3 . Apply for the 2024 –2025 School Year

We are thrilled you are considering Marist School for your child’s next chapter. Marist has two primary entry points for students in 7th and 9th grades to which we typically accept 150 and 50 students respectively.

Marist School utilizes Ravenna, an application management system, for all aspects of the admissions process. Through Ravenna, parents can access the Marist application, submit supporting materials, track application status, and view admission decisions. Our application for the 2024 - 2025 school year will be available late September with a January 22, 2024 deadline.

Importantly, Marist continues to require the SSAT as part of the application process. On Saturday, January 6, 2024, Marist will serve as a community test site for the SSAT. This is the last national testing day prior to our application deadline when a first set of SSAT scores is due.

4 . If you have no difficulty in understanding what native English speakers say in daily life, there is a whole new world of brilliant podcast (播客) series to explore. If you aren’t sure where to start, have a look at these:

5 . GET A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE WORLD’S MOST ATTRACTIVE FEATHERED ANIMALS WITH THESE BOOKS

Biologist and photographer Claudio Contreras Koob spent 20 years travelling deep into the wet lands and forests of his native Mexico—and beyond—to feed his flamingo attraction. This book offers a unique window into the behavior and life of red-feathered birds, with more than 120 show-stopping shots displaying their beauty. teNeues, £35.

Inspiring secrets, national pride or scientific discoveries, every bird has a story to tell, from the weaver bird building multi-nest “apartment blocks” in Namibia to the bar-headed goose taking on a twice-yearly trans-Himalayan journey at an extreme altitude. Mike Unwin’s tour is accompanied by beautiful illustrations from Ryuto Miyake. Laurence King Publishing, £22.

Pulitzer-shortlisted Weidensaul, who’s at the forefront of research into bird migration, here tracks some of nature’s most remarkable journeys. He sails through the stormy Bering Sea, encounters trappers in the Mediterranean and visits former headhunters in northeast India, where a bird migration crisis has become a conservation success story. Pan Macmillan, £9.99.

Explore this updated version of the 1968 title, Galapagos: Islands of Birds, by late bird expert Bryan Nelson, with previously unpublished material from his wife, June. The couple spent a year living on two Galapagos islands, studying birds, including the Galapagos albatross (信天翁). This is their clever and amusing account. Bradt Guides, £11.99.

The audience and viewership for this year’s Spring Festival TV gala, which was aired on Feb 9, Lunar New Year’s Eve or Chinese Lunar New Year, both reached record     1    (high), according to ratings statistics.

    2    (support) by ultra-high-definition production, the gala was telecast on TV screens, public large screens, and mobile devices. A total of 250 million people watched the live streaming of the show via     3    (they) mobile phones with the total views reaching 420 million, up by 37.97 percent and 57.58 percent,     4     (respective), compared with 2023. The China Global Television Network (CGTN) worked with over 2,100 media organizations in about 200 countries and regions to live broadcast or report the show in 68 languages,     5    (result) in over 1.5 billion instances of viewing,    6     increase of 12.69 percent year on year.

This year, the gala, in addition     7    Beijing, had four branch venues. Audience enjoyed a diversity of local cultural elements from those places, such as folk     8     (music) instruments and folk dances.

Since its broadcast in 1983, the annual CCTV Spring Festival Gala     9     (become) an essential part of celebrations in the country to greet the Chinese New Year. As a major entertainment during Lunar New Year’s Eve, the gala marks the joyous moment     10     families gather together to celebrate.

8 . Festivals to Attend in Tennessee This Year

Tin Pan South Songwriter’s Festival

Music fans come from all over the world to experience the songs and stories about their favorite hits straight from the incredibly talented songwriters that penned them,

Over the 5 days, 10 venues host two music shows a night, bringing an experience like no other.

Dates: March 28—April 1

Tickets: To Be Determined

The Homestead Festival

Combining music and meaning, the two-day outdoor affair features award-winning live music as well as masterclass lectures.

Speakers will share their vast experience of learning to be more self-sustaining. You can learn not only how to start learning skills such as growing your own food, building a fire and raising chickens, but also how to grow a life filled with meaning and purpose.

Dates: May 2—May 3

Tickets: Child Admission: $25;

Adult Admission: $ 145

Americanafest

Americanafest brings together legendary artists, fans, and industry professionals for five days of live music shows and Nashville’s most educational music industry forum.

Dates: September 19—September 23

Tickets: Conference+Festival Pass: $249;

Festival Pass ONLY:   $125

Please note: A Conference+Festival Pass allows you access to all events in our schedule. A Festival Pass gets you into all nights of performances.

Hazzard Fest

The event features concerts from some of the top names in country, along with comedy shows, a car show and wrestling matches. Come and meet the original Dukes of Hazzard cast and several other celebrities we all know and love!

Dates: October 6—October 7

Tickets: 2-Day Pass: $50;

Single Day Pass: $ 30

9 . Ben Miller is a British actor, as well as a productive writer for children. Here, he shares his favorite books.

King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green

I loved reading when I was little. My parents were both English teachers, and our home was full of books. Dickens was a family favorite. But the book that really fired my imagination was King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green.

Buy King Arthur and His Knight of the Round Table here

Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith

I’m a fool for a classic, and I’m so glad I finally managed to finish Diary of a Nobody by George and Weedon Grossmith. Put simply, its the funniest book I’ve ever read, with text by George and illustrations by Weedon.

Buy Diary of a Nobody here

Exhalation by Ted Chiang

It’s never too late to have your life changed by a book， and it happened to me again recently when I read Ted Chiang’s collection Exhalation. Story of Your Life, one of the best in it, inspired the sci-fi alien visitation classic Arrival. I love that too, but each and every piece in Exhalation is its match in imagination.

Buy Exhalation here

Ben Miller’s new book The Night We Got Stuck in a Story is available now.

* This post contains some links, so we may earn a small amount of money when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

10 . The best science books inspire a sense of wonder and make you amazed at the incredible world we live in. Here are four of them to feed your imagination.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

How did it all begin? And how did we get here? Combining history and science, the book offers a comprehensive yet entertaining answer to these questions. Bill Bryson takes the reader on an impressive journey through the greatest scientific discoveries in history. It explains scientific topics in a vivid way, but it’s quite a long read.

Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe

How do helicopters work? Or cells? Randall Munroe explains how things work using illustrations and only the most common 1,000 words in English. It will shift your approach to explanation. So, next time explain how something works rather than merely call it by its name. However, additionally providing more technical terms might have enhanced the understanding and learning experience.

Ask an Astronaut by Tim Peake

What does it feel like to fly into space? How do you prepare for it? Astronaut Tim Peake answers all the questions you never knew about going into space. The book gives insights into the cutting-edge science, as well as the day-to-day life on board of the International Space Station. Its question and answer format makes it easy to quickly find answers, but it can become less appealing due to the lack of descriptive language.

Deep Time by Riley Black

Want to know the story of our planet? Riley Black takes us on a journey, in the order of time, through the geological (地质的) events that have shaped our planet. The fascinating high-quality images are supported by easily digestible explanations of key historical moments. It also expands on key concepts in geology, astronomy and biology. Yet, measuring the size of some objects on the photos is difficult due to the lack of a scale bar (比例尺).