Z++October+2007

School Life Committee  11/6/07 The meeting was called to order in the Lower School at 7:40 p.m. after a pot-luck meal at 7:00 and settling in. Present: Barbara Conger, Mary DeCoster (convener), Leon Ikenberry, Elana Jaffe, Martha Klopfer, Dick Marr, Hugh Meriwether, Laura Shmania, Kathy Schenley, and Angela Zoltners Regrets: Charlie Layman Mary DeCoster read guidance from the Mark Kuhn, clerk of the Board of Trustees about the purpose of School Life Committee “to nurture the Quaker character of the school, with special attention to the School’s connection with the Meetings.” A question was raised regarding US representation on the Committee. A search for US student representation is ongoing. Unit summaries were delivered from each of the school divisions. CHES—Staff have read “The Power of Play” by David Elkind and are sharing it with parents. Butterfly Class (3-4 year olds) was visited by the Chapel Hill Fire Department. They’ve gone on a variety of nature walks and will take a trip to the Botanical Gardens. The Dragonfly Class (5 year olds) visited the Duke Primate Center and will next begin a unit on the Cherokee People. CES—Went to dig potatoes which led to cooking adventures. They made potato soup which then led to a soup making unit. This is an example of emergent curriculum. They’ve also been working on making tie-dye and stuffed pillows. Lower School—See below. In addition, it was pointed out that the tragic death of LS Music Teacher Greg Taylor had made this one of the hardest beginning of years ever for LS staff. Interviews are underway to fill his position. MS—Block scheduling (occasional 75 minute periods) is happening and working out well. Block scheduling gives opportunity for in-depth discussions, project time, and lab time. This happens roughly every third week. Service Day will be 11/12 and will be done by advisee group. The foreign language curriculum will also undergo a change with additional levels of Spanish classes added. The plays in MS this year will be “The Tempest” in the winter and “Our Town” in the spring. US—The entire US went to Washington, DC on 11/2. Students broke up into smaller groups and toured a variety of sites and museums. A CFS graduate currently working for Rep. David Price gave the tour of the Capitol. Students are also about to begin their winter trimester of classes. PSA—The PSA is up and running with a variety of subcommittees at work. Several community-wide events are being planned including the annual Book Fair, a parent dance, and a community read. Discussion before and after these presentations centered on whether the time allocated to these summaries could be better utilized if the reports were circulated before the meeting. The consensus arrived at was to e-mail the reports beforehand, thereby trying to reduce the time for oral reports, but keep the personal presentations and follow-up questions/responses. The reports could be disseminated to school personnel through ‘First Class’ and to the other members through individual e-mail. It was suggested that occasional 8:00-8:30 a.m. worship gatherings overseen by the School Life Committee at school should be explored. In the past, these have been organized during periods of crisis. Several committee members felt that it would be useful to have that happen without a precipitating crisis. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> The dry creek that students encountered in one of their nature quests led to some discussion by the committee about exploring further the condition of the wells on campus and ways, if any, of determining their sustainability. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> The endowment fund for Quaker families was described in the report from the Development Office. An endowment for Teachers of Foreign Language has also been established. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> The next meeting will be on 12/4/07 at 7:00-8:30 in the same Lower School location. There will be no January meeting. There was feeling expressed that rotating the venue of future meetings would be welcomed. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> At 8:55 the meeting closed with silence. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Minutes by Dick Marr <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Lower School – early fall 2007 Unit theme for the year: “Inventioneering” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> All unit events: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Field Day – using less water was a challenge <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Noorin visited to tell about our sister school in Tob Chi Afghanistan. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Interest Groups began in mid-September <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Halloween – hayrides, parade, teachers’ play <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Gym classes with Alex and Ginny <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Lower School students settle in as a whole unit on Monday mornings. Classes take turns leading all in a song before we head off to begin the academic week. On Wednesdays the Lower School gathers for Meeting for Worship from 10:35 – 10:50. Students work together to generate queries for the group. A recent query was: “When I have a strong feeling inside, how do I express it without hurting anyone physically or emotionally?” <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> The younger classes have begun having Spanish classes with Natasha. This year’s Spanish focus is on the land and peoples of Guatemala. During Design Tech work, Charlie is introducing students to the safe use of tools and the wonders of electric circuits. Both classes are counting off the first 100 days of school on special calendars. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Sky Class has spent the early fall giving attention to aspects of friends and community – listening, taking turns, making choices (such as signing up for Centers), consensus (deciding on names for groups), and tone of voice when speaking to others. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> River Class often employs role plays to help students look at behavioral issues. Recent role plays have featured how to tag gently during a game, comments on another’s lunch, bragging, how to have a conference with another child. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> Both older classes took field trips with Betsy to Oak View County Park to learn about the history of cotton in NC. This trip was a lead-in to their study of fibers in art. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

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