Whitby Wire - December 2010

Bobbi Krein,Secondary

SchoolPlacementCounselor

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Dear Whitby Community,

It is my pleasure to introduce the inaugural issue of the Whitby Wire. The Wire (first issue directly below this letter) is an online newsletter periodically providing updates and more in-depthinformation on a variety of school-related subjects from the Trustees, administration and staff. Our weekly newsletter, WOW, will continue to provide key dates and informative reminders on upcomingevents.

It has been an exciting and productive fall for Whitby. With an abundance of activities and dynamic learning happening at every level, I am continually impressed and rewarded by the passionatecommitment of the faculty, staff and parents. The school's integrated Montessori and International Baccalaureate educational approach continues to be refined and enhanced and our children are notonly working to achieve the highly regarded IB standards but also are learning more about themselves and the global community.

As I monitor classroom instruction, I am also very impressed with the enthusiastic level of student engagement. I believe this is the reason we are witnessing such increased interest and applications tothe school as well as higher retention of existing students. The result is projections of wait lists at selected levels for 2011-12. Please see the admissions update in the Wire for more detail.

Preparing our students includes imbuing them with the knowledge and skills to succeed in secondary school and beyond. Whitby provides our 7th and 8th graders with expert and individualizedsecondary school counseling to ensure they find the right match of secondary schools in which to continue their studies. In this issue of the Whitby Wire, an article from Bobbi Krein, Whitby'sSecondary School Counselor, discusses the placement process, our history of placement success and the ongoing improvements she is implementing for our students.

Importantly, in addition to reading the Wire articles, I encourage you to attend the State of the School Corporation meeting on December 14th at 7PM. This meeting promises to be a very informativereview of the school's 2009/10 annual report and three year strategic plan. You'll learn about Whitby's financial position and the vision of what lies ahead for the school and our children.

I hope you enjoy reading the Whitby Wire. Its goal is to enhance communication within the Whitby Community, and to that end any thoughts or comments are always welcome. I wish you and yourfamilies happy holidays and a great end to 2010.

Doug FainelliHead of SchoolWhitby School

IInn tthhiiss iissssuuee......Admissions & Enrollment

Classroom Chatter

Coach's Corner

Campus News

Development Office Update

Introducing the Whitby Wire

Welcome to the Whitby Wire, an online newsletter periodically providing updates and more in-depth information on a variety of school-related subjects from the Trustees, administration and staff.In Admissions & Enrollment, you'll read about the larger community's increasing interest in Whitby and find out how we're helping studentsmoving on to secondary school. In the Classroom Chatter section, we've chosen some highlights to give you a sense of the enrichinglearning experiences going on across the school. In Coach's Corner, our athletic coaches will fill you in on Wildcat accomplishments. Learnabout how our teachers are always learning in Campus News, and read about some Whitby community highlights. Finally, theDevelopment Office shares an update on the Annual Fund and alumni outreach efforts.

As the Wire and its electronic distribution is new, we consider it a work in progress, and we look forward to hearing your feedback! Pleasesend your comments to Bob Horne at [email protected].

Heightened Interest In Whitby Confirms School's AppealThe Admissions team remains very busy given the strong level of interest among prospective parents. The level of inquiries is higher than last year with over 210 inquiries to date and record high attendance at all threeOpen Houses. New applications increased by 30% to date compared to last year. Current Whitby students applying out to other schools has decreased by 75% compared with this time last year, continuing a three yeardownward trend. This higher retention rate among existing Whitby families combined with increased interest from prospective parents has led to classroom wait lists and is rewarding confirmation of the school's appeal.Thanks to everyone for helping to spread the "Whitby Word"!

Bobbi Krein Shares Secondary School Initiatives

Bobbi Krein joined Whitby School this fall as Secondary School Counselor. Bobbi has a wealth of teaching, admissions and advising experience at various middle and secondary schools, includingAssociate Director of Admission at George School and Lawrence Academy where she became the Director of Admission and Financial Aid. Most recently, Bobbi worked at Kimball Union Academy,serving as Associate Director of Admission, Assistant Dean of Students, and Assistant Director of College Advising. We asked Bobbi to give us an overview of secondary school counseling at Whitby.

Secondary School Counseling at Whitby School

The secondary school admissions process is in full swing for our eighth graders and I've left my meetings with the students very impressed. It's been exciting to leverage my experience at Whitby and Ilook forward to continuing and enhancing the secondary school counseling program.

The Secondary School Counseling Program at Whitby has always focused primarily on assisting individual students to find the best school match for their next academic environment. By getting to knowthe students and their families, listening and caring about their hopes and goals for the future, and having a clear and concise overview of their academic and standardized test records, the secondaryschool counselor has been able to recommend appropriate secondary schools for families to consider. Alums report back that they have found happiness and success at their high schools. Thisindividualized component of the program remains our number one goal at Whitby and we seek to stay in closer touch with our alumni base to gain a clearer sense of what more we can do to best aid ourstudents in this process.

In the past, students have attended both public and private institutions, with private school selections (boarding and day) in the past five years including Hackley School, Taft, Greens Farms Academy,Greenwich Academy, Deerfield, Kent School, The Gunnery, St. Lukes, Ethel Walker, Masters, Stanwich, Harvey, Northfield Mount Hermon, Pomfret, Rye Country Day, Wooster School and Trinity Pawling. In addition to our

Whitby Wire - Whitby School Newsletter http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=taom85da...

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Primary Children Celebrate Thanksgiving

"It's a leopard," states thisPrimary 3 page

LE students grind corn at Philipsburg Manor

LE students create a traditional Diwali doorhanging

graduates attending a strong selection of private schools, it's also rewarding to witness that our graduates attending public high school are achieving placement in a high number of honors courses.

This year's graduating class is in the process of submitting applications to the following schools: Hackley, Masters, Tabor, Greens Farms Academy, St. Luke's School, King, Wooster, Harvey, Fordham Prep, Stanwich School,and Portsmouth Abbey. Students in the middle school have visited an IB school, EF Academy, worked on interview skills and smart consumerism, and are completing exercises in effective essay writing in English classes.

Program enhancements can be found beyond Whitby's walls in the schools where our students are looking and ultimately attending. With the primary responsibility of secondary school counseling, I am charged with schoolpromotion and relationship development with secondary schools through personal visits, meetings with admissions counselors, and regular communication with schools. This has allowed me to visit campuses, meetadmissions counselors, and introduce Whitby's programs and students. I have begun developing relationships with admissions representatives that will allow me to present our students in a personal, more tangible way,beyond the application. Ultimately, I will get to know the schools more intimately and they, in turn, will look even more closely at our students and be better able to recognize their unique qualities.

My initial list of visits was created from the schools our graduates applied to or attended in the last five years. So far my visits have included Hackley School, Masters School, Wooster School, The Gunnery, Harvey School,St. Luke's School, Greens Farms Academy, Pomfret School, The Masters School, Greenwich High School, Rye Country Day School, and King School. Spring plans include at least one boarding school tour and additionalvisits to schools offering the IB diploma.

To supplement personal meetings, I have also developed a Whitby School profile to include with student information so schools know about our programs (especially IB) and why we do what we do. Additionally, I havecollaborated with Kurt Putnam and the faculty to write thorough and insightful Administrative Summaries (Counselor Recommendations) for each student.

Moving forward, we plan to survey both parents of recent graduates and the graduates themselves on their impressions of the process. We're also looking to host a recent graduate panel who could return and talk tostudents and parents about their high school experiences. This will be an informal event where people can mingle and may include admissions people as well.

I encourage any member of the Whitby community to contact me for more information or with any questions at [email protected].

Primary Thanksgiving Feast

Primary students began the school year studying the IB unit Our Community. They enjoyed learning about the different faculty and administrative positions in the school. Usingpictures of our Head of School, Nurse, Head of Facilities, Assistant Head of School, Librarian, etc., we created Community Bingo. It was very popular and helped the children putnames with the faces of adults they see around the school every day.

Thanksgiving, a truly American holiday, exemplifies the importance of cooperation and community. Children learned about the first Thanksgiving Feast. They gathered at circletime to listen to stories about pilgrims and Native Americans. Besides each class cooking a dish for the annual Thanksgiving Feast, they created pilgrim hats and NativeAmerican headbands which were worn while the children enjoyed the fruits of their labor.

Primary 3 Students Study Animals in Our World

During a recent Writers' Workshop unit, Primary 3 (Kindergarten) students exploredAnimals in Our World. They began their study by learningabout different habitats: oceans, rainforests, deserts, arctic and grasslands. They chose an animal to research and checked out a book from theWhitby library. The children brainstormed about what they would like to know about their animals. They explored such inquiry questions as:Where does my animal live? How does my animal protect itself? What does my animal eat?How does my animal move? The children answeredone question each day and made an illustration to accompany their words. Once their research was complete, they created a diorama. Proud of

their accomplishments, they presented their research projects in an Authors' Sharing party with the Lower Elementary students.

Lower Elementary Explores Then and Now

In their most recent unit of study, Then and Now, Whitby's Lower Elementary students looked both back in time and around the world inpresent day to gain a deep understanding of the needs of all people no matter when or where they may have lived. To kick off the unit, the LEclasses explored a day in the life of a child from Colonial Times. Through literature and hands on experiences, students compared andcontrasted their own present day classrooms, materials, chores, toys and academics with those of Americans long ago. To further inform their inquiry into life in the past, LE tooka trip to Tarrytown's Philipsburg Manor where students worked hard to grind corn in a gristmill, make Colonial snacks, and tend to animals on the farm. Back at Whitby, butter-churning, writing with quill pens, playing old fashioned games, and dressing up in Colonial garb from the borrowed Rye Historical Society's colonial trunk all further illuminatedthe similarities and differences between life as we know it today and life in America's past. As a science extension, students learned about Thomas Edison's life and worked inlab groups to complete circuits and successfully "discover" the secret to electricity. Before long, student inquiries steered the unit to schools in other parts of the world in presentday. With the aid of Smart Boards, students watched and learned about the lives of school children today in Kenya and China. Discoveries and questions like: "They sing songstoo!" and "How do all of those students do their work without desks?" led to even more engaging conversations and understandings about the needs and wants of all peoplethroughout time and place.

Lower Elementary Celebrates Diwali

As a natural outflow of the International Baccalaureate curriculum, some Lower Elementary students participated in Diwali Celebrations this fall. Diwali, also known as thefestival of lights, is an important five-day festival in India. It involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil and knowledge overignorance. It is celebrated by wearing new clothes, sharing sweets and snacks with family and friends and decorating homes with lamps and colorful designs called Rangolis. AtWhitby, children created a traditional door-hanging named a Toran, which in India would have been made of mango leaves and marigolds.

Holocaust Survivor Visits with Middle School Students

During her November visit with our Whitby Middle School students, Holocaust survivor, Judy Altmann vividly recounted her days as aprisoner at Auschwitz camp. Mrs. Altmann shared her journey, beginning with her abduction by German SS guards and Hungariangendarmes in Czechoslovakia at the age of 14 and ending with her release from the horrors of Nazi concentration camp in Polandfour years later.

Expanding on this presentation, Whitby students in their current IB unit focused on how certain legal and social environments can lead people to take the role of heroes, bullies orbystanders. While discussing the atrocities of the Holocaust, students discussed how prejudiced attitudes can escalate to much more horrific crimes. They studied cyber-bullyingand hate crimes as current societal problems in this context, helping them to understand both history and the need for social responsibility today.


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Judy Altmann shares Auschwitzmemories

Coach Robb gives the soccerteam a head's up

Wildcats go for the goal

Dads visit the classroom onFather's Day

Students perform "AMidsummer Night's Dream"

Nely Miguel, Dean ofCurriculum and IB

Coordinator, facilitatesongoing faculty learning

experiences

Wildcat 2010 Soccer Season is a Success

The Whitby Wildcats 2010 soccer season was an great success at all levels. The Middle Elementary squad brought their passion for the game from the recess pitch to the practicefield to interscholastic competition. The roster of 30 futbolistas speaks for itself; the students' enthusiasm for the beautiful game cannot be overstated. A great camaraderie wasdeveloped among the team, as all members met their goals of improving their own individual skills and understanding while contributing to the growth of the team.

At the UE level, our 5th-6th grade team took leaps and bounds from the first day's practice, to our first game, and ultimately to our final match, where a full team effort put anexclamation point on an outstanding season. Comprised of a mix of ages, girls and boys, and years of experience playing the game, this team used its diversity to grow and help eachother, culminating in a close-knit group who played a possession-style brand of football.

At the MS level, our team of 7th-8th graders worked hard to improve their skills and develop a team first attitude. The team was led by a core ofexperienced eighth grade players that provided the needed leadership and hard work on the field and inpractice everyday. The team ended the season with a very spirited battle against a formidable WhitbyFaculty team that was impressed by the effort and skill of their students.

Having shelved the soccer boots for the moment, practices for the basketball season have gottenunderway and we are excited with the participation levels in the ME, UE and MS teams.

Father's Day

On a recent November day, nearly 150 Whitby parents comprised of fathers, grandfathers and an occasional mom filling in attended this heart-warming event on campus. To start theday, Dr. Paul Donahue, a nationally recognized child psychologist spoke to the group about raising resilient and independent children by actually doing less for them so they canaccomplish more. After the presentation, the highlight of the day was when the parents visited their children's classroom and were able to experience first-hand the unique approach oflearning and education at Whitby.

Shakespeare After School Workshop Performs "A Midsummer Night's Dream"

One of the most popular after school activities this semester was the Shakespeare Workshop. Middle School students spent the entire fallimmersing themselves in the world of Shakespeare with a goal of performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the Whitby

community. Besides rehearsing their lines and learning their parts, they also created the set and costumes. Additionally, they traveled to the Berkshires to attend the Shakespeare& Company's Annual Fall High School Shakespeare Festival. There, they were exposed to the language of Shakespeare, enabling them to develop their sense of poetic rhythm,as well as understand the vocabulary. During the weekend, they attended a professional workshop tailored specifically to their current production of "A Midsummer Night'sDream". As an exciting addition this year, Lezlie Lee of Shakespeare & Company will co-direct the production with Kim Guzowski.

The students' extraordinary Shakespeare experience culminated in their production of "A Midsummer Night'sDream" on Friday, December 10 at 5:30pm and Saturday, December11 at 6pm.

Teacher Professional Development - Learning Never Ends

Dedicated and skilled faculty are key to delivering the Whitby mission. As part of ongoing professional development, Whitby recently hosted twoevents for GIBS, the Guild of IB Schools in the Northeast. The first was a Mathematics MYP Collaborative Sharing session that attracted to Whitby15 math teachers from Long Island, Stamford, Westchester and New York City IB schools. The math teachers had wide ranging and productive sessions sharing various examples of Math IBunits.

Whitby also organized a Virtual Book Talk - a webinar for PYP teachers to discuss a selected book specifically chosen for PYP students. Both of these events were efficient formats to shareideas, research and best practices. The programs were led by Nely Miguel, our IB coordinator and Dean of Curriculum, who is also Vice President of GIBS.

Annual Fund ContributionsWe are happy to report the Whitby Annual Fund has hit the ground running. The official kick-off was on Friday, November 5, 2010 during our annual Father's Day Event. In just a little over a month since the official launch,we have raised over $400,000! Our goal is to exceed last year's results. Below is a graph indicating the significant upward trend in Annual Fund participation, as well as a report on this year's Annual Fund contributions todate by class.


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Annual Fund Participation History over the Last 15 Years

2010-2011 Annual Fund Participation to Date By Class

Alumni News and EventsIf you are an alumni or even a parent, are you wondering whatever happened to some of the people you met at Whitby? We're in the process of enhancing the Alumni News and Events section of the Whitby website toinclude more alumni news. Have some alumni news you'd like to share? Please send it to [email protected]. Click here to go right to the Alumni page.

Alumni Welcomed to Mayfair Please mark your calendar for Mayfair - May 14, 2011. As part of this fun annual event for parents and children, we will also be welcoming back our Whitby alumni to join in the celebration.

We hope you enjoyed the Whitby Wire. As we will be seeking to evolve and improve this publication in future issues, we encourage any comments, questions or suggested topics. Please email Bob Horne, Director ofCommunications, at [email protected].

www.whitbyschool.org phone 203.869.8464

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Whitby Wire - December 2010