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TBMS Weekly Newsletter - Issue 24-25.21

Posted Date: 1/29/25 (9:24 PM)

Weekly Newsletter | January 29, 2025        
Dear Bromfield Middle School Families, 

Today the 8th grade had their assembly, and they were a wonderful and attentive audience. We talked about them being in the home stretch of their middle school experience, on the precipice of high school - and with that comes exciting opportunities and the expectation of greater maturity. Students were also introduced to the first step of the HS scheduling process, getting a sneak peek at electives available to them next year.  As with the assemblies for the other classes, we spent some time talking about how peers treat each other at TBMS. I had asked each class to share their experience in a survey by answering three questions:

  • How do you treat other students?
  • How do other students treat you?
  • In general, how do students treat each other?
In all three classes the results were similar: the vast majority of students said they treated others Very Kindly or Kindly. (Only one student in the school answered that they treated people Unkindly.) And yet, a number of student report being treated Unkindly or Very Kindly and that students in general treat each other Unkindly of Very Unkindly. This disparity in the responses, we discussed, suggests a disconnect between the intent of students' words and actions and their impact on others.

As with the other classes, I closed the presentation by asking the Class of 2029, What can you do to make a more positive contribution to our school community? In the coming weeks, Flex blocks will engage students in this topic, asking students to reflect further and set goals around being agents of positivity in our school. 


I encourage all parents and caregivers to follow up with the children about this topic. As I said in the assemblies, it is all of our responsibilities to ensure a positive school environment that promotes learning and joy.

Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mr. Daniel Hudder
Bromfield Middle School Principal
WEEKLY UPDATES

SIXTH GRADE

In Ancient Civilizations class we are finishing up our Egyptian Artifact Model project. It has been a fun journey getting to know the Egyptians by studying some of their artifacts found in museum collections close to home, like the Museum of Fine Arts, as well as online collections around the world. As studying the objects during class time has been lots of fun, the highlight is seeing the student replicas that come in to school to be on display in the "Tuttle Museum" in the library through the early part of February. Students have been working hard on their artifact models, and we can't wait to see the final product. While transporting to school on Monday or Tuesday, a shoebox, crumpled newspaper, or bubble wrap may help to ensure the safe arrival of the artifact.

This past week, we have taken a respite from Egypt in order to do a small unit on the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations of the Americas. Students have learned to use Canva presentations in several other classes this year, and they are building upon their tech creative skills by making four Canva slides to inform about these civilizations. Students have gotten to learn a lot about these civilizations in just a short amount of time, and I am proud of their progress.

As we finish up Egypt, be on the lookout for an upcoming small unit on the people of the Indus Valley, followed by a major unit on Ancient Greece in mid-February. We always start off with Greek Mythology, so it might be a nice time to dust off that Percy Jackson book.    

On Wednesday, January 22nd, students convened in the auditorium. Once seated and attentive, Mr. Hudder delivered his mid-year presentation. This presentation was centered on the following topics: creating a sense of belonging, academic growth and expectations, and answering the questions, “How can I be better?” and “How can we be better?” Upon completion of his presentation, Mr. Hudder praised sixth-grade students for their accomplishments during the first semester while acknowledging that students will still face social and academic challenges, but harnessing their resiliency, self-integrity, and engagement, they will overcome these obstacles.

 

SEVENTH GRADE

In English, students have read approximately one-third of Kamkwamba and Mealer's autobiographical text The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.  This narrative nonfiction tells the story of William Kamkwamba who uses his own innate curiosity and intelligence to build a windmill from recycled objects found in a junkyard. As students read the opening chapters, we have focused on several reading skills including determining central ideas, analyzing nonfiction text structures, and using context clues to make sense of complex vocabulary. Most recently, students wrote a partner essay analyzing the impacts a famine had on the village's residents. Students each wrote a body paragraph analyzing one impact of the famine, then collaborated with a partner to merge their paragraphs, write introduction and conclusion paragraphs, add effective and subtle transitions, and revise their joint work. 

In Flex, students continue to participate in the hands-on STEM team-building challenges. The STEM challenge run in my classroom incorporates an ELA connection. Students are using recycled cardboard, popsicle sticks, and DC motors to construct a windmill with spinning turbines! Finally on Friday, students completed their second STAR assessment for ELA to provide data on student growth.

 

EIGHTH GRADE

In science, we are nearing the end of Unit #4, Density & Buoyancy.  In this unit students are learning about Archimedes’ Principle.  They are solving problems for situation where an object is floating or sinking or rising, submerged o only partly submerged.  These problems involve determining mass, volume, density, and weights of the boat and the displaced fluid. They are also drawing force vectors to scale.  All of this logic, problem solving process, and attention to detail will help them get ready for  physics in 9th grade. In this unit we will also be exploring what a constant is as well as a qualitative look at how the variables in the ideal gas law relate to each other.

Flex this week includes 2 days of STAR testing, which is done to monitor progress in reading and math skills. On Wednesday, we have a full grade 8 mid year meeting run by Mr. Hudder.  Thursday is academic support, and on Friday students will be learning about and working on their vision board. A vision board is a visualization tool that combines images, words, and affirmations to help individuals manifest their goals and dreams.

 

UNIFIED ARTS

Hey everyone it's Kae Pierron the art teacher here with your UA update for this week's newsletter! 


Students are finishing up with our Color projects!

6th grade is working on Sunset Silhouettes where they use watercolor to blend together a sunset background for a silhouette of their choice!


7th grade is working on Color Pop food where they create a logo for a food or drink of their choice and then paint it four different ways using color theory principals.


And finally 8th grade is working on their Candy Viewing Project where they are painting an accurate and zoomed in candy logo inspired by Pop Artists James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol.


Hope you enjoyed a peek into the art room. Until next time, have a great rest of your winterl everyone!


COMMUNITY NEWS AND EVENTS

International Trip - Meeting Tonight!!!

There is an international trip to Europe just approved by the School Committee and administration. If you are interested, please register to attend the info meeting on Wednesday, January 29, 7:30-8:30 PM in the Cronin Auditorium at The Bromfield School.  The trip will be for current 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, (classes of 27, 28, and 29). It will take place June 19-30 in 2026.

Send a Valentine message!

Share a message of love, like, or just admire-from-afar! Surprise your sweetheart, your mom or dad, your kids, a friend, a teacher. The Harvard Press will publish, at no charge, Valentine messages (40 words max) in its Feb. 14 issue. Creativity is encouraged! Send your message to valentine@harvardpress.net. Deadline is Monday, Feb. 10.

The Review is excited to announce that we've opened submissions for this year’s literary magazine!


If you have any sort of written essays, poetry, short stories, physical or digital art, or photographs that you’d like to share, then we encourage you to submit them to us! There’s no sort of criteria on what to send in-- if you like what you’ve created, then we suggest that you share it with others by submitting it to The Review Google Classroom (Classroom code 6jkbr5i) by FEBRUARY 28th 11:59 PM. All of the submissions will be printed in a physical magazine that will be available schoolwide free of charge. You can either submit material anonymously or choose to be credited. 


Please keep in mind that if your submission is art or photography, it will automatically be considered a contender for the Review's cover and the student whose art is chosen will receive a $10 Dunkin' gift card. If you would like to be excluded from the competition, however, you may indicate so in the "Private Comments" section of your Google Classroom submission.


If you have any questions, please contact Isaiah Geraldez (25igeraldez@psharvard.org), Del Howland (25dhowland@psharvard.org), or Mr. Murphy (pmurphy@psharvard.org). 



THE BROMFIELD MIDDLE SCHOOL

Daniel Hudder, Principal

dhudder@psharvard.org
https://bromfield.psharvard.org/
@harvardpublicschools


14 Massachusetts Avenue, Harvard MA, 01451   |   (978) 456 - 4145

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