Peek at the Week for March 11- April 1, 2010
March 11, 2010Peek at the Week for March 11- April 1, 2010
March
| 13 | Catlin Gabel Gambol, Nines Hotel |
| 16-19 | Middle School Breakaway |
| 16-19 | NO AM or PM Catlin route bus service |
| 22-26 | Spring Break, no school |
| 29 | Classes resume |
April
| 7 | Middle School Service |
| 10 | Tech Day for 8th graders & parents, 9:00-2:00pm |
| 23 | Middle School Dance, 7-10:00pm in the Barn |
| 30 | Middle School Invitational Track Meet |
Notes from Middle School Head, Paul Andrichuk
Parent Evening
On Thursday, April 8th at 7:00pm you are invited to a parent evening with Jerald Block, M.D., renowned psychiatrist and expert on Internet addiction. Dr. Block will talk about the ways adolescents behave online and describe when those behaviors become a problem. Dr. Block has published an editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry arguing that “Internet addiction” merits a new diagnostic term.
The evening will be in Gerlinger.
Breakaway News
Tomorrow (Friday) students will meet in Breakaway groups from 8:15—8:35.
This is a time to touch base, collect waivers/permission slips (hint, hint) and finalize meeting times and places for Tuesday morning.
Dance Class
Current 6th and 7th graders will receive invitations to Evening Dance Classes (these are due to be mailed at the beginning of April), which will start in the fall. These sessions occur on consecutive Fridays until early November.
Other things you should know:
• Although Friday Evening Dance Classes are not affiliated with Catlin Gabel, many students do it, both for the opportunities to meet Middle Schoolers from other schools and the enjoyable activities that are planned afterwards.
• All new students will receive invitations.
• Sometimes there are Catlin Gabel events scheduled on these nights. In these cases, families will have to make a choice as to what function they will attend. For example, the MS soccer jamboree typically occurs on a dance class Friday.
• If current 7’s did not participate in the fall, they typically do not receive an invitation. You can get on the waiting list. Eighth graders who are new to the school will receive an invitation.
• All current and new sixth graders will receive an invitation for 7th grade classes in the fall.
• There is a dress code and list of rules for Friday Evening Dance Classes.
• Dance classes are held in the Scottish Rite Ballroom located at 709 SW Fifteenth Ave.
• The invitation is sent on a folded piece of blue paper, and as a result, it is often thrown away as junk mail.
• Reservations and tuition must be sent in soon. The due date is May 15, 2010
If you are a current 6th or 7th grader and you have not received an invitation it is an oversight. Please contact Leslie Shoemaker, Betsy drake, and Jenny Mark with questions.
What to do during break………………?
(This is a repeat of an earlier Peek article)
Jim Harrison is a writer, poet, and screen-writer, most famous for Legends of the Fall. He wrote a great piece titled, "Going Places" in The Best of Outside: The First Twenty Years. Harrison maintains that getting a driver's license is a hugely important event, even if it is one of the top five future moments middle school parents might dread. When 16 year olds get this small laminated card, they see the world differently. Some become obsessed with the mechanical and physical traits of a car. Others just want to get in a car and go.
If anytime and anywhere is your philosophy, there is no such thing as rules of the road. Instead, these folks have guidelines and general theories. And rather than think of this a travel guide, think of this as the vacation guidebook.
Among Harrison's guidelines, liberally adapted to spring break as well as the spirit of Breakaway:
Don't compute time and distance. I can make it to Bend in 3 hours is not the way to think of it. What if you want to stop for a Huckleberry shake? I spent an hour last march with a friend seeing who could hit a specific tree from the greatest distance with a snowball, a wager that cost me a huckleberry shake as well as the use of my right arm for a day. I built an awesome snowman on a road trip. It cost me nothing but an hour and an old Notre Dame baseball cap my son insisted on leaving with his new friend. It was snowing after all.
Leave your reason, your logic, at home. When things start to look the same, take a left and another left. Start over.
Spend as little time as possible thinking about the equipment. I mean the DVD, not the chains, of course. Anytime, anywhere and the DVD do not necessarily belong in the same sentence, at least among purists.
A little research during down time helps. On the way over and through the Blue Mountains this summer, I happened to be reading a history of the Oregon Trail. It was visually arresting, and the words jumped off the page. Settlers described the heat, the rugged terrain, and their states of mind. Many had lost families or jettisoned prize possessions, at this point. They all described this section of the trail—the very one I was on—as the most difficult of the journey.
Be careful about who you are with. Whiners are not appropriate. There are long stretches of togetherness, down-time, and occasionally boredom during winter break. Create fun activities and conversations, and when you feel the occasional irritation of family brought on by the stress of the season; find a way to sort through petty jealousies and misunderstandings. They are the break equivalent of getting stuck in the snow.
Pretend you don't care about good food. A ridiculous statement, I know. But have you ever stopped for a hot dog on the way back down the mountain or had a slurpee at a gas station in Burns (brain freeze!)?
Avoid irony, cynicism, and self-judgment. Enough said!
Do not scorn day trips. When the whiners get to be too much, get in your car to go kayaking in Scappoose. Stick your toes in the Pacific between an early breakfast and a late lunch.
On behalf of the MS, we wish you a restful, happy, and safe break.
Dr. Viola Vaughn to Speak
Please gather in the MS commons at 12:45-1:30, on Wednesday, April 7, to hear
Viola Vaughn, founder and executive director of the nonprofit 10,000 Girls in Kaolack, Sénégal, West Africa. She will speak at Catlin Gabel about her work educating girls. Viola Vaughn is an American with an Ed.D. from Columbia University who received a CNN “Hero” award in 2008. A social entrepreneur, Vaughn has built 10,000 Girls from an idea to a vibrant program currently serving 2,567 girls in 10 towns and villages in rural Sénégal. Veronique de la Poterie, Upper School French teacher, has been working to create ties between Senegalese students and our French language students.
Viola Vaughn, founder and executive director of the nonprofit 10,000 Girls in Kaolack, Sénégal, West Africa. She will speak at Catlin Gabel about her work educating girls. Viola Vaughn is an American with an Ed.D. from Columbia University who received a CNN “Hero” award in 2008. A social entrepreneur, Vaughn has built 10,000 Girls from an idea to a vibrant program currently serving 2,567 girls in 10 towns and villages in rural Sénégal. Veronique de la Poterie, Upper School French teacher, has been working to create ties between Senegalese students and our French language students.
Viola Vaughn clips:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIvdwUKDTxA <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIvdwUKDTxA>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyOWV3VlnEY <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyOWV3VlnEY>
Project Second Wind Food Collection
Once again the Catlin Gabel Middle School Student Association is teaming with The Oregon Food Bank to participate in their Project Second Wind food collection. Oregon Food Bank provides food to 935 food relief agencies in Oregon. Please give early and often to this incredibly worthy cause. Barrels will be around through April 9th. Help those right here in Portland who go hungry on a daily basis.
Catlin Gabel Summer Programs 2010
By now you should have received the Catlin Gabel Summer Programs catalog in the mail. We hope you have the time to look through the catalog and find courses that will fit your child's summer plans. As usual we are offering a wide variety of courses, some new, some old, that should capture the interests and activities of your child. In the event of a misplaced catalog, you can always click on www.catlin.edu/summer to find all the information you need or visit the Catlin Gabel webpage and click on the Summer Programs logo button at the bottom of the main page.
After-School Robotics
Catlin Gabel’s Spring Lego Robotics is the perfect introduction to engineering at Catlin Gabel. It’s a low-pressure way to learn what robotics is all about. Some students take those skills and join the fall FIRST Lego League competition teams in middle school while others would rather not have that intensity and time commitment. In either case, spring is the time to have fun!
The Spring session runs from April 5th to June 3rd and is open to 5th thru 8th graders.
Spring Robotics and Fall Competition Teams
We’ve found that the fall FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition teams have a lot more fun if the members already know they like engineering and have a grasp of the basics. To be on a fall FLL team students must either have taken part in Spring Robotics, 7th grade science robotics, Saturday Academy, or be able to demonstrate a high level of skill from work at home.
General Robotics
Start out by completing the self-paced introduction to programming in NXT-G. After that, the sky’s the limit. Come up with your own ideas for Lego robotic projects or pick one from our list. How about a robot that can draw? One that can beat other robots in Sumo Wrestling? Soccer with Bluetooth radio? A Lego vending machine or monorail? Students should come with the idea they want to learn about engineering and programming, it’s not a Lego free-for-all. No experience required.
How the Program Works
General Robotics activities are self-paced so students can flex the times they come to meet their schedules. The maximum number of times students can come is twice a week; some come once. The lab will be open Monday thru Thursday with one day reserved for girls only depending on interest. Students may come up to two days a week.
The sessions start at 3:15pm and end at 5:00pm in the Nutshell lab on campus. Students must be picked up promptly at lab or the curb by 5:05pm, or go to After-School Care at that time. The program starts April 6th and continues through June 4th. The lab will be closed April 14th-16th when Dale is gone with the Upper School robotics team to the World Championships. This is a mixed grade program open only to students attending (or who have been accepted to) Catlin Gabel 5th grade or middle school.
About the Instructor
Dale Yocum is Robotics Program Director at Catlin Gabel and has been leading robotics activities here and Lake Oswego for the last eleven years. He also leads the famous Upper School robotics team at Catlin, the Flaming Chickens. Previously, he was founder and CEO of Clientele Software in Tualatin and manager of many software development groups in Silicon Valley over the course of 23 years. He’s recognized as one of the state’s experts on using robotics as a way to introduce students to science and engineering.
Sign Up Now
If history is any judge we expect these classes to fill up fast. They are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. To register to to www.catlin.edu/msrobotics . The fee of $195 will be billed to your Catlin Gabel account if your student is still a member after two weeks in the class. Try it out. If you have any questions, email Dale at yocumd@catlin.edu
Parent Book Group in April
Please join us for the second of two books groups for parents, facilitated this time by Ann Fyfield and Chris Bell. This will be a time to discuss parenting and learning for students at the Middle School.
If you are interested please email Paul with your choice. We are happy to order the book and charge these to your account.
Here are the books and short summaries of them.
Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher
From Publishers Weekly:
"Gallagher (The Power of Place, Working on God) couples personal ruminations and interviews with experts to explore the role of attention in defining consciousness, identity and the human experience: 'who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love-is the sum of what you focus on.' From paying attention to your inner dialogue (helping eliminate negative thought patterns) to bucking the myths of multi-tasking (says cognitive scientist David Meyer, 'Einstein didn't invent the theory of relativity while multi-tasking at the Swiss patent office'), Gallagher draws practical conclusions from her examination of conscious ('top-down') and unconscious ('bottom-up') attention strategies. … A fascinating psycho-social look at human motivation and the power of focus, Gallagher's latest is worth paying attention to." Publishers Weekly
And from The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Paul Bloom
Don't check your e-mail; stop Twittering, browsing, Facebooking, eating, drinking, listening to music and watching the children. Take seriously, if just for a few minutes, what Winifred Gallagher describes as the grand unifying theory of psychology: Your life is the sum of what you focus on. Then consider the main implication of this theory: The skillful management of attention is the key to happiness and fulfillment. Live the focused life.
Gallagher devotes much of this engaging book to reviewing the psychology and neuroscience of attention. A journalist and the author of several books about human psychology, including "House Thinking" (2006) and "The Power of Place" (1993), Gallagher blends the science nicely with examples of people whose disciplined attention has contributed to their success: Tiger Woods is extremely focused on golf; Mozart really grooved on music; and when Bill Clinton felt our pain, he did so with all his heart.
Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about the Emerging Science of Sex Differences, Leonard Sax, M.D., Ph.D
From Publishers Weekly:
In the feminist conception of gender flexibility, no set rules apply: girls can play with trucks; boys can play with dolls. But pediatrician and psychologist Sax argues that our theories about gender's fluidity may be wrong and to apply them to children in their formative years is quite dangerous. Sax believes the brains of boys and girls are hardwired differently: boys are more aggressive; girls are more shy. And deliberately changing a child's gender—in cases of intersex (hermaphrodism) or accident (as in the case of David Reimer, who was raised as a girl after a hideous circumcision mishap)—can ruin a child's life. Sax also believes modern gender philosophy has resulted in more boys being given behavior-modifying drugs and more girls being given antidepressants. Much of his argument makes sense: we may have gone to the other extreme and tried too hard to feminize boys and masculinize girls. Sax makes a compelling argument for parents and teachers to tread lightly when it comes to gender and raises important questions regarding single-sex education, which he supports. His readable prose, which he juxtaposes with numerous interviews with school administrators, principals, scientists and others, makes this book accessible to a range of readers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --
These discussion groups will always run from 8:30-9:30am, with the location TBA.
Dates: every Monday in April
Monday, 4/5
Monday, 4/12
Monday, 4/19
Monday, 4/26
Please note that The Peek at the Week will not be published again until Thursday, April 1st due to Breakaway and Spring Break.