Newsletter Archive
School Bulletin for the Week of February 28, 2007
auction 10 day countdown
10: Buy your tickets for the Red Carpet Gala by Friday, March 2, 2007. Tickets are available on-line, by mail and at Auction Headquarters (aka the Development Office).
9: Snag a leprechaun dressed in Gala red (hint — one goes by the name of Kevin Finn) and persuade him to sell you a Gala raffle ticket. If lucky you has the winning ticket on March 10th, you will win 50% of the pot of gold and share the other 50% with the school.
8: Hear All About It! in the Auction catalog which will be going home on March 3rd. The selection of items listed in the catalog will dazzle you!
7: You’re invited to the Red Carpet Gala Preview Party. Fifty of the over 300 Auction items will be available for on-line bidding starting March 3rd at www.chicagowaldorf.org.
6: Bid on all 300 Auction items by picking an absentee Auction bid form at Auction Headquarters (Development Office) or in the Front Office. Available on March 3rd. Amanda Kuzak and Eliza Bivins will be your personal Auction shoppers for the evening.
5: Basket volunteers are needed to help put together baskets after drop-off on March 2nd. Meet us at Auction Headquarters (Development Office). Adults only.
4: Volunteers are needed to load up on Thursday, March 8th at school from 12:30-3pm. Meet at Auction
Headquarters.
3: Volunteers wanted at the location on March 9th for set-up. General set up is from 9am-11am. Table designers are needed from 11am-4pm.
2: It’s never too late to donate, items are needed at all levels: Airfare underwriting, Vodka Underwriting, White wine underwriting, Movie tickets, DVDs, Oprah tickets, Plastic beach pail, 4 tubes of whitening toothpaste (yes, this is STILL on the list), Car washes, Starbucks gift cards, Pineapple (a real one), several dozen roses for the night of the event, restaurant gift certificates, Bed Head hair products, decorative hair stuff…and the list goes on and on.
1: As always and forever, the Auction crew thanks each and every one of you for your continuing participation, generosity, strong intentions and good will!
We Rock!
-The Auction Producers and Crew!
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Waldorf 101
featuring Carol Triggiano
Register Now! • Begins March 6!
• Four-Session Series • Tuesdays 7:30-9:00pm
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fast approaching!!
The deadline for enrollment-related paperwork is next Monday, March 5th. Please return your Enrollment Contract & Payment Plan Authorization Form with your deposit as well as all Tuition Reduction application paperwork (if applying) on or before Monday, March 5th.
There are a handful of families whose contracts are still in process. If this applies to you, we will notify you of your paperwork due date when you receive your contract.
Please contact Amy Kahn, Director of Admissions, at 773.465.2371 or email Amy Kahn with any questions.
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conference call
Please note that there are no classes on Friday, March 23rd in order to give parents of Early Childhood and grade school students an opportunity for a spring parent/teacher conference. Early Childhood parents will schedule their conferences directly with their teachers. Sign-up schedules for the grade school will be available in the Grade School office next week; please contact Ilene Warfield at 773.465.2372 to make your appointment(s). The high school faculty will be conducting an in-service retreat.
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get the pictures?
Hold on to your memories of the 2006-2007 school year with your very own copy of the CWS yearbook, The Loop! Don’t wait! Order now at the advance sales price of $40; once the yearbook is delivered in the late spring, a limited number of copies will be available at an increased price. Make checks payable to Chicago Waldorf School, and include your child’s name and grade on the check. Checks can be turned in to Tiffany Ying in the High School Office or to Kristin Pellicori in the Main Office.
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school tour
Remind your friends and neighbors that our next School Tour is Thursday, March 8th from 8:30 — 10:30am! You are our best ambassadors. Please RSVP to Eliza Bivins at 773.828.8468.
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around the blocks
Here is what the grade school is working on:
•1st Grade — Mrs. Poole Arithmetic
•2nd Grade — Ms. Triggiano Form Drawing
•3rd Grade — Ms. Desouches Arithmetic
•4th Grade — Ms. Vaca Norse Mythology II
•5th Grade — Ms. Moskowitz Geography
•6th Grade — Ms. Szymanski Physics
•7th Grade — Mr. Husseini Physics
•8th Grade — Mrs. Trevillion Organic Chemistry
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what’s in seasons
The Four Seasons Shop is having its first ever sale! Beautiful, hand-carved and dyed wood Nativity figures by Ostheimer are now 25% off. Take advantage of this rare Ostheimer sale and stock up for next year!
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the story continues…
We had a great turnout on Monday, February 12 for our Storytelling for Parents Coffee with Judy Lubin. We learned how to use the art of storytelling to connect with children, provide alternatives to media and pass on wisdom. Here's a brief summary of some tips to get you started:
For the child, imagination dominates the story experience. As they imagine, children will learn the skill of using words to describe something that is not tangibly present at the moment — a very useful foundational skill for all sorts of academic
work. With the folktales, they will also learn to take imaginary journeys through metaphors for common life experiences, which
gives a dry-run through life and also enhances later reading comprehension and the ability for self-reflection.
The storyteller can only lead an imaginative experience by entering his/her own imagination while guiding. To practice this,
try imagining stories as you read them, either to yourself or your children. When you read or hear stories that you plan to tell, try to imagine living the experience. Then, simply narrate your remembered experience. Create sensory details as you go
by describing memories of past sensory experiences that fit in with your story. To practice this aspect, take walks in which
you stop and look at things and then describe them in words (silently if you're alone!). Also notice your own feelings and try to describe these, or the actions they bring about, in words. This will make it easier to vividly describe the events occurring in your imagination when you tell a story.
The story itself and the shared experience are much more important than 'performance'. Children love listening to their parents talk. The storyteller's job is to activate the listeners' imaginations, not to entertain. The moreentertainment the storyteller provides, the less the children need to do to imagine the scene. Special voices, dramatic gestures, etc. are not needed (unless you like these). The process of sharing an imaginative journey brings parent and child together and is great fun for both!
For very young children, ages 3 to around 6, sensory and motor experiences dominate a child's life experience. Tell stories that help children to imagine sensory and motor experiences, like a-day-in-the-life type stories.
Stories should be simple, have happy endings and allow for beautiful images to form in the child's imagination.When children reach kindergarten or 1st grade, social and emotional experiences begin to dominate the child's development. At this age, children will be eager to imagine emotional experiences in addition to sensory experiences. Tell folktales with challenges to be met. These tales guide children through the emotional narratives of common life challenges. Stories should reward good, punish bad and have happy endings. Save stories with cautionary endings until at least 2nd grade and save stories with 'gray areas' in the distinction between good and evil until at least 4th grade.
For a basic bibliography of some sources for traditional stories, email Judy Lubin.
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waldorf 101
The spring session of the popular Waldorf 101 course will be offered beginning March 6th. This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to explore the principles that stand behind Waldorf education. The course will cover several key topics including: Steiner’s picture of child development; the 12-year curriculum; the relationship between the academic and the artistic; and the spiritual nature of the human being. The course will also help parents clarify their long-term commitment to a 12-year education and promote informed decision-making. The course is essential for individuals interested in assuming a leadership position within the school.
The course meets once a week four consecutive weeks on Tuesday evenings from 7:30-9:00pm through March 27th . For continuity, it would be ideal for participants to commit to all four sessions. Please RSVP to Kristin Pellicori in the Main Office at 773.465.2662.
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commons in canteen
The school's Commons, which has been taking place on Monday mornings after drop-off, will now be happening on Fridays, effective immediately. So come over to the church Canteen this March 2nd to hang out, do handwork or whatever strikes your fancy. This is a great way to meet other CWS parents! Sponsored by the PTO.
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high school news
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around the blocks
Here is the current block rotation:
•9th Grade Main Lesson: Revolutions with Mr. Trevillion and Mr. Massie
Art Block: Black & White Drawing with Mr. Dozier
•10th Grade Main Lesson: Physics with Mr. Gleichauf
Art Block: Woodworking with Mr. Clark
•11th Grade Main Lesson: Parzival with Mrs. Huckabay
Art Block: Oil Painting with Mr. Dozier
•12th Grade Main Lesson: Technology with Mr. Kotz and Mr. Starzynski
Art Block: Drama with Ms. Everhart
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music festival
The CWHS Music Department is proud to present a High School Music Elective Concert this Sunday, March 4th, at 2:00pm. The concert will showcase music of the season that the students have been preparing all year. The estimated length of the program is an hour and fifteen minutes. The program is suitable for children of all ages and all are welcome, but all children must be seated with an adult. Parents are encouraged to use discretion for very young children. Please come and enjoy the gift of their wonderful work.
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math club
This year’s CWSHS Math Club is hoping to go all the way this year as they prepare to plunge into regional ICTM (Illinois council of Mathematics) competition in April. Mr. Gleichauf, founder and leader of the extracurricular club, believes that this is going to be a great year for them. “Math Club this year has reached the next level!”
The Math Club has only existed for two years, going to their first competition last year. They have since acquired much experience and confidence in how to approach the math text which they all must take. This year has been shaping up for the Math Club; they have even received special Math Club t-shirts. “I expect that we can double our score from last year,” says an optimistic Mr. Gleichauf.
The competition works like any math test: a single written exam is taken individually by each member of the group, then the scores are tallied, giving a total amount which ranks the group among other competing math clubs. In addition to the written exam, there is also a timed, two-person team competition, which requires two people to work together to quickly solve math problems that are flashed to them on a screen. An entire group session takes place in the competition, as well, necessitating the entire group to work together without calculators to solve math problems.
This year’s competition will be held at Northern Illinois University in Chicago and will run all day. If they rank high enough, an individual from the group will go on to the state finals of the competition. “We don’t focus on our scores,” says Mr. Gleichauf. “We focus on our math skills and have fun in the process.”
-Lukas Kucinski (12)
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community announcements
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condolence card
Our condolences to the Shapiro family. Kiah Shapiro’s (12) grandmother, Joan Shapiro, passed away on February 14, 2007. Memorial servicess will be held on Sunday, March 11 from 1-3pm at Smith-Corcoran Funeral Home (6150 N Cicero Ave, Chicago 773.736.3833). In lieu of flowers, donations to the Victor Lazar Endowment fund would be greatly appreciated.
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arcturus spring term
The Arcturus Waldorf Teacher Education Program begins its spring term classes on Friday, March 2nd and Saturday, March 3rd. This weekend is also a regularly scheduled Open House. Feel free to come sit in on a class or a day of classes with no charge or obligation. Please check our website www.arcturus.info for the spring schedule. On the main page, click the Special Events and Calendar link and scroll down to the Spring Term. For more information call 773.761.3026 or email Arcturus.
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healing hands
The Chicago College of Healing Arts needs clients for their supervised Massage Student Clinic. Where: 1622 W Devon. When: Wednesdays, 7-8pm. How: Call 773.764.0960 for an appointment or just walk in. Cost: Sliding scale $0-$35 — pay what you can.
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forty or fifty flutes
Former CWS music teacher, Elisabeth Swisher, is collecting pentatonic flutes to bring to the Chengdu Waldorf School in Chengdu, China where she will be teaching flute to the kindergarten and grade school teacher trainees this summer. She is hoping to collect at least 40-50 pentatonic flutes. If you have a pentatonic flute lying around that you aren’t using anymore, please consider donating it to this fine endeavor. Flutes can be left in the Main Office.
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classified ads
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P/T Position Open at CWS: Parent Child Assistant — Hours TBA Wednesdays. $12/hour. Interested individuals should contact Ilene Warfield or 773.465.2372.
Job Opportunity: I am in the process of opening a Waldorf/LifeWays inspired in-home daycare in Lincoln Park and am searching for an Infant Caregiver and an Early Childhood Caregiver. LifeWays, Arcturus or early childhood training necessary. Salaries negotiable. Please contact Lee Ann Rechtin (mother of Isabella in EC Culbert) at 312.497.4767 or email Elena Rechtin.
For Sale: Single bed mattress on platform frame with 3 drawers. $50. Call the Trevillions at 773.973.2709.
Painting & Papering: When a woman's attention to detail matters. Since 1979. Call Miriam Dresser Ahrens 773.726.9663.
Looking for 2 Bedroom Apartment on North Side: Evanston OK, too. Please contact the family of 7th grader, Marquita Evans at 773.869.0300 or 312.363.9042 with any suggestions.
Looking for Part-Time Temporary Employee: Great opportunity for a high school student to make some extra bucks. Boring data entry job expected to take 15-20 hours at our Lincoln Park medical office. Familiarity with Excel a must. Will pay $9/hour. Call Dr. Rubin or Nancy K at WholeHealth Chicago 773.296.6700.
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We occasionally experience outages to our phone system. Please note the following back-up number that you can use to contact the Chicago Waldorf School in the event that the main switchboard is down: 773.225.8069.
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Newsletter Submissions
•Deadline for all material is Friday 3:00pm — please give submissions to the Front Desk.
•Submissions longer than one paragraph must be emailed to Ilene Warfield and are subject to editing.
•If you would like to receive the newsletter by email, send your email address to Ilene Warfield.
•If you have any questions, call Ilene Warfield in the Grade School Office at 773.465.2372.