New City School

The School Picnic is Tuesday, 4-7pm, for adults and kids and alums. It's free, thanks to the P.O., with rides, games, music, and food. Info follows: School Picnic info  (This is also on our website.) Here's a stormy thought: If we postpone the picnic due to bad weather, it will be rescheduled to Wednesday, June 2.

Our graduation is Thursday at 10am. Even if you don't have a sixth grade child, you're invited to join us (though you may have to stand). It's a wonderful ceremony, very kid-focused and fun. I wish we could have prospective parents see a New City School graduation; there's no doubt they would enroll their children here. (No, this isn't a photo from graduation. It's of our new MacLab in the art room. These computers were donated to us by a parent who is excited about the ways we can use technology in art. So are we!)

Have you checked out the totem poles on Westminster Avenue?

From Shannah, our art/spatial teacher: Totem poles are used in many cultures to recount familiar legends, clan lineages, or notable events. Each third grade class made a totem sculpture from individual cylinders of clay using symbols to represent themselves. In this way, they have made a powerful collective visual account of themselves as individuals and as a third grade class. The totems are displayed outside our north entrance for the next week, so enjoy them while they last!

Tuesday at 6pm, while at the picnic, please come to cheer...

Laurie Falk and Nina Nichols for 5 years at New City School, Jami Dix for a decade, Tobie Taylor Hudson and Joyce Lanos for 15 years, Susie Burge for a score of years, and Carla Mash-Duncan for 25 big ones! I'll award them their Griffin Pins just outside the dining hall, in front of Spike. He'll be cheering them too.

How do you teach the personal intelligences?

Here's one example from a first grade shared reading activity. Students (aka Peter Pan) were asked to depict an emotion while their classmates practiced reading their facial expressions. Those working to read the others were developing their interpersonal intelligence, and those portraying an emotion were thinking about their emotions and behavior, developing their intrapersonal intelligence.

Of course, this activity, alone, doesn't mean that kids' personal intelligences will develop, just as focusing on the personal intelligences on the first page of our Progress Report doesn't guarantee it either. Over time, though, a focus on helping students know themselves and understand others makes a difference.

New City Art Sale at our Picnic

From Shannah, art/spatial teacher: The fifth grade will be sponsoring a photography sale at our picnic from 4-6pm. They are selling their beautiful photography in a postcard format. These postcards are professionally printed on heavy card stock and are a wonderful way to send a special message to your friends and family while supporting these young artists too! The cost of each postcard is $1. Proceeds will help offset the cost of printing the photographs and of course your support will let the fifth grade artists know that their work is valued and appreciated.

NCS Chess 2010-2011 Season

From Bob Schmidt: The Chess Team is growing and evolving. We HOPE to move to Wednesday after school so that we will not conflict with Girls on the Run.

For 2010-2011, kids will choose one of two levels of effort:
One level brings back the original team; kids in grades 2-6 will play with the assistance of coaches for about six weeks and will compete in the Red Rook tournament. Kids will meet a total of about 13 times. This is about one-half of last year’s program and will be proportionately less expensive.

A second level is a step further than last year. Kids grades 3-6 must agree to take notation for the first 20 moves of their team games, and note one game outside of team meetings each week. They will represent NCS in the same 3 tournaments we played this last year: Red Rook, Gateway, and State. They will play the same schedule as last year, from September through February; a total of about 32 competitive games. Because the cost of state will not be shared across 40 kids, you will see an increase in cost for this second track.

Please note: participation in any tournament is up to you; we are pricing the above tracks based on the competition shown above. You are free to compete as you wish; you will have to pay a la carte for additional competition and travel.

Volunteers are needed. Beyond all the reasons to volunteer, there are a couple of notes on our chess team. First of all, you do not need to know chess; we are going to have chess coaches from Metro and Crossroads teaching. Secondly, we are going to have a co-op program established such that part of the fee for chess will be forgiven for parents who help out more than once. Finally, chess is for 2nd – 6th except if the parent is a volunteer.

The cost of the two tracks and the co-op discount is not yet determined. Maybe it is just me, but it is as complicated as some business plans to get this figured out. It will depend on the total number of kids and which track they take.

If you are planning on being a part of the chess team this next year, please send an email to Bob Schmidt (robertphilipschmidt@yahoo.com) and Tobie Taylor (ttaylor-hudson@newcityschool.org). Please give me an idea of what your child is thinking about the two tracks.

Longitude, Latitude, Plains, and Populations!

From Laurie Falk, our counselor and Geography Guru: Congratulations to our Geography Bee champions, Linda’s 6th grade Social Studies Class of Rebekah Greenspan, Lee Hankin, Rex Serituk, and Zane Spencer. Lee, Rebecca, and Zane are pictured here (Rex was unavailable for the photo).

 A close second was Susie’s 5th grade Block 2 class of Henry Abbott, Oona Gaffney, Donovan Lindsley, and Aidan Reid. And a tight third was Carla’s 4th grade class of Isabel Brieler, Dylan Cassilly, Cody Krutzsch, and Selena Steinbach.

Our Pridefest Booth

From Sheryl, our Diversity Coordinator: At New City School, we celebrate diversity under a broad umbrella. To further that effort, we will again host a booth at Pridefest in Tower Grove Park on Saturday, June 26 and Sunday, June 27. Our LGBT Parent Group (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) organizes this effort each year. Our booth serves as a way for us to strengthen our bonds as a school community, offering support to our LGBT families while connecting with outside resources to provide information and education for us all. It also offers us an opportunity to educate prospective parents and the broader community about our dedication to diversity and family support.

Please let me know if you will be able to help staff the booth. If you would like more information about the event, contact me or check out www.pridestl.org.

Portfolio Night

I hope that you found last week's Portfolio Night an enjoyable and instructive experience. My guess is it was enjoyable: How could sitting with your child and looking at the year's growth be anything but fun? My hope is that it was instructive, and you were able to learn a bit about your child's growth, interests, and observations.

An important part of the portfolio process is student reflection. Through selecting and reviewing their work, we hope that they will gain a better sense of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as recounting what was easy and hard, and why. Some of this comes as students review and prepare their portfolios prior to sharing them with parents. Here's a photo of that happening in the first grade.

Peter Martin

Our own Peter Martin, piano player for the first grade's PETER PAN, and dad of Daniel and Rachel, is performing next weekend. It's June 4th, 8pm at Sheldon Concert Hall. Peter's trio will be playing the music of Billy Strayhorn, Thelonious Monk and Stevie Wonder. Families are encouraged to bring their children! Discounted tickets are available at www.metrotix.com/promotions and the Promo Code is: PMTRIO. Tickets can be purchased as well at any MetroTix outlet, at 534-111, or at the Fox Box Office without a handling fee. Mention the promo code when ordering.

Alum Success!

From Ladue High: Alexandra Mitchell and Emily Hahn were inducted into the Ladue Horton Watkins High School chapter of National Honor Society.

From Crossroads College Prep: Laura Pilgram was named the school's Post-Dispatch Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Alums on the chess team which finished sixth in the national K-12 Championship in Columbus, OH were Benton Birch, Hana Mueller, Josh Taylor, Asaan Moore, and Ben Williams.

From Case Western Reserve School of Law: Corena Gamble ('93) graduated Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif. She will work in Cleveland at Tucker, Ellis, and West.

From Memphis: Beth Kuhl ('92) completed The "Memphis in May Triathlon" in 2 hours and 32 minutes. Beth holds a Ph.D. in psychology and is working in a post-doctoral program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Thanks for a wonderful year!

Progress Reports and standardized tests (for grades 1-6) will be sent home Thursday. The final parent-teacher conference is less than mandatory; sometimes teachers ask to meet and sometimes parents ask to meet. Please contact your child's teacher if you'd like a year-end chat. Monday is set aside for this, and we're pleased to do so.

Congratulations to 4th grader Isabel Brieler. She and I stalemated in the chess tournament this week (a game carried over from last week). Actually, she played so well, I was pleased to walk away without a loss!

Please return your e-SPRING PARENT SURVEY. Let me know if your copy was eaten by the e-dog and you need an e-another. Thanks!

Remember, next Friday, June 4, is our LAST DAY OF SCHOOL. Good news: August 30 is just around the corner! 

The photo is from one of the 5th grade postcards that will be for sale at the picnic.

TOM
Thomas R. Hoerr, Ph.D.
Head of School
trhoerr@newcityschool.org

Quote of the week, from Franklin P. Jones: "Honest criticism is hard to take, particularly from a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or a stranger."