LREI News Blog

The MS Boy’s basketball team played the first game of the the St. Hugh’s/LREI Holiday Invitational Tournament against St. Hugh’s last Thursday, December 6th. The game started out strong for the boys, who hit their first couple of shots and took an 8 point lead. St. Hugh’s three big men and defensive aggressiveness kept them in the game and started to disrupt the up-tempo style of the LREI Knights. As the game started to slip away, Quinn Hood hit a number of big shots to keep LREI in the game. Jack Irving and Cole Kitchen took turns defending the leading scorer from St. Hugh’s. LREI let a 6 point lead slip away in the last 2 minutes and the two teams headed to overtime to decide the outcome. Jimmy Hall had a big game for the Knights on both sides of the court and out muscled St. Hugh’s big men for most of the game. In overtime, he took control and scored the decisive basket. Malcolm Staso hit a huge free throw to clinch the game and send the team to the championship game. On Saturday, December 8th, the team took on Epiphany in the championship game. LREI got off to a great start and never looked back as they won 48-28. Quinn Hood was named Tournament MVP, and Cole Kitchen and Jimmy Hall were named to the All-Tournament team. LREI had contributions from all players who played very unselfish basketball. Congratulations!

Reflection from the 2007 Fourth Grade Immigration Simulation: “I felt like I should be more thankful for what we have and be thankful we are in good health. It made me feel like I was rich.”

Earlier this week, I walked out of my office because I heard voices that were quite different from what I usually hear in the halls. I had to see what was going on. I saw a long line of children dressed like adults from another era. They wore printed scarves and black wool coats. One fourth grader even wore a black pinstriped suit. Others had leather suitcases, trunks and cloth bags. They wore index cards with unfamiliar names around their necks. They stood on line with solemn faces waiting to be “inspected,” not knowing what their fate would be. Upon entering the inspection room they were asked the same types of questions immigrants were asked in the early part of the last century as they entered Ellis Island. “What is your date of birth? What country are you from? Why do you want to come to America?” Some of fourth graders were detained and had to visit the hospital or take exams to test their mental capacity.

The immigration simulation is part of the immigration unit where students research the different types of people who came to America, the ways in which they contributed to our country’s success and the hardships they had to endure to become a part of their new home and how they took advantage of all it had to offer. In addition to acknowledging those who came to this country through Ellis Island, students also reflect upon those who did not come to this country voluntarily. They do research to find out who else came to this country and how they came? What groups of people were already present?

In an attempt to more fully understand the contributions to the foundation of our city, fourth graders study Africans in Greenwich Village. Who were they? How did they contribute to our neighborhood? Fourth graders also use this information to build a multi-perspective view of history. They learn to more closely examine our nation’s history to make their own determinations about what may have happened that brought us to the place we are today. They also learn to appreciate the hardship, work and tenacity of others. Fourth graders begin to realize the successes we see and experience today were once the dreams of others. They challenge themselves to make dreams for an even better life for those in the future. The Ellis Island simulation is an attempt to provide fourth graders with a hands-on experience that will help them to better understand the human side of textbook history. Fourth graders also took a trip to the real Ellis Island late this week to continue to learn more about the people who came before us.

For many years, robotics has played an important role in the Middle School science and technology curricula. As many of you already know, our classroom inquiry has been supplemented by our award winning Middle School Robotics team. This year, interest in the program has grown so much that we now have two teams competing in the FIRST Lego League. This past weekend, both teams competed in the Manhattan borough competition and they both did extremely well.

• The Advanced Team won 1st place in the Robot Performance category– their robot achieved the highest score in the competition in this category.

• The Rookie Team won the Champion’s Award — the Champion’s Award is given to the team that achieves the highest combined score from their Project Presentation, Technical Presentation, Robot Performance and Teamwork

Most impressive. Under the guidance of science teacher Sherezada Acosta, art teacher Carin Cohen, and computer teacher Steve Neiman, both teams will now prepare for the FIRST Lego League Citywide Competition in which the top teams from the five boroughs will compete against each other. This competition will take place on January 26th, so save the date! More details to come in January.