February 19th, 2010
Calendar
(Athletics Schedule Available Here)
February
Winterim groups announced
Monday, February 22
NAIS Conference
Wednesday-Friday, February 24-26
March
Regional Robotics Meet
Thursday-Saturday, March 4-6
Spring Concert
Tuesday, March 9, 7:30 pm
Gambol Auction!
Saturday, March 13
Last day of Winter Trimester
(classes meet)
Monday, March 15
Winterim
(no classes)
Tueday-Friday, March 16-19
Spring Break
March 22-26
Classes Resume
Monday, March 29
Future Date Change:
Prom will occur on May 8, not May 1, due to venue availability
And just a reminder for all days of the week ~ please feel free to leave messages, day or night, about your child's attendance. Contact Molly Grove, Upper School Administrative Assistant, 503-297-1894, ext. 315. Thanks!
Winterim
Winterims, Breakaways, and Experiential Days will be happening in a few weeks. It is one of the few times in our Upper School year when we all get to collaborate on learning events that are both atypical and intentionally experiential. These include trips to the San Juan Islands, lava beds, Ashland, and The Olympic Peninsula. There are also opportunities to learn Tango, build a chariot, study the films of Hitchcock, the list is endless!
Experiential learning isn’t strictly relegated to our Winterim program. After all, there are all kinds of ways that we can challenge the traditional, passive, models of pedagogy in our everyday classroom environments. There is a lot of learning by doing here. What we want to resist at all costs is what Paolo Freire refers to as education as ‘…an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor.’
What makes our Winterim program so unique in this respect is the primary role that students play in planning and implementing them. We do this on purpose so that they are active, not only in learning about any of a number of exciting topics, but many of them can become leaders and learn to solve problems that arise in the process of organizing the activities. It’s a great experiential learning piece in and of itself. I am grateful that you support these programs as parents and see them as pivotal to our mission. We think they are an integral part of what we want to teach our students.
Michael
If you come to ONE Viewfinder Film this year, let this one be the one
This month we are featuring two programs that provoke thought around issues of equity and tolerance.
Friday, February 19 at 6:30 PM in the Vollum Humanities Center
For Adults and Older Students: Long Way from Home – a film about three girls from diverse backgrounds that attend independent schools and are confronted with the discrepancies between the culture at school and the one at home.
For Younger Audiences (age 5 and up:) Rights from the Heart – a series of short, animated films inspired by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child.
Free popcorn, coffee and tea
Complimentary childcare for potty-trained children aged 3 and above.
Re-enrollment contracts due today
Re-enrollment contracts for the 2010-11 school year will be mailed on January 27. Signed contracts must be postmarked or hand delivered to Toad Hall by this afternoon. This deadline is firm. We cannot guarantee a spot for your child(ren) if we do not receive the contract by February 19.
If your child is not returning, please return the enrollment decline form by February 19.
Please call Traci Jernigan Rossi ’83 in the admission office if you have questions about re-enrollment, 503-297-1894 ext. 346. Questions concerning payment options should be directed to Mary Ann Rogers in the business office at 503-203-5114.
Garden Design Contest
The Garden Club is going to expand the existing garden behind the middle school, and we would like your design help. This is a contest soliciting your garden design ideas by February 22.
We want to add twelve more beds onto the existing five beds so that students, teachers, and parents can grow more vegetables for the Barn lunches. Hen in the Barn has requested the following: sunflower and lilies, basil, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes. Of course, beets, peas, and beans are welcome too! We also envision fruit trees or bushes, benches, garden art, and beautiful paths of some sort, lined with cedar chips.
Click on the following link to go to the “Blank Garden Image” PDF to download and print the file:
http://www.catlin.edu/system/files/page/Blank%20Garden%20Image.pdf
Gambol Auction News
Thank you Donors
Donations are closed. Thanks to the generosity of our donors we have fantastic auction items to offer. Look forward to more party and activity sign-ups than ever before, a full-bodied wine auction, and a live auction that will knock your socks off! Our catalog is going to print next week and we will preview the items on the website soon.
Registration
Organize a Table
If there is a specific group you would like to sit with at the Gambol, the auction office needs to know. Please fill out the Table Captain form and return to the auction office as soon as possible. Don’t have a group to sit with? No worries, we will make sure you have a great seat.
Volunteer Sign-up Open
Organizing a successful auction takes thoughtful preparation and dedication. Proceeds from the Gambol auction directly support our teachers and students. We rely on the generous volunteer support of our community to pull off this big party.
Pueblo a Pueblo trip to Cuba departs in three weeks
Humanitarian Donations desperately needed
A group of 32 Catlin Gabel high school students and four teachers will participate in a “People to People” humanitarian and educational trip to Cuba for 11 days, March 15-26.
The main purpose of the trip is humanitarian, with the students and their teachers carrying medical supplies, as well as school and athletic supplies for their Cuban counterparts. The letter they carry from the Cuban Ministry of Education will allow the group to visit schools and organizations, as well as health facilities that are outside of the “official” list of places for tourists to visit. During their 11 days in Cuba, the students will meet with Cuban health care officials, teachers, students, cultural leaders and politicians.
All 32 student travelers are studying Spanish l, and all will have a chance to speak the language with the Cuban people they meet. They will experience firsthand Cuban society, arts, and culture, which they have studied in class, and will perform at a school assembly. They will also have a chance to discuss US-Cuban relations with Dr. Carlos Alzugaray Treto, a former Cuban diplomat who serves as coordinator of international strategic studies at the Center for the Study of the United States (CESEU), and with a group of young student leaders.
The 2010 Pueblo a Pueblo trip to Cuba is seeking the following humanitarian donations:
Prescription medicines (2010 expiration), Anti-diarrhea medicines (Pepto Bismol, Lomotil), Anti-herpes medications, Antibiotics, Vitamins, Health Supplements (Vitamin C, Omega 3), Analgesics and anti-inflammatory (Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Aleve, Aspirin), Blood pressure medications, Antacids, Baby and children’s medicines and vitamins, Ear, nose, eye drops, Anti-flu, cough, cold medications, First Aid kits, Hotel toiletries, Personal hygiene supplies (toothpaste, soap bars, tooth brushes, floss, and lotions), Sports wear (uniforms and T-shirts) and sports equipment (for children and adults) (baseballs, gloves, basketballs, soccer balls, volley balls – deflated), School supplies (not paper or books), Computer flash drives (1GB, 2GB or higher), Cell phones (must be 900 Megahertz), Calculators, MP3 players
Please donate non-medicine items in box in Dant House. Medicines are being collected by Robert Villa and Upper School Librarian Sue Phillips.
Take Kindle for a spin
Overnight checkout available through IT department
The Information Technology department now has an Amazon Kindle available to families for overnight checkout to evaluate whether or not they might wish to purchase one. The IT office is located in the upper level of the Vollum Humanities Building. Please email
IT@catlin.edu if you wish to reserve the Kindle.
At this time, we do not anticipate formal school adoption of the Kindle or other electronic book reader, but we would like to support families that are interested in them.
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