Co-Curricular Programs

List of 5 items.

• Cornerstone

  In response to studies that show adolescents tend to benefit from a later start for academic classes, we have found that Cornerstone offers a more relaxed start to the day, allowing girls to connect with teachers and staff, prepare for classes, and be ready to learn!

  2019-2020 Cornerstone offerings from 8-8:50 a.m.:
  
  

  Monday:

  • Blueprint (yearbook – open to 8^th graders only, twice-a-week)
  • Library Lounge
  • Yard Games

  Tuesday:
  

  • Band: Teacher approval required, it takes place on both Tuesdays and Fridays; members of the JMSG Band are required to attend both weekly sessions.
  • Math Games (6th grade in fall trimester only)
  • Library Lounge
  • Yard Games

  Wednesday:

  • Blueprint (yearbook – open to 8^th graders only, twice-a-week)
  • Library Lounge
  • Yard Games 

  Thursday:

  • Math Club (7th & 8th grades only)
  • Studio Art: for those who want to explore and deepen their art
  • Library Lounge
  • Yard Games

  Friday:

  • Band: Teacher approval required, it takes place on both Tuesdays and Fridays; members of the JMSG Band are required to attend both weekly sessions.
  • Library Lounge
  • Yard Games

• Advising/RISE

  Advising

  Advising is integral to the JMSG experience: it is where our deepest values as a community--honesty, empathy, positive risk-taking, inclusivity, sisterhood, humor--are invoked and continually renewed by a close-knit circle of girls and their faculty advisor. The goals of the advising program are to foster girls’ social-emotional learning and connection with classmates, form a strong mentoring relationship between advisor and advisee, and establish the advisor as the primary liaison between families and school. Advisors help girls to set goals for their social-emotional development, take responsibility for the impact of their choices, and develop the attitudes that will help them persevere and prosper well beyond their teens. The program complements the content learning from the RISE class by furnishing opportunities for girls to personally reflect and share about those social-emotional topics in a more intimate setting. Twice a week, girls meet in their advising groups to explore topics such as community building, friendship, goal-setting, and self-care. One on one, a girl's advisor helps her track her goals, offers guidance and feedback, and acts as her academic and social advocate while coaching the girl to advocate for herself. Advisors communicate purposefully with teachers and parents/guardians as needed during the year and help their advisees prepare for student-led conferences at the end of the fall and spring trimesters. 
  
  RISE: Resilience, Identity, Self-Awareness, Empathy
  

  JMSG supports girls in developing their emotional intelligence and social skills through a weekly social and emotional learning class called RISE. The class provides an atmosphere of trust in which they can learn essential life skills, voice their feelings in a productive and safe way, and hear those feelings acknowledged by peers and teachers. RISE encourages girls to explore their choices, develop a strong sense of self, recognize similarities, and respect each other’s differences. Utilizing a combination of discussion, role-playing, videos, hands-on activities, and guest speakers, the class covers a number of relevant, adolescent topics, including communication, diversity, gender, body image, sex education, and mental health. While topics may be similar in each grade, the RISE curriculum uses developmentally age-appropriate materials at each level.

• Community Time

  Community Time is a “band” of time throughout the week that ensures we connect as a community every day.  It promotes bonding among peers, facilitates student contact with teachers, supports student self-advocacy, and creates space for us to share, celebrate, and play together as a school community.
  
  Mondays and Fridays, we gather in grade-level Advisory groups to learn about ourselves and peers using reflection activities and check-ins. The group experience of advisory provides a sense of “home” at school.
  
  Tuesdays, we gather together in the Ming Quong Room for All-School Meetings led by 8th grade students. There, we acknowledge birthdays, honor inspirational women, share world current events, and gain inspiration from guest speakers and special presentations.
  
  Wednesdays, girls participate in Families or Electives, making connections with peers in other grades. Families check in, engage in discussions, play games, and work on projects together. Families or Electives focus on creating a sense of cross-grade bonding through fun activities. 
   
  Thursdays, we gather by grade-level in either Study Hall groups or as a whole grade for Class Meetings. Study Hall afford students the opportunity to work on assignments at school with the support of their peers and teachers. In Class Meetings, we make announcements, plan trips, and engage in community building activities.

• After School Offerings

  The Scholars Studio - Everyday
  The primary goal is to provide an optimum learning environment for students to complete their homework and assignments, before leaving our school campus. The one hour study period will begin after a daily snack is provided. For those girls who complete their work, a quiet activity, as well as outside play, will be available. This is a drop-in, fee based program for all students at JMSG.
  
  Chorus - Mondays
  Girls will have a chance to sing both melody and harmony parts. Chorus will focus on vocal technique, breath control, note reading, and singing in multiple parts. No experience necessary! 

  
  

  ​Technology Enrichment - Tuesdays and Thursdays
  Whether building with Legos, programming, researching or competing in a robotics or Technovation coding competition, the girls work on small teams to perform exciting technicalchallenges. Both opportunities have a mandatory commitment to practices and competitions. Robotics will be offered until November (specific date TBD based on competition). Technovation begins in January and will also take place on Wednesdays and Fridays​. For girls who want to get a head start on their Technovation apps, there are optional drop-in coding sessions during lunch.
  
  Improv - Wednesdays
  Girls from all grades and levels of experience are invited to join and participate in Improv, a 90-minute class after school on Wednesdays. Through playful, interactive theatre games and storytelling, students step into the improv world of possibility, spontaneity, and thinking on their feet. In this class, students get to “make stuff up” and laugh as they explore improv wisdom: “Yes/And” (listening/accepting/responding), “Mistakes Are Gifts” (opportunities and choices), and “Leap Before You Look” (trusting and sharing what imagination offers). We learn that improv skills are life skills: listening, paying attention, storytelling, status, spontaneity, and making one’s partner look good.

   
  Sports Teams
  (6th Grade Sports - Mondays)
  (7th & 8th Grade Sports - Tuesdays & Thursdays)
  The mission of the Athletics program at Julia Morgan School is to inspire and challenge girls of all physical talents and interests to develop confidence, flexibility, strength, endurance, mental discipline, coordination, balance, and skill. Julia Morgan School is a member of the Middle School Sports League of the East Bay and competes with other local middle schools in basketball, soccer, and volleyball. All 6th, 7th and 8th graders are eligible to play on the team. Our program is free of charge, no previous experience is necessary, and all who tryout make a team. Our Coaches for the program practice a double-goal coaching model where we strive to win while pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports. Coaches emphasize effort, enthusiasm, and teamwork, while developing skill. The strength of our program depends on the commitment and good sportsmanship of the players, coaches, and parents who each play a pivotal role in creating a safe program where all girls can thrive in sports.

• High School Preparation

  The transition to high school, like so much at JMSG, is focused on each girl’s personal pathway. The high school process becomes a kind of coming-of-age experience for our students, as they affirm their strengths and challenges, identify future aspirations, and advocate powerfully for the environment that will best serve their needs. Time and again, admission representatives remark how our alumnae stand out in the classroom. We facilitate communication between families and schools, and support girls to connect with the schools that speak to their needs and passions as learners. We offer traditional support such as test prep and hosting high school representatives for lunchtime information sessions. When private school admission decisions come in March, the 8th grade goes on an afternoon retreat, designed to facilitate an optimistic, open-minded perspective on the whole process. We are pleased with our private school placement results: 91-95% of girls are accepted to their first-choice schools. But we are truly proud because our graduates go on to become student leaders, award-winning scholars, and changemakers across a wide array of institutions, from Oakland public schools to East Coast boarding schools, demonstrating the efficacy of their singular middle school experience.