Upper School Updates - April 22, 2022

Dear Upper School Parents and Guardians,

Earlier this year, 8th graders asked for a baseball club, and sure enough, we started one that meets every Friday. Yesterday was Brookwood’s first baseball game, and we won! In addition to baseball, we had outstanding recitals this week, and today we are recognizing Earth Day, and students can also participate in the Day of Silence.

For Earth Day, the Upper School students watched the film, Kiss the Ground and learned how they could improve the environment by regenerating the world’s soil. After the film and a discussion with guest panelists (including two alums and a Brookwood parent), the students were given additional resources on how they could learn more and take action. For the Day of Silence, yesterday, two 8th graders shared information in School Meeting about GLSEN’s Day of Silence as they have done in the past. Day of Silence is a national annual day of action to spread awareness about the effects of bullying and harassment of members of the LGBTQ+ community – this year falling, on April 22. Students and faculty had the option to participate. Please explore the GLSEN website if you'd like more information about the history of this day.

Please see some announcements, pictures, and the ask me abouts below:

Blanket and Linen Donation: Thank you for your donations! The Environmental club members delivered the donations collected two weeks ago to Cape Ann Animal Aid in Gloucester. The animal shelter was thrilled with the donations. The students even got to spend some time with some of the puppies! (See pictures below) Thanks to the environmental club, we were able to help this local organization while keeping these textiles out of our landfills.

Please see pictures here taken over the last few weeks. (Pictures include 5th grade PE, the trip to the animal shelter, and more)

Quick Reminder about Masks: Please make sure your children have masks in their backpack for School Meeting and other large gatherings inside.

Please ask your students about:

5th Grade (Outside of the Homeroom Classes)

Science: Students learn about the complexity of food webs and how food molecules enable consumers to grow. 5th graders also created a site on a nearby salt marsh to monitor stream bank erosion, an indicator of rising sea levels and climate change.

French: What does “Francone” means.

Mandarin: We read some Chinese legends books and completed Lesson 4.

Music: Composing music on iPads.

6th Grade

Science: Students and young people helping in the climate movement, glacier melt vs. iceberg melt, and how a water balloon taught us how oceans help with heat absorption.

Spanish: Talking about school and different places within a school

Geo (Abramson): Compare and contrast paper on the early explorers of Asia

Geo (Burns): Marco Polo’s adventures through China and our virtual field trip to The Field Museum of Natural History.

French: Talking about food preferences and how to make sure that my language is Novice High.

Math: How we are learning about Areas of various figures

Music: the science of sound.

English: ask me to recite my declamation poem!

7th Grade

Science: P-M-A-T and cytokinesis

Spanish: Bargaining for artisanal goods and what I could buy in a market.

French: Sports and activities that I like and where and when I do them.

Math (Carver): Transformations on the coordinate plane

Math ( Carbo): What happens with volumes from cylinder to cone or prism to pyramid

History: Why Lincoln’s election in 1860 ultimately led the South to leave the Union

English: ask me to recite my declamation poem!

8th Grade

Spanish: The tense used to describe the past and when used.

Abramson: How Langston Hughes poem, “I,Too” compares and contrasts with Walt Whitman’s poem “I Hear America Singing”, and my final draft of my Investigation essay

French: The story of “le chandail” and Roch Carrier’s worst childhood memory.

Math: connecting quadratic functions to projectile motion

Science: solar-powered water heaters & how rovers control their temperatures

English: ask me to recite my declamation poem!

Save the Date: 7th and 8th Grade Spring Dance - Friday, May 20 (5:30 pm - 8:30 pm) We adjusted the time earlier so 8th graders can remain after play practice.

In the following newsletter, I’ll be sharing our celebratory plans for the end of the school year.

Enjoy the weekend!

Dave