HFS Community 03/25/2010

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Jonathan

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 1:48:40 pm

Students, teachers, and parents alike filled me with pride this week. In multiple instances, across grade levels, across roles, and formal and informal settings, I encountered members of our community living its values by addressing concerns directly, possessing a non-abating belief in the transformative power of communication. I witnessed teachers, parents, substitute teachers, and students, too, resisting the temptation to “fix” problems or “direct” an issue to a desired end, but rather allowed process to unfold and for individuals, and then groups, to come to their own conclusions. The seventh grade provided one of the best examples of this as they concluded their Rwandan role-play negotiations. The group, believing it had resolved the issues that faced it, pressed to “package” the agreement and then sign it. The work to get that far was tedious, yet something was skipped. Individuals, after reading the final resolution, were hesitant to sign and felt as though they had gotten the short end of the stick. The group faced a dilemma: re-open an arduous negotiating process or simply sign the document, compromise values and interests, and be done with the whole affair. I am delighted to report that the group dove back in, muddled through the misperceptions and miscommunications, asked critical questions of one another like, “Why is that so important to you?” and worked hard to consider whether or not the resolutions that were proposed could or would lead to a lasting peace or would they simply appease immediate needs and interests while never truly addressing the underlying causes and concerns. Despite some sidebar conversations that dipped into the realm of “funny things to say using the word ‘cattle,’” the group did it. No group may grow to know itself more than this group by the end of their 8th grade year, especially if it remains as open to experience, willing to learn from its mistakes, and dedicated to its collective success. Aren’t these the values of community?

 

Jonathan Huxtable

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:38:46 pm

HFS Grade 8 Weekly Collections
March 26, 2010

(PLEASE FIND THE WEEKLY UPDATES TO THE MASTER CALENDAR ON THE LAST PAGE OF THIS DOCUMENT.)

Dear HFS Community Members,

Hopefully, this issue of Collections arrives at its intended destination. As a week’s worth of research has revealed, there is little that could have been done on either end of this communications dilemma. As I have come to understand, various email servers and services have built-in protocols to protect users from SPAM. From HFS parent and web technician Mark Perrault, “Some email servers don’t like HTML (AOL mail) and others don’t like the size of the email message (gmail, yahoo mail, and some corporate sites). Almost all email servers are setup to fail and not notify anyone. Some unpleasant people were talking advantage of the failure notifications to send out spam, so most administrators turned that feature off. That’s why you’re not seeing any failure notifications.” Thanks to Mark’s intervention, we are posting this listing to the school’s first foray into the blogosphere! You should now be updated automatically from now on anytime an HFS official updates this blog. Please let us know your thoughts and share any ideas about how we might use this technological tool to improve communications. We will continue to post copies of Weekly Collections to our web site, but that will likely become more of an archive than a first-look source of information.

Thank you,

Jonathan


NOTES from Humanities…

English: Eighth graders have been busy with just about everything that a teacher can think of. We continue our work with SSR and reading logs and have had a vocabulary test. Students made their own tests for The Crucible and then had the pleasure of taking one of mine. We continue to struggle a bit with our acting, but many students are really getting into it now. I hope that you will be pleased when you see our production on April 25. We also have been working on turning in make up work for the third quarter. I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Social Studies: Students wrapped up their reading of Hakim’s Book 5 this week and engaged in conversation and note-taking about the book’s organizational concept. Rather than presenting information primarily chronologically as she has in books two through four, Ms. Hakim examined the theme of “expansion” in this book: westward, rights, technology, transportation, communication, government, etc. These are all noted in the study guide students received today in advance of their Unit Test on Thursday, April 1st (really). Students also presented Mapping Projects and examined the possibilities of relationships between such seemingly isolated variables as areas of corn growth in the US and state by state outcomes of the election of 2008 to average annual rainfall and the national system of highways. Finally, the students tackled the organizational concept they will pursue in their Research Project (otherwise known as the Major Topics of their outline) and developed a skeletal outline (Major topics and sub-topics). Students also identified the number of note cards they’ve generated for each sub-category which should aid them in directing any further research they need to conduct. Updates on Research Project progress will be made through the interim comments.

NOTES from Technology…

Science: Monday, students brought science news articles for sharing, a practice resumed from previous years and one that seemed to capture students' scientific interests and imaginations. Teacher, while learning much himself, endeavored to underscore connections: despite a superficial randomness to what students found interesting, there are patterns and links that serve our iterative learning. In further discussions, we revisited some widely misunderstood concepts in evolution, particularly the matters of “fitness” and changes that may occur over time. Due to a field trip rescheduled from a February snow day, Tuesday class was postponed until Friday. Wednesday, we did part of a laboratory and data analysis activity, using popular materials -- M&M’s -- to introduce and practice skills in using a balance, understanding tare weights, understanding the difference between mass and weight, observing variation and error subject to statistical analysis, and getting an experiential handle on masses including grams, kilograms, and milligrams. Sidebar illustration of best explicative plans gang agley: as we were learning there are two kinds of numbers in science (exact, obtained by counting things like fingers or toes, and inexact, obtained through measurement), it was revealed one of the students was born with twelve toes, but the extra two weren’t exactly toes. Upcoming activities will reinforce what we learned about solutions, concentrations, and the role of membranes (

 

Jonathan Huxtable

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 12:52:20 pm

Announcements/Calendar Updates…
NOTE: Items new to this week’s Collections are identified with bold type.
Items changed after an earlier posting are identified in italicized and bold type.

1. Monday, March 29 - MS Destination Imagination, 3:30-5:30PM, - Blue Team only - Virginia Remsberg (Gunpowder)
2. Wednesday, March 31 – Art Club (3:15-4:00PM, Fawn Grove) Please email Jennifer Button at jbutton@harfordfriends.org with notification that your child will be attending.
3. Wednesday, March 31 – Thank-A-Thon rescheduled from earlier date (6-8PM)
4. Thursday, April 1 – 2010-2011 Signed Enrollment Contracts due (students new to HFS)
5. Friday, April 2 – 2nd Interim Reports distributed to students
6. Friday, April 2 – Primary grades class field trip to Belvedere Farm (Depart 8:00AM, Return 12:00PM)
7. Friday, April 2 – MS Destination Imagination CANCELLED
8. Monday, April 5 – Friday, April 9 – School Closed – Spring Break (School resumes Monday, Apr. 12)
9. Saturday, April 10 – Blue Team DI participating in State Tournament at UMBC.
10. Tuesday, April 13 – Parent Coffee with the Head (9:00-9:50AM) [Reminder: This is an adult-only HFS function.] Please RSVP to jbutton@harfordfriends.org
11. Wednesday, April 14 – Final meeting of the Art Club (3:15-4:00PM, Fawn Grove) Please email Jennifer Button at jbutton@harfordfriends.org with notification that your child will be attending.
12. Thursday, April 15 – 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. departs at 7:00AM.
13. Thursday, April 15 - HFS Open House (9-11AM) Sixth grade parent coordinators
14. Friday, April 16 – Field Trips: Primary – Cooking/Nutrition (Depart 8AM, Return 1PM); Intermediate – TBD; 6th – Washington, D.C. (Depart 7AM, est. 6:00PM dismissal); 7th – TBD; 8th – Washington, D.C. trip concludes (est. 6:00PM dismissal)
15. Monday, April 19 – Friday, April 30 – ERB Testing for grades 3-8 (Schedule TBD). Please ensure your child arrives at school on time and ready to begin at 8:00AM. Help them be prepared by getting a good night’s rest and eating a healthy breakfast.
16. Thursday, April 22 – Earth Day Activities (lunch and other activity possible 10:00AM-12:20PM) TBD
17. Friday, April 23 – Setup for Afternoon of the Arts (1:50-3:00PM)
18. Friday, April 23 – Blue/Gray Basketball Game (3:00-4:00PM) on outdoor courts; Award Ceremony & Party (4:00-5:00PM)
19. Sunday, April 25 – Open House & Afternoon of the Arts (2-4PM). All students are required to attend this event. Sixth and Lower School parent coordinators.
20. Tuesday, April 27 – H&SA meeting (7-8:30PM, Deer Creek) [Reminder: This is an adult-only HFS function.]
21. Friday, April 30 – Parent Activities #1 (1:50-3:00PM)
22. Friday, April 30 – Sunday, May 2 – H&SA Fundraiser at Broom’s Bloom Dairy. Contact Dawn Tridone for information.
23. Tuesday, May 4 - Parent Coffee with the Head (9:00-9:50AM) [Reminder: This is an adult-only HFS function.] Please RSVP to jbutton@harfordfriends.org
24. Thursday, May 6 – 2nd Annual Judy’s Night of a Thousand Stars (5:30-7:30PM) Rescheduled from February dates
25. Friday, May 7 – Parent Activities #2 (1:50-3:00PM)
26. Wednesday, May 12 – Blueberry Festival 2010 Coordinators Meeting (6-7PM)
27. Friday, May 14 – Field Trips: Primary TBD; Intermediate TBD; 6th to Broom’s Bloom Dairy; 7th TBD; 8th to Gettysburg
28. Tuesday, May 18 – Brunch with Friends (9-11AM) followed by HFS Trustee Day classroom visitations and meeting with the Head of School
29. Thursday, May 20 – HFS Open House (9-11AM) Lower School parent coordinators
30. Friday, May 21 – 8th Grade trip to Blue Dog Arts (Depart 12:30PM, Return 3:00PM)
31. Friday, May 21 – Parent Activities #3 (1:50-3:00PM) *Will not include 8th grade students

 

Coach Luggage Bags

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 3:03:11 am

It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy
It's the guys who wait to have everything perfect that drive you crazy

 

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