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As we head into our Break, many of our families will be observing Thanksgiving. We hope you will have the chance to gather with friends or family and enjoy some special time together. These times, building family traditions and having time together away from the hectic pace of everyday life, form amazing memories for your children. Now that the holiday season has begun, we would like to express our deep gratitude to the entire Stanbridge community. To our families that entrust us to care for and educate your children in an environment where they are seen for their individual talents and skills. To the students who continue to grow academically, socially and emotionally and who bring their unique talents to school everyday. And to our faculty and staff who support the learning and holistic health of our students, you are the heart and backbone of our school. We hope the week ahead will be restful and joyful! When we return from break, there will be many holidays that are celebrated by our diverse community. We wish each of you a restful season with family and friends as you gather to share time together. Stay Strong, Bulldogs! Julie Smith Head of School  ELEMENTARY THANKFUL TREE
 Stanbridge Book Fair: Online Fair Continues through November 21st!
There are still six days to shop the book fair ONLINE and support our school, through Thursday, November 21st! Click to keep shopping for thousands more exciting books. Don’t forget to share your eWallet with relatives & friends so they can shop by Thursday, too. [Personally, I'm going to buy the newly released installment of the Inkheart series. My son and I read it when he was in school and we have been waiting for it since 2007! Take a look on the Scholastic site. You may be surprised what you find for holiday gifting! – Linda] Be sure to sign in to Scholastic so Stanbridge gets credit for your online purchases. Totals aren't in yet, but we've earned nearly $1,000 for our campus libraries this past week! Free standard shipping is available for online sales on book-only orders of $25 or more, after all discounts are applied. NOTE: Discount does not apply automatically; "Free standard shipping (books)” must be selected as the shipping method during checkout.  MIDDLE SCHOOL (GRADES 6-8) @ MARIN HEADLANDS Middle School had an amazing trip to the Marin Headlands and Naturebridge’s Bluff campus. We hiked our first day to old military barracks and did a night hike where we saw the San Francisco city lights and the Golden Gate Bridge. The next morning, the weather took us all by surprise with heavy fog and a downpour. Mother Nature challenged our students to hike down a steep cliff in a cloud full of rain. We did our best and ended up on Rodeo Beach with some pounding waves. The rain didn’t let up and we arrived, muddy and wet, to our indoor lunch site! After lunch, the sun broke through the clouds and nature sparkled for us all the way back. While damp clothing was in the dryers, students enjoyed a wonderful spaghetti dinner and had fun making new memories with fast friends during our dorm time. Our last morning we all went down to historic Point Bonita lighthouse for an art project, saw harbor seals bobbing in the water, and took in some fantastic views. Our students were tired but in good spirits, thankful for our time in nature and with our friends. – Tasha Hudick, Middle School Division Lead  Our Thanks to You! ELEMENTARY It's time to to give thanks for our loving teachers, staff collaboration, family support, school maintenance, opportunities to explore, and our hardworking students. Each day students are learning, growing, and exploring the world around them. This week we had a couple reflection times and just 'paused' to be collectively in the moment with nothing to distract us. I am so grateful I can share joyful moments with them. – Michele Sumpton, Elementary Division Lead MIDDLE SCHOOL & HIGH SCHOOL (Tasha is heading back from the Marin Headlands with Middle School today.) As Tasha & I reflect back on Q1, we are filled with gratitude. The amazing experiential trips we went on and all the memories we created bring a smile (& playful groan) to our faces. All the constructions, labs and activities the students crushed in our Science classes were great to witness. The pumpkins we carved and the brilliant Halloween costumes made October inspiring. What a phenomenal three months we have had! But what we are most grateful for is the trust and support the families have given us. Trusting us with your children and partnering with us to help unlock their full potential makes this endeavor magical. Yes, this is our job, but it's also our fuel. Watching a shy student speak out in class, witnessing an "aha" moment, and working with a student to sculpt their idea into a masterpiece is unique to the field of teaching and especially singular here at Stanbridge. We are so lucky to be here and your child helps make Stanbridge a safe, welcoming, and transformative place. Thank you for allowing us to get to know your children, grow with them, and be a part of your lives! Sincerely, – Jay Huston, Head of High School – Tasha Hudick, Middle School Division Lead SAVE THE DATE!   For this week's Student Government update we will hear from Secretary Daniel C. who will fill you in on what the government has been up to:
In Student Government, we decided to change from selling pizza from Pizza My Heart to Costco pizza. Selling from Costco allows us to offer students a new pizza option with good quality that would continue to make profit as a fundraiser. We did a taste test from Little Caesars and Costco and we decided which pizza place tasted better. After discussion we decided to offer Costco for our next Pizza Sale. We are excited for this switch! We have had discussions about purchasing sports items for break time so students can have more athletic equipment to use at break and lunch. We will keep you updated as we figure out exactly what we want to buy. For Halloween we decided that we wanted to have a "guess the amount of candy in the jar" activity [on October 25th]. I think the students had a lot of fun doing it! We are glad so many of you participated in that fun activity. I have continued to love every moment of being in Student Government. My favorite part of being in Student Government is helping out and working the Friday sales. Thank you everyone for continuing to support us for our sales. Next Friday, November 22, is our monthly Bake Sale and also Turkey Bingo. We then have Thanksgiving Break. Have a good weekend, Bulldogs! –Daniel C., 2024-2025 Student Government Secretary  JAMIL ZAKI, PhD CARING, CONNECTION AND WELLBEING How to Become a Hopeful Skeptic: Regaining Trust and Empathy in a Cynical World
Registration and Details Sign up for the Common Ground newsletter to be informed of all our speaker events.  Dear Stanbridge Parents,
It is hard to believe that November has arrived. The Book Fair is here, Turkey BINGO is right around the corner, Winter Clubs will come out next week, and we are looking ahead to the end of our first semester. It’s been an incredible school year already…with so much more to come! This Monday is a day off for students for the second day of online Parent-Teacher Conferences. For those who served in the military or have family members who served, Monday is also for you – we humbly thank you for your service this Veteran's Day and every day. We have a large internal class of 5th graders this year. As such, we have decided to hold another “Stanbridge family only” Open House–this time for incoming Middle School families–to learn more about our amazing program. Upper Elementary families are welcome to join us on the morning of December 3rd from 9:00-11:00 a.m. Come learn about the middle school program, tour classrooms, and get questions answered the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. The heart of our school is our students and we hope that you will continue your journey here with us! (To accommodate the tremendous interest in our Middle School program from families outside of Stanbridge, we will host an Open House for the public the following Tuesday, December 10th.) Read about the Book Fair, learn our first day total, check out next week's hours, and see more pictures by CLICKING HERE! Stay Strong, Bulldogs! Danny Martin Principal  The Book Fair is finally here and what a successful day we had! On opening day, all classes walked through to view and make purchases. Today alone our families purchased nearly $2,000 in books and merchandise! (That's $500 in Scholastic credit for the Stanbridge Library!) TUESDAY (NOV 12) - FRIDAY (NOV 15) 8:00-9:30 A.M. | 2:15-3:45 P.M. Parents can shop after drop off or before pick up! If you are coming in to look at the book fair or to buy your child's books, please plan to park in marked spaces and walk in. (Construction on Claremont is finally done, too!) Cars left without drivers in the drop-off/pick-up line, even "for just a few minutes," can cause lengthy traffic jams in the paring lot. Appropriate parking will help our arrival and dismissal times to run more smoothly. Thank you for your consideration. The eWallet option is very helpful for students and families. It is important to let your child know if you have set up an eWallet for them as some students may erroneously think they have money available. CLICK HERE to get started with eWallet (especially important for shuttle riders)! Anyone can contribute to your child's eWallet, just share the link with family members far and wide for easy gift giving for the holidays – we still get the credit if purchased online by Nov 21. And there's a warehouse full of books online, too! Just create an account so we still get the 25% credit from your purchase before November 21. Finally, we know how exciting the Annual Book Fair is (we are excited, too!). Middle Schoolers may have big feelings that they will be missing part of it due to the awesome Nature Bridge overnight to the Marin Headlands this Wednesday (Nov 13)-Friday (Nov 15). We’ve got great news – they will get additional class time in the Book Fair! MS students can shop the Book Fair during the entire 1st Period on Wednesday morning before they leave on their trip. They can buy a book or two to bring with them (we suggest writing their name in it). Or they can store purchases at school until they return, if they are worried about it getting lost.  Art Quarter 1 The High School Art students have been extremely busy working on 3-dimensional sculptures as well as multiple sketchbook drawings. They spent a lot of time creating an architectural 3-D letter using the first initial of their name. They measured and built the letter out of tagboard, paper cups, and packing tape. Once the letters were built they embellished the surface of them with paint, text, and found objects. Students chose elements that reflected their interests and individual personalities. After that, they began a large-scale sculpture built from scrap cardboard. Each student chose whether their sculpture would be representational or abstract. All students had to ensure that their sculpture met the size requirements of 26 inches high by 16 inches wide. Students are currently working on an addition to this sculpture assignment and they are looking awesome! Middle School Art students worked on a variety of drawings and paintings this past 1st quarter. Using their imaginations, students designed exaggerated sandwiches filled with whacky ingredients. They colored their sandwich drawings with colored pencils. Classes were introduced to the artwork of Keith Herring and his bright, dynamic art style. Inspired by Herring’s figures in motion, students created their own 3-dimensional figures using aluminum foil. Their figures were engaged in activities such as throwing a football, doing a push up, jumping, dancing, running, and other forms of movement. They also created Herring-inspired 2-dimensional work. They drew stylized, simplistic figures of people and animals in motion and painted them using bright acrylics. Students also created a seasonal painting which featured a volumetric pumpkin to which they later added vines, leaves and jack-o-lantern features. They practiced mixing paints to create light and dark shadows in their work. Elementary students have been getting used to the routines and expectations in the art classroom. They have been having fun engaging in the art making process and doing a lot of drawing, painting, and collage artwork. They used paper, markers, and watercolor paints to create name designs and silly paper monsters. Upper elementary students worked on drawing and painting beautifully colored ears of corn and highly detailed haunted houses. Classes also made tiny 3-dimensional pumpkins out of colored pipe cleaners! All of the students’ amazing artwork will be on display in Hayden Hall. Photos will also be taken and shared on social media. –Camille Geraci Visual Art, 2024 Dear Stanbridge Parents,
Thank you to all the families, alumni, and friends who showed up last Sunday at the Burlingame Community Center park for our annual picnic and Annual Fund Kick-off. We were very successful and are at 60% of our goal of 100% participation from parents. If you haven’t had a chance to make your Annual Fund gift, please click here to help us meet our goal. If you are giving through a platform such as Bright Funds, Benevity, Cybergrants or Front Door, please send Arielle Hendel, Advancement Director, an email to be on the look out for your gift. Giving through these platforms often triggers a matching gift which amplifies your gift and is very much appreciated! The Annual Fund bridges the gap between our expenses and the costs to run the school. Every gift helps! When we look for outside funding from foundations and community partners, they want to know that our community believes in itself enough to provide as much of its own support. Thank you to the families who have already made their gift or pledge. We appreciate you very much! Thank you as well to all the Middle School families that joined us over the last few weeks for our Transitioning to High School meetings. If you missed the meetings, you can view the slide deck here. If you have any questions about your 8th grader transitioning next year, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. Student Government is excited to announce an important update with regard to the monthly Pizza Sale. As has been alluded to in a few of the Bulletins this school year, Student Government has been researching other options with which to get our pizza from for the Pizza Sale. Student Government felt that it was an appropriate time to find another restaurant that was reasonably priced but also offering quality pizza which the students could enjoy.
Several members of Student Government researched different pizza places, looking at their prices, checking to make sure we had a gluten free option, and seeing the reviews of various pizza establishments. We narrowed it down to two new options which we then decided to taste-test to see if we felt the quality of the pizza was up to snuff for our student body. We taste tested Costco pizza and also Little Caesars pizza. We had our vote in this week's Student Gov meeting and have decided to switch to Costco pizza! We will continue to offer cheese and pepperoni pizza. What has changed is that we won't be selling gluten-free pizza anymore, but rather selling a chicken Caesar salad, which will be our gluten-free option. The Costco chicken Caesar salad comes with croutons, but they come in a separate pouch, so those who are gluten free simply don't have to have the croutons. [Caesar dressing is also not gluten free, but also comes on the side. We have ordered ranch dressing pouches for gluten-free students ordering salad.] Student Government is excited to make this switch to Costco pizza, starting with the next Pizza Sale–Friday, November 8th. The Pizza Form, included in this Bulletin, has been updated to reflect the slight changes in what we will be selling for the Pizza Sale. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this switch, please don't hesitate to reach out. The members of Student Government are super excited to make this switch, which has been months in the making, and we look forward to seeing students' reactions to the new pizza! –Kenny Katz, Student Government Faculty Advisor  ~ SAVE THE DATE! ~ ALL-SCHOOL WINTER CONCERT FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 | 1:00-3:00 PM December Bake Sale during short intermission ELEMENTARY
In Elementary, we have been celebrating the season with Halloween-themed lessons. Our "instrument of the week" lesson focused one of the earliest electronic instruments—the spooky and atmospheric Theremin. We have also been playing "Monster Mash" and "Spooky Scary Skeletons" on the Boomwhackers and learning our songs for the upcoming Winter Concert. MIDDLE SCHOOL Middle School students have chosen instruments to learn for our Winter Concert and we have been playing songs as a full band. We are also working on electronic music on iPads using the "PixiTracker" software--a simple and fun tool to quickly create musical sketches, chiptunes, and sound experiments. HIGH SCHOOL In High School, we have been learning about experimental music and "graphic scores"—a type of musical notation that uses evocative pictures to inspire musical performances rather than strict notes and rhythms. Students recently had the opportunity to perform a variety of scores, as well as create their own for their classmates to read.  Happy Halloween & Diwali ELEMENTARY This month, Elementary Students have been learning about fidgets as a tool for self-management. We discussed how fidgets can be important tools for learning, but different tools work for different people. Students learned about the expectations, signed a contract, and selected their fidgets. Next week in class, students will receive their personalized fidget bags. Teachers will support students in following expectations and using fidgets to support focus and attention. Also, check out our Crankenstein Halloween Craft below! What makes you cranky? MIDDLE SCHOOL This month Middle Schoolers explored how music can impact mood. Students listened to different songs and recorded the emotions they felt while the music was playing. We discussed how music can be used as a coping skill and what works for different people. Students then created their own mood playlists! Additionally, students worked on awareness of self and others by making their own versions of the New York Time "Connections" game. Students were able to share new things about themselves and play each others' games. Connections Games:  Dear Stanbridge Community,
We are looking forward to seeing you at the Back to School Picnic this Sunday, October 27, 2024 from 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. Parking is limited around Burlingame Community Center and the adjoining park. Please consider parking on a side street and walking in to the park. In addition, the weather is supposed to be lovely – please bring your own sunscreen, hats, and water bottles. We will be serving Jersey Mike's sandwiches (some gluten free, some vegetarian), water, chips and cookies. If you have other food preferences or allergies, please feel free to bring your own food. There will be some games, bubbles, musical instruments, and balls for families to play with. Please feel free to bring your own favorite lawn or table game to play with others. You may also want to bring your own chairs or picnic blankets to sit upon, as well. There will be tables set up to identify our area. Please stop by to get your name tags and, if you have already made your donation to the Annual Fund, your small thank you gift. See you there and Stay Strong, Bulldogs!  As you may know, Gladys has taken over for Rubén while he recovers from back surgery. This week, Spanish classes have been learning about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a holiday celebrated in Mexico and other Central American countries. Part of the observation is building altars or “ofrendas” (offerings) to honor loved ones who have died. Together, and with our Facilities Manager's help, they built an ofrenda in the classroom. The students also helped create papel picado, arrange flowers, build the arch, and decorate the walls with paper skulls. We invite students and faculty to add a framed photo of a family member, friend, or pet who has passed away to our classroom ofrenda. If you choose to participate, please ensure that the photo is in a frame. All pictures will be treated with care and respect throughout the celebration. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out.  Student Government would like to thank the parents who provided the baked goods for today's Bake Sale. As per usual, the students loved them and we are appreciative of your generosity!
Student Government has been in discussions about and researching potentially switching the location where we get our pizza for the monthly pizza sales. We conducted a taste test recently to try out a potential alternative, to see if we think a different pizza is something our students would like. We also taste tested a second pizza location this week, as we continue to narrow down our search. Stay tuned! The Halloween Dance is tonight! We want to thank everyone who played a part in making this first dance of the school year a success! Thank you to SPA for chaperoning, decorating, cleaning up, and providing the delicious treats and drinks that students got to enjoy. Thank you to Tobias and the DJ students who rock requested tunes. Thank you Linda for ordering the delicious pizza and salad from Mountain Mike's. Thank you to Arielle and Linda for making the Google Form. Thank you to Peter for putting up the LED lights in the courtyard. Thank you to Student Government for rallying students to attend, planning various aspects of the dance, such as the Mountain Mike's Pizza, and for advocating for the needs and interests of our students. Thank you to all the current students, alumni, and guests for attending the Halloween Dance. Thank you to Cindy, Linda, Kantodeia, Gladys, Tobias, and Kenny for chaperoning tonight! This dance saw high student turnout of both current students and recent alumni. Students were stoked to get to see their former English teacher, Sarin, who also came to the dance! It was such a thrill to see everyone having a blast together! Many happy memories were made, and we are thrilled that everyone had a wonderful time at our first dance of the 2024-2025 school year. Next week Student Government will have a Snack Shack on Thursday October 31st, because Friday there is no school for the students. Please have your child bring their dollars if you would like them to purchase a snack to supplement their lunch. Thanks everyone, have a great weekend, and Go Bulldogs! –Kenny Katz, Student Government Faculty Advisor  We are excited to share what our students have been up to in Tech class! Each group has been working on exciting projects and developing essential skills:
– Gregory Wilson, Director of Instructional Technology |
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