Kicking off Donald Bentley

The Donald Bentley Food Pantry’s goal is to provide food for families in need. They are located in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. Donald Bentley has been helping families for over 22 years. Garrison Forest has been working with Donald Bentley for many years. We have been holding fun challenges to raise money and visiting the food pantry . This year we will be coordinating Stuff the Bus, the Change Challenge, and other new, fun challenges in the school. For the Change Challenge, students should bring in coins to earn your light and dark points. We will have buckets set up in the lobby and you will put the change into your designated box. We will count it up at the end of the year and whichever side wins will receive a prize! Stuff the Bus is a  challenge that we do to collect cans. It gets lights and darks involved and is really fun! We are going to have a booth at Fall Fest so get excited to help Donald Bentley! You will have opportunities to go to the food pantry so go if you can! Contact Olivia, Raquel, and Gillian if you have any questions!  We are so excited for this year! Are you?

Some things we are going to be doing!

• Have a booth at Fall Fest
• Stuff the Bus
• Change Challenge
• Advisory challenges
• Light and Dark 
• Posting pictures  and videos
• Reminders for bringing in cans of food
• Updates on Middle School Donald Bentley contributions
• Fundraisers

SO GET EXCITED!!!

Here is a video to learn more about Donald Bentley!

Last year's stats...

Donald Bentley	Tuna	L=160, D=185. TOTAL=345	MS Forum
Fall Fest	Donald Bentley	$39.68 + $100 donations	Donald Bentley
Donald Bentley	Stuff the Bus Can Drive	L=1067, D=1067. TOTAL=2134	MS Forum
Donald Bentley	Pasta, Mac-N-Cheese	L=132, D=59. TOTAL=191	MS Forum
Donald Bentley	Stuff the Lockers Can Drive	100+	MS Form
Donald Bentley	Change Challenge	$1003	Brooke F.

Last year was really great! Let’s see if we can top it!

Our first drive is coming up in mid-October. We are starting stuff the bus early this year so don’t forget it’s coming up and bring in cans! Everybody get excited! We will keep posting when we have definite dates for this drive and other drives!

Written by: Raquel H. & Olivia H.

Fall Sport Pep Rally

At Garrison Forest Middle School, we have 3 sport pep rallies each year. One in the fall, winter, and spring. Recently, we just had our fall sports pep rally for the year 2012-2013. At Garrison, you have the option to play a sport every season. In the fall there is soccer, field hockey, and cross country. During our pep rallies Mr. Trinh, the Dean of Students, announces A field hockey, B field hockey, and so on. In between each team, he says the names of all of the players on that team. Every pep rally is held in the Middle School Auditorium. Between each set of seats, we have our spirit leaders at the end forming a pyramid. Mr. Trinh will say each name of the member of that specific team and they will come running down while the crowd cheers them on.

Our Middle School does this for many reasons. One of the many is to get the teams pumped up. Not only because they made a team, but for a great season. We also do this because it’s always nice to cheer people on and if they would like, to come down to our home fields and support our classmates. At GFS, it’s as if we are family. We are an all-girls school so it doesn’t matter if we embarrass ourselves. We may not always show it, but we are always there for each other on and off the field. When we have this pep rally, that’s when it really shows because you hear the loud screams of the friends who want you to have a great season.

Below, you will see many pictures and even a video! Our pep rallies create memories that will last a lifetime but who says we can’t have pictures? These pictures show a variety of what happens during a pep rally. We have each member from a team line up outside the entrance doors when Mr. Trinh announces the team that you are on. Then you run down, high five people, and you get to stand in front of the whole Middle School smiling and even cheering on the rest of your teammates along with the coaches. 

Written by Mia G. & Alli S.
Photos by Mia G.

7th Grade Field Trip to Baltimore Museum of Industry

     On May 11, the 7^th grade students had a field trip to The Museum of Industry, following up to that they had also gone to Fells Point. The 7^th graders had visited there to learn about many interesting historian facts.

    The Museum of Industry has many fun and educational things to do. Some of the things they taught the students were how the workers were treated, how they would get hired, how they had to work, and what type of jobs they would have to do.

    At Fells Point, MD the 7^th graders were in their advisory groups and walked around observing the old buildings. They were taught many facts like about the brick patterns, the type of building, and how people lived in that certain type of building. After a long day they were also treated with yummy treats like ice-cream and a snowball.

Jaelyn a 7^th grade student said, “I liked that we had ice-cream after a long tiring day, after learning several things” After all, they did work very hard.

   When the students had visited the museum, they’d split into two groups. One of the two things they’d learned about was the garmenting industry. They learned who worked at the factories, how the people would work, the types of different jobs everyone had.

     Later on all of the 7^th graders split up and did a scavenger hunt. During that you had to find several facts about many historian things. There were several topics that the students had to read and find out about.

   Jada, another 7^th grade student said, “My favorite part was when I got to experience being a cutter for the garment industry. I’d learned a lot of things during then, it was a fun activity!”

   This field trip was a great experience for all the students. It was a relaxing, fun, and interesting place where you could learn many things about a lot of historical items or people. All the 7^th graders had really enjoyed their trip to the Museum of Industry and Fells Point, MD.

Written by: Anjali S. 

Middle School Social Networking Presentation

Check out this presentation on Social Networking in the Middle School which includes facts, figures, quotes, and survey results from Garrison Forest 6th-8th Graders. Initially intended to inform Garrison Forest parents about what is "out there" in social networking, the presentation has been great for the girls to see and discuss as well!

Created by: Lindsay Kelland (Digital Thinking Teacher)

7th Grade Three Word Video

7th Grade Three Word Video

As an annual digital thinking project the seventh grade has been working on their individual “Three Word Video". For this project we were instructed by Mrs. Kelland to create a video, broadcasting three words you would like to say to the world. Some of the words existed of “Make A Wish”, “Use your imagination”, and many more. All the words reflected what was important to girls personally and was especially amazing to see how they creatively displayed their words. As another aspect to the project, the seventh grade was challenged to display their words without speaking. Either written on a whiteboard or typed on a piece of paper, everyone showed their own words differently and in a inspiring way. Check out our video above!


Written By: Claire McMahon

6th Graders raise money for Water Well project

Click here to watch our 6th Grade Water PSA Video! 

In our Digital Thinking class with Mrs. Kelland, the 6th Grade has been brainstorming ways that we can make a difference. We began by talking about things in the world that were important to us--animal abuse, hungry children, the environment, etc. After seeing the Traveling Teacher blog created by Mrs. Gross, we decided that provided clean drinking water for people in developing countries was a cause we could really get behind.

Our first step was to do research. Each Sixth Grade class divided into groups to find information. The groups we could choose from were organizations, engineering, global correspondents, ambassadors, and water health. Each group found information and presented to the class so we could be more aware of what was happening. Then, we began to brainstorm about what we could do to help!

Then, we chose new groups based on what our interest and expertise areas were. We could choose from creating fundraisers, choosing the organization to donate to, designing a public service announcement, and writing for the Grizzly Gazette and GFSGrizzlies twitter. Each group has been focusing on our areas. Our group all decided to work on Grizzly Gazette which is the Garrison Forest Middle School blog. The Grizzly Gazette is now being updated  more frequently and usually has something interesting to read or look at. We will be posting pictures and notes about different school events to keep everybody updated. We want everyone to know we are trying to make a difference!

For fundraising, the Sixth Grade had a lot of ideas about what we could do to help. We went through and selected ideas that we thought would work. The fundraising group chose to do a restaurant night and a bake sale. Our restaurant night will be on Wednesday, May 2nd at Mia Carolina Restaurant in Glyndon, MD. The restaurant is owned by Caroline Cohen’s father and has excellent Italian food. 15% of the profits from that evening will go towards our cause and to benefit wonderful organizations! We encourage everyone to come. Stay tuned for more details about the bake sale.
On Tuesday, April 17th Water for People organization volunteers, Ms. Cidney Scanlon and Ms. Dana Woher, traveled to Garrison Forest from Washington, DC to talk to the Fifth and Sixth Grade about the use of water and how we can help countries that do not have clean water like we do. They talked about how much water we use and how we can cut down on our water supply. An example of how much water we use is in our clothes (shirts, pants, etc.), food (tomatoes, beef, etc.) and paper consumption. For example, every time you ride in the car or take a bus you use water--lots of it. Cars and buses need water in their engines or they won't run. Imagine not being able to get water when ever you wanted it. Now imagine that when you do get water that it is not clean and makes you sick. What would you do if this was your life? Well some people really do live this way, so why don’t you try to find ways that you can help? We will update next week with our progress. Thanks for reading!

By: Eve A., Semira N., Camryn C., Lexi S., Madison W., Cara Z., Emily W., and Natalie N.

7th Grade Holocaust Project

7^th Grade Learns about the Holocaust

Recently, the Garrison Forest 7^th Grade has been learning about the Holocaust through many different angles. To begin the new topic, the script of ‘Anne Frank’ was introduced to us, and we read through it carefully in our English classes. We talked about the history behind the Anne Frank script and studied the Anne Frank website. Then, we began to compose letters to Holocaust Survivors, which we researched on The Holocaust Survivor Website. All three classes really enjoyed asking questions in their letter. 

Then, in our Digital Thinking classes, we each created our own digital stories on Final Cut Express or iMovie, adding pictures with transitions and effects. We also watched the film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” which was emotional and allowed us to reflect on the time period. It really played a big role in learning about the Holocaust. And finally, after Spring Break, we were fortunate enough to have Mrs. Debbie Levy and her mother, Jutta Levy, visit the Middle School. Jutta Levy is a Holocaust survivor, and her daughter Debbie Levy is the author of “A Year of Goodbyes.” A true story about Jutta, which Mrs. Levy found through a “poesie book” which was a friendship book. A poesie book was poetry written by friends and family. It was a wonderful experience to learn so much about this staining shadow in our history today, and we hope that the next 7^th Graders will enjoy it as much as we did.

Written by Mallory H.

Created by Rebecca B

HONK! Jr. Musical

by Ashley W. and Claire M.

SUMMARY

 

In Garrison Forest Middle School, there is a musical every year.  In the 2011 - 2012 academic year, HONK! Jr. was performed.  HONK! describes  the story of the ugly duckling, called Ugly.  Ugly, his mother, Ida, his father, Drake, and his brothers and sisters go to the duck yard to meet everyone.  They find him ugly, so they shun him.  There are only two people that care about him; Ida, and the Cat, who wants to eat Ugly.  The Cat finds Ugly, and convinces Ugly to come with him to his kitchen, where the Cat can cook and eat Ugly.  Ugly escapes and goes on a number of adventures, with and without the Cat.  At the end, Ugly realizes that he is a swan and there is a happy ending.

CREATING THE PROPS, SET, AND COSTUMES 

Creating the set and props was no easy job.  The costumes were almost as hard.  For Ugly’s egg, which he emerges towards the beginning of the play, we cut a piece of plywood into an egg shape.  We then cut it in half and attached foam.  We finished it by painting it brown and splatter-painting it with white. At the start of the play, season costume crew was put to work by clearing out anything we could use in the unending costume room. They found loads of great ideas and presented them to Mrs. Herlein to be evaluated. Once they finalized the costumes for the main characters, it was time to decide for the rest of the cast. We got together and brainstormed on what different birds would be costumed as and a few days later the amazing costume crew was already at it! Everyone was fitted and ready to go by the fabulous costume designer and parent, Mrs. Conner! The ensemble had close to no time to change for each scene.  One time block was about two minutes long!  In that time block the ensemble had to take off a tunic, tie on a headband, find a huge piece of fabric, take off a swim cap, and remove their shoes!

OUR FAVORITES 

Out of all of the scenes in the production the one scene we loved performing was “Look At Him”. In this scene we, the duck yard, were ridiculing Ugly when we first saw his horrid appearance. It was our favorite scene because everyone was on stage and we had a chance to act comically mean. The scene that took the most time to choreograph was “Wild Goose Chase”, because we had so many different ideas for each dance!  This scene entails Ugly meeting Greylag and Greylag getting his goose “militia” to find Ugly’s mother.  The hardest scene to dance to was “Warts and All” because the dance started out being really complicated.  We had started out with about twenty froglet dancers and went down to about eight due to lack of space and things like that.  Mrs. Herlein found us some pretty crazy costumes to wear, consisting of green tunics, felt belts, green flowers, and green swim caps.  Our last favorite was the Blizzard scene, because of its beauty and the message was very dramatic.  We decided that the ensemble would “be” the snow.  We had six ensemble members hold ends of long sheets of fabric.  The would move them up and down with the music to create the image of snow.  Claire and I actually held the middle sheet and it was hard to stay in sync with the other fabrics!  Since there were three pieces of fabric, the front and the back would move theirs at the same time then our sheet, the middle one, would move at different times.  It was really fun, but we needed complete focus to stay on task and still look like snowflakes.

Directed by: Rachel Herlein

Music: Virginia Flynn

Stage Manager: Megan Hamilton

Set Design: Scott Herlein

Characters

Ugly - Jenny Yarmis

Ida - Sophie Polovoy

Drake - Kara Frazier

The Ducklings - Mallory Higgins, Alli Schimmel, Raquel Hyatt & Molly Cohen

Maureen - Brooke Gordon

The Cat - Maggie Baughman

Greylag - Livy Ayd

Dot - Mimi N’Diaye

Barnacles - Virginia Bonsal

Snowy - Lindsey Callaway

Pinkfoot - Abi Balkin

Blizzard Soloists - Julia Connor and Ashlei Chang

The Bullfrog - Olivia Herlein

Penny - Jaida Maller

Bewick - Elise Lyght

Grace - Princess Gray

The Turkey - Emily Oleisky

Henrietta - Vasi Argeroplos

Maggie Pie - Emma Balkin

Camera Man - Anjali Sharma

Boom Microphone - Julia Connor

The Farmer/Father Swan - Victoria Bennett

Mother Swan/Makeup Artist - Emily Martin

Bewick - Elise Lyght

The Black Swan Dancer - Jenny Wiener

Ensemble - Ashley Wells, Eryn Frazier, Elizabeth Nimetz, Ayanna Dorsey, Catherine Benjamin, Anjali Sharma, Niyi Owolabi, Davis Holmes, Brielle Herlein, Claire McMahon & Nylah Austin  

Stage Chorus - Leigh Hardy, J-Mae Ferguson, Olivia McCall, Erica Downing, Jackie Magaha, Margaret Hyde, & Lily Nisbet

Crew

Costume Crew - Head: Virginia Leach, Lizzie Bonsal, Megan Lansman, Kennedy Jenkins,

Prop Crew - Head: Sakinah Rushdan, Atallah N’Diaye, Nia Tyson, Lila Yerman, Izzy Gold

House Crew - Head: Sarah Steinberg, Sophie Berger, Madison Wilson, Jillian Quartner

Light and Sound - Dai Hayden, Ryley Young, Channing Ch, Taylor Tilson

Stage Managers - Julianna Martinez, Brooke Fruman