LREI in the Community

From guest blogger Director Phil Kassen:

Dear LREI Families,

Not surprisingly, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter Break are busy ones at LREI.  So much to do, so little time. In this week’s blog you will find announcements of, and invitations to, many events including the Book Week events (the Literary Evening, classroom visits, assemblies and the annual book fair), to a number of other Parents Association events and to a long list of students events including the Winter Concert, the Afterschool Share/Instrumental Concert and a variety of grade specific opportunities.  In the coming weeks, I encourage you to read the blog and other announcements carefully – I wouldn’t want you to miss a moment of all that is being offered.

Less well know, but very important to our progressive program, are the many ways in which our students and teachers are out and involved in the wider community.  These endeavors include:

  • Second graders are leading the Lower School’s participation in LREI’s support of the St. John’s Food Pantry.  LREI has a long relationship with St. John’s.  We send a significant amount of foodstuff to this program, helping to provide nutrition to many thousands of clients.  In fact, we will share half of the profits from the sales of our upcoming community potluck cookbook with St. John’s.  Thank you, second graders. Also at St. John’s, middle school advisory groups regularly assist with the packaging and distribution of foodstuffs to pantry clients.
  • Fifth and Sixth graders participated in the VT MIDI Project. “The purpose of the Vermont MIDI Project is to encourage and support students in composing and arranging music. A community of professional composers, teachers, pre-service educators, and students engage in mentoring and online discussion of student work.” Students worked on original compositions, were mentored on-line and submitted their final projects.  Three LREI students were among the 19 chosen to have their pieces performed in concert in Burlington next week.  Congratulations to middle school music teacher Matt McLean and to his students. On December 16th, Dr. Sean Reed, director of Brass Studies at NYU, will lead an ensemble of NYU faculty and student musicians (along with other professional musicians) in performances of student compositions.
  • High School English teacher Ileana Jimenez writes on her blog, Feminist Teacher, “After much planning and rehearsing, half of the students in my Fierce and Fabulous: Feminist Women Writers, Artists, and Activists class and I finally got up on stage at TEDxYouth Day held at the Hewitt School in New York. The theme of this year’s TEDxYouth was “Be the Change,” and all talks were live-streamed globally. During our 16 minute talk, each of my students and I spoke about how we came to our feminist voice.”  Congratulations to the members of this class who truly connected learning and life, classroom and their community.  Congratulations to junior Grace Tobin who, in addition to her participation in TEDx, also spoke before a City Council hearing.
  • Lower School Librarian Stacy Dillon was a presenter at the 92nd St. Y’s Wonderplay Conference where she spoke on the topic of using wordless picture books in the classroom to foster imagination and support literacy.
  • Jennifer Hubert Swan, Library department chair, led a seminar hosted by the Ocean County (NJ) Library to teach librarians and educators how to write and deliver book talks that keeps kids hyped and hungering to read the book. Swan will also discuss the “Best of the Best” teen books from 2010.
  • Junior Lucia Zerner received a Gold Award from Families with Children from China for performing over 250 hours of community service.
  • LREI high school students participated in the City Year NY Service Day at PS 112/206, sponsored by Students for Service and Joint Schools Activities, Inc.  Working alongside City Year corps members, the participants were able to transform a school where City Year has been serving since 2008.  In just four hours, the students painted 25 murals, a large welcome sign, and 20 pairs of memory tiles; built and painted 10 bookshelves and three cubbies; and shellacked three existing mural benches.

We are so proud of the ways in which LREI’s students and faculty are involved in the wider community—harnessing their expertise and all that they have learned in the classroom and giving of themselves in the service of others. Well done!

Best,
Phil

Of General Interest . . .

1) There is still time to sign up for the second two terms of Adult r(ED).  Don’t miss out! Click here to view the course offerings and meeting dates. There is a $100 registration fee per course for each participant. If you would like to register for one of these courses, please contact Rowena Penaranda-Askins at rpenaranda@lrei.org or (212) 477-5316, x295.

2) A quick message from the Red is Green Committee: High School Presentation on Renewable Energy: Please come out and hear our dynamic High School students speak about various renewable energy options. Whether it is wind, solar or geothermal energy that you are interested in, you will be impressed by the next generation’s understanding of the issues. The presentation is being held on Wednesday, December 8th at 8:45AM in the Sixth Avenue cafeteria. Grab a cup of coffee and learn something new. Click here to view the event flyer.

3) The Literary Committee invites you to its annual Literary Evening on Tuesday, December 7, 7-9:30 PM, at the Charlton St. PAC. This year’s evening, entitled Prime Cuts, will feature writers who focus on food (and drink!) in their work: Josh Kilmer-Purcell (The Bucolic Plague), Garrett Oliver (The Brewmaster’s Table), Monique Truong (The Book of Salt), Brett Martin (Top Chef: The Cookbook), and Zarela Martinez (Food from My Heart). Our MC is Daphne Rubin-Vega. Please join us for an appetizing evening. Tickets will go on sale after Thanksgiving; click here for more information.

4) Our brand-new community cookbook, Downtown Potluck, a wonderful compilation of recipes from our talented parents and teachers, makes its debut next week at Literary Evening, Tuesday, December 7th. The cookbook will be on sale at the event and then the next day, Wednesday, December 8th, at the Book Fair, through Friday, December 10th. The book costs $25 for those in our community and supplies are limited. Think of it for your holiday gift-giving. If you pre-ordered a cookbook, please pick it up at the book fair, or email cookbook@LREI.org.

5) LREI Winter Concert: Join us on Tuesday, December 14th, to see LREI students at their musical best. The concert will start at 6:30PM in the Eisner & Lubin Auditorium, which is located on the 4th floor of NYU’s Kimmel Center located at 60 Washington Square South. This wonderful annual event features performances by all three divisional choruses, the middle and high school jazz bands and the high school brass ensemble.

6) For some pre-LREI Winter Concert pleasure, The Glass Menagerie Chorus, LREI’s resident adult chorus, conducted by Susan Glass, will perform its winter concert on Saturday, December 11th, at 8:00PM, at St. Joseph’s Church, 6th Ave. and Washington Place.  See attached flyer for more details.

7) Click here to access the most current “At a Glance” calendar for the 2010-2011 school year.

8) For additional school news, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

9) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA – http://www.parentsinaction.org/). NYC-PIA provides parenting education, information and a communications network to help parents prepare their children and teenagers to cope with social pressures and to make sound choices towards a future free of alcohol and drug abuse. Click here to view upcoming events and/or to download their calendar.

For All Grades . . .

AMidNightDream_hi2-11) The Middle School is proud to present William Shakespeare’s much-loved, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This vibrant and colorful production, which features thirty middle school students, is ideal for the whole family. Join us as we enter a world in which fairies are mischievous and interfere with mortals lives and where love, revenge, jealousy and magic entangle the human world with the fairy kingdom. This is a “must see” production, with many strong performances from our cast of sixth through eighth graders. Tickets are on sale in the Sixth Avenue lobby starting on Friday, December 3rd and on the days leading up to the shows. Performances are scheduled for Friday Dec 10th at 7:00PM, and Saturday, Dec 11th at 2:00PM and 7:00pPM. Tickets are $12 adults and $10 students, children and senior citizens.

2)  BOOK WEEK is just around the corner! Authors and illustrators will be visiting all LREI grades week of December 6th. Authors slated to visit middle school classes include:

The Book Fair runs through Friday, December 11 at 6 PM in the 6th Avenue Auditorium. Please click here to fill out a Pre-Authorized Purchase Form, for your child to pick out books at the fair!

3) From the Afterschool Office: The Piano/Voice Recital and Instrumental Concert will take place at the Sixth Avenue location on Wednesday, December 15th. This is an opportunity for students to share a piece they have been working on throughout the session.  Your child and her/his teacher have discussed whether or not to perform in the upcoming program (as not all students choose to perform at this time), so please touch base with your child’s teacher if you have any questions.

  • The Piano/Voice Recital will be held in the PAPAS, and will start at 5:30pm (doors will not open until 5:25pm as performers will need time with their teachers, and to get settled before the recital)
  • The Instrumental Concert (Guitar, Drum, Recorder, Flute and Brass) will be held in the Auditorium, and will start at 6:30pm (doors will not open until 6:25pm as performers will need time with their teachers, and to get settled before the concert)

Note: Performers should arrive 15 minutes before showtime. We look forward to seeing you there! Please contact the Afterschool Office with any questions at (212) 477-5316, x239

4) Summers at LREI:

Session Dates:
June 27th-August 5th, 2011
Session 1: June 27th-July 8th
Session 2:  July 11th-July 22nd
Session 3:  July 25th-August 5th

Early Registration for returning 2010 camp families will run December 8th-17th. During this period, returning families will have the option to register online for either two, four, or six weeks of Summers at LREI programs at a discounted rate of 10% off session fees.
General Registration will open to all families in early March.  In order to receive email notifications regarding online General Registration, visit summers.lrei.org and enter your information into the New Inquiries section.

New in 2011:

  • Band Camp (taught by LREI Middle School Music and Band Teacher, Matt McLean), a two-week music intensive consisting of all woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments for 11-13 year-olds during Session 1.  Specialty Camp programming for Session 2 is TBD, and will be announced on the camp website by December 8th.
  • Musical Theater Workshop for ages 9-13 and Musical Theater Home Group for ages 7-8 will be offered for all three sessions of camp.
  • Six week Home Groups are an option for campers attending all three sessions of camp, offered at a discounted rate of 15% off camp fees. Home Group activities will be geared toward the experiences of children participating in the entirety of the camp program.
  • Sibling discount of 5% off camp fees per child for same sessions of registration.

Please visit summers.lrei.org for more information or call (212) 477.5316 ext.298 to speak with the Summer Camp Office.

5) Some photos from recent events:

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For Eighth Grade Families . . .

1) Looking ahead to the spring, click here to access the registration form for the spring Gettysburg/DC trip that will take place next May. I’m sending you this information now so that you can spread out payments over a longer period of time. If you register online, please use the following trip ID#: 55757. If you have specific questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me. If you have not done so already, please register ASAP.

2) For students in Math X, please read the new unit letter from math teacher Michelle Boehm.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .

1) Please read the new unit letter from math teacher Michelle Boehm.

2) Please join us as we celebrate the opening of our Seventh Grade Colonial Museum on Wednesday, December 15th, from 6:00-8:00PM. Students have been working diligently on their Colonial Projects in core and in related studies in art, music, and science. We anticipate an exciting array of unique exhibits, each capturing some aspect of Colonial American life. Some students have expressed a desire to dress in traditional Colonial attire. This is permitted. For those students who choose not to, we ask that they come to school on Wednesday dressed nicely. Collared shirts are encouraged for the boys, skirts or pants for the girls. Please no t-shirts, jeans, or sweats. As is our custom, a potluck dinner held in the cafeteria will follow the exhibition. While all varieties of victuals are welcomed, those with a colonial bent are most appreciated. A list of colonial inspired menu items appears below. You can click here to access the potluck sign-up form (click on the “7th Grade” tab at the bottom of the page). Links to some colonial inspired recipes:

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing all of you on the evening of the 15th.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .

1) On Friday, January 7th, the sixth grade will travel to the Met to view the Arms and Armor collection. trip. Students should bring a bag lunch (no nuts, seeds, or glass bottles) on that day.

For Fifth and Sixth Grade Families . . .

1) The LREI Intramural Basketball season here. The second practice for all interested players will be held on Thursday, December 9th,  at 7:00AM at the Thompson Street Athletic Center. Coaches will use these practices to select players for each team. Students who did not attend the first practice should attend this one; students who did attend the first practice are welcome to attend this one as well. Regular team practices will start on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, December 14th-16th. Students will be informed as to which morning practice is for their team. Players attend one morning practice each week. The full practice and game schedule will be forthcoming. Players should bring a completed permission slip to either the November 30th or December 9th practice. If there are certain morning practice days that your child cannot attend, please indicate this on the form so that your child can be placed on a team whose practice schedule works for your family. Forms can be downloaded from the Athletics section of the LREI website. All games will take place on Friday afternoons.

============= For additional information, follow these links: =============

A reminder that the individual homework blog and the “feeds” for every class can be accessed from the Digital Classroom link on the sidebar (you may want to bookmark this page for easy access). These feeds provide an easy “one-click” solution to find out what has been assigned for homework. Keep in mind that a feed will only show what has been posted as of the time you check it.

Don’t forget to check the LREI website for updates and other interesting school-related information.

Be well,
Mark

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