EMS Newsletter

Hello EMS Families and Caregivers,

Your kids are so amazing! Check out all the incredible work they’ve been doing in Art class (animals, personal crests), Design Tech (building hydraulic-crane-operated magnets, PE and Unified Sports, and in the EMS Band! Their creativity, dedication, skill, and perseverance are on full display these days at Edmunds, and it is a joy to see!

I also want to remind you that Burlington’s Parent-Teacher Organizations are hosting a mayoral candidate forum on Wednesday, January 17th from 6:00-7:30pm in the Hunt Middle School Library and live on YouTube’s Town Meeting TV. Thanks to the organizers and moderators!

Lastly, as we recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day this long weekend, I’ve been thinking about the violence in our world and in our community, especially in the speech I hear us use with each other. I’ve been thinking about how to counter it, and I find myself wishing that we would just speak to each other differently. And then the educator in my brain reminds me that we don’t absorb these skills by osmosis, we need to learn them, which means teaching. It means the active teaching of Nonviolence.

Some of you may be familiar with Nonviolent Communication, a method of listening, speaking, and relating championed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg. He often referred to it as Giraffe Talk vs. Jackal Talk, or communicating with the heart and love vs. communicating with aggression and domination. Fun Fact: The giraffe has the largest heart of any land animal.

Giraffe Talk and NVC has 4 Basic Communication Steps:

1. Observations - “I notice…”

2. Feelings - “I feel…”

3. Needs - “I need..”

4. Requests - “So I am going to ask that you please…”

Here is a brief synopsis of Giraffe Talk and Jackal Talk and Nonviolent Communication as well as a Short animated video giving the basics.

And for those who are interested in the deep dive, here is the Full text of Marshall Rosenberg, Ph.D’s book here: Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

Maybe this is something you work through the next time your kids are in conflict with you or each other. Or maybe it’s just something you practice yourself, modeling for them. Maybe it’s something to talk about in the car.

Nonviolence is an active choice, not a passive one. Violence is often passive. Nonviolence is resistance. It’s revolution.

Thanks so much for all your dedicated engagement in our school! Have a wonderful weekend!

John

Our 8th Grade Design & Technology students have been working in teams of two designing and building hydraulically powered machines that feature an electromagnet. The machines that the students are building need to move as many paper clips as possible from one pedestal to another and the machine needs to be able to reach up and over the wall that divides the two pedestals. Only hydraulic power can be used to control the machine's movement and the electromagnet is being used to attract the paperclips while they are being moved.

In addition to solving the electrical and mechanical engineering challenges that come with building a machine the students will laser cut custom controllers for their machines and each machine must have 1 or more 3d printed parts. The teams have six weeks to complete the challenge and have access to all of the tools in the shop. In preparation for this challenge each student produced several engineering drawings in 3d, earned their Power Tool Certification for the shop, completed a unit of study on electricity and electronics, and learned how to design work in 2d that can be laser cut. This project requires students to use all of the design and layout skills that they have learned over the past three years and it provides them with an opportunity to showcase their skills.

Quarter 2 concludes on Friday, January 19th, which means all art students will be coming home this week with their art portfolios. Please ask your child about this and take some time to look at and talk about their assignments. Here’s a link to jump start your arty conversation.

Come on out to celebrate your community with a night of music from the EMS Band featuring 4 student bands. This concert is the culmination of a semester of band at EMS. If your student is considering joining the band then bring them. It’s a great way to experience what we work towards.

Congratulations to all the Band Students! You have created a fabulous show for our school community. I’m so proud of you!

Hello EMS. In partnership with Catamount Trails Association, we will be cross-country (nordic) skiing (and some snowshoeing) in P.E. classes once a week. We will be skiing every Thursday (with the possibility for other days), until February vacation. Our first day will be next week, on Thursday, January 18th (with a boot fitting the week before). If you have them, we ask that you bring in a jacket, hat, and gloves on these days (we have extra if you do not have them). Hopefully we get some more of that white, fluffy stuff that we typically get in Vermont during the winter:) Thanks! -Coach Ellsworth and Coach Butterfield-

The Unified Team celebrated the end of their bowling season with a student-teacher match at Spare Time on Thursday, Jan 11th. There were some amazing moves on the alleys as students and staff showed their bowling talents with strikes, spares and a few gutter balls. Fun was had by all. Thanks to all the staff who came out to join us. Next… basketball season!

Each one, teach one. A phrase that we often use in our classroom. One 6th grade scholar shared that they loved to crochet and brought in some projects to show their colleagues. It snowballed from there and they taught a whole lesson on casting on, and learning the single crochet stitch. We have spent community time learning some new stitches, connecting, and supporting each other. Advisory is a space where middle school memories are made and flourish.

Information Session for Afterschool Music Production and Recording Club Wednesday 1/17 at 2pm in the Library.