The Final Graduation, Class of 2010

The sixth grade class of 2010 enjoyed all the typical Oak Lane traditions in their June graduation ceremony that began and ended with processional and recessional music by the 4th/5th grades. The main event of the ceremony was the presentation by each sixth grader of their individual reflections of the school and teachers. These had been thoughtfully deliberated on through classroom discussions, and had been written and rewritten until perfected. Together the class sang “Ria Binushka" as their final performance piece, a class favorite. Hand-crafted ceramic pots made by art teacher, Mr. Mednick, were presented to each graduate along with a diploma. The class gift to Oak Lane will support a new website dedicated to the memory of the school and the needs of Oak Lane alumni. Congratulations to our graduates!
 

2nd/3rd Graders Shine in Dance Residency

OUR 2ND AND 3RD GRADERS wrapped up their Dance Residency in January, and shared the culmination of their experience with friends and family in an evening performance. The kids were terrific: not only did they learn about dance, but they also learned the importance of listening, following directions and working together, to imagine and create. They also had a lot of fun!

An Original Eric Carle On Stage

See us in the Weaver's Way "Shuttle" in the May edition!
Click on the link below and go to page 25 --
http://weaversway.coop/uploads/File/SHUTTLE2009-05b.pdf

The Anita Mednick Legacy Concert: A Testimony to the Talent of Oak Lane Students

ON THIS PAST SUNDAY, APRIL 5TH, the Cutler Gymnasium was filled with the spirit of music, art and the Oak Lane community. Nearly 90 people, including current and former families and faculty, alumni of various generations dating back to the 60's and their families, Board members, and family and friends of the Mednicks', gathered for an afternoon of music and art, in memory of Anita and in honor of Armand.

The sun shone brightly as guests listened to a movement of a Bach Sonata played by Delia Raab-Snyder, Anita and Armand's granddaughter, followed by Hungarian Folksongs played by faculty members Marlis Kraft-Zemel, Janet Easlea, and Rainer Beckmann. Alumni and former students of Anita's, Maya Sabin, David Zaslav, Mariah and Miles Butler, Miriam Zemel, Lisa Spiller, Alain and Julien Schremmer, and Ashley Opalka, all performed with grace and skill nurtured by Anita and Marlis as they grew up in the Oak Lane music program. Anita's daughter, Claudia, got everyone singing with her "Anita" verse to a Mexican song, and current 5th grade student, Claudia Villa, wowed the crowd with her amazing voice singing a Russian song, Ryabinushka, accompanied by her classmate Chandler Kalitsi on recorder. Sixth grader Jessica Vorse took the leap to play in a quartet with her teachers, and Brayden Druger and Drew Jacobson performed one of Mr. Mednick's favorite songs, Chevaliers de la Table Ronde, on the recorder and guitar. What great confidence in such young performers!!

This, the 3rd annual Anita Mednick Legacy Concert, showed again what makes Oak Lane a unique and outstanding place to grow up. In the words of parent Stacey Jacobson, "The Anita Mednick Legacy Concert exceeded my wildest expectations. I am still blown away by what I saw. The talent in that room from Oak Lane students, faculty and alumni, ranging in age from 9-50+, was exceptional. Many students leave Oak Lane learning to think outside the box. This was so evident in the selections chosen. Students were singing songs in many languages and playing music written by French, German, and Russian composers, as well as their own original compositions. The pride on the performers faces, along with the elation I felt as a parent, was one in a million. Thank you Marlis and Oak Lane for a job extremely well done."

A slide show of artwork and quotes from alumni documented the impact Mr. Mednick has had on Oak Lane's art program and students since 1960. Together, he and his late wife Anita have over 75 years of teaching here at Oak Lane. They have inspired many young people in their love of music and art as evidenced by the attendance and performance of former students. Sunday's concert was a wonderful collaboration in their honor.

-- Carina Urbach, Associate Director of Development --

Reflections on Martin Luther King Day Service Projects

THE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE of this year's Martin Luther King Day resonated in many hearts, including mine. Forty-five years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and proclaimed, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." One day after that important holiday set aside to honor Dr. King's legacy, America inaugurated its first black president, Barack Obama, a man brought to office because of the content of his character and not judged by the color of his skin. As I participated in Oak Lane's service projects, I couldn't help thinking that this year, at long last, a part of Dr. King's dream was coming true.

I arrived at school early to set up for our sandwich making assembly line. Families started arriving at nine and we set out on our mission: to make as many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese sandwiches that we could from the supplies that had been so generously donated by all of you. Teachers, parents, students, siblings and alumni worked together to produce 190 cheese sandwiches and 753 pb&j's for the Stenton Family Manor. There were many sticky fingers, lots of laughter and the bond of working together in service experienced by all. Teachers stayed behind to help clean up and pack the sandwiches into Judy Leigh's car for a pre-lunch delivery and everyone felt like it was a job well done.

I had to leave school before the clean up to rush on to Sunrise Assisted Living of Lafayette Hill for our orchestra and choral concert. By the time I arrived, the students were warming up, the residents were taking their seats, and excitement was in the air. The students performed pieces from their winter concert as well as our traditional Martin Luther King Day songs. Many eyes were a bit teary during our rendition of "We Shall Overcome." Although our audience was small, they were grateful to the students for sharing their time and talents with them.

In the afternoon, we arrived at the Evergreen Adult Day program with energy and good will that totally revitalized and transformed the room and the seniors in it. We got everyone talking and engaged, playing bingo and having fun. We had prizes for everyone and kept playing until each player had won a prize. Then we glued tissue paper on to jars to transform them into colorful vases and filled them with flowers provided by Nancy Opalka. The seniors truly enjoyed the craft and the beauty of the flowers. The children behaved beautifully and were so good at talking with the seniors and helping them to enjoy our activities. We all left feeling good about our interactions there and knowing that we had brightened up the day for those folks.

Community service can be a way of life and it certainly has its place here at Oak Lane. Every month we dedicate time to do some small thing to make our world a better place. On this day, our children got to experience the joy of serving others as they participated in a larger, national day of service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King. This was an eventful and historic week, and I was happy to take part in it and to share my enthusiasm for service with the students.

-- Sherry Shaeffer, Community Service Coordinator --

Winterlude - Long Ago Stories

LONG AGO STORIES, stories that teach a lesson, myths, tall tales, folk tales, and fairy tales have all been passed down for ages, by word of mouth, from grandparents to parents to children, since before time began. Stories always have a part in Winterlude, and reading, writing, and telling stories is a component of every grade at Oak Lane, but our immersion in the world of Long Ago Stories has been unique. Walk into any classroom, and you’ll find piles of story books made up of stories from long ago, and universal tales that have been told to children as the wisdom of the ages is passed down. We were fortunate that renowned Native American storyteller, Dovey Thomason, was available for a captivating assembly that inspired many conversations and imitations of her dramatic style.

Winterlude culminates in the Winter Concert, a celebration in the performing arts of each year’s theme. Over the years, Marlis has often created a concert around a story, and that seemed like a natural for this year, but instead of looking for an existing story, we decided to create (or at least adapt) our own. Since we only had two weeks to create this story, plus a week to rehearse it, we started with an existing book, The Spyglass.

Just before Thanksgiving, the faculty introduced this story in a reader’s theater style performance, and then boiled it down to its essence: a place has fallen on hard times; someone shows up with a spyglass that will show the possibility of how things could change and gives that spyglass to another who will inspire people to make that change. We liked the wisdom of this story, about having a vision of making the world a better place, and then going out and working to make it so. The teachers set some basic guidelines for their class’ part of the story. The Kindergarten and 1st grade would create a part of the story where the spyglass inspires people to clean up a polluted place. Sherry’s 4th/5th grade class would set the mood for the beginning, and the celebration at the end. The 2nd/3rd Graders imagine the spyglass helping to settle an argument over whether the people should plant a garden or build a playground, and the preschoolers bring the flowers.

Each class imagined and discussed, drew pictures, read stories, and came up with ideas for their part of the story. By the beginning of last week, ideas were presented to Marlis, the 6th graders and I, and we got to work on the task of taking what the younger students had decided for their parts of the story, stitching them together into a coherent story, and then creating a concert around those ideas. When it became clear to the 6th graders that the setting of the original story (a king in a run down castle) had been abandoned for a more contemporary setting, the 6th graders had to come up with a new setting, and a new main character after they decided that it would be a better lesson in this story if it was a more ordinary person who could change the world.

After several discussions about who would have this spyglass in a world more like ours, they decided that it would be a kid. That was nothing compared to the challenge the Kindergarten and 1st Grade presented when they wanted a talking chipmunk in their part of the story! Then there was nothing left to do but write, rewrite, read aloud, figure out what else was missing, revise, revise and revise some more. In almost every class, discussions led to a list of ideas, and then that list got boiled down to two ideas, with the class evenly split between the two. The lessons of the stories were remembered, and in each class, a new idea was born, the combination of the two ideas: a forest in the city, a playground in the garden, and so on.

Once again, Winterlude gave the Oak Lane community a chance to learn together across grades, and to share a common purpose for these three weeks, and to strengthen skills of collaboration, problem solving, listening, and imagining.

-- Martha Platt, 6th Grade Teacher & Winterlude Committee Chair --

WINTERLUDE Themes Through the Years:
2008 STORIES
2007 BREAD
2006 RHYTHM
2005 DWELLINGS
2004 PHILADELPHIA
2003 FLIGHT
2002 TREES
2001 BRIDGES
2000 HOLIDAYS
1999 TIME
1998 COMMUNITY