Student of the Week: Congratulations to Louis Pecceu. 4 th Grade (Natascha Bach):

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1 May 13, 2016 PACIFIC BOYCHOIR ACADEMY 215 Ridgeway Avenue Oakland, CA Tel: ACADEMIC WEEKLY NEWSLETTER SALVATORE M. TRENTO Student of the Week: Congratulations to Louis Pecceu 4 th Grade (Natascha Bach): Fourth graders learned print rolling this week. We used the Aztec Gods and geometric shapes as our design in honor of Cinco de Mayo. We also did a 3D picture of our hands. In our journals this week we wrote a concert reflection about our Rachmaninov concert experience, we wrote poems choosing from shape poems, echo-verse poems, ballads, and also wrote about all the things we are grateful to our mothers for. We practiced our spelling homophones by playing hopscotch on the blacktop. Mr. Elevancini taught a science lesson on catapults and we graphed our results. In math, we continue to learn and implement the formulas for area and perimeter. We cleared the garden pulling all remaining produce, pruned and washed it and shared it with students and teachers. We discussed some possibilities for a community service project for these final weeks of school. In addition, the boys reached goal 3 for outstanding behavior which is to walk to Fenton's next week for ice cream! 5 th Grade (Victoria Fry): This week in 5th grade students worked hard to rehearse for next week's Structures Presentations. The 4th grade and Mr. Trento will be joining us as the boys present their final structures. In Math, we began a new unit: Angles. In English, the boys began writing outlines for their Johnny Tremain book reports. In History, we started learning about 1

2 Lewis and Clark's exploration of The Louisiana Purchase. We watched an educational video to better understand their journey and findings. It was a fun and productive week! Spanish (Megan Cole): 5th: This week: Ser (to be) & Estar (to be) was reviewed and practiced. We continued our online interactive Spanish program, practicing career titles, family and people. Next week: More review on Ser & Estar. We will continue with the online interactive Spanish program. 6th: This week: The boys finished presenting their Family poster boards in Spanish! We played Spanish basketball! The boys got caught up on missing assignment and practiced some online exercises. Next week: We will continue to practice shopping and places vocabulary. We will start a review on sentence structure and verb conjugations. If time permits, we will start some online interactive Spanish readings. 7th: This week: The boys played Spanish Basketball! They also worked on their cooking projects! Next week: They will present their cooking projects which includes the history and culture around their dish. They will also bring the food in so we can all have a taste of an authentic dish! They will have Spanish listening lab and practice more songs and lyrics. 8th: This week: We reviewed the Preterite conjugations for a quiz retake next week. The boys played Spanish basketball and we discussed more about the Spanish poster board project. Next week: The boys will take the quiz retake and we will read the Telehistoria and start some reviewing for the final. Latin (Stefani Echeverria): In 7th grade Latin, the boys have been working on forming and using participles-- the present active participle and the perfect passive participle. We have also been working on translating sentences that have more 'unusual' subjects/verbs (e.g. sentences with 1st person plural subjects). The boys are also working on a Latin etymology project designed to help them with the ERB vocabulary section; where they look up the Latin roots of words from lists of the 100 most 2

3 common ERB words and use this to increase both their Latin and English vocabulary. Finally, in honor of the Shakespeare play this Friday we talked about how Comedy of Errors is based on Plautus' Latin play The Menaechmi and the types of stock characters/themes that comprise Roman comedy as a genre (e.g. "The clever slave," identity confusion, slapstick bodily humor, and social role reversals). The boys then warmed up their acting skills for later in the afternoon by writing and performing mini-scenes based on Roman dramatic conventions. In 8th grade Latin, the boys have been doing more advanced work on participles-- the future active and future passive participles as well as infinitive forms based on participles. We are moving into one of the last major topics of the year-- indirect statement (speech reported/paraphrased by another person). Like the 7th grade, the boys are also working on a Latin etymology project designed to help them with the ERB vocabulary section; where they look up the Latin roots of words from lists of the 100 most common ERB words and use this to increase both their Latin and English vocabulary. Finally, in honor of the Shakespeare play this Friday we talked about how Comedy of Errors is based on Plautus' Latin play The Menaechmi and the types of stock characters/themes that comprise Roman comedy as a genre (e.g. "The clever slave," identity confusion, slapstick bodily humor, and social role reversals). The boys then warmed up their acting skills for later in the afternoon by writing and performing mini-scenes based on Roman dramatic conventions English (Richard Gabri): (For those of you who need an update to this wonderful production, Mr. Gabri has summarized it for you SMT) The Comedy of Errors By Erroneous Productions Location: Ancient Greek City of Ephesus Duration: One Day Locales in Ephesus: The Phoenix (House of Antipholus of Ephesus), The Centaur (An Inn) and The Porpentine (A Brothel) Plot Summary Egeon, a merchant of Syracuse, is condemned to death in Ephesus for violating the ban against travel between the two rival cities. As he is led to his execution, he tells the Ephesian Duke, Solinus, that he has come to Syracuse in search of his wife and one of his twin sons, who were separated from him 25 years ago in a shipwreck. The other twin, who grew up with Egeon, is also traveling the world in search of the missing half of their family. (The twins, we learn, are identical, and each has an identical twin slave named Dromio.) The Duke is so moved by this story that he grants Egeon a day to raise the thousand-mark ransom that would be necessary to save his life. Meanwhile, unknown to Egeon, his son Antipholus of Syracuse (and Antipholus' slave Dromio) is also visiting Ephesus--where Antipholus' missing twin, known as Antipholus of Ephesus, is a prosperous citizen of the city. Adriana, Antipholus of Ephesus' wife, mistakes Antipholus of Syracuse for her husband and drags him home for dinner, leaving Dromio of Syracuse to stand guard at the door and admit no one. Shortly thereafter, Antipholus of Ephesus (with his slave Dromio of Ephesus) returns home and is refused entry to his own house. In turn, Antipholus decides to get revenge on his wife by giving a courtesan the gold chain he has commissioned for her. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Syracuse has fallen in love with Luciana, Adriana's sister, who is appalled (or enthralled?) at the behavior of the man she thinks is her brother-in-law. The confusion increases when the gold chain ordered by Antipholus of Ephesus is given to Antipholus of Syracuse. Antipholus of Ephesus refuses to pay for the chain (unsurprisingly, since he never received it) and is arrested for debt. His wife, seeing his strange behavior, decides he has gone mad and orders him bound and held in a cellar room. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Syracuse and his slave decide to flee the city, which they believe to be enchanted, as soon as possible--only to be menaced by Adriana and the debt officer. They seek refuge in a nearby abbey. 3

4 Adriana now begs the Duke to intervene and remove her "husband" from the abbey into her custody. Her real husband, meanwhile, has broken loose and now comes to the Duke and levels charges against his wife. The situation is finally resolved by the Abbess, Emilia, who brings out the set of twins and reveals herself to be Egeon's long-lost wife. Antipholus of Ephesus reconciles with Adriana; Egeon is pardoned by the Duke and reunited with his spouse; Antipholus of Syracuse resumes his romantic pursuit of Luciana, and all ends happily. Director s Notes Character and Identity Who, or rather what, are we? This is the question Shakespeare s comic masterpiece wants us to ponder, even as it makes us forget our troubles (however briefly), by losing ourselves in a world of make-believe. An old man (Egeon) is sentenced to death because of his nationality. A married woman (Adriana) is trapped by the role society has assigned her. A married man (Antipholus of Ephesus) is bored by who he is (or has become) and decides to have extramarital affairs, straying away from home and family. A single man (Antipholus of Syracuse) becomes bored of being a bachelor and decides to settle down. These are some of the problems that arise when selves are open to multiple interpretations and/or can take on different interpretations of themselves. The self (as the name Antipholus, against love, suggests) is always a self divided (or a self that must negate itself with every affirmation), because it is never commensurate with itself, or possible interpretations of itself. Ostensibly, the twins in this play are different people, but by making them identical twins Shakespeare is commenting on the dual nature of the self. For instance, there is the self you think you are and the self others think you to be. There is the self you think you are and the self you think you could become and/or want to be. There is also the possibility of the self you are (or think you are) coming into conflict with another sense (or interpretation) of yourself. Finally, there is the self whose interpretation of itself and its relations must, out of necessity, change over time. Language and Identity These themes, regarding identity, are woven into the fabric of the play through the many puns deployed by the characters (especially the twin Dromios). Punning is related to the larger problem of identity in the play by exploiting possible meanings of the same word. Through the use of puns, the twin Dromios threaten proper identification and all the activities (including communication) that identification makes possible. Their attempts to destabilize meaning (through punning) threaten their masters mastery of a given situation, just as the polity of Ephesus is destabilized when its citizens can t distinguish Antipholus of Syracuse from Antipholus of Ephesus. In turn, the twin Dromios (as slaves ) help reveal how their masters are slaves to their own identities, even as their masters help reveal (though unintentionally) how the Ephesians are slaves to their erroneous understanding of what constitutes human identity. The words bond, bound, band and bondman, sprinkled throughout the play, drive home the fact that we are all bound by (and to) the problem of identity. In The Comedy of Errors, even objects (whose meanings are seemingly static) are not immune to the problem of identity. A chain, for instance, functions more like a pun, as it takes on different meanings throughout the play (e.g., a love token, a bond of friendship, an instrument of revenge, a symbol of imprisonment, even the devil s torture device). The fact that the twin Dromios are constantly beaten for their mistakes, raises another interesting question. What is the relationship between identity and violence? What role does violence play in shaping human identity? What happens to those who don t live up to societal expectations, fail to conform, or break the law in the play (e.g., the Dromios, Egeon and Antipholus E, because Angelo thinks he stole his chain)? Identity as Water He that commends me to mine own content Commends me to the thing I cannot get. I to the world am like a drop of water That in the ocean seeks another drop, Who, falling there to find his fellow forth, Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself. 4

5 So I, to find a mother and a brother, In quest of them unhappy, lose myself. In this play, Shakespeare chose the metaphor of water (our motif for the play) to capture the essence of human identity. Water is an apt metaphor because despite what the word identity suggests (i.e., the characteristics determining who or what a person or thing is ), identities are not static: they are fluid, like water. Water takes the shape of the container it is in (a metaphor for how humans can adapt to a given situation), water has different states (e.g., solid, liquid, and gas, which may correspond, on a metaphoric level, to different emotional states) and water can mix with water (a metaphor for human identities comingling and transforming each other). Thanks Erroneous Productions would like to thank everyone who pitched in to make this play possible. More specifically, we thank Ms. Bach for coming to the rescue, when all seemed lost, and helping us fashion an Adriana out of a sock. We thank Mr. Leo for all his help and support with supervision during rehearsals. We thank Ms. Niles for helping us create artwork for the show. We thank the music staff for their flexibility and cooperation. Thank you also to Ariana Candell (for feeding the boys and helping out when needed) and Jennifer Wilde (for doing makeup and helping out when needed)! Thank you to the parents who drove the boys to Canyon Elementary School to watch their students perform in A Midsummer Night s Dream. Thank you to Canyon Elementary School for coming to our show. And finally, thank you to my wife, for putting up with me and taking care of our kids for the past 10 weeks so that we could work on the play after school. Oh, and thanks to anyone I m forgetting to thank. Math (Kevin Fox): Seventh grade had a test this week on graphing in one dimension, aka on a number line, including absolute value and inequalities. Due to the play they ve had very little homework assigned. We ve moved on to some first algebra steps: combining like terms, the commutative and associative properties. Unfortunately this week they ve also been correcting and fixing the graphs that were due last Monday. Eighth grade had a two-part test this week. It s usually a test I give as a take-home problem set, but it s the kind of thing that could be easily done by Google or a graphing calculator, plus I didn t want to give them homework due to the play, so I broke it into two 3-question sheets and they did it Tuesday and Wednesday. Since then, we ve been wrapping up the tests for those that were absent, and pausing to do a little review of topics from hundreds of years ago (like January). Science (Leo Knudtson): 4th Grade Science This week student s finally got the chance to race their balloon powered cars. After many tests and redesigns, the race went off and was a resounding success. All student s cars met performance specifications and it turned out the most successful was the one that managed to travel the straightest. 5

6 Before the tests, students watched a video on how Newton s Third Law applies to a basketball shot. They then participated in a test where they slammed their hands on the desk with increasing force, observing how the amount of force they applied was shot back to their hands in an equal force. Next week we will be planting some spring seasonals in the garden as well as exploring Newton s first and second laws. 5th Grade Science This week students wrapped up our magnetism and electricity unit with a challenging activity. They were tasked with creating a dancing motor using a battery, a neodymium magnet, and copper wire. Once created, they observed the Lorentz Force in action as the copper wire spun in a circle powered by the interaction between the battery and the magnet. Next week, students will take their test on magnetism and electricity, get into the garden for some spring seasonal planting, as well as getting an introduction to our next unit on force. 6th Grade Math This week students continued to master their algebraic equations and inequalities skills, reviewing what they have learned and drilling these problems. They also began to master the difficult word problems that will come up on their next test. On Thursday students had an outdoor class session where we went outside and three students who were randomly selected using the equity sticks presented how to solve three questions from the homework, going through step by step and conferring with their students to ensure their process was correct. 6

7 Next week we will finish up our reviewing for this chapter and take the test! 6th Grade Earth Science This week students explored how energy is transferred in our atmosphere. Topics covered were convection, air expansion, air circulation patterns, inversion and its effect on urban environments and lastly how greenhouse gases are absorbed in our atmosphere. Student s prepared TV News Reports on these topics and the results were amazing. One news report involved eight different reporters, all played by different members of the class and all reports thoroughly covered the topics presented in this week's lesson, all while having a great time. On Friday, students watched the documentary Cowspiracy about the leading cause of global warming: raising animals for food. The arguments presented are shocking and very persuasive, however, I made sure to remind students of the importance of including meat in their diet at this stage in their physical development. We will finish the documentary next week and have a debriefing session taking a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the director s arguments. Next week we will also begin our last atmospheric lesson on wind currents, both global and local. 7th Grade Science This week, students were given time in class to finish up their presentations as they were very busy in the afternoons and at night with play rehearsal. This gave me an opportunity to check in with students one on one during class. We did a run through of the Prezi they created and students made a checklist for this weekend and next week of what they still have to do. This weekend, students will be adding the finishing touches on their docs and Prezi s, as well as creating flash cards to reference during the presentation. They should also rehearse in front of family or the mirror at least once. Next week students will begin to rehearse for their presentations and give their presentations Thursday! 8th Grade Science This week students continued their work with the universal indicator solution, this time presented with the challenge to neutralize an acid and a base given different concentrations of each. This was a long lab and required a lot of precision and focus and for the most part everyone got great results. Some had errors, but even those were learning experiences as students realized what must have gone wrong along the way. Next week we will finish up our Acid and base unit as well as begin to study for the upcoming test. History (Michael Kwett): 7

8 These past two weeks in sixth grade history, students have been learning about the decline of the Roman Empire. The boys worked in pairs all this week and chose an invading group to research (Huns, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, etc.). Students then collaborated on writing a two-page research paper on their chosen group, outlining their lifestyles, social organization, and military approaches to invading the Roman empire. On Friday, students presented their findings to the class and compared the military strategies and advantages of each group, as well as the role of each in shaping European society. In seventh grade history, students continued working on their research papers about a chosen philosopher or scientist from the Age of Reason. Students are practicing how to format and organize a full-length essay, to write persuasive, evidence-based arguments, and to see the connections between historical figures and the present world. Most students have managed to get out five strong pages, and I am working closely with each via their Google Doc and in-person meetings to offer suggestions for revision and expansion. In eighth grade, students learned about Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush, the creation of new states in the West, abolitionist literature, and political compromises on slavery. We are having detailed class discussions, opportunities for close reading of political speeches given by important congressmen including Henry Clay and John Calhoun, and space to make connections in the reading with current events. I gave students a packet of condensed readings for the chapter that will help them gather their thoughts and assimilate the information they ve learned about the lead-up to the Civil War. Next week, we begin our unit on that war. Art (Margaret Niles): Group decisions and team work abound in the process of painting backdrops for the play. It's great to see the boys delegate (politely) and find a role they feel comfortable with,and even stretch themselves a bit. Next week we begin a new topic and I am looking forward to hearing what students in fourth through sixth grade feel about peace. They will be participating in an international project, according to our own unique boy's school calendar. It is never too early or too late to focus on world peace, after all. Physical Education (Scott Thompson): This week in PE we finished our basketball unit. We had our finals with the donut ceremony. Next week we will begin our final unit of the year: floor hockey! Have a great weekend! Important Dates Overview: END OF SCHOOL YEAR INFORMATION May 13, Friday: 12:30 pm. Students from Redwood Academy joining us for Friday s 12:30 performance. / 6:00 pm, COMEDY OF ERRORS, PBA. May 14, Saturday: 6:00 pm, COMEDY OF ERRORS, PBA. May 23 26, M, T, W, Thur: 8 am 10 am, ERB TESTING (Educational Research Bureau) May 27 & 30: Friday & Monday: MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, No School/No EDP June 1, Wednesday, 8 TH GRADE TRIP TO SANTA CRUZ, (all day) June 8 10, W, Thur, F, 7 th & 8 th GRADE FINAL EXAMS 8

9 June 8, Wednesday, 6:30 pm: CHOIR AWARDS, both Day and After School June 13, Monday 12:30 pm ACADEMIC AWARDS June 14, Tuesday, 5:30 pm- 8 th GRADE GRADUATION, Montclair Presbyterian Church 5701 Thornhill Dr., Oakland June 15, Wednesday: last day of school for grade 4, 5, 6, 7 June 17, Friday: REPORT CARDS DUE IN OFFICE 9