The students and families of The Unquowa School helped to create a happy holiday season for twenty families, supporting the efforts of Fairfield Family Services, during our annual holiday donation drive. With a beautiful “giving tree” staged in our main entry, parents and children together had the opportunity to peruse the simple wants and needs that these twenty families had this year, a year which was highlighted by financial pressure and strain.

The students personally understood the school’s efforts for the donation drive when student representatives from each grade read aloud a family story to their classmates. The Unquowa families generously provided over 195 gifts such as clothing, a smoothie maker, bedsheets, and toys to name a few. Some families were in need of household items like papergoods and cleaning supplies, so the volunteer committee agreed that each family would receive a grocery gift card. Many families received gas cards. All families received wrapping paper and wrapping supplies so that the gifts for children could be wrapped and given from the parents…not from outside sources.

Making a difference in peoples lives, throughout the year, is a gift in itself.

This year’s show, entitled “A Winterfest Carol” was based loosely on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Students from PreK-3 to grade 8 all performed amid the elaborate medieval sets and their roles included royalty, jesters, wizards and knights. This year’s plot followed a selfish princess as she is visited by the Ghosts of Winterfest Past, Present and Future, who helped her to see the true meaning of giving at the Winterfest celebration.

In addition to vocals such as “Be Our Guest” and “You’re a Shining Star,” musical performances included student string, chimes and guitar ensembles accompanied by a visiting harpist. As the performance progressed, the princess saw the error of her selfish ways, declared that this year’s Winterfest would be a joyful celebration for everyone and the kingdom celebrated with the whole school chorus singing “We Go Together”.

Following an Unquowa tradition, alumni who were present joined students and faculty in a weaving circle to dance and sing “The Lord of the Dance.” To end the show, the students sang “Oh Hanukkah” while dancing the hora, and then joined in acting out and singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Special thanks to our directors Megan Kirk (who actually missed the final performance to have her baby); Alyson Cahill, who took her place; Senad Mehinovic , our instrumental director; Lloyd Mitchell, our technical director; and all our faculty and staff who assisted with the show.

During Wednesday’s Assembly this year’s Winter Festival Royalty were crowned! Each year the 7th grade students who have been at Unquowa the longest reign over our Winter Festival. This year Victoria, Rebecca and Paul were officially crowned by last year’s royalty - Erin, Sisso and Patrick. The new screen on the stage, which was projecting a roaring fire, was the perfect backdrop for the coronation.

The King and Queens have a number of royal duties, including the first grade knighting on December 12. We are all looking forward to this year’s extravaganza entitled A Winterfest Carol. Hope to see everyone there!

This fall students in grades PreK4-8th grade had the opportunity to practice yoga and mindfulness techniques. Along with the existing Yoga program, a ChiFit program was introduced to our younger students. Both after-school activities taught students specific practices that foster inner calm, increased self-awareness and a sense of well being. The students learned breathing techniques and how to incorporate a focused attention while maintaining balance within their bodies, all the while having fun in a supportive, safe environment. In Yoga students learned to flow from one pose, or asana, to the next while maintaining focused breath and balance. Chi Fit students used art, storytelling and movement, to help calm, energize and improve overall health to the body and central nervous system. Research shows that these activities practiced regularly, decreases stress and anxiety, while benefiting their overall well being and social relationships. Used regularly these techniques can become life long tools.

Words never seem to be enough when trying to show your children’s teachers, and the school faculty and staff, how much you appreciate them.  So, the next best way is through their stomachs!  The Unquowa Parents Association, orchestrated by Mary McGoldrick, offered up a feast fit for kings and queens on a recent Tuesday morning.  With the generous donations of home baked items from families and the ambience of a beautifully appointed room, the morning was a success!  When served up from the hearts of the families, who cherish their Unquowa team, what better way to start the day than with a “plate full of love”?

Last spring, a collaboration involving Unquowa and three other progressive schools received a $250K Education Leadership Grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation to create the Progressive Education Lab (PEL), a visionary program that aims to change the landscape of how teachers prepare for their profession.

The partnership includes The Cambridge School of Weston, The Calhoun School, The Putney School and The Unquowa School. PEL is a one-year rotational program followed by a one-year paid internship at a choice of one of these four progressive schools. Unlike a traditional program, PEL joins a national movement to bring teacher training back into the schools where hands-on practical experience is emphasized.

Leaders from each school have begun to develop the program further and PEL is currently accepting inquiries from candidates for the fall of 2012.

Click here for the PEL website

Greetings from the Unquowa kitchen where we are all still basking in the glow of yet another fun and successful Iron Chef Unquowa competition. This fall’s challenge featured six fearless teams of Upper School students pitting their skills and recipes against each other and the clock. A prerequisite for submission of recipes was that they must include one local ingredient, as well as the use of Chef Peter’s secret ingredient, delicious peppers grown by our friends at Sport Hill Farm.

As the gong sounded to signal the starting of the clock, the kitchen erupted as the teams scrambled to gather all of their ingredients and necessary cooking wares. Those coming to witness the competition were rewarded with the sights and aromas of Sunday Sauce with Meatballs, Chicken and Vegetables, Maple Cumin Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Chicken Quesadillas with a Trio of Salsas, Corn Chowder, and Sesame Baked Chicken. At the end of the hour time limit, all dishes were expertly prepared and plated. After careful deliberation, Victoria and Brienne’s dish of Chicken and Vegetables emerged as the favorite dish of the panel of judges which was comprised of last year’s winners, Paul and Michael, and Unquowa Alums, Andres Ayala ‘10 and Tristan Schietinger ‘10.

All teams were inspirational in their collective dedication and hard work. As a reward and show of appreciation for their efforts, each recipe will make its way onto the school lunch menu for the enjoyment of all the students.

On November 1, the Unquowa community gathered for the school’s Annual Meeting, a delicious dinner and an entertaining and thought provoking presentation on creating a Culture of Safety by Dr. Stephen Jones.

Parents, faculty and the Board of Governors enjoyed a chance to relax together over drinks and dinner before hearing an update on the “state of the school” from Head of School, Sharon Lauer, and President of the Board, Mark Greenawalt. In their remarks, Sharon and Mark both highlighted the glowing re-accreditation report Unquowa received from last year’s CT Association of Independent School’s visiting team and thanked the faculty, staff, parents and Board for all their hard work.

Board Treasurer, Karl Martone reported on the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011. He pointed out that the school had another financially strong year, despite the weaker economic environment. Karl thanked everyone in the Unquowa community for their support of the school’s Annual Fund and The Campaign for Unquowa - two distinct and vital sources of financial support to the school.

Speaking on behalf of the Unquowa Parents Association, UPA Co-President Jennie Walsh spoke about the wide range of activities and support the UPA provides in the school each year. She thanked all the parents who volunteer throughout the year with the UPA and encouraged others to get involved - “there’s still time!”

The Keynote speaker, Dr. Stephen Jones, is the Director of Out Patient Medicine and The Center for Healthy Aging at Greenwich Hospital and serves on the Yale System Clinical Activation Committee in conjunction with the CT Office of Emergency Preparedness. Dr. Jones’ presentation on creating a Culture of Safety, while funny and entertaining, made it clear that small human errors are responsible for the majority of accidents and are therefore avoidable. He encouraged everyone in attendance to work hard as a community and individually to help prevent accidents by being mindful and making meaningful modifications to their behavior that will make them, their families, their community and Unquowa even safer.

Thank you to Chefs Peter and David for the wonderful dinner!

Click here to see the 2010-2011 Annual Report online.

Our Fall Field Day and Halloween celebration was a wonderful success despite the weather which relocated all the activities inside.

The day began for many Unquowans with a delicious Pancake Breakfast served by our eighth graders as a fundraiser for their class trip in May. Following breakfast, Lower School students put on a fantastic Halloween Parade in the gym!

Coaches Boccamazzo and Burton and our classroom teachers arranged for a variety of indoor activities for our field day. Our eighth graders supervised the activities in each of the classrooms - charades, Pictionary, bean bag toss, arts projects, musical chairs and more!

At the end of the day we all came together in the gym to see which team (orange or black) could build the highest tower of plastic cups. It was pretty close, but the orange team had the tallest structure to remain standing more than a minute!

Students in fourth through eighth grade generously donated non-perishable items as their “entry fee” to their recent socials.  The donations of food — pasta, rice, cereal, canned fruit/vegetable/soup — went to the Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport which has been experiencing a severe shortage in their food pantry. They had requested our help and, as always, our Unquowa students and families came through!  The donations were delivered to the Center by two of our parents and four of our students who reported that the Center was very thankful for our donations.