Middle School
We have officially begun the “end of year wind down”….although winding down is the opposite of what is happening here at the middle division. Our 6th and 7th grade students had an educational and fun time at Nature’s Classroom. Even though this is only the second time our 7th grade students have attended this camp in Lakeside, Connecticut, they are now the elder statesmen showing the way to the newbies, the 6th graders. There is always lots of bonding, lessons learned and life affirming belly laughs!
While the 6th and 7th graders were camping, our 8th grade students participated in four days of workshops. They used the city as a classroom and traveled in small groups learning new skills, honing old skills and exploring our wonderful city. We visited a rooftop farm, got a tour of a NYS Courthouse and learned about our judicial system from a NYS Court Officer, visited MOMA to see the Degas exhibit and then created our own art work, toured Madison Square Garden, and had an intensive basketball clinic. We also learned how to record and sample music and had a taste of Korean culture and foods. One lucky group got backstage tours of allegedly haunted Broadway theaters and ended their workshop with an evening performance of “On Your Feet!” This is always one of our favorite weeks of the school year and this one was no exception.
Our Middle Division Chorus participated in the New York State School Music Association adjudication. This was our first year competing and we won a GOLD RATING! We are thrilled for our choral singers, who have put in many hours of hard work, after school, to be able to compete at this level and receive such an amazing honor.
We finished out our year of International Lunches with a meal sponsored by our Spanish Language Department. We feasted on delicious arroz con pollo, platanos maduros, platanos tostones, frijoles negros, frijoles rojo and pastel. It was a great way to celebrate all the hard work our students put in this year learning Spanish. Los Buenos estudiantes de empleo!
Finally, it’s that time of year we both look forward to and feel a bit of melancholy about: it’s time to “move on”. Our 8th grade students move on to the upper school and, while we have been preparing them to do just this, it’s still sad to see them go. Luckily, the upper school students always come back to visit us and we all look forward to seeing them. They all seem so big and so old and our hearts swell with pride. So we say great job to our 8th grade students, we’ve loved working with you, please visit us and we can’t wait to hear your stories of your upper school success!
As we look ahead to September, we can’t wait to welcome the rising 6th grade and to watch the changing of the guard as the current 6th graders become the wise 7th graders and the current 7th grade students become the senior members of our community. As they sang in The Lion King Jr., “It’s the circle of life!”
Happy Summer!
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