Middle School Newsletter - April 20, 2022
Message From Division Director
In this final six weeks of the school year, we have plenty to look forward to with games, concerts and special events. This weekend features the athletic competitions of Springfest, the memories and activities of alumni reunions, and a bittersweet tribute to John Thomas. For those of you who have joined us in the past two years, you may not have seen as much of John due to the constraints on school events and parent presence, but I hope you have watched his weekly videos and you’ve certainly experienced his impact. Every aspect of our program is an extension of his leadership, rooted in the belief that an outstanding educational experience requires a foundation of trust, strong relationships, and a leader who unfailingly models the Core Values we espouse every second of every day. I am grateful for the 17 years I have been able to work for and learn from John and look forward to forcing him to let us celebrate him on Friday night.
Brian Lamont
Director of the Middle School
THE LATEST
Advisory Day — Next Friday, April 29
As noted in last week’s newsletter, we are excited to take all of our students off-campus next Friday for Advisory Day. This has been a traditional favorite for students and features teambuilding activities and a scavenger hunt competition in Washington, D.C. Safety is our top priority, and the level of responsibility for both students and advisors is increased off campus, particularly in navigating busy city streets. As a likely consequence of the pandemic and having fewer opportunities to practice these skills, we’ve noticed that many students struggle with safety instincts, responsiveness to correction, and the ability to follow directions in a group setting. We will be reviewing safety protocols with students — particularly in terms of staying together as a group, paying close attention to instructions about crossing streets, and respecting the thousands of others trying to move about the city. We appreciate your efforts to support these messages at home.
Seventh Grade
- Regular 7:50 a.m. arrival and 3:30 p.m. dismissal times.
- There are no academic classes or athletics.
- Students should be in regular school dress with comfortable walking shoes.
- Students should leave iPads and MacBooks at home.
- Students will need a daypack, water bottle, bag lunch, an additional snack, a mask (in case we enter buildings with a requirement), and a hat/sunscreen as needed.
- Students will travel by bus and participate in activities around the National Mall.
- Please contact your child’s advisor or Seventh Grade Team Leader Travis Keatley if you have questions.
Eighth Grade
- Regular 7:50 a.m. arrival and 3:30 p.m. dismissal times.
- There are no academic classes or athletics.
- Students should be in regular school dress with comfortable walking shoes.
- Students should leave iPads and MacBooks at home.
- Students will need a daypack, water bottle, money for lunch, a mask (in case we enter buildings with a requirement), and a hat/sunscreen as needed.
- Students will travel by Metro and participate in activities throughout the city.
- Please contact your child’s advisor or Eighth Grade Team Leader Leslie Bumgarner if you have questions.
End-of-Year Schedule — Exams and Closings
Not that we are looking forward to the end of the school year, but I wanted to make you aware of our plans for the final week of the school year.
- Friday, May 27 — one exam and regular Friday classes; full school day.
- Monday, May 30 — Memorial Day; no classes.
- Tuesday, May 31 — two exams; full school day.
- Wednesday, June 1 — two exams; last full school day of the year.
- Thursday, June 2 — no classes; students may arrive before the closing program and may leave immediately after.
- 1-2 p.m. — Middle School Closing Ceremony and Grade 8 Promotion
- Friday, June 4 — no classes.
Middle School Exams
Like everything else in middle school, it is important to keep exams in perspective as part of our low-stakes training ground. Our focus is more on the review process and long-term study skills than the results. We view the benefits of the exam process to be:
- The process of preparing for a cumulative assessment.
- reviewing/synthesizing skills and concepts to cement learning.
- learning and practicing study strategies to help each student determine what works best for them.
- Assessing learning on a cumulative assessment.
- this can be an important gauge of student learning/synthesis/retention.
- The experience of taking longer assessments on consecutive days.
- in high school and beyond, our students will need to sit for longer assessments and learn how to manage time during an exam period.
Students will have exams in English (an in-class revision of an essay), history, math, language and science. Each exam will be one hour with extended time as needed. The remainder of the school day will consist of games and activities. More details will be provided in the coming weeks.
Virtual Event: Taking Meaningful Risks Coffee and Conversations
A big part of Flint Hill’s vision for students is to encourage them to take “meaningful risks.” But what does that actually mean? On Tuesday, April 26, at 9 a.m., faculty members across divisions will elaborate on what taking meaningful risks means at Flint Hill, including how they encourage students to create their own definitions of success and explore ideas creatively and critically. While this event is designed for prospective families, newly enrolled and current families interested in this topic are welcome to join! Register for the event or share it with a friend who’s interested in Flint Hill.
Join Us for Springfest!
We hope to see you at Springfest this weekend as we celebrate spring athletes and welcome back alumni. Everyone is invited to come together to cheer our Huskies on to victory! Some games will feature recognition of alumni athletes who have returned to celebrate milestone reunions.
Home Game and Activity Schedule:
Friday, April 22
4:15 p.m. — Varsity Softball vs. Georgetown Visitation, Lower School Softball Field
Saturday, April 23
Noon — Boys Tennis vs. Seton School, Upper School Tennis Courts
Noon — Girls Lacrosse vs. Wilson High School, Peterson Family Turf Field
2 p.m. — Boys Varsity Lacrosse vs.Wilson High School, Peterson Family Turf Field
Tickets for the Upper School Musical, "Working," Are on Sale Now!
Performances are held on April 29 and 30 at 7 p.m. and May 1 at 2 p.m. "Working" concerns the hopes, dreams, joys and concerns of the average working American. In the course of one 24-hour workday, the audience meets and hears stories of various workers, including the schoolteacher, the parking lot attendant, the waitress, the mill worker, the mason, the trucker, the fireman, and the housewife. Tickets are free, but reservations at this link are suggested. Good seats go fast, so get your tickets today!
FRIENDLY REMINDERS
- Use this form to request additional RFID tags for carpool.
- Refer a Husky and the Admission team will reach out to them.
PARENT TO-DO'S
Please Complete the Annual Parent Survey
On April 5 every Flint Hill parent should have received an email from Measuring Success, the company that administers our annual parent survey, with a personalized link to this year’s survey. Please take a moment now to open that email and take the survey. Your feedback is very important to the school. If you did not receive an email from Measuring Success, please reach out to them at schools@measuring-success.com for help or to have the link resent.
PARENT RESOURCES
Grade 8 Human Sexuality
For those of you who were unable to attend this week’s parent session with Lottie Walker, here is a copy of her presentation.
Parents Council of Washington Virtual Event April 28
The Parents Council of Washington is pleased to host a virtual event on Thursday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. with Dr. William Stixrud and Ned Johnson, national bestselling authors of “The Self-Driven Child,” to discuss their new book, “What Do You Say?: Talking with Kids to Build Motivation, Stress Tolerance, and a Happy Home.”
William R. Stixrud, Ph.D. is a clinical neuropsychologist and founder of The Stixrud Group, as well as a faculty member at Children's National Medical Center and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine.
Ned Johnson is an author, speaker, and founder of PrepMatters, an educational company providing academic tutoring, educational planning, and standardized test preparation. He hosts the PrepTalks podcast and is a sought-after speaker and teen coach on study skills, sleep deprivation, parent-teen dynamics, and test anxiety.
In this PCW Speaker Series event, Stixrud and Johnson will focus on how to communicate with kids in a way that supports the autonomy and self-drive that are important for healthy development. They will emphasize practical communication strategies for building a strong emotional connection with our kids, communicating healthy (versus toxic) expectations, fostering intrinsic motivation, and helping kids find their own reasons to change when they are struggling. Because communication is hardest when things are not going well, the presentation will emphasize how to get "buy in" before we share our experience and advice, how to change the energy when it feels like we are trying to force our kids, and how to manage conversations when emotions run high.
The presentation will be followed by a Q&A period. Please submit in advance any questions you may have to administration@parentscouncil.org.
All PCW member school parents, administrators, faculty, and staff are invited. Register Here
Upcoming Events
To help protect the integrity and privacy of virtual events, we have placed all the links to Google Meet virtual events in Husky Hub via the All-School Calendar.
A Toast to John (Thomas)
Friday, April 22, 8 p.m., Peterson Middle School
Springfest
Saturday, April 23
A list of games and activities is available here.
Grades JK-12 Admission Virtual Coffee and Conversation: Taking Meaningful Risks
Tuesday, April 26, 9-10 a.m.
Advisory Day
Friday, April 29
All students will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to engage in teambuilding and an advisory scavenger hunt. Complete details are available here.
Upper School Musical, "Working"
Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 1, at 2 p.m., Olson Theater — Lower School Campus
Grades 5-8 Spring Orchestra Concert
Tuesday, May 3, 7-8:30 p.m.
Olson Theater — Lower School Campus
Grades 5-8 Spring Band Concert
Thursday, May 5, 7-8:30 p.m.
Olson Theater — Lower School Campus
Grades JK-12 Parent Education Series: Kaleidoscope Book Club
Monday, May 9, 8:30-9:30 a.m.
Grades 5-8 Spring Percussion Concert
Tuesday, May 10, 7-8:30 p.m.
Grades 5-8 Spring Choral Concert
Thursday, May 12, 7-8:30 p.m.
Grade 7 Parent Dinner Sponsored by Parents’ Association
Saturday, May 14, 6-9 p.m.
Two-Hour Delayed Opening, Faculty/Staff In-Service
Tuesday, May 17
Health Services
Helpful Links
Flint Hill Positive Case and Close Contact Exposure Protocols
COVID-19 Vaccination Status Dashboard
All of these links can be found on the COVID-19 Health Information tile on the Resource Board.
Reminder: Keep Everyone Healthy by Staying Home if Sick
If your student has fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, you should keep them home to recover. They must be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to school.
Parents' Association
Don’t Forget to Register! Golf Invitational and Skills Clinic
Very few foursomes remain for the tournament, but there are still some individual spaces open and plenty of spots available for the Skills Clinic, presented by AutoScandia. Join Clinic Co-Chairs Mica Howard P’19 and Sibel Unsal P’22 for an hour-and-a-half of casual conversation and golf skills taught by pros. Afterward, enjoy lunch together and get a chance to win some great raffle prizes including a Kendra Scott necklace or two tickets to Signature Theater. Thank you to parents Sherri and Mark Bredesen P’22 of AutoScandia for their generous sponsorship of the clinic!
All abilities are welcome, so grab your spot here!
Volunteer Opportunities in the Den
Parent volunteers are needed to help sell concessions during Middle School breaks, athletic games, and also at Springfest.
Sign up for a shift in the Den during Middle School break or one of the athletic games.
Oh What a Night!
This year’s Arts Jam was pure joy! After a two year break, I truly didn’t know what to expect. Most of these students and some of their teachers had never even seen an Arts Jam let alone perform in one. It blew me away! Read more.
NEWS ON THE HILL
