Why the Obamas Chose a Friends School

The Friends school world is abuzz with the news that the next First Family has chosen to enroll their children at Sidwell Friends School.

Take a few minutes to read this article on Time Magazine.com that does an excellent job of presenting the distinct philosophy and history of Friends schools: Why Sasha and Malia Will Go to Sidwell Friends.

Postscript, December 7: And read Obama Boosts Quaker Schools from the Daily Local News, which connects the Obama-Sidwell story to local Friends schools, including WCFS!

It's Book Fair Time

The annual WCFS Book Fair is on, and T. Ruth has once again collected extensive selections in both children's and adult categories that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else. Students began visiting the Book Fair today with their classes and filling out their "wish lists" of the books they most wish to purchase. These lists are handy for holiday shopping, but are not meant to be restrictive or definitive in any way.

Parents are welcome to shop at the Book Fair any time that it is open (see below). They may choose from the wish list, make new selections for their children, and should definitely peruse the collection of adult fiction titles. There are a number of books related to this year's All-School Unit theme - "A Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit" - as well as Quakerism, Islam and peace.''

T. Ruth also has a nice selection of books set aside that may be purchased as a donation to the school. This is a very personal and much appreciated way to support our library and grow our wonderful collection of literature.

The Book Fair is held in the Activities Building, and is open on November 20th, 21st, 24th and 25th from 8:30 am to 6 pm, and on November 23rd after Meeting for Worship (noon). On Wednesday, November 26th, the Fair will be open for Grandparents' Day, from 8:30 am to noon.

Our New Building is an Award Winner

Congratulations to Delran Builders for receiving an Award of Excellence from Associated Builders and Contractors, Southeast Pennsylvania Region, for the quality of their workmanship on our new Library and Administration Building. Teacher Kathy Davis (who coordinated the project for the School) and I attended the awards dinner last night along with architect James Bradberry, and were pleased to receive a commemorative framed photograph which now hangs in the foyer of the building.

This award was made as part of an annual competition in which ABC members submit projects for judging in a number of categories. Delran won first place for an institutional project of between $1 million and $5 million.

(Pictured above with Kathy Davis and me are Glenn Lindquist, Project Manager, Jim Bradberry, architect, and Mark McMahon, VP Delran Builders.)

WCFS Election Exclusive

The presidential campaigns have drawn an enormous amount of attention from voters and pundits across the country . . . as well as from students and teachers right here at WCFS . . . and we are ready for Election Day!

National elections always provide a great opportunity for students to learn about and engage in the democratic process, and that has certainly been the case for us this fall. The most unique and exciting experience has been enjoyed by our fifth graders. The class was divided into four political parties. Each party chose a name, created posters and pins, conducted research, and wrote a platform describing their positions in four areas: the economy, education, the environment, and foreign affairs. I had the honor of moderating a debate between the parties (they all stuck to the topic and minded their time limits!). This past Friday afternoon we were treated to a convention during which the parties presented campaign speeches on the issues one more time.

I am very impressed with the performance of every fifth grade candidate, and have heard many compliments from other teachers, parents and grandparents who attended the debate and convention. Many commented that the students exhibited a command of the issues that belie their years. The students were also poised, well-spoken and often persuasive in their arguments. I don't know how many politicians might emerge from this bunch, but I do know that these skills will serve them well throughout their schooling and in whatever field they choose. (Thank you T. Bonnie and T. Kathy M. for your work with the fifth graders.)

Students and teachers will be casting their votes tomorrow for the party that they believe has the best plan for leading us into the future. Will it be the Community Party, the Congregational Party, the Recreate Party, or the Unification Party? Stay tuned for election results.

In other election news . . . students in grades one through five have cast electronic votes for (the real) presidential candidates as part of the nationwide Kids Voting USA project. (Thank you T. Rachel, T. Alice and T. Kathy D.) Results should be available Tuesday morning.

And in the very tight contest of most popular Halloween candy being tallied by T. Connie's first grade, long-time incumbent Peanut Butter Cup looks to be upset by upstart M&M's!

Quakerism This Month

October's theme of the testimony of Community was chosen for this month in part because it coincides with the annual Fall Fair and Alumni Day, one of our biggest community events. During the first two Thursdays of this month, classes focused on topics related to the community of our classrooms. This week, students gathered in the Social Room to hear about the needs of our community from Sue Yocom of the Cares Food Network. We will be conducting a food drive for the remainder of the month to benefit Cares Food Network as a way of serving the surrounding community. (An article about Cares' gleaning program appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer this summer.)

Next week, we will introduce a new (to us) practice of multi-age worship sharing groups. Small groups that include one or two students each from grades 1-5 and one or two teachers/administrators will meet once a month for worship sharing, with a guiding query based on the month's theme. Teachers John Scardina and Bonnie McLennan will work with the fifth grade to help them to be leaders in this new experience. Pre-k and K will join the groups about the same time they begin coming to Meeting with grades 1-5. The idea is that these groups will stay together year-to-year. The final Thursday of this month we hold a Meeting for Singing - all are welcome!

All-School Unit Culminating Event

As the children lined up to start their day on Friday, their high level of excitement was already evident, and for good reason. It was the day that we celebrate the culmination of the All-School Unit. Before sending the classes inside, T. Alice encouraged them to keep the lessons learned over the past six weeks in their minds, in their bodies and in their spirits throughout their lives.

That afternoon we all gathered to celebrate this year's "Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit" theme with parents, grandparents and other guests. Following an energetic and entertaining musical performance about good eating habits (did you ever think you'd hear a song about fiber?), we moved outside to view displays of the wonderful work completed by every student in the school. And then it was time for the fun run! Children and adults of all ages ran or walked a loop around the lawn and through the school yard. It was heartening to see so many participating and those on the sidelines cheering them on!

The bubbling excitement from the morning carried through the day and was capped with a great sense of camaraderie. As families headed home at the end of the day, T. Connie was heard to say, "That was very cool." I couldn't agree more!

Quakerism This Month

As a regular feature of the blog this year, I will be posting monthly about how Quakerism is being taught throughout the School.

The September focus has been on Meeting for Worship and the Peace Testimony. We started on the first day of school when grades 1-5 gathered for Meeting at the end of the day. It is always nice to see everyone in the same place on that morning, and it is also an appropriate way to begin the year since Meeting is so central to the life of our school. I read We’re Going to Meeting for Worship (by Abby Hadley, illustrated by Diane Edwards-Lavoy) as a way of introducing what Meeting is all about, especially for those new to our school. The following week, teachers continued to talk with their classes about why we go to Meeting for Worship and introduced some centering exercises before coming over to the Meeting House.


This morning we celebrated United Nations International Day of Peace. We gathered on the lawn to sing songs of peace and to plant the pinwheels that each student made as part of the Pinwheels for Peace project – simple, beautiful expressions of our desire for calm, serenity, and freedom from conflict here at school, in our homes and communities, and around the world. The UN International Day of Peace occurs every year on September 21, which is this coming Sunday. For more ways that your family can participate, go to http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

We also rededicated our school’s peace pole, which needed to be relocated because of the construction of our new library and administration building. The peace pole’s new location is on the lawn near High Street and the new entrance. In this place it will be seen by students and parents coming to school every day as well as by the public going by. It is also near to one of our play spaces to remind children how to best handle those conflicts that can sometimes arise.

To wrap up this month’s focus on the Peace Testimony, Anne Moore will speak with grades 1-5 before Meeting next week about her experiences as a peace activist. A Quaker and resident of The Hickman, Anne is actively involved in the Nonviolent Peace Force.

21st Century Learning Team is Underway!

A team of WCFS teachers began a year-long professional development initiative today that will have a dramatic impact on our use of "Web 2.0" tools to meet the needs of the 21st century learners in our school. The initiative is called "Powerful Learning Practice for Leadership in Schools" and has brought together a cohort of teams from 20 schools through the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS).

Our team includes Teachers Dottie (science), Alicia (math), Kathy D. (technology coordinator), Kathy M. (language arts), Bonnie (5th grade) and me. We gathered today for a full-day workshop with the other 19 teams and will continue the work through four Elluminate webinars, ongoing cohort collaboration though a "virtual learning community", and regular WCFS team meetings, culminating in another day-long workshop on April 1. Our team will develop a 21st Century curriculum project that leverages the potential of emerging technologies such as blogs, wikis and web-based multimedia - and will share what we learn with the rest of the school community.

I am personally grateful to the members of our team for making this significant commitment, and I am certain that their work will enhance both our professional practice and the learning experience of our students.

For more information on PLP: http://plpnetwork.com
You may also be interested in reading the blogs of Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, who are leading this initiative.

A Touching Story of Service

I was recently made aware of a touching story of service and want to pass it along to our school community. Read "Special Delivery," the August 5 post on the blog of Jill Nawrocki, a Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia.

The "two little girls" that Jill writes about are sisters Abigail (a rising first grader) and Catherine (who will enter pre-k this fall) and the unit on Africa that she mentions is one of the annual highlights of our kindergarten year.

Service indeed begins at home . . . and is nurtured at school . . . and extends around the globe. How heart warming to know that a simple act of kindness on the part of two young girls is helping so many more girls in Namibia. As Jill writes so well, ". . . even the littlest ones among us have the potential to do big and selfless things."

Of Treehouses and Thoreau

I hope this post finds you all enjoying a fun and restful summer. This blog has been "quiet" since the end of the school year, although the campus has been far from quiet with all of the construction (I'll be writing more about that soon). With the start of the new school year only one short month away, I thought I'd get the blog up and running again.

The summer break offers so many opportunities for children to relax and have fun with friends and family, or sometimes on their own - especially out of doors - and, yes, it is also a time to learn. We encourage children to keep reading and to be read to (please remember to check out T. Kathy McAnelly's page on the school site for helpful links), and of course rising fourth and fifth graders have those math packets to complete! But there is also so much to learn from playing and interacting with the great outdoors.

Our family thoroughly enjoyed a unique outdoor opportunity this past weekend: Totally Terrific Treehouses at Tyler Arboretum. Sixteen "one-of-a-kind" treehouses built by Delaware Valley architects and artisans can be found throughout the arboretum. Several are accessible and great fun to play in, while others are artistic installations. It will take some time to see all sixteen (we saw about half in a two-hour visit), so plan on an extended stay or more than one visit. A set of hammocks are conveniently located midway (one of my favorite features!). A special event with story tellers and musical entertainment is happening there this Saturday, noon-4:00. The exhibit runs through September 28.

Walking through the treehouse exhibit reminded me of some of our recent All-School Units, particularly (and most obviously) "Trees" and last year's "Ecosystems and the Environment." The replica of Henry David Thoreau's cabin on Walden Pond, appropriately located near the arboretum pond, evoked thoughts of a healthy mind, body and spirit that will be the focus of this year's All-School Unit . . . and encouraged me to read Thoreau again. You can take the time to sit in the cabin and read one of the children's books based on Thoreau that are there, as we did, or to simply enjoy the simplicity.

Art "Through the Ages"

The Evening of the Arts actually began yesterday afternoon with the Pre-K and Kindergarten concert and continues through the weekend with the gallery open for viewing after Meeting on Sunday. One very special aspect of this annual event is the fact that every single student at every grade level participates and has their artwork on display.

Fifth graders are given special treatment, with individual display space for each one of them. I also appreciate the collaborative works of art. This year, they include Rapunzel's Castle (second grade), the preamble to the Constitution "spelled out" on license plates from the fifty states (fifth grade), and a copy of Picasso's Three Musicians (several grades).

Kudos to T. Dennis, who began the Evening of the Arts many years ago, T. Ruth and Julia Morris (Tyler '03) for their expert hanging of the art show, and T. Karen for her energy in putting together an entertaining concert.

From Africa to the Moon (and beyond!)

This past Friday was a very busy day at WCFS! In the morning, Kindergarten presented the annual African Market, showcasing all that they have learned about African geography, animals, clothing, food, customs, art, music and games. The students were assigned to their stations and answered questions put to them with great confidence!

And then it was on to outer space (at least virtually) with NASA Astronaut Marsha Ivins, a veteran of five space shuttle missions. Marsha gave an extremely engaging presentation to the entire school as well as guests from Goshen Friends School and Chester County Family Academy about the history and future of US space missions. She also visited classes during the afternoon. Marsha said that she hopes to spark the kind of excitement in today's students that many felt when the Apollo missions went to the moon. Judging by the reaction of her audience, I think she succeeded. Many thanks to T. Alice for arranging this special event.

Fifth Grade Trip to Washington, DC

Thirteen happy, weary fifth graders disembarked from the train in Wilmington station Friday evening after two very full and successful days in Washington, DC. They surveyed farm land at Mt. Vernon, toured the Capitol and White House, visited the Supreme Court and several monuments, and walked A LOT.

Each student researched either the Capitol, Supreme Court or White House prior to the trip. When they then got to see "their building", the excitement and joy on their faces was rewarding to see. They made their teachers proud with the amount of knowledge they shared on tours and with the respect they showed at the Tomb of the Unknowns and the Vietnam War Memorial.

The class left a smaller carbon footprint by using public transportation rather than a chartered bus. They became quite adept at managing fare cards and keeping their balance on the Metro!

What's Your Favorite Poem?

Poetry is being celebrated school-wide during National Poetry Month. For example, second graders have been reciting a poem for the entire school at Monday morning gatherings. I've been impressed by their composure and public speaking skills!

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day. Every student and teacher is carrying a poem either in a real pocket in their clothing or a special pouch designed to be worn around their neck for the occasion and taking them out to share with each other throughout the day. Some special sharing is taking place by bringing students from different grades together.

I have a few Shel Silverstein poems in my pocket and one called "My Dog Is a Plumber" by Dan Greenburg that comes from Free to Be, You and Me. I am also reciting a "mystery" poem that I learned when I was about ten years old and challenging older students to guess where it comes from:

Stop my friend, the reason why,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you must be.
So now prepare to follow me.
- author unknown

I invite you to post a comment on the blog to share your favorite poem or make a guess about the source of the mystery poem!

Another Great Science Fair

The Science, Technology and Invention Fair last evening was another great success. Students expertly explained their experiments (third), consumer product research (fourth), and inventions (fifth). We now know that hot water melts ice faster than salt, tomatoes have more vitamin C than oranges, and generic brand diapers hold more water than name brands. Fifth graders have some marketable inventions, like a book stand for people who have trouble holding books and turning pages, a changing station for people on the go, and the Robo-Artist!

Many thanks to Teachers Dottie and Alice for their hard work in preparing these young scientists and designers.

Second Grade's Green Dollhouse

Inspired by our All-School Unit theme of the Environment, the second grade has been making a "green" doll house since the fall. Everything that has gone into this house comes from materials that are recycled from some other purpose. Walls are decorated with paint left over from other projects. Thread spools are now chairs. Plastic pieces from inside pizza boxes are now tables. The roof is tiled with acorn shells and a plastic food container has been put to good use as a greenhouse. There is even a dog house and swimming pool!

Read the article about the doll house that recently appeared in the Daily Local.

The green doll house is on display for tonight's Science Fair, a perfect setting for you to see our second graders' creativity and inventiveness for yourself!

More on the Science Fair tomorrow . . .

Folk Arts Rajasthan

Today we enjoyed an entrancing performance by a group of musicians and a dancer from Rajasthan, India. The Merasi (which means "musician" in the local dialect) are still considered "untouchables" in the Indian caste system, but when they perform here they receive the admiration and respect that they so dearly deserve. In addition to enjoying their music and dance, students learned about their unique instruments and about their culture.

Folk Arts Rajasthan, the organization that brought the Merasi to our school, was established to preserve traditional Rajasthani music, arts, and culture; provide opportunities for education and empowerment; and facilitate international cultural exchanges of music, dance, and crafts. Among their projects, they have established The Merasi School as a means to combat poverty.

Trips and Summer Programs

At Friday afternoon's Chat we talked about . . .

Summer Program registration is ongoing. Have you signed up? Take a look at the Summer Programs section of the web site for the remarkable array of offerings. And please spread the word. This is a wonderful way for friends and neighbors to experience a bit of WCFS.

The fourth grade returned from Echo Hill Friday afternoon, which prompted a discussion of the range of field trip opportunities from pre-k through fifth grade. Trips enhance the curriculum in ways that allow us to go beyond the "four walls" of our school. On overnight trips, like Echo Hill and the fifth grade trip to DC, students also learn from the experience of travel itself and of living together as a group.

Campaign Video

I am proud to present this video that provides a glimpse into the life of our school. It was created for the Campaign for Friends and premiered at the auction earlier this month.

Many thanks to board member Randy Lyons for his support of this project, and to Pascal Dieckmann for his gift of cinematography.

Curricular Integration Through the Arts

Those who attended either concert this week saw curricular integration in action. The selection of songs for several grades complemented units of study in other areas such as reading and social studies. The first grade sang songs related to the Civil Rights movement; the second grade performed "The Weary Blues" (Langston Hughes) and other extensions of their study of Jazz; the third grade sang songs from the Underground Railroad; and the fourth grade sang songs based on some of their biography report subjects. Even though many fifth graders were home with the flu, we had a brief preview of their year-end show: Your a Good Man Charlie Brown!

Here We GrOw !

"Libraries are not made; they grow." - Augustine Birrell

Groundbreaking was celebrated this morning as the children and teachers turned the soil, preparing the ground from which our new library building will grow. Teacher John Scardina led us in singing "The Library Song" - original lyrics by the Iacobucci girls set to the tune of "The Garden Song". Students also tied notes to the construction fence with good wishes for the workers who begin digging the basement tomorrow!

Auction Kudos and All-School Unit News

I received a lot of positive comments about the successful auction last night. Those in attendance enjoyed the new venue, delicious food, and - most importantly - good company. There was a happy buzz in the room and lots of active bidding. Heartfelt thanks to the many volunteers and to Leslie Rahling, Karen Iacobucci, and Kathy Davis for their hard work on another wonderful event.

A new video created for the capital campaign was premiered at the auction and was received with emotional enthusiasm. It will be posted on the web site soon. Stay tuned . . .

Next year's All-School Unit theme follows from this year's theme, in which we learned to take care of the environment. "The Environment of Ourselves: Healthy Mind, Body and Spirit" will be the theme for 2008-09.

Standardized Tests and Construction News

One topic discussed at this morning's Chat was the standardized test results in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades (The ERBs). Teacher Kathy McAnelly explained the process she and the classroom teachers go through to review and make use of the wealth of information these assessments provide.

As I look at these results, I am very pleased again this year with what they say about the strengths of our academic program and our teachers. In the 4th and 5th grades, the scores in every sub-test are on par or better than those of the independent school norm (the most competitive comparison group). As you would expect, even within these excellent results there are relative strengths and challenges. All of this information is put to use by the teachers to make our curriculum as effective as possible.

(ERB does not compare 3rd grade results to other norming groups, a philosophy that we, as a school, agree with.)

In other news, we have recently learned that construction of our new library and administration building may begin as early as this coming Wednesday. Information about our Construction Safety Plan and logistics was shared at the Chat, is being sent home in backpacks and by email, and is available on the Building Update page of the School's web site.

I am excited to celebrate the groundbreaking with the children. More information about those plans will be coming soon!