LREI News Blog

Last week one of our first grade classes opened their very own Learning Center with course offerings that included chess and guitar lessons, as well as horse grooming and self-portrait study. When I arrived at the Learning Center I had to stop at the front desk to choose a course. I was then told to go to the cashier to pay a fee after which I was escorted to the section of the room where my course was being offered. Most lessons were full, but luckily there was room in the horse grooming class. I learned all about the different parts of a horse, how to take care of a horse and the different ways you can ride a horse from a very experienced teacher. A video and model horse was used to demonstrate specific saddling and grooming techniques. “How to” books for each course were available at the door on your way out. What a very impressive learning community!All of that learning helped me work up an appetite so next I visited the Funky Earth Café run by another first grade class. The ambiance was colorful, clean and calm. The background music was upbeat and fun. A very gracious hostess greeted me at the door, asked how many were in my party and seated me at a table carefully prepared for a scrumptious meal. The wait staff immediately brought water to the table and gave me just enough time before coming over and asking me if I was ready to order. The menu included items such as a creative fruit salad, hot crepes and love knot cookies, all made by LREI students. Everything sounded delicious! I ordered a fruit salad and love knot cookies and thoroughly enjoyed every last drop. It was amazing to see the fruits of many weeks of the planning and work of first graders. Proceeds from both the Learning Center and the Funky Earth Café will go to charities selected by first grade students.

High School students Gloria Bardin, AJ Sims and Ryan Kim have constructed a Lego robot that controls a solar panel so that a set of arms points the panel to the sunniest space in the sky. Their project will be on display all summer at the Cafe Habana in Brooklyn (click here for directions). The Cafe Habana and Habana Labs sponsored this project, which was exhibited at the Feedback Sustainability Event at the Eyebeam Gallery in Chelsea. The robot will let patrons recharge computers and cell phones and bring awareness of sustainable power solutions such as solar power. For more information about the project, go to http://www.ecoeatery.com/lab/events.html

LREI encourages and teaches our students to probe, to challenge and to develop one’s own interests and passions, and certainly the goal of the Senior Project Program is to express our educational experience to those in the world of work. This requirement is of particular importance. As the internship demonstrates the ability of our students to move through the world and make a significant impact, the presentation, which will take place during the annual Senior Project Presentation Evening on June 5, 2008 at 6:30 PM, demonstrates the ability to utilize one’s experience to educate others. It is also important because it marks the end. At the end of this evening, all of our seniors will have fulfilled the requirements for graduation.

It is important to thank all of the faculty mentors who provided guidance and support throughout the process and especially the Senior Project coordinators, Adele Pelz and Antonio Valle who provided the vision and the organization. Many thanks to the organizations, companies and institutions who provided our 12th Graders with internships, including:

Bleecker and Sullivan Advertising, Peace Games, Nightingale-Bamford, Random House, Harlem Hospital, Mary Ellen Mark, DDC Lab, Democracy Now!, Public Theater, The Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International, the UN Development Program, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA), the Harlem Success Academy, and NYU School of Medicine (Departments of Pathology, Dermatology and Cell Biology).

All are welcome to attend what is always a terrific evening, June 5.

Click on the above images to see the full image.

I’d like to share an impressive art project that a group of eighth graders completed quietly and without much fanfare. This year, the whole Middle School has explored the ways in which art can be used as a tool for social and political activism. Through the Paydirt/Fundred Dollar Bill Project, which is still ongoing, we discovered first hand how art and collective action can make a difference. In the same spirit, The Doors of Hope project empowered our students to address civic and social issues through the creation of public art.

As Middle School art teacher Carin Cohen who coordinated our group of artists notes:

This Spring, LREI was asked to participate with Cityarts in the Doors of Hope Project. Emerging from the theme Young Minds Build Bridges, CITYarts created a portable mural consisting of eight doors, painted by students from eight schools in New York, to be given to the kids of New Orleans. The groups of students were each given a standard-size wooden door to paint and asked to think about inspirational messages and images that celebrate nature while raising awareness of global warming. The students were also encouraged to think about and incorporate aspects of their own New York City culture or what they know about New Orleans culture.The students designed the doors specifically with their contemporaries in New Orleans in mind. They were visited by Paul Deo, a professional artist from New Orleans who moved to New York after Katrina. He provided some insight about New Orleans culture as well as sharing some related imagery with the students. Upon completion, the doors were assembled together into a paneled mural. The mural was displayed at CITYarts’ 40th Anniversary Benefit and Awards Ceremony in early May. Following the Benefit, the Doors of Hope panel was sent to the Louisiana Children’s Museum in New Orleans as a gift from the youth of New York City to the youth of New Orleans. The doors and the collective spirit reflected in the work will provide encouragement and support for the children of New Orleans, who are still coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Congratulations and thanks to eighth graders Maya P-H, Henry, Jack G., Gaia, Brianna, Lilly, David, and Emma for their beautiful work and committed activism.

This Thursday, May 22nd is LREI’s Spring Book Sale and Literary Celebration. The Auditorium is filled with so many great book offerings it’s hard for many to make a choice about what to buy.Children throughout the lower school have been working feverishly on literary projects that integrate different curricular areas, help express feelings and emotions, and also give children the opportunity to share all that they know with the rest of the school community.

Early childhood neighborhood trips that encouraged students to notice how things change and grow from season to season have sparked a flurry of writing selections that share the beauty of Spring. First grade projects produced a plethora of non-fiction selections. Hope you were lucky enough to purchase a copy of The Funky Earth Café’s cookbook or one of the numerous How To books from LREI’s first Learning Center.

Second graders worked for weeks on their All About books. Each child chose a
topic to research and to write a book about to share with each other and their families. I had no idea second graders knew so much about so many things! Book topics included community boards, airplanes, painting in NYC, and the Intrepid.

Third graders recently finished writing Color poems. They used their imaginations and senses to think about what a color might smell like, taste like, sound like and feel like, as well as what it looks like. Students used the creative ideas they came up with to write poems about colors.

Weeks of hard work went into researching and writing the script for the first fourth grade immigration musical which was an incredible demonstration of hard work, talent, academic skill and community collaboration. Be sure to also check out the wall of poems written by fourth graders and modeled after poems written by Asian immigrants who came to America through Angel Island.

Books help us all to see new places, learn about new things and connect in many different ways with others at home and around the world. Enjoy your next reading adventure!

Congratulations also to the members of the LREI Model Congress Delegation. The delegates for the Model Congress this year were fifth graders Marcelo, Odelia, Lola, Danielle, Michelle and Simmon and seventh grader Diana. The group has been working with faculty facilitator Sharyn Hahn since the end of January to write bills, prepare speeches, read other students’ bills from the other schools that participate, and learn about and practice parliamentary procedure. The team spent the entire day at Packer Collegiate High School on Saturday, April 26th for the annual culminating event.

Nearly 200 middle school students from 13 area independent schools, including LREI, sent delegations of model legislators to the event. When students arrive at the event, they break off into one of 17 separate committees based upon the content of their bill. These committees are meant to resemble actual congressional committees and include Judiciary, Education, Health, Housing & Urban Affairs, and Science Space & Technology. After a morning committee session filled with heated debate and criticism, the bills that pass committee are reviewed in one of four full sessions. (House I, House II, Senate I, and Senate II).

As Sharyn notes:

Our delegates had a great time and learned a lot; they all are looking forward to next year! This year, all of our bills all had to do with the environment and sustainability. Diana’s and Lola’s and Danielle’s bills passed and were debated in the full sessions. The others had a tough fight in their committees! In the plenary session in the afternoon several of the fifth graders spoke out on various topics. I was impressed by their thoughtfulness and their courage to speak out in these large groups sessions.

A hearty congratulations to the LREI Middle School Robotics team who returned last week from their successful journey to Tokyo, Japan. They had an incredible experience as cultural ambassadors and performed well in the competition. They were also recognized by the tournament officials for their efforts to support the other US team from the Bronx so that they could also make the journey to Japan. Thank you for representing LREI so well!

Inspired by the art show at Synchronicity Arts, and the previous Broadway benefits, Senior Ella Saunders-Crivello, has put together a two-day event/art installation and benefit at a gallery space on Mercer Street. She is encouraging young artists from our school, grades 9-12, to donate their favorite, original art pieces for purchase; 80% of the purchase price will be donated to one of four charities–the artist’s choice. The charities are Action against Hunger, Doctors without Borders, the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation, and Sean Casey Animal Rescue, a no kill shelter in Brooklyn, NY. This event, ArtACTION, will take place on May 10 (opening reception, 3 PM-8 PM) and May 11 from 12 PM-8 PM, 7 Mercer Street, New York City.

A hearty congratulations to the members of our Rube Goldberg team who competed this past weekend in the annual Rube Goldberg Machine Competition at the Fay School in Massachusetts. With the support of Middle School science teacher Stephen Volkmann, seventh graders Aaron and Isabella and eighth graders Cameron, Emma, Maya and Nicholas worked diligently over the past few months to prepare for the event. This year’s event required teams to use a common set of materials to create a contraption that used multiple energy transfers to accomplish the simple task of blowing a bubble. At the competition, the teams were given a set of materials and under timed conditions the teams had to construct and run their machines. They were also required to give a presentation on their design and the associated scientific principles. The members of the LREI team completed the task successfully and were awarded the prize for Most Creative Design. Well done!

Over Spring Break, 47 LREI students traveled overseas on school sponsored trips:

• Fifteen eighth graders traveled to France with their French teachers Sharyn Hahn and David Lee. This group visited Paris, Versailles, took the train (TGV) south to Avignon, and Aix-en-Provence, then off to Nimes, St. Jean de Vence, Monaco, Aise, and Nice.
• Nineteen eighth graders traveled to Spain with Gabrielle Keller, Middle School Spanish teacher, Margaret Andrews, middle school math teacher, and Victor Diggs, seventh grade core teacher. This group went to Madrid and Barcelona, visiting the new Prado, a comprehensive Picasso exhibit at the Reina Sofia and the Sagrada Familia Cathedral as well as strolling, shopping and eating along the Ramblas in Barcelona.
• Thirteen high school students visited the Gunter-Stohr-Gymnasium, the school with which we have had an exchange program for the past five years. These students stayed with a host family in Munich, attended school, visited many museums, the Royal Residence and Dachau, as well as reuniting with friends made when the German students visited us in October. Many students traveled with their host families over the Easter weekend. Some went skiing in Austria and others visited Verona and Venice.

Finally, we are nearing the departure date for seven of our middle school robotics team members and their coaches—Sherezada Acosta, Carin Cohen and Steve Neiman—who will travel to Tokyo for a global robotics tournament. In the coming days you might see afternoon bake sales that this group is organizing to help pay for some sight seeing excursions and to support the other US team that has been invited to attend this event.