NCS: Don Rand

This is a picture of Don Rand teaching one of his 28 private music students. For over 45 years he has been an inspiration and mentor for thousands of students. At NCS private music lessons are part of the core curriculum and as you know there is no additional fee charged to parents. At school he has taught rank beginners as well virtuosos (who have recorded with national symphony orchestras). After graduating students go on to a life of deep appreciation for music, and more often than one might suspect, a professionsl careeer in music!

NCS: Weekends

Today after lunch your children signed up for Saturday activities. As you can see from the attached picture the activities are highly varied ... From hiking a mountain to visiting an art museum, an introductory alpine race to ice fishing, a long Nordic ski to ice skating on our pond, and finally the search for the groundhog's shadow!

NCS: Whiteface Day

A group of 9th graders in the lodge at the end of the afternoon. In  
the photo from left to right: Toshiki (Japan), Brendan (Lake Placid),  
Keun Hyung (South Korea), and Sophie (Bermuda). Warm weather and good  
conditions ... so everyone had a great afternoon.

NCS: chalk and talk

In the span of 40 minutes I dropped into five classes. These classes were excellent and traditional teacher directed lessons with students taking notes from the board or using graphic organizers to handle the large content volume being delivered. The picture shows Mike Tholen
teaching this combined 4th and 5th grade class. The students were being exposed to graphing linear equations. In the 9th grade class students were using the SQ4R method to critically read material for their research paper. Maybe some of you remember it from your school days: survey, questions, read, 'rite, review, and recite. An excellent
academic day!

Important article from the Times

Please click on this link to read an article about feedlot agriculture, energy, diet, and sustainability. This is a subject that students and campers learn about intellectually as well as in a hands-on manner. For our kitchen we try to raise as much "free-range" meat as we can, and beyond that all our beef comes from a local grazing operation called Kilcoyne Farms.

Board Meeting

The administrative team and I are on the 19th floor at the J. M. Kaplan Fund offices in Manhattan having our quarterly board meeting. The 15 trustees around the table are reviewing our 2001 strategic plan, working on the first draft of the 2008-09 budget, and talking about the permitting for a new student residence. Our trustees are superb volunteers, and they have done amazing work on behalf of your children and future generations.

Homenight

The tradition on homenights is that a different house does barn chores
each week. Here you see some of Algonguin House returning from chores.
They will also sort and bag dirty laundry, put away clean laundry,
help cook the evening meal, and then maybe watch a movie as the house
activity. I think one house is going to use the speed skating oval in
town, while another house went nordic skiing and did a sauna. This is
an eagerly anticipated part of the week.

NCS: Ice fishing

The outdoors are a huge part of an NCS education.  Outdoor activities range from the academic (earth science research on the snowpack), work related (shoveling fire exits and harvesting crops), artistic (watercolor paintings of landscapes and photograph of farm animals), to recreational (everything from ice climbing to ice fishing and hiking to horseback riding).  For more information on this subject I would point you to Richard Louv’s recent book Last Child in the Woods.

While my snapshot yesterday from the top of the Lake Hill may have given you an over view of the skating, sledding, and ice fishing to be had ... nothing like a close-up. The trout was 13 inches, possibly the largest an NCS student has ever caught here!


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Educator or Teacher?

Staff discussion about the difference and application of the two.

NCS Math

Several days ago I captured this work on the board during my visit to Nadia's level III math class. Our math program offers excellent sequential coverage from number facts with the youngest to trigonometry in our honors course for the oldest. Moreover, we make every attempt to apply all abstract concepts from the nationally recognized "Lettuce Learn Math" to constructing Archimedean solids. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

NCS: evening study hall

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First, let me thank all the parents who participated in the Annual Fund last year. As you can see from the picture the laptop cart is being put to good use, allowing our older students to do research and written work each evening when it is rolled down to the Dining Room. Second, let me mention how productive those evening sessions can be: a student free reading, some students working on an essay about the Holocaust Museum, and I am just out of the picture helping somebody with their math. And third, I just came across a study that says the average 13-18 year old spends 72 hours a week using electronic media ... How different it is at NCS

NCS: Whiteface Ski Lesson

John Doan is our premiere ski instructor, with humor, talent, and more certifications than you can imagine. All students get a lesson from, staff for an hour and then they pair up and free ski with a buddy. It was a fantastic day out on the slopes, and just one of many ways your children are exposed to "the great outdoors."

NCS: A Life Skill

Winter weather has returned, and all the students are looking forward to skiing at Whiteface tomorrow.

Enclosed below is a picture of Todd teaching an important practical skill – CPR – to the students in Balcony House. All of our classes seek to apply the academic concepts taught to real life. In a related fashion counselors Betsy Thomas-Train and Lauren McGovern work with all students to teach a variety of social-emotional skills which will be of practical use throughout a student’s life. Today, we also had consultant Randolph Carter up from Washington DC working with faculty on facilitating conversations about diversity; a key skill for the 21st century. (A note of thanks, the CPR mannequins were donated by past NCS parent Jan Johnson.)

NY Times Op-Ed Piece

Although the circumstances described in this piece are different than NCS, the dynamic tension that is discussed - teaching classics v. high impact modern literature - is still an important one. I found the blog entries posted after the essay important as well. (Click here.)