SEVEN HILLS
December 1, 2011
The Buzz
A Brief Word from Chris Garten
Seven Hills named one of Ohio’s top five Academic Champions!
During our recent Admissions Open House, a number of visiting families asked me, in one form or another, how our student guides had become so poised. They were stunned to see students as young as sixth graders speak so articulately about the virtues of their school.
For the fourth year in a row, Gerber Analytics, LLC. has named The Seven Hills School one of Ohio’s top five Academic Champions. Seven Hills achieved the highest performance rating among ranked Cincinnati-area schools. The school is also the only co-ed program in the state to earn the Academic Champion honor four years in a row. The annual Gerber Analytics study identifies the best schools in Ohio based on each school’s performance on the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT).
I can’t claim to know the whole answer, but over the last few days, a few classroom observations have brought a glimmer of understanding. In just the past days, I’ve seen fourth graders debating the nuances of immigration policy, fifth graders simulating the decision making of American colonists about what resources to bring to the New World, eighth graders defending the party platform as part of a mock election in post-war Germany—not to mention the hours of rehearsal that went into The Hobbit! Upper School students have defended their Challenge projects, argued diverse political positions in Model U.N. competition, and honed their closing arguments for Mock Trial. In classrooms and in a host of extracurricular activities, our students get a great deal of practice in public speaking. Over time, it is clear, they get very good at it! Chris Garten Head of School
The OGT evaluates the performance of high school students in the areas of math, reading, social studies,
science and writing. The Ohio Department of Education administers the OGT to tenth grade students in all 1017 schools in the state. Gerber Analytics calculates the percentage of students who score “Proficient” or better at each school and ranks the top-performing schools. This year, just 84 schools, or 8.2 percent of the schools in Ohio, had at least 91 percent of their tenth grade students pass the test. At Seven Hills, 100 percent of the students passed all five subject-area tests, the highest proficiency rate in Cincinnati. Overall, Continued on page 2
Middle’s outstanding production of The Hobbit Congratulations to Director Stephanie Park, actors, stage crew, and everyone who contributed to an amazing production of The Hobbit! The costumes, set, lighting, directed fight sequence, and dragon were truly stunning! More photos are on page 6.
Go, Seven Hills Strikers! Congratulations to the two Seven Hills fifth and sixth grade boys Strikers soccer teams—Team Papakirk and Team Callow—who competed in the Elite Eight or quarterfinals of the Ohio Area State SAY Tournament! The two teams and their coaches are pictured on page 2.
Inside this Buzz Upper School News
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Middle School News
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Lotspeich News
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Doherty News
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Academic Champions
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Seven Hills Strikers in the Elite Eight: Team Papakirk & Team Callow
96 percent of students scored “Accelerated” or “Advanced” on all five of the subject tests, and Seven Hills was cited for excellence in nine of the 10 performance categories. In addition to rating Ohio schools based on proficiency rate, the report calculates a “Performance Index Score (PIS)” for each school, determining the overall performance of the school. The Seven Hills School achieved a PIS of 116.1, the third highest score in the state of Ohio and the highest in Cincinnati. “It is an outstanding validation of our academic strength to be named an Academic Champion once again,” said Head of School Chris Garten. “This analysis represents the hard work of so many motivated students and deeply committed teachers. We’re proud that our students are prepared to succeed not only on standardized academic tests, but also in real-life problem solving situations.”
Junior makes verbal commitment to play NCAA Div. I soccer at Rice University
Congratulations to junior Zoë Pochobradsky,who has made a verbal commitment to play NCAA Division I soccer at Rice University beginning in Fall 2013. Zoë is an outstanding goalkeeper for the Stingers and for the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy’s U17 ECNL team. page 2
Working together to make a difference in the community at Thanksgiving and every day: baking bread, preparing sandwiches, making warm hats and blankets, food collections, and more!
More bread baking on page 3 More blanket & hat making on page 9
Sixth and eighth graders spent November 22 learning about and helping the homeless in the Cincinnati community. The students made 150 individual loaves of apple plum bread for the residents of Tender Mercies, which provides housing and supportive services for homeless people with chronic mental illness in Over-the-Rhine. This is Seven Hills’ sixth
(At left and above) The Upper/Lotspeich Thanksgiving assembly celebrated the spirit of Thanksgiving, service, and sharing and featured performances by Upper’s Contemporary Ensemble and fifth graders, as well as the the not-to-be-missed Turkey Tango by second graders and seniors. page 3
year for this service learning project. The project was inspired by Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” in which a young boy bonds with an older member of his household through the process of baking fruit bread. The day at Middle included a Readers’ Theater of “A Christmas Memory” and a speaker from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.
Your donations of saleable merchandise greatly help our customers with their holiday shopping, and our profits make a big difference for Seven Hills students and teachers!
A look at what’s happening at Upper School
See page 5 for Middle School, page 7 for Lotspeich, and page 9 for Doherty Congratulations to senior Matt Cohen (pictured), who was recently named All-State First Team for Division III boys soccer! Coach Natalie Williams told us, “The varsity cheerleaders participated in a UCA (Universal Cheerleaders Association) camp on Sunday, Nov 20. They learned new cheers, chants, and a dance.” Math Department Head Anne Ramsay shared this news: “Five Seven Hills students participated in the Rose-Hulman Math Competition at Lakota West High School on Saturday, Nov. 12. 190 students participated in the competition. Students placed by grade and gender, and the Seven Hills results were: Gregory Sun, second place among tenth grade boys; Andrew Ligeralde, sixth place among tenth grade boys; Nicole Malofksy, eighth place among ninth grade girls; Ganlin Liu, eighth place among eleventh grade girls; Suhel Singh, eighth place among twelfth grade boys.” Pictured from left are Ganlin Liu, Nicole Malofksy, Suhel Singh, Andrew Ligeralde, and Gregory Sun. One of our favorite divisional collaborations is the dictating of their original stories by prekindergarten creative writers to the Editors of Upper’s literary publication, Paper Noise. The first of these collaborations this year took place on Nov. 17. See page 8. page 4
The Tower Project in Dr. Lenore Horner’s Honors Physics classes challenged teams to build a tall, light tower, meeting a series of specifications, that would hold as much weight as possible suspended from a chain dangling down through the middle of the tower. The testing part of the project included: “The builders of each tower put their tower on a test platform, installed the loading block, attached the chain from the loading
block down through the opening in the platform to the bucket. The team then added sand to the bucket until their tower failed. Failure was defined as any part of the tower going below the top of the test platform or touching the platform if it did not do so originally, supporting the chain, or breaking.”
“To explore further Geoffrey Chaucer’s use of irony in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, students in English 10 Honors each assumed the identity of one of the pilgrims journeying from the Tabard Inn to Canterbury Cathedral,” said teacher Nate Gleiner. “Bolstered by secondary sources, students created and delivered first-person narratives about their garb, profession, and place in society. Some students even provided visual reinforcement, donning costumes based on Chaucer’s description.”
A look at what’s happening at Middle School Balloon Lab in math
Teacher Anne Yancey said, “In sixth grade English, after studying the novel Beowulf by Robert Nye, cooperative learning groups wrote Beowulf rap songs that were sung or recited to music in much the same way rap poetry is sung today. The songs focused on Beowulf’s fight with Grendel or other adventures in this novel. The songs were very creative and cleverly written!”
Students had the opportunity to try yoga in their PE classes. Their instructor was Diane Faul, grandmother of alums Sarah and David Evans and wife of girls varsity basketball Assistant Coach Dick Faul. page 5
Theresa Keller’s Math 6 students participated in a Balloon Lab in which pairs of students had to find the circumference, diameter, and radius of a balloon using a string and a meter stick. Students then analyzed the data and looked for trends. “The kids love this activity because the balloons are flung everywhere!”
Eighth Grade English Shoebox Short Story Project An impressive display of creative shoe box dioramas showcasing work by short story writers can be found in the Middle School section of the Young Family Library. Linda Maupin’s Shoebox Short Story Project involved “small groups of students in eighth grade English drawing names of established short story writers for an abbreviated research project. Because authors write what they know, students were first asked to explore biographical information and condense it on the left side of the shoebox. Students then read a minimum of three short stories by their chosen writer and selected one for its strength in an element of the short story genre: plot, character, setting, narration, or theme. This analysis was formatted to fit on top of the box. The right side of the shoebox features a plot summary of the story. What appears in the box’s interior is an artistic interpretation of the element discussed in the analysis.”
(At left) “I.D.” by Joyce Carol Oates (Catherine Besl, Emma Sacco, Katie Ellis).
(At right) “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien (Nicole Tiao, Ada Huang, Mary Alice Vignola). (At left) “The Rocking Horse Winner” by D.H. Lawrence (Kenneth Remaklus, Ben Perez, Ben Nordmeyer).
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Seventh grader Shane DiGiovanna shared with his classmates and teachers his experience touring Kennedy Space Center in Florida with his family and spending a day flying in zero gravity. Quoting the Enquirer, “The trip, funded by the Make a Wish Foundation, involved Zero G. Corp’s special Boeing 727, which uses reserved airspace to fly a series of parabolic arc maneuvers. On the downward curves, everything in the plane is weightless for 30 seconds at a time.
What Floats Your Boat?
More looks at The Hobbit
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Shane shared photos of his floating adventure with his class. They asked how it felt to float and how he avoided injury. He had extra padding under his flight suit... ‘I did pretty well; my skin held up,’ he said. ‘I felt pretty comfortable floating.’’’ Shane has the rare skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa, which makes his skin tear easily and requires him to wear thick bandages on 40% of his body. Shane plans to become an engineer for NASA and help design spacecraft. Teacher Judy Wiesemann said, “Eighth grade physical science is laboratory-based; teams of students conduct experiments rooted in the scientific method on a weekly basis. Through open-ended, challenging questions, we aim to sharpen critical thinking and problem solving skills.” Her Team Survivor Challenges are effective, creative ways to engage students in the exploration of different principles in chemistry and physics. Pictured is the Team Survivor Challenge “What Floats Your Boat,” which “tests understanding of buoyancy and density. The team challenge is to build a boat or craft that holds the most mass before sinking.”
A look at what’s happening at Lotspeich “Fifth grader Dahlia Stein submitted two of her poems to The Journal, a publication for families with children from China,” Head of Lotspeich Carolyn Fox said. “The fall edition was devoted to original writings of children born in China, some living in China currently but most who were born in China but now live in the US and have become citizens through adoption. Dahlia read one of her poems in assembly. She was excited about being published!” After viewing the different animals at the zoo with their first grade buddies, the fifth graders returned to class to collaborate on 3-D collages of the animals in their habitats. Lotspeich students, led by the fifth graders, raised over $1000 for UNICEF! The fifth grade kicked off the UNICEF drive at Monday assembly with a skit and a cheer. In math class they each wrote what they would purchase for UNICEF with the money that was collected. They also counted the money and figured the mean, median, and mode dollar amount per box.
Kindergartner Max Brown took second place in the 2011 CET Create-A-Fest in the sculpture category for the kindergarten level. His teacher, Therea Cohen, said, “There were more than 280 entries overall in the art show. Max enjoyed attending the reception at CET on Nov. 6. He shared his sculpture, Dragon Squad, with our class before Thanksgiving Break.” In their PE classes, first and second graders learned some karate moves from Scott Mastin of Mastin’s School of Martial Arts.
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Lotspeich students overflowed three barrels for the Thanksgiving Food Drive. The fifth grade thanks all the families who helped to fill the barrels with food and the Lend A Hand turkey with good wishes.
(At left) It was another very successful Holiday Boutique, thanks to all of our parent volunteers!
One of our favorite divisional collaborations is the dictating of their original stories by prekindergarten creative writers to the Editors of Upper’s literary publication, Paper Noise. The first of these collaborations this year took place on Nov. 17.
Kindergartners invited guests to their classrooms on Nov. 22 to “come and see our hard work and creativity and find out what we have learned about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and Wampanoag Indians.
Wonderful Third Grade Recorder Concert!
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Prekindergartners concluded their unit on Pilgrims and Native Americans with songs and a Thanksgiving feast for their special guests.
A look at what’s happening at Doherty
A wonderful Unit III service tradition— Gross Out Day—continued this year and was more successful than ever! Unit III students and teachers, with the help of some wonderful parents, spent the afternoon of November 10 working on flannel cloth pieces, pinning patterns, cutting out the fringes, and tying them to make cozy flannel hats for people in need as part of their community service project. Unit III Coordinator Vaishali Sarbhoy said, “Our goal was 144 (a gross) but we overshot it to reach 176!” Congratulations to all, but regardless of the final count, definitely keep the name of Gross Out Day! Unit I observed the long-standing tradition of having former Seven Hills Headmaster Peter Briggs read Cranberry Thanksgiving. The children enjoyed hearing his stories about the East and his fond memories of their alum/teacher parents and grandparents. Glimpses of Grandpersons Day are on the next page. page 9
(Above) Unit II blanket making.
(Above and below) On November16, Julie Guminey’s Unit III homeroom prepared sandwiches and packed lunches
to take to the Open Door Ministry. Ten fifth graders also took blankets made by Unit II and hats made by Unit III.
A highlight of the year at Doherty:
Grandpersons Day!
Kindergarten’s traditional Thanksgiving Feast
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