The Ellis Island experience in 4-5

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Most of the curriculum in Waynflete’s 4-5 program is thematically driven. We believe students learn best when the content they are learning is interdisciplinary and hands on. 4-5 teachers collaborate to connect writing, science, history, and literature. Major thematic studies include local foods, the marsh, westward movement, and immigration.

This past December, 4-5 students participated in an Ellis Island simulation. This experience culminated a six week thematic focus on immigration and the Industrial Revolution. Through the thematic approach, students read historical fiction in literature; examined mill life; studied water cycles, land use, and water wheels in science; and examined historical and current influences of immigration. They interviewed immigrants and crafted nonfiction narratives to relate stories in writer’s workshop. They studied their own family histories and created family trees. The breadth and depth of the study can be seen by visiting the 4-5 blog.

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“Authenticity” in the Waynflete Gallery

Posted by Waynflete Communications

The Authenticity show in the Waynflete Gallery has enabled visitors of all ages to participate in various reinterpretations of famous “masterpieces.” The show invites viewers and participants to consider the very definitions of art and who is an artist, while posing questions about originality and ownership. The artists whose work is examined are Andy Warhol, Georges Seurat, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Sol Lewitt.

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Waynflete students recognized in New York Times “Review Contest”

Posted by Waynflete Communications

“Clever use of language, insightful perspective, and engaging commentary.” These are some of the qualities that New York Times Learning Network staff considered when judging almost 2,000 submissions to the newspaper’s fourth annual Student Review Contest.

Students in Laura Lennig’s Essay Writing class have submitted entries to the contest for the past three years. This year, Sydney Sullivan was recognized as one of only ten national winners while Julia Fiori’s and Anna Wildes’s submissions were both recognized with Honorable Mentions.

Read the New York Times story

Read Sydney Sullivan’s winning entry

Upper schoolers compete in MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament

Posted by Waynflete Communications

On January 12, fifteen Waynflete students competed in 23 different science and engineering events at the MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Notable finishes include a 12th place finish (against 76 teams from across the country, representing some of the top Science Olympiad schools) in an event called “Wright Stuff” in which Abby Aleshire ’20 and Clara Sandberg ’20 built a rubber band-powered airplane that flew for over one minute.

Other top events were Astronomy, by team captains Phoebe Hart ’19 and Ingrid Ansel-Mullen ’19, and Forensics, by team newcomer sophomore Aidan Keiffer and his partner Abby Aleshire.

Watch the “Wright Stuff” event video:

Why is Colum McCann coming to speak at Waynflete?

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Many of you have already noted with great excitement that Colum McCann, the widely read and highly acclaimed Irish author of six novels and three collections of stories, is coming to speak at Waynflete during the evening of February 6, and again to an Upper School assembly on February 7. Not surprisingly, given his stature as a writer, the public event on the 6th is already sold out.

While Waynflete’s interest in hosting such an important writer would seem self-evident, you may be wondering why Mr. McCann is interested in coming to Waynflete, particularly since his public appearances are rare these days. It turns out that he has another mission in life besides creating great art. He is a co-founder and president of Narrative 4, an organization dedicated to equipping tomorrow’s leaders “to use their stories to build empathy, shatter stereotypes, break down barriers, and—ultimately—make the world a better place.” The Narrative 4 motto is “Fearless hope through radical empathy.” Check out the video on the Narrative 4 web page describing their signature program, “the story exchange” (linked here).

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Hot off the presses—the fall/winter 2018 issue of Waynflete Magazine!

Posted by Waynflete Communications

View or download a PDF

Read an interactive version online (works best in full-screen mode)

Real World Performing Arts

Posted by Waynflete Communications

“Real World Performing Arts” was piloted as a new class in Upper School this past semester. Mary Jane Pagenstecher and Tiki Fuhro co-taught this hands-on journey through performing arts for social change. Students explored dramatic literature through the ages, became familiar with a variety of protest songs, and were exposed to the work of dancers, musicians, and theater artists who have used their art form as a platform for social change. Monologues were learned for performance, and students learned several techniques for making dances and understanding songwriting structures. Students also worked with a set of questions for analyzing performances so that (using non-judgmental language) they could be more articulate about what they found effective.

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Upper School students participate in “Poetry Out Loud”

Posted by Waynflete Communications

The “Poetry Out Loud” national recitation contest was created by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation. The contest is administered in partnership with arts agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. Waynflete’s English Department has taken part in Poetry Out Loud for 12 years.

Ninth-grader Blythe Thompson won this school round. She will continue to the regionals for the next round of competition.

December 2018 “Lit Mag”

Posted by Waynflete Communications

The December 2018 issue of the Upper School Lit Mag is out!

View/download here

Sixth-graders celebrate Saturnalia

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Waynflete sixth-graders gathered last week to celebrate Saturnalia, an ancient Roman holiday that celebrated the return of Saturn, the god of the harvest.

Students made ancient Roman pendants out of clay, inscribing them with their initials and favorite numbers (using Roman numerals, of course). They learned about Roman food, making their own Roman recipes and “tea-ifying” them to make them look ancient. Finally, the entire sixth grade gathered in the new Lower School Innovation Lab dressed in togae—borrowed bedsheets, not the 30-foot long variety favored by Romans.

Upper School theater hosts the 24-hour theater fest

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Students from Waynflete, Kennebunk High School, Scarborough High School, Morse High School, Portland High School, and Deering High School spent Sunday in Franklin Theater writing and staging plays during the 24-Hour Theater Fest. Thirty participants and eleven playwrights!

The Forecaster names Brandon Salway Fall Coach of the Year

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Congratulations to Brandon Salway for being named Fall Coach of the Year by The Forecaster!

Read the article

Let’s talk Lower School mathematics!

Posted by Waynflete Communications

On Wednesday night a group of parents, Lower School math teachers, and Admission staff gathered to engage in some math puzzles and activities and to talk about Waynflete’s elementary school math program.  

Lower School Curriculum Co-Coordinator and 4-5 teacher Kai Bicknell shared a classroom video of a Number Talk, a classroom technique used to build mental math skills, encourage flexible thinking, and develop a better conceptual understanding of the math we do every day. Students demonstrated six different approaches to the computational problem 5 x 19—all without pencil and paper!

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Maritime study in 2-3

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Every other year, second and third grade students begin the school year by engaging in a maritime study. Waynflete’s location in the heart of Portland—particularly near the harbor—provides a real-world classroom at our doorstep for studying the ocean and working waterfront.

Taking advantage of the warm early fall weather, we begin outdoors by exploring tide pools and gathering tide pool creatures for our classroom saltwater tank. Students learn observational and research skills while studying various seaweeds and creatures of our Maine shores, while also learning the geography of the world’s oceans and the science of tides.

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Waynflete receives STEM grant from Toshiba America Foundation

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Waynflete has received a $4,990 STEM grant from the Toshiba America Foundation (TAF). These funds will support the initial costs to set up a molecular genetics laboratory at Waynflete, which will enable students to sequence DNA.

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Arachnids, Crustaceans, and Diplopods—Oh My!

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Middle School seminar teacher and naturalist Kate Ziminsky recently presented a program called “Arthropods: Insects and their Relatives” to K-1 students.

The students, who have been studying spiders for over a month, learned about the similarities between insects, arachnids, crustaceans (lobsters), and Diplopods (millipedes/centipedes). Kate also helped students recognize what makes each group unique by focusing on body parts, how they eat, how they protect themselves, how they grow, and where they live. Students used lobster and fly costumes to help understand body parts.

Fall 2018 Sports Recognition Night video

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Many thanks to Mike Veroneau ’21 for creating a season highlights video for the Fall 2018 Sports Recognition Night!

Lower School faculty prepares for global focus on Spain

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Each year the Lower School chooses a country to study in depth, culminating in a weeklong intensive during the first week of February. Yesterday the Lower School faculty launched its study of Spain by inviting three Spanish guests to school to share information about their culture.   Teachers contributed dishes such as Tortilla de Patatas, Albondigas, Arroz al horno, Crema Catalana, and much more while the Spanish guests taught us lessons on the language and politics of Spain and the daily life of Spanish children.

It was a wonderfully informative afternoon thanks to the generosity of the Spanish visitors!

Sixth-grade indoor archaeological dig

Posted by Waynflete Communications

Over the past month, students in sixth-grade history have been learning to think, dig, and document like archaeologists by conducting an indoor archaeological dig in the new Lower School’s Innovation Lab. In groups of three or four, students practice their excavation and documentation skills by gradually uncovering and recording artifacts hidden within their team’s bin.

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Founder of International Peace Initiatives visits Waynflete

Posted by Waynflete Communications

We were fortunate to have Dr. Karambu Ringera, who runs International Peace Initiatives based in Meru, Kenya, with us on Tuesday last week. At our Middle and Upper School assemblies, Dr. Karambu shared her thoughts on why curiosity, care, and courage are essential abilities for effecting lasting change in the world—starting with our day-to-day lives in a school community.

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