The Yeti Yeller: May 20, 2022
Humanities Quest
This week, Yetis read Acts 3 and 4 of Macbeth and things are getting intense as we watch Macbeth’s ambition lead him to his downfall. This week we have been watching clips of different productions of Macbeth to see how different casts and directors interpret the script. While one version shows us Macbeth’s growing instability by showing us his hallucinations, another counts the audience as another cast member looking on confused as invisible visions of guilt haunt Macbeth.
STEM Quest
In our quest "What's Going On in There?" we explored how psychologists look at states of consciousness, theories on how emotions are formed, and learned about learning (or at least how to condition behaviors). We performed studies on ourselves to find connections between how forcing a facial expression can influence how entertaining a comic is, we primed our brains to expect different information unconsciously, and one brave volunteer (Sienna) even offered to demonstrate the method of classical conditioning as she learned to associate the word 'can' with a negative stimulus, which resulted in an automatic change in her behavior! During this time we continued to build the psychological studies that we will be presenting at the end of the school year
Math
This week in math we started our final unit, statistics, to tie into our Psychology research studies. We examined how to interpret data on plots and charts, and we began looking at what 'normal' means in mathematics, and how you measure it!
Advisory
Yetis officially started puberty education in advisory this week with expert Ariel Glueck. We reviewed some of the hormonal and emotional changes that come with puberty in preparation for going deeper into the content next week.
Expedition (5/11 and 5/18)
Cherry Lane Theater
Did you know that it’s bad luck to say Macbeth in a theater? The only way to cancel the bad luck is to turn around 3 times and throw salt over your shoulder after leaving the theater! Last week, Yetis got the opportunity to take the train into New York City and tour one of the oldest off-broadway theaters in the West Village: Cherry Lane Theater. Yetis learned about the history of the building and talked about Macbeth with the theater manager, Janine Tendy.
Ever Rest Mansion
This Wednesday, Yetis walked over to the Ever Rest Mansion, the home of Jasper Cropsy, a painter of the Hudson River School. Yetis got a tour of Cropsy’s home, which was full of beautiful watercolor and acrylic paintings. We explored his study, viewed some of his wife’s clothing, and asked questions of our tour guide.
Announcements
Next week, the Yetis will be going on an expedition to Yankee Stadium! Look out for an email early next week with details about the trip.
Important Dates
May 27: School Closed, Professional Development Day
May 30: School Closed, Memorial Day