was to have the students in these two grades establish relationships that reflect the crew qualities we are working on in school, to learn new things about each other and to grow in support of one another. They did this through new adventures and games.  In these activities, they had to demonstrate perseverance in action outdoors, with the expectation that this attribute would make the transition into the classroom.  The goals were met and there were some eye-opening moments - the awe demonstrated upon seeing the brilliance of the stars in big, wide, open sky, unencumbered by city light and smog. The students greeted these moments with sweetness and childlike joy.  

The cold, brisk day flew by with a rope course activity that had the students high up in trees, walking on a tight rope and daring to go forth trusting that their companions on the ground were in support of them and would rush to their assistance if needed. After those heart stopping moments high up in the air, there was a walk in the dark around the pond that ended up in a big circle by the campfire where s'mores  and stories were shared,

At the end of the long, busy day, the tired campers went back to the tents that they had set up themselves earlier in the day and slept 5 in a tent.

The fresh open air, big sky, trees, heart-stopping activities and just plain fun, shared by the students and their teachers, created a bond amongst all.  

All are ready for the next adventure!

Scotland Is More Than Bagpipes  

Resident Artist, Chris Schroeder was selected to represent Conservatory Lab at the first International Sistema Teachers' Conference in Stirling, Scotland this last week in October. Sistema Scotland's flagship Sistema program, "Big Noise" brought together 150 El Sistema teachers and leaders from all over the world to share curricula, best teaching practices, and engage in thoughtful discussions about the future of El Sistema.

His experience in Scotland had Mr. Schroeder come away with two main ideas. The true responsibility of an educator is to create a safe learning environment and trusting relationship with students. This connection can be can be developed and nurtured by engaging with students outside of rehearsals. As a result of this connection, students feel safe, are more invested and willing to take musical risks during the rehearsal process, and musical ambitions can be fully realized.

The second is that, we must provide outlets for our students to share their work with others. This could be achieved through peer mentoring, in-school performances, or events within the community. Through these experiences, students have the opportunity to positively effect the lives of others around them. As a result, the seed of social transformation begins to grow.

To close the four-day conference, nearly two dozen delegates, including Mr. Schroeder had an opportunity to share traditional folk songs from their own countries in a 45-minute concert for conference participants and the Sistema Scotland community.  Here's a video from that fun show.

Fruit Salad

Ms. Wendling and Ms. Kurnos' class have been learning about fruit through the K2 expedition, MyPlate.  After reading several books about fruit, creating scientific drawings, having discussions around taste preferences, and sampling dried vs fresh fruit, the class wrapped up their fruit study with a cooking class! On Monday, K2 became chefs and exhibited amazing crew qualities in the process of making fruit salad.  

The class first discussed what fruit would be used in the salad and the expectations surrounding the activity. Then the chefs started the work.  While preparing the fruit to put in the salad, students were observed taking turns one at a time slicing the banana and another group worked on peeling a clementine and then separating out the individual pieces.  Ms. Wendling and Ms. Kurnos were so impressed by the crew's cooperation!

After all of the fruit was prepared and placed in the bowl, students had the opportunity to mix the salad.  The most exciting part, though, was the tasting!  The children loved the combination of the various fruits and were excited to share their recipe at home.  The following day, the class wrote a "how to" book on making fruit salad.  Stop by our classroom to speak to the chefs and you too can learn how to make fruit salad! 

Second Graders On the Move to MIT

On Thursday and Friday our 2nd grade classes took the MBTA all the way to Cambridge to participate in a two hour workshop called a Lego Car Rally.  Students were given a very basic lego kit and were asked to design, with a partner, a car that would then be given two tests: a tilt test and a ramp test.  After recording their results, the pairs were then sent back to their kits to decide how they would alter just one element of their car to improve performance.

Students were able to ask questions of MIT educators and took notes on a special worksheet so they could analyze the results and compare notes.  Both classes learned a great deal about how engineers think and how to work well with a partner.  

We are especially grateful to all the parent chaperones who joined us for this experience and made it possible for us to take our students to this special lab.

Winter Concerts Coming Up - Take Note:

 In order to prepare for our upcoming concerts, ensembles that usually rehearse separately, are starting to have joint rehearsals.  Our newest string players, the Heifetz upper strings (violins and violas) and Casals lower strings (cello and bass) gathered for the first time this week and thrilled all with their first joint rehearsals.  One observer, Professor Larry Scripp, pointed out that their playing "did sound like Mahler" and for that they should be very proud.

On Friday our newest wind players joined their fellow string players for the first full Bernstein Orchestra rehearsal of the year.  The students were fascinated by the sounds of their fellow musicians and the room was filled with the joyful noise of a real orchestra!