Spellbound

The middle school held its annual spelling bee last week during the half day. Students competed in heated rounds to show their capacity to spell and pronounce complicated words with numerous silent and non-phonetic letters.  Eighth grader Adelaide Pfeiffer saved the day, with her pithy letter choices, nabbing first place, followed by Reva Kelly and Ollie Patterson. Close behind were alternates Lucia Claire and Anthony Diallo. Next our expert spellers will head to the cluster bee, to compete with other middle schools, and then potentially the citywide spelling bee. The competition will be heated, but armed with their dictionaries and their love of words, the spellers will valiantly proceed into the territory of new and unfamiliar words!

Dozens of Content Students

Several classes of ninth graders visited Ford’s Theatre on Thursday to see the play Twelve Angry Men. The play is very familiar to students, who read the text in ninth grade and also saw the school play this year. The Reginald Rose play deals with a court case in which a young man is on trial for murder, and eight unnamed jurors must decide his fate and wade through their own biases, fears, and personal experiences to understand the truth of the case. The theme of justice pervades many of the ninth grade readings including a research project on famous historical trials.

Big Apple Comes to Us

Big Apple Comes to Us

Fifth graders are celebrating the Big Apple for the introduction to the book The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh. The story deals with a young boy’s Odyssey through Grand Central to learn about the city’s Underworld.  They will celebrate the city that never sleeps with a photobooth with famous New York backdrops. Students will view a slide show about the Manhattan lifestyle, and enjoy big city treats like cheesecake and bagels.

New Year Celebration

New Year Celebration

Students will honor Chinese New Year with an assembly on Wednesday in the upper school. Junior Shaun Xiao, an exchange student, from Dong Guan, will speak at the assembly as will Chinese and government teacher Lawrence Liu.  They will discuss heritage and identity along with the symbols, colors, and foods that make the holiday special.
Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholders

Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholders

Mr. Clausen’s Honors Humanities classes went to the National Gallery on Tuesday.  The class is starting with Barnett Newman’s “Stations of the Cross” in the East Tower and then spending the rest of the day looking at pieces in both the East and West buildings. The visit is the culmination of the class’s unit on beauty, for which students will have to write a paper on a particular object they see on the trip. Students have evaluated various classical interpretations of the idea of beauty, and will use these views as a critical lens to understand the art they see for this annual trip. Photo: Bjorn Shockey