I want the world to love Town School.

Gannen H. (grade 4) embarked on a journey last summer to Vietnam and Cambodia. While delivering aid into orphanages in these countries, he reflects on the values he learned at Town school. He loves Town School and wants the world to see why!

Town School made a great Valentine!

If you missed it, the Annual Giving chairs along with Kathy Nyrop, greeted the community with a special treat on Valentine’s Day to thank them for their participation and support.  It was the perfect morning to hand out candy and wish everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day.  We hope it was a good one!

And,once again, thank you to all of those who have already participated in Annual Giving.  It has been a thrill to see the participation numbers rise .  And, we are so happy to see so many people supporting Town School.  This week, especially, we have seen a lot of love for the school.

Please remember to support Annual Giving and we are looking forward to watching parent participation continue to climb!

A picture is indeed worth a 1000 words.

Yet another reason to love Town School!  Thank you Nicky DeCesare and the Extended Day Program for providing such a fun loving environment for the boys to be boys.

 

Looking for a Valentine? How about Town School?

Congratulations Parents! It only took 50% of the year to get 74% of the way there.  How close to 100% parent participation can we get to by Valentine’s Day?

As you know, we are aiming for 100% parent participation in the Annual Giving campaign.  100% of the Faculty and Staff and Trustees have already participated.  So,  if you haven’t already sent along your gift, please do consider sending it along before Valentine’s Day.

What better way to show how much you love Town School?

Click here to make your donation.

Thank you!

The animals at the SF Zoo love Town School too.

The Town School community is top notch when it comes to connecting for the purpose of helping others.  The groups that sign up are always enthusiastic, excited and ready to roll up their sleeves and help.  The rewards are plentiful and sometimes even surprising.  Read below to see how the HOT (Helping Our Town) group prepared presents for the animals at the SF Zoo and what the Zoo did to thank them. Thank you Rachel Hollister for sharing your experience.

“My boys and I recently attended a HOT (Helping Our Town) event and had an amazing time. HOT is new to Town School and has been created for our Town community to have an opportunity to help people, animals and organizations in the San Francisco area. It is another way for us to reach out and help others.

On Sunday, November 20^th, a large group of us met at the San Francisco Zoo. We had arrived to plant a vegetable garden that would provide extra food for the animals. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain but there was a wonderful back up plan.  Instead, we met in the old Mother’s Building (originally built for mothers and their children). In the building, the Zoo members had different stations set up for our children and us.

We soon found ourselves either making “edible” paste, taking tape off of large packaging boxes, or wrapping the large boxes with holiday wrapping paper and using the “edible” paste to adhere the paper to the boxes. These were being created for the animals as a Holiday Treat. The Zoo members will fill the boxes with various treats and the animal’s job will be to unwrap and find the treats inside. We were told that the animals love this and it is another way of entertainment for them.

All of the boys, siblings, moms, dads and even grandparents were excited to help out. There was a wonderful amount of enthusiasm in the room and I have to say it was a great way to start off the Holiday Season! Plus, the Zoo surprised us with complimentary ice-skating and carousel rides to thank the Town School group. Definitely a very fun and productive morning!

A huge “Thank you” to Lisa Zanze and Lindsay Bolton for organizing this event! We will definitely look forward to the next one!”

Mark your calendars, the next HOT event is Sunday, January 29th at the San Francisco Food Bank from 12:20 – 2:30.  Hope to see you there!

The Town School Community Loves the Town School Clothes Closet

Since Rachel Hollister is an Annual Giving co-chair AND Town School Clothes Closet co -chair, we thought it a perfect fit for her write a post about how wonderful the Clothes Closet is for our community.  And, what better way than to showcase the fun that was had at their holiday party.  Here is what Rachel had to say:

“This year I have had the wonderful opportunity to co-chair the Town School Clothes Closet with Margaret Mann. We recently hosted a Holiday Party at the store, which was quite an experience as well as a success. The party went from 1pm -8pm, so, not only did we get to throw a fun party but we were also able to see the “ins and outs” of the store.

Elena, the amazing woman responsible for keeping the store running successfully, had the place decorated beautifully and ready for a celebration. The store had a consistent flow of people coming in and out and either shopping or dropping off items to eventually be sold. Meanwhile, more ski items and holiday products were being put on the shelves. There was a happy bustle of activity throughout the day.

The evening was filled with fun food and drink as well as many shoppers.  It was a lovely way to give thanks to all the people responsible for the store and to all of those who shop at the store. Town School is lucky to have the store as part of its community. If you get a chance, please stop by and see what the store has to offer!”

Guess which group is the first to reach 100% participation for Annual Giving?

TOWN’S FACULTY AND STAFF!

Congratulations and thank you to all the faculty and staff!

Sixth grade humanities teacher David Kyle organized the effort as chair of faculty and staff annual giving.  To celebrate the successful drive, Mr. Kyle directed and produced a video that captures the spirit of Town’s faculty and staff.  Please click on the link below; we bet you can’t watch without a smile on your face! We hope you enjoy the video as much as we do.

We asked Mr. Kyle to tell us a little bit about Annual Giving at Town, and the process of creating the video.   Take a peek at the video and then check out his answers below.

 

 

  •  Why do you volunteer to coordinate teacher giving each year?

I volunteer to coordinate faculty and staff giving to the annual fund every year for a few reasons. Number one, I love this school. Before I was an intern here, I was floundering around as a dot-commer, a personal trainer, a political consultant, and a fundraiser. I have always wanted to teach but never had the guts or the opportunity to get into the profession. I still remember the two wonderful and poignant days when Anne Ayers called me to offer me a spot as an intern, and Brewster offered me a spot as a Head teacher. Town finally allowed me to realize my calling.
Now, I’m happy as a clam in mud in my classroom. I’m part of a community of educators that are passionate about what we do. I’m around 12 year-olds all day who have the same sense of humor I do. The more joy I have in my classroom, the better I do at my job.

•  How do you approach your role in annual giving (and maybe what your secret is to getting 100% participation)?

There are many reasons why an employee might give; it’s just finding which one is the right reason for each individual. Most of us have similar reasons, such as believing in the mission of the school, or being an alum, or just wanting to give. Also, people don’t like to be in the last 5% who have not yet given!

•  What made you think of this video idea, and would you care to share any production details (we heard you did it in only a few takes)?
I usually try and get people involved in my Cross Country videos, and was trying to come up with a similar way to get as many people as possible involved. Then I thought, why not just get the whole faculty involved? I had heard about lip dubs, and then it just became a matter of finding the right song. The shoot was interesting; we did three takes in 45 minutes. In the first take, people were under-confident and didn’t know their lines or where to stand. In the second, they knew their lines and where to stand, but weren’t confident. The final take had all three elements and it was by far the best.

 •  Is there anything else you’d like the Town Community to know?
Yes. If you could please remind your sons that if they bring in birthday cupcakes to class, I’d be okay if they dropped one off for me. Room 20, second floor. Thanks.

 

A video love note from Mrs. Ganem’s boys to Town School.

The wonderful teachers at Town School continue to amaze our community with their creative ways of showing how they love the school.  Recently, Annie Reddick (Mrs. Ganem) produced this video with her 1st grade boys.  When we saw it, we knew just the person to introduce the video and share a bit more about Mrs.Ganem.  Thank you Anne Ayers for reminding us all why she is indeed so special.

“Annie Reddick (Mrs. Ganem) walked through the doors of Town School in the spring of 2002. She was a senior at Bates College, an applicant for the New Teacher Institute, and I met her in the lobby as I do all applicants. Annie glowed with genuine enthusiasm, positive energy, and she made astute observations on our tour. By the time we got to my office on the 3^rd floor, I knew this special young woman would be a great fit for Town!! That fall, Annie joined the New Teacher Institute and spent a year in Kindergarten and the following year in second grade. After completing her training at Town School, Annie was hired at The Bentley School to be a head kindergarten teacher and she taught there for 6 years. During this period she was married and had a son, Henry. We who knew her as an exceptional intern are thrilled to have this talented teacher and experienced mentor back at Town in first grade.”

Do Town boys really love broccoli??

Ping M., a mother of a kindergartener and a 2nd grader,  admits that her sons are on opposite ends of the food spectrum.  As much as one is a picky eater, the other is a foodie.   She is in awe of Chef Ric because of the ease in which he can get the boys to try new foods and inspire them to love what they eat even more.  Recently, her five year old came home and asked her an important question about broccoli.  When she shared the story with us, we knew that whether children were picky eaters or  foodies, all parents could relate. Just another reason to love Town School!

“Recently, after school one day, my five year old came home and suggested I connect with Chef Ric on how to best prepare broccoli.  He said to me:  “Mommy, maybe you can ask Chef Ric what ingredients he uses for the broccoli because it tastes better than yours”.  Yes, my 5 year old came home and used the words ‘ingredients’.  Of course, I made the broccoli as specified by Chef Ric (no secret ingredients, just water and broccoli and a sprinkle of salt, but I did learn how to cook them properly), but he still says – “Well, it’s not as good as Chef Ric’s.  But then he is a Chef”.

If you have a story or love note you would like to share, please do email us – we would love to showcase all that is wonderful about Town School.

Extended Day respects traditions – even when it involves hanging donuts from the ceiling!

Nicky DeCesare is the director of the After School Program and Town School and has the pleasure of experiencing the boys in their most playful moods. She is a master at wrangling their after school energy and loves that so many boys like to come hang out even if their parents do not need them to be there.   When she first took the helm two years ago she caught on right away to the power of the Extended Day traditions.  So, when we asked her to share with us what she loves about her job, she knew just the story to tell.

“This past Halloween, I spent the majority of the afternoon hanging three dozen donuts from the ceiling of our classroom with the amazing Extended Day Team (Dain Vogel ‘98, and Caitlin Bicknell). As I stood high atop the back of a chair, hands covered in donut glaze, struggling to tie an anchor string from the highest point in the room, a fellow faculty member stopped in the doorway to admire our spectacle. After a few minutes of careful observation, he asked the obvious question: “So why do you do this again?”

Great question. There is, of course, the obvious answer: Because it’s fun! There is something about a donut dangling from a string that creates the perfect storm of silly and delicious and puts a smile on the face of every single person who walks into our classroom on Halloween, regardless of age.

But the real answer is more than that.

When I took over the position of Director of After School Programs four years ago, the boys, eager to know how things would be different (and how they would remain the same) without founding director Elaine Blair, started asking questions almost immediately. “Are we still gonna do the donut thing on Halloween?”

I had no idea what they were talking about. I had spent my first two years at Town as an intern teacher in the lower school, and had not been privy to the rituals of the Extended Day Program. Thankfully, I had Stefanie Stoddard, a five year Extended Day veteran teacher, by my side. “What are they talking about?!” I asked her.

“Oh,” she answered. “Every Halloween, we hang donuts from the ceiling and the boys have to try to bite them without using their hands.”

I was baffled. In my mind, the headache I had from running through the logistics of executing such a feat for more than thirty boys over the course of 3 hours (at the end of the day. ON HALLOWEEN.) could certainly not outweigh the benefits. Until I thought a little harder about the true purpose.

We needed to do it because it was a tradition. Like so many traditions, it’s more about the feeling than the actual act itself. Elaine manufactured a little bit of Halloween magic when she first decided to start the tradition of bobbing for donuts in Extended Day, and it’s recreating that magic that fosters a feeling of connection; between the boys and our program, their school, a certain place and time during the year, and each other.  It is, like so many here at Town, a tradition that started long before the arrival of us who continue it, and will hopefully continue on as long as it serves its true purpose, which, for Extended Day, is to create a warm, fun, safe, enriching environment for our boys after-school.

I love that our Upper School boys will come back and visit on Halloween – they help tie donuts to strings, demonstrate the most effective “donut-bobbing” techniques, and tell ridiculous stories of “that time in third grade when we were bobbing for donuts and…” (use your imagination to fill in how that story ends!) It’s something that our boys look forward to every year – they start asking about it in early September, and talk about it all the way through June. While we create our traditions, they shape our identity as a community as much as we do them. I am proud to be part of a community of faculty, administrators, families, and students that strives to create, shape and maintain traditions that act in the best interest of our boys, their growth, their learning, their emotional well-being, and their connection to their school. And sometimes, that can be as simple as donuts.