Compass Newsletter -- February 4, 2009

Sojourner Truth- Dramatic presentation at Compass on Thursday Feb. 12 @ 7:30pm

Born a slave in New Paltz, New York, Isabella Baumfree walked away from slavery and her travels evolved into Sojourner Truth. In this program, Kathryn Woods allows Sojourner Truth to tell her story in her own words, speeches, and songs. All are invited to this performance at Compass School on Thursday Feb. 12 at 7:30pm. Free and open to the public, sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council.

Congratulations to the 9^th/10^th graders on their 1920's Museum!

The 9^th and 10^th graders put on a roaring good 1920's party Friday night!  Flappers, the Fitzgeralds, Charlie Chaplin, Louise Brooks, and gangsters mingled and danced to the sounds of jazz in the transformed big room. Amir's classroom became a packed theater premiering Sean's (as Chaplin) original silent film (starring Olivia) as well as The Kid (starring the real Chaplin)--to the delight of parents and other guests.  One could go even vote (for Coolidge, of course) or sip "champagne" while viewing art of the decade. Amir and Julia thank all the students who worked very hard the past couple weeks, and the parents who so willingly came to help, supplied food, and stayed late to clean up. Thanks to Lisa Nigro, the Gordons, Beth, Janice, the Murphy's, and others who provided artifacts, clothing and other supplies. Thanks to Amah who gave up her space for the Speakeasy, and to everyone's patience, as we took over the big room (and perhaps even your class time).  It was a memorable night!    

Positive Reports from the Mexico Expedition

The positive reports from our junior class Mexico expedition continue. They are finishing up their home stays in Carbo today and heading back across the border into Arizona. We will continue to pass on information as we get it. You can view student writing and pictures at the blog: http://compassmexicotrip2009.blogspot.com/

Winter Sports Schedule:

We will have winter sports tomorrow (Thursday 2/5), but will not have winter sports the second week of winterm.  After Feb. vacation, we will still have 2 or 3 more weeks of winter sports:  2/26, 3/5, and possibly 3/12.   

Rock Climbing Winter Sports Group: The rock climbing group will be doing yoga with Elisabeth Gardner this week instead of traveling to an indoor climbing gym. Yoga is an excellent way to train for climbing and to limber and strengthen the body for climbing!

Also, the climbing group will be traveling to climbing gyms in Northampton, Quechee, and Rutland after the vacation. All of these gyms require their own waivers. These can be downloaded at the following websites or picked up in the office. Students will not be able to climb without these waivers. Thank you:

Northampton Gym:      http://www.nohoac.com/downloads/climbing_waiver.pdf

Quechee Gym: www.vermontrocks.com

Rutland Gym: http://www.vermontclimbing.com/Waiver.pdf

Also, please note that rock climbers will return to school at 4pm on 2/26/09, 3/5/09 and 3/12/09.  

The Compass Play

Andy, Louise, and Ron have begun working with our cast for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.  Though there are no other exploratories this week, the cast is meeting again on Thursday and Friday this week from 2:30-4:00 to familiarize ourselves with the script and determine our parts for the play before Winter Break.  Students will be able to catch the later buses after these crucial gatherings. 

WINTERM  - We are full into our winterm projects. Here are a few reports:

**Jason and Ron have been having a tres bon temps (very good time) with our French intensive WinTerm.  The focus and enthusiasm of this class is superb.  Notarized permission letters and money are due today for next week's excursion to Montreal; I appreciate the phone calls with clarifications and questions.  We are finalizing our itinerary this week, and will send this along with a packing list on Friday.  We will leave at 8:30 on Tuesday, February 10, and return late the night of Wednesday, February 12.  Next week, we plan to present a French lesson at Westminster Center School.  Adieu!

**In the "Compass Stories" winterm project, students are developing our promotional materials to enable us to better tell our compelling story of educational success. Any interested parents, students, and community members are encouraged to talk to us about answering a few simple questions about the impact Compass has had on your life (or your child's life). Thanks!

** Our Place in Bellows Falls- For two weeks, Our Place is busy with five additional volunteers. The small, warm kitchen is jam packed with Compass students wielding vegetable graters, chopping knives and cutting boards. Our Place is a wonderful community kitchen, food shelf, and day shelter located in Bellows Falls, Vermont. They serve counties in the Vermont and New Hampshire area with smiles and compassion.

"Even after spending just a day here I already feel so connected," senior Rebecca Ruskin said.  As we mixed and stirred the various local and organic ingredients together to form a winter slaw, chili and fruit salad, the clients watched appreciatively.

"Everyone looks out for each other and there is a very respectful atmosphere," noted Julian Bloch, a seventh grader. The demographic that visits Our Place is varied. We noticed that a range of people such as middle aged adults wearing Calvin Klein to young adults in ripped jeans joined our lunch table.

 "It's a good free lunch and would definitely help with a family budget. I was surprised by how many families in Vermont are food-insecure. If these statistics hold true, that means thirteen kids at our school go hungry," shared Manya Gordon, a freshman.

"I've visited Our Place with my Grandmother before, but volunteering is such a different feeling. It's better." Eighth grader Miah Fiske said. The five students are doing this as part of Compass's annual Winterm curriculum. 

Compass School provides a unique model for publicly accessible education, serving children in our region while making an impact on the larger educational world. We embody an inspiring learning community that balances personalized education with high expectations for all, leading each student to successful graduation and post-graduate experiences.  

Winterm allows students from grades 7-12 to work in small groups with their peers and a teacher-leader. Students meet with the community partner sponsoring the project, clarify expectations, and organize themselves to help address the community need. This work asks students to take knowledge and skills developed in their classes and apply it to real world problems. As research on learning shows, this transfer of academic learning to new situations is one of the great challenges in education. Winterterm at Compass gives students the chance to work together to apply their learning outside school in service to the community.   

Basketball News:  The girls had a thrilling contest at the Newman Gym in Putney on Monday, January 26, emerging with a hard-fought 36-28 victory.  Sophie had a stunning game, not only handling the ball at point guard, but also scoring 18 points AND effectively stopping Putney School's dominant inside player, who scored only two points in the second half after having scored ten in the first half. Marie had a strong game, causing many turnovers with tenacious defense near the foul line. Our passing game improved significantly from the second quarter onward, with Marie's and Sophie's successful give-and-go's resembling the old Red Auerbach instructional half-time clips from 1970's NBA television coverage.  With the score still very close, we dominated the fourth quarter with a strong adjustment to man-to-man defense.  Maggie, Marie, and Sophie led us in rebounding, with Melissa, Lydia and Muriel providing tough defense against a physical team. Lydia took a hard fall after being tripped, enduring a skinned knee in the process.  Remy also displayed real grit, not only rebounding well against much older girls, but also scoring a nice bucket from the left side. I must report that the sportsmanship of this team is second to none, with a nearly perfect blend of hard play and respect for our opponents.  

On Monday, our girls played Putney School again, this time with only five players.  It was a very close contest the entire game, with Sophie and Marie again leading the charge offensively and defensively.  We employed an elegant defense, a cross between box-and-one and triangle-and-two, and played a very smart game, but came up two points short in the end. Everyone contributed mightily, but having no subs cost us in the long run.  Melissa played center defensively the entire game, while Faith had the hot hand in the first quarter, scoring two quick buckets. Muriel, who graciously joined us again, scored a bucket in the first half and gathered quite a few rebounds, quite a feat for a seventh grader who was not on the team at the beginning of the season. Our girls were again entirely sportsmanlike, and we wrapped up the season with another visit to Village Pizza. Thanks, Louise and Bruce for coaching support this season, and to David Ramos, who again supplied Gatorade for the game.  It was a pleasure working with all of you this season.

Middle School PoL's:

2^nd Trimester Presentations of Learning (PoL's) will take place on Wednesday, March 4^th from 9:30-11am, Thursday, March 5 from 8:30-10:30am, and Friday, March 6 from 8:30-noon. Please mark your calendars and contact Lauren if you would like to reserve the time that works best for you. Parents and guardians are expected to attend their children's presentations. As many of you already know, these are times of great reflection and celebration!

FINANCIAL AID FORMS

It is that time of year again, when it is important to start planning for attendance at Compass for next year. We recognize the importance of this decision and that the investment is considerable. As Compass determines how we can support our families financial needs, we will need all families interested in receiving financial aid to complete a financial aid form prior to February 14, 2009.

Financial Aid forms are available in the Compass School Office for pick-up, your child can be given one at school to take home, or we can mail a form to if you prefer. Please let us know if you will want a form and how you wish to obtain it.                 

--Wishing you all health and happiness in 2009, Compass Admissions

ANNUAL APPEAL

Please give to our annual appeal if you have not already done so. Any contribution will help lead to the goal of 100% parent participation which can help us leverage other grants. Your giving also supports the Challenge Grant of $25,000 whereby for every $3.00 you give we receive and additional $1.00. 

We are working hard on a number of fronts to raise money to support financial aid to Compass families. We are pleased to announce that Compass has recently been awarded $12,750 from the Turrell Fund!

Upcoming Dates:

• Feb. 2-13 - Winterm service learning projects
• Feb. 12 - Sojourner Truth performance at Compass, 7:30pm
• Feb. 14-23 - February vacation (Note: Monday Feb. 23 is a teacher inservice day)
• March 2 - no classes - Student/Parent/Teacher conferences
• March 3 - no school - statewide Town Meeting Day
• March 4-6 - Middle school Presentations of Learning

School calendar can be viewed at http://www.compass-school.org/resources/calendar or you can get additional paper copies in the office.