Newsletter Archive
School Bulletin for the Week of September 12, 2007
administrators’ welcome
Welcome to the 2007-2008 school year!
On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Chicago Waldorf School, we’d like to take a moment to share our enthusiasm and excitement about what promises to be another great year for Waldorf education in the Chicago area. As our school takes its next step into the future, we are pleased to announce that we have made a three year commitment to work with Kim John Payne whose social inclusion initiatives and insights will raise the consciousness of our community about how we live, work and communicate with each other. Watch the Bulletin for information about Kim’s first lecture to the community, scheduled for the evening of September 28, 2007 at 6:30PM.
We are also pleased to announce that our popular and enlightening Waldorf 101 program will be offered on a Saturday this autumn. We hope that all of you who can will join us on Saturday, October 20, 2007 for a full day devoted to learning more about Waldorf education.
The window project in the east wing will be completed by the end of September and we are looking forward to facing the winter winds with new energy efficient windows in the entire main school building. The window replacements that were made in the west wing last year already netted an $18,000 refund on our heating bills last year!
Lastly, we want to thank all of you – parents, students, faculty and staff – for your repeated kindness and support over the past year and a half that we have been interim Co-Administrators for the school.
Flora Calabrese & Sheree Moratto, Co-Administrators
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back to school welcome event
Saturday, September 15th • 2:30pm – 4:30pm at the Chicago Waldorf School
Fun for the whole family • Bring your favorite percussion instrument • No Need to RSVP, Everyone is welcome!
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new kids on the block
We are pleased to welcome the following students and their families:
Early Childhood
Mrs. Matson’s Class: Camila Ardila, Sebastian Cordero, Evelyn Olejniczak-Sililio, Gabriella Majeski, Ellis Rekstad, Cayden Rooney (sibling), Lynn Schmickler
Ms. Donkel’s Class: Ethan Grunebaum, Adrian Hegedorn-Berger, Makenna Hirsch-Arnett, Michael Rogers (sibling), Finn Stover, Jordan Williams, Sadie Zweben, Sophie Zweben, Jordan Williams
Mrs. Hart’s Class: Margot Chambers (sibling), Leila Knox, Eitann Mallin, Nin Neilson, Juliette Rechtin (sibling), Alysee Yousfi
Ms. Bruck’s Class: Sage Billups (sibling), Courtlin Boyce (sibling), Reba Brennan (sibling), Marco Antonio Devaud, Louis Fowler-Gottlieb, Catherine Lee Hanson, Joshua Harper, Gwen Henson-Meyers, Anya Kanovitz, Nina Kosowski- Cohen, Liam McCann, Enzo Mele, Sofia Moser (sibling), Ainslie Palka, Joseph Pawelko, Eli Pendleton, Max Polancic, Liliana Schommer, Julia Scott
Mrs. Culbert’s Class: Sean Figiel (sibling), Emma Hartray (sibling), Miles King, Sophia King, Ava Martin, Maya Resnick, Shiva Snow
Grade School
Sali Hasanbegovic (1), Christopher Kriho (1), Alek Piehl (1); Rebecca Fife (2), Jackson Neilson (2), Hunter Tate (2); Sarah Gartner (3), Jessica Kriho (3); James Curcio (4); Jenna Rogers (returning – 5); Dylon Hopp (6); Nico Neilson (6); Quinn Baron (7); Micaela Fischer (8)
High School
Tony Gibbons (9), James Risch (9); Connor Dillon (returning – 10), Abby Koziol (10); Sanja Ramirez (returning – 11)
It is a pleasure to have you with us!
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more new faces
We welcome the following new faculty/staff:
• Mark Adamski, High School Spanish
• Eliza Bivins, College Counseling
• Tyler Carrington, Grade School German, 1 – 4
• Carly Garcia, Assistant Business Manager
• Tahirih Klass, Special Programs Coordinator
• Katarzyna Kowalczyk, High School German
• Elizabeth Larson, EC Assistant – Matson
• Harper Neilson, Parent Child Lead Teacher
• Lisa Payton, Director of Admissions
• Stefanie Safran, Director of Marketing & Communications
• Lauri Sullivan, Lyre
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welcome back
This year’s Welcome Back Event will take place this Saturday, September 15th, rain or shine. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can celebrate on the blacktop between the school and the church. In the case of rain, festivities will take place in the gym. There will be West Indian dancing with Mama Sadira who many of us know from last year’s RUMBLE CLUB. Feel free to bring your favorite percussion instrument or drum. Snacks and drinks will be provided. No need to RSVP…just come!
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around the blocks – grade school
Here is what is coming up next on the grade school block rotation:
• 1st Grade – Ms. Petersen: Form Drawing
• 2nd Grade – Mrs. Poole: Form Drawing, Language Arts
• 3rd Grade – Ms. Triggiano: Language Arts, Old Testament
• 4th Grade – Ms. Desouches: Language Arts, Norse Mythology
• 5th Grade – Ms. Vaca: Botany
• 6th Grade – Mrs. Moskowitz: Mineralogy
• 7th Grade – Ms. Szymanski: History, The Explorers
• 8th Grade – Mr. Husseini: Modern History I
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picture perfect
Warling Studios will return this fall to help us look our best for picture day! This year’s picture days will take place on September 25th & 26th. Please look at the attached flier for schedule and details. Retakes are scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th. Smile!
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include yourself in this event
On Friday, September 28 at (6:30PM social time, lecture at 7:00PM), renowned bullying and social resiliency expert Kim John Payne will talk with us about social inclusion as a way to overcome anti-social behavior, bullying and teasing in school and at home.
For the past 24 years, Kim has been helping children, teens, families and schools, both in and out of the Waldorf world, explore issues such as social difficulties, attention and behavioral issues, emotional issues, social resiliency and building environments that support healthy relationships. Those who are familiar with Kim’s work will know that it is worth giving up a night on the town to hear him speak! Those who are not familiar can learn more at The Child Today.com.
Kim’s talk kicks off the year’s Parent Education program, which will focus on building and strengthening our community. Those with much older children may remember a time in which every family knew each other and in which every family pitched in, in a myriad of ways, to make the school a reality. Today, we have close to 400 students and a full complement of professional support.
As we grow and mature as a school, two things happen. First, it becomes easier to think of CWS as ‘just a school’ where we drop off and pick up our children without a strong feeling of belonging to the community. But on the other side, our larger number ensures a greater diversity of goals, viewpoints and lifestyles. We have a greater need for a sense of community because it is the only way to bring together this vast diversity. To help bridge this gap, Parent Education, along with the entire PTO (Parent Teacher Organization), will be focused on strengthening the community that has, from the start, made CWS what it is.
Judy Lubin and Cynthia Weir, Parent Education for the PTO
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pizza plan
The 8th grade will again begin selling pizza as a fundraiser to help with costs for their class trip later this year. More details regarding start date and pricing in next week’s Bulletin.
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park it here
• Parents who wish to walk their students to school should use the lot on the 1200 west block of Loyola, located on the north side of the street just east of Lakewood. We have permission from Loyola University to use this lot for short periods of time only.
• Please do not leave your car in this lot for more than 15 minutes and please register your car with the Main Office 773.465.2662, or risk your car being towed by the University.
• Please do not park and wait for your child(ren). No double parking is allowed. Please circle the block until your child(ren) arrive(s).
Thank you for your cooperation!
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here here
• If your child will be absent from school due to illness, please remember to call the school by 7:45AM and leave a message.
• To report an Early Childhood absence, call the Early Childhood and Grade School dedicated attendance line 773.828.8802 and leave a message.
• To report a grade school absence, call the Early Childhood and Grade School dedicated attendance line 773.828.8802 and leave a message.
• To report a high school absence, call the High School Office 773.828.8464 and leave a message It is important that you call to inform the school on each day of a student’s absence.
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it’s form-ulaic
It’s September 12th. Do you know where your forms are?
The formula is this: We have set a September 17th deadline by which time all emergency/permission forms must be turned in. For the safety of our students, children may be unable to return to class unless this information is on file by September 17th. The deadline for all required medical and dental forms is October 1, after which children without their medical forms on file will not be permitted to attend school. Let’s see if we can total out to zero students excluded for paperwork deficits this year!
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substitute orientation
We invite anyone interested in becoming a candidate for the CWS substitute teaching roster to attend one of two orientation sessions, either Tuesday, September 18th or Monday, September 24th at 8:15am. If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Ilene Warfield in the Grade School Office x2372.
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what’s in seasons
New hours and a new day! The Four Seasons Shop will be open on Saturdays this year! We will be open on Tuesday – Friday 8AM-4PM and Saturday 9AM-1PM. Need a last minute gift? Go to the FOUR SEASONS SHOP on Saturday morning! Come by and check out our huge selection of new books, toys and art supplies for the whole family! Stop by and get your 2008 wall calendars now; they are already here!
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pilot program
Be on the lookout for information regarding a pilot hot lunch program in next week’s edition.
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thanks a bunch
A special thank you to everyone who helped plan, who brought flowers, who set up chairs and tables, who cleaned up for the New Family Orientation, the 1st Grade Orientation and the Early Childhood coffees. A special thank you to the Parent Teacher Organization, Room Parents, Chicago Waldorf School Faculty and Staff and the 2nd Grade class and their parents for all of your hard work! Thanks for making the first week of school an enjoyable and memorable time of year!.
Tahirih Klass, Coordinator of Special Programs
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random reading
Eight CWS students from grades 6 through 12 were recently asked to read an unpublished book by established authors Tom and Laura McNeal. Late last spring (April 2007) Random House contacted me and asked if we would be interested in reading and commenting on The Decoding of Lana Morris.
The eight copies of the galleys that we received were soon read—and then passed around. In all I received questions and comments on the book from more than 13 students. These questions and comments were then sent on to Random House who added our comments to those received from students from four other schools. The authors answered the questions and made additional comments which are now available on the Author’s 411 web site.
Since I had the advantage of knowing what our students had said, I can report that almost all of the questions/comments responded to on the web site came, in one form or another, from CWS students. The authors have just donated 2 signed copies of the book to our library.
Note: The authors will donate 10% of their net proceeds to The Arc of the United States, an organization which advocates for the rights and full participation of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Visit The Arc’s website for more information.
Tahirih Klass, Coordinator of Special Programs
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lost yet?
Parent evenings, concerts, picnics – keeping track of when and where school events take place is difficult, but help is just a click away at our school’s website. Click on Events Calendar in the left-hand side bar to see this month’s schedule. Additional information about individual events, including starting times and directions,can be accessed by double-clicking specific dates.
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around the blocks – high school
Here is the current high school block rotation:
• 9th Grade: Main Lesson – Comedy & Tragedy with Mr. Massie; Art Block – Art Skills with Mr. Dozier
• 10th Grade: Main Lesson – Ancient History with Mrs. Huckabay; Art Block – Textile Arts with Mrs. Melvin
• 11th Grade: Main Lesson – Projective Geometry with Mr. Gleichauf; Art Block – Landscape Painting with Mr. Dozier
• 12th Grade: Main Lesson – Zoology with Mr. Holdrege; Art Block – Metals with Mrs. Vig and Mrs. Melvin
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gone fishing
The 12th grade is away for their annual marine biology trip to Maine and will return September 15th. They are chaperoned by Colleen Everhart, Michael Holdrege and Andrew Starzynski.
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ticket to ride
All high school students are required to have a CTA student pass. The cost is $5 which provides the student with 1/2 price transportation fares between 5:30AM AND 8PM Monday through Friday. The CTA is making a limited number of these passes available to CWS; they will be given out on a first come, first served basis.
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here then there
Welcome to our foreign exchange students joining us for first semester: Helene Bauer from Vienna, Austria is the exchange partner for Sylvie Warfield (10) and Gesa Krauss from Freiburg, Germany is Arielle Lawson’s (10) exchange partner. Rachel Anspach (11) is currently in Argentina on exchange; her partner will be here in the spring.
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coach’s corner
I hope you had a great summer! Here at Waldorf we have been in full swing with our sports program since August! The High School and Middle school girls volleyball teams have been hard at work while most were still hard at play!
The high school girls have a few games under their belt this season. St. Gregory came here to play a well fought match. We missed a couple of our heavy hitters since they were still on vacation. After a close first game, the frustration set in, and unfortunately the girls ended up losing 2- 0. Even with the loss, one of our players, Danielle Marder has taken on the role of libero. In her first game as the libero she made it look easy with making all substitutions and playing the back row beautifully.
After that game, the high school team traveled to Elgin twice to take on Fox Valley Lutheran and Westminster Christian. At our game with Fox Valley we were missing our starting setter, Olivia Ragan as well as some of our other key players. The older Fox Valley team won that game. For the Westminster game we finally had everyone back, but with little practice time to get used to each other, they fell once again to an experienced and strong Westminster team.
The girls are about to start league play this week and are looking forward to a good year in league play! The team is now whole, and looking to make some THUNDER!
The middle school girls have traveled to play Roycemore. Our B team started slow losing the first game but rallied to win the second and force a third and deciding game, which they were able to win and take the match. Team A struggled to find their cohesiveness on the court and could not put together any sort of rally, eventually losing both games. We look forward to having a great 2007- 2008 season! Please come out and support your teams!
UPCOMING GAMES: High School Girls
• Wednesday, September 12th at Northtown Academy vs Northtown Academy, 4:30PM
• Thursday, September 13th at Providence St. Mel vs Providence St. Mel, 5:00PM Middle School Girls
• Tuesday, September 18th at Ancona vs Ancona, 4:00PM
• Wednesday, September 19th Home vs Roycemore, 3:30PM
GO THUNDER!
Christian Schnell, Athletic Director
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community announcements
welcome to the world: Former Early Childhood Assistant, Christina Assirati, gave birth to a baby girl on September 6th. Welcome to the world, Isabella Assirati! Our best wishes to the family.
get psyched: Janet Oliver, neurodevelopmental specialist from Plan for Learning near Minneapolis, will be in Chicago again September 20, 21, and 22. She will be available to do reflex integration screening and follow-up sessions at a private home near the Chicago Waldorf School. The cost is $95 for a 1 ½ hours screening. Go to their website for more information, or contact Margaret McGuire at 773.828.8460 for an appointment.
what a doll: Traditional Waldorf baby doll workshop will start on Monday, September 17, after afternoon pick (3:15PM) in Mrs. Driscoll’s room. The workshop will take place on Monday afternoons for approximately 6 weeks. For more information please contact Mrs. Driscoll.
she drums: On Saturday, September 15th, come join the 11th annual Earth Dance 2007 – The H20m Project – A Synchronized Global Event Healing the Earths Water with Sound, Intention, Dance, Drums & Puppetry! Celebrate peace and healing at the world’s largest dance party with over 300,000 participants in 58 countries on the planet!
The event begins at 5:30PM at Lake Michigan at Sheridan Road & Lake Street in Evanston. Please bring a picnic dinner (some healthy snacks will be provided). At 6:00PM please join us for the Prayers for Peace & H20m.
There will be performances by Wisdom Roots Puppetry, storyteller Mark Kate from the North Park Nature Center, D.E.V.A., Meg Anderson’s Water Body Dance, Louise Cloutier singing sea songs and more!
At 7PM we will have free-form dancing to an eclectic mix of world beat music. At 9:30PM there will be a closing circle water blessing dance performance movement by Meg Anderson. We encourage everyone to bring water from where they live to be blessed.
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newsletter submissions
• Deadline for all material is Friday 3:00pm.
• Submissions should be emailed to Stefanie Safran and are subject to editing if longer than one paragraph. Written submissions may also be handed in at the front desk.
• If you would like to receive the newsletter by email, send your email address to Stefanie Safran.
• If you have any questions, call Stefanie Safran in the Development Office at 773.828.8457.