Hello, Middle School Students and Families! Here is a recap of today’s Middle School Meeting.
Emma Hogan ’30, Lily DeBonis ’30, and Zoe Epstein ’30 ran today’s meeting. You can check out the slides from this week’s meeting here.
The BVR Student
Josh Hamilton ’31 and Tomas de Icaza ’31 presented Listens with Thoughtful Attention.
If you don’t listen with thoughtful attention, you will be lost. And if you ask a question that the teacher has already explained, that’s not good. You want to thrive in your classes and be a good student.
Tomas said, “Last year, I wasn’t paying attention and talking to my friends, so I didn’t get great feedback. I started paying attention in class, stopped talking, and my grades have gone up, and I started getting a deeper understanding. I pay attention to the teacher, look at them when they are talking, and do not talk when others are talking.
Josh said, “In conclusion, I think listening can be one of the most important jobs as a student, and it is one of the many ways that you can succeed”.
Announcements
🌎 The Social Justice Retreat is next Friday. Social Justice Ambassadors Samir Kasrawi ’30 and Reade Mrazek ’30 spoke about what Social Justice means to them, as well as a topic that they are passionate about—decreasing gun violence. They shared statistics and trusted sources for learning more.
📋 This week in advisory, all middle school students will be taking a belonging survey. Mr. Castillo defined belonging and explained that we are sending out the survey to better understand our students’ sense of belonging as middle schoolers.
📸 Kat Nahvi ’31 and Olivia Smith ’30, members of the yearbook staff, announced that all 8th graders need to submit a picture of themselves as a baby (2 years old or younger) for the 8th grade baby pictures pages of the yearbook. The deadline for emailing pictures to Kat and Olivia is Friday. 8th graders who get their baby pictures in before Friday get a piece of candy. They also told the 8th graders they would receive a form to give input on who the yearbook should be dedicated to this year.
📚 This month, the book club is reading Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray. All middle schoolers are encouraged to read the book and join the book club discussion on Wednesdays.
🎶 The music teachers are helping a group of 8th grade students who will be performing with Upper School ensembles in February. Due to their rehearsal schedule, they will not be music R-TIME for the next five Tuesdays. Music R-TIME will continue on Thursdays, which is a great time for students to practice their instruments, complete their music homework, or get extra help from a music teacher.
🦫 There will be a pop-up shop selling Beaver gear during lunch and recess this Friday. Students can purchase keychains, joggers, sweatshirts, and more. Students can either use a credit card or charge home. When students charge home, their parents/caregivers receive a bill for their student’s purchase.
🗓️ Next week is the start of Semester 2. Students who took Visual Arts classes will begin Theater Arts classes, and students who have been taking Theater Arts classes will begin Visual Arts classes.
On Friday, there will be no arts classes, giving Ms. O’Toole and Ms. Winston a day to transition from semester 1 to semester 2. During the time when students would usually have art class on Friday, sixth graders will participate in a workshop with Mr. Castillo titled, “Being an Upstander: Recognizing Hate and Identifying Strategies to Stop It.” 7th and 8th graders will have Wellness.
Wellness
New addition to Middle School Minutes!
Starting this week, we will list the topics discussed at Wellness classes. This week, we are also including questions to ask your students: Continuing the Conversation.
- 6th grade topic: stress and anxiety
- 7th grade topic: anxiety and body image
- 8th grade topic: stress and substance abuse
Questions for families to discuss with their students:
6th grade
- What kinds of things make you feel stressed or anxious?
- What strategies did you learn and practice on dealing with stress and anxiety?
7th grade
- What are the 2 top mental health challenges for middle schoolers? Why is that?
- Can you share some strategies you learned in dealing with stress, anxiety, and body image struggles?
8th grade
- What is the connection between stress and substance use?
- What strategies did you learn on ways to handle stress?
Student Reminders
We watched a short, funny video about headphone use at school: Students may only use their headphones in class with a teacher’s permission and may never use headphones in the hallways or in other spaces like lunch or recess. Why? We are a community, and we interact with each other in the hallways, at lunch, recess, etc.
We reminded students to let me know if they want to run a MS meeting and to pick up trash on their way out of Gym A.
8th Grade Event
8th graders stayed after meeting for an announcement. 9th grade students Ave Hurley ’29 and Camille Torres-Vega ’29 told the 8th grade about a special event on Thursday, February 5: Dam Ready for Upper School!
To help 8th grade students learn more about the Upper School, they will spend a morning attending US classes, a panel, and have a special lunch with some US students and faculty. The BVR Upper School is excited to host the 8th graders and help answer questions they have.
Happening This Week
✨ RISE: Embroidery
📋 Advisory agenda: Belonging survey
🏀 🤺 Home games this week
Monday
Boys (B) Basketball vs. Shady Hill | 3:15 p.m., Gym A
Thursday
Fencing vs. ISB | 3:30 p.m., Green Gym