Dear Families:

This week we reflect on fieldwork at BCS and museums at BNS.

All for now,
Alyce and Anna

From Anna:
Three classroom converted into galleries: a hall of hunting, a room with examples of shelters, and a place to learn about gardening, childcare, and Lenape sports. Even as you wander down to the fourth grade wing, you realize that something transformative is about to take place: in the halls, terrariums complete with crickets, millipedes, pill bugs and earthworms. Zoe explains that her group didn’t include snails because the snails, “needed too much”. But then she mentions that spiders are a problem because they eat pill bugs. She clearly gets that big idea of the need for a balance of predators and prey or the ecosystem will not work properly.

All around on the walls of the hall are corn husk dolls, one made by each child. Into a room you go where the makers of wampum belts tell you where the beads came from (clam and oyster shells) and how to make a wampum belt. “Why don’t you try?” they say and offer you a cardboard loom.

Check out the bandolier bag, a bag that the Lenape made from beaver, deer or snake skin. What did they use for thread? “Sinew” is the reply, “Tendons from the animal.” What did they sew with? “They would have used porcupine needles,” Hope and Imani explain.

Here’s Nikary’s Iroquois village alongside Toshi’s Lenape village. Eight or nine families live in the longhouse while only one or two live in the Lenape wigwam. Look at all the wigwams and long houses. How did they bend the wood? Some soaked willow, some got wood that bent easily. I love looking into Janiya and Stokely’s longhouse. But wait, there are so many, so many homes to admire and enjoy. Notice the second graders who have learned how to tie two pieces of wood together, just like in the models.

Now we’re learning about the grandfather of monsters made by Carmen. The rain manitou lures him and summons lightening to kill him. Yikes! What a battle.

And right next to the monster, moccasins made by Estella and Sage. They look quite comfortable.

Next door, lots of babies are nestled in cradleboards complete with warm and comfortable fur. And all around the room are dioramas of Native American villages, with model gardens of the three sisters: corn, beans and squash. Ask Sydney about the rice in her diorama and she says,”She's sheaving it.” Take a moment to pound some corn. Seems like a lot of work to make corn meal.

It’s time for a game of pahsaheman, (that’s Lenape for lacrosse). Lila has made not one, but two lacrosse sticks. What’s in the leather balls? Moss.

Onwards to a room all about hunting and fishing. So many bows and arrow, quivers, and spears. Someone had to remove all that bark and attach the flint points to the handles. Cam explains, “The difference between hunting and fishing spears is hunting spears were longer because they had to throw them further.” Here you can learn how to make rope. And look at all the second graders who are doing just that. Jack and Anton have made another diorama with lots of examples of Native American fishermen in action. There’s even a fishweir. As Jack explains, “You put it where the waterfall would go and fish would be pulled by the current.” But Anton adds, “A fishweir could also be made of sticks and is like a fence above and under water.” Look at that guy in the diorama catching a fish with his bare hands.

Every child is a tour guide and every child can tell you about his or her topic. So much information. This is a museum you need to go back to, again and again. Too bad it is only open for two days.

Quotes of the Week:
Kindergarten students are studying dinosaurs. They already know quite a lot; for example, they know that they are extinct. They also have some ideas about how they died out. You've probably heard of the Big Bang! According to Colette Shure in Arbo's class, it was the "Big, Bang, Boom", an even larger explosion?, that led to the disappearance of dinosaurs.

Third grade is getting ready for its museum on Ancient China. This time they are making life size bricks just like the ones in the Great Wall. Oliver Gray, from Steve’s class, is helping. He’s pounding the brick, but he’s doing it in a kind of lackadaisical way. He is told, “If you were in Ancient China, you would have to pound harder.” Oliver replies, “If I was in Ancient China, I would be a scholar.”

From Alyce:
We begin each semester with all-crew days, times for staff and students to bond, stretch their intellectual and social- emotional learning. This week teachers have taken our students snowboarding in Pennsylvania (grade 7 and senior chaperons), on a scavenger hunt at the Museum of Natural History (grade 12), ice skating (grades 8 and 9), and to do fieldwork about ancient China at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Grade 6). All crews in grades 9-12 visited colleges, including Hofstra University, Mercy College, Bard College, SUNY New Paltz, and SUNY Albany. For the past three days Amanda Romani and a group of high school students and one alum were at Cornell University participating in their Ornithology (bird study) lab. We use these fieldwork experiences to build community and expand or apply the content we study in classes.

Rachel Lane, grade 6 teacher, explained how this week’s fieldwork fits into the 6th grade Ancient Civilizations social studies curriculum. “6th grade students visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art where they explored the Ancient China Collection. Students examined the artifacts looking through the lenses of the seven characteristics that make a civilization. Students worked in pairs to sketch the artifacts, make observations and inferences about the purpose and significance of the artifact during the time period. Students made connections between each of the seven lenses and analyzed how Chinese civilization grew as a result. Students also spent quiet time in the Chinese Garden feeling how nature was an important part of Chinese culture and present in most art forms and philosophies.

At BCS, we seek a critical balance of fun, group effort, ventures into the less familiar or unknown, and individual challenge. Last week, one of our Lead Teachers, Vicki Madden told me, “Laughing is good; the part of the brain that is involved in laughing and fun is also the part that is involved in problem-solving.”

Did you know that Christine and our band were planning spring break fieldwork in Cuba? Thanks to those of you who attended their fundraising concert last Friday. If you missed it, don't worry, there will be lots of other chances to help the band get to Cuba for this music exchange. (More on this soon.)

In February, BCS focuses on the Expeditionary Learning Design Principle, “the having of wonderful ideas.” I can’t imagine how many were born in the past few days! And now it’s our work to treasure, nurture, and grow them.

An Anecdote:
On Tuesday night, we had our annual Sleepaway Camp Night Forum, attended by 40 or so parents and children exploring summer camp options and eight camps eager to have them. Two BCS juniors were present for a different purpose: to ask the camp representatives about job opportunities. The juniors, Dana McClain and Bryana Martinez, asked lots of questions and got contact information. Dana said she knew what to ask and felt comfortable asking because of her participation in the internship program run by BCS teacher Jacques Hoffman. And thanks to Mikia, BCS community coordinator, for suggesting they join in.