Figurative language in poems can conjure up all kinds of images, as well as feeling. Several weeks ago, Briarcliff Middle School eighth graders in Mary Ann McMorrow’s and Kristen Samet’s ELA class studied the poem “Harlem,” by Langston Hughes, as part of their Civil Rights/Change unit.

It is no secret that spending time in nature and keeping a journal are two ways to stay emotionally healthy. Briarcliff Middle School Health and Wellness teacher Allison Murphy has been capitalizing on that fact, as she incorporates those activities into her theme for the school year: “How My Brain Works.”

Shaking a box of Nerds candies and pouring them into a bowl is nothing to brag about, but try doing it in 15 steps! Four members of Briarcliff Middle School’s Science and Engineering Club certainly earned their bragging rights when they took second place in the National Rube Goldberg Contest, for doing just that.

“Talk to your kids” was perhaps the strongest advice that Dr. Elizabeth Englander gave to parents attending a recent PTA-sponsored Zoom presentation entitled Parent Talk: the pandemic, screen use and social growth.

When it comes to diversity and equity, are we aiding to the single story or expanding student perspective?

That question both opened and closed a training session for Todd and Briarcliff Middle School staff last week. 

Every day in the beginning of Kelly Adams’s sixth grade health class at Briarcliff Middle School, students close their eyes, take three deep breaths and repeat an affirmation three times.