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February 13, 2008
Volume 1, Issue 6
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FROM THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
This month I would like to share some updates on initiatives that came out of our recently adopted Long Range Plan.
1. New daily schedule--At the end of January I accepted a new daily schedule for the middle and upper schools. With the help of an independent school management consultant, a committee of faculty/administrators under the leadership of Vice President of Academic Affairs, Jeff Walkington, developed a schedule that allows for a more balanced day and addresses many of the issues with our current schedule. A sample of the new schedule and an FAQ document about the schedule have been posted on Edline.
2. Communications--Based on some input we received from our communications audit, we have engaged a market research firm to conduct some external surveys. The firm, JTWack, is the same firm that we worked with during our long range planning process, and we have retained them to reach out to Latin's various constituents to learn about where Latin fits in the competitive school landscape and what are our unique benefits. Parents will be an important voice in this research, so look out for an e-mail asking you to participate in a brief but important survey!
Sincerely,
Don Firke
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IN THE NEWS
Lower School Director Named
Longtime Lower School teacher Sally Ott was recently named as the new Lower School Director.
"After interviewing a wide range of candidates, I am confident that Sally has the experience, the knowledge, and, most importantly, the heart to be a strong leader to our lower school faculty, a diplomatic ambassador to our lower school parent body, and a caring attendant to our lower school students," said Head of School Don Firke in announcing the appointment on February 6.
Ms. Ott has been a part of Latin since 1985. She has served the school as a classroom teacher, Reading Resource Coordinator, and Language Arts Curriculum Coordinator. She also has participated in the New Faculty and Assistant Teacher Seminar Program and in the Academic and Faculty Councils.
"I see this opportunity as a great challenge, and am excited to work with the students, teachers and parents in a new capacity," Ott said of her new role.
Ms. Ott holds a Certificate of Advanced Study in administration from National Louis University, a master's of education degree in special education from University of Washington, and a bachelor's degree in elementary education from University of Oregon. In addition to many other professional awards, Sally was the recipient of Latin's Outstanding Educator Award in 1994.
Hogan Visits Hogan Commons
 Former Head of School Frank Hogan, and wife Nancy, dropped by on February 11, to have lunch at the Hogan Commons cafeteria in the new Middle School building.
The Hogan Commons was dedicated to Frank at the opening of the Middle School this past fall in honor of his 12 years of leadership and the vision behind the new building.
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ACADEMICS
Election Day Fever Hits Latin
Election Day fever spread through all three divisions of the The Latin School on Super Tuesday. Students in various classes learned about the importance of voting, discussed the issues, and participated in mock elections.
Members of the Middle School politics club sponsored a division-wide mock election. With 223 ballots cast, the majority of Middle Schoolers favored democratic hopeful Illinois Sen. Barack Obama although they also were encouraged to cast a vote for one of the Republican candidates.
"Holding the election made the Middle School students feel like they have a voice in the process even if they aren't able to vote," said Politics Club advisor and American Studies Teacher Rob Wellen. "The hope is that by exposing our students to the process early, they will want to continue to be part of it as adults."
Thanks to Kate Chaviano, TJ Finch, Hedy Gutfreund, Alex Kling, Isabel Mitchell, Rohan Pavuluri, Mitchell Stone, and Ben Tannenbaum, who planned and ran the Middle School mock election.
 In the Lower School students also were introduced to the voting process.
Third graders voted for one of the four candidates and discussed what political issue was most important to them. Barack Obama was the clear favorite and ending the war was the issue the students were most concerned about.
Even the first graders got into the spirit. After discussing the importance of voting, the children voted by secret ballot for a special activity or favorite book and proudly donned "I voted today!" stickers.
Meanwhile, 18 Upper School students acting as delegates for the State Illinois returned from participating in the University School of Milwaukee's Campaign 2008-a daylong simulation of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions on February 4.
"It was an exhilarating day," said American Civilization teacher Stephanie Stephens, who accompanied the students. "The suspense of finding out who was winning and the ability, through their work, to shape the results was thrilling."
Stephens said her students came away with plans to hold election events at Latin in the fall.
Chinese New Year Celebrated
In honor of the Lunar New Year, Flat Top Grill invited third grade students to decorate its restaurant on North Avenue. The third graders learned about the lunar new year traditions celebrated in Asian communities around the world, and in their art classes practiced Chinese calligraphy with bamboo brushes and ink.  They created 12 colorful banners, each one representing an animal from the zodiac calendar, that will be on display at Flat Top throughout the spring and summer.
Many lower school families watched the lion dance and participated and other festivities at the restaurant on February 7. However, there is still plenty of time to celebrate the "Year of the Rat" at Flat Top Grill and enjoy the beautiful paintings and decorative banners by our third grade artists!
Students learning Chinese in the Middle and Upper Schools had an opportunity to get a taste of Chinese culture on February 6 and 7, by watching a lion dance, participating in a martial arts workshop and dumpling making party.
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SERVICE
Latin Alumna Featured in Documentary About Sudan
Alice Baumgartner, a former Latin School student who now attends Yale University, is featured in an award-winning documentary about Sudan.
Facing Sudan, by Chicago filmmaker and teacher Bruce David Janu is about average people trying to make a difference in the war torn region of Darfur and features interviews with Alice and the moving images she was able to gather through her activism.
The film recently was recognized in the Best Documentary category at the Landlocked Film Festival and the Illinois International Film Festival.
As one of the leaders of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur while at Latin, Alice came up with the idea of documenting the situation in Darfur through the eyes of the region's most vulnerable victims: The children. She worked with the college cable network MTVU to bring two-dozen disposable cameras to children living in a refugee camp in Chad so that they could take photos of their lives.
These stunning images became a part of a traveling exhibit to raise awareness about the region and are now part of Facing Sudan.
"The pictures Alice has of these children---taken by children---really highlight the human tragedy that is Darfur," said Janu, explaining his reasons for including them in the film.
View the Facing Sudan interview with Alice.
Blood Drive
The next LifeSource Blood Drive at Latin will be held 8 a.m. - 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 5 in the Upper School fifth floor gym. Any eligible adult in the Latin community is welcome to participate. For more information, please contact Tim Cronister at (312) 582-6469.
Third Graders Going Green
Third grade students in Ms. Johnson's class have committed to reading 100 books by Earth Day, April 22, in an effort to help save 100 acres of rainforest in Ecuador.
The program, organized in conjunction with Scholastic Books Classrooms Care program and Rainforest Alliance, Adopt a Rainforest, helps increase environmental awareness among students while motivating them to read.
Meanwhile, the third graders also are talking about ways to make their classroom more "green" and have made environmentally-friendly New Year's Resolutions such as taking shorter showers, carpooling to school, and recycling paper and plastic.
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SPORTS
Road to Fitness
To continue
in its efforts to promote healthy living, The Latin School is holding a
fitness fair for Middle and Upper school students and faculty and staff
on Tuesday, February 26, from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in the Upper School
building's roof gym. There will be a variety of activities including
workout sessions with personal trainers and workshops in martial arts,
Pilates, and dance. Participants can sample healthy foods from Whole
Foods Market and pick up information about local gyms, clubs and
activities, nutrition, cardiovascular health, and exercise physiology.
There also will be raffles giving away local food, fitness services and
pedometers.
Volleyball ClubSign
up now for Latin's volleyball clubs for third through eighth grade
students Saturdays at the Lower School gym from April 5 to May 17. Grades 3-5: 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. Grades 6-8 : 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cost for the entire session is $105. For more information, contact Coach Liz Tortorello-Nelson at (312) 582-6516. |
RECENT EVENTS
Middle School Read In
 Inspired
by a student suggestion, everyone in the Middle School stopped what
they were doing, settled into a comfortable spot, and brought out a
book for the Middle School's first-ever Read In on February 6.
Students,
teachers, and staff were allowed to pick any kind of book from fiction
and non-fiction, to reference books and graphic novels. The only
requirements were no magazines or newspapers and silence.
The event was a huge
success for both teachers and students. "For our students the event
modeled that it is fun to read and showed them that school considers
reading valuable enough to take time out of a busy day just to read,"
said MS/US Librarian Barbara Etchingham. "For teachers, this was a
great community building opportunity and allowed us to spend time with
our students in a different way. "
Latin Math Contest Growing
More
than 300 math whizzes from 17 Chicago area and Wisconsin schools
gathered at Latin on Jan. 26 to participate in the
annual interscholastic math contest for fifth through eighth
graders. The event, "Find the Rate in 2008," was the largest
gathering since Latin took over hosting the math contest nine years ago.
Students spent
the morning taking math tests in individual and team rounds and socialized and discussed the problems over a pizza lunch
and snacks.
"This event is a great opportunity for students
to do mathematics with peers from other schools outside the classroom,
be challenged, and be recognized for their accomplishments," said math
teacher Warren Hawley, who organizes the math contest.
This year
seventh grader Brian Dhingra earned a second place individual award in
grade level competitions and the seventh grade team of Kristen Garrett,
Tom Kloehn, Ian Spear, and Brian Dhingra placed fifth out of a field of
20 teams.
Congratulations also to the fifth, sixth, and eighth graders who participated.
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FEBRUARY
Wednesday, Feb. 13
Grade eleven potluck
8:30 a.m. Parents' Council LS divisional meeting
6:15 p.m. Winter MS sports awards night
Friday, Feb. 15
US PE spring independent study applications due
No classes, all grades, Faculty In-Service Day
Sunday, Feb. 17
Buildings closed
Monday, Feb. 18
Presidents Day: No classes
Tuesday, Feb. 19 - Friday, Feb. 22
US Winter Carnival
Tuesday, Feb. 19
9th/10th parents college counseling meeting
Wednesday, Feb. 20
6:30 p.m. Parent Meeting about Academics--Upper School
7:30 p.m. Sidewalk Astronomy - lunar eclipse viewing at the corner of North and Clark
Friday, Feb. 22
US PE second trimester ends
8:00 p.m. US Winter Ball
Saturday, Feb. 23
Scholarship Dinner
Monday, Feb. 25
US PE third trimester begins
Wednesday, Feb. 27 - Friday, Feb. 29
NAIS annual conference
Wednesday, Feb. 27
US delayed start
7:45 a.m. American Math Contest
Thursday, Feb. 28
3rd quarter ends
Friday, Feb. 29
Grade report writing: No classes MS/US
MARCH
Saturday, Mar. 1
SAT only
Sunday, Mar. 2 Buildings closed
5:00 p.m. Winter US sports banquet
Monday, Mar. 3
Fourth quarter begins
8:00 a.m. MS/US grades due
Tuesday, Mar. 4
8:15 a.m. Parents' Council MS Divisional Meeting
3:00 p.m. MS/US division meetings
Thursday, Mar. 6 - Friday, Mar. 7
Pirates of Penzance
Thursday, Mar. 6
MS Parent-Teacher Conference
Friday, Mar. 7
8:15 a.m. Parents' Council Executive Committee Meeting
Monday, Mar. 10-14
US Project Week
Monday, Mar. 10
8:15 a.m. Parents' Council Executive Committee Meeting
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PHOTO GALLERY
View photographs and videos of past events in our photo gallery.
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PIRATES OF PENZANCE
We hope you can attend the MS performance of Pirates of Penzance March 6 and 7 in the Wrigley
Theatre at 7 p.m.
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SUMMER AT LATIN
Correction: Under the Summer trips information, the grades listed for
Phil and Ed's Excellent Adventure are incorrect. It should read grades
6-8. We apologize for the error.
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BLUE BOOK CHANGES
To view changes in the Blue Book (BB), please visit the Head of School section in Edline. Please e-mail registrar@latinschool.org with changes in the printed information. Unauthorized Use of Blue BookMany families have reported receiving unsolicited business mailings through their addresses listed in the Latin Blue Book. Please remember, as noted on page one of the Blue Book, "this publication is solely for communication of school-related matters among members of the school community. Its use for any other purpose, particularly solicitation or commercial matters, is not authorized ...." Thank you for following this important school guideline. |
The Latin School of Chicago
info@latinschool.org
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