Vote for Summer Common Reading!
We are pleased to announce the Summer 2012 Common Reading Book Selection Committee’s four choices for our common reading book this summer! These were narrowed down from submissions from you and your vote will help choose the big winner! Voting is open for one week and one week only and will end on Wednesday, May 16th at 2:30pm so vote now and tell your friends to vote, too!
All BLA students, parents, and teachers may vote in this referendum to select the book that all students will read during the summer. Each book is described below.
Once you have read the descriptions, tell us what do you want to read this summer. The choice is yours! Click here to vote!
Choice One: The Book Thief
By Markus Zusak
Amazon’s Description: “It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
“Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
“This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.”
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Choice Two: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By Rebecca Skloot
From Amazon’s Description: “Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first ‘immortal’ human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.
“Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.
“Now Rebecca Skloot takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the ‘colored’ ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s to stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells; from Henrietta’s small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia—a land of wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo—to East Baltimore today, where her children and grandchildren live and struggle with the legacy of her cells. . . . ”
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Choice Three: Last Days of Summer
By Steve Kluger
Amazon’s Description: “Last Days of Summer is the story of Joey Margolis, neighborhood punching bag, growing up goofy and mostly fatherless in Brooklyn in the early 1940s. A boy looking for a hero, Joey decides to latch on to Charlie Banks, the all-star third baseman for the New York Giants. But Joey’s chosen champion doesn’t exactly welcome the extreme attention of a persistent young fan with an overactive imagination. Then again, this strange, needy kid might be exactly what Banks needs.”
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Choice Four: Lavinia
By Ursula K. Le Guin
Amazon’s Description: “In a richly imagined, beautiful new novel, an acclaimed writer gives an epic heroine her voice.
“In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.
“Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner—that she will be the cause of a bitter war—and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Vergil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.
“Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.”
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Students go to China!
The China trip was a great success!
Ms. Marshall’s article about the trip was published in the Huffington Post!
Candace, a 9th grader, was a celebrity in China…
Q: Something amazing happened to you in China because of your blond hair. What was it?
A: In America I’m just a regular girl, but traveling in China with blond hair, it was like being a celebrity! I guess celebrities have that feeling every day of fans being so excited to see them, so maybe they get used it, but I thought it was so awesome to feel famous!
In China, random strangers would come up to me and ask me for a picture just because I have a different skin and hair color! It happened on the Great Wall of China, on the airplane, and once at the Temple of Heaven.
I liked the Great Wall “celebrity moment” the most because that’s where I got the most pictures taken with me. It was just a wonderful thing. I can’t explain it. It made me all happy inside!
For more student stories, read Ms. Marshall’s blog.
Sixie Dance a success!
The Valentine’s dance for Sixies (7th graders) was a great success. It was held on Friday, February 10 and proceeds will benefit the senior prom. Thank you to all who attended!
Teachers run so dragons can fly!
Congratulations Ms. Gentile!! Thank you to all her supporters!!
She successfully ran the Boston Marathon to help raise money for Boston Latin Academy. Ms. Gentile recently appeared in a Boston.com article and made the CBS news report! On Marathon Monday, she finished her run in 4 hours 34 minutes in record-high temperatures!
Along with Ms. Gentile, we were also cheering a BLA senior, Tucker Gaye, who ran the marathon to raise money for his college education. Tucker also finished the marathon is just over 4 hours. Congrats!
Since we reached our goal of raising $5,000, it will be matched by Boston Rising for a total of $10,000! We hope to use these funds to support extracurricular activities as well as technology for our classrooms. You can continue to give until early June. If you want to donate, please do so by using Razoo, below. Check our progress on this specific fundraiser by visiting the marathon page on Crowdrise.
Give to BLA!
In addition to the marathon fundraiser, there are other ways to support the school.
The Hapgood Library is also hosting its’ annual fundraiser. The website is www.funds4books.com. Please enter code 8613 and thank you!
In addition, starting Nov. 8, families can register their Stop & Shop card to give a percentage to BLA. Just go to www.stopandshop.com and register your card. Our Stop & Shop school code is 10333.
Finally, Boston Latin Academy is collecting Box Tops for Education. Coupons can be sent to the Main Office (attention: Marcia Canale).
Mr. Wurman in the news:
WINNING FORM: Barbara Okafor runs the anchor leg of the 4?x?200 for Latin Academy on February 8, 2011 at the Reggie Lewis Center. (Photo by Patrick Whittemore, Boston Herald)
The BLA Boys’ and Girls’ Track teams are City Champions!
Latin Academy boys and girls both finished first in the two-day city championship meet at the Reggie Lewis Center, defeating O’Bryant for the first time in years.
According to Latin Academy coach Brian Leussler, “It’s a big accomplishment, I really owe it to the team. A lot of dedicated kids who do indoor, outdoor, who have been running since seventh grade — they deserve it this year.”
Go Dragons!
Read more in the Boston Herald, or the Boston Globe.
Boston Latin Academy has been named a National Blue Ribbon School!
Last school year we worked hard to submit a strong application that highlighted all the professional development work we did in the last two years including:
• An active Instructional Leadership Team that plans professional development
• The use of Instructional Rounds to examine teaching and learning
• The optional professional development that focused on 21st century learning skills/ active learning
• The addition of a thematic curriculum map to our some of our major courses
• The active planning of grade level teams (clusters) that work towards improving 21st century learning in the classroom
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle, and high schools that are either high performing or have improved student achievement to high levels, especially among disadvantaged students. The program is part of a larger Department of Education effort to identify and disseminate knowledge about best school leadership and teaching practices. Each year since 1982, the U.S. Department of Education has sought out schools where students attain and maintain high academic goals, including those that beat the odds.
On Thursday, September 9, 2010, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the nation’s Blue Ribbon Schools for 2010 at School Without Walls Senior High School, a 2010 Blue Ribbon School, in Washington, D.C. The schools—254 public and 50 private—will be honored at an awards ceremony on November 15 and 16 in Washington, D.C. In the past 28 years, more than 6, 000 of America’s schools have received this coveted award.
Although the honor does not have a monetary award it is a prestigious recognition of the work we do. It further proves that we are not only the best school in the city but one of the best in the nation.
View the announcement on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoqwkg8ZU34