Far Hills Country Day School Wins National Award for Stewardship of the Earth

Every year the Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education (www.csee.org) bestows awards for school projects based on an announced theme. The theme for this year’s competition was Stewardship of the Earth, and Far Hills Country Day School is pleased to announce that it won second place in CSEE’s national competition!

Students participate in some form or service at every grade level. Not only is service linked to in-class learning at Far Hills Country Day, it is also regularly accompanied by reflection. The service program’s emphasis on stewardship of the earth stems from key statements in the Far Hills Country Day School mission statement, most notably the call for responsible citizenship and the importance of valuing all relationships. The development of empathy is an essential component of both curricular work and service work. The school is intentional in its efforts to nurture skills and capacities for environmental stewardship at every stage of children’s development.

The youngest of students at Far Hills plant seedlings in a student-designed garden-and some of their harvest makes its way into the school cafeteria. Older students are active in recycling efforts and making presentations about recycling and renewable resources. By the seventh and eighth grades, FHCDS students have developed their skills such that they can extend their influence in a variety of ways, and with multiple audiences. Middle school students have formed an Energy Task Force to help lead their peers, and the community as a whole, to reduce energy consumption.

FHCDS's application for the award included extensive documentation including photos and student work that set the school apart from many other schools on a national level. This award is a great affirmation of the fine work Far Hills Country Day School students are doing to care for and educate others about the earth.

Community Leadership Award for Mike Maddulana

Far Hills Country Day School's Chef Mike Maddaluna is the recipient of the 2011 Community Leadership Award, to be presented at the Community Soup Kitchen of Morristown's Share the Bounty event this year. This award acknowledges and thanks Chef Mike for his ongoing commitment to and leadership in support of the Soup Kitchen. For years, Chef Mike has inspired parents and students at the school to get involved by organizing Family Cooking Nights where everyone pitches in to create a stock pile of tasty casseroles. "We have come to rely heavily on the school's generosity, especially as the number of guests has increased," credits Lois Nichols of the Soup Kitchen. Mike also plans a popular annual Spaghetti Dinner at the school which raises funds for the Soup Kitchen and educates students about poverty. Chef Mike even adds more cooking days to the schedule whenever he learns that the Soup Kitchen's supplied are running low. Congratulations, Chef Mike! The Share the Bounty event is open to the public. You may purchase tickets online by visiting the Soup Kitchen online at http://cskmorristown.org/

Race to Nowhere Screening at FHCDS!

Please join us!Far Hills Country Day School is pleased to announce that we are hosting a screening of the film, Race to Nowhere on April 4 from 7pm-9pm. This screening is open to the public, so please spread the word. You can purchase tickets online by clicking here.

About the Film: Featuring the heartbreaking stories of young people across the country who have been pushed to the brink, educators who are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need, and parents who are trying to do what’s best for their kids, Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace, students have become disengaged, stress-related illness, depression and burnout are rampant, and young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired.
Race to Nowhere is a call to mobilize families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens.

In a grassroots sensation already feeding a groundswell for change, hundreds of theaters, schools and organizations nationwide are hosting community screenings during a six month campaign to screen the film nationwide. Tens of thousands of people are coming together, using the film as the centerpiece for raising awareness, radically changing the national dialogue on education and galvanizing change.

Featured in the film:
Dr. Madeline Levine, Clinical Psychologist and author of the best-seller, The Price of Privilege
Dr. Wendy Mogel, Clinical Psychologist and author of The Blessing of a Skinned Knee
Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, Adolescent Medicine Specialist, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Dr. Deborah Stipek, Dean of the School of Education at Stanford University
Dr. Denise Pope, Co-Founder, Challenge Success, Stanford University
Sara Bennett, Founder, Stop Homework

Congratulations to our National Geographic Geo Bee Winner!

For the 23rd year, the National Geographic Society is holding the National Geographic Bee for students in the fourth through eighth grades in thousands of schools across the United States and in the five U.S. territories, as well as in Department of Defense Dependents Schools around the world. The 2011 Bee is sponsored by Google.

Congratulations to Far Hills Country Day School seventh grader Andrew Zaiser who won this year's Geo Bee after a fierce twelve question tie-breaker against sixth grader Bobby Mulcahy. Andrew will advance to the next level of competition, a written examination to determine state competitors. All school winners are eligible to win the national championship and its first prize, a $25,000 college scholarship, at the national competition taking place May 24 and 25, 2011 in Washington, D.C..

Admission Open House

Please join us for an Admission Open House on Saturday, January 22 from 1pm-3pm. Our school has been serving boys and girls in PK-Grade 8 since 1929. At Far Hills Country Day School, we teach 21st century skills by guiding our students through meaningful educational experiences. We deliver foundation skills and encourage exploration through project-based learning, problem solving, public speaking, global partnerships, ethics, collaboration and innovation, a rich world language program, and much more – all in a family-centered environment that celebrates the joys of childhood.

We offer full day kindergarten and aftercare, and small class sizes. Our open houses offer families a comprehensive introduction to our community and an opportunity to tour classrooms and facilities. You will also learn about Far Hills from faculty, administration, and students. Please call 908-766-0622 x 455 to RSVP or check out our website www.fhcds.org to RSVP online.

Parent Teacher Workshop on Addressing and Preventing Bullying

Far Hills Country Day School and The Bernards Township Library Present a workshop on
ADDRESSING AND PREVENTING BULLYING
Monday, January 24
7:00 – 8:30 PM
at the Bernards Township Library
32 S. Maple Ave.
Basking Ridge, NJ 07920
www.bernardslibrary.org and www.fhcds.org

Dr. Steve Tobias, consulting psychologist at Far Hills Country Day School, and Mr. Rob Berkman, Associate Head of the school, will share proactive ways that parents and teachers can help their children address and prevent bullying. This program and discussion will center around effective school programs, pending legislation, and the practical aspects of preventing bullying. What can the school do, what can the parent do, and what can the child do?

Teachers may earn 1.5 professional development credits for attending this program. Register online at www.bernardslibrary.org or call the Children’s Desk at 908-204-3031, ext. 3.

Far Hills Country Day School Students engage in pilot testing program

Earlier this week, Far Hills Country Day School sixth graders had an exciting opportunity to work with research scientists from ETS (www.ets.org), world-renown experts in assessment and educational research, on an important pilot assessment project focusing on noncognitive characteristics in students.

Far Hills Country Day School, along with the Elementary School Research Consortium (ESRC), a collaboration of more than 20 national independent elementary schools, has been conducting leading-edge research on the newest assessments of skills deemed essential for success in the 21st century.

This past summer ESRC formed a partnership with ETS to develop an assessment tool and to conduct a longitudinal study of these key characteristics, such as persistence, teamwork, creative problem solving, ethics and integrity, all essential competencies for success in both academics and the workplace. This assessment tool and study will help the participating schools determine if students’ competencies improve through the course of their middle school education. Far Hills Country Day School is a member of the ESRC Assessment Task Force, and so it was selected as the location for the pilot lab. Students completed sample assessment questions and tasks and then offered feedback to researchers about the skills tested, the clarity of ideas, and the precision of language. It was a wonderful learning experience for students to play an active role in relevant, real-world research with scientists. Based on the work with FHCDS students and the prototype, ETS assessment designers will revise the assessment tool that will then be used in spring of 2011 by about 19 ESRC schools as part of a three-year longitudinal study. ETS currently is engaged in similar assessment projects with The Lawrenceville School and Columbia University.

Extensive ETS and Conference Board research documents that noncognitive characteristics are important or increasingly important and critical to college and workplace success. In part due to this research, ETS developed the Personal Potential Index, a noncognitive assessment which is now part of the GRE. Results are provided to graduate schools to use in the selection of students.

Early evidence also indicates that targeted instruction in noncognitive areas, such as time management and persistence, have positively impacted student performance. Based partly on these results, ETS seeks to collaborate with educators at the middle school level to learn about the potential impact of building such characteristics more intentionally through the elementary and middle school years.