Sitting On Each Others’ Shoulders And Wearing A Really Big Coat
Dear Families,
This week in the life of BNS, teaching teams have put the final touches on their thoughtful and hearty narrative progress reports that you will receive over the break. These reports are currently making their way home for just about all of our classes - if there are different plans in the works, you’ll hear from us or your teaching team directly. Our narratives aim to reflect to families the children that we see in school: their learning, their play, their strengths and their goals. Please do spend some time with them, and make note of any thoughts or questions that come up. Once we return in March, it will be time for Parent Teacher Conferences, and all of your questions will be answered.
Our BLM concert series came to an end on Thursday after three weeks of dynamic performances via zoom. We had the privilege of experiencing expertise that allowed us all to be swept away by the sounds and taken-in by the talent.
Mbira Songs of Zimbabwe, Traditional with Nora Balaban, Rima Fand and Yacouba Sissoko
Rima is also our wonderful violin instructor in the band program, so many of our students know her - this was especially inspiring to our band students to see their own teacher perform!
Harlem Chamber Players, Classical
This is the amazing group that we have had in the building the past two years, presenting classical music by black composers and musicians with facilitated conversation with musicians who were performing in the pieces we got to see.
Jerome Harris, Jazz Guitar and Vocals
Jerome is one of the best of the best of the NYC Jazz old guard, a world renowned musician who has toured and recorded with many of the greats!
Our first post covid indoor culminating experience happened on Wednesday - 3rd Grade West Africa Museum! There were many proud children, teachers, and families sharing in teaching and learning as students showcased a 3-D handcrafted artifact. Students also performed dances they had learned under the leadership of Pia, our Cumbé dance artist partnered with a drummer.
In past years, such an event also would have included visits from BNS classes of all ages. Because we are still taking many COVID precautions, the visitors this year were limited to family members of the presenting students, in smaller groups. We learned during an afternoon meeting with second grade teacher Beth that a stretch of time in the morning was spent by her children deep in their imaginations, coming up with ingenuitive plans to “sneak into the museum.”
Her children had wonderfully creative ideas like sitting on each others’ shoulders and wearing a really big coat to pretend to be a parent of a third grader, borrowing an indigo-dyed shirt to pretend to be a third grader, and even finding overhead ducts to sneak into the cafeteria like spies! Indeed, some of our second graders do remember pre-pandemic museum visits to the upper grades, when they were much smaller Pre-K and Kindergarten children, and before the world knew what COVID was.
Second Graders in Andrew and Greta’s class finished their comics! Here are some snapshots of these amazing creations.
And, when we return from break, we will launch our first in-person PBAs since March 2020 - it’s startling to remember that we finished up our very last panels on 3/13/2020, the last day we were all together in school during that school year. The PBAs - Performance Based Assessments - are the personalized way we get to hear from our children about their research, crafting and learning after their culminating share. We begin with our third graders, scheduled for Tuesday 3/1 through Wednesday 3/8 - and we will be seeking families to join us as guest panelists. In the past, a panel would include 3-4 adults, but given our COVID times, we will have two adults per panel - each child’s teacher, and a guest. To maintain the integrity of this assessment process, families of the grade level presenting may not sit on those particular panels, but we invite you to join another grade. A few weeks further into March, our fifth grade panels will take place, followed in late May/early June with our fourth grade PBAs. Look out for more information and an invite coming soon!
We send with this letter wishes for a restful and restorative mid-winter break for all. It has been quite a winter, and we are grateful for the time to reflect and recharge as we ready ourselves for a busy spring, filled with lots of warmth and excitement.
Enjoy!
With care,
D&M
