Blog

Our 7th grade students participated in the annual East-West Revolutionary War Tea Party.  Students are assigned a Colonial or British personality involved in the late 1700s era American Colonial Revolution time period.  They research, report, and understand parts of the character's role in history.  Students dress up in period attire and rotate between classrooms and hallway during an in-school "blast from the past field trip".

This year the students took on the role of a Delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Social Studies.  They read the novel "Chains" in ELA, they created a tri-corner hat or bonnet in Art and learned the Virginia Reel in a special Dance class.

In addition, Mr. Oppenheim had a game room set up with a wide variety of games from the 18th Century, like bowling, Nine Men's Morris, games of skills, etc.

ELA had a room where students read original poetry and sang songs such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Everyone brought in food and snacks from recipes that were from that time period and invited their parents to join us if possible.

Thank you to our parents who volunteered their time, or donated food and refreshment.  Food, Dance, Games, Songs and of course a nice cup of tea. It was really a huge success.

Click here to view more photos from this album.

Our middle school students were treated to a live performance of Camille Saint-Saëns's The Carnival of the Animals on Tuesday January 23, during Regents Week.

Under the musical directions of Maestro Dong Hyun Kim, the Queensboro Symphony Orchestra performed the fourteen pieces with specific sounds of animals for each.

Mr. Paul Joseph expanded our students' imagination by inquiring which animal or groups of animal the individual piece sound like.  From the first piece of a lion's roar, to the sound of tortoises in Offenbach's Can-can from Orpheus in the Underworld, to how the composer illustrated the sounds of the Aquarium using a glockenspiel, our students listened intently, responded with enthusiasm and were respectful audiences to the members of the Queensboro Symphony Orchestra.

Pianists Ms. Noi Otomasu and Ms. Moeko Chiyozaki demostrated a typical practice session with the orchestra and capped it off with a selfie on Ms. Otomasu's iPhone.

Mr. Joseph introduces Maestro Kim and explains the crucial role he plays in conducting his orchestra.

And for the finale, our students were able to see and hear how all the pieces join together to create Camille Saint-Saëns's The Carnival of the Animals.  Click here to view the Looney Tunes rendition of The Carnival of the Animals.

For more information about the Queensboro Symphony Orchestra and attend their next concert, visit their website at www.queensborocymphony.org

To view more photos from this event, click here.