Welcome Back! guest blog by Phil
Happy New Year! I hope you and yours enjoyed the Winter Break. It was a pleasure to welcome your children back to school earlier this week. It did not take long for the hallways and classrooms in all three divisions to regain their busy hum.
The faculty spent a full and enriching day on Monday, our second professional development day devoted to looking at issues of socio-economic class, involved in a series of divisional and inter-divisional conversations. High School history teacher Nick O’Han and Chap, Director of Diversity and Community, organized the day’s events, inviting two speakers from the Citizens’ Committee for Children (www.cccnewyork.org) to help us look at socio-economic class through lenses wide enough to focus on all of the children in New York City and finely focused enough to look at how issues of class emerge in classrooms in each of our three divisions. It was a truly fascinating and challenging day. Conversations and exercises such as the ones we participated in on Monday will continue throughout the rest of the school year.
In the fall, Chap facilitated a well-attended discussion focused on how parents experience socio-economic class encounters with peers and with their children. We invite you to attend Bring the Conversation Home, Part 2 during which Dr. Patricia Romney, President and Founder of Romney Associates, will return to LREI to facilitate a second parent diversity discussion addressing issues of class. The focus of Dr. Romney’s work is change. Using her finely honed assessment skills as a starting point for change efforts, she has assisted organizations in the areas of diversity, community building, and leadership development.
Join us for one or both of the following events:
- Wednesday, January 28, 6:00 PM– 8:00 PM in the Charlton Street Library
(Please RSVP to the receptionist if you will need childcare for this event.) - Thursday, January 29, 8:30AM-10:30 AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria
On a different note, as we have for the past few years, early next week I will send to all LREI families a list of volunteer opportunities available during the long Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. The Parents’ Association Community Service Committee is hard at work identifying service opportunities to add to this list. If you know of ways in which LREI families can perform community service during the coming three-day weekend, please email them to me (pkassen-at-lrei.org) and I will add them to the list we will distribute early next week. Thank you in advance.
Best,
Phil
LOWER SCHOOL NOTES & ATTACHMENTS
(click on the links below to view and print information from teachers and specialists.)
- All grades: Please click here for the ‘at a glance’ calendar for the 2008-09 school year.
UPCOMING PARENT MEETINGS & EVENTS
- Monday, January 12 – All Afterschool Programs Begin
- Thursday, January 15, 8:45 am – LS Parent Rep Mtg.
- Thursday, January 15, 2:30 pm – Karamu-Bake Sale
- Monday, January 19 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday-School closed
- Tuesday, January 20, 8:45 am – LS POCOC Meeting
- Wednesday, January 21, 6:00 pm – Parent SEED Meeting
- Thursday, January 22, 8:40 am – Adoption Committee Meeting
- Friday, January 23, 8:45 am – “Navigating Social/Emotional Development in Fourth Grade” Parent meeting with Roberta
- Friday, January 23, 5:00 pm – Karamu!
- For an up-to-date, searchable all school calendar, please visit www.lrei.org/calendar
WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS
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From the Lower School Librarians:
New Year, New Books! Our new year’s good news is that a slew of new books came flooding in and will shortly be on the shelves for your kids to enjoy. Please visit the Lower School Library blog (http://blog.lrei.org/lslibrary/) to read about the new additions to our library!
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Afterschool Registration Information!
Follow the links below to download the new Afterschool registration forms for 2009. Forms and class descriptions will also be posted on the Afterschool portion of the LREI website. Registration for programs begins on January 6th and continues through January 9th. If you are registering for Instrumental lessons, turn in your form by 3:00pm on January 6th to be included in the registration shuffle. During registration week, Afterschool will offer free childcare. Please contact the Afterschool Office with any questions at 212-477-5316 ext 239. You may also email Kelly Eudailey at keudailey-at-lrei.org or Cari Kosins at ckosins-at-lrei.org.
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Save the Date for Karamu! Friday January 23rd… Karamu! is a multicultural celebration of music, dance, and food celebrating the diversity of our school and community – all are invited! Tickets go on sale Tuesday, January 20th. Discount tickets are available – please contact Juliet Burrows (jkka-at-mac.com). This event always sells out so get your tickets early! Here are ways to be involved: get tickets & come to the show, volunteer to help out on the day of or donate a prepared dish for the feast!. More details to follow… join the fun of this wonderful community building event!
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