Happy Holidays from NCS

I hope the vacation has started well. You should receive your child's reports soon. I trust that all the Fall term stories that you are hearing are good ones. Snow has continued to fall since the students have left and John, Larry, Nick, and Mike report excellent skiing on our hill. Finally, lots of work continues on campus ... The enclosed picture is
alumna Kelli Culpepper helping mill logs for boards that will be used in the new student residence. Happy Holidays!

Santa Comes to NCS

Ninth grader Toshiki Tago arrives by sleigh to wish the entire community a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday. He hands out candy canes to all, and his best wishes for safe travels ... Your children are heading home, it has been a wonderful term, many thanks.

Holiday Banquet

Packing Up

An NCS student buried under a pile of sports equipment, barn chores apparel, and school supplies as all students spent time cleaning out their ramp lockers.  The goal is to cart a full term's worth of stuff up to your house in one trip.  The discerning eye might just pick out the small teddy bear tucked into the ski boot next to Keun Hyung Park’s sneakers.  Needless to say, the children are incredibly excited.

Sunday Open Houses

We continued our holiday festivities this morning with four houses hosting the NCS community for breakfast.  Students traveled around from Cascade, to Mountain, to Meadow, and as pictured here, Algonguin House to get various courses of the meal.  The menu included: quiche, crepes, smoothies, tea, and strawberry shortcake! Monday and Tuesday we will have a slightly altered class schedule to make room for packing. Happy Holidays.
Hock

21st Century Skills, Values, Aptitudes

Notes captured from the initial few minutes of our discussion of the video clip, "Did You Know?"

More Strategic Planning

(Click on the picture to enlarge it.) Last night a dozen off duty staff got together for a four hour focus group facilitated by Hock. The goal was to review the work on the 2001 strategic plan, brainstorm what big challenges the institution might tackle moving forward, and to prioritize some of the items on the list for a potential capital campaign.

Fascinating Educational Blog

These two prominent educators and policy wonks, have a go at each other from opposite ends of the educational continuum. I was exposed to both Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch when I was at the Klingenstein Center in the early 1990s, getting my Masters at Columbia.

Out Time

After school activities are from 3-4:30. Your children sign up daily unless they make a commitment to a team or on-going activity. Today's activities included: ice climbing, capoeria, Nordic ski team, packing the ski hill on snowshoes, barn work job, basketball team, bread making, recreational cross country skiing, rehearsal for Mr. Willoughby's Christmas, and two different walks.

Mindsets: Intelligence, errors, and learning

Recent New York Times article on the NEA research study