Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 30, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

                This morning, our 7^th and 8^th grade students and a group of very brave parents and teachers set off for their four-day camping experience at the Jane’s Island campground in Crisfield, Maryland.  Each year that we have gone there the students, parents and teachers have had a good experience and we suspect, especially given the weather forecast, that the same will be true this year.

At The GreenMount School, we have a long tradition of exposing our students to camping as a way to appreciate our natural surroundings and as a way to build confidence in what might be a venue very foreign to many.  In a way, we are teaching some important survival skills by making our students responsible for most of the camping experience.  They will be establishing their own campsite, cooking and cleaning up as well as organizing various activities.  The students also learn interdependence as they participate in activities that require teamwork and patience.  Not unlike the 8^th graders’ trip to Costa Rica, the campers will come away from this experience with new understandings about nature and our place in it.  And yes, some students will definitely be in it as they wade through marshes and perhaps find themselves on the wrong side of their canoe.  Bugs, dirt, sand, water, sun and will all leave their marks on our campers. And when they return on Friday we will all be treated to the unmistakable aroma of campfires and a little good old sweat.  In this way, our students also learn a little of what early settlers to the Eastern Shore had to learn in order to establish those first settlements in Maryland.  Much of the land around Jane’s Island looks the same as it probably did 300 years ago.  The wildlife has been depleted since that time, but examples of most species still exist today.  For our dreamers, they may close their eyes and picture themselves in that time when the bay was clear and flora and fauna undisturbed.  They may listen to the sound of geese or the distant screech of an eagle high above.  The stars will be closer and the air cleaner, transporting them back in time, until… “Hey, c’mon, we’re doing s’mores and telling ghost stories!”

                Last week’snewsletter included a flier for Hopkins EpiCurious, which is a club of sorts that is designed to expose students to adventures in culinary art.  Students from Johns Hopkins University will be coming to the school beginning tomorrow to work with students in grades 3-5 after school to learn about cooking and to actually explore some interesting dishes that they can prepare.  Check the flier from last week for details.  

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 23, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            Counting today, we have 34 days left in the school year.  It is interesting how some times during the school year seem to go faster than others.  The last 30 days of school typically fly by, and before we know it we are into summer vacation.

Around here, we are gearing up for the final theme event on May 24 and hurrying to complete curricular goals. We are also busy finishing next year’s calendar, handbook and class lists.  We hope to have the latter ready for you prior to the end of the school year, along with lists of classroom supplies.  You will receive the calendar and handbook at our May 7 parent meeting.

            At this time of the year we also plan for summer activities.  Believe it or not, the summer is very busy for those of us who are here during that time.  There is much planning to be done, and meetings with full staff to set goals and priorities are also held.  It is a time of the year when a lot gets done with the building.  This summer we have several projects that are available for parents to earn co-op hours.  Please keep in mind that work done prior to June 30 will be applied to this year’s cop-op hours and work done after that will apply to next year’s hours.  Here is a snapshot of work that needs to be done during the summer:

• General cleaning (cob web patrol, sanitizing desks, etc.)
• Power washing learning cottage deck and art room floor
• Touch-up painting of doors and walls
• Installation of pavers in front of Ms. Elizabeth’s room
• Planting of vegetable gardens (in May)
• Noise reduction in gym (This is a big project, placing 4x8 sheets of Homasote covered with cloth on virtually all gym wall surfaces)
• Refinishing stage floor and steps
• Carpet shampooing
• Minor repairs
• Lighting repairs

We know that the co-op sometimes interferes with weekend activities such as sports or family outings, and we certainly do not want to infringe on things that you do as a family.  We have been considering offering different workdays, such as Sundays, or in the evening, and we hope that you will weigh in on those possibilities.  Please keep in mind that the co-op provides the school with much-needed skills that we would otherwise have to pay for during the course of the year.  In fact, our roughly 150 parents, each required to contribute 40 hours of service to the co-op program, translate to 6,000 hours’ worth of work.  And at $20/hr., the in-kind contribution of parents offsetting work that would be otherwise contracted is close to $120,000.  Imagine if we had to spread that cost among our families in the form of tuition!  For just 100 students, that would be an increase in tuition of $1,200, to $9,800 per year.

Additionally, the co-op provides the opportunity for parents to work as cooperative teams and form relationships that are much more valuable than can be measured in dollars and cents.  The co-op is a tradition here at GMS, one that we proudly hail as much of the glue that brings us together.  I have always said that the most important benefit of the co-op is the fact that our students get to see their parents in the school, contributing to its health and demonstrating their support for learning in a safe, comfortable environment.  This is, as they say, priceless.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 16, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            On May 7, at 6:30 p.m., we will have our All Family Meeting, and as part of the meeting I will present a brief “state of the school” address.  Basically, I will be telling you that the school is prospering and we are in a healthy state financially.  We anticipate that we will have nearly full enrollment of about 102 students when we open our doors in September.  With that expectation we have made some staffing changes, which I now present to you:

            Ms. Pam will be moving to take over the 2^nd/3^rd grade class and Ms. Tanza will become the 4/5 homeroom teacher.  Ms. Elizabeth will not have a homeroom this coming year.  We have been in the process of hiring a new full-time teacher to be responsible for middle school language arts along with other teaching duties for the lower grades.  It is interesting to note that I have interviewed 15 individuals for this position, five of whom the entire staff will interview next week.  We have had a great response to our position posting on the AIMS web site and many of those who responded are very talented.  We will know by next Friday which candidate we will be hiring.  Other full-time staff positions will remain the same.  However, until we complete the schedule, we will not be able to tell you what each teacher’s responsibilities will be.

On the part-time side, I am sorry to announce to you that Mr. Ellis will not be returning next year.  It seems that his incredible talent as a musician has resulted in more and more requests for his presence as such and he has decided to dedicate his full time to the expansion of his art.  Mr. Ellis has long been an important and creative member of our community and has become the friend of all he has met.  He will be missed in the classroom, playing for our theme events and herding eighth graders around the jungles of Costa Rica. As this Monday newsletter goes home, he has not yet shared the information about his departure with the students and I expect he will be talking to them tomorrow during his classes.  I think it safe to say that the students do not read my head message, so please keep this information confidential until tomorrow.  The Cultural Studies program will continue, but in the form in which it originated.  That is, Cultural Studies will only be offered for students in grades 6-8.  Mr. Fletcher will be taking on that responsibility as part of his teaching load.  More to follow…

            You have heard me talk often about our efforts to have students understand the meaning of excellence.  We have been working with students to foster an intrinsic desire to do excellent work and, indeed, such is the case with many of our students.  A wonderful case in point is the fact that this weekend our Destination Imagination team (The Soul Seven) competed in the state finals, having won the regional finals already.  Their hard work and pursuit of an excellent solution to their “problem” has resulted in the opportunity to compete in the GLOBAL competition to be held Memorial Day weekend in Tennessee!  This is an outstanding accomplishment, a tribute to excellence and a very special way for our school to be represented on a global scale.  This recognition also is a tribute to our efforts as a school community to foster creativity, risk-taking, and innovation.  Additionally, it is a credit to the support of parents like Linda Pietila and Dale Meyers, who provided the encouragement and support for this team to reach such heights.  We are all very proud of the parents and students who have earned The GreenMount School this recognition.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 10, 2012)

Greetings GreenMount Community,

            At this morning’s meeting, we heard from many students about their adventures over the spring break.  It is fun to hear how excited they were about their various trips and experiences and it is obvious that, as parents, you are making every effort to enrich your children’s lives, whether on a trip to another state or by taking them to our Baltimore Zoo.  It seems that a lot of you took advantage of the many things that our state has to offer.  We are very fortunate to live in Maryland where we can be at either the beach or in the mountains in just three hours.

Today, I talked to the students a little about the importance of learning outside of school.  Often, you have more opportunities to expose your children to experiential learning than we do at school, and I encourage you to continue to provide those enriching experiences that are offered locally and in other exciting places. I also recommend that you always learn about your destination before going so that you have a good set of questions with which you can engage your children in meaningful discussions.  For example, many of us go “downey oshun,” where the object for the trip is the same for adults and children – relax on the sand and enjoy the waves.  But have you ever thought about all the questions that you could create just by being on the sand or in the water?

• What is sand?
• What is it made of?
• How long does it take to make sand?
• Why is sand so hot on a 90-degree day?
• How does sand change when mixed with water?
• What makes a wave?
• Why do waves curl?
• What causes the tides?
• And many more….

If you do your homework and research before going on family trips, you will be surprised at the level of conversation you can engage in with your children.  They are curious at any age, and when you share that curiosity nothing can be a more powerful learning tool.  One of my most memorable moments with my youngest daughter was one night when she was about nine, when we sat on a lifeguard stand looking up at the night sky.  I asked her if she thought it is possible to see the past and the present at the same time.  She said, “Daddy, how can you see the past? It’s gone.”  Look at the stars, I told her, and you will see the past in the present.  This confused her a little, until I explained that the light from those stars started out to reach our eyes millions of years ago and that what we were looking at right then was something happening long, long ago.  I wasn’t sure if she fully understood, but now, as 35-year-old young woman, she often talks of that time as one of the best experiences she ever had with her dad.  Now she explains the idea of the speed of light to my grandson.  She has added a challenge to her talk.  “Look at that star,” she tells Connor.  “Do you see it?  It’s not there!”

Cheers,

Steve