CSI The Experience Wows Summer Lab

Students enrolled in Mr. Tony DelCampo's CSI: Lab Schools class got a special treat on Thursday as they visited the Museum of Science and Industry's CSI The Experience exhibit. The exhibit, based on the hit CBS hit television crime drama, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, afforded students a unique opportunity to apply the scientific principles and real investigative techniques learned in Mr. DelCampo's class.

Students split up into groups of five and went about cracking the case on three different mock crime scenes. Interactive touch screens and helpful video clues featuring some of the show's biggest stars helped our investigative teams solve the crimes at hand.

After all the evidence was gathered and all the facts analyzed, students submitted their investigative reports to CSI's very own Gil Grissom!

7-6-07

Spanish Students Travel Abroad

Thirteen students traveled with chaperones Becky Lopez and Beverly Graham to Spain for 13 days in June. Sponsored by the World Languages Department, this trip included visits to Madrid, Cadiz, Granada and Seville.

In Madrid the group went to the Prado Museum, toured the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) of the Spanish monarchy, and ate memorable meals. One of these was at the Museo de Jamon Restaurante, which has raw, full heads of pigs and their torsos hanging from the ceiling! They ate seafood and vegetarian paella, and churros, chocolate, bocadillos and other snacks at Plaza Mayor.

A high-speed train carried the group across endless hills and fields of sun flowers and olive trees, past a castle and some windmills to the city of Cadiz. Students lived with Spanish families in Cadiz for eight days while attending Spanish language classes, hosted within a Spanish school. During recess they would play games with the Spanish kids, including baskeball: U.S. versus Spain! As part of their culture class students went to the market and the streets to interview Spaniards of all ages. They took a salsa class, made paella in their cooking class, and had beach parties. They visited the Torre Tavira, the highest tower in Cadiz that offers beautiful 360 degree views of the city, and enjoyed a professional flamenco show. Students agreed that the highlight of Cadiz was living with Spanish families for a week.

The group traveled along the breathtaking southern coastline of Spain for a weekend in Granada. They visited the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel), the burial chapel of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella, toured the Alhambra Palace with its delicately complex geometric arquitecture and exquisite, lavish gardens, and paid a night visit to the Mirador San Nicolas, a lookout point that provided an illuminated view of the Alhambra. In Seville the teachers and students saw La Catedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, which houses the remains of Christopher Columbus It boasts gold-drenched "retablos" describing the passion of Christ and other Catholic scenes on the walls, and beautiful stained-glass windows among its many attractions. The group climbed 35 flights to reach the Giralda tower, an icon of Seville from which they had a marvelous view of the city, before traveling back to Madrid for the plane trip home.

7-6-07

Summer Lab 2007 Opening Day

Summer Lab 2007 opens its doors on Monday, June 18, at 8:30 a.m. on the campus of The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, at 1362 E. 59th Street in Hyde Park.

Adventure Kids Day Camp will once again reign supreme with more than 200 campers slated to take part in the exciting adventure education activities. Session I starts Monday, while Session II begins on Monday, July 9. (Click here to register for Session II.)

Summer School gets underway with more than 400 students in nursery school through 12th grade taking classes on everything from mathematics to forensic science. Limited availability remains for Session I, Session II and Full Session classes. Call 773-834-7766 to check the status of classes still accepting registrations.

Summer Lab on Stage will perform at the University of Chicago’s Court Theatre for the fifth summer in a row. Sixty students will hit the stage after six unforgettable weeks of singing, dancing, set building and acting instruction. Follow all the action at Summer Lab on Stage's web site.

Sports Camps kick off Monday with baseball, dance, tumbling, soccer and Fit, Fun and Games for nursery, kindergarten and first grade students. Baseball, basketball, dance, golf, gymnastics, martial arts, soccer, swim instruction, tennis and volleyball remain open to all students entering first through eighth grade. Session I runs June 18 to June 29. Session II goes from July 2 to July 13 and Session III is from July 16 to July 27.

Field Study is off to Sicily for a whirlwind 10-day photographic tour of the historic Italian isle. High school students will explore the culture and sites of Italy that make impressions that last a lifetime.

6-15-07

Summer Reading

Continuing a six-year-old tradition of a common reading experience for Lab faculty and high schoolers, two books have been chosen for this summer's reading.

Mindful of the emphasis on the arts begun at last year's Connections fundraiser, faculty, staff and administrators throughout Lab are reading A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. In this popular book, Daniel Pink first gives an overview of neuroscience, and then goes on to detail six "senses" or human abilities that he identifies as crucial to success in the new economy, while offering practical advice on how to cultivate these skills within oneself.

With a focus on bi-culturalism, high school students and faculty are reading Interpreter of Maladies, a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The nine stories travel from India to America and back again, charting the emotional journeys of characters seeking love beyond the barriers of nations and generations. Activities on the first day of school will feature a bi-cultural emphasis through food and panel discussions.

6-15-07

Monilaw Award Winners

At the annual Sports Awards Ceremony, four student-athletes were the recipients of the 2007 Monilaw Medals. They were:

Iain Macdonald
Iain ran cross-country and track, earning varsity letters all four years. He was named the ISL track athlete of the year in 2007, and was a state qualifier in both cross-country and track & field.

Nick Kogelman
Nick was a four-year letter winner in golf, becoming team captain and the leader of U-High's golf program. He was nominated all-ISL three years, qualified for sectionals three years, and for state two years.

Stephanie Stern
Stephanie earned four letters swimming for U-High, and captained the team her senior year. She is one of Lab's all-time top ten swimmers in an amazing seven different events.

Molly Schloss
Molly played soccer, winning letters all four years, and was captain of the sectional championship team this year. She was named ISL all-conference in 2007.

Coaches of spring sports also honored their teams and individual athletes:

Baseball
Coaches Award: Mari Topel
All-ISL first team: Mike Casey, Tim Parsons and Daniel Levine
Honorable Mention: Mari Topel and John Wasik
Final record 6-13 (3-7 in ISL)

Boys Tennis
Coaches Award: Benne Rosner and Josh Rosner
All-ISL: Benne Rosner, Josh Rosner, Charlie Fisher, Nick Sisodia, Mark Wittels and Bill Steuben
State Qualifiers: Charlie Fisher, Nick Sisodia, Benne Rosner, Josh Rosner and Evan Levin
Sectional Champions 2007
7-7 dual regular season matches, 3rd in ISL

Girls Soccer
Coaches Award: Molly Schloss
Special Recognition: Ally Brudney
All-ISL first team: Rachel Bishop, Allison Feder and Emily Kuo
ISL second team: Gabby Clark, Ally Brudney and Molly Schloss
Honorable mention All-Sectional: Gabby Clark
All-Sectional: Rachel Bishop
All-State: Emily Kuo
ISL Coach of the Year: Mike Moses
ISL Player of the Year: Emily Kuo
Class AA regional and sectional champions
Final record 19-4

Track & Field
Coaches Awards: Boys Andrew Sugaya, Iain Macdonald and Zak Feldman
Coaches Awards: Girls Shannon Kimball and Melanie McClain
ISL Boys Team Champions
ISL Boys Track Athletes of the Year: Andrew Sugaya and Iain Macdonald
ISL Girls Track Athlete of the Year: Leah Sibener
ISL Boys Coach of the Year: Bud James
Sectional Champions: May Fu, 3200 meters, and Shannon Kimball, 1600 meters
Girls State Qualifiers: Shannon Kimball, May Fu, Sherry Fu, Katherine Zhou, Ethel Yang, Robyn Macdonald, Josey Mintel and Leah Sibener Boys State Qualifier: Zak Feldman

6-6-07

Soccer Player Molly Schloss Makes All-State Team

Senior Molly Schloss was named to the second team of the Chicago Fire's Girls High School Soccer All-State All-Academic Team. High school soccer coaches from throughout the state of Illinois were asked to nominate senior student athletes with a grade-point-average of "B" or higher, have contributed to their high school soccer program for at least three seasons, and have been involved in at least two other school or community extra-curricular activities. The 2007 All-State team represents exceptional female students from high schools throughout state of Illinois.

Molly, along with the other all-state soccer players—both boys and girls—will be honored on the field at the Chicago Fire's match against Toronto FC on Saturday, July 7. More information on this honor can be found here.

6-6-07

Girls Soccer Sectional Champs!

Congratulations to the U-High girls soccer team for winning their first-ever class AA sectional championship. The team, coached by Mike Moses and Carlos Acosta, defeated Argo Community High School 3-0 on Jackman Field to take the sectional title on Thursday.

The Maroons are now one of the top 16 out of 281 AA girls soccer teams in Illinois, and boast a win-loss record of 19-3 for the season. They play on Monday night at Benedictine University against the winner of the Lyons Township/Oak Park-River Forest match. A win will advance them to the quarter-finals of the IHSA state tournament, and a top 8 Illinois ranking. Go team!

5-24-07

7th Grade Chicken Races

Seventh grade advisories battled each other in the first annual Chicken Races, held on the Midway last week. Relays of students carried balls on spoons, jump-roped, and leap-frogged as they raced for victory. Ms. Jackson's and Ms. Anderson's advisories tied for first place, and participated in a contentious run-off race. Ms. Jackson's amazing three-legged team won the prize: a gigantic yellow chicken awarded by Mr. Wright. The rest of the students celebrated with popsicles. A good time was had by all; the advisors look forward to making this a 7th grade tradition.

5-24-07

Got (Gently) Used Textbooks to Sell?

Bring in your used textbooks for the Parents' Association Buy-Back and get credit for next year's books! Students in grades 6-12 can turn in used books from Friday, June 1, through Friday, June 8, at the buy-back tables near UH 103. Hours are 8:45 a.m. until the close of school, except for the first Friday, when the buy-back begins at 8:00, and the last Friday, when the buy-back closes at 1:00.

A list of books eligible for the Buy-Back will be posted on 5/30/07 on the Parents' Association website. For more information, contact Suzanne Beatus at sbeatus@beatus.org or (773) 227-9999.

5-22-07

Classroom Buddies

In the highly popular 'Buddies' program at Lab, students of different ages bond with each other as they collaborate on a variety of projects. Seventh graders and kindergarten students, freshmen and 3rd graders, 4th graders and kindergartners, 6th graders and nursery school students work together on projects such as creating clay bugs, building models from everyday materials, writing stories, cooking, reading books, playing games, even ice skating together. Students of all ages enjoy this mentoring program that is renewed yearly at Lab.

5-22-07

All of Lab Pitches In for the Rites of May

Students, faculty and parents are preparing for Lab's annual end-of-the-year festival: the Rites of May. This long-standing Lab tradition has taken on many forms over the years, but always includes a open-air production staged in the courtyard by the high school theatre. This year's festival also features a nightly carnival, an international festival, a global café, and a book sale.

Tie-dye t-shirts are on sale for $20; blue t-shirts and book bags for $15.

Thursday
Carnival, Food and Fun in Blaine Courtyard (5:00-7:00)
Scholastic Book Fair in Belfield 141 (open until 8:00)
Fifth Grade Band Concert in Judd 126 (7:00-8:00)
Opening night of The Grimmest Celebration of All (8:00)

Friday
Carnival, Food and Fun in Blaine Courtyard (5:00-7:00)
Scholastic Book Fair in Belfield 141 (open until 8:00 p.m.)
The Grimmest Celebration of All, performed by the U-High Theatre (8:00)

Saturday
International Festival in Kovler Gym and Kenwood Mall (11:00-5:00)
The International Festival features crafts and traditions from around the world, with international dances performed throughout the day. Outdoors, a carnival offers games and prizes for the whole family.
Global Café in Kovler Gym (11:00-3:00)
Enjoy tastes from around the world in this international food festival.
Scholastic Book Fair in Belfield 141 (11:00-5:00)
The Grimmest Celebration of All, performed by the U-High Theatre (8:00)

5-16-07

Students Enjoy Africa Activities

Lower school students were recently seen sitting on the Sahara Desert, hopping up the Nile, standing on the equator, and swimming to Madagascar. They were playing "Geography Simon Says" on an enormous map of Africa that was loaned to Lab by National Geographic. For a week, groups of students enjoyed using the map, which blanketed the floor of Judd Gym, for all sorts of activities and games.

5-15-07

2007 Edition of Spiral Published

Spiral, Lab’s middle school annual literary and arts journal, has been published in its 4th edition and is being distributed to students and faculty. This year's magazine consists of 96 pages of drawings, photography, narratives, short stories and poetry composed and created by 58 student contributors in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades.

The members of Spiral 2007’s editorial staff are:

• Eighth Grade: Layla Ehsan, Peter Hogenson, Malvika Jolly
• Seventh Grade: Grace Brody, Gene Cochran, Jessica Cohen, Ary Hansen Dylan Lambert-Gilliam, Elizabeth MacNally, Molly Petchenik
• Sixth Grade: Shira Fishbach, Marley Reifert, Angira Shirahatti
• Production Consultant: Shane Selig
• Production Assistant: Andrei Zbikowski
• Faculty Sponsor: Richard Krull

Cover art by 6th grader Angira Shirahatti.

5-10-07

U-High Catcher in the News

U-High catcher Mari Topel, the only female on Illinois' 665 varsity baseball teams, has recently been profiled in Chicago newspapers and on broadcast news. Watch a videoclip of Mari on CBS news!

5-09-07

Seniors Begin May Project

More than a hundred seniors finished their last high school classes on Friday and are rounding out their high school experience with a four-week-long May Project. A U-High tradition that began in 1969, May Project enables seniors to research, develop, and carry out a significant project on their own with a minimum of supervision during the month of May. It is designed to be a "capstone" experience, one that calls on all the skills and maturity seniors have developed during their time at the Laboratory Schools, and permits them to apply these skills outside the classroom. It's a chance for students to take time to follow a passion, explore a field of endeavor, continue something they began in a class, or learn about something they haven't been able to while in regular classes. May Service Project, a part of May Project, enables seniors to plan and execute substantial service projects in the Chicago area or elsewhere.

5-07-07

Summer Lab 2007 Registration Still Open

Summer Lab 2007 will continue to accept applications until Monday, June 18 for Session I (June 18 - July 27) and Monday, July 6 for Session II (July 6 - July 27).

Summer Lab, a six-week program that includes Summer School, Adventure Kids Day Camp, Summer Lab Sports Camps, and Summer Lab on Stage, welcomes all children ages 3 - 18. Dates, times, and prices for the program vary, so please be sure to consult the Summer Lab web site for complete details.

Those interested in signing up for Summer Lab 2007 are encouraged to do so today, as many programs are filling up quickly. For assistance in choosing the right Summer Lab activity for your child, call 773-834-7766 or visit the Summer Lab web site for more information.

5-03-07

Math Team Triumphant at State

Congratulations to the U-High Math Team for its first-place showing at the 2007 ICTM State Math Contest. Over 200 schools gathered in Urbana-Champaign for this contest, hosted annually by the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Led by head coach Jane Canright and assistant coaches Rosa McCullagh, Nadja Aquino, Paul Gunty and Farukh Khan, U-High took top honors among the 50 schools in Division 2A with 791 total points, almost 100 points ahead of second place Herrin High School.

Individual honors were earned by:

• Joey Klonowski, 1st place, Algebra I
• Zack Reneau-Wedeen, 3rd place, Algebra I
• Emily Kuo, 7th place, Geometry
• Frank Firke, 3rd place, Algebra II
• David Xu, 8th place, Algebra II
• Katherine Zhou, 9th place, Algebra II
• Bradley Spahn, 2nd place, Precalculus
• Andy Kern, 8th place, Precalculus
• Hugh Montag, 9th place, Precalculus
• Karthik Sarma, 10th place, Precalculus
• Katherine Lauderdale, presenter and Frank Firke, assistant, 6th place, Orals

Team honors went to:

• Algebra I, 1st place
  Joey Klonowski, Zack Reneau-Wedeen, Claire Milsted, Varsha Raghavan, Shufei Wang, Giuseppe Zingales
• Geometry, 5th place
  Emily Kuo, Linda Zhao, Abraham Kohrman, Aaron Buikema, Will Montag, Andrej Rosic
• Algebra II, 2nd place
  Frank Firke, David Xu, Katherine Zhou, Maria Birukova, David McAlpine, Won-Hee Lee
• Precalculus, 1st place
  Bradley Spahn, Andy Kern, Hugh Montag, Karthik Sarma, Josh Rosner, Radhika Attele
• Jr./Sr. 8-person, 7th place
  Hugh Montag, Josh Rosner, Andy Kern, Maria Birukova, Won-Hee Lee, David Xu, Katherine Zhou, Benne Rosner
• Calculator, 2nd place
  Andrew Sugaya, David McAlpine, Danial Simmon-Marengo, Karthik Sarma, Elizabeth Morant
• Fr./So 2-person, 8th place
  Emily Kuo, Aaron Buikema
• Jr./Sr. 2-person, 5th place
  Katharine Lauderdale, Katherine Zhou
• Fr./So Relay Team 1, 3rd place
  Brian Carlisle, Daniel Simmons-Marengo, Linda Zhao, Elisabeth Morant
• Fr./So. Relay Team 2, 5th place
  Daniel Levine, Claire Milsted, Andrej, Caroline Bank
• Jr./Sr. Relay Team 2, 1st place
  Andrew Sugaya, Frank Firke, David Xu, Josh Rosner
• Jr./Sr. Relay Team 1, 3rd place
  Maria Birukova, David McAlpine, Benne Rosner, Bradley Spahn

4-30-07

2007 Sutherland Awards

Traveling from Argentina for the honor, author and illustrator Pablo Bernasconi spoke to third through sixth grade students at this year’s Sutherland Award Ceremonies. Bernasconi was presented with his 2006 Sutherland Award for Literature in the categories of Best Text and Best Overall for his book, Captain Arsenio, Inventions and (Mis)Adventures in Flight. The Sutherland Awards are a unique feature of Lab’s lower and middle school library curricula, and involve students in the critical evaluation of literature in picture book format. The program receives strong support in classrooms, including art and computer classes.

At the end of Bernasconi’s presentation, he announced the winning books in this year’s Sutherland Award vote:

• Best Text: John, Paul, George and Ben, by Lane Smith.
• Best Illustration: Flotsam, by David Wiesner.
• Best Overall: John, Paul George and Ben, by Lane Smith.

View a movie of Bernasconi receiving his award and announcing this year's winners at the Middle School Library blog.

This year's five candidates were:

Flotsam
Written and illustrated by David Wiesner
Exploring the beach on a beautiful day, a boy with a scientific bent discovers an old fashioned camera that has washed up on shore. Revealed, amazingly, in the photos are richly hued images of clockwork fish, shell cities on sea turtle backs, and other surreal scenarios. The boy observes the pictures using his magnifying glass and microscope, discovering that the camera has passed from child to child around the world over many years. Snapping his own picture, he then flings the camera back into the waves to continue its journey. This multi-layered story is told without words.

John, Paul, George and Ben
Written and illustrated by Lane Smith
Lane Smith humorously relates legends and lore surrounding some of the fabulous founding fathers. A useful true/false section is appended.

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
Written by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Harriet Tubman, known as “the Moses of her people,” escaped from slavery and helped hundreds of others to do the same. A deeply religious woman, Tubman believed that God had called her for this special purpose. This story traces her spiritual journey as she hears God’s voice guiding, challenging, and comforting her.

Probuditi
Written and illustrated by Chris van Allsburg
Inspired by a performance by Lomax the Magnificent, Rodney and his friend Calvin decide to try hypnotizing Rodney’s little sister. It seems to work beautifully as Trudy, convinced she is a dog, pants and barks at squirrels. But how will the boys get her to snap out of it before Rodney’s Mama comes home?

Wolves
Written and illustrated by Emily Gravett
An endearingly pink-nosed and pear-shaped rabbit borrows a book about wolves from the library. Absorbed in its reading, the perambulating bunny belatedly alerts to the fact that life mimics literature when it reads that wolves eat rabbits and finds that one of the wolves has emerged menacingly from the book. An alternate ending, involving a vegetarian wolf, is provided for “more sensitive readers.”

News from the A.D.'s Office

Coming up soon are three events for Lab School athletes and their families:

1. Maroons' Team Sport Camps
   Camps are offered in golf, boys basketball, boys soccer, girls tennis, girls volleyball, and cross country during the week of June 11th.
   Details and camp registration are online.
2. Annual Sports Award Ceremony
   All student-athletes and their families are invited to join in the celebration of our athletes' accomplishments for the 2006-07 school year.
   Mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m.
3. Your Day to Play . . .

   Join the U-High Golf team, parents, faculty and friends of the Lab Schools at the first Annual Your Day to Play Golf Outing on Sunday, May 20th at 12:30.
   Ticket and sponsorship information are available online.

4-29-07

Lab Store Online

NEW! Lab Store merchandise is now available online through CafePress. If you're looking for Lab School t-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, clocks, mouse pads, stickers, tote bags, buttons or magnets, please visit http://www.cafepress.com/uclabstore/. If you have questions about the Lab Store Online, please contact merchandise designer and Lab parent Anne Ryan at anne@zrimages.com.

4-25-07

Track Team Honors Long-Held Records

The high school track team gathered to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Marty Billingsley's 3200 meter and 1600 meter school records, the longest existing girls track records at the school. Ms. Billingsley, a teacher and former track coach at Lab, set these records in 1977, her senior year at U-High. She ran 5:01.76 for the 1600m (converted from a 5:04.0 mile, which was the distance run in those days), and 10:43.76 for the 3200m (converted from a 10:48.6 2-mile). Ms. Billingsley also holds the indoor records for the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m.

Another Lab alumus on the faculty, high school counselor Chris Harper, set numerous track & field records in the early '90s. Some of the other record holders are now Lab School parents. You can see the records boards and the all-time top-ten lists online at the track team's web site.

When asked why the holder of the oldest boys track & field record hadn't been invited to the celebration, head coach Bud James replied that the record holder, Robert Mathews, was unavailable; he set the long jump record of 23' 6" in 1910.

4-19-07

MS Faculty-Student Basketball Game

View a slide show of this year's thrilling basketball game between middle school students and faculty. The students pulled out to an early lead, leaving the faculty to play catch-up for the first half. The tide turned in the third quarter when the faculty pulled ahead, after which the score see-sawed before the faculty gained a one-point advantage with a minute to go in the game. This slim lead held, despite several shots put up by the students, and the game ended with the faculty ahead 25-24. A good time was had by all.

4-19-07

4th Graders "Read to Feed"

Fourth grade students raised an impressive $12,747.90 for Heifer International by participating in the Global Reading Challenge Competition last month. Teams of students competed against each other to answer questions about a collection of ten carefully chosen books that they had been reading during winter quarter. The money was raised by students who got sponsors to pledge money for each of the Global Reading Challenge books that they read. This year's books, challenging chapter books which represent a wide range of cultures, events and children’s experiences, were:

• Al Capone Does My Shirts
  by Gennifer Choldenko
  A twelve-year-old boy named Moose moves to Alcatraz Island in 1935 when guards’ families were housed there, and has to contend with his extraordinary new environment in addition to life with his autistic sister.
• Lionboy
  by Zizou Corder
  In the near future, a boy with the ability to speak the language of cats sets out from London to seek his kidnapped parents and finds himself on a Paris-bound circus ship learning to train lions.
• The Watsons go to Birmingham
  by Christopher Paul Curtis
  The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.
• The Breadwinner
  by Deborah Ellis
  Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women’s freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father’s arrest.
• The year of Miss Agnes
  by Kirkpatrick Hill
  Ten-year-old Fred (short for Frederika) narrates the story of school and village life among the Athabascans in Alaska during 1948 when Miss Agnes arrived as the new teacher.
• Esperanza Rising
  by Pam Muñoz Ryan
  Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.
• Under the Blood-Red Sun
  by Graham Salisbury
  Tomikazu Nakaji’s biggest concerns are baseball, homework, and a local bully, until life with his Japanese family in Hawaii changes drastically after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
• Donuthead
  by Sue Stauffacher
  Franklin Delano Donuthead, a fifth-grader obsessed with hygiene and safety, finds an unlikely friend and protector in Sarah Kervick, the tough new student who lives in a dirty trailer, bonds with his mother, and is as “irregular” as he is.
• Becoming Naomi León
  by Pam Muñoz Ryan
  When Naomi’s absent mother resurfaces to claim her, Naomi runs away to Mexico with her great-grandmother and younger brother in search of her father.
• Number the Stars
  by Lois Lowry
  In 1943, during the German occupation of Denmark, Annemarie helps shelter a Jewish friend from the Nazis.

The challenge began with intra-classroom competitions, after which the two top teams from each class moved on to compete against teams from other classrooms. The Global Reading Challenge culminated in a final round in which the “Readaholics” from Ms. Anglin’s class met Ms. Beaton’s “The Presidents of the City of Reading”, with "The Presidents" winning by a small margin. After the final round, each class presented what they've selected to "give" to Heifer International (livestock, bees, tree seedlings, etc.) to combat world hunger and improve the environment.

4-6-07

Lab Tops at Haiku Festival

Lab School students shone at the 3rd Annual Haiku Festival, held at the Conrad Sulzer Regional Library on March 24th. Eighth grader Fraser Brown earned the first prize Raymond Patterson Award, out of 710 poets from 25 Chicago-area schools. (Winning haiku shown at lefft.) Thomas Gariti, also in eighth grade, took the third prize Big Brother & Sisters of Chicago Award with his haiku called Migration.

Other Lab students earning awards were:

• Jack Burns, A Rude Awakening, Honorable Mention
• Megan Nash, Melting sensation..., Honorable Mention
• Brienne Ellis, Dante's inferno..., Commendation
• Crystal Maciel, Trembling in the cold..., Commendation
• Liam Miereles, Fresh snow..., Commendation
• Nicholas Msall, Blanks are missing space..., Commendation
• Sam Neal, Sunset, Commendation

Congratulations!

4-6-07

Summer Lab "Parents Pitch-In" initiative

Along with a wish for a happy spring break—welcome back!—Summer Lab invited community members far and wide to post posters and offer brochures within their spheres of influence. Several families, friends and institutions have responded. If you think Summer Lab and, correspondingly, the Lab Schools, would benefit from a similar presentation in your orbit, please feel free to contact the Summer Lab hotliine at 773-834-7766, or email jgizzar@ucls.uchicago.edu. A key feature of Summer Lab is its openness to the community at large; each year more than a third of Summer Lab children come from outside of Lab School—"from around the corner and around the world!" Spread the word to family, neighbors and friends to further enrich our diverse summer gathering from all over.

In other news, registrations continue apace; remember to claim your $100 (or 10%) discount by having your complete registration turned in before April 15.

3-28-07

LAB Directions Highlights the Arts

The recent issue of LAB Directions showcases the arts at Lab—dramatic arts, visual arts, music, and more, from nursery school thorough senior year, and beyond. Articles include:

• Visual Arts Timeline
  Enjoy artwork from Lab’s youngest students through U-High upperclassmen. Images include the many different media—sculpture, drawing, painting, wood carving, photography, and papier-mâché—pursued by Lab students.
• Arts Alumni in the News
  Learn about the impressive and diverse accomplishments of alumni in the arts, who have done everything from winning an Oscar to publishing books. Alumni authors have distinguished themselves in a range of genres: plays, graphic novels, comic books, picture books, and memoirs.
• Upcoming Arts Events
  Take advantage of the Arts Calendar on page 2. Spring brings not just flowers and April showers, but many arts events. Don’t miss the plays, Lobby Sings, or many other music events that will take place in April and May.

LAB Directions, a publication of the Laboratory Schools distributed to parents, friends, & recent alumni, has been published three times yearly for the past twenty years.

3-28-07