Today at Bement

Building a Community of Readers

Each year, the School of Education at Salem State University nominates 25 books for the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award (MCBA) with the goals of promoting reading for pleasure in the middle grades (grades 4–6) and determining a favorite book of the year. Recommendations are submitted by librarians and teachers throughout the state.

This voluntary reading program begins in June, just in time for summer reading, and culminates in a vote in February for a winning title. The MCBA season gives students a chance to be part of a reading frenzy. It also means the opportunity to participate in a fierce Battle of the Books, an end-of-season party with cake, and a chance to make varsity. It could even mean a trophy.

At Bement, reading or listening to five books not only qualifies students for a chance to vote but earns them a spot on a Battle of the Books (BOTB) team, where they will face off against other gradelevel teams to see who knows the most MCBA book trivia. This year’s champions were fourth graders Cora, Mari, Adriana, Lucy, and Emma. BOTB is open to parents and employees as well, who have their own tournament and compete in an exhibition match against the student champions.

By reading a minimum of five books, students also receive a ticket to the Stories in Action party, where elements of the nominated books are brought to life for an afternoon of games, trivia, experiences, and food. Learning to box like Muhammed Ali, searching for downed UFOs, and drinking La Llorona’s tears were all part of this year’s party. The Bement votes are tallied, and the winner is often announced on a cake reveal!

Students intrepid enough to read at least 20 out of 25 books earn the title of Varsity Reader and take home a trophy. In this, our 10th MCBA season, we had 51 participants read five or more books, with 14 gaining Varsity Reader status, for a total of 614 books read altogether.

The MCBA program has become a highly anticipated right of passage for our middle-grade students. Teachers and staff across the campus read from the list. Families share the stories via audiobooks on the daily commute to school. This year’s list was the most diverse in MCBA history, opening doors and windows to our readers. Perhaps the best reward for participating in MCBA is the shared experience of reading with a community.

THIRD GRADE

Designing Board Games

IN a weeks-long design thinking challenge, third-grade students, working alone or with partners, created their own board games, complete with playing boards, pieces, and rules. Inspired by games they love, students drew up mock versions of new game ideas and gathered feedback from classmates. Then they got to work—drawing boards, molding clay pieces, and designing draw cards. games they love, students drew up mock versions of new game ideas and gathered feedback from classmates. Then they got to work—drawing boards, molding clay pieces,

With Sharpie markers and cardboard, their games came to With Sharpie markers and cardboard, their games came to life. Students’ personal interests shone through: one game was life. Students’ personal interests shone through: one game was themed around Roblox and another around horses. One game featured drawing cards that included physical tasks, and another required players to collect creature powers in order to venture through different natural landscapes from the popular PBS show Wild Kratts.

When games were ready to be workshopped, classmates were invited to play and give feedback. Was the game too hard or too easy? Too short or too long? Too complicated or too simple? Students took this feedback into consideration to make tweaks. Finally, after weeks of preparation, their games were ready to be shared with students’ eighth-grade buddies, who were invited to come play. As students refl ected on the experience, their sense of pride and accomplishment was clear. They had produced physical board games to play with friends and family!

UPPER SCHOOL Applied Math

In Jeremy Galvagni P’24’s precalculus class this year, students studied how to use trigonometry to solve triangles. To “solve" a triangle is to fi nd the missing angles and side lengths from the calculations already known. A triangle has three sides and three angles. The class learned that if three of those six values are known, they can fi nd the remaining information.

Using this knowledge, Mr. Galvagni took his students outside to survey areas of campus. For one investigation, he put stakes into the ground on both sides of the playground area. To make this a true trigonometry challenge, students measured the distance between the two stakes without crossing the playground. With a few more stakes and a measuring tape, they were able to create several triangles, learning the values of the angles and the other side lengths to discover the distance between the original stakes.

For another investigation, the class calculated the heights of trees and buildings using a measuring tape and a tool called a clinometer, which measures the angles of elevation. Students used this tool to solve other triangles. According to Mr. Galvagni, “Students enjoy real-world applications that involve leaving the classroom. Using the natural world makes the work authentic. It brings academics to life and is a valuable part of the learning experience.”

EIGHTH GRADE

CSI: Bement

A strand of hair lying on the ground . . . a tipped-over coff ee mug . . . a handwritten note.

Separately, each is innocent enough, but to Mr. Pilgrim’s eighth-grade science class studying forensics, they are all clues to who committed a crime.

To start the forensics unit, students honed their observation skills, fi rst trying to recall objects in the classroom without looking, then performing the same exercise with I Spy books. After doing this every day for a week, students developed strategies for observation and increased the number of recalled objects.

Just like forensic detectives, students learned how to collect evidence, fi rst conducting hair analysis. Every student supplied a hair sample, which the class analyzed for thickness, color, shape, and structure. After learning about the differences between human hair and dog hair, students had to look at several varieties of dog hair to determine which dog ate Mr. Pilgrim’s puppy’s kibble (it was the German Shepherd!). Next, Mr. Pilgrim created a fake crime scene, including hair samples from faculty members, and students compared hairs to determine who was at the scene.

In addition to hair analysis, the class explored fi nger-printing. Sergeant Brian Ravish of the Deerfi eld Police Department came to campus to talk with the students about the methods police employ to lift fi ngerprints off different substances. Students learned about whorls, arches, loops, and other identifying markers, called minutiae, that make each individual’s fi ngerprint unique. They practiced dusting and pulling latent prints off objects, and they were again sent to a fake crime scene—someone drank Mr. Pilgrim’s Diet Coke!—where they gathered prints to deduce the offender.

In the unit’s fi nal assessment, teams of four processed a fabricated crime scene in its entirety, utilizing all of their new skills to fi nd the perpetrator. Cleo ’23 said that the forensics unit provided useful skills beyond the classroom: “It taught people how to draw conclusions based on evidence, and how to be careful and examine the smallest details with great precision.”

FIFTH GRADE

Red Gate Farm

This spring, fi fth graders at Bement visited Red Gate Farm in Ashfi eld, Massachusetts, for a three-day residency, where they learned what it takes to run a modern-day farm. Bement has had a relationship with the educational center since 2018 thanks to the connection made by retired faculty member Louise Smith P’95 ’97, and this spring marked the fi rst time students have been back since the pandemic began. “We wanted to support a local educational nonprofi t that got students working and collaborating together,” said fi fth-grade teacher Rosemarie Gage P’10.

Braving the bitter winds of midspring, students arrived each morning for a full day of farm chores, project work, and choice activities. Divided into three groups, students rotated through the days’ activities. Morning chores included collecting eggs, shoveling manure, refi lling water containers, feeding animals, cleaning under the main barn and chicken coop, and walking the goats, Wallace and Gromit. Larger projects centered on collaborative improvement work. Students worked to enlarge the corral for the oxen, Jack and Thor, and to dig out invasive multifl ora roses from their grazing area. They also cut down a tree to make a trellis for tomatoes growing in the garden and enlarged the fencing area for the sheep.

Afternoons were a time for electives, such as Knots and Forts, Beekeeping, and Art around the Farm, which this year entailed painting a mural. Holding the baby animals was a highlight for many. For their fi nal project, students built a campfi re on Friday afternoon. Using sticks, they roasted marshmallows and dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, a sweet reward for a full three days of meaningful contributions. After the trip, students had many takeaways about their accomplishments. When asked, “What surprised you?” one child said, “Everything!”Another student shared that it was “defi nitely one of the top ten experiences in my life!”

SECOND GRADE

Pen Pals in Malta

When one of Ashleigh Wall’s second graders relocated to Malta with his family for six months, she reached out to his new teacher, Ms. Root, at the QSI International School of Malta. Would her class like to connect? The answer was yes, and an international collaboration was born. Bement’s second graders in both Ms. Wall’s and Janice Currie’s classes were going to be writing to Maltese pen pals.

As soon as the students heard the news, they were excited to start learning about the island country. Each second grader was paired with a student from Ms. Root’s class, whom they met on a Zoom call. Students on both sides of the Atlantic introduced themselves, and Bement students were excited to learn that many of their pen pals were from other countries, such as Greece, England, and Russia. Next, Bement students sent letters and bookmarks to their pen pals in the Mediterranean. They soon heard back, to the second graders’ immense excitement, receiving responses, bookmarks, pencils, and coloring books.

The pen pal project taught students how to properly compose a letter. Along with that valuable lesson, Ms. Wall said, “the most meaningful part was students getting to connect with students on the other side of the world. They were excited to discover that they have some of the same hobbies, pets, favorite books, and family structures. At the same time, they were curious to learn different aspects of their new friends, like what they were studying in school.”

Before the year wrapped up, Bement students created a video for their pen pals, wishing them a nice summer and thanking them for corresponding. Learning about people in a different country was a highlight of the students’ year, just as learning about the world through global connections is part of the fabric of Bement.

FIRST GRADE Now Boarding…

The boarding gate looked similar to that at any international airport—tall windows, red seats, and excited travelers awaiting their flight, their boarding passes and carry-ons at the ready. Passengers handed over their documents to the gate agent and took their assigned seats. But, unlike other tourists, those leaving Bement International Airport only just learned of their destination, and they wouldn’t begin to learn about the country they were visiting until their in-flight video played. That’s when the thrill of excitement took over the classroom!

Students in Kara Barrett’s first-grade class had the opportunity to virtually journey around the world, receiving a passport that filled up with stamps over the course of the unit. When they “disembarked” from their flights, they were free to explore by researching the new location using PebbleGo, an emergent research database for K–2 full of articles, or Epic!, a digital reading platform. Students learned about the country’s geography, topography, and wildlife; read traditional folktales; and studied the country’s culture and traditions, with an emphasis on the lives of children their age.

In Japan, where the first graders landed this past March, they learned that kids walk to school alone at a young age, help get lunch ready, and wear matching hats when they go on field trips. Students virtually visited tourist attractions like Snow Monkey Park and the Cherry Blossom Festival, after which they made a cherry blossom craft. Whenever able, Mrs. Barrett tried to incorporate parental or collegial involvement and include the heritage of students in the class. She invited classroom visitors with local expertise, tying in as much real-world experience as possible. Bement librarian Marcia Bernard’s granddaughter, Miyo, who lives in Japan, sent the first grade a video showing them how to make an origami spring that will bounce. She answered questions about school and taught them to count to 10 in Japanese.

Throughout each visit, students kept a travel journal, where they stored their boarding passes and wrote facts about each country they toured. In addition to Japan, students visited Germany, Mexico, Australia, Egypt, and Brazil before returning home to Deerfield.