Notes from the Headmistress for June and
July 2010
The final weeks in any school are packed
with end of the year activities and our school was no exception.
The goodbyes for us have a particular poignancy because so many
of the children will be moving on. The Fours and Fives wowed family and
friends with their productions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and
The Grouchy Ladybug -
complete with handmade sets and costumes.
Eric Carle, the author of both of these books, is one of the five
authors we focus on and all of his books are very familiar to the
children. The Very
Hungry Caterpillar beautifully illustrates the life cycle from
chrysalis to caterpillar to cocoon and to butterfly just as the children
in each of our classes do as the culmination of our science curriculum.
I must say that it never ceases to amaze even the teachers to be
privy to a process that can only be described as miraculous.
Even Benjamin Franklin mused on this when he said; “What is a
butterfly? At best he’s but
a caterpillar dressed.” Or Monica Shannon when she said: “Is a
Caterpillar Ticklish? Well
it’s always my belief – that he giggles as he wiggles – across a hairy
leaf.” What
better way to impress upon children the miracle that is all life than to
let them be close observers of this process as it unfolds and then to
release the butterflies into our beautiful and
newly restored courtyard garden.
It has always amused me that children so often prefer to call
them “flutterby” which seems a much more apt description.
After all where does one find the butter in a butterfly?
The Preschool celebrated the end of the
school year with a presentation of “Erin’s Nature’s Creatures.” This one
hour show which included large and small wild animals was followed by a
special lunch with their families in the gym.
Pictures from these events will shortly be added to our website.
Following the last class on the last day of
school, we hosted our second annual indoor/outdoor beach party.
Many thanks to Patti Knox and Cheri Smith for the wonderful job
they did planning a very successful event.
Special thanks to Joe Butler for providing the live music and to
Erica and Jon Goldman for their generous donation of Dillybars.
Our staff is complete for September and
Sarah Walter, who was an afternoon only teacher in our preschool
completing the year following Mrs. Knuepfer’s maternity leave, will be
joining us on a fulltime basis next year.
Sarah graduated Magna Cum Laude from the DePaul School of
Education and we are thrilled to have added her to our staff.
She will be working both in the morning toddler classes assisting
Judy Caraher and in the afternoon
Preschool assisting Sarah Allen.
We are delighted to welcome her. We would also like to introduce
Danielle Thompson who will be the new assistant Rector at St.
Chrysostom’s Church and will be the Day School Chaplain, and will
officiate at all of our chapel services. She is a graduate of Vanderbilt
and Sewanee and most importantly a new mother of an adorable
six-month-old son. Please join us is welcoming her into the St. Chrys’
community.
Our volunteer chairs for all of next years'
events are, Lisa Holstein, Susan Rogers and Kristin Wheatley and our
auction chairs are for next year Tory Arnold, Hadley Denny, Andrea Katz,
and Courtney Pitt. This
group and their new team was introduced and last years’ was recognized
and thanked at a cocktail reception on
Wednesday the 9th of June.
At this event I announced a new project about which you will be
hearing much over the coming years.
We have been selected to establish a long term partnership with
one of the neediest schools in the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti.
Roger Bowen, a wonderful and esteemed colleague who has had a
long-term commitment to Haiti, has written to me requesting that we
establish this partnership.
Jennifer Martay has agreed to work with me in establishing this project.
The name of our school
is St. Marc, Lilavois.
Our partner priest is Pere Fritz Valdema.
The Bishop of Haiti has given his approval for this project and I
cannot tell you how enormously excited I am about the limitless
opportunities that this presents to us.
Among many other things because the administrative costs of this
project will be “zero” , whatever we put into the project will have a
very direct and immediate impact upon the lives of these children.
We are actively seeking people who would like to be involved with
us on the project. This
collaborative effort is going to require a marshalling of resources by
many people and will involve among many other moveable parts, a small
delegation of us making a trip to Haiti.
Those of you who know our school well
are aware of our ardent desire to create an Episcopal School
serving children in grades k-8 within the city of Chicago.
Evidently God has chosen to answer our prayers – as he so often
does- with a variation on a theme – without saying no but rather “not
right now”. There will be
such a school but not on Dearborn Street,
rather in Lilavois.
I hope that you will keep this project, and all those who chose
to participate in it, in your prayers.
The School office is now closed for the
summer. The Day School email
account is monitored and phone messages are returned on a weekly basis.
Someone is always in the office on Wednesdays.
I wish each of you a happy and safe Summer
for yourselves and your families and do hope you will grant yourselves
the ultimate luxury of leisure and the enjoyment of each other’s
company.
Mary Ellen Christy