Rhinebeck Happenings

The 6th-grade students in Ms. Wilsey’s science class are taking part in an Earthquake Engineering Challenge. Students worked in collaborative groups to design a structure that is able to withstand an earthquakes’ surface and body waves that cause many buildings to crumble. The engineers in Science 6 planned, designed, and made modifications to their structures after testing out how their creations upheld the earthquake test. Ms. Wilsey provided students with feedback to get them thinking about the potential changes that could help their structures to be a bit more sturdy. The student engagement and cooperative learning taking place was exciting!

These students couldn't wait to use color, technique, and true passion to weave with Mrs. Johnson.

During Superintendent's Conference Day, teachers spent time reflecting on their own literary identities and how that influences how they teach writing. This professional dialogue also enabled K-8 teachers to share about best writing practices utilized in their classrooms. Teachers discussed how they get to know the writers in their care, celebrate accomplishments, and how they provide feedback to students. We began to look across Teacher College's Writing Process Learning Progression, K-8 to see how students develop their writing skills over time. The Rhinebeck teachers are committed to knowing and growing each individual student while cultivating a community of writers.

In this lesson, Ms. Koegel's students had the opportunity to explore how different atoms form compounds through covalent bonding. Collaborative groupings were challenged with determining where bonds would form based on valence electron configuration - using both Lewis dot structures and model molecule sets. Science minds were thinking, creating, and trying out possible bond configurations.

Hawk Talks 2022 were bigger and better than ever. Seniors picked topics they were passionate about, followed their curiosity for a few months, and wrote researched arguments to share with their peers. After presenting in class, four winning Hawk Talks were presented again in front of the whole senior class in the auditorium.

CLS Winter Olympics physical education unit is a wonderful celebration of friendship, solidarity, and fair play. Each K-5 class in the school is randomly assigned a country to compete in the school-wide medal count. As a whole class, the students try their personal best at each station to earn Bronze, Silver, or Gold medals which are added to their country’s total count. During this unit, students are exposed to eight different Winter Olympic sports that are modified into a station format. These stations include cross country skiing, biathlon, skeleton, ski jump, hockey, speed skating, bobsled, and curling. To further the students' learning, three of the stations are transformed into the Paralympic sports of para biathlon, sledge hockey, and wheelchair curling in the second week of this exciting unit.

Over two days, students worked in small groups to place characters from William Shakespeare's, The Tempest on the Mood Meter. Then, each group briefly presented to the whole class; they named the characters' feelings and provided specific lines from the text as evidence. These pictures show students on the second day using their notes to analyze the role language plays in character development.

Mr. King, Ms. Lox, and I spent the morning visiting 5th-grade classrooms. These visits highlighted the power of individual self-reflection, collaborative partnerships, and small group instruction. Students were exploring an escape room challenge as an engaging way to review for an upcoming math assessment. While others researched a historical figure that sparked their interest tied to Black History Month. Other mathematicians were practicing solving algorithms and words problems, while self-reflecting on individual math goals. Every student was engaged in the learning process!

The seventh-grade chorus has dedicated much of their time preparing repertoire for the upcoming Spring concert. One of the pieces they’ve been cautiously preparing is Believer, arranged by Mark Brymer, and originally written by the band The Imagine Dragons. This incorporates body percussion that has a cyclical but dynamic pattern. The students also must sing this a cappella, which means they must accompany themselves; no background accompaniment such as the use of the piano. Their energy and high spirits while practicing this piece have been an inspiration as well as a joy to be a part of. They are excited to showcase this piece alongside their continuous hard work.

12th graders in Ms. Wheeler's class use literary theory questions to glean information from their readings. Students work individually, in partnerships, and receive individualized conferences from Ms. Wheeler, as she provides specific feedback.