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Chicago Friends School eNews | December 2016
IN THIS ISSUE
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Message from the Head of School:
Pausing for Abundance and Gratitude
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Karen Carney,
Head of School
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Every Monday, Chicago Friends School starts the week with community meeting, which gathers students, staff, parents, and friends of the school for a time of reflection, conversation, and communal silence.
On the Monday before Thanksgiving, many community members spoke about the things that they are thankful for. One student expressed thanks that she "has a nice school with nice teachers," and a parent expressed thanks that he is able to start his week with the stillness and togetherness of community meeting. I'm grateful for these things, too.
I hope you will join me in this opportunity to stop, be still, and reflect for a moment on the abundance that surrounds us. Every day at Chicago Friends School, I am witness to the abundant energy, creativity, and curiosity the children bring to school. I see student understandings and skills grow in leaps and bounds.
I see the abundance of talent, patience, thoughtfulness, and expertise of our teachers. I benefit from the skills and dedication of our many volunteers. And I am grateful for the abundant generosity of donors who support the school's mission.
In this newsletter, you will find examples of all the things about Chicago Friends School for which we are grateful. Several of the articles highlight this year's instructional theme of
Trash and Treasure, an exploration of what we use, what we value, what we discard, and how we can be the best stewards of what we have. It is also an exploration of what we enjoy in abundance, what others may lack, and what we have to give. Other articles chronicle the gifts of spirit and talent given to us by volunteers and friends of the school.
Our school is fortunate to be at the center of a loving community of supporters and friends. We hope that through you, this letter reaches a wider circle of people who embrace our mission. On behalf of all the children, families, and staff, I thank you for your interest in and support of Chicago Friends School.
We hope you enjoyed a happy Thanksgiving.
- Karen Carney,
Head of School
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A Full Plate?
Using Food to Explore Commerce, Production, and Waste
The 2016-2017 instructional theme at Chicago Friends School is Trash and Treasure, which includes an exploration of consumption and its consequences. We began with food. Each student collaged food photos onto three plates, one for each daily meal, to visualize how much food our school community eats in a day -- a lot!
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Harvesting apples to make cider.
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Lessons about where food comes from started with harvesting vegetables from the school garden. We also visited an apple orchard to pick apples and press cider. The grade K-2 students visited a grocery story to discover where fruits and vegetables are grown, and the grade 3-5 students did internet research about the origins of grains and legumes. Each class shared their results and put pictures of different foodstuffs onto a map of the world.
The K-2 classrooms also investigated how food is transformed between the farm and the table. We did simple food processing: popping corn, churning butter, cooking applesauce, and boiling down syrup from sugar cane. They compared these processes with a more complicated one -- making tortilla chips. Then they ranked common foods by amount of processing and nutritional value.
Each group also considered food waste. The 3-5 students weighed the food waste they produced as a class for two weeks and graphed the results. The K-2 classrooms learned to compost food waste in the school's worm composter, which will fertilize our garden next year.
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Music teacher Sarah Montzka
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Music to Move and Inspire
Walk through the halls of Chicago Friends School on a Monday afternoon and you will hear a myriad of sounds: the strain of an Iroquois lullaby, a rhythmic poem about leaves, or subdivided clapping to live piano improvisation. Monday is music day at Chicago Friends School.
The music curriculum at Chicago Friends School is largely based on the work of Swiss music educator, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, combined with Edwin Gordon's Music Learning Theory. Music instructor, Sarah Montzka, is a faculty member at the Music Institute of Chicago and one of a few Dalcroze specialists in the Midwest.
Sarah explains, "Children love to move! Dalcroze-based classes use movement as a means of exploring music, which is perfect for the younger grades. For instance, instead of simply labeling sounds as 'high' or 'low,' children imagine they are walking in an apple orchard, reaching up high to pick an apple from a tree whenever they hear a high note. If the sound is low, they reach to grab a fallen apple from the ground."
In the older grades, the students refine their understanding of musical concepts, such as learning to hear the difference between simple and compound meters or singing in two-part harmony. The students also spend a portion of classes listening to and discussing musical examples.
Sarah adds, "This year I was inspired by the school's theme of
Trash and Treasure. We are currently examining the use of folk melodies in classical music -- a musical 'recycling' of sorts. One such example is 'Hoe Down' from Aaron Copland's 'Rodeo,' which features 'Bonaparte's Retreat,' a 19th century fiddle tune."
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Students enjoy seeing their inventions on display in a real toy store.
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Invent-a-Toy Project
In early
September, a local toy store, Toys et Cetera, placed a flyer in its window advertising an invent-a-toy display. In the spirit of our Trash and Treasure theme, the K-2 classes explored the contents of the school's recycling bin and brought in old or broken toys from home as they embarked on inventing their own toys or games.
Students brainstormed about what makes something a toy or game and what makes them fun. They drafted ideas and decided what materials they would need. While working on their inventions, students noticed that most toys and games require instructions, so they produced those as well. Finally, students created boxes that included the name of the toy or game, as well as photos of children playing with it.
The toys and games were submitted to Toys et Cetera, and the store showcased all of the inventions in their storefront, from board games to a walkie-talkie, from "Fashion Fun" box to a jetpack. The students were ecstatic to see their inventions in a real toy store and proud of the treasures they created from everyday "trash."
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Read-aloud time in the 3-5 classroom.
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Book Clubs: Getting to Know Author Mary Amato
Award-winning author Mary Amato has been the focus of book clubs in the grade 3-5 classroom. Each of four groups was assigned a different book by Amato. Because of the variety of Amato's writing, teacher Renata McAdams could select reading levels and stories best matched to each group while allowing for discussions between groups about the stories and the author's writing style.
Amato's book
Get Happy was the first read aloud book of the year, and a selection of her work was available in the classroom for free-choice reading.
Each group met weekly over the course of the study to talk about its book, answer questions, and eventually begin a final project. For example, the students reading a mystery story collaborated to write their own mystery. The writing projects have been as differentiated as the reading itself, including a focus on plot outlines and another on character development.
Curiosity about each other's books and projects emerged throughout this project, and Mary Amato has a classroom of new admirers.
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Day of Service:
Meals for The Night Ministry
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Children work together to prepare 100 meals for The Night Ministry.
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Chicago Friends School designated October 10 as a day of service, which was dedicated to supporting and learning about The Night Ministry. This Chicago nonprofit agency provides medical care, housing, food, and other services to adults and children struggling with homelessness and poverty.
In the morning, children made sandwiches and packed lunches for distribution from The Night Ministry's bus, which visits designated neighborhoods and offers food, counseling, and health care services on a regular schedule. In the afternoon the students visited the offices of the agency.
A Night Ministry staff member led the children through a discussion about what causes homelessness, what effect homelessness has on children, how the agency serves people, and how the school's contribution would help.
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One of the kindergarten students interviews her grandfather.
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Grandparents and
Special Friends Day
On Friday,
November 4, Chicago Friends School hosted its first Grandparents and Special Friends Day. We opened our classrooms for our guests to learn about what happens during the school day.
Guests participated in activities, such as math games and collaborative art projects. Some guests and children read together and learned more about each other through interviews. The K-1 class even put on a singing performance!
It was wonderful to see the relationships across generations, as well as the values and skills everyone contributed. We ended the morning with sharing our community snack and some good conversation.
The event gave our special guests a glimpse into the children's classrooms, and the students were so proud to show them off. At the end, all we heard was the refrain, "When will the next special friends day be?"
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Upcoming Open Houses
Chicago Friends School is hosting two open house events to introduce prospective families to the school. Each open house provides parents an opportunity to meet the staff and current parents, ask questions about the school's program and curriculum, and examine the classrooms and examples of children's projects. Open houses will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the following dates:
- Saturday, December 10, 2016
- Saturday, April 22, 2017
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#GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday is a globally celebrated "day of giving" to promote charitable organizations during the holiday season. As you plan end-of-year contributions to nonprofit organizations, please consider a gift to Chicago Friends School. Your donation enables the school to provide need-based tuition assistance that is integral to fulfilling the school's mission. Please donate and thank you.
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