It's Already November

A school with no children is how I find myself today - a perfect moment to catch -up on the last few weeks. It has been a busy time at Lab School. We held our first ever Lab MS pep rally on October 24th. It was an amazing event that brought me back to my own childhood. One of my goals for this year was to improve school culture (and school spirit). The pep rally was a perfect moment for our children to celebrate each other and our school. Each fall sports team (Cross Country, Soccer and Flag Football) and our Lab After school Programs (Science Olympiad, Freewrite, MS Math Team, Animation After school and Drama Club) made beautiful banners and were introduced to the school. We were also led in a school-wide cheer...

Everybody Stand Up
Gators Get Together
When I Say 1-2-3
You Say L-A-B

There was a lot of green, a lot of cheering and some beautiful music from 702. It brought tears (of happiness) to my eyes. I was so proud of our students and our little school.

Then this past Friday Lab celebrated Halloween in style. It started with the 8th grade annual room decorating contest. Every year the 8th grade students decorate their homerooms (which are judged by a collection of faculty members. This year Ms. Kim and 804 won with their scary Prom Night theme - it was quite the sight. We also held out fist annual Spookfest (sponsored by the Parents' Association - and the special hard work of Stacey Zausner). It was a wonderful event for the whole family. Kids came in costume and we watched Beetlejuice - an all time favorite Halloween Movie.

It is hard to believe that the first quarter is almost over - that we have been in school for nearly two months. It certainly has gone fast. This year I have found that one of my favorite moments everyday is when I spend lunch duty outside with our 7th and 8th graders. It is always a delight to be able to interact with students in a different context. I am often reminded how young our students really are. In Kelly Park kids are engrossed in play - tag, make-believe, laughter, the jungle gym and ball sports. Nothing is "too cool" during this time - you would never believe that they are middle schoolers. This is a side of our children that I realize parents rarely get to see at this age.

Folks always wonder how we spend our faculty conference days. Today we are working on the final components of our school-wide goal setting initiative. Our Goal Setting system will challenge students to develop individualized goals and action plans to work towards these goals. Students will be goal setting in each subject area.

Lastly, I wanted to remind everyone about our parent book group. Throughout the school year we will be reading three books. The first is called Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv. Our first meeting will be in the library on November 12th from 5:30 -7:00. There is no need to read the book in advance of our first meeting. I will be writing more about this book on my next blog post.

I hope this finds everyone well. Go Vote!

Yours,
Meg