Today's K-8 Assembly: drama, leadership, science, poetry, and music!

Today's K-8 assembly was incredibly fun! After Mitch welcomed the students, the program began with a skit presented by the 7th grade students focusing on the ideas of inclusion/exclusion, cooperation, and comfort talking about these difficult topics. Check out the script written by Norman Johnson, TBS's very own Middle School Drama Teacher!

This was followed by a pitch from last year's Student Council members about the exciting experience of being on the council, and setting the stage for the selection/election process that will take place in classrooms during the next two weeks.

At each assembly, one or more classrooms presents a Showcase of Learning, in which they talk about recent classroom experiences and academic ideas they have been learning and thinking. Today's SoL featured students from Wildcat Creek (6th grade), sharing information from their Science curriculum about the composition of the Earth, and also reading original poems they've written in the style of Billy Collins' work "On Turning 10".  

The last piece of the assembly was a body-percussion experience led by Owen Roberts, TBS K-8 Music Teacher. He taught first a simple two-beat clap rhythm; then a second, four-beat snapping rhythm; and then a third, eight-beat body drumming rhythm. He split the room into groups and layered all three rhythms together, and then introduced a call-and-response element using just the chorus of "Hello Bonjour" by local artist Michael Franti and Spearhead.

December's K-8 Assembly

This morning we held a monthly assembly in the Depot. We began by having each of the administrators introduce themselves to the students - an activity that was suggest by the Student Council, as there are many kids on campus who don't regularly interact with the adults in the office, and may not even know their names, let alone what they do.




This was followed by a presentation by two members of the Student Council on the recent penny drive that the students have been doing.  This community service fundraising is raising donations for Literacy Lifeboats, an initiative by Lucy Calkins and Teacher's College in New York that is serving schools hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. The reps reported that the K-5 students raised $363.61, and the 6-8 students raised $453, totaling $816.61.

Cerrito Creek then presented a Showcase of Learning on their recent work with electricity and magnets. Students were enthralled by the video, and I'm sure you will be too, as the 4th and 5th grade students explain their understanding of how magnets, motors and coils work.

Finally, we ended with a full-throated sing-along to What A Wonderful World.

Today's assembly

Today's all-school assembly was another smashing success.

Head of School Mitch Bostian welcomed the students by talking about the power of words to generate ideas, using the phrase "Don't think of a carrot" to illustrate how we can't always control our response to stimuli, and the need to think critically about how we respond to other people.

Eve Decker and Chris Perdue then lead us in singing "We Shall Overcome". Holding hands with an administrator on one side and a student on another, listening to the voices of the students belt out this powerful song of self-realization and freedom, brought tears to my eyes.

Guest teacher in-residence Daniel Schmidt presented the work of three 4/5 students in the instrument building class as this month's Showcase of Learning. Hannah, Tyrrell and Riley took turns demonstrating the instruments they had built and the design process that they went through in conceiving of those instruments.

The Student Council made an announcement about the work they have been doing planning a Service Learning opportunity for the entire school. The council is working on hosting an event that would raise money and awareness for an issue, and asked for input on what sort of organization or cause students would like to support and learn about.

Eve and Chris closed out the assembly by leading the school through "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody", another wonderful civil rights anthem. If you don't know that song, here's a great version (we sounded pretty darn good too!).