Chicago City Day School

Congratulations to our Class of 2026, which formally graduated from City Day on Wednesday. As part of their commencement, the graduates gave short speeches, reflecting on their past experiences at City Day. Other commencement speakers praised the graduates for their hard work and stellar academic record. Members of the Class of 2026 earned admission to excellent high schools in Chicago and beyond, including independent, parochial, boarding, and selective-enrollment public high schools. Best of luck to our graduates!

Our last field trip of the school year! Grades 1 and 5 visited the Shedd Aquarium today. Once there, the two groups split up and explored different types of marine life and marine environments inside the museum. The first-graders were particularly taken by the immersive quality of the Shedd's exhibits — it felt almost like they'd actually entered the sea!

Our boys volleyball A-team capped off what has been a tremendously successful year in City Day sports by winning a third-place trophy in the CAMS postseason tournament this week. It's the third trophy won by City Day teams this year — the girls volleyball A-team won a first-place trophy in the fall, and our girls basketball B-team won first place in the winter. Congratulations to all of this year's student athletes and the coaches who guided them. We look forward to more success in 2026-2027! GO COUGARS!

Our eighth-graders opened a miniature golf course this week! The course consists of holes that the students designed and built in art class after visiting a real mini golf park — Par-King Skill Golf in Lincolnshire — for inspiration. One of the holes pays tribute to iconic buildings in downtown Chicago, while another stands as an ode to pizza, to give just two examples. Our junior kindergartners had a blast playing the course this morning! Great work, students!

Our eighth-graders were fascinated and moved during their recent exploration of the Experience360 installation created by the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. The highlights of the visit were a virtual-reality presentation of a Holocaust survivor's life & experiences and a holographic "conversation" with another survivor. Our students left the downtown Experience360 site talking about the importance of preserving personal stories of significant historic events. Thank you to the Experience360 staff for being wonderful hosts and guides.

Today, our sixth-graders collected and identified wildlife specimens from the North Branch of the Chicago River to learn about the river's ecosystem. It was the last in a series of service-learning trips to the river that our students took this spring. In recent weeks, our eighth- and fourth-graders worked together to remove invasive plants from the area, while our seventh-graders measured various aspects of the river's water quality. At City Day, the city truly is our classroom!

Our third-graders have been studying Chicago architecture as part of their yearlong exploration of the city's history and culture in class. This week, students observed Chicago's famed architecture via the unique vantage point of a Chicago's First Lady Cruises boat tour along the Chicago River. The third-graders loved seeing the buildings up close and learning the stories behind their creation!

Our third-graders loved visiting Graceland Cemetery & Arboretum! The students found burial sites of notable Chicagoans and delivered short presentations about their lives and accomplishments. Among the people highlighted were architects Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham, boxing legend Jack Johnson, and inventor George Pullman. The trip aligns with third grade's social studies curriculum, which focuses on Chicago history.

Congrats to our sixth-graders and their teachers on the excellent production of "Matilda," which they will perform for the community this week in the Hunt Theatre. The acclaimed musical centers around a gifted, book-loving girl who befriends a teacher while butting heads with her uncaring parents and school headmistress. The sixth-graders are a true triple threat in this production, singing, dancing, and acting with confidence! Performances take place at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday.

Thanks to all who organized, managed, and participated in the City Day 5K run/walk over the weekend! This spring tradition raises money to support the school's programming, and our community made this year's event a heartwarming success. Read more, and see a gallery of images (including shots of the post-run Holi celebration), by clicking the link below.

Spirit high at City Day's 5K fundraiser The annual event has become a beloved spring tradition for the school.