Painting the Sky

The Watermedia Painting Winterim group has been finishing up their projects on this last day of Winterim. They have been painting landscapes, nature, and still life. Also, they have learned about the culture behind water color painting and the technique and skill required to paint using water colors. Students have said that water color painting is much harder than they thought it would be when they first started two weeks ago. One of the more difficult features to paint on a water color painting is the sky, according to the students. The paintings are looking good and it is evident that all the students have learned a lot during their time in Watermedia Painting.

The Dance Fever is Heating Up

At first students in the Break It Down Winterim had to learn from each other. They created dances based on their limited understanding of movement.   However over the past few days they have learned legitimate moves and techniques from some highly qualified professional dancers.

The Copoeira is form of dance which combines Brazilian marital arts with dance moves.  They were instructed in this style late last week.  Check out this video of one of their teachers.

This week the focus has been on hip hop and break dancing.  When asked about learning this, one student commented that the teacher is very good.  He knows what he is doing and he has really helped the group gain some specific skills for this type of dance style.

A final dance performance will happen at 1:00 pm, Friday (3/14) in the Black Box Theater. 

A Tricky Spider and a Magic Rock

The Something for Nothing Players have been traveling around New England this week, performing for children, and will continue to do so for the rest of the week. Based on what the Players have said, they are really enjoying performing for the children. When asked what it's like to finally showoff their work for kids one performer respond by saying, "It's awesome!" They have said that the children's energy throughout the performance makes it feel real and the children really look up to the Players. The Players also enjoy hearing and answering the questions that the children have after the performances.

The Something for Nothing Players' play is about a spider who tricks other animals into giving her their food by making them say a phrase near a magic rock that puts them to sleep for one hour. The animals then decide to get back at the spider by making her fall for her own trick. 

On Monday, the Something for Nothing Players performed at the Claremont Elementary Schools, in Claremont, NH, for grades 1-5. On Tuesday, they performed at Charlotte Avenue Elementary, in Nashua, NH, for grades 1-4. Today (Wednesday), they will perform at the Wellesley Community Children's Center, in Wellesley, MA, for preschoolers to third graders. On Thursday, they will perform twice at Campton Elementary, in Campton, NH, for grades 1-4. On Friday, they will perform twice at Maple Avenue School, in Goffstown, NH, for grades 1-4. We wish the best of luck to all the actors and actresses throughout their performances this week. Break a leg, Something for Nothing Players!

Here is their schedule for the week:

Checkmate!

After a week and a half of learning how to play chess and all of the strategies that go behind it, the Chess Winterim has begun their final tournament in which all sixteen students will play through a double elimination bracket.

Mr. Z in the Zone

Students playing speed chess

As of this morning (Wednesday) the current bracket stands at:

What's in a Game?

What does it take to create a board game from scratch? Mr. Dawson explained, "Every game can be reduced down to its simple abstract elements." (i.e. rolling a dice, moving a piece one block at a time, etc.) The theme of the game is what makes it entertaining to play, not the actual basics behind it. Besides the typical glue, marker, dice, hard-stock paper, cards, game pieces, and spinners -  it takes creativity, innovation, problem-solving and patience to invent a well-designed board game.

The professionals working with this group are Sam Liberty and Kevin Spak from Spoiled Flush Games.  These board game designers have a few published games either on the market or coming soon, such as Foresooth, Clusterfight (pre-order), Gladiators (coming soon), Cosmic Pizza (coming soon).

Josh, Ian, and James have created a 2-4 player game, which is yet untitled. It's purpose is to out play your opponents by earning more points in each of the four sections of the game board. Economics and real estate development are involved with the theme of this game.

Anh, Frank, and Gavi have crafted a 2-player game which also has no title yet. It is a typical war-type game requiring one player to out maneuver another with better use of resources and plans of attacks.

Abe, Philippe, and Dan are the masterminds behind a 2-4 player game, also untitled.  They described it as a space exploration money-making game, but they are really creating a universe planet by planet.

Once a Wooden Block

The Turn, Baby, Turn! Winterim group has been churning out wooden pieces that they have crafted using lathes this past week. Types of projects that have been created are bowls, plates, cups, mugs, and goblets, to name a few. These kinds of crafts require intricate and careful cutting and a high level of precision in order to get the desired result. Some students even choose to burn their wood, like on the goblet to the right, in order to add patterns or designs to their project.

The leaders of Turn, Baby, Turn! are Mr. Healy, Dr. Greene, and Ken Lindgren, who is a full-time wood turner and has been teaching lathe work for many years, both to adults and to high school students. His personal work can be viewed on his website.

We look forward to seeing the rest of the finished products from Turn, Baby, Turn! over the next few days as Winterim wraps up.

Yogis Travel the State

Yoga Beyond the Mat practiced basic yoga all of last week and now this week, they plan on going to yoga studios around Massachusetts to see what more advanced yoga is like and to talk to other yogis about their experience with yoga and how it affects their lives. (Yogis are people who practice yoga or who are masters of yoga.)

Today (Tuesday), they went to the Herb Lyceum in Groton, where they learned how to eat healthier and live better. On Thursday, they plan on going to the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, in western Massachusetts, where they will practice yoga, go for a hike, eat an organic meal, and meditate.

The leaders of Yoga Beyond the Mat are Mrs. Smith and Ms. Kim Johnson, who is a registered Yoga Alliance instructor and Reiki practitioner with over twelve years of experience.

Behind the Scenes of Some Horrible Movies

... horrible, as in full of horror.

Over the past week and a half, the Revenge of The Horror! The Horror! Winterim group has worked on writing, planning, and creating four horror movies. During the beginning of Winterim, the students worked in small groups to create plots for the four different horror movies. These movies contain a range of plots which include characters such as a vengeful doll and a sleepwalking brother.

After writing their movies, the students  then began to plan out the scenes of the movie, considering the angles and other visuals necessary. To help film the movies, the Revenge of The Horror, The Horror! Winterim has been joined by Russ Jaquith and Christy Kovacs, who are both professional filmmakers, and Ben Bornstein, a professional makeup artist. This year will be the third year that the three professionals will be helping the Horror Movie Winterim.

Today, the groups continued to work on their movies by filming the scenes that take place during the day. The groups will continue their filming during the next few nights in order to gather all of the necessary footage for their films. During the last few days of Winterim, the groups will be editing their movies, and putting all of their clips together into a final movie.

By the end of Winterim the group will have completed four finalized horror movies, all planned, filmed and edited within two weeks. In the past the horror movies created during Winterim have been shown at the end of Winterim or when school starts up again in April, so stay connected to find out when you can view this year's movies.

Winterim Reaches 2250°F

So far the Clay and Kiln Winterim has worked hard on molding different pots, bowls, mugs and vases out of clay. Over this past weekend, and also yesterday, the group fired their creations so they could begin glazing and finalizing the ceramics into finished products.

Some of these creations included bowls that students in the group created for the Empty Bowls Project. Lawrence Academy is collaborating with Groton Community Dinners to hold an Empty Bowls Dinner in the First Parish Church of Groton on May 9, 2014 from 5:30 to 7:30.

Other creations included small projects that members of the group had created during the first week and final projects that students created on Friday of last week.

For this week the group will be continuing to glaze and finish their projects by Thursday. To end Winterim the group will be having a tea ceremony on Friday.

For more from the Clay and Kiln Winterim, check out the Clay and Kiln Blog.

Quilts are like Snowflakes

After only one week of instruction and practice the students in Quilting is Sew Easy are creating very intricate works of art.

In order to create their designs they had to plan or sketch it out on graph-like paper - paper with small squares - since the quilts are created by sewing together individual squares.  For more detailed designs students needed to draw the correct size image on thin tracing paper and label the sections by using a number-color code. A yin-yang symbol and an ace of spades are examples of some complicated designs.

The colors being used on their quilts are all unique as well. They were able to shop and choose their own fabric and colors. Not a single design is like another - sort of like those snowflakes that we may get later this week - each one is unique and will never be repeated!

Endless Epoxy

Students in the Build Your Own Kayak Winterim have been hard at work crafting their kayaks. As I am writing this, they are attaching the decking to their kayaks. This process requires a seemingly endless amount of peanut butter like epoxy and frustrates the students at times since it is so tedious, but the step is vital since the epoxy is what keeps the boat waterproof, which you can imagine is important for a boat to have.

The leaders of the Build Your Own Kayak Winterim are Mr. Mucha, and Chris Balch, who is a boat builder and teacher. Chris builds boats for his business, Balch Boats, when he is not building boats with groups at various summer camps and schools, like Lawrence Academy.

For more information about the Build Your Own Boat Winterim, check out their blog here. For more information about Chris Balch and his boats, check out his website here.

A Bowling Blackjack-playing Movie Goer

Week two of Winterim brings with it more fun activities for those spending their Winterim on-campus.  The fun ranges from tubing to gambling and from taking in a movie to viewing fine art. Check out the full list of activities below.  Be sure to be in your dorm on time each night after the activities and sleep well for your next day of Winterim adventure!

Monday - March 10

9^TH GRADE- TUBING at Nashoba Valley Ski Area, Littleon, MA

 Bus leaves at 6:30

10^th GRADE- BOWLING at Harvard Lanes in Harvard, MA

Bus leaves at 6:15

11^th and 12^th- GRADE- SURF AND ROCK CLIMBING at Skyventure in Nashua, NH

Bus leaves at 6:00

Tuesday - March 11

CASINO NIGHT in Grey Building 7-9 PM

Turn in chips for raffle tickets and win PRIZES. (Really good prizes…)

You are required to attend until 8:30 PM. Raffles will be drawn at 9 PM. If you are not there, you forfeit the prize!

Wednesday - March 12

Movie and Dinner at Chunky's in Nashua

Buses leave at 5:00

Thursday - March 13

MFA - Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

Buses leave at 6:00

Broken Glass Turns into Fine Art

Over the first half of Winterim, the Stained Glass Creations Winterim has worked on learning the techniques necessary to create different pieces of stained glass art. Students worked by cutting pieces of glass, grinding the pieces down to fit each other, and then connecting the pieces to form their final products.

Some of the types of projects that the group worked on during the first week were: light-covers, or window type pieces, such as the pieces with the dolphin and the teddy bear, which are meant to have a light shined through the back of them; three-dimensional hummingbirds, which are made of different colors of glass and are meant to hang in mid-air; and color wheels, which will eventually go on kaleidoscopes.

For the rest of the week, students will be continuing to create their own stained glass pieces using the same techniques they learned by creating their first required projects.

Watch the Something for Nothing Players' Dress Rehearsal on YouTube

Check out the video of the dress rehearsal of the Something for Nothing players!

(The audio quality is a bit poor, sorry about that. We are still learning...)

We Can Do Our Winterim Work Anywhere - Florida Next Week?

Hey. Doing some work...

On Thursday, we, the Winterim Social Media Team, which consists of Nate Sintros, Edward Hacala, and Mrs. Poulin, decided to take the Commuter Rail into Cambridge. After the Commuter Rail, we boarded the Red Line towards MIT, and on the train, we ran into The System Winterim group. Edward, being a responsible Social Media Team member, took mental notes of our conversation and wrote a blog article later that morning.

Nate is pretty focused

Our main purpose for coming to Cambridge was to visit the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), which is on Broadway Street in Cambridge, MA. During our visit we worked in a private conference room, the Rangoon, that overlooked Kendall Square. Once we got over our initial giddiness of writing on a "white board" wall and being able to display our computer on a 60 inch wall-mounted TV, we got down to work creating internet content by blogging, tweeting, and posting Winterim news.

The Rangoon Room

After a quick lunch break at Za, (where Mrs. Poulin had the strangest looking salad) we met with the CIC Relationship Manager, Augie Llona. He lead us on a tour of CIC and explained the inner workings of the organization. We observed an open, modern space full of innovative people who were either starting or maintaining companies. As Augie explained to us, if someone has an idea, CIC offers them the space and resources to act upon it and turn it into a successful venture.

The wonderful Social Media Team

While our Winterim project is not about creating a business per say, it is about being creative and resourceful. We are using some of the same social media sites that new businesses starting up now must use in order to advertise their company. We were inspired by the space CIC has to offer to help these businesses be innovative and network.  We hope to do our work from there again next week as it was a good change of scenery and pace from Mrs. Poulin's classroom!  (And Augie is trying to set us up with a tour of Google!

Crushed into the subway train on the way home.
Can you "I Spy" some guy's little eye?

We hope you continue to read the blog! Also follow LA Winterim on Twitter and Instagram or "like" Lawrence Academy Winterim on Facebook!

Chess To Make It's Next Move

Over this past week, the Chess Winterim has spent time learning to play the game of Chess and all of the strategies that go behind it. The group has had times of free-play, where the students play one another in order to improve their skills, and also times of situation instruction, where the students learned strategies that can be used in different scenarios.

Leading some of the chess instruction is a highly rated player who once defeated a former Chess World Champion in a simultaneous exhibition.

Today, the students worked on worksheets that showed different arrangements of the chess pieces. From each of these arrangements, the students had to find the moves to secure checkmate.

Next week, the Chess Winterim will be holding a tournament in which all of the students will play through a bracket until there is one victor. For the competition, the group will be traveling to Harvard Square on Wednesday, March 12.

To see the results of the tournament make sure to check the blog following the competition late next week.

Break a Leg, Something for Nothing Players!

All this week, the Something for Nothing Players have been hard at work preparing to put on a musical show for children in many different places throughout New England, a tour that will span four days next week. These students have been building and planning their sets, designing their costumes, and practicing their roles as much as possible these past few days. Today (Friday) at 2 o'clock, they will have a dress rehearsal where the public can see what they have produced in this first week of Winterim. You can watch this dress rehearsal live here. You can also get a short preview of what their performance will be like here.

On their tour, the Something for Nothing Players will experience what it is like to be an actor/musician "on the road", getting up early in the morning and living out of a suitcase while they go from place to place performing. These students will also learn about early childhood education and the value of storytelling, as well as gain the knowledge and experience that designing and performing a production holds.

We wish the Something for Nothing Players the best of luck in their dress rehearsal today, and hope that their performances next week go even better! Break a leg, Something for Nothing Players!

Van Gogh in the Making

The Watermedia Painting Winterim has been working on their paintings these past few days, getting a feel for the brush and how to create intricate landscapes. Today (Thursday) they are taking a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts to see the watercolor paintings there and get some inspiration for their own work.

Mrs. Sharon Wooding, wife of the esteemed Mr. Jerry Wooding, retired LA Science Teacher, is the instructor for this Winterim.  We look forward to seeing their finished artwork. We expect nothing less than the inspiring and amazing work of Van Gogh (no pressure though!)

A Different Kind of Game

Beyond Monopoly Winterim is making board games. These are not your ordinatry board games as the name of the Winterim suggests. The games require strategy and problem solving. The group has played several games like The Settlers of Catan, Game of Thrones, Memoir '44, Smallworld, Formula D, Hive and many others.  They play the games to learn more about what goes into creating a complex strategy game that is also entertaining to play.

Their game creations or prototypes are in progress as seen below. Much of which might be changed by next week after they meet with gaming experts this week.  Creative names like Space Race and Occupy all Streets might some day be seen on the toy shelves of Toys R Us.