Eastern MS magnet electives

[Anonymous]

To 10:33, there is a jazz band. I think they meet once a week. Why not send Mr. Pucket an email about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My older dd did the Literature class when it was still required and raves about it still. She also did after-school band; I think very highly of Mr. Puckett, the band teacher. It's unbelievable how much work he puts into the kids at Eastern.

My younger dd will start Eastern next year and will follow the same path. She did cello in 4th/5th, but she will quit and start over on a new instrument to do after school band, as after-school orchestra is a club that only meets once a week. I don't have any grand ambitions for her to be a music superstar, but if she's going to continue an instrument in high school (or have the option) the after-school band is a lot more hours than the after-school orchestra.

It is a bummer that there aren't activity buses that get all magnet kids back to their bus stops after band, although I can certainly understand why. We have made after-school band work with a carpool, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can find a carpool for next year as well.

Is this because the band ends too late for the students to catch the activity bus, or are you referring to those days (like Mondays and Fridays) when there will be no activity bus at all? (Is the after school band class conducted every day like a regular class as opposed to only Tue/Wed/Thu like other after school activities?)

Quoted PP here -- in our case it's because the activity buses don't hit all the same stops as the magnet buses do. So our home ES, which is the bus stop for my magnet kid, isn't on the activity bus route. There is another school about a mile or so away that is, but it's not something I want my dd doing in bad weather, when it gets dark early, etc.

[Anonymous]

Wait-is there no band class during school hours or is after school band a separate thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait-is there no band class during school hours or is after school band a separate thing?

There is band class, but with only 7 periods and the humanities electives it can be hard to fit it in so afterschool band lets kids still be in band.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:op here, thanks all for sharing your DC's experience, it is really helpful! Will look into the activity buses schedule and carpool possibility too!

Here's the activity bus schedule for this year, if you haven't found it already: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/easternms/students/BLAIR%20MAGNET%20ACTIVITIES%20(002).pdf
and the calendar of which days it runs: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/easternms/departments/2018-2019%20ACTIVITY%20BUS%20CALENDAR(1).pdf

I've also been poking around the Eastern website and found this parent handbook to have useful info (my kid will be starting at Eastern next year): https://sites.google.com/view/parent-handbook/home

Thanks for the link to the handbook. I'm impressed with how well it is put together. One thing that gave me a great impression of the administration is how they put all the special programs in one section. This includes the humanities magnet, a special needs program and an English learners program. I've always thought of these programs as being in the same category but in our local area people seem to brag about the selective magnets but pretend the SN programs don't exist.

[Anonymous]

Mrs. Ray teaches them how to do close reading of literature. It is a skill that is super useful and one they are unlikely to learn as well in any other MS setting. DC learned a lot, and I would highly recommend.