Glen Urquhart School

Congratulations to the Class of 2010!

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

Hugs and tears were the order of the day as the graduating class of 2010 processed through pouring rain to take part in Glen Urquhart’s traditional Scottish themed graduation ceremony. Serenaded by a band of bagpipers and the fourth and fifth grade and faculty choruses, the grads were given a truly memorable send-off.  Family, friends, faculty, and trustees packed the tent to listen to amusing and heart felt speeches by GUS graduates Andrew DesBois and Elizabeth Riley, and to hear personal testimonials composed for each graduate given by Raymond Nance. Graduation diplomas were presented by Raymond Nance and Board Chair Jody King. The ceremony was followed by a reception in Braemar, surrounded by the students’ artwork and memories of their formative years at Glen Urquhart.

Medieval Morning

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

Colorfully dressed as knights, ladies, monks, and kings, third graders performed a Morris stick dance as part of the GUS  Medieval Morning tradition, the culmination of the third grade study of the Middle Ages.  The students performed several memorized selections on the recorder, including Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the chorale from Cantata Nr. 147 by J. S. Bach,  and the Irish folk tune, Sally Gardens.  GUS parent and virtuoso recorder player, David Coffin, joined the students in playing the Bach, and a group of students accompanied the recorders on xylophones and metallophones.  Sally Gardens featured singing by small groups as well as by the entire class.  This performance was a culmination of the students’ year long study of the recorder.

GUS Students Shine in NE Math League Contest

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

At the end of year assembly, New England Math League Contest certificates were presented to several upper school students.  This year, as in the past, all of our sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have participated in the New England Math League Contest.  The contest is 30 minutes and involves completing 40 math problems, many of which are very challenging.  A good score on this contest is 15 out of 40 problems.  Every year about 90% to 100% of our students score at least 15.  The top five scores for the class are added together to get a team score.  That team score as well as the individual scores of those five students are sent in to represent our school for that grade level. Ms. Brackett presented certificates to the following sixth graders:

David Todd   35

Julia Schape  30

Ella Beyer   29

Evan DaCosta  29

Shauna Swansburg  27

Nicky Endicott 27

Hannah White  27

The sixth grade class tied for third in Essex County.

David Todd tied for second place in Essex County.

Ms. Smith presented the certificates to the following seventh graders:

Orren Fox (28)

Jack Hay (28)

Sydney Rutledge (28)

Rose Terner (29)

Christopher Bracken (32)

Jason King (37)

The seventh grade placed second in Essex County.

Jason King tied for first in Essex County.

Ms. Brackett presented the certificates to the following eighth graders:

Jacob Fucci  34

Ian Malabre  34

Kate Miller   33

Hannah Becker  33

Ali Decker   32

Jorge Piccole  32

The eighth grade placed second in Essex County.

Way to go, upper school math students!

The Mummies’ Final Journey

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

At a recent assembly, the sixth grade, some clad in regal Egyptian garb, processed solemnly into Braemar, bearing handmade sarcophagi and canopic jars, the final product of their study of the death rites of the Pharaohs.

In order to understand the rituals involved, when the students study the people of ancient Egypt they mummify a vegetarian “pharaoh” made from an orange and potato wired together.  They remove the internal organ of the orange (pulp) and bury the “pharaoh” and the pulp in natron (baking soda and salt) to dry out.  The mummy is then wrapped, with amulets tucked in the wrappings, and placed in a handmade sarcophagus decorated in the Egyptian way, including the mummy’s cartouche in hieroglyphs.  The mummified internal organ is placed in a clay canopic jar crafted and decorated in art class.

This project is particularly appealing to those kinesthetic learners who learn best by doing. One student said: “ It was fun wrapping the organs and preparing the body of the pharaoh for burial. It helped me understand what life was like in ancient Egypt.”

Fourth Graders Perform Songs of the Sea

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

An audience of parents and friends watched enchanted as the fourth grade showed off their knowledge of traditional whaling and seafaring life, not to mention their singing ability, through a selection of sea themed songs and readings. Each student played the part of a member of the crew on the whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan which they studied at first hand during their recent field trip to Mystic Seaport. As well as singing traditional sea shanties such as “Haul Away, Joe” and “John Kanaka”, they read aloud imaginary letters they had written from crew members to their families, describing the hardships and dangers of a whaling expedition. The program ended with a slide show of their trip to Mystic.

Special thanks to music teacher Patty Clark for wonderful musical direction; to David Coffin for assisting, playing concertina, and providing inspiration; to the fourth grade teachers Linda Bowden and Kathleen Bracken; and to Walter Riley for sound and lighting assistance.

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown tells the story of an average day in the life of the famous comic strip child hero, Charlie Brown. Most of the characters are 5-6 years old; however, the show is generally cast with adults or older students. The audience is introduced to the whole Peanuts gang: Patty, Schroeder, Lucy, and Snoopy. All of the characters share their observations, largely negative, of Charlie Brown. As the play progresses, the relationships of the Peanuts characters to one another are further expanded. Lucy is infatuated with Schroeder and takes great pleasure in tormenting Charlie Brown. Linus loves his blanket. Snoopy lives in his rich imagination. Charlie Brown is in love with a mysterious little, redheaded girl. The show ends with each character listing things that for him or her equal happiness. Finally, Lucy ends up telling Charlie Brown what a good man he is leaving a smiling, happy Charlie Brown alone on stage.

Dino eggs!

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

After watching spellbound as tiny live chicks emerged from eggs in the classroom incubator in first grade, this year’s second graders get a chance to explore the eggs of a completely different species. As part of their theme unit on dinosaurs, the students created Dino Eggs by the fun and messy process of covering inflated balloons with thick layers of paste and strips of newsprint. When the eggs are hardened, they will paint them and wait until they hatch. (Small plastic dinosaurs were placed inside the balloons by the teachers.) Question: what color was a dinosaur egg?

Fifth Graders Perform Music of the World

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

Fifth graders of Glen Urquhart traveled to five different countries during their recent “Music of the World ” concert.  The program featured songs from all the corners of the globe, including a beloved Chinese folk melody, a lively New Zealand tune, a calypso tune from Trinidad, with a Caribbean percussion ensemble, an Irish folk melody, and a Zulu a capella song, with drumming, movement, and four part harmony.  In the transitions between selections, the audience was transported to a new country by small drumming ensembles, in which all of the students participated.  Fifth Grade instrumentalists were also featured in several selections, and they included Liz DiFiglia on recorder, Matt Gubbins on trumpet, Julia Noel on clarinet, and Max Caiati-Nardone on violin.

Ben-Hur Rides Again!

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

The weather again cooperated for the Annual GUS chariot races, which took place for the first time behind the new upper school building.   Trumpeters from the GUS band provided music, while the fifth grade Greek students passed out grapes to the spectators.  Chariots carrying Emperor Nance and Senator Staller led the procession of eighth grade competitors onto the field.

Each charioteer was pulled by a mixed team of horses (one boy and one girl).  There were a total of eight heats, with winning chariots moving into the final rounds. Collisions and wipeouts at the turning posts provided amusement for the spectators and scrapes for the participants.  Kirsten Goeben drove the winning chariot, pulled by Ali Decker and Wesley Miller.

Master chariot builder and seventh grade parent Henry Fox was present for technical support and strategical advice.

Mystic Seaport and More!

POSTED BY: Alison Anholt

Last week was field trip week as students from three grades traveled to the ends of New England on various hiking and nature exploration field trips. The fourth grade learned about seafaring at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, seventh graders studied plants and water in the White Mountains, and the sixth grade explored Cape Cod’s fragile ecosystem. Here is an account of the sixth grade trip to Cape Cod by science teacher MaryEllen Saint George.

Wednesday- We drove to the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, run by the Audubon Society, where we met our guide, Dennis Murley, who led a box turtle tracking activity and habitat restoration work, pulling invasive plant species. We stayed overnight in comfortable dorms at Cape Cod Sea Camps on route 6A in East Brewster on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.

Thursday morning- silent hike at Fort Hill, Eastham.  Students were instructed to walk silently, in a spaced formation, the 1 1/4 mile route that winds through cedars, meadow, marsh overlook, and red maple swamp in an effort to grasp the wonder of the place.  Followed by lunch at the Penniman House.

Thursday – Dick Hilmer, owner of Osprey Sea Kayak Adventures, www.ExploreCapeCod.com was our guide on a kayaking expedition through Nauset Marsh in Eastham.  Dick is a Cape middle school teacher who introduces students to the marsh system and the geology of the area, including glacier formation, outwash plains, estuarine habitat, ebb and flow of tides.  Great trip!

Ken Kinkor, director of the Whydah Museum in Provincetown and a story teller, told the students about Cape pirates, finding the Whydah and its treasure, and shipwrecks of the Cape.

Friday – We drove to Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge, Wikis Way, Chatham. Students then had to wade barefoot through freezing water to board the Rip Ryder, the Monomoy Island Ferry from Chatham, captained by Keith Lincoln.  After a short, brisk ride through the waters of Monomoy, Keith’s mother, Jan Lincoln, led us on a walk across South Beach, a barrier strip of dune and tidal flats along Nantucket Sound.  Here, Ms. St. G. spotted three of her favorite shorebirds:  ruddy turnstones, black bellied plovers, and red knots.  We even came across a pair of mating horsehoe crabs, the ultimate of sightings!  We continued on to where the grey seals were hauled out.  They put on a spectacular performance for us.  They were abundant in numbers, demonstrated bottling and spyhopping, and appeared to be very curious about GUS 6th graders.

- MaryEllen SaintGeorge, Science Teacher