upcoming events

Middle and High School Orchestra/String Master Classes

NO SCHOOL Grades 5–8, Middle School Conference Day

NO SCHOOL Grades 1–4, Parent/Teacher Conference Day

Crow Canyon Registration Deadline

7 p.m. Parents' Association Meeting

8 a.m. AMC 10 &12, national mathematics exam open to high schoolers

"All Along the Western Front" European battle sites trip applications due

NO SCHOOL, Winter Holiday

8 a.m. Lobby Sing

Middle School Winter Play performances

contact info

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in the halls

		U-Highers Attend World Affairs Conference Twenty-five high school students travel to the nation's capitol this week to attend the World Affairs Councils of America's annual conference: "U.S. Foreign Policy in the Next Presidency." This group includes freshmen through seniors who wrote essays to qualify for the trip. Continue >>
		A Lab Story I'll Never Forget Director David Magill shares the story of an unexpected phone call from an alum in this month's On The Same Page. Continue >>
		Visiting Students Arrive from France Four students arrive from France this week to spend a month at Lab. Mathilde Trouniac, Mélanie Litviak, Laurent Moiseau, and David Perchard come to U-High from the Lycée St. Exupéry in La Rochelle, a beautiful port city on the west coast of France. While here, they will be following classes with their English "correspondants" (Emily Searles, Kali Frampton, Will Montag, and Sam Shapiro), assisting in French classes, and discovering what it is like to be a student in America. Continue >>

n/k & lower schools

Mark your calendars for the annual Book Swap, February 19-22. The Book Swap, organized by the Blaine Paperback Bookstore, is one of the many activities designed to enhance children's reading opportunities. Children are encouraged to bring in gently used books that they have outgrown and trade them for tickets to purchase other gently used books. 1 ticket = 1 book. Unused tickets may be entered in a raffle for new books selected by the Bookstore. This fun exchange is one of the many ways we increase children's reading enjoyment.

Individual Parent-Teacher conferences will be held Monday, February 11, for students in grades 1–4. Sign up in your child's classroom for specific times. There is no school for grades 1–4 on conference days. N/K students will have school.

There will be a World Languages meeting for parents of current second-grade students Thursday, February 21, at 7 pm in Judd 126. Representatives from each of the languages offered starting in third grade will be there to answer questions and assist your family in choosing a language for your child.

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middle school

Please note there was an error on the printed calendar indicating that we would have two days set aside for conferences in February. We will have only one day for these conferences, Friday, February 8. The following Friday, January 15, will be a regular school day. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

For each Middle School grade, conference days are handled differently. For example, not all fifth graders will require a parent-teacher conference and for older grades, the student takes a central role in the preparation and the conference itself.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me, and I look forward to seeing you on conference day. Here is a summary of what to expect in your child's grade.

We are in the process of evaluating the options for students at the end of the school day and have designed a short survey to gather information about our current programs. The goal of the evaluation processes is for us to get as much feedback as possible from as many Middle School families about their after school needs and decision making. Your answers will be compiled with other responses to provide a summary of feedback. The data will be used to determine the after school needs of our families, modify existing programs, and potentially create new programs. Your individual responses will be kept confidential.

Please take a few moments to answer a short 18-question survey. The survey is available here until Monday, February 11, 2008. Thank you for your help.

Recently, students participated in a testing program called the Comprehensive Testing Program or CTP 4, obtained from the Educational Records Bureau (ERB). The CTP 4 is a battery of assessments that measure skills in reading, vocabulary, writing, and mathematics. It consists of a series of multiple-choice and open-ended question tests, and the CTP 4 is administered to our students over the course of several days.
Continue >>

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high school

Last week students received their course of study booklets in Advisory or in the Junior College Workshop. Advisors and college counselors will go over course options with the students. Current ninth–eleventh graders will make course requests online in school during the week of February 11. Eighth graders will complete course requests during the week of February 18. In March a copy of a student’s request will be sent home in the mail. The course of study booklet is available online (pdf).

Good luck to the U-High Science team as they head off to the WYSE Regional tournament in Kankakee on Thursday, February 7.

Faculty members Mirentxu Ganzarain and Liese Ricketts are working with students who will be presenting student work at the Stuart Rodgers Gallery. Students’ work will be on display from April 18–May 30 at the gallery.

For the first time in 20 years, the U-High girls’ basketball team won the ISL championship game. A hearty congratulations to all the students on the team and the coaches as well. We look forward to adding the championship information to the banner in Upper Kovler.

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community

Many new and exciting offerings await your student at Summer Lab 2008 (June 23- August 1, with two three-week sessions.) It’s never too early to reserve your student’s spot in Summer School, Adventure Kids Day Camp, Summer Lab on Stage, or Sports Camps. Complete registrations received by April 15 may take advantage of our $100 Early Bird Discount.

There are two ways to register: online via our convenient on-line registration form, or by downloading a printable form and mailing it in. You may request a copy of our brochure online or call the Summer Lab hotline (773-834-7766) for more information.

All parents are cordially invited to attend the next meeting of the Parents' Association, to be held next Monday evening, February 11, 2008, at 7 p.m. in Judd 126.

Our speaker will be Janet Rowley, a distinguished Laboratory Schools alumna and the Blum-Riese Distinguished Service Professor of Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago. She will speak briefly about her work and look retrospectively at how her Lab education influenced her career.

The board of the Parents' Association will hold an open meeting in Judd 126 from 6:00-6:45 that evening. All are welcome to attend.

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