Middle Schoolers Take a Deep Dive Into Interdisciplinary Curricula

Students sang about love celebrated, love lost, social commentary and personal narrative.

John-Alec Raubeson, music teacher and Expo coordinator, explained that, “Every eighth grade student is assigned to a band that must write and perform an original song. They decide what instruments they want to use, who will play each instrument and who will sing. They also created promotional posters and artwork for CD albums.”

Students could choose to perform a crucible rap, original poetry or six-word memoir. Collaborating with Raubeson were humanities teachers Stephen Hildreth and Tim Campbell, art teachers Bruce Robbins and Vincente Saavedra, and performing arts teacher Jason Reiff.

“It takes a lot of preparation and courage to step outside your comfort zone and get up in front of an audience to perform,” Raubeson noted. “I celebrate their determination to be daring, take some risks, aim high and do this. I’m very proud of these students for their ability to support each other.”

A few days later, seventh graders proudly presented their yearlong culminating Journeys art projects to their families and the community in Doc Wilson Hall on May 20.

“There are many metaphors for their year. They got their inspiration from a range of ideas including kitchens, desks, large sculptures of people battling the forces against them, waffles, staircases, Rubik’s cubes, bookshelves and puzzles,” explained Mary Chappell, humanities teacher, who together with Paul Friedman, humanities teacher, helped guide the students.

Chappell noted the students “want to show that they have faced challenges and overcome many of them, as well as developing new skills that they didn’t know they had.”

Through their elaborate and creative work, she said “the seventh graders seemed energized and excited about this challenge to demonstrate their journey with metaphors. They also reflected the wide variety of emotions, both affected by social and academic challenges.”

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On Thursday, May 22, sixth grade students will present their interdisciplinary study of the Hudson River through original folk songs, poetry, landscape paintings, sculptures and new this year, a yearlong science project.

Contributing sixth grade faculty include sixth grade dean Katie Meadows (music), Jen Rathkopf (poetry), Mark Tamucci (history), Bruce Robbins (art), and Dan Russo (science). For this team, it’s all about collaboration.

“We've been studying a variety of poetry styles, including formal forms like sonnets, haikus and ballads, as well as free verse and ekphrastic poems inspired by visual art,” Rathkopf said. 

Inspired by history lessons with Mark Tamucci and art with Bruce Robbins, Meadows added, “The students create a song cycle that revolves around the life of an imagined resident of the Hudson Valley Region. They tell their story through song — ballads, lullabies, game and working songs.”

For their yearlong science project, sixth graders were given the freedom to select any topic that interested them as long as it was investigative in nature. They were tasked with following the steps of the Scientific Method to solve the problem they chose to investigate. 

“Each student conducted research, developed a hypothesis, designed an experimental procedure, collected data, analyzed their results, and drew conclusions,” Russo said. “I was impressed with the diversity and sophistication of many of the topics. Experiments were conducted in fields such as biology, botany, chemistry, physics and sports science. I hope this project serves as a springboard for students to develop a lifelong passion for science."

The curriculum included many immersive trips: the fall seining trip, a study of the Hudson River School of Art landscape paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a visit to the Clearwater Sloop and an upcoming visit to West Point.

“The Hudson River Presentation is truly a celebration of all of the learning throughout the sixth grade experience, and what makes this special is sharing it with one another and our sixth grade families,” Meadows said.

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The beloved Fifth Grade Puppet Opera is in rehearsals as students prepare for their world premiere next Thursday, May 29, at 2:30 p.m in Doc Wilson Hall.

Led by the trio of Katie Meadows (music), Michaela Boller (humanities) and Bruce Robbins (art), “The Mystery of the Blue Hippo" is a culmination of the fifth grade study of ancient Egypt and opera. Students write and perform an original opera about gods and goddesses using handmade puppets.

Robbins said of the plot: “Dive into the thrilling quest to uncover the fate of the missing prized Blue Hippo from ancient Egypt. Join the powerful gods and goddesses as they embark on a hilarious and chaotic adventure filled with accusations and unexpected twists!”

Robbins added the students are abuzz with excitement. “They are juggling multiple tasks — singing, manipulating their puppets and collaborating to bring their entertaining story to life,” he said. 

“It's wonderful to see them reflect on how all the pieces fit together in this yearlong interdisciplinary project,” Robbins continued. “They researched ancient Egypt, visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Opera House and wrote a script that was transformed into a libretto.They also designed and crafted their puppet characters, sets and props.”