SOMS Hosts School in Action Night

South Orange Middle School presented a lesson in how to teach beyond textbooks at its annual School in Action Night. History came alive in hallways. Somber black and white self-portraits reflected Holocaust remembrance, and a giant science hall invited visitors to interact with exhibits on everything from biology and psychology to physics.

A peek into classrooms on Thursday night found students engaged and working in teams: dissecting frogs, reciting poetry, singing with a glee club. There were lessons on the Realm of Renaissance and a demonstration of the Pythagorean Theorem.

The tradition of School in Action Night is the awarding of trophies to winners of the Science Fair. The cafeteria took on the excitement of a sports contest as students and parents cheered winners among the maze of exhibits.

Talk of the district's dramatic changes to the ways students are grouped and taught in classrooms, beginning in September, was inevitable. (There's a plan on the table to "collapse" levels 3 and 4 in the seventh grade so that those students are taught together at the level 4 level.) On Wednesday night, parents packed a sweltering library to learn more about the far-reaching plans school leaders hope will close an academic achievement gap between black and white students.

The disparity in student achievement is blamed in part on how students are grouped beginning in middle school. School leaders say the grouping—or leveling—impedes the middle school focus on social and emotional development. The same task force that proposed deleveling is also in favor of devoting more time to core subjects in sixth grades (eliminating Spanish and a reading/writing workshop.)

"My job is to prepare students to be successful the moment they walk into high school," said Principal Kirk Smith, a member of the task force that made its recommendations to the Board of Education earlier this month.

In the meantime, a walk through the middle school showed that SOMS is on the right path. School in Action Night showcased the extraordinary work being done by students in a variety of genres.

Teacher Caroline Pew has earned a reputation for making history meaningful in Grade 6A social studies. For a coin outside her classroom, "wax" figures came alive to provide commentary on their historic significance. I plunked down quarters to learn about the Treaty of Versailles by Jane Sheedy, the Tuskegee Airmen (Khari Parrish), Rosie the Riveter (Nina Kambili), soldiers from Iwo Jima (Luci Arbus-Scandiffio, Allie McHale, Jordana Levine and Mora Murray); and Amelia Earhart (Egan Barnitt).

"The kids always look fabulous, and they put tons of effort into it," said Pew, who dressed up as a 1950s housewife.

Pew's class isn't your ordinary social studies class. To learn American History, students often participate in hands-on activities. Some activities have included a History Scene Investigation (based on the TV show "CSI"), re-creations of life in WWI trenches, Roaring '20s newscasts, and for the year's grand finale, the living wax museum.

This is the fourth year of the living wax museum, in which students stood frozen, and held coin collection containers. When interested onlookers deposited change into the cans, students representing historical figures and events like the atomic bomb, Rosie the Riveter, the Treaty of Versailles, and a soldier with trenchfoot, came to life and talked about themselves for 15 to 20 seconds, then returned to their frozen positions.

"I like seeing the parents coming in and being amazed at student work," said Lynn McGlotten, a seventh grade math teacher who hosted a challenging game of Math Jeopardy in her classroom—students vs. parents.

A seventh grade classroom where students were dissecting frogs was clearly not for the faint of heart. Claire Evans was pinning limbs to a dissection pan. Hunter Timpson, a third-grader, watching as his sister Montana made an incision. Avery Baron was studying the frog's internal anatomy and proudly showing off a reddish kidney.

Eighth graders acted as tour guides, escorting families of rising fifth graders through the labyrinth of stairways and hallways. Along the way they encountered alien invaders,  author studies and a museum of magnificent achievers.

Hundreds of pieces of student art were exhibited in Sterling Lobby. Among the most compelling were the expressive self-portraits by seventh graders created for a Holocaust remembrance service by the Interfaith Council. The artist voices included poetry and sculpture from the classes of art teacher Ellen Hark.

The Science Fair is a team effort by the Science Department and the Home and School Association. This year, 66 projects were entered in the science challenge, said Diane Grant, the teacher who organizes the event and inspires the young scientists. Earlier in the day, the students had presented their experiments, research, results and conclusions to a team of judges that included science teachers and SOMS graduates who have gone on to study science in college.

A select chorus directed by fine arts teacher Thomas Booth—singing a medley of songs from the Roaring '20s and "Beauty and the Beast"—provided an enjoyable reprieve from the tension mounting at the Science Fair, where seventh grader Holly Lehren and her science partner Aijah Raghnal nervously awaited the results for their work on eyewitness testimony. (Spoiler alert: They won!).

"The art fair and science fair are two of my favorite things," said Principal Kirk Smith.

2010 Science Fair Winners:

Sixth Grade

First Place: Cameron Ladd, "Acid Rain."

Second Place: Jennifer Katz and Catie Wong, "Dangerous Driving Distractions." Caroline Thomas, "Flash Recall."

Third Place: Emily Grew and Caroline Sekel, "Stain Solution." Victoria Colon and Raven Cordner, "Polish Power."

Fourth Place: Dalia Ricci and Samantha Colon, "Cozy Clothes." Hunter Reynolds, "Lax Attack."

Seventh Grade

First Place: Holly Lehren and Aijah Raghnal, "Eyewitness Recall."

Second Place: Christine Charles and June Solow, "Food for Thought."

Third Place: Vievienne Longstreet, "Dream Catcher."

Fourth Place: Nathalie Spidle and Leah Strahs, "Hey Good Lookin."

Eight Grade

First Place: Brett Ascher, "Talk to the Hand." Sarah Backstrand, "Brain Storm."

Second Place: Lienne Harrington, "Oil and Water Don't Mix."

Third Place: John Kirk and Eli Kushen, "Dissolve to Resolve."

Fourth Place: Rebecca Stern-Shock and Rachel Wong, "Mister Independent."