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It’s time to start checking that out. First, the hull must be glued onto a wooden mount inside the bottle. The “seas” will be installed around the mount before the hull is glued in place. But it’s time to start “dry fitting” everything before gluing. No one wants surprises when using glue.

There is an old saying that it’s better to design with a pencil than with a saw. Resist the temptation to start carving right away.

Decide what kind of boat you wish to build in your bottle. I recommend a “fore-and-aft” rig for first-time sailboat bottlers rather than a “square rig” like my brigantine. Common fore and aft rigs are catboats, sloops, cutters, yawls, ketches, and schooners. See the illustrations to the right of each type of rig.

In the “days of wooden ships and iron men” sailors passed idle hours building ship models, sometimes building ships in bottles. When confined as prisoners of war during the Napoleonic wars, sailors built ship models using scrounged materials, even beef bones. Finding myself facing idle hours and confinement I will be spending the next several weeks building a ship and a boat in a bottle. I have some experience at this. See the photo to the right of a little brigantine I built for my wife many years ago.

Insights from our Use of Time Survey
by Kara Ashley
Upper School Head

Author Elise Broach visited Renbrook this week to talk about what it is like to become a published author. Elise is the author of The Wolf Keepers, Missing on Superstition Mountain, Masterpiece, and Shakespeare’s Secret.

Give Back Day 2019 was a huge success!! The rain held off just long enough for us to get a whole lot done! From cleaning classroom furniture, writing thank you notes, classroom organization, bulletin board design, raking, clearing the pond, picking up branches, tree-planting and more…Renbrook loves to give back!!! See more pics at: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmAJ4Jt8 or watch our video.

Seventh and eighth grade Latin students took the National Latin Exam in mid-March. Results are in and Charles G.(8th) and Ciaran G. (7th) won “Summa Cum Laude” – the highest honor on their respective Latin I and Latin II exams. CONGRATS!!

“This chair is just right,” said Goldilocks! 7th grade wanted to explore what makes a piece of furniture “just right” so they interviewed faculty and staff to figure out what piece of furniture they needed in their spaces. They made design sketches, calculated measurements, and created a model on 3D design software called Blender which they then 3D printed. Students had to create a functional furniture piece using only duct tape and cardboard and presented it to the faculty/staff member it was designed for including the admissions office!

This past February, all the students in grades 6-8 took part in the New England Math League Contest by taking a 30 minute contest in their math classes. The results were tabulated and the top five scores in each grade were sent in to compete as a team and as individuals against other schools in New England. Renbrook was ranked in the top 30 schools in New England in grades 6-8. Seventh graders Ciaron G. ranked in the top 35 students in New England. In the Hartford, New London, Wydham and Middlesex counties, eighth grader Brendan S. earned second place in the region as an individual and helped the team earn second place. The seventh grade team earned second place as well in the Hartford, New London, Wydham and Middlesex counties. 

From left to right in group photo:
Andrew L., Dora L. , Adriana B. , Manu N. , Griffin S., Robert H., Simone R.

Photo with medal winner: Simone R. – Silver Medal for French Middle School 2

Seven Renbrook students participated in the 2019 Connecticut Council of Language Teachers Annual Poetry Recitation Contest, which was held on Apr. 3 at Rockville High School in Vernon. 
Griffin S. (French MS 1)
Robbie H. (Spanish MS 1)
Andrew L. (Latin MS 1)
Adriana B. (Spanish MS Heritage Speaker)
Simone R. (French MS 2)
Manu N. (Spanish MS 2)
Dora L. (Mandarin MS Heritage Speaker)

Since January, these students perfected their recitation of poems from well-known poets of their languages of study. The seven participants won the in-class and all-school run-offs. At the statewide contest, approximately 600 students from 50 schools competed in 16 languages. Poems for Middle School had between 10 – 20 lines. Students were judged in four areas: memorization, diction, interpretation, and body language. Latin poetry had to be recited according to the classical meter. All students received a certificate of participation. Simone R. won the Silver Medal for the French Middle School 2 category! We are proud of their dedication and courage!

Renbrook Family Day at the Community Farm of Simsbury. Families volunteered on Saturday, April 6 to help prepare the farm for planting new crops, clearing fields, cleaning and filling flats for seeding and of course taking care of the animals! Thank you to all the Renbrook families who joined us! And a huge thank you to farm manager Paul and farmers Jim and Vi for showing us how it all gets done.