Dragon Dispatch: From Odysseys to Film Festivals, it’s the end of the year!
Spotted on the Boulevard: Grandparents and Special Friends!
One of our most beloved traditions took place here at 925 Ninth Ave: Grandparents and Special Friends Day! Our Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade students welcomed their special friends to Speyer for a fun-filled morning! From their fabulous musical and dance performances to the classroom visit fun, the morning was filled with smiles, warmth, and love! The students were so proud to show off their classrooms, introduce their special friends to their teachers, and give them a glimpse into their world at Speyer.
Of course an event like this takes a huge amount of effort to plan — big thanks to Sam Gabrielli and Emily Martin, the Advancement Team of James Cappabianca, Sophie Edelman, and Yas Hickson, the K/1/2 teaching teams, the Facilities and Security teams, Chef Kaid and the Kitchen team, our incredible PA and parent volunteers, all of our teachers and staff who pitched in to help or be a special friend…and a super special shout-out to Mr. Tim and Ms. Kelly or their hard-work and dedication to arrange the amazing (and adorable!) performances! GO DRAGONS (and their special friends)!
Spotted off the Boulevard: Our Youngest Dragons experiencing their very own Odyssey!
To celebrate the end of their unit about Greek Mythology, our Kindergarten students travelled to Central Park to participate in their own Odyssey! After learning about Odysseus’s trials, they experienced their own journey. In their adventures, they traveled through Poseidon’s ocean, found Cyclops’ eye, avoided eating Lotus flowers, and sent arrows through the axes. They ended their journey with a great feast!
Fifth Grade’s culminating event on Ancient Greece!
Our Fifth Grade students commemorated their unit about Ancient Greece with a Greek agora! The morning started with a performance of the tragedy by Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis. After, the audience stepped into our students a recreation of the ancient Greek agora, the marketplace!
Students did a broad study of the different ages of Ancient Greece, after which they selected a topic to study further. After researching, and synthesizing information from multiple sources, they were tasked with teaching what they learned in a creative and interactive way: there were presentations on Apollo and Artemis, traditional ancient Greek breakfast, a library to purchase scrolls, even a labyrinth with the Minotaur, and more! After spending some time in the agora, a mock trial was held – students charged Helen with starting the Trojan War!
It was an amazing morning that embodied the spirit of a Greek agora: the project facilitated the exchange of ideas and perspectives and invited students to lend their own voice to the historical discourse! Congrats to our Fifth Grade and a special shout-out to Middle School Humanities teacher Ms. Glass!
Spotted in the Makers Lab: Fourth Grade’s very own blind boxes!
Our Fourth Grade students embarked on an interdisciplinary project with their non-fiction book clubs and the Makers Lab! Inspired by blind boxes in real life, students planned and 3D modeled 3 objects related to their topics (printing press, titanic, the human brain, and endangered animals) in a 3D modeling platform called Tinkercad. After designing their objects, they decorated the outside of the box, making sure to keep in mind the branding of their box, what the customer will see, and what is the most important information needed on their box.
Once their object and box were designed, Ms. Nguyen randomly 3D printed one of each students’ 3d models and put them in their boxes. Culminating with the students opening their own blind box in class and seeing which object they got – just like a real blind box!
Spotted off the Boulevard: Fordham Plaza Butterfly Bonanza!
Our Kindergarten students wrapped up their science unit on life cycles, studying the life stages of butterflies and ladybugs. Throughout the unit they interacted with live ladybugs and butterflies– starting in their larva stage and observing them in their pupa and chrysalis stage, and finally as they emerged from their pupas as butterflies and ladybugs!
They ended their unit by releasing them into the world at nearby Fordham Plaza. Lots of smiles and cheers were seen as they found new homes nearby!
Who Needs Sundance!? We have the Seventh Grade Monster Madness Film Festival!
Building on the concept of the real and imagined monsters that loom large in the adolescent mind, the fourth annual Monster Madness Film Festival is a culminating event designed and produced by Ms. Belski in Seventh Grade Humanities.
Our seventh graders spent the past month giving a close look to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, considered the first science fiction novel in English, and an important story that offers psychological insight into the ever expanding world of intersecting cultures, religions, governmental systems, and ideology that began during the Enlightenment and continues today. This story is also groundbreaking because of the complexity given to the monster itself. The monster is not just a manifestation of evil — its crimes are a reaction to the life it has lived, which is just one of the important elements to ponder in the course of the book.
Their project was guided by certain parameters. Each film had to adhere to the following instructions: the film must have a “monster” that can be connected to an element of monster theory; something about the monster or the characters he/she/they encounter should change at the end to show why this moment is important; the film must a title; the film can be live action, stop animation, or narrated storytelling over digital or hand drawn art; and all films had to begin with a quote from Shelley’s Frankenstein which serves as an anchoring or framing of the text.
Students began storyboarding their films by exploring modern fears and questioning how best to bring them to life in their own unique ways. A field trip to The Paley Center for Media further developed their understanding of camera angles and the use of shadows to create suspense, the emotional power of a soundtrack, and other cinematic tricks to use in their own films.
Of course, our film festival was a huge hit with the audience, who watched fabulous cinematic creations that fell into three main themes: Monsters Always Escape, The Monster Dwells at the Gate of Difference, and Monster’s Body is a Cultural Body!
We give two thumbs’ up to all of our Seventh Grade filmmakers and a standing ovation Ms. Belski for another amazing finale to the year!
