Week of September 29, 2008

Welcome to the last week of September and first week of October. The pictures above were taken at the Farmworkers Festival last weekend in Newton Grove. You can see Tim and Susan, our fearless leaders, with part of the group. Alicia, our Bolivian intern, is hanging out with Jonas and Ariel. Alicia had a great time meeting new friends, speaking Spanish, and making her way to the dance floor. Sarah can be seen above with new farmworker family friends. At the top, you can see most of our group with our beloved Father Tony. Our students raised $270, which they donated to Father Tony's soccer tournament prize fund. We look forward to returning to Newton Grove in December during our winter service days. Susan also has a group of sophomores who have adopted a work camp. They will raise money that will help support the farmworkers at this camp. Through this work with Father Tony, our students have learned important lessons about immigration, inclusivity, and what it means to be a global citizen.

We had a successful Advisee Half-day on Friday. After a morning of classes, it didn't take long for groups to clear out at noon. Some groups went out to lunch, for Indian food or to The Loop. One group had a picnic lunch at Umstead Park before an afternoon of canoeing on a lake. One group did community service on campus by mulching the area outside the student store and placing stepping stones along the path. Another community service plan included stream clean-up, followed by board games. A number of groups went bowling. One group went swimming at the quarry while another went ice skating. A couple of groups had sleepovers. The main goal of the day was for groups to bond, to get to know one another better. Our advisee groups form the solid base from which we create and develop our sense of community. These days are an important part of teaching to the whole child.

Beginning on Monday of this week, students will be registering for Winter and Spring term classes. We are happy to welcome guest teachers who will offer exciting opportunities for our students. Bill Friedman ( former parent) will teach Genesis: a close reading of the narrative text. In this class, Bill plans to investigate the origins of the written story; explore the gaps and conflicting accounts within the text/ and examine important variations in our English translations of the Bible. This course will include lectures, class discussion, and a visit to a local synagogue to examine the hand written Hebrew scroll (Torah). (8th period, Winter) Philip Gary (father of freshman, Annie) will offer Profiles in Courage, which will focus on Civil Rights through the study of the lives of significant people in history, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Harriet Tubman, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Philip plans to invite speakers to share their stories with students. (8th, Spring) Our new math teacher, Gus, is offering Introduction to Logic and Puzzle Solving. This course will introduce logic techniques such as Double Negation, Or-Form, De Morgans Laws, Contrapositive, and more. These techniques will stimulate students' thinking and help them determine the validity of any argument. (8th period, Winter) These are just a few of the new classes that will be offered. Be sure to ask about other new classes, such as Eastern Philosophy and Spirituality, Marketing, Organizational Behavior, and Sports and Politics. Very exciting!

We hope to see many of you at Back to School Night this Thursday, October 2nd. You are invited to a social time from 6:30-7:00 in the Meeting Hall. Our program will begin promptly at 7:00 and will end at 9:00 sharp, or even a little sooner so we can all see the Vice Presidential debate, which will begin at 9:00. See you then!

Week of September 22, 2008

Welcome to Fall! The weather has turned from hot to cool, and life in the Upper School gets more full and busy by the day. Above, you can see some of the cubbies, which are across from the Computer Lab. Our Bolivian intern, Alicia, is teaching a Spanish IV class. (Alicia celebrated her 24th birthday this weekend!) You can also see Bryce's Campaign '08 class as they view a piece on Barack Obama on Bryce's brand new flat-screen tv. I included the cubbies to remind parents that we have a variety of ways in which students can store their personal belongings: cubbies, lockers, and space set aside in advisee areas. If students must bring something of value to school, it is always best to store them in a more private area that can be provided by the advisor.

This week, Annie Dwyer is taking her 2nd period Modern Dance class to the Nasher Art Museum to see the El Greco to Velazquez exhibit. As you may know, the Nasher allows very tight scheduling for this exhibit, consequently, Annie's group will be there from 10-11am on Wednesday, September 24th. As I am lucky enough to be included, I am very much looking forward to seeing the El Greco to Velazquez exhibit with our students.

One of our newest social studies classes, Emotional Intelligence, was introduced by Sherri (our Learning Coordinator) last year. What are the factors at work when people of high IQ flounder, and those of modest IQ do surprisingly well? The answer may be "emotional intelligence." Emotional Intelligence includes self-awareness, a deeper sense of people, empathy, self-motivation, persistence, and social deftness. Ultimately, this class is a self-reflection journey--a look at who one is as an individual, and who one is within various communities and relationships. Sherri is the perfect teacher to lead students through this journey with her soft-spoken sensitivity and delightful sense of humor. Luckily, for the staff, Sherri manages some time "off" during lunch on Wednesday to offer Yoga for CFS staff members. (Her hobby...and a great side benefit for the rest of us.)

I hope you have marked your calendars for our Back to School Night on Thursday, October 2nd, from 7-9pm. We will meet in the Meeting Hall. Our wonderful parent liaisons have planned a social half-hour, complete with cookies and lemonade, from 6:30-7:00. We will begin our program promptly at 7pm. From 7:00-7:30, we will introduce staff members, view a short video about our End-of-Year Program, listen to our a cappella group, the Quaker N'Oats, and learn about important upcoming events that relate specifically to the Upper School. From 7:30-9:00, parents will meet their child's advisors and visit their 1st-4th period classes. We hope to see you there!

Have a great week!

Week of September 15, 2008

We have come to the end of our first FULL week of school. It is Friday afternoon; advisee time has ended and students are in 5th period. I am listening to the band class play some great jazz numbers while I think about the week ahead. During lunch and advisee time, I asked one of my senior advisees, Hannah Strom, to take some pictures of Upper School life. She did a great job. I am happy to share some of them as a part of this blog. Without mentioning the order (because they are never the same on different computers), here is what you might be looking at: The Freedom Wall under the deck was created by 2007 graduate Callum Harper. The idea is that kids and/or classes can spray paint messages, poetry, artwork, etc. on the wall. It really is quite fascinating to see what they come up with. There is a picture of some of our wonderful students hanging out on the patio...in deep discussion. You can see another group playing basketball on the nature court while senior Jasmine Berry studies for her ACT exam, which she will take on Saturday. You can also see Dave's advisee group enjoying Chinese food while some of them play a video game.

In the Upper School, advisee time comes once/week on Friday. We add an extra 45 minutes to lunch, and groups can use that time in a variety of ways. Each week, 3-4 groups go off-campus for lunch. Today's groups went to 9th Street, the Loop, and Ming Garden. Some groups order food and bring it to school. One group celebrated a birthday today with hot buiscuits and a yummy cake. One of my advisees made a cake for us today just out of the kindness of her heart. After devouring the cake, we did some campus clean-up by emptying recycling bins and sweeping the patio. One group went to the home of a fellow advisee to swim in his pool.

As it says in our Handbook, the advisor-advisee relationship is at the core of a CFS education. Building community begins with one-on-one relationships and a feeling of family in an advisee group. From there, we can come together as an Upper School community. We have 3 advisee days during the year. Our first "day" is actually a half-day on Friday, September 26th. We encourage our groups to make at least one of their days service-related.

Our Bolivian intern Alicia will share slides about her home with our students on Monday during Group Collection. As Alicia shared them with me this week, I was struck by the huge leap she has taken by living in Durham and being a part of our community. Until she came here, she had never flown in a plane or ridden in a car. She had never even seen a dishwasher or a mircrowave oven. As she showed me slides of her home, I didn't see a single tree! She is working hard to get to know everybody and keep up with their rapid English. Alicia is a delightful young woman who must be going through terrible home sickness by now. We are thrilled to have her with us. This weekend, she will go to Washington, DC, with one of our families. Next weekend, she will celebrate her birthday--her first away from her family. I hope you get to meet her this year.

Next weekend, interested sophomores will join Susan, Tim, and Jonathan McGovern as they travel to Newton Grove for the Farmworkers Festival. We have built a strong relationship with Father Tony and the important work he is doing with migrant farmworkers and their families. During the Festival, our students will help Father Tony with whatever he needs. They will no doubt play some soccer, serve some food, and help with keeping the area clean. We treasure the time we are able to spend in Newton Grove and continue to learn about what a life of service can mean to a great deal of people. It is truly an honor to have someone like Father Tony in our lives.

We have home soccer, volleyball, and tennis matches on Tuesday. Hope to see you there!

Week of September 8, 2008

Welcome to our first FULL week of school! It's a beautiful Monday morning and we finally seem to have settled into advisee groups and classes. I have included a variety of photos above: At the very top, college counselor Elise is helping a senior with some college-related questions. On the left, you can see Papa Dylan with little Oscar. On the right is Alicia Lucasi with one of our seniors. Alicia is our new intern from Bolivia. She just arrived this weekend and will be with us all year. We hope that she will be teaching some classes and joining others. We also look forward to Alicia being actively involved in the freshman trip to Newton Grove in May. Tim and Susan have invited her to join the sophomore retreat to Newton Grove on September 20-21. (If you are the parent of a sophomore, you will be hearing more about this activity very soon.) Alicia is a delightfully cheerful young woman who is looking forward to getting to know everybody. She fits right in here at the Upper School as she greets everyone she meets with a hug!

NEWS FLASH: Spanish teacher Rob LaVelle and wife Kirsten welcomed daughter Mena Claire into the world on Wednesday, September 3. Mena weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces, so Kirsten is recovering from her c-section and Rob is at home taking care of both his girls. Congratulations to Rob, Kristen, and Mena!

Just a reminder to parents that we have an afternoon study hall that meets in the library Monday-Thursday from 3:30-5:00. The study hall is supervised by Susan Kincaid and Judith Hawkes. Students are provided with a quiet place to study and receive help if needed. If your child plans to use this study hall, it would be a good idea to send along an extra snack. They get pretty hungry by 4:30 in the afternoon. Speaking of food, we will begin offering pizza for lunch this Wednesday. Pizza sells for $1.50/slice, and we offer cheese, pepperoni, and sausage.

As you all know, the presidential campaign of 2008 is proving to be one of the (if not THE) most exciting campaigns in history. In response to the significance of this history-making campaign, Bryce is offering a new class: Campaign '08. We didn't want to turn any student away from this opportunity, so Bryce has 25 students in this class, which is over the top for us. This class is a special modification of the American Government course, focusing on the presidential and other races, such as the NC governor. Students will create a wiki, contributing their own political journalism to a common website as the campaigns unfold. We hope to have our own election night party. More to come about this exciting event.

MARK YOUR CALENDERS (If you haven't already) for our Back to School Night on Thursday, October 2nd. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Have a great week!

Week of September 1, 2008

Dear Parents,

Welcome to my 2008-09 School Year Blog! For those of you who are new, I use this weekly blog as one (informal) way to keep you informed about what's going on in the Upper School. You may subscribe to this blog by typing your email address in the box to the right of my blog. If you subscribe, you will be notified each time I publish a new post. You will notice that I still don't have a handle on placement of photos and perfecting the format. Perhaps I will figure it all out this year.

The pictures above are from our all-US Retreat, which (as you know) was held on campus due to inclement weather. These pictures were taken during workshops that were offered by staff members: GaGa, Board Games, and Gourmet Cupcakes. The seniors did a great job of re-planning the day for the rest of us. They returned from Quaker Lake and entered the Meeting Hall in silence at 9:30am. They broke the silence with a rousing group game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Annie Dwyer then led us all (!) in a movement/dancing routine. The rest of the day was filled with staff-led workshops, an advisor fair, senior-led games & activities, advisor-selection forms, and a final settling out. Everyone rose to the occasion and created a positive atmosphere...even in the pouring rain!

As you know by now, students have been placed into permanent advisee groups. As always, this placement process is challenging and time-consuming. We do everything possible to create 16 advisee groups that will work well for the year. After our cookout on Friday, advisors welcomed their new groups. These groups should help to smooth the transition for students new to the Upper School. We meet each morning at 8:30 for 10 minutes where we take attendance and share announcements. We meet again at the end of the day for final check-in and clean-up. On Friday, we add 45 minutes on to lunch for Advisee Time when groups plan some activity that they can do together. Our advisee groups are home base to us...the starting point to building community in the Upper School.

You will notice that I highlighted the time for morning homeroom (advisee groups) above. We start the day at 8:30am. Last week, I asked the students to aim to arrive at 8:20am, so they would have time to check in with friends, get to their cubbies or lockers, and be on time for homeroom. We are serious about starting on time. It's a great way to be in touch, learn about important announcements, and play an active role in building community. Thanks for helping with on-time attendance!

As we look ahead, I would like to mention two events to keep in mind. Susan and Tim are planning a sophomore retreat during the weekend of September 20-21. Sophomores will spend Saturday night in Newton Grove and help Father Tony with the Farmworkers Festival. For those of you who are new, more information will follow. For all of you, our US Back to School Night is Thursday, October 2nd. We hope to see you all right here at the Upper School for an information-packed, fun evening.

I hope you have enjoyed a great Labor Day weekend. I am thinking about the folks on the Gulf Coast and hoping that Gustav doesn't do too much harm. Let's hold them all in the light.

Take care,

Carrie