The Daily Mike

News from St. Michael's Country Day School

June 2, 2011: Busy morning for grades 1 & 2

It was a day brimming with accomplishments for our first- and second-graders. Things got under way at morning assembly with a series of one-act plays, favorite stories selected by the students and then put to dramatic format with the creative guidance of  drama teacher Christina Johnston. Students from Karen Andrade’s class chose “Sylvester and the Magic Pebble,” and Roselyn Morris’ students picked “King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub.”  Second-graders performed “The Seahorse Café,” about the search for an unspoiled place for undersea creatures to live. The culmination of weekly drama classes, our young actors and actresses did a tremendous job. There were many lines to learn, choreographed scenes to remember, and even a stage fight or two. Following the final curtain call, first-graders hurried back to their classrooms where they then presented their mammal projects to visiting parents. Carefully researched and meticulously presented, the students discussed the life styles, diet, mating habits, and fun facts about their zebras, kangaroos, lemurs, polar bears, lions and wolves with poise and infectious enthusiasm. One student demonstrated the bouncy-hop of a kangaroo and then held up a paper clip—the size at birth, she explained, of a baby ‘roo. 

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May 25, 2011: A truly gala Gala (and those who made it happen)

‘Everyone really came together’ From the lovely party frocks to the lively music, the food, the company, and the venue, last Saturday’s Parents Association Spring Gala at Ochre Court was, by all accounts, letter-perfect.  Even the fog couldn’t stay away. But behind the glam-dresses-and-finger-food façade, some serious and diligent work on behalf of the school was also in full swing. “I am so proud of our school,” said PA president Rachel McCall. This morning’s tally (a small amount might still dribble in) for the silent auction fundraiser: $25,000. “The event was a huge success, not only because of the amazing committee that worked so hard to organize it,” she added, “but also because of the enormous amount of support we received from all of our parents! Everyone really came together.” 

McCall also made a point of recognizing everybody involved; “Nikki Vazquez, who organized catering, flower, linens and décor; auction donations, and liquor beverages; Tamara Farrick, for organizing the auction donations and for working with Zulekha Ludwig, our BiddingforGood.com genius, to create the Bidding for Good website; Melissa Mullaly, for creating and sponsoring the invitations, organizing all of the auction items into the gift bags, and creating the auction certificates; Julia Richardson, who organized the wine sponsorship and who generously donated a few cases of wine; Gwen Gardner, the artist whose wonderful painting of Mason House was on the invitation (and which branded the event)—and also for working with donations; and PA Treasurer Sheri-Lee Shaw for the monumental task of  keeping track of all the RSVPs and ticket sales.” The money raised will go towards the PA's invaluable support for the school, the faculty, and the numerous programs the PA supports.

One final shout out: to Cheryl Richards of Cheryl Richards Photography. whose great photographs made the evening one for the memory books.

 



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May 23, 2011: Salad days for third grade

There’ll be salad on the dinner table tonight There was great excitement this morning for the third-graders in Lisa Pritchard's science class when they went outside to check on the status of their box-gardens, planted right after spring break.  Much to their audible delight, they discovered what just a week or so ago had been a bed of sparse green upshoots had filled in with tidy, dense, lush crops of mesclun and some tasty parsley. Some seemed leery of actually eating what they'd grown, while other budding gourmands savored the delicious flavor of crops at their prime, and were eager to share for taste tests. All, however, were proud of their obvious green thumbs. There is something to be said, Mrs. Pritchard observed, for cool wet springs.

 

   

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May 23, 2011: Dog sense from the Potter League

Man's best friend First-graders, winding down their study of the great realm of mammals, today welcomed an educator from the Potter League who came to discuss perhaps the most familiar of them all, the beloved dog. The class began with the book, “The Great Gracie Chase,” about a family pooch who got out of her yard and ran around the neighborhood with a variety of people in hot pursuit. Dog common sense was the topic (never give chase—a dog can always run faster than you; and for the same reason, don’t run away), including advice about how to approach an unfamiliar canine: always ask if it’s OK to pat, and then offer the back of the hand for the dog to sniff. And then pat its back—never its face. Students (hanging on every word) also got guidelines about how to help a lost dog or cat. “The Potter League,” explained the visitor, “is the Lost and Found for pets.”  
 

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May 17, 2011: Butterflies are we

Caterpillar channeling Yesterday was Metamorphosis Day, a revered prekindergarten rite of spring for Mary Coaty's and Bernadette Griffin’s students. It is the culmination of their classroom study of the caterpillar’s journey from fuzzy worm through the chrysalides and cocoon stages to sleek, fluttery butterfly. Wearing butterfly wings they had made in class, it was their turn to learn by doing as they took their hatched newborns outside for a metamorphosis reenactment. “As I narrated the process the children dramatized the transformation from egg to hungry caterpillars, cocoons, and then butterflies,” explained Mrs. Griffin. “Then they flew around sipping nectar, and we let our own butterflies go. It is always,” she added, “a very exciting day!”


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May 13, 2011: ArtsFest

ArtsFest 2011 is one for the (art) history books. It is always a tremendous effort and a tremendous success, with performances and those amazing moments that stay forever with us. Congratulations to everyone who brought something special to the evening--which was everyone--whether singing, dancing, playing music, or acting; and congratulations as well to all of our artists, too many to mention, whose individual contributions all became part of that beautiful whole. And many many many thanks to the dedicated teachers who made it all possible: Leslie Fisk, Rob Kalaidjian, Christina Johnston, Ellyn Eaves-Hileman, Kristine Langello, Beth Holland, Steve Turilli, Art Manchester, and last but certainly not least, Revka Hovermale, whose interpretation of Where the WIld Things Are kept the crowd in Hill House riveted. 

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May 12, 2011: “A day to celebrate poetry”

Twenty-seven brave young souls stepped up to the mike in Hill House this morning to bare those souls in the school’s first-ever Poetry Slam contest. Participants could chose between reciting a favorite, or presenting an original ode. Whether familiar or not (“A visit from St. Nicholas,” by Newport’s own Clement C. Moore, was one well-received entry) the selections ranged from funny to poignant and heartfelt—and sometimes a mix of both. Seventh-grader Amanda Barker won Best Original Poem, solo, for “It’s hard to be a rock ‘n’ roll girl in a Justin Bieber world.”

Besides the vintage snapping of fingers to show appreciation, there was poetic justice for the budding beatniks. Joining Amanda in the winners’ circle were Witt Tarantino (Best Published Poem, solo), Amelia McConnell and Merrill Scura (Best Published, pair); and two pairs—Heather Lind and Sawyer Bartlett-Dunn and Connor and Emmett Shaw—in a tie (Best Original, pair). And they all received recognition for their efforts. “It was a day to celebrate poetry,” said Middle School Head Bob Tavares, “and the students who have the courage to recite it publicly.”

“Performances were amazing,” said sixth-grade English teacher Megan Schlichting, standing below in the group shot with the winners. “But even more amazing was being able to witness how much the students love poetry—and let poetry become a part of them.” 

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May 11, 2011: Musicians Extraordinaire

The spring band concert, the one time each year when Art Manchester’s A Band joins forces with other area middle school bands, is a bona fide, all-hail event. This morning Middle School Head Bob Tavares called it “one of my favorite days of the school year.” And then he added, “As far as I'm concerned, any day that Portsmouth Middle School Band Director Richard Price is in the house is a good day for us.”  Down by two this year (both Pennfield and Thompson had schedule conflicts), it was a day for Mr. Manchester’s and Mr. Price’s groups to shine, and shine they did, playing both individually and teaming up for one stellar performance after another. Mr. Price thanked the parents and family members for “coming out and supporting” the young musicians. “Please remember,” he added, “that this is the future.” 

There were also a number of great solos. Joint efforts included “Pink Panther Remix” and a Maestro Manchester original, “Fo’ Robb.” SMS tunes included “Smoke on the Water” and “Piano Man.”  Noting that “most ensembles can’t start and stop at the same time (implying that SMS and PMS had indeed made great music together)," an extremely impressed mother said it was “inspiring and a great experience.”  

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April 28, 2011: Good-bye, old friend

We know that we shall never see St. Michael’s lost one of its finest this morning in a sadly unheralded event: the beautiful old beech tree that stood at the edge of the playing field that runs parallel to Memorial Blvd.  Facilities manager Bill Daigneault, often the first to arrive in the morning, said that when he got here today it was upright. He left to run a hardware store errand and when he returned, he said, “it was on the ground.” A team of specialists shortly arrived for some tree triage, and it was determined that age (c. 150 years), root rot (to the unpracticed eye, there seemed to be no roots left), and a windy night combined to spell its demise. Students and teachers spent the day coming outside to pay their final respects; one staff member who was a student here in the sixties says she remembers sitting on its lower branches during many a recess. 



 

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April 28, 2011: A lesson out of Africa

On the eve of their Africa Festival Day our fourth-graders got some bonus inspiration when alumna Victoria Leonard, SMS 2007, came to talk about a recent trip to Africa. Victoria, now a senior at St. George’s, travelled to Senegal on a school trip during spring break. Her presentation included photographs of food, people and scenery, and her message to the students stressed the contrasts she saw in what life is like in the former French colony, and how fortunate we all are. Even in the cities, she said, “people use donkeys and horses to get around.”  It is a different culture, she told the students. “We have,” she said, “a lot more technology.”  Yet everything is relative; she was struck with “how happy the kids were to be able to go to school. Everybody in Senegal wants to go to school, get an education, and get a job,” she noted, pointing out that they did not have “an amazing school like St. Michael’s."  Victoria vividly remembers her fourth-grade African festival, when the country she researched for the African Travel Agency was Kenya, and she was the giraffe in the play “How the Giraffe got its Long Neck.”  


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