Mamma Mia Dress Down Day!

The girls' creativity for this 70's-themed dress down day has made us even more excited to see their Halloween costumes on Wednesday!

Prepare Yourselves!

5th graders recently came up with own class arrangement of a favorite Halloween tune. "There Was An Old Woman" has been startling these girls since they were little ones in LS. :)

The girls learned that when you shift the home note (tonic) to la, the mood of the music changes. Enjoy this 5th grade version of a classic.  (You must click link to view.)

5th Grade Arrangement

Ms. Rita Williams-Garcia

We were thrilled to hear that six of our students were able to meet Ms. Williams-Garcia, author of One Crazy Summer, at The Ivy Bookshop. The girls asked great questions, including whether the author's mother provided inspiration for Big Ma or Cecile, how she named her characters, and whether any moments from her life showed up in the novel. We were especially excited that Ms. Williams-Garcia got to see (and sign!) a couple of the Summer Feet Doodle Notes projects that we worked on when we returned to school in August. Way to go, girls!

Celebrating Our Fall Birthday Girls!

Art_Positive & Negative

The girls have been practicing "seeing" negative shapes – the shapes around the positive shapes. they could not have drawn the chair from observation without this new skill!

Drawing the complicated form of the chair was just the first step. Then, they colored both the positive and the negative shapes with colored pencil. 

Next, they cut out the negative shapes noticing how size, angle and placement matter a lot. They also had to keep track of all of them!!!

Finally, they glue down the negative shapes to recreate the chair that's not there, but is made only by negative shapes. They also glues down the positive chair drawing. This pair emphasizes the dynamic relationship between what is and what isn't. 

In reflection, the girls write about how their personal negatives "hold up" their positives and vice versa. They comment on how their struggles have helped them grow stronger and that the things they don't know or aren't good at are balanced by the things they do know and are good at. 

French: Le Défilé de Mode!

Today was the highly anticipated French fashion show and the fifth grade girls put on an absolutely fantastique performance! Each girl walked the cat walk and then read a paragraph in French describing a classmate's outfit. In the weeks leading up to the show, the girls worked very hard writing their paragraphs and then practicing their pronunciation. Today, they were poised, fun-loving, and read beautifully. Bravo, les filles!

Finding My Media Balance

This year, 5th grade students will learn more about digital wellness though Common Sense Media.  The first lesson focused on media balance by helping students identify a balanced and healthy life.  We created a media plan that can be talked about at home with parents.  We will also talk about gender stereotypes, digital friendships and cyberbullying, and reading news online.  Below are more resources for families around the media balance topic. 

Media Balance Family Tips

Family Media Check-Up

Typing Club

This letter will be coming home with your daughter:

This week, the 4th and 5th graders were introduced to TypingClub.  Although we will not be working on typing skills during Computer Science classes, students are encouraged to practice at home.

TypingClub is an educational program that will help students learn to type quickly and accurately on a standard computer keyboard. The program is fully web-based, so students can use it to practice keyboarding anywhere an internet connection can be found.

To log in to TypingClub account, go to the following login URL:

https://brynmawrschool.typingclub.com

Click on “using your Google account”

Use the credentials on the label at the top of this page.

If you would like to help at home, the most important thing for your child to focus on while practicing is to avoid looking at the keyboard while typing.

I am very excited to share TypingClub with you and to work toward developing your child's keyboarding skills. Together, we can help perfect a skill set that will be indispensable to your child in the future.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

All the best,

Alisha Caruso

carusoa@brynmawrschool.org

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!