Week in Review: Busy Edition

The library was back in action this week after being closed for most of the last two weeks for AP testing–just in time for Senior Seminars!

Snackies!

The Senior Seminars began this week and the library was host to some of these interesting and informative presentations: Financial Literacy with Mr. Talamantes, What to Take to College with Mrs. Talamantes, Forensic Case Studies with Ms. Dozier and Mr. Himes, College Research with Ms. Melinson, and Famous Supreme Court Cases with Mr. Strumpfer.

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On Tuesday we had music in the library with the Middle School Jazz Band, High School Jazz Band, and High School Concert Band as they prepare for the Forum Music Festival competition.

On Thursday Ms. Nellis’ AP US History class was in to get research materials for their end of the year project. Students chose topics they previously learned about in class that interested them and could be expanded into a presentation that Ms. Nellis might use in her AP US History class next year. Topics include the U.S. reconstructing Japan after World War II, eugenics and DNA affecting the Civil Rights Movement, and how television affected US viewership of the Vietnam War.

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On Friday we had a special lunch, the First Annual Raffle Lunch with Dr. Bell, where we celebrated Dr. Bell’s impending retirement. A group of former students and colleagues along with current students and colleagues gathered to celebrate Dr. Bell who has been “Bringing Back Smart” to Country Day for many years!

Week in Review: Thanksgiving Edition

This week was extra short and sweet thanks (ha!) to the upcoming Thanksgiving break.

Students had a potluck lunch on Tuesday with their advisories to get them in the Thanksgiving spirit and celebrate the end of the first trimester. Ms. Melinson’s advisory feasted on yummy tri-tip, crazy good mashed potatoes, and delightful apple-berry pie.

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Have a happy and restful Thanksgiving!

Week in Review: Quiet, Sort Of

With the Middle Schoolers gone on their trips, things were a little quieter here. On Tuesday, our 10th graders came in to learn more about using databases to research for their Sophomore Projects, which will all be on a language or place of worship in the Sacramento area. We’re looking forward to seeing how they focus their topics.

On Wednesday the MOGAI Club presented during the High School Leadership Lunch. They gave some advice about how to be an ally to those in the LGBTQ+ community: “stay informed; ask questions; be supportive; stand up for LGBTQ+ rights in situations where you see them faltering; join the club to help and stay involved.” The club meets about twice a month, so if you’d like to join, listen for the announcements at morning meeting or talk to Austin, Isabelle, or Kayleigh.

Senior Moratorium

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Wednesday was Senior Moratorium in the Matthews Library. Twelfth graders get several hours to work on their college applications with their college counselors and teachers here to help them fill them out and read their essays.

They took a break in the middle of their hard work to listen to Lee Thomsen who told them about a book called Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be by Frank Bruni. He said that who you are as a human being is more important than your GPA and that ultimately you’ll get out of college what you put into it. Happiness and success are not dependent upon what school you attend. He offered a list of colleges attended by the CEOs of the Top 10 Fortune 500 Companies as proof that success is not limited to people who attend the most prestigious schools. Then he shared his own daughter’s experience in choosing a college and what a good fit her choice was.

After the Moratorium, Mr. Wells cooked burgers for the seniors as well as the juniors and sophomores who had been taking the PSATs and the freshmen who had been playing Mr. Mangold’s version of Civilization.

Spirit Week in Review!

Spirit Week was packed into a very exciting four days this week. On Tuesday, students wore tie-dye. Wednesday was the Advisory Costume Contest, with a movie character theme. Ms. Melinson’s advisory chose Diary of a Wimpy Kid and was judged along with the other Advisory classes.

Thursday was twin day and students spent a rainy Friday wearing red and black and preparing for the pep rally. Friday also saw Mr. Wells and Mrs. Bauman lead Morning Meeting in singing “Blowin’ in the Wind” to honor recent Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan.

In the middle of all the Spirit Week events, 10th graders came in to learn more about their Sophomore Projects and 7th graders came in to do research for their Biomes Projects. They will be making websites to help teach their classmates more about biomes.

In addition to Spirit Week, it was also Teen Read Week! The Matthews Library mascot, Agamemnon, announced the winners of the Teen Read Week raffle, who all read books during September and October: In the High School Emily H won lunch for herself and three friends; Anny, Sonja, Emma B, Joe, Monique, Héloïse, and Abby won brownies on a random Tuesday, and Monique won the mystery prize. In the Middle School Lindsay won lunch for herself and three friends; Elizabeth, Catherine, Loryn, Rahul, Jada, Zola, Erin, and Anna W won brownies on a random Tuesday; and Catherine won the mystery prize. What a crazy week!

 

Week in Review: Findings and Firsts

This week, the Matthews Library received a big stack of new books! They are currently being processed and will be ready by next Wednesday. Sorry, everyone’s going to have to wait!

Monday was the first meeting of the Political Puzzles Club. The club brings together students and faculty with a variety of political views to discuss political issues. In the first meeting, the club watched a TED Talk by Michael Sandel on “The Lost Art of Democratic Debate.” The next meeting will be Thursday, September 29 and will focus on the Electoral College and voting access.

This year’s first issue of The Octagon came out on Tuesday. Staffers Jack, Adam, and Benett came into Matthews Library looking sharp!

On Wednesday, 8th grade History classes came in to work on their National History Day projects. This year’s theme is “Taking a Stand in History.” Students found books in the Matthews Library on their topics, including: Title IX, Weather Underground, Harvey Milk, the Newsboys Strike of 1899, Rosa Parks, Flappers, and the Berlin Airlift. We’re looking forward to seeing their projects!

Week in Review: Winner, Winner… Flamingo Paper Clips?

It was a fairly quiet week, except for the fire drill, and Book Club, and the High School meeting, and the Summer Reading Raffle, and Back to School Night. Oh, and the Chelsea-Liverpool soccer game today at lunch. Okay, it wasn’t really quiet.

The Summer Reading Raffle winners were Miles, Hailey, Erin, Anna, Juliette, Jacob, Brynne, Jada, and Bassem–some of them are pictured below with their prizes. Students did activities with their summer reading books such as creating new covers for them, training a dog to do a trick, and making pizza. You can see their work here.  Prizes included an iTunes certificate, Barnes & Noble certificates, zombie hand window clings (yep!), and flamingo paper clips (because you need them).

Week in Review: Say Cheese!

This week both our 8th graders and our 6th graders came in to pick up books for their reading projects. The 8th graders created pages on the 8th grade Independent Reading Site. There they will get to post summaries and reviews for their peers to comment on.

Wednesday was our first Leadership Lunch featuring Smita and Shriya speaking about Cognitive Exhange, a program where students mentor other students across the globe in speech and debate techniques. They are starting a club here at Country Day for students who’d like to be mentors. Sylvaine and Arvind, the Leadership Lunch Coordinators, are putting together a great program this year so stay tuned for more interesting presentations each month.

Thursday was picture day so we got to see everyone from the Middle & High Schools as they came in wearing their finest. Since the seniors have their portraits done later in the year for the yearbook, they get to dress up silly for their photos. We spotted Cookie Monster, a sumo wrestler, and superman. Others showed their spirit with patriotic props, face paint, and tattoos.

Friday was Ancil Hoffman Day and the black and red teams were also showing a lot of spirit. The black team won, again (legitimately) (seriously).

Week in Review: Welcome Back!

Welcome back!

We’re back! The library was busy this week as usual. All sorts of activities happened in the library including a screening of an informative and entertaining video made for Freshmen by Sonja & Nico about the rules at Country Day. The 9th Graders learned a lot–including not to mess with Sonja! There were also parent orientation meetings as well as very helpful College Application sessions for our seniors (thanks, Mrs. Bauman & Mr. Kuipers!)

Some 6th graders learned the legend of the library St. Bernards when they came in for a short orientation.

Speaking of orientation, our 6th graders came in for a quick library orientation so they could find out where to find the books they want as well as how to log in to their email. Some of them even got to learn the legend of the library St. Bernards.

Ms. Melinson’s advisory met for the first time on Thursday to plan their takeover of the world–or really just to figure out who’s bringing snack each week and get to know each other (that way they’ll know who should do what when they take over the world).

Book elective class received pizza bookmarks and checked out their first books of the year.

On Tuesday and Thursday, Ms. LaMay & Mr. Crabb’s Book Elective classes came in to check out books and get a slice of pizza (well in bookmark form–food for thought?)

Employees from SpaceX captivated us with stories of their latest projects.

On Friday, Adrianne and Brady from SpaceX came in to speak to interested High School and Middle School students and teachers about their jobs at SpaceX and current projects.  Thanks again to Mrs. Bauman for arranging their visit–Adrianne is her niece. Here are three things we learned:

1. Since the Space Shuttle retired, SpaceX Dragon is used to shuttle things to the International Space Station. Because Dragon does not burn up upon re-entry, it can also bring things back from space.
2. The ISS has requested to use Dragon as a camera to take a photo of the Space Station (so in addition to its other useful purposes, it’s kind of a selfie stick for the ISS).
3. The engineers at SpaceX use math from video games to help them in design.

We Had a Caffeinated Goodbye for Our Good Friends

On Friday, August 19, we said goodbye to two of our favorite people who have great opportunities ahead. Mollie has a new job writing newsletters and commercials in a big medical company in Roseville, and Michael will be moving to Nantucket to teach in a school there. We’re proud and happy for these two, but will miss them dearly. To celebrate them we had a coffee and candy party in the library. We all know of Miz Mollie’s love and adoration for good coffee, and Michael and his magnificent beard practically live on candy. We wish them well on their future adventures!