Whitewater Rafting

Our Seventh Grade had a wonderful day whitewater rafting on the Brandywine today.

The 7th grade buses rolled out of the Middle School Parking Lot at 7:30 with everyone in an excited mood.  After an uneventful bus ride, our hardy students disembarked and listened to a lecture on water safety and how to navigate the whitewater rapids.

Following this, our groups boarded their boats and set off. After daring the rapids, the grade beached for lunch (which was provide by Rick and his wonderful kitchen staff.)

The final stretch of the river was tackled before drying off and boarding the bus for the journey home.

Acting on Impulse

Dear Middle School Families,

I once managed to drop kick an orange through my parents’ sitting room window! Now, this may not be the expected behavior of a Head of Middle School, but I will confess that I was only 13 and my brother threw me the orange and shouted "Shoot." So why do I share this with you this week?  Shipley has partnered with Dr. Mark Brackett of Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligences to further develop our Emotional Literacy Program.  

The Yale Ruler Approach focuses on the following five aspects

1. Recognizing emotions in oneself and others

2. Understanding the causes and consequences of emotions

3. Labeling our emotions using a rich vocabulary

4. Expressing emotions appropriately

5. Regulating emotions effectively

In the coming months, the Middle School faculty will work on these five components of emotional intelligence and will learn to use tools designed by Yale University to help our students understand and manage their emotions.  One of these tools, the Meta Moment focuses on pausing while in the moment and thinking about how one should really act. By creating this "space" research has found that children are more likely to make better decisions. 

Perhaps if I had been exposed to the Meta Moment as a teenager I would have paused for a split second when my brother threw me the orange and not kicked it through my parents’ front window.  I look forward to sharing our Yale work with you all in the coming months and hearing the feedback from our middle school children as we teach them these important tools.

Sincerely,

Shane

Dr. Shane Kinsella

Head of Middle School

Annie

Dear Families,

The Kinsella Family took a long road trip back from Maine this summer and the musical Annie was a big hit with our children. Having had the pleasure of meeting your sons and daughters these last two weeks, I find myself thinking constantly of one lyric "I Think I’m Gonnna Like It Here."  

I want to share a brief story I witnessed during Opening Week. This story sums up the courage and grace our children develop while at Shipley. When students were entering the Community Room to participate in an assembly, one young student found herself unable to sit with the group of girls she had been talking with. I should add that this girl was new to the grade. The young lady moved over to an open seat and was sitting all alone. As a parent, I was tempted to intervene and ask a student or two to sit with her; however, without prompting, the three girls she had been with got up from their seats and moved over to sit with her. This brought a smile to my heart and an affirmation that the character development work our students do takes root.

I look forward to meeting more of you at our 7^th and 8^th grade Parent Night and at the events upcoming in the weeks and months ahead. And as Annie says “I Think I’m Gonnna Like It Here."  

Shane

Learning Outside the Classroom

Dear Families,

The middle school is preparing for three field trips this coming week and this is a wonderful moment to share some reasons why we continue to invest time and effort in this from of learning.  The simplest explanation is that the students love field trips and they remember them.  A major study found that 96% of participants could not just remember where they went; they could also talk about who they were with, what grade they were in, and could name three or more specific aspects of what they did[1]. Field trips take students out of their normal environment, provide them with hands on learning experiences, and increase their knowledge and understanding of the world in which we live[2].

With this in mind, next week the Sixth Grade will be heading to Cherry Crest Farm to navigate a corn maze. This opportunity will require our students to work on team building and problem solving challenges alongside their advisors. Our Seventh Grade will be tested by whitewater rafting down the Lehigh River. This trip combines the challenge of stepping out of ones comfort zone while also observing the river and how it flows so that this knowledge can be shared in science classes in the coming weeks. 

Our final trip for the week is the Eighth Grade visit to Philadelphia.  As someone new to the area, I am excited to accompany the class on this learning opportunity. Guided by Mr. Schumacher, the students will be asked to observe the downtown area, gathering evidence about how our city developed, and asked to think about why humans historical have tended to shift from rural to urban areas.  This field trip complements beautifully the study of urbanization currently underway with this grade.

I look forward to sharing pictures and stories from our adventures with you all in the coming weeks.

---

[1] Falk, J. & Dierking, L. (2010) Field Trips: Assessing Their Long-Term Impact

[2] Nabors, Edwards, & Murray (2004) Making the case for field trips: What research tells us and what site coordinators have to say.