September 22, 2022

Dear Baker families,


It is hard to believe that we've completed our first month of school! Time flies when you're having fun and we're having fun! But what does it mean to have fun at school and to lose track of time while doing so? How important is fun at school? For me fun is an essential part of school and it connects with the concept of the flow state. The flow state is when you're in the sweet spot of an activity where you're actively challenged, but not overwhelmed, and where you can use your skills to make meaningful progress. Adults often talk about the pursuit of a flow state in their work - trying to avoid boredom, but also not being overloaded. Children actually enter this state of flow quite naturally when they play. They are geniuses at creating games or challenges given their surroundings. Here at Baker we talk often about how we have a child-centered approach to education. This is also a founding principle of progressive education. We love to give our students the agency and opportunity to play and find their flow. This doesn't mean that teachers leave the children to their own devices, but rather help guide them in activities where they are given a lot of reign to decide what direction to go. Here is an article that connects these concepts of flow and play.


One of the great traditions that embodies this concept of child-centered play is our Wandering Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, our Kindergartners strike off outside and go explore the world. I was lucky enough to tag-a-long this week as they walked to Lighthouse beach. What did our Kindergartners learn during this walk? Well, I was along for about 20 minutes and the list of things that I heard them inquire about, interact with, or engage in would fill pages and pages. Just watching and listening to them I knew that their brains were absorbing and processing a million miles a minute, but here's an article that talks about how essential these moments are to the children's development.


Here are some highlights of my time together with the Kinders:

  • Walking to Lighthouse Beach is HARD. How many steps is it? Ms. L has the steps on her watch! It is actually about 2000 steps. Whoa, how many is 2000?  This discussion led to a talk about the Baker 5k, which is a great tradition at end of the school year where all students run a route along Gillson Park. The older kids (1st grade and up) run a 5k and our younger students run shorter distances. We talked about how many steps a 5k would be.  Whoa, no way I could do that!  But they all do, and it is great to see.


  • How did this big leaf get here? Where did this big leaf come from? Why is this leaf so big? That leaf could fly this rock on it! I don't think so. Let's try!
  • How many of us can get on this airplane? I'm flying to California! Where's California? What part of the plane is the best part of the plane? Why? This is hard to stand on! I think I can balance.  And yes this where Ms. Killian carefully guided our young friend off the riskier part of the plane. Boundaries are important even in play.

Baker Happenings This Week

One of the coolest spaces in the school is Ms. Toole's art room. Kids' imaginations go wild in this room and Ms. Toole is a master of channeling those imaginations into creative constructions that speak to each child's unique interests and personalities. I popped in on the 4th grade class as they were working on mixed media collages. Each student had a large piece of paper divided up into 6 boxes. Ms. Toole had then set up 6 stations with lots of different art supplies: scratch layered drawing, pencil stenciling, water soluble pastels, magazine cut out collages, markers, pencils and scissors. With soothing music in the background the students brought to life their ideas in so many interesting ways. One student showed a sunset at various stages, another student had a large monster, and others had special themes for each box. 

Oh and if you notice some of the 4th graders wearing their flag football jerseys proudly, that's because they had a fantastic win on Saturday against Oakton in their season opener, as did the 5th grade beating Roycemore!  Meanwhile the Middle School soccer team lost a tough close game on Monday in their opener 3-2 against Solomon Schecter.


Take note, we have an exciting event coming up in one month, the Baker Tailgate!  Save the date of Friday, October 21st. Those of you who participated in the spring event know how much of a blast it was. We'll be sharing more details in the coming weeks, but mark your calendars!


Have a great day,

Mason Rocca
Interim Head of School

Calendar Highlights

September 22

FAN Event, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, featuring Gabor Maté, MD and Nancy Burgoyne, Ph.D.

7:00 PM No registration required- In-person


September 25

Bike the Ridge- 9:00 AM- 1:00 PM


September 26

Rosh Hashanah - No School


September 28th

FAN Event, The No Club: Putting an End to Women’s Dead-End Work -- Lise Vesterlund, Ph.D. and Barbara Bernstein

7:00 p.m. - Zoom - Register here


September 29th

FAN Event, The Sleep-Deprived Teen -- Lisa L. Lewis, MS and Melinda Wenner Moyer

7:00 p.m. - Zoom - Register here



You can view Baker's public calendar at bakerdemschool.org/calendar

BPO Family Bonfire

Thank you to all who made our Baker Bonfire a success! We enjoyed seeing all our families and enjoying the amazing end of summer weather!

Baker Cardboard Challenge

Join in on the fun on October 15th! Don't miss one of the most remembered events of the year! To donate boxes, please drop off during carpool or contact Julie Toole. We appreciate it!

RSVP

Baker Spirit Wear Shop Deadline is TONIGHT!

The Baker spirit wear pop up shop closes at 11:59 PM TONIGHT! The pop-up shop website is provided by Freadom Promotions. Freadom Promotions is "... the ONLY promotional products company investing 100% of net profits to end America's literacy crisis." Bernie's Book Bank is one of the beneficiaries of Freadom Promotions. You might recall Bernie's Book Bank because Baker students have done service work for them in the past. Furthermore, $1 from every spirit wear purchase will benefit Baker. 

 

Questions: Contact Stacie Erck

Order Now

Baker Parent Organization (BPO)

Baker is a sponsor for Evanston's Bike the Ridge this Sunday, September 25 from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Have your student(s) put on their Baker t-shirt, grab your helmets and non-motorized wheels and head to Ridge Avenue between Howard Street and Church Street. There will be vendors, bike repairs, live music, activities, and food trucks at Ridgeville Park located at 908 Seward St, Evanston. Sign up to be a Baker ambassador at our booth! Staff, students, and families are all welcome to sign-up. We will be passing out bananas to energize riders. This is a fun-filled way to get involved with the Baker community. Please review the available volunteer time slots below and click here to sign up. 

Green Team- Garden Work Days


We hope to take advantage of end of season good weather to do some clean up in the garden. If you’re free to join us, we will be gardening for a few hours each workday.


Dates:*

Saturday, October 1st, 1:00 pm

Saturday, October 15th, 10:00 am

Saturday, October 29th, 9:00 am

Saturday, November 4th, 11:00 am

Saturday, November 19th, 12:00 pm

*Weather dependent


Tasks:

Cleaning, weeding, watering


Typically 2-3 hours. Feel free to drop in at any point. Bring your gardening tools!


Questions? Contact Natasha Moss

Gratitude Notes

I am grateful for the fantastic turnout at the Bonfire last week and our wonderful BPO social committee and class parents that helped orchestrate all the details.  The BPO social committee did a wonderful job organizing smores' bowls with two marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers.  All the fixings, and the class parents set up areas for each of their classes with pizza! It was a wonderful evening and children and adults had so much fun between the park, beach, bonfire and grassy areas.  Thank you to everyone who attended and pitched in to make it such a fun night.


If someone has done something special or nice for you or your children, let them know! It will make their week and will also feel good to you. Let's keep the Gratitude train rolling!


Gratitude Notes

FAN Events

September 22nd

FAN Event, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, featuring Gabor Maté, MD and Nancy Burgoyne, Ph.D.

7:00 p.m. - No registration required


In his revolutionary new book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, renowned physician Gabor Maté, MD eloquently dissects how in Western countries that pride themselves on their healthcare systems, chronic illness and general ill health are on the rise. Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug; more than half take two. In Canada, every fifth person has high blood pressure. In Europe, hypertension is diagnosed in more than 30 percent of the population. And everywhere, adolescent mental illness is on the rise. So what is really “normal” when it comes to health?


Over four decades of clinical experience, Dr. Maté has come to recognize the prevailing understanding of “normal” as false, neglecting the roles that trauma and stress, and the pressures of modern-day living, exert on our bodies and our minds at the expense of good health. For all our expertise and technological sophistication, Western medicine often fails to treat the whole person, ignoring how today’s culture stresses the body, burdens the immune system, and undermines emotional balance. Now Dr. Maté brings his perspective to the great untangling of common myths about what makes us sick, connects the dots between the maladies of individuals and the declining soundness of society—and offers a compassionate guide for health and healing.


Dr. Maté, the bestselling author of four books published in over thirty languages, is an internationally renowned speaker highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development, and the relationship of stress and illness. He will be in conversation with Nancy Burgoyne, Ph.D., chief clinical officer at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. Dr. Burgoyne previously appeared for FAN in January 2022 with her colleague Maru Torres-Gregory, Ph.D. on the topic of mental health throughout the pandemic.


This event suitable for youth 12+. It will be recorded but not live streamed and will be available on our website and YouTube channel.

September 28th

FAN Event, The No Club: Putting an End to Women’s Dead-End Work -- Lise Vesterlund, Ph.D. and Barbara Bernstein

7:00 p.m. - Zoom - Register here


All organizations have work that no one wants to do: planning the office party, attending to that time-consuming client, or simply helping others. In "The No Club: Putting an End to Women’s Dead-End Work," Lise Vesterlund, Ph.D., the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh, along with three colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University -- the original “No Club” -- document that women are disproportionately asked and expected to take on these tasks that inevitably go unrewarded, leaving women overcommitted and underutilized as companies forfeit revenue, productivity, and top talent. The book reveals how their subsequent groundbreaking research uncovered that women everywhere are unfairly burdened with “non-promotable work,” a tremendous problem we can—and must—solve.


Prof. Vesterlund is the director of the Pittsburgh Experimental Economics Laboratory (PEEL) and of the Behavioral Economic Design Initiative (BEDI). Her highly influential research on gender differences in advancement has been featured by the New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Time Magazine, and Harvard Business Review.


Prof. Vesterlund will be in conversation with Barbara Bernstein, chief human resources officer at Magnetar Capital. Ms. Bernstein oversees the firm’s human resources, office services, and Magnetar Capital Foundation philanthropic work.


This event will be recorded and available later on the FAN website and our YouTube channel.


AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of "The No Club" from FAN's partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Prof. Vesterlund that will start immediately after the webinar. Copy and paste this link to purchase the book: https://bit.ly/LVBookPurchase


NOTE: FAN collects registration data to inform event planning.

September 29th

FAN Event, The Sleep-Deprived Teen -- Lisa L. Lewis, MS and Melinda Wenner Moyer

7:00 p.m. - Zoom - Register here


Teenagers are overloaded, strapped for time, and often asked to wake far earlier than they should because of school start times. It’s no surprise they’re sleep-deprived as a result, with far-reaching consequences. Parenting journalist Lisa L. Lewis, MS, who helped spark the first law in the nation requiring healthy school start times for adolescents, has written an actionable guide for parents who want to help their exhausted teens. In "The Sleep-Deprived Teen: Why Our Teenagers Are So Tired, and How Parents and Schools Can Help Them Thrive," Ms. Lewis synthesizes the research to provide parents of teens and tweens with reader-friendly information and strategies, including information on the science of why sleep matters and how it changes during the teen years; an overview of how sleep affects mental health, academics, athletic performance, and more; a primer on how gender, sexual identity, socioeconomic status and race and ethnicity can affect sleep; a look at technology and sleep; and suggestions for making sleep-friendly changes at home and in schools.


Ms. Lewis reporting covers the intersection of parenting, public health, and education. She has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Los Angeles Times.


Ms. Lewis will be in conversation with Melinda Wenner Moyer, an award-winning science journalist and author who writes the weekly Well newsletter for The New York Times.


This event will be recorded and available later on the FAN website and our YouTube channel.


AFTER-HOURS EVENT: Attendees who purchase a copy of "The Sleep-Deprived Teen" from FAN's partner bookseller The Book Stall are invited to attend an AFTER-HOURS event hosted by Ms. Lewis and Ms. Wenner Moyer that will start immediately after the webinar. Copy and paste this link to purchase the book: https://bit.ly/LewisBookPurchase


NOTE: FAN collects registration data to inform event planning.

Facebook  Twitter  Instagram