News Archives

Take Our Daughters To Work Day

GMS students will be inspired on Take Our Daughters To Work Day. It is a chance for our students to explore career paths and possibilities by going to work with an individual or by attending a company program. On April 24, GMS will suspend traditional classes so girls can visit a variety of workplaces in the Bay Area. In past years, girls have visited veterinarians, computer programmers, park rangers, architects, chefs and have also been hosted by Sun, Google and Stanford University. Liz Daoust is organizing workplaces and assignments for sixth grade students while seventh and eighth graders should work with their parents to find a workplace that interests them.

Support the Pennies for Patients Campaign

Pennies For Patients is in full swing for the next week. We have three honorees this year, so fill up those jugs with your pennies and feel great about making a huge difference in the lives of others! This is a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The jugs are outside of the library, one for each honoree.

Report from Pi Day

Thank you to all of the parents who baked pie, bought pie, cut and served pie, set up tables for pie, cleaned up after pie, and generally helped make Pi Day a fun and exciting learning experience for the girls. Special thanks goes out to Libby Verber for organizing all of the parent volunteers.

And the winner is...Carly Robison! Carly successfully recited the first 108 digits of pi and was this year’s Grand Prize winner in the Digits of Pi contest. Tying for First Place were Emily Kellison-Linn and Sumaya Mulla-Carrillo, both of whom recited 100 digits of pi. Congratulations to Carly, Emily, Sumaya, and all of the 25 other girls who participated in the Digits of Pi contest. It takes a lot of time and courage to memorize and recite numbers, and we applaud your efforts. At 100 digits a year, Carly could easily surpass the GMS Digits of Pi record of 250 digits, held by alumna Jing Xu, by the time she’s an 8th grader. Start memorizing now for next year’s contest

Age of Sail

Sixth grade students spent the night on the Balaclutha in San Francisco Bay, experiencing life as a sailor at the turn of the century. The field trip is the finale to the Antarctica unit. The unit revolves around the students' reading Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World, about Ernest Shackelton's exciting voyage. On the field trip, students stand night watch, row a longboat, cook on a wood burning stove, raise sails, and generally learn the skills that the sailors on Shackelton's ship would have experienced.

Spanish Poetry Contest

The Girls' Middle School invites you to the 26th annual Spanish Declamation Contest "Gustavo A. Becquer". The event will take place Monday March 10 at 3:30 pm.

The contest is for current Spanish Students in levels I-V. Middle and high school students of public and private schools are invited to memorize and deliver a Hispanic poem in Spanish. Each school may enter up to three students for each level; native speakers may participate in their own category.

Students will be judged on memorization, pronunciation, dramatization, volume, and diction. The judges are Latino Educators and Personalities.

The Spanish Poetry contest is a wonderful opportunity for students to celebrate Hispanic culture and the Spanish language. It motivates all our students to embrace Spanish by memorizing and performing Hispanic poems. Our goal is to establish a connection with middle and high schools in the area to begin or continue friendships between teachers and students.

Schools interested in participating should contact Veronica Meza by March 6 at vmeza@girlsms.org or 650-968-8338 x110.

Poetry CAFE

The CAFE (Cultural Awareness For Everyone) elective will be holding an open mic poetry slam at the assembly on March 19 in honor of Women's History Month. Students are invited to read a famous poem, read an original poem, or sing about a woman you respect or admire. Interested poets should sign up on the hall bulletin board.

Entrepreneurial Night

Join our seventh grade entrepreneurs as they pitch their companies at Entrepreneurial Night on Jan. 27. We thank Google for hosting this event, in which teams of three to five students present their business plan to a panel of local venture capitalists. If successful, each team will receive funding for production of their products.

Parent Technology Forum

If you missed the first parent technology forum in December, you have a second chance on Monday, Jan 28. We will meet at 7 pm in Room 5. This gives parents an opportunity to share experiences and thoughts with each other and with the technology department staff. The forum in December focused on time management skills for students - how to help them have balance between using the computer, completing homework, playing, and other pursuits. Come share your experiences, concerns, and ideas.

Talking With Your Daughters About Sexuality
An evening with Dr. Marty Klein

Please join us Monday, January 14 from 7-9 pm for an important and enriching event. Dr. Marty Klein will be speaking with parents about how to talk to their daughters about sexuality. Dr. Klein brings a fresh, humorous, and knowledgeable perspective to the topic of sexuality.

Dr. Klein has been a Licensed Marriage and Family Counselor and Sex Therapist for 24 years. He has aimed his entire career toward a single set of goals: telling the truth about sexuality, helping people feel sexually adequate and powerful, and supporting the healthy sexual expression and exploration of women and men.

Marty pursues his goal of a sexually enlightened world through therapy, lectures, writing, lobbying, and media work. He has written five books and numerous magazine articles and has appeared on virtually every national talk show.

Holiday Food Drive

GMS will participate in the Second Harvest Holiday Food Drive. Three barrels will be delivered on Wednesday, Nov 7. The drive will end on Wednesday, Dec. 19. Our goal is to accumulate a minimum of 600 pounds of canned foods. Please avoid donating items packaged in glass or bulk quantities of rice, flour, or sugar. The Food Bank needs nutritious, non-perishable foods such as:

• Meals in a can (stew, chili, soup)
• Tuna/canned meat
• Peanut butter
• Canned foods with pop-top lids
• Low sugar cereals
• 100% fruit juices in single serving boxes
• Canned fruit packed in juice
• Canned vegetables (low salt)

Author Event

You’re invited to join us at our annual GMS Holiday Book Fair. We will kick off the festivities in the Parish Hall starting after school on Tuesday December 4. The Book Fair will continue Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before school, during lunch, and after school until 5 PM. As always, Walter the Giant Storyteller will be on hand to personally select books you are sure to enjoy!

For the first time in GMS history, we will host a special evening program with something for everyone on Thursday, December 6 from 7 - 9 PM in the Parish Hall. The following popular Bay Area authors will speak and sign their books:

• GMS alumnae parent Ann Packer will be on hand to talk about and discuss her newest novel, SONGS WITHOUT WORDS.
• First-time fantasy novelist Henry H. Neff will talk about and sign copies of THE HOUND OF ROWAN, BOOK ONE OF THE TAPESTRY, a surefire read for all those lovers of Harry Potter and similar fantasy novels.
• Ying Chang Compestine, author of one of the most critically acclaimed novels for young people of 2007, REVOLUTION IS NOT A DINNER PARTY, will discuss her autobiographical novel about growing up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, as well as sign her picture books for younger readers about China. She is a strong role model for our girls and a dynamic speaker.

We hope you can join us for this event!

Thank you, parents

The parent association and staff join in thanking our parent volunteers for all you do around the school. You have been wonderful at responding to our many requests for help. Intersession requred preparations, driving, shopping, assisting and teaching classes. Many parents assist the 7th grade Entrepreneurial class as coaches. Volunteers plan and help with school events from the New Family Picnic all the way through Graduation, and assist in many ways around the building from copying and stuffing envelopes to sorting t-shirts, books, mail, and even Legos. The time and talents you have shared make GMS a fantastic learning and supportive community. We appreciate you.

Parent-Advisor Conferences

At The Girls' Middle School, we have a tradition of annual parent-advisor conferences. This allows the advisor to meet with parents and discuss the whole girl rather than focusing on one academic area at a time.

Friday, Nov. 9 is set aside as the day for conferences. Parents should have been contacted by their advisor about setting up a time to meet. If you have not heard from your advisor, please feel free to e-mail or call him or her.

6th Grade Marin Headlands Field Trip

After a long ride on a huge bus, the sixth grade arrived in the Marin Headlands mid-day on Wednesday. The weather is terrific. During the afternoon, the girls went on hikes and saw deer and other wildlife.

Mix It Up At Lunch

The CAFE (cultural awareness for everyone) elective will be facilitating GMS' participation in Mix It Up at Lunch on Nov. 13. As students leave 4th period, they will be randomly assigned a space to sit in at lunch. These random groups will participate in several activities during lunch in order to interact with people they don't normally sit with and think about inclusion and exclusion through hands-on activities.

Mix It Up is "a project supporting student efforts to identify, question, and cross social boundaries within their schools and communities. It is a nationwide project created by tolerance.org, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Last year, over four million students participated in Mix It Up Day.

8th Grade Mexico Trip Update

The 8th grade class has arrived safely in El Molino. After a very early departure from San Jose, the girls traveled by plane then bus to the small town where they will spend the week learning many different topics and practicing their Spanish.

Maria and Laura report that the girls are having a wonderful time. The girls visited the school in Uricho on Tuesday and had their first workshop in the afternoon.

Intersession

While the eighth grade is in Mexico, 6th and 7th grade students will experience Intersession. They have chosen their classes and soon will learn what classes they have been enrolled in. There were a variety of terrific options this semester:

Morning Classes

• Adobe Elements. Learn how to improve your photographs after you have taken them.
• Food and the City. Learn about food and the culinary diversity of Peninsula cities, using all of our senses.
• Hogwarts Short Course. The magically inclined will learn divination, wandmaking, potions, quidditch, etc.
• Woodworking. Experience the fun of making projects of your dreams, including project construction and wood turning.
• Revival Sewing. Recycle old clothes that don't work into a new permanent treasure.
• Storytelling with the Sims. Learn how to make a great story and then see your story come to life as characters on the screen act out what you program, using the Alice program.
• What a Waste - Composting at GMS. We will build a composting system in the GMS garden.

Afternoon Classes

• Woodworking. Experience the fun of making projects of your dreams, including project construction and wood turning.
• All About Chocolate. We'll explore the botany history, chemistry, production, and pleasures of chocolate.
• Creative Performance. We will explore various ways of creating art and communicating ideas including video, monologue, photography, and poetry.
• Introduction to Whist. This course will teach students the elementary aspects of the classic version of the card game whist.
• Public Speaking. Students will cover all the basics and practice public speaking.
• What Makes It Tick. We will take apart a collection of appliances to see what is inside and how they work, then put the devices together again, if possible.

All-Day Classes

• Surfing. Girls will learn about ocean awareness, waves, conditions, safety in and out of the water, surfer etiquette, paddling, and riding waves.
• India in the Classroom. Students will learn about Indian food, fashion, dancing, culture, and art.
• All Things Basketball. Students will be coached by a basketball expert, focusing on gaining basketball knowledge, improving skills, and playing the game.

Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead originated with the Olmecs, an early Mesoamerican civilization that believed life and death were an inseparable part of a natural cycle. They performed rituals and held celebrations in honor of Mictlantecuhtli, the indigenous Lord of The Dead. Their spiritual beliefs is celebrated in Mexico on October 31st, November 1st and November 2nd.

At GMS, we have celebrated the Day of the Dead every year since our founding. We invite you to join us to prepare and celebrate this tradition on Monday, October 22 at 2 pm, before the eighth grade Mexico Trip. Our students have planned a special ceremony for our guests. You will see brief performances and eat delicious Mexican appetizers.

Pablo Picasso

October 25th marks the birthday of this prolific painter. Best known as the inventor of cubism, Picasso had several "periods" throughout his career, emphasized by the different types of art he produced in each.

Halloween Celebration

The student council has been planning our Halloween celebration. It will be on Friday, Oct 26, during lunchtime. There will be two activities:

• Fashion show/parade on the stage for anyone who wishes to show off her costume
• Mummy-wrapping activity

Math Circle News

In an effort to provide challenging math opportunities for the girls, Marjorie and Esther have designed an exciting new program. We will have a Math Circle, similar to the programs at Stanford but at a middle school level.

Students prepare for contests and engage in a level of mathematical thinking that is atypical at the middle school level. This is not tutoring or extra help, but an opportunity for students to push beyond what they're learning in class and challenge themselves.

Meetings alternate on Tuesday and Wednesdays from 3:30-4:30. See the Scoop or e-mail Marjorie or Esther for more information.

Sports Wave

Volleyball games, Flag Football, and Cross Country have started! For information on schedules and results, check out sportability.com.

Gay/Straight Alliance

Renee and Walter will be holding regular meetings of the Gay/Straight Alliance during lunchtime on Mondays in Room 4. The GSA offers a supportive environment for all students, whether they have questions or would just like to support their friends. It meets when there is interest from students. The meetings are open to all students and staff - everyone is warmly invited to come sit on the carpet, talk, listen, and share.

Cleat and Sports Gear Drive

Seventh grader Sarah Z is heading up a Cleats Drive to help student athletes in Africa get sports gear they ordinarily wouldn't be able to have. Donate a pair of cleats, shin guards, or shirts to insure that a child can play sports. Drop your gear off in the labeled plastic bin in the foyer.

Book Event

GMS alumna mom Ann Packer's new book, Songs Without Words came out on Sept. 4. She will be reading and signing books at the Stanford Bookstore on Thurs, Nov 8 at 6:30 pm. Ann is also the author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier. If you can't make that event, we are hoping she will be able to speak at the GMS Book Fair in December.

Scott Westerfield visit

GMS is lucky to host the author of the Uglies during the assembly on Wednesday, Oct. 10. Uglies is the first of a popular series of novels available in the library.

Note: the webmaster will provide a prize to any student able to provide a two- to four-sentence description of the book or series.

High School Open House

GMS is happy to welcome the families of Keys School to join us at the High School Open House on Monday Oct. 1 at 7 pm in the parish hall. This is a good event for both 7th and 8th grade families who are interested in learning more about independent school options for high school.

Representatives from independent high schools from around the area will be on hand to meet you, describe their program, and give you information.

Mini Field Trip Report

Students had a wonderful time during the Sept. 26 mini field trip day. Student advisory groups headed out for a diverse set of field trips. Some groups headed as far as San Francisco for a day on the town or Santa Cruz for a day on the beach. Some groups stayed closer to home - exploring Menlo Park or in some cases walking to their advisor's house! The goal of the trip is for students in each advisory to get to know each other well and form a group identity. Advisory is a mixed-grade group of 8-10 students who meet with an advisor once a week on Wednesdays.

Sleep Assembly

Researcher Ian Colrain kept the students awake during the September 19th assembly about sleep. Did you know that koala bears sleep approximately 20 hours per day, waking only to eat? Or that every living organism sleeps? Ian explained the scientific definition of sleep, gave examples in various species, and talked about human's need for sleep. Ian also explained the research that GMS 8th graders have done about sleep and memory, which was presented at an international conference last year.

Bring Light to GMS

The Girls' Middle School Scholarship Program is now listed with Bring Light. Bring Light is a website that allows people to make donations towards various charities. It will allow individuals from around the world to easily make donations towards our scholarship program.