Conservatory Lab
Charter School
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| Family Notes
June 12, 2015
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End-of-school year can be a stressful time for all - teachers, students, parents and administrators too! A seemingly endless stream of concerts, expedition finales, visitors, assessments, reports, sports activities and graduation could induce serious stress for all involved.
But these events and activities can also be a source of great joy and celebration, a source of positive energy for us. Take for example the performances of the "Three Little Pigs: A Musical" by the 1st graders coming up next week. We can envision the ideal results for which we are working so hard. Somehow working mentally on the ideal preciseness of every detail for the end goal, helps in organizing and putting in a time frame all the elements that need to be put in order .This helps to get to our goal.
This envisioning is in truth a creative process which gets the imagination flowing and has us using our best experiences to create new ones. No time or energy is wasted on fretting, or being afraid or anxious but rather is spent on filling in all the details needed to complete that ideal we have envisioned!
Have a happy, creative week end.
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Take Note
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A reminder to all who wish to participate in next year's Wednesday afternoon's enrichment program with the Y: please get those forms in before July 1. Many thanks to all who have already submitted their forms!
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First June Concert is a Delight
On Tuesday, we kicked off our two-part Spring Concert series at Roxbury Community College with performances by K1-3rd grade students in the Lower School. This event was the final Lower School concert of the school year and represented a year's worth of truly incredible student progress.
The K1 class hooked the audience's attention right off the bat with an enthusiastic and musically polished performance of The Beatles' song "Hello Goodbye." In their singing, they demonstrated a strong understanding of rhythmic pulse and melodic phrasing.
Next up was the K2 Orchestra, which was performing on real instruments for the very first time! The K2 students start the year off singing as a chorus and progressively build the skills needed to become orchestra musicians- first constructing and learning on paper mâché instruments, and then graduating to real wooden instruments. Considering their musical journey these past 10 months, this performance was an especially significant milestone for them!
Following the new K2 Orchestra, the veteran 1st grade string musicians in the Ellington Orchestra took the stage. Mr. Dave Cordes led them in performances of "Frere Jacques" and the famous "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven. The students played with a keen musical awareness of the other musicians around them and produced a massive group sound!
Made up almost entirely of new 2nd grade students, the Abreu Orchestra fearlessly entered the stage with the confidence of seasoned orchestra musicians. Despite having only played their instruments for less than a year, the Abreu Orchestra demonstrated nothing short of musical mastery of their two pieces: "Prelude" from the Apollo Suite and the fiery and energetic "Hiawatha."
Lastly, the experienced 3rd and 2nd grade musicians in the Bernstein Orchestra brought the concert to a close with arrangements of two orchestral masterpieces: Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and Dvorak's "New World" Symphony No. 9. These dynamic and challenging pieces showcased how far the Bernstein musicians have come as accomplished ensemble musicians with acute musical sensitivity and advanced technique, able to tackle even the most complex symphonic works.
Congratulations to our students on a fantastic year. We look forward to their continued hard work and progress next year, and we hope you join us
for the Upper School concert!
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7th Grade Teaching 3rd Grade
One day 7th grader Antwanai Miller was chatting with the 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Tyndall who is in charge of her bus room about how much she likes math and Ms. Tyndall asked her if she would like to teach a lesson to her class. Antwanai jumped at the chance but knew she would need some help and some guidance. She asked her friend Lilibeth Arias, also a 7th grader, if she would like to work with her and together they prepared a lesson on multiplication. They created a worksheet for the students (along with an answer key) and came in to teach. They taught a mini-lesson, had designed a game for practice, oversaw independent work on the worksheets and sent the students off with a practice packet for home. Ms. Tyndall was so impressed with their lesson she asked them to come again two weeks later to teach a lesson in division. What a great way to be role models! |
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Conservatory Lab Impresses at Johnson Strings Gala
On Sunday evening nine student musicians from the Bernstein Orchestra were joined by two Dudamel Orchestra string players to perform in Newton at a gala at Johnson Strings called "Strings for El Sistema" an event to raise money to help several area El Sistema inspired programs purchase instruments for their ensembles.
El Sistema Co-Director Kat Jara led the ensemble as they played four pieces for the assembled guests which included Carol Johnson, the hostess, Conservatory Lab Board members Mark Churchill and Lisa Wong, Mayor of Newton Setti Warren and former Governor Michael Dukakis and his wife, Kitty. Our students performed between two other youth ensembles, the Roxbury Youth Orchestra and Boston Strings Academy.
Everyone in attendance was thrilled with the performances and we are so proud of how this group of young people represented our school!
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Rally for Summer Reading!
At Conservatory Lab Charter School, three times a year we use the Fountas and Pinnell (F&P) assessment tests to identify the instructional and independent reading levels for our grade K-4 students. These tests require us to look at student's phonics, fluency, and comprehension skills. The reading assessments are administered one-on-one and help all teachers to plan instruction that facilitates maximum growth for our scholars. These tests also let us validate the growth we see in our classrooms as well as allow us to conduct discussions with the students celebrating their progress and identifying what they need to work on.
Our hope is that in the fall, we'll see growth, but often students slip back. So let's put forth a good effort for summer reading! Keep your eyes open for the summer reading brochure and log that will be sent home at the end of June. |
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Visitors from Ft. Worth
Five visitors from the Fort Worth Independent School District visited our school this week. Having heard about our school and the approach we have to infusing the core curriculum with music, a group of administrators wanted to see first-hand how we do it. Their interest was focused on the primary grades. While here for two days they took the opportunity to see as much as possible.
They began their visit at 320 Washington St. and met with Brad Kershner, observed Katie Biro's "The Music in Poetry" class, sat in on K-2 singing their Food Group song and then debriefed music integration in "What's On Your Plate" with Ms. Biro and Rhonda Berkhower.
Later while at the Dorchester location they met with Jenna Gampel to review music integration in Grade 2 "The Truth About Snakes" and attended a Dudamel Orchestra rehearsal. They ended their 1st day by meeting Ms. Lam and then having a conversation with Chris Schroeder, the Music-Integration Coordinator. On the 2nd day of their visit they had an opportunity to hear an introduction to the "Building with the Three Little Pigs Expedition" presented by Jovanne Buckmire and Ms, Berkhower and then followed that by viewing the 1st graders in rehearsal of "Building with the Three Little Pigs: The Musical"
So impressed were these visitors with what they saw and heard that they expressed the desire to take all with whom they had met, back home to Texas to help them set up their music-infused school!!
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A Letter from Coach Kay
 Congratulations to our boys basketball team! They had two games on Wednesday tonight against the Manning and the Edison schools, and did an amazing job! Such good sportsmanship and teamwork was shown, I have never been so impressed! Congratulations to Javier, Angel, Wesley, Jaedin Skeete, Kinsaed, Dennis, Max, Ethan, Jaedin Weathersby, Tyqueo, Jaylan, Joaquin, Nathaniel, Darren, and Alan. |
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8th Grade Will Rock the House of Blues
Come hear our 8th graders perform at House of Blues next Saturday, June 13!
They will be performing a short blues song featuring original music and excerpts from their poems about a Harlem Renaissance musician, artist, or writer who inspires them. There will also be performances by four other schools or community groups.
Date: Saturday, June 13 Time: Seating begins at 10:00. Performance begins at 10:15 AM and ends at 11:45 AM. Place: House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne Street, Boston The recital is free and for all families and friends.
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A Summer Opportunity for Students
The Community Music Center of Boston invites students in the 2nd thru 8th grade at Conservatory Lab Charter to review their summer program offerings. It is a 4 week program from June 29th through July 24th. Check out their website: http://cmcb.org/programs/summermusic/Also further detais are as follows: The daily schedule:
8:45 Drop-off at Josiah Quincy Upper School
9:00 Large Ensembles (String orchestra and Wind Ensemble) rehearse. Younger students who are not ready for the larger group will rehearse in a separate ensemble and then will be melded into the larger ensembles.
10:00 Chamber music/Classes - Students will either go to chamber music groups or will go to a group of three rotating classes (Traditional theory, Rhythm classes and a theory class incorporating eartraining and note-reading via a music software program.
11:00 Lunch and Recess
12:00 Chamber music/Classes - The students who had chamber music in the morning now have classes and vice versa.
1:00 - 1:15 Dismissal and pick-up
The cost is $400 for students through grade 6 and then $200 for students in grades 7-8. Financial Assistance is available. We can work things out with the families.
The older students can be CITs which means they have some responsibilities such as helping with set-up of chairs, et cetera. The Center has high school student musicians who are Junior and Senior Counselors as well.
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