Safety First

The adage that "safety always comes first" really is true in a school setting. Our first priority every day is that all 612 of our students are both physically and emotionally "safe" at Calvert. Our maintenance and grounds team takes excellent care of the campus, working hard to ensure well-kept buildings, fields, gardens, and pathways. We regularly evaluate and, when needed, modify our safety procedures and protocols. Even though it is still only September, we have already had two successful fire drills (one conducted by our staff and another "unannounced" drill from the Fire Department). Moreover, we will hold our annual "red alert" drill in October, in which teachers lock classroom doors, turn out classroom lights, and have the students sit on the ground in silence for a few minutes. This drill simulates our procedures in the highly unlikely event that an intruder gained access to a building and posed a threat. Recently, I communicated with Calvert parents about another important safety matter--dismissal procedures. Having all drivers put their cell phones away as they approach campus is an important aspect of a smooth pickup period. In addition, by arriving at the designated time (depending on the grade level of the child), drivers have a shorter wait time and the local streets are less congested. I thank Calvert parents for their ongoing cooperation and am pleased to report much improved dismissals in recent days. Look for details about students' emotional well-being in a future posting. Our Wellness Committee has been quite active over the past twelve months!

Moving!

Calvert has always been well-known for our focus on the fundamentals of education: reading, writing, mathematics, and public speaking. You may not know, however, that here at Calvert we pay a great deal of attention to physical education, fitness, and wellness. From Pilot Class through 8th grade, our students have an excellent physical education program as part of their academic schedule. Our 5th graders have the option of participating in after-school intramurals, such as basketball (I am one of the coaches) and winter soccer. In grades 6 through 8, over 90 percent of the students play on one of our 14 interscholastic teams. Furthermore, several Middle School clubs (offered the final period on Friday) are sports-related, such as field hockey and flag football for the 6th graders. Most grades have two recesses a day, and we now have 50-60 Middle School students a day taking advantage of our 7:30-8:00 AM before-school recess in the gym. Add all of this up, and we are, in the words of Middle School Head Matt Buck '87, "The Movement School." This movement promotes bone and muscle development and stimulates the brain as well! The maestra of this beehive of activity is Mary Alice Lears, our Director of Athletics and Physical Education. Last year, in recognition of her superlative work, Mrs. Lears won the Deborah Dorsey Albert Award at Graduation for "outstanding contributions to the life and mission of Calvert School." I encourage my readers to visit campus to (literally) see our boys and girls in action. I would be happy to provide a personalized tour of our athletic facilities and physical education classes.

Friday PM in the Middle School

I have always admired the ability of our students to focus in the classroom regardless of the day of the week, circumstance, or time of day. You might think that our students (and teachers) would be winding down on a Friday afternoon with only an hour or so to go before dismissing for the weekend. My walk-through of the Middle School on Friday afternoon (9/15) proved just the opposite. During a twenty-five minute stretch of time, I cruised around all floors of the building, typing notes on my IPAD2, and popping in and out of classrooms. I observed energetic teachers, engaged students, and productive lessons. My notes are as follows, with accompanying times: 7th grade English class discussing To Kill a Mockingbird (1:40 PM), 6th grade math class wrestling with a word problem about tickets to a circus (1:45), 8th graders taking a math quiz on integers and expressions (1:51), 6th graders enthusiastically turning in their carefully colored and labeled maps of Ancient Greece in history class (1:52), 7th graders describing people in a photo in Spanish class (1:53), 8th graders reviewing an Algebra II quiz (1:56), 6th graders making journal entries about a Ray Bradbury short story--"The Pedestrian" (1:57), a 6th grade science class watching a NASA video on the water cycle (2:01), and a 7th grade Spanish class working diligently to learn stem changing verbs (2:04). This school year, I plan to offer more reports of this nature to give my readers a snapshot of the exciting things happening at Calvert at a given point in time.

The Benefit of Mistakes

This may seem like an obvious statement, but students learn from mistakes. I think, however, that we tend to focus too often on avoiding mistakes in the name of reaching 100% accuracy the first time around. Mistakes are an integral part of the learning process. Don't get me wrong--I want our students to study diligently for their spelling tests and try their best to spell all the words correctly. However, mistakes can and will occur, and when they do, we all need to learn from them. Students can make the necessary modifications, and teachers can learn about a child's learning style and/or what material needs to be reinforced with an individual child or the whole class. (We tend to forget about how adults can learn from the students' errors. That is a mistake, no pun intended!). In the opening all-school assembly, I made a mistake on purpose in order to show the students that it was "OK" to err and fine (and often necessary) to be corrected in front of others. I welcomed the audience to the 2007-2008 school year, and Dr. Trusty, on cue, came to microphone and told me that I had the wrong year. The text of my speech is as follows: "Dr. Trusty, thank you for correcting my mistake. You are right. It is the 2011-12 school year, NOT the 2007-08 school year! The first thing I wanted to stress this morning is that it is OK to make mistakes, and it is important that your teachers correct you. That is all part of the learning process. Your teachers might correct you one on one, or they might correct you in front of the class, but that is fine, too. No one will be corrected in front of about 725 people like I just was. Again, I expect that all of us will make mistakes this year. We just need to learn from the mistakes and how to do things correctly, whether it is math, science, handwriting, music, or geography, to name a few subjects."

A Great Start!

We are off to an excellent start in the 2011-2012 school year! It is only September 6, but we have already had three full days of school, multiple assemblies, and a parents' night (5th grade, this evening). The excitement of the first day of school has transformed into a seriousness of purpose. Don't get me wrong--the enthusiasm is still evident--but we are now into the routine of classes. Middle School interscholastic sports begin tomorrow, and Lower School clubs commence next week. Please enjoy some pictures below from my travels around campus today. In the final photo, you can see the "character pillars" developed by our Wellness Committee last school year and painted onto prominent spaces in our main Middle School hallway. "Respect" and "Compassion" are readable in the photo; harder to see are "Responsibility" and "Honor."

A Wonderful First Day of School!

We have been quite fortunate on campus this week, as we had minimal damage from Hurricane Irene. We maintained our power, which allowed us to open school--as scheduled--this morning. There is simply nothing like the first day of school...the excitement, the smiles, the stacks of unopened markers, the pads of lined paper just waiting for a composition, the "buzzcuts," the hugs, and the handshakes. Dr. Trusty and I had to start shaking hands at about 7:52 A.M (rather than our normal 7:58 A.M.) to accommodate the LONG line of eager parents and students at the Lower School. Apparently, the crowd stretched all the way to Canterbury Road! At the all-school assembly, Letitia Elliott, our Lower School music teacher, delivered a rousing solo rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. It was a beautiful way to start the assembly and kickoff the school year! For the fourth straight year, we opened our doors with an all-time high enrollment (612 students this year). Below, you will see pictures of Dr. Trusty asking "Trusty Trivia" questions in the Lower School Lobby, two students speaking in front of English class, and a giant chocolate chip cookie! As Head Master, I had to try a cookie for quality control purposes, of course, and I am pleased to report that they were, in fact, suitable for dessert in the Middle School. :)