Class #59--7th Age Reading

Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 9:45 A.M. 7th Age Reading Class. Class #59 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. In 7th Age reading class this morning, Ms. Swiss explains the first activity, which is a “sequencing” exercise related to the book Thunder Cake. Each group of four students has a set of ten cards, with a paragraph on each card. The group has to place the cards in the proper order. For seven-year olds, this is an appropriately challenging activity, as it involves teamwork, reading, and comprehension. It is fascinating to see the groups in action! Ms. Swiss circulates to check on each group’s progress and to answer any questions that have arisen. After about 15 minutes of group work, Ms. Swiss reads aloud from the book, which has been projected onto a screen. The students have to listen carefully to see if they have sequenced their cards correctly. In the final few minutes of class, each pupil cuts out the ingredients for "thunder cake" from a worksheet and glues the ingredients, in the correct order, onto another piece of paper. Good job, boys and girls!

Class #58--6th Age Geography

Monday, May 23, 2011, 10:55 A.M. 6th Age Geography Class. Class #58 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” quest. Unbelievably, we are starting our final five-day week of classes! Mrs. Strand’s twelve students are excited to use the SmartBoard in 6-E. A map of the United States (without state borders) is projected onto the SmartBoard. The students take turns sliding the Northeast states into their proper location on the map. If the student manipulates the state correctly, it pops into place on the map. These six-year olds clearly know where the states are located! After turns on both the SmartBoard and a traditional map, the students sit on the rug and listen to Mrs. Strand read aloud from several books about United States geography. One clever book is called United Tweets of America and focuses on the various state birds. Did you know that the black-capped chickadee is the state bird of Massachusetts? In the final ten minutes of class, the boys and girls work on a packet of state-related worksheets. For example, the Michigan page is about finding missing car parts, while the Colorado sheet is a downhill skiing maze. In addition to learning about United States geography, the Sixth Agers have “travelled” across the globe this year, as evidenced by their excellent class play last week, The Sixth Age Trip Around the World!

Class #57--8th Age Math

Friday, May 20, 2011, 12:50 P.M. 8th Age Math Class. Class #57 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” voyage. There is tremendous excitement in the air today in the Lower School! It is Black and Gold Spirit Day and “Moving Up” Day, in which students spend time with teachers at next year’s grade level. In addition, we had an orientation for our new (for 2011-2012) students and parents. In the midst of these many activities and events, we are, of course, having academic classes. Mrs. Woods’s math class has finished lunch and recess and is ready to learn. Class begins with a review of three-digit addition problems on the chalk board. Mrs. Woods ensures that the students are adding correctly and saying the answers in the correct manner. Transitioning out of the warm-up, the class truly perks up when Mrs. Woods holds up a big Hershey’s chocolate bar. In the name of fractions, the class examines the candy bar, which can be conveniently divided into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths. Each student has a small, sixteenth piece as a treat. (The leftover pieces are within my reach; will I be able to resist?). I look up from typing, and yarn is flying around the room! (See second picture below). The “pitcher” asks an addition fact (for example, 5+9), and the “catcher” provides the answer (14). The result of the yarn tossing is a variety of geometric shapes, which the class analyzes. In the final part of the period, Mrs. Woods reviews subtraction with regrouping. Each student works through a variety of problems on a small whiteboard on his or her desk. Mrs. Woods is unsuccessful in her efforts to stump the class! I commend Mrs. Woods and her pupils for a multi-faceted, successful period.

7th Grade Art Class

I was walking by the Middle School art room yesterday afternoon and was drawn in by the bright colors I saw on the canvases. Please enjoy some pictures of the students' animal paintings.

Class #56--7th Age Math

Monday, May 16, 2011, 11:25 A.M. 7th Age Math Class. Class #56 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. As I walk in to Mrs. Crawford’s classroom, the students are diligently working on a four-minute addition “frenzy” worksheet. Yes, the age-old math facts sheets are alive and well at Calvert! As the students finish, Mrs. Crawford gives them their completion time to record. The class is studying fractions, and it happens to be Skittles day today! Each student receives a bag, which is quickly torn open and then sorted into five different categories, based on flavor. The students have to answer multiple questions, such as: how many Skittles are in the bag? What fraction are lime? What fraction are grape and orange? (And yes, the fractions will change if the students start to eat the inventory!). Mrs. Crawford enters the data into a spreadsheet, which is then projected onto a whiteboard. It was surprising to me to see such variances among the Skittles bags. For example, one bag had only four lemon pieces while another had twelve; another had seven grapes while a classmate’s had nineteen. This is an excellent activity, as the students have to demonstrate facility with numerators and denominators in an enjoyable, hand-on format. The pupils keep working hard; they also have to determine the fraction of classmates wearing a certain color shirt (yellow, white, or blue), as well as the fraction wearing jumpers. Next, the boys and girls design their “fraction” bedroom on a sheet of graph paper. They draw various pieces of furniture and indicate the appropriate fraction it represents in terms of the total space in the bedroom. Bravo to Mrs. Crawford and her students for a great class!

Class #55--8th Age PE

Friday, May 13, 2011, 1:45 P.M. 8th Age Physical Education Class. Class #55 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” quest. It is an exciting day here on the campus, as we kickoff Alumni Weekend. I just had the pleasure of hosting the annual luncheon for our older alumni—those from the classes of 1961 (50th Reunion) and earlier. We were fortunate to have about 50 alumni in attendance, ranging from the Class of 1931 to the Class of 1961. Lunch ends, and I hustle down to the Lower School girls’ gym to see Mrs. Sewell and her 8th Age girls in action. As my faithful readers know, Mrs. Sewell is retiring this year after over 37 years of exemplary service to Calvert. Given that Mrs. Sewell has only a few weeks of school remaining, it is a treat for me to spend a full period with her class. The girls immediately begin warming up. “Let me see some decent push-ups,” Mrs. Sewell exhorts. The girls begin playing a game called Line Ball. They are divided into two teams, and each girl has a number. Mrs. Sewell calls out a number, the appropriate girl runs to the middle of the gym, gets a ball, runs back to her side, completes a chest pass with each member of the team, dribbles to a basketball hoop, and then completes a shot from near the foul line. The girl who makes the basket first wins a point for her team. What enthusiasm I see! The girls scream words of encouragement, even chanting their teammate’s name as she tries to make a shot. Mrs. Sewell still has the magic touch. After seeing a girl struggle mightily to make a shot, she instructs the student to shoot underhanded. Lo and behold, the next shot goes in!

The Sprint to the Finish!

I am often asked at this time of year, "So, are things winding down at Calvert now?" My reply is typically, "Actually, we are not winding down. We are speeding up and sprinting to the finish." We truly want to finish the year in a strong manner; the teachers and staff members are focused to make the final four weeks of school both productive and enjoyable. The calendar is literally full of exciting activities and programs, including the following: Pilot Class Mother's Day Tea; 6th Age, 7th Age, and 7th grade plays; Pilot Class field trip to the Zoo; 8th Age field trip to Union Mills; 7th grade overnight trip to Philadelphia; 10th Age trip to Gettysburg; 8th grade overnight trip to Calleva Outdoor School and day trip to Washington, D.C.; Alumni Weekend and Calvert Day spring fair; 9th and 10th Age Crow-Canary games; Middle School "Battle of the Books," Lower School Spirit Week, and New Parent/Student Orientation and "Moving Up" Day! I encourage current Calvert parents to keep a close eye on the website and on on their e-mails for updates about upcoming events on campus. Also, let's keep our fingers crossed for no rain on Calvert Day on Saturday!

Class #54--Pilot Language Arts

Wednesday, May 4, 2011, 9:20 A.M. Pilot Language Arts Class. Class #54 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. Mrs. Mollett wastes no time in having the boys and girls “circle up” on the rug. The students say the alphabet in succession (one boy says “A” then the next says “B”). Mrs. Mollett mixes it up by having a student start with a letter in the middle of the alphabet. Next, the students read aloud from a card, and then the appropriate person has to respond. “I have red. Who has yellow?” a girl asks. Then a boy responds, “I have yellow. Who has blue?” I am very impressed with the pace of the replies and with the students’ reading ability! The class transitions to the table area, where Mrs. Mollett reads a book aloud about a cat. The book, in keeping with the first activity, has many “color” words. The students are soon writing lower case letters on a "fish" worksheet and coloring in the sections of the fish with the right color. Mrs. Mollett checks in with each student to make sure the letter formation is correct. As the students finish, they take an individual "Spell-A-Puzzle" to the rug and hone their reading and fine motor skills. Amazingly, there is another activity before the period ends. The students will be illustrating a book; the first step, today, is to read the book. The eager pupils take turns reading pages aloud. Great job, Pilot Class!

Class #53--7th Age Math

Monday, May 2, 2011, 11:25 A.M. 7th Age Math Class. Class #53 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” marathon. May is upon us! Where did the school year go? There are only 26 days of classes left…maybe we should add a week at the end of the school year to be able to incorporate more teaching time. Don’t worry, students, I am just kidding, but we actually ARE tight on time, with much to do in a little over a month. Mrs. Pontier’s 11 math students are ready to work this morning. The class is studying a money unit; they have constructed a classroom store, ironically called “Money Tree,” which is stocked with such desirable items as lollipops. plastic balls, and liquid "bubbles" to blow outside. Each student decorates a shopping bag and a money envelope and then receives (plastic) coins--10 pennies, 4 quarters, 5 nickels, and 5 dimes--from the banker, Mrs. Pontier. Each student then shops at the store, with students taking turns as the cashier. One of the boys says with a huge smile, "I got to buy both of the things I wanted. I hit the jackpot!" The boys and girls also have to complete two worksheets to solidify their knowledge about coin value. Today’s class is interactive, hands-on, and very practical. The students have to budget their money and make change, which are life-long skills, for sure. Bravo to Mrs. Pontier and her enthusiastic students for such a wonderful math class!