Our Ms. Lam Named a Barr Fellow

Our heartiest congratulations to Ms. Lam who this week was awarded a fellowship from the Barr Foundation in recognition of her extraordinary contributions to greater Boston.

 Fellows are selected for their outstanding contribution to Boston and their potential to drive positive change for years to come. "The Barr Fellowship extends from the Foundation's commitment to invest in effective, visionary, and collaborative leaders," says Jim Canales, President of the Barr Foundation.Only four times since 2005 has Barr named a class of twelve Fellows, making a long-term commitment to each of them and facilitating their connections with one another.

For her part, Ms. Lam states "I look forward to being a part of this community of learners and sharing our journeys, expanding our maps, and dreaming bigger than our individual experiences would have ever allowed."  

The Barr Fellowship includes, among other things, the opportunity for global travel and leadership retreats over three years.  Fellows' organizations also receive financial support to promote organizational development, and for the mentoring of emerging leadership. For more information about the Barr Fellowship, visit:  www.barrfoundation.org/fellows

Literacy Month 

Governor Deval Patrick has proclaimed November 2014 as Family Literacy Month!  We are celebrating this in various ways.  This is a month where we celebrate all the learning that children can do at home with families, through literacy.  Literacy at home includes much more than just reading books with your child!  It also includes recognizing common brand names in print (environmental print), talking about how books work (what direction do we read?), singing songs and saying rhymes, having writing/drawing materials readily available, talking about connections to stories, making predictions in books, and modeling use of reading and writing in everyday activities (such as making a shopping list together).  If you speak a language other than English at home, it is important to use your language with your child.  It is much easier for students to learn English if their first language literacy is well-developed. So, enjoy this month of literacy and celebrate with us at home!

First Muestra of the Year

On Wednesday, November 19th, nine visitors and four Board members joined us for the Making Minds Sing... program.  This program featured an overview of how learning is accomplished at Conservatory Lab.  Our guests heard 3 pieces performed by the Dudamel Orchestra, including a recently composed piece entitled Dusk by Steven Bryant. Director Adrian Anantawan shared with our visitors that Dusk not only connected to their academic learning in science, but that by taking pictures of "dusk" in their own neighborhoods the students were connecting their personal experiences with the music.  

In Ms. Glasberg's 2nd grade class visitors saw scientific experimentation in action - students were creating their own twirlers to explore how movement is impacted by speed and weight.  Board members, faculty and staff were proud to share our school with our visitors and we hope to see them again soon!

Playworks' Girls Basketball League

This November began the start to Playworks' girls basketball league, with girls from 3rd-5th grade. The team meets once a week for practice and they jumped into their first game Tuesday, at the Edison school in Brighton, where they played Boston Teachers Union School. The girls were able to shake off their first game jitters, with fans cheering them on the whole time! The refs for every game are other Playworks coaches who help to teach the game to the girls as they play. The girls left Tuesday night smiling, with a score of 'Fun to Fun'! Their next game will be Tuesday, December 2nd at the Edison school. 

Orff Experiments in 2nd Grade

As part of a two month physical science learning expedition on the principles of force and motion, the 2nd graders have been exploring the science of sound with Resident Artist Chris Schroeder. Through the lens of a sound engineer, students worked in groups of 4-6 to explore how vibration, force, and fiction help to create musical sounds this past week. Gaining inspiration from James Stevenson's poem, "I Made a Perpetual Motion Machine," students have been running experiments with orff instruments, buckets, and snow scrappers to better understand how force and motion work to create musical sounds. Students will later create a musical composition to accompany a reading of the Stevenson poem. 

Learning and Sharing at the November PAC Meeting

Last Wednesday, Master Teacher, Jenna Gampel-Tzadok led the parents who attended the monthly PAC meeting in a variety of learning exercises designed to help families understand Expeditionary Learning (EL). Parents were asked to read about one of four different core principles of EL and then share their reading with a "jigsaw" group of other parents who read about the others.  They then tried to make connections to the "products" or work they had seen their children create over the years.  They then came together as a full group to discuss and ask questions about what this work looks like in the classroom.  

 All participants, including Elementary School Director Shalem Livingston and presenter Ms. Gampel-Tzadok agreed that they learned so much about the home/school learning connection. 

We look forward to learning more from our home-grown experts at future PAC meetings.  Stay tuned!

Earlier in the evening, James Martin from MASSDesign, a group that is helping to design our new building, presented their findings after having met with groups of students, staff, families and board members.  Many of the priorities mentioned by each group were similar: the need for flexible performance, athletic, cafeteria and gathering spaces, the soundproofing and the environmental impact of a new building were discussed at every level.  James showed pictures of how many of the issues raised could be beautifully incorporated into a new building.We are all looking forward to seeing more plans!  

James also shared with us a video created by his group about our school.  Remember the password: ilovemusic and check it out here.

Take Note:

• Next Wednesday, November 26th is a half day with dismissal at 11:15 at both sites.  If your child usually takes the bus but you plan to pick your child up that day, please let either Mr. Rodriguez or Ms. Ramsey know by end of the day on Tuesday.  We want to ensure a smooth dismissal for all that day.

• Winter Concert I dismissal slips were sent home this week.  Please read carefully and return the bottom half.

• If your student musician has outgrown their concert clothes from last year and you would like to donate either a white shirt or black pants or skirt, please send it in with your student and we will distribute those clothes to students who might need them.  On the flip side, if you cannot find concert clothes for your student, contact Toni Jackson, tjackson@conservatorylab.org and she will (hopefully) match you with a donation.

• Reminder - now that the weather is getting colder, students are inside more and spreading contagious viruses more easily.  You must keep your child home if they have had a fever in the last 24 hours or if they have had diarrhea or nausea.