Brunswick School - Greenwich, CT

Sitting on the stage waiting to prove their superiority were 4^th graders, Kiernan, Colin, Graham, Henry and Conrad. Faculty waiting in the wings were Messrs. Hannigan, Fink, Doar and Polikoff. The format for the assembly closely followed the TV show with each teacher being asked a series of increasingly difficult questions from curriculum in grades 1 through 4 in topics including language arts, math, science, social studies and geography. In choosing the topics, several teachers specifically avoided their areas of expertise, not wanting to embarrass themselves if they flubbed the question. All teachers needed to consult their 4^th grade partners at varying times.

 

Mr. Hannigan led off with his 4^th grade partner Henry and together they tackled the sounds of vowels. Mr. Hannigan really played to the crowd, encouraging his 4^th grade partner to write something down so Mr. Hannigan could “cheat” off of his paper. When pressed for an answer Mr. Hannigan replied, “Hey, I need to think about it,” and then “Can I peak at what Henry is doing?” The crowd roared! After another question was posed Mr. Hannigan worried out loud, “If I get it wrong can Henry save me?” but two second later warned Henry that he would not be sharing in any winnings. Again the audience clapped with enjoyment and Mr. Hannigan was declared officially smarter than a 4^th grader.

 

Next up was Mr. Fink partnered with Conrad who, as an English teacher, opted for a math question first. He claimed that his first question was a trick question – how many nickels are in a quarter making the moderator, Will Peisch rephrase the question to how many nickels make up a quarter. Science was Mr. Fink’s second grade question choice, still afraid of looking dumb in his own subject. He nailed the answer to the three states of matter but needed to be saved by his 4^th grade partner in answer to where do trees cease to grow on a mountain. Luckily Mr. Fink knew the answers to his next questions and, like Mr. Hannigan, was acknowledged to be smarter than a 4^th grader.

 

Poor Mr. Doar did not have the same luck.   His partner Kiernan was not able to save him from having to state, in front of the whole Middle School, at the end of his turn that he, Charles Doar is not smarter than a 4^th grader. Mr. Doar’s time on stage did not start well as he was booed down when the moderator reported that he had gone to rival Rye Country Day School. While he breezed through his first, second and third grade questions, Mr. Doar was stumped by not knowing who traveled to France to raise money for the American Revolution. Nevertheless, Mr. Doar was a good sport.

 

The afternoon ended with Mr. Polikoff and Graham who as a team got all the answers right. Mr. Polikoff played his audience with high fives for correct answers and putting his arm around his teammate showing feelings of solidarity. When declared smarter than a 4^th grader, Mr. Polikoff did not hesitate to add that he was also smarter than Mr. Doar.

 

Alexander Constantine is the Assembly Club faculty advisor; together they planned the afternoon’s fun. Mr. Constantine gives full credit to the boys, once he posed the idea to them; the boys picked the questions and lined up the faculty. The assembly ended with a round of applause for the 4^th grade volunteers and faculty recruits and for the Assembly Club members. It was an afternoon of good-humored fun.  The Assembly Club has organized several other fun assemblies this school year including:  Singing Bee!, Jeopardy, Spelling Bee and a Piano Recital.