The winter musical is on its way! Director and Musical Director Katy Cavanaugh, Choreographer Susan Nelson and the cast of The Drowsy Chaperone have been hard at work for weeks putting this ambitious show together. Our stage and costume crew are about to join the party as work ramps up on building an ambitious set and preparing glamorous costumes. How does a shabby New York apartment become a elegant mansion? How do we fly an entire tap dancing wedding party on an airplane to the tropics? You will find out soon! (more…)
Seventh-graders make cards for Head Start
Our entire seventh grade spent advising period on Friday making winter cards for their friends at Head Start, whom they will visit on Tuesday.
Our relationship with the Greater Portland area Head Start Program has emerged over the past twenty years. Each seventh-grade homeroom builds a relationship with students in a Head Start classroom. The students play and read together each month starting in November.
The seventh-grade also organizes a Book Drive and bowl-a-thon to raise funds for literacy materials for the program.
Inspired by MLK’s call for social justice
At our assembly on Wednesday, a group of students and teachers read quotes inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for social justice.
Click here to view a few selected quotes.
A Frigid Morning at Preble Street!
Olya Gregg ’20, Eliza Gervais ’20, Assistant Head for Student Life Lydia Maier ’90, Ian McClure-Chute ’20, Amelia Bertaska ’18 and Laura Baginski ’18 (crouching) pose outside the walk-in refrigerator at Preble Street this past Saturday. It was much colder outside than in the fridge!
Getting into a learning state of mind in 4-5
Assistant Head for Student Life Lydia Maier has been instructing 4-5 students in social-emotional learning for the past four years, checking in every two weeks with each of the program’s four home stations.
This year’s topics have included:
- What it means to make deposits and withdrawals in “friendship bank accounts.”
- Understanding comfort zones, learning zones, and worry zones. (One student shared recently that when she starts to worry about something, she pictures a temple. “When the worry walks in, I just tell it to go sit over there!”)
- How to support the brain’s ability to learn, and how to get into an optimal learning state. Each student shared one unique way that they take their brain from resting to learning state, using the stones pictured above to illustrate the steps in between. (Each stone was a “focus muscle.”)
Learn more:
The Impact of Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL)
Transforming Students’ Lives with Social and Emotional Learning (Marc A. Brackett and Susan E. Rivers; Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)
Academic Tenacity: Mindsets and Skills that Promote Long-Term Learning (Carol S. Dweck, Gregory M. Walton, and Geoffrey L. Cohen; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)
Thematic studies in 4-5
Thematic studies are designed for interdisciplinary immersion in an age-appropriate, high-interest topic. Students acquire and employ skills in a wide range of disciplines and have many opportunities to extend and enrich their learning through open-ended exercises.
4-5 students were recently immersed in the thematic study of the westward movement of people in the mid-to-late 1800s. Students learned about the Native Americans who lived out west (and the impact that settler movement had on those communities), about our country’s geography and landmarks, and the ecosystems of the West. Using historical fiction novels, students learned about the culture of the time period and grappled with the real-life questions of the time. “What does it mean to make a new beginning? What are the challenges that people face when leaving the familiar and moving to the unknown?” Geography, history, reading, writing, physical education, art, technology, and physical and social sciences were all incorporated in the experience.
Creating board games in 4-5 to explore westward migration
As part of the “People’s Movement West” 4-5 study, students created their own board games to play during our celebratory Prairie Day and with their K-1 buddies. Reading Jean Craighead George’s The Buffalo are Back, students began to understand the importance of all parts of an ecosystem, and the historical reality of how 1800s settlers of the West disrupted the balance of the prairie. They learned key ecological terms like “habitat,” “predator,” “adaptation,” and “disturbance.”
Saturnalia
Saturnalia was an ancient Roman holiday that occurred during the winter solstice. It celebrated the return of Saturn, god of the harvest. The streets of Rome would be filled with greetings of “Bona Saturnalia.” Gifts were exchanged, and much feasting ensued.
Waynflete sixth-graders learned about Roman food, made their own Roman recipes, then “tea-ifyed” them to make them look ancient. They made ancient Roman pendants out of clay, inscribing them with their initials and favorite numbers—using Roman numerals, of course! Finally, the entire sixth grade gathered in the Drama Room dressed in togae (borrowed bedsheets, not the 30-foot long variety favored by Romans). Students wore pendants and ate Roman food to celebrate Saturnalia.
4-5 boy & girls basketball team pushes hard in win over Riverton
Waynflete’s 4-5 boys and girls basketball team played an exciting game last Saturday against undefeated Riverton School—and came away with their first win of the season! Our players showed great determination, enthusiasm, and skill in the toughly fought match, coming from behind in the last minute to win 31 to 27.
All team members made valuable contributions to the effort. Coach Mike identified a few standouts for special mention: clutch scoring from Abie, Lucas, and Duncan, assisted by solid defense from Yacob, Lily, Luca, Caleigh, and Noah.
Lower School construction project – update #4
The latest update from Wright-Ryan’s Millard Nadeau…
New York Times – why strong Pre-K programs matter
Interesting piece in the December 14, 2017, issue of the Times on the importance of an effective Pre-K program.
RAaW group holds annual retreat
The “Racial Awareness at Waynflete” group (RAaW) was created for students who are interested in examining the impact of race at Waynflete, in Portland, and around the world. Students meet for lunch and activities during the school year. The group also sponsors a movie night and Martin Luther King Jr. activities, and is also involved in the school’s New England Youth Identity Summit.
RAaW recently held its annual retreat where students deepened their understanding of race and got to know each other better.
Save the date for the 2018 New England Youth Identity Summit!
The third annual New England Youth Identity Summit is just around the corner!
The theme of this year’s event:
Reshaping Communities: Finding the Courage to Talk to Each Other
We’ll kick things off the evening of Friday, April 6 with an event featuring dance, musical, and spoken-word performances. On Saturday, April 7, Waynflete will host a full-day program for high school students and educators featuring inspiring speakers, student-led workshops, and dialogue sessions intended to build bridges and create a vision for strong multicultural communities.
This year’s keynote speakers: former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick and poet Ladan Osman.
The Summit is open to:
- Grade 8-12 students from any school
- Waynflete parents and faculty
Lila Reid ’11 returns to dance class
Lila Reid, ’11 recently returned to Waynflete and conducted a workshop for the US dancers, Danceflete, on Dec. 12. This was a special opportunity for both our dancers and for Lila to reconnect and share ideas. Welcome back, Lila, to your school and familiar dance studio!
24-Hour Theater Fest
At 3:30 on Friday, December 8th three playwriting prompts were chosen by Waynflete theater students and were sent out by email to eager student playwrights from four other schools. The 24 hour theater festival had begun. (more…)
Ninth graders compete in Poetry Out Loud
UPDATE: Congratulations to schoolwide winner Grace Nowacki ’21 and runner up Kiely Callahan ’21. It was an intense competition at the all-school assembly, but the admirable crew of poetry enthusiasts kept their collective cool and read beautifully. A panel of special-guest judges visited campus and awarded top honors to Grace for her amazing performance. Bravo!
On November 16th and 17th, students across the ninth grade took part
in the preliminary round of Waynflete’s Poetry Out Loud competition. A
stunning round of poetry recitations shook Franklin Theater as six
English classes spent three periods performing poems that they had
chosen, studied, memorized, and made their own through months of hard work, guided practice, and one-on-one feedback from teachers and peers alike. Our students brought to life words by poets from Thomas Wyatt to Maya Angelou, sometimes making us laugh, sometimes bringing us close to tears, but always bringing their own voices, quirks, and insights into texts both recent and ancient. (more…)
Sam Carner ’97 visits Waynflete actors
Waynflete alumnus Sam Carner ’97 visited Waynflete on Monday, November 27. Sam is a successful writer for musical theater and currently resides in New York City with his wife. He and his writing partner have won the prestigious Kleban award and the coveted Richard Rodgers Award for most promising new musical theater writers under 40. Sam spoke to the acting class, cast members of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE and other upper school students with a particular interest in performing arts. He shared samples of his work, his creative process, discussed his collaboration with his professional writing partner and spoke extensively about creating career pathways in the performing arts. Students had great questions for him regarding his creative work and his life in theater. In addition Sam and Chris Beaven had a chance to reminisce about his early exposure to learning music and writing songs at Waynflete, as early as a second grade! It was a wonderful afternoon! Check out Sam’s wonderful website below:
John Radway interview
Shuhao Liu ’18 interviewed new English teacher Dr. John Radway about his first months at Waynflete, adjusting to a new school, his love of books, and so much more. Check it out below (and click here to read the related story).
Apps, Gadgets, and Games for the Holidays
Need a great gift that inspires learning and creativity?
Waynflete Lower School teacher Tim Hebda has put together a list of apps, gadgets, and games to keep your child excited and engaged during the holidays!
Ideas for Preschool through Grade 5:
Apps
- Alien Assignment: an app for younger learners that encourages problem solving and family interaction. Help the Gloop family fix their spaceship by taking photos of objects that might help solve specific problems. Children hand the device to a family member to review—a great opportunity talk with kids about their thinking.
- Mekorama: guide a robot through stunning block-style mazes and structures. Critical thinking skills are stretched as children take risks to try out possible solutions and learn from mistakes. Puzzles can be built and shared, -supporting creativity and planning.
- Everything Machine: a blank canvas with a toolbox filled with parts that fit together to create virtual electronic devices. Trial and error and tinkering through a drag-and-drop process easily links pieces to create and problem solve. (Explore the many other great apps created by Tinybop.)
- Bloxels Builder: create your own video game using blocks and endless imagination. Similar to the first Mario Brothers!
- LightBot and Lightbot, Jr.: great computational thinking application that lays the groundwork for coding. Send a simple program to a small robot so it can maneuver around a simple layout and turn on its light bulb.
