As forecast in last week’s Snapshot, this week we celebrated Wellness Week, wherein students (and faculty) participated in a number of activities during Advisory period to promote self-care and wellness in all forms, with the hope that all participants would have the opportunity to pause, reflect, and figuratively (or, in some cases, literally!) exhale in some way. While the rainy weather later in the week was predicted to “dampen the plans” for some of the Thursday offerings, there were still plenty of outdoor experiences in the early going and a plethora of terrific indoor activities from which to choose if Mother Nature didn’t plan to be as cooperative. Click on the photo to see a Gallery of Wellness!
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Important Message from the Health Office |
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A gentle reminder: Please schedule your student’s yearly physical and necessary vaccinations now to avoid a mad dash in August and September. New students in all grade levels, and current students who will be entering Grades K, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, are required by New York State to have a physical on file in the Health Office two weeks before the start of school. There are also specific vaccinations required for Grades K, 6, 7, and 12. Please communicate with your child’s health care provider or the school nurse if you have any questions about what is due or whether your child will need a physical. Thank you!
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Lower Schoolers Receive an Earth Day Education…in Their Lunches! |
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In honor of Earth Day, one MPH student took it upon herself to make booklets for Lower Schoolers that aimed to raise awareness about our climate. These fun (and educational!) booklets created by Neha Chhablani were added to Lower School lunches and contained activities like a word search and “connect the dots,” as well as Earth Day jokes (e.g., “What did the ground say to the earthquake?” “You crack me up!”). The booklets also provided information about the climate crisis and ways that we humans can help (e.g., try not to waste food, start a garden, and other recommendations). Neha initiated this project because she is passionate about spreading awareness about the climate crisis. She explains that, while it can sometimes feel remote, “it really isn’t, and it’s a growing threat! And our generation is going to directly face that threat. We will help the fight against the climate crisis in any way possible, including spreading awareness.” Thank you, Neha, for all your hard work! |
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Check Out These May Masterclasses…
MPH is hosting two woodwinds masterclasses via Zoom this May. Kristian Baverstam of MIT will be joining us for clarinet this coming Monday, May 3, and Symphoria’s own Kelly Covert will be joining us for flute on Monday, May 24. These masterclasses are open to performers in Grades 6 – 12 and audience members of all ages.
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Pictured here: Zonta Club members painted “NO” on MPH community members’ hands in 2019 to demonstrate their opposition to violence against women. The club recently received an award for the many important initiatives they undertook last year before the pandemic began, including — but not limited to — creating Halloween Candygrams to raise money for Vera House Women’s Shelter, collecting items to put in the holiday baskets of Onondaga County families in need, and gathering gently used clothes for needy girls and boys in a third-world country with “Project Smiles.” The club has continued its meaningful service work this school year as well. Among other things, in December the club took responsibility for the content of a full week of advisories, sharing with advisory groups each day some short video segments to raise awareness of violence against women. In March, the group organized and celebrated International Women’s Day via a several-day effort: They posted educational flyers in hallways and disseminated them to Upper School tutorials; they created a “Sticky Note Wall” (a wall of Post-it Notes with expressions of appreciation for the adult women in our community); and they honored these same MPH female faculty and staff by delivering to them roses and handwritten notes of appreciation from the students. We applaud the Z Club for its commitment to supporting the mission of the Zonta Club of Syracuse and of Zonta International (empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy) and its innovative approach to these various initiatives, particularly during a global pandemic. |
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“On the Very Near Horizon” Spring Sports Reminder
MPH’s Modified spring sports season begins next week! The first official practice for the teams will take place after school on Tuesday, May 4. Registration will remain open until the week of May 10. If your child is interested in participating, please register them via Ultra Camp, and please contact Athletic Director Jim Ryan right away if you have any difficulties with the process. For more details, please click here to read the letter that was recently emailed to families with children in Grades 7 and 8.
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A Variety of Adventures in Grade 2 |
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When they are not working with partners using magnetic letter boards to practice spelling patterns from their current Fundations work, second graders might be found recently doing a rather different type of hands-on learning: an experiment in honor of Earth Day. They had read the story The Water Princess (about the struggle many people around the globe face in getting water for daily use), so, as a class, what ensued was a discussion about how wells and water filters can make clean water more accessible, and then they put this concept to the test, trying out different materials as water filters.
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Appreciation for Those Working Hard Behind the Scenes to Keep Us Healthy |
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The Middle School Leadership Team comprises students representing Grades 6, 7, and 8 and meets weekly with Mr. Spear to talk about middle school life and put together initiatives for the MPH community. Recognizing the sheer amount of work that the Dining Services staff puts in daily to ensure healthy food is delivered to every member of the School, the team decided to make a documentary about them. Members of the group paired up and took turns capturing footage for their film. The film was then directed and edited by 7th grader Owen Reckess, who polished it off and shared it for a recent All-School Meeting. Enjoy! |
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Students in Mr. Vural’s chemistry class have recently been learning to use the concept of the mole as it relates to chemical formulas and reactions. In the lab pictured here, they are using a flame to drive the water off of a hydrate of copper II sulfate in order to determine how many moles of water the solid incorporates into the crystal lattice.
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Grade 4 Studies of Haudenosaunee Continue in Earnest |
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Fourth Graders have spent quite a bit of time recently learning about the Haudenosaunee, including many aspects important to their culture and way of life. The students read a novel called Children of the Longhouse, by Joseph Bruchac, a wonderful story of two children growing up in the Flint Nation, and to conclude the unit, Mrs. Ricciardiello had students select a particular area of interest and delve further into it, with their respective research culminating in the completion of a creative project. Students then presented their work to classmates.
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Each of these videos represents an example of such a project. “The History of Lacrosse” was created and presented by Andrew Abrams, and the stop-motion video that integrates various Haudenosaunee elements was presented by Leo Abdo, who prepared a set, wrote a script, assigned roles to classmates, and shot and edited the entire video. Be sure to click on the still photograph or here to see a gallery of other terrific examples of these creative Grade 4 students’ work.
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“New” Head of Lower School (for a Day) Prepares! |
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Third grader Conor was found preparing for when he will replace Ms. Abdo — for a day. As part of the Silent Auction array in our recent Spring Social, this special item allows a Lower School student to plan a day of activities, special events, and snacks for their class. Conor already has some great ideas in mind; third graders will be in for an exciting day with him at the helm! In this photo he can be seen having already donned Ms. A’s winter coat in earnest anticipation. (Let’s hope he doesn’t actually need it when the big day arrives!)
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Art and Mathematics in Cool Collaboration! |
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Quite recently our Grade 6 students actually put their math skills to work in order to create portraits in their visual arts class! In the process, and with the guidance of both Ms. Henderson and Ms. Reeve, students learned about the importance of collaboration and began to see how both subjects exist outside of the confines of the classroom. They learned to draw large-scale charcoal portraits using the Loomis method of drawing, and they relied on a lot of math to get them there: They needed to scale their drawings to ratio, practice with their compasses and protractors to create angles and circles, and use quadrants and points to check the proportions of their drawings. Can you recognize some of these 6th graders? Check out the album for some of their “in process” pieces as well as some of their final work here!
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On Wednesday, the MPH Spanish Club met with their second guest speaker of the quarter, an alumnus of the school! Daniel Ruiz Zurita (’91) was a student at MPH for one year, and during his time here he took part in many activities, including Boys Varsity Soccer coached by Mr. Ridall, with whom he was able to reunite over Zoom. Daniel Ruiz Zurita is now a professor of Architecture and Design at la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in Madrid, Spain. During this virtual get-together, students were able to utilize their skills to connect with a member of the extended MPH community, while also gaining insight into the Spanish-speaking world.
Muchas gracias por su tiempo. Un gran abrazo,
El Club de Español
Parmees and Victor, Co-presidents
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From Caterpillars to Butterflies in Pre-K! |
Ms. Walsh shared with us some fabulous photos of the hands-on investigations her young students are engaged in. Facets of these investigations have included examining live caterpillars, noting changes in their appearance from that of the previous day, and comparing them to the life cycle chart. They have been predicting what will happen next and drawing in their butterfly journals. Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar has also served to inspire these Pre-K students as they engage in an open-ended exploration of materials during their “process art” activities.
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Celebrating MPH's Senior Volleyballers! |
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On Tuesday, April 20, Girls Varsity Volleyball celebrated Senior Night during their last home game of a season necessarily modified due to the pandemic. Athletic Director Jim Ryan delivered remarks about the seniors’ MPH volleyball experience through the years, and all the seniors — Annie Pratt, Angel Holligan, Maya Huyge, and Julia Smorol — were presented with flowers. The JV players had designed supportive posters and decorated the gym for this final home game, which resulted in a win against the Syracuse Academy of Science. In spite of an abbreviated season, all of these girls were extremely grateful for the chance to play volleyball at all this year, and they recognize the fact that a number of students from other schools didn’t have that opportunity. Overall, the girls had a terrific season this year, and one student even offered a perspective that the pandemic circumstances may have even helped the team bond more and work harder. Congratulations, seniors! |
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[Note: The editors would like to thank Neha Chhablani for contributing information to this story.] |
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Please Take a Moment to Listen! |
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Mr. Huyge passed along another glimpse of an MPH musician in action, and we hope you’ll take some time to enjoy. Ariella Shever, Grade 6, is proud of her Jewish heritage and has learned several Hebrew songs on clarinet. Here she is playing “Yom Leyabasha,” which is part of Hallel — a part of the service for special holy days. The text for the song comes from the 12th-century Hebrew poet Yehudah HaLevi.
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