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Give Back Day 2018 was a huge success!! We ended up with a beautiful day and got a whole lot done! From cleaning classroom furniture, writing thank you notes, classroom organization, bulletin board design, raking, clearing the pond, picking up branches, greenhouse-making, tree-planting and more…Renbrook loves to give back!!! See more pics at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/renbrook/ZVJ54C

The Renbrook Cooking Club served up a three-course lunch to special guests yesterday. Dishes included fried zucchini and pomegranate quinoa, pesto and alfredo pastas and fried ice cream. Delicious!

Music and dance troop, Mikata, wowed Renbrook students with their powerful rhythmic music and dance from islands such as Nigeria, Ghana and Puerto Rico. The troop helps students explore these West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cultures through music and dance while learning about an array of percussion instruments.

The National Latin Exam is an annual exam to test students’ proficiency in the Latin language and knowledge of ancient Roman history and culture. The test consists of 40 multiple choice questions and is taken by students across the United States in an multiple other countries. All eighth grade Latin students at Renbrook took the exam this year, and two of them obtained an impressive score and received a diploma from the National Latin Exam committee: John R. (with 26 out of 40 questions correct) received a Cum Laude Diploma, and Sophie G. (with 36 out of 40 questions correct) received the exceptionally rare distinction of Gold Medal Summa Cum Laude. 

Adam Ezra, a world-class professional musician, visited grades 7-9 today to discuss what it’s like to write and perform music. Thanks for visiting Adam!

Six Renbrook musicians participated in the 2018 Northern Region Middle School Musical Festival on March 23rd and 24th at Wethersfield High School. These students were selected to participate out of hundreds of students across northern Connecticut based on their successful auditions in January. (L-R) Sahil A. (voice), Nathan C. (trumpet), Mariapaula G. (voice), Benjamin R. (voice), Alice M. (voice), and Olivia D. (french horn) all performed. Congratulations!

During the 7th grade Life Science course, a unit of study focuses on people’s capacity to form emotional attachment to a variety of living things, and dogs are the best example. During the celebrated “Dog Unit,” students deepen their understanding of the emotional attachment that exists between humans and dogs in a number of ways. In addition to inviting well-behaved family dogs to visit their class, the students welcome representatives and their dogs from the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and Oak Hill, an organization that helps people with disabilities. In addition, Ben Garson from Dogology explained how a master dog trainer trains a dog, and two owners of therapy dogs explained the therapeutic effect of dogs in settings such as schools, hospitals, airports, libraries, and prisons. The students enjoyed being with two pugs, Oscar and Murray and Beau a Labrador/basset hound mix. The unit culminated with a bake sale and a fundraiser event to benefit Fidelco. The entire school was invited to attend the big event where seventh graders organized a number of experiences and activities, including a “blind obstacle course,” a dog trivia game, and an auditory challenge: “Do you speak dog?” Local pet supply stores also donated items for a blind auction. The centerpiece of the event were three Fidelco puppies-in-training – Piper, Valor, and Wookie – and everyone present them and many had their picture taken with a Fidelco puppy in the puppy photo booth. It was a great group effort and the bake sale and Friday event raised over $2500.00.

7th graders got a visit from Ben Garson, master trainer from Dogology and his dog Judah, a 100-pound German Shepard to discuss training techniques. This expands on the lesson about alpha dog vs. submissive dog and how to teach manners to dogs as part of their 7th grade dog unit in science. It’s always a fun and heart-warming way to bring learning to life at Renbrook!

Inspired by Hannah Brencher’s “Love Letters to Strangers”, https://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_brencher_love_letters_to_strangers Renbrook School students in the Upper School (grades 6-8) composed notes of love and encouragement that will be tucked around campus for lucky recipients to find. Students were give a simple directive: write something you wish somebody would tell you when you’re feeling down. From that starting place, ideas, compassion, and kindness flowed. Click https://tinyurl.com/yby6vt36 to view the letters.