S IXTH G RADE N EWSLETTER

January 19, 2012

On The Horizon…

Tuesday, January 24 – US Movie “Night” hosted by Student Life Committee 4:30pm start time; 6:15pm pick-up at Brookwood

Friday, January 27 – First Half of the Winter Academic Term Ends Week of February 6 – Wellness Collaborative Week Tuesday, February 7 – 2:45 dismissal – Faculty Workshop Monday, February 13 – Boys & Girls basketball games AWAY vs. Glen Urq. Boys 3:30pm game time; 4:45pm pick-up at Brookwood Girls 4:30pm game time; 5:45pm pick-up at Brookwood Friday, February 17 – 2:45 dismissal – start of Mid-Winter Break Monday, February 20 & Tuesday, February 21 – No School – Mid-Winter Break Wednesday, February 22 – Mission to Mars Field Trip!

Thursday, February 23 – Boys & Girls basketball games HOME vs. Glen Urq. Girls 3:30pm game time; 4:45pm pick-up at Brookwood

Boys 4:30pm game time; 5:45pm pick-up at Brookwood Monday, February 27 – Boys & Girls basketball games HOME vs. GUS/Tower

Girls 3:30pm game time; 4:45pm pick-up at Brookwood Boys 4:30pm game time; 5:45pm pick-up at Brookwood Mid-Winter Slump? It’s hard to believe that we are over half way through the school year! Late January-February can sometimes be a difficult time in sixth grade as many students “hit the wall” with not only the workload but with the depth of the work as well. Please feel free to contact your child’s advisor

Welcome to the latest edition of the Sixth Grade Newsletter. Wow, there’s a lot happening in January and February here in the 6th grade! Be sure to mark your calendar with the dates below!

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January 19, 2012

should you ever have any concerns along these lines. Communication is one way we can make sure that the students’ needs are best met. You’ll find advisor contact information at the end of this newsletter. A Visit by Mainely Stars Planetarium Scott Negley, director of Mainely Stars Planetarium, visited Brookwood on January 6th, where he set up his portable planetarium to give a lesson on astronomy. Negley briefed the students prior to their entering the 10-foot high planetarium, where the sixth graders viewed a show that included constellations, meteors, comets, and phases of the Earth's moon. The students enjoyed seeing famous winter sky constellations and exploring the cause of the moon’s changing appearance during its monthly cycle of phases. Students followed the moon’s nightly progression, using observations to predict its next stage. At the end of Mr. Negley’s program, using hands-on moon models, each student recreated the phases and demonstrated how lunar and solar eclipses occur when the sun, moon, and Earth are perfectly aligned. Many thanks to the Parents’ Association for making this program possible! The 6th graders all agree that Mr. Negley’s inflatable planetarium was out of this world!

Sixth graders enjoying Scott Negley and his planetarium show during science class.

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January 19, 2012

Upper School Movie “Night” on January 24th Brookwood’s Student Life Committee will be hosting a “Movie Night” for the Upper School on Tuesday, January 24th, from 4:30-6:15pm. Once the academic school day has ended on Tuesday, interested Upper School students will hunker down with their lawn chairs in the School Meeting House for a viewing of the movie Home Alone! There will be a 6:15pm pick-up after the movie. In honor of movie night, sixth grade teachers will be assigning light homework on Tuesday night. A permission slip was recently e-mailed to parents; please return it to school at your earliest convenience. Gender Groups Spark Meaningful Conversations As you were informed in a recent e-mail from Evan Diamond, the sixth grade advisors are leading Gender Groups once a week, as part of our PGD program. These groups are an effort to more directly and effectively address topics of friendships, social pressures, positive social interactions, gender stereotypes, communication skills, and to continue to work on the themes of the year that address the following general, identity based questions of:

Who am I? Who are you? Who are they? Who are we? During our meetings so far, the advisors have facilitated both large group and small group discussions. Recent topics for the girls have included: What does it mean to be an ally? What are my best attributes? What is expected of me if I am a girl? If I choose to act or look different than those expectations, what are the ramifications? Recent topics for the boys have included: What are words associated with boys? Which of these are positive attributes? Which of these are negative? What are the traits of an ideal man? Our ultimate goal is to help equip our 6th graders with the social skills and understandings that will help them to be most successful in all facets of their lives. While we hope to begin the conversation with them, it is families that continue to build upon and reinforce these skills over time. To this end, you will receive a weekly e-mail from Evan Diamond outlining the topics covered each week. We encourage you to use this information to continue the discussions with your sons and daughters.

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January 19, 2012

Mission to Mars Fast Approaches! The sixth graders will have a busy Wednesday in a few weeks! On February the 22nd, they will go on a Mission to Mars! This is an exciting program provided by the Christa McAuliffe Center/Challenger Learning Center at Framingham State College. Building on the real-life adventures of NASA's numerous robotic Mars missions, the Mission to Mars field trip simulates the transportation of a human crew to the Martian surface. The students will have a chance to try their hand inside the Mars Lander (a simulated Mars space ship) and at the desk of Mars Mission Control. Among their tasks: safely land a crew on Mars, conduct geologic and geographic studies of the Martian surface, deploy a robotic plane to study the Martian atmosphere, deploy a probe to study Mars' two moons, safely return to Earth, and maintain the health and safety of the crew throughout the mission. Of course, this means the sixth graders will need to work together as team, solve problems, make responsible decisions, and communicate clearly and effectively. This field trip is a blast (literally!) and is not for the faint of heart! Below is an excerpt from the Center's website (www.christa.org) that does a nice job of describing a few moments of the Mission. On the morning of February 22nd, please make sure your students are AT SCHOOL AS CLOSE TO 8:00AM AS POSSIBLE, as it will help us maintain our schedule for the day. The field trip will occur within the school day, so we will return to Brookwood in time for a regular dismissal. If you have any questions, please contact Annie Johnson at ajohnson@brookwood.edu. Be ready for some animated dinner conversation on the 22nd!

At far left, entry hallway to Christa McAuliffe Challenger Center. At near left, Mars Mission Control room. Below, Mars Lander room.

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Excerpt from www.christa.org: The Challenger Experience... Challenger Center crews spend several weeks in the classroom preparing for their missions. By the time they arrive at the McAuliffe Challenger Center, every crew member has been assigned to a specific role. They take their positions in either Mission Control or the Space Station, and following a short pre-mission briefing, assume control of an exciting two hour mission simulation. At any point during the McAuliffe Challenger Center's current mission scenario, Voyage to Mars, an untrained observer is likely to be dazed by the torrent of messages and data being exchanged with surprising ease by these highly qualified space scientists. The COMMUNICATIONS and DATA teams systematically direct this flow of information, and as the data accumulates and teams begin to get a clearer picture of the mission's status, things start to get pretty interesting. Using data from three orbiting satellites, the Space Weather team analyzes sunspots to determine the risk to earth and the astronaut crew posed by harmful solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Nearby, the REMOTE team begins the process of comparing hematite concretion samples (Mars blueberries) returned from the Martian surface with similar deposits collected from the Utah desert. Concentration is the key as the mission control PROBE team informs their astronaut crew that the probe is above allowable mass - the team must now devise a workaround that will allow the mission to continue. Meanwhile, the orbiting LIFE SUPPORT crew is informed that an analysis of their pH test data suggests water supply contamination. Should they retest all reservoirs, shut down the water supply immediately, or is there time enough to brainstorm some other options? Just then, in both mission control and onboard the space station, the general alarm sounds and the rotating alert beacon demands the crew's attention. After comparing the mass of a toxic chemical taken during today's work with one from yesterday's observations, the ISOLATION team is forced to conclude that the chemical is venting, or leaking, into the space station's fragile, artificial atmosphere. Team members must now use several robotic arms in concert to quickly "safe" the sample in a special canister if the crew's safety is to be assured. Finally, pressure is mounting for the mission control NAVIGATION team as the need for lunar landing site coordinates becomes critical. What could possibly happen next? Nobody knows.

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Wellness Collaborative Week Will Slotnick of Wellness Collaborative will be joining us again this year beginning on February 6th for Wellness Week. Mr. Slotnick worked for several years with Freedom From Chemical Dependency (FCD), but in the past few years he has established his own organization. Wellness Collaborative’s mission is to promote health and prevent addiction through educational programs, support groups, individual & family coaching, and consulting services. Their primary focus is on: – Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Education – Stress Management and Mindfulness Training -- Overall Social and Emotional Wellness We have redesigned our schedule for the week to allow each student to meet with Mr. Slotnick at least two times in a full class setting. He is both knowledgeable and engaging, and last year the students gave him rave reviews. We are very excited to welcome him back at Brookwood. In addition to his work with students, Mr. Slotnick will be holding a parent information session on Friday, February 10th from 1:45pm to 2:45pm in the Dodge Writing Center. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. To learn more about Wellness Collaborative, please check out: http://wellcoll.org. Spotlight on English & World Culture/Geography Starting in late January, World Culture and Geography classes and English classes are going to focus on an interdisciplinary unit on the Israeli and Palestinian Conflict. This ongoing dispute allows us to explore topics such as religion, conflict resolution, the military, and the history of the Middle East Region. The dispute over Israel/Palestine is one where there is no clear right and wrong, leaving students to sift through decades of conflict, failed peace treaties, and questionable leadership. When encountered with circumstances where there is no clear or obvious protagonist/antagonist or clear resolution, students are challenged to push their own perceptions of right vs. wrong and are forced to delve deep into the “grey area” that characterizes this conflict. We have found, over the past three years, that this unit effectively taps into students’ critical thinking, abstract reasoning, and expository writing skills. In World Culture and Geography, students will learn about the conflict through several readings and films with a strong emphasis on reading comprehension skills with secondary sources. In

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English class, students will read Cathryn Clinton's novel, A Stone In My Hand, that tells the story of a Palestinian family living in Gaza through the eyes of an adolescent girl. In concert, these two elements breathe life into the topic and engage students on a level that they have probably never experienced before. Be sure to ask your kids about it when we begin towards the end of January. It makes for some very evocative dinner time conversation. More Fun with Buddies In December the 6th grade paired up with their 2nd grade buddies to participate in their Social Studies learning about our country’s colonial period. The students played traditional colonial games and even “churned” butter using a glass jar and marbles!

Advisor Contact Information Maile Black mblack@brookwood.edu 978-526-4500 ext. 6262 Evan Diamond ediamond@brookwood.edu 978-526-4500 ext. 6260 Annie Johnson ajohnson@brookwood.edu 978-526-4500 ext. 6271

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January 19, 2012

Andrew Luman aluman@brookwood.edu 978-526-4500 ext. 6313 Annabel Wildrick awildrick@brookwood.edu 978-526-4500 ext. 6317 Marcus Young myoung@brookwood.edu 978-526-4500 ext. 6234