IN BRIEF
onions, beets, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, basil, cilantro and oregano. Over the summer, families have volunteered to take turns tending the gardens. In the fall, students will harvest the food and deliver it to Wayzata’s Interfaith Outreach Community Partners food shelf. The Highcroft Community Garden received a grant from the Minnesota Statewide Health Improvement Program to fund the service learning project. ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHT
THE WORLD SCREAMS FOR ICE CREAM
COMMUNITY
ROUND LIKE A RECORD Anne VanderVorste’s kindergartners sat transfixed as an old vinyl album went round and round on a record player — or “that suitcase thing,” as one child called it. Interested students spent their self-directed learning time listening to music and discussing this historic artifact.
Kamie Page’s ice cream-loving second graders wanted to know what people in other parts of the world think of the treat. They created an online survey asking participants where they live, if ice cream is popular there, what their favorite ice cream flavor is and the most unusual flavor they’ve tried. Promoting their survey via social media, the students received 747 responses from ice cream fans around the globe — representing all continents but Antarctica — who confirmed that the dessert enjoys popularity nearly everywhere. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can always try these flavors: green bean, black sesame, basil, bleu cheese and chocolate, garlic or the carbonated beverage Irn-Bru (a.k.a. Scotland’s other national drink).
music educators across the country. This year the group sang a 25-minute concert of seven pieces, ranging from Renaissance to gospel music. They infused their selections with the movement, dance and a spirit that only middle school students can bring.
ARTS HIGHLIGHT
CHORISTERS HIT HIGH NOTE AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE Blake’s Middle School audition-only mixed ensemble, the Choristers, has a reputation that keeps it in high demand as performers. For the eighth time since 2002, the talented group, directed by music teacher Dan LeJeune, was invited to showcase its work at the national conference for the Organization of American Kodaly Educators, a professional organization for 4 Cyrus
COMMUNITY
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS CAUSE CHAIN REACTION Highcroft’s pre-kindergartners began building a paper chain to visually record the acts of kindness they showed one another. As the chain grew, the students decided to move it outside their classroom and invite everyone on campus to add their acts of kindness. Eventually,
word spread to Blake’s other campuses, where staff and students were encouraged to send links for the growing chain. “An older student was walking by the chain outside our classroom and commented how kind our school is,” says Pre-K teacher Dennis
Gilsdorf. “Having a visual reminder of the importance of small acts of kindness can have a transformative effect, just like the act of kindness itself.”