Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 28, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

            Ah, spring - three to four inches of rain coming and temperatures dipping to the 50s.  There must be some botanical/biological reason that spring is taking so long this year.  Perhaps nature is teasing the plants to grow deeper roots and the animals to lose their winter coats more slowly in order to avoid rashes.  Maybe she is mitigating the onslaught of annoying insects.  Of course, I haven’t a clue.  Probably it is just what the meteorologists tell us about the jet stream, and the plants and animals are in as much vernal shock as we are.  I just remember that in Baltimore of past years we went from winter to a few days of spring, right into summer.

Oh, well, there is nothing we can do about it except plan appropriately.   As part of that plan, I am suggesting that tomorrow and Wednesday, the students bring in board games and such for our imminent indoor recesses.  I am sure our students are tired of the activities we have typically used when we have been confined to the building because of the weather.

            During our staff meeting on Friday, teachers reported on professional articles they have read. Once again, the idea of modeling was highlighted as a very important way to get kids to start thinking about what they are reading or how they are solving problems in math or in their research.  This idea cannot be emphasized enough.  As adults, we have many opportunities to model for our children, both in the classroom and at home.

Modeling, however, is not as simple as setting a good example, which is obviously a good thing to do.  In order for modeling to be most effective, we must talk to the children about what is being modeled.  In the classroom, this is manifested in a technique called the think-aloud.  For example, when trying to find the main idea of non-fiction text, a teacher may say something like, “As I look at this text, I notice that some of it is bolded.  This must mean that the author thinks this is important and, therefore, something I should remember.”  Or, when solving an equation in math class, a teacher might think aloud saying, “This one is hard.  I think I am going to have to remember which step comes first and work out from the parentheses, doing those operations first.  I think that I’ll also test my answer for /x/ after I think I have solved for it.”

A parent visiting the aquarium with his or her child might think aloud about his or her observations; “That sea turtle is missing a leg.  I am very curious about what could have happened.  I’m thinking that he may have been wounded by a predator.”  Statements like these can be provocative and spark good conversations.  Along with good questioning techniques, we can actually model the kind of thinking that our students will need to be competent, curious, creative, and contributing as adults.  We can teach their brains how to work well as long as we use ours to model and share our thinking with them.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 22, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

                I hope today’s message finds you in good spirits and happy about your spring break.  I understand that for most of you, it wasn’t a break like it was for us and the children, but I hope you had a chance to enjoy part of it with family and friends. Today, at our morning meeting, I asked the students who had traveled the farthest during their spring break and we had sort of a tie with Ireland.  (We couldn’t determine which part of Ireland was farthest, so we didn’t declare a “winner”.)

The students seemed very happy to be reunited with their friends at school and ready to tackle these last 33 days (but who’s counting?).  Speaking of winding down, it is important to note that at GreenMount we traditionally keep up the instructional pace until the last day, with the exception of some housekeeping chores on the very last day.  Please encourage your children to stay focused and I will do the same for the staff.  One of the “traditions” that I have observed over the last 46 years (yipes!) is what I call the “You’re kidding me, only seven weeks left – I can’t possibly get everything done before the year ends” syndrome.  Teachers  race hysterically to give their students every benefit of their instructional wisdom and expertise before the final curtain in June.  While this may cause some anxiety, it is a good indication of the dedication that teachers have - especially ours.

            We welcomed back our eighth graders today from their amazing trip to Costa Rica.  I had a chance to speak to a couple of them and they were full of the experience.  This trip is an important part of the GreenMount experience for many reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity to experience a different culture and feel comfortable with foreign travel.  Let’s face it, the odds are that this generation will be traveling a lot more than any other as the world grows smaller and the American marketplace expands even more.  It’s exciting to think about the experiences that these kids will have.  Our thanks to Ms. Elaine and Mr. Luca for chaperoning and organizing this experience for our students.

 I would like to announce something worth celebrating that few of you know about.  On weekends, a young man named Derrick Brooks uses our gym to train basketball players for competition and college admissions.  Some of his older students have gone on to Division I Schools on basketball scholarships and today I am pleased to say that his second grade students will be traveling to Memphis to compete in the national championship at their level.  I saw these little guys this summer as they worked out and they are amazing future stars.  Derrick provides this program for inner city kids and I can tell you that he makes a difference in their lives.  Our small part is to provide the space he needs to implement the program.

Finally, I would like to share an experience that I had on my break.  On Saturday, April 12, we headed over to the Cherry Blossom Festival in D.C., which was beautiful.  In our travels around the tidal basin, we visited the WWII Memorial, an amazing sight to see. Several WWII veterans were also there in their wheelchairs and with their families.  One veteran posed for pictures, looking very strong and fit.  I asked to shake his hand and was amazed at his grip.  It turns out that he was a B-24 bomber pilot in Europe.  I mentioned that my dad was in the 29^th Division and he said, “Oh man, those guys had it rough.  All we did was drop bombs and then head back to the base for a drink!”  He was a character and, of course, a true hero.  He is 91, and as he said, “I’m close to the end, but still kickin,’,”  I was in awe of this man.  Let’s all try to remember and thank our veterans whenever we get a chance.

Cheers, 

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (April 7, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

                I am sure that everyone is aware of the fact that we often describe ourselves as a school that is “experiential”.  We tout this term in virtually every piece of our marketing and we discuss it often during meetings with parents and among ourselves at staff meetings.  Well, just to make sure you know that we walk the walk, here are a few examples of what our middle school students have been “experiencing” very recently:

            Last week, Mr. Fletcher and Ms. Elizabeth took the seventh grade students to Washington, D.C. to participate in a program called the Youth Service Opportunity Program (YSOP).  The students spent two nights sleeping on the floor of a church at night and during the day they were out and about helping the homeless and poor of the District.  The students cooked, served meals, and engaged their “guests” in conversations about their lives and their wishes, hopes, and dreams.  Our students engaged the homeless and the poor in the church center and they also ventured out into the city to meet people “on the street”.  Some of our kids even went to the home of a 93-year-old woman to clean her bathroom and other parts of her house.  I understand that the students were enthralled with this lady’s experiences over her 93 years.  The feedback we got from the YSOP people was that our children are exceptional beyond what they could have imagined.  Our thanks to Mr. Fletcher for his passion about this opportunity and to Ms. Elizabeth, who now has proclaimed that no one else will accompany Fletcher on this trip in the future but her!

            Today, our eighth graders are in a small village in Costa Rica working hard to paint a fence that surrounds the village to protect it from rusting in the wet jungle atmosphere.  They are also getting to know their host families and taking strolls through the rainforest and climbing up to the top of an active volcano.  Ms. Elaine and Mr. Luca are making sure that the students not only provide service to the families that live in this remote village, but that they experience a habitat that is very different from that of good old B’More.

            Also today, sixth and seventh graders went to court.  As a result of a book they had read in language arts, they have been practicing and preparing a case for a mock trial to emulate one that could have taken place in the story.  Ms. Allison arranged with Ann Kehinde, a Baltimore County parent and judge, for her to preside over the mock trial in a real courtroom in Baltimore County.  Another judge who presided over one group commented to me that this must be a pre-law class based on the performance of the students.  She congratulated our students for following procedures and for presenting convincing arguments.  The verdicts in both trials of the main character were the same.  To find out what you think that verdict should be, read Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 24, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

                In a past newsletter I referred to a “Buddha Day” during which we take the time to be the learner in our interactions with our children.  I hope you have had the opportunity to do that.

On Saturday, I found myself very much the learner as we spent the day with our newest grandson in New Haven, Connecticut.  He’s just seven-months-old, but provided us with an amazing demonstration of how quickly the learning process takes place at very young ages.  Not having seen him since Christmas, you can imagine how much he has grown in that time.  Of course, he is a genius and has surpassed all the child development milestones for a person his age – of course!

But honestly, it was so amazing to see how he has progressed in just three months.  I watched as he tried over and over to grab a 4”x 4” wooden floor sample while at the same time untangling his legs from under himself so that he could get better leverage to complete the task.  The little hands tried in vain to pick up the sample, but were just too small to grasp it.  He also hasn’t figured out how to incorporate his other hand to provide a fulcrum so that he can get under the piece with the other hand.  As he taught me his problem-solving techniques, I observed that this little guy is decidedly right-handed – so far.  In the end, he found that sliding the piece along the floor was just as much fun as picking it up, and he repeated that activity until mastery apparently led to boredom, at which point he moved on to another task.

This time, he crawled into the kitchen and attempted to open the refrigerator.  Evidently, he has learned that one can pull the door at a certain spot and direct his energy to the left and the door will open.  He has also apparently learned that the shelves on the door make excellent handholds in order to get up one his feet.  From that position he has access to numerous things that rattle and clank when he moves them around.  But perhaps the best thing I learned about him in refrigerator mode was that he can solve the problem of removing a pot that is blocked by other containers in front of it.  Naturally, he was supervised by his “Poppy” while working on these tasks and I held some plastic bottles in front of the pot so that he could not actually yank the pot and its contents onto the floor.  He became somewhat frustrated with this situation, and he tried to solve the problem by simply exerting more force on the pot.  Finally, when that didn’t work, he actually attempted to move the obstacles in front of the pot by pushing them aside!

Think about it.  I actually witnessed learning happening.  Pathways were established in his brain that will be reinforced every time he realizes that he must move something out of the way of something else.  What a miracle this learning process is.  And if we watch our children carefully and pay attention to what they are doing, we can watch the learning happen.  Then they become the teachers.  Happy learning!

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 18, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

                Yesterday, spring was just three days away. Now, it looks like it’s really far away. Oh, I believe in yesterday.  Actually, can you believe yesterday?  That was one of the strangest winter storms we have had so far.  Unfortunately, it started just in time to mess up rush-hour traffic and then continued showering us with what looked like tiny salt crystals for much of the morning.  And then it was gone.  I hated to make the call to close school, but many accidents had been reported, and when I finally arrived here at school I could see that it would have been difficult for you and the staff to use 30^th Street and the walks.  Today, thanks to our stellar shoveling parents, the walks are clear and it was safe to open on time.

The bad news is that Monday took us into overtime and we have to make up that day somewhere.  As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter, we will be adding a day to the end of the year, making June 9 the last day for students.  That’s not great because it’s a Monday, but the alternative would have been Easter Monday.  If we took that day, parents might be rushing from hither and yon, quite possibly covering long distances to get back in time for school on Monday.  Additionally, if we had another snow day, we would then take Easter Monday and add June 9 to the calendar.  In that case, I feel it would be rather better to add June 10 to the calendar.  So, keep your fingers crossed that we don’t have to add another day!

            Tim Parmer addressed the students at this morning’s meeting and informed them about a unique theme project that you will be receiving at home today.  Each child in a homeroom class will be getting a piece of a painting and a wood block that Tim primed.  Each will paint his or her piece on the block by March 31, after which the pieces will be assembled to complete the puzzle and form the finished painting.  All six art pieces, representing the various movements from the Baroque to Modern periods, will be displayed.  The students were encouraged to interpret their piece of the puzzle and use any one of a variety of mediums.  Detailed directions will accompany the folder that you receive.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 10, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

                The third theme has begun and all classes are getting revved up to learn about this vast period from Rembrandt to Rothko.  I think the students are excited and I know that the teachers are.  The kindergarten students began this theme by describing art in their own words:

Well, art is something that you make that you really like.

Art is pictures

Art is creating.  Art is something you can invent, like a painting.

Some art is parts of the human body.

Art can be something you find and see and discover.

People from long ago taught us about art.

Art is making something that is real, like a painting.

Art is concentration. You have to concentrate on what you’re doing

Earth.  (A kindergartener came up with that)

            Ms. Laura can’t wait to see how these ideas change when this theme is complete.

            Speaking of kindergarten, a wise mentor of mine told me many years ago that when the day becomes tiring, when you have had enough of paperwork, misbehaviors, phone calls and directives from the central office, just go to the kindergarten and spend 30 minutes interacting with the children.  Never have I received better advice.  This is a place of pure joy and curiosity.  Every five or six year-old is just completely immersed in learning about books, why water freezes, how the calendar keeps track of days in a row, why an /8/ is so hard to draw.  They are fascinated about history – things that happened a long time ago (like last Thursday) or what happens when we learn to share.  They learn how to take care of themselves and the things in the classroom that belong to EVERYBODY.  They learn that when the teacher says that she likes the way a classmate is following directions they should be doing what he or she is doing.  They learn that with a seed in a Styrofoam cup, the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.  They make amazing connections about people, nature, and the way things work.  And they tell us everything – “Mommy has a sippy cup for wine!”  Laughter is a natural part of a kindergartener’s communication tools.  They love new words and try to say them, providing non-stop entertainment for the adults in the room.  But beyond all the fun and pure joy is a learning curve that will never be steeper.  Let’s all try to keep the kindergarten spirit in all of our children, and in the adults, too.

                Finally, at our morning meeting today we celebrated the fact that we will finally get to go outside for recess.  And thanks to the work of parents, the playground is clean and ready for us.  However, it may be a while before we are able to use the fields. A lot of vehicle traffic has left the area a quagmire and it looks like it will be some time before we are able to play there.  I have cones up to discourage vehicles from going on the field, so please do not remove them.  The field is not part of the property we lease.  It is Wyman Park and we have no right to drive on that property.  Once everything is dried out and we can get the grass growing again we will be able to sneak back out there to park in time for the theme event in May.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Cheers,

Steve

Weekly Message from Steve Warner, Head of School (March 4, 2014)

Greetings, GreenMount Community,

                At today’s morning meeting we all chanted, “Go away snow, go away snow.”  Students were also instructed to wear pajamas right-side out and to refrain from any more snow dances.  I think they all agreed.  And for children to want the snow to go away, you know that this has been a tough winter.  The good news is that we are four days into the meteorological spring.  Can you feel it?  Actually, the seasons are defined in three-month periods and spring turns out to be March, April, and May.  So rejoice - it’s spring! (Yeah, right.)

            I hope that you don’t mind that we were two hours late today.  I know that this can be inconvenient, but I wanted to make sure that the walks were clear and free from ice.  Thanks to our shoveling crew who came last night, all that needed to be done this morning was to scatter salt, which took some time to have any effect.  I am surely hoping that this is the last of it.  And in case you are counting, Monday was our last built-in snow day.  If we have to close any days from here on, we will add days to the school calendar beginning with June 9.

            This morning we also talked to the students about the spread of germs.  We have had many students fall ill due to the “thing” that is going around.  We reminded them about hand-washing and sharing things like Blistex (yes, they do that).  It would help if you also have these conversations at home (and please, do not send sick children to school).  The spring (which we are now in) can be especially germ-infested as temperatures fluctuate between warm and cold (warm?).

            Many of you, as well as visitors to the school, have enjoyed the portraits of families that are displayed on the bulletin board in the lobby.  These will have to come down to make room for theme-related information.  Please feel free to take photos of your family to keep before all of the photos are taken down by this Friday.

            Finally, as I am 118 days from “graduating” from GMS, I continue to enjoy every single moment with you, the staff and your children.  Winding down is exciting and yet sad for me.  So if I seem to hold onto you in conversation or problem-solving together, forgive me if I am over-attentive.  When we know the end is in sight, we tend to cherish each day more.  Believe me, I do.

           

Cheers,

Steve