Middle School News

Building for Action

msilberberg — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:36:14 +0000

From guest blogger Phil Kassen:

Dear LREI Families,

Thank you to those who were able to join us last Wednesday for our Building for Action event. It was wonderful to have so many of you there, along with alumni, past parents and staff, to share in the tremendous support for LREI that was in the room. For those of you who were not there, you might want to visit our web site, click on the Building for Action button to view much of the information we shared on the 24th. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you can watch the Then and Now slide show that was a crowd favorite at the event. Or, just click here.

As you heard last week, or will see on the web site, we announced plans to renovate and green all of the classrooms in the Sixth Avenue buildings over the next few summers—we completed the majority of the middle school classes this summer—and to add a great deal of space to the Charlton Street campus, as well as to renovate current Charlton Street spaces. This work grows out of the strategic plan created by the Board of Trustees, and a large group of LREI community members, in 2000. In addition to creating improved spaces for our current student body in the lower, middle and high schools, this campaign will create a larger high school building to provide for the planned increase in the high school student body. A larger high school student body will be more attractive to many prospective families, will allow for an increasingly academic program and will support our tuition remission program for all three divisions and ongoing increases to faculty salaries and professional development funds.

In the weeks and months to come there will be many opportunities to learn more about Building for Action. There will also be opportunities for those who want to join the Building for Action team. There will be a drop-in information session on the morning of Wednesday, October 8th from 8:15-9:30AM, in the Sixth Avenue cafeteria. I will be available to discuss our goals and to answer any questions you may have.

I look forward to continuing the conversation.

Best,
Phil

This Week’s Attachments
General:
Eighth Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
DC Trip Registration Form
Seventh Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
Williamsburg Trip Registration Form
Fifth and Sixth Grade:
Ashokan Trip Registration Form

Of General Interest . . .
1) Click here for important information for current families applying another child to LREI.

2) You are invited to join us to learn about the Annual Fund and the significant role it plays in the school’s operating budget. You can attend one of three sessions:

8:15AM, Friday October 3rd, Sixth Avenue cafeteria
8:45AM, Friday October 3rd, Sixth Avenue cafeteria
6:00PM, Tuesday October 14th, Charlton Street library

Annual Fund co-chair Mindy Goldberg and LREI’s Director of Advancement Pippa Gerard will be available to answer any questions you may have. Please RSVP to Sandra Song in the Office of Advancement at 212-477-5316 x275 or via email at ssong@lrei.org.

3) Please read the attached letter from the PA Literary and Multicultural committees.

4) From Chap, Director of Diversity & Community: 2008/2009 Parent SEED group – SEED (Seeking Educational Equity & Diversity) work invites the engagement of head, heart, and soul. Participants examine inner and outer ways in which systems bear on lives inside and outside of school. SEED work develops ways of understanding complex relations between self and system with regard to race, class, gender, sexual orientation, physical ability/disability and cultural experience. Our First Parent SEED Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 15th at 6PM, in the MS Art Room (Sixth Ave). Make a commitment to join LREI’s monthly SEED parent group. Click here for the commitment form. Contact Sandra (Chap) Chapman, Director of Diversity & Community at schapman@lrei.org or Peggy Peloquin at ppeloquin@lrei.org to learn more.

5) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.

6) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). 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. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2008-2009 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.

November 11, 2008
An Expert’s Guide to Negotiating the Prickly Points of the ‘Tween Years
Temple Israel, 112 East 75th Street, 12:00-2:00 pm
Speaker: Julie Ross, M.A., Executive Director and Founder of Parenting Horizons; Author of “Practical Parenting for the 21st Century: The Manual You Wish Had Come With Your Child” and “How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of ‘Tween Years”

For all grades . . .
1) School Picture Day is coming up!

Coffee Pond Photography will be taking individual portraits of each student and each class. Students in grades 7-8 will have pictures their taken on 10/6/08 (in case of inclement weather, pictures will be taken on 10/27). Students in grades 5-6 will have their pictures taken either on 10/27 if the 10/6 session is canceled or during the first week of November when Coffee Pond returns for makeups.
Coffee Pond Photography is able to offer a limited number of photo scholarships. Please reply to Kim Cherubin via email kcherubin@lrei.org (or call at extension 215) by the end of the day Thursday, 10/2, if you receive tuition assistance and are unable to pay for photographs. Because of the small number of scholarships available, they will be first come-first served. Please list the name(s) and grade(s) of the children for whom you are requesting the package.
You will receive proofs in the mail directly from Coffee Pond and can choose which photograph you like best. All orders will be placed online using the Coffee Pond website. To get the best photo of your child, please make sure they are dressed appropriately that day. If you have any questions about ordering, you can email Coffee Pond at lifeguards@coffeepond.com or call 800.635.2323 between 9AM and 5PM on weekdays.

For Seventh and Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) Middle School chorus director Ledell Mulvaney is looking to start a vocal ensemble for seventh and eighth graders. If your child likes to sing, has participated in our chorus program in an earlier grade, or has participated in the Middle School musicals, please encourage them to attend. Ledelll will be speaking with students about the time and location for the first meeting, which will take lace during the school day.

2) As outlined in the handbook, seventh and eighth graders who want to leave the building after dismissal and then return to use the library or lab must have a signed permission form. Click here to download the form.

For Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) While the trip to DC is not until the spring, please use the attached form to register your child for the trip. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .
1) If you have not done so already, please use the attached form to register your child for the upcoming Williamsburg trip. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For Fifth and Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) Please note that the upcoming trip to Ashokan is scheduled for October 6-8 (not the September dates that appear in the Art Calendar). If you have not done so already, please complete and submit the trip registration and payment form. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me. Given that on the evening of the 8th some of you will be celebrating Yom Kippur, the trip is structured so that students will be back by 3:30PM.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) On Tuesday, October 14th, the sixth grade will visit the Cloisters to view their Medieval collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).

For Fifth Grade Families . . .
1) Students had discussions today about our upcoming trip to Ashokan. I will send out a separate email this evening that outline the structure of the three days. While we have not had a parent meeting in the past, I will be available tomorrow morning in the back of the cafeteria from 8:00-8:30AM to answer any questions for those of you who want to stop by.

2) Save the date: Please join us on Monday, October 20th at 8:00AM in the cafeteria for our Fifth Grade Math Breakfast. This event, which will be hosted by fifth grade math teacher Ana Chaney and Middle School math teachers Margaret Andrews and Michelle Boehm, will provide an excellent orientation to the structure of the fifth grade math program. You will have an opportunity to engage in a number of activities that will help you to better understand how instruction unfolds, to hear more about the program, and to ask questions.

3) On Thursday, November 13th, the fifth grade will visit the Met to view their Ancient Near East collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).

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

View important middle school dates here.
View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.

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

Building more than buildings

msilberberg — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:18:33 +0000

Dear Families,

It was a pleasure to see so many of you at yesterday’s Building for Action event. I hope that you are as excited as I am about the future of LREI. While our building plans are bold and innovative, the Building for Action campaign is really an affirmation of the mission and purpose of Elisabeth Irwin’s experimental school. In this way, the bricks and mortar of the project are invested with a special significance; they support our continued efforts to engage your children in authentic and engaging inquiry that draws on the most current ideas about teaching and learning.

The Middle School has been fortunate to already be reaping the benefits of the Building for Action plan. Our new classrooms stand as an affirmation of the vibrant exchange between students and teachers that takes place every day. The new spaces have also helped to invigorate our on-going dialog aimed at understanding “what is best for learners.” To that end, I thought it would be useful to share with you a sampling of some of the rich and rigorous work that is taking place in our Middle School classrooms.

Fifth graders are . . .

using tables, graphs, and rules to model solutions to problems like the Ice Cream Problem which asks, “With 31 possible flavors, how many different types of 2-scoop cones are there?” They are also beginning to use the same algebraic principals to act out and model trips - steady, accelerating and decelerating motion.
taking their first steps into the exciting world of French. They are getting comfortable with the pronunciation, picking French names, reciting the alphabet, counting, and talking about the weather.
continuing and expanding on their Lower School study of Spanish with the introduction of new vocabulary and verbs
creating collages of “things they like to do when they are not in school,” making sketch books that will be used in school and on trips and beginning a painting project that incorporates the art elements: line, shape, and color.
learning important organization skills as they organize their files into folders on the server and on their flash drives. They are also continuing to work on improving their keyboarding skills.
playing indoor soccer and doing fitness training.
exploring the question, “What is music?” through discussions of John Cage’s Water Walk and their own musical experiences in class.

Sixth graders are . . .

reading Beowulf and learning how to take notes as they read so that they can analyze the text in class discussions, working on current events and vocabulary and are beginning their study of feudalism. They have also found time to complete their first round of booktalks.
investigating situations in which they need to add, subtract, multiply, and divide fractions. They are developing strategies to solve problems like, “Blaine plans to paint a highway stripe that is 9/10 of a mile long. He is 2/3 of the way done when he runs out of paint. How long is the stripe he painted?” and “There are 12 baby rabbits at the pet store. Gabriella has 5 1/4 ounces of parsley to feed the rabbits as treats. She wants to give each rabbit the same amount. How much parsley does each rabbit get?”
practicing in-class dialogues and working on their accents and pronunciation in both Spanish and French classes
creating collaged triptychs of a journey they have taken, binding and decorating their own sketch books and learning the basics of color theory by creating their own color wheel.
scaling the Thompson Street climbing wall.
gathering with the other fifth grade members of the Little Red Singers each Tuesday to sing, dance, listen to and share music! They recently performed a swing jazz piece, “Dancin’ on the Rooftop” at our Middle School Meeting to enthusiastic ovations.
using found objects to create full class planned improvisations to exhibit the expressive potential of timbre. In small groups, students are then creating pictoral representations for their sounds and then using these to create a musical score for a short composition.

Seventh graders are . . .

reading Lois Lowry’s The Giver and are exploring the viability of a utopia as well as the complex themes this novel presents: perfection, fairness, justice, and the role memory has on an individual and on a society, to name a few. Students are learning how to use textual evidence to support their understanding of these themes and this thought-provoking novel.
learning how historians use primary and secondary source materials to generate an understanding of early English settlement in North America, especially when those source materials present differing perspectives and viewpoints on important individuals and moments in American History.
helping our fictitious bike tour company get off the ground. By analyzing data in various forms, and with the help of graphing calculators, the class will decide on a bike tour price and look at variables that will affect profit.
looking at the significance of the Scientific Revolution and have been conducting experiments with pendulums. They are also measuring and calculating mass, volume and density of irregular objects using measurement tools, mathematical formulas and displacement as part of our study of the properties of materials matter
writing a composition using the new verb “etre” and some -”er” verbs from last year.
reviewing Spanish verb conjugations and classroom vocabulary so that they can begin a study of family and the home.
developing their mime skills and are about to embark on an exploration of theater in NYC over a century ago. Vaudeville acts, melodramas and silent movies will be the focus of the class for the next month.
creating their own PE games, which they will teach to the rest of the class.
reporting on the important historical music events from the week and are turning these into podcasts.
discussing how graphics can be used to communicate ideas as they create personal symbols for their silhouette project.

Eighth graders are . . .

reflecting on their summer reading memoir about the struggles of school integration at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1950s. After learning about the intense conflict of racial politics and federal versus states rights during the civil rights movement, students are discussing current civil rights struggles and choosing one about which they feel particularly concerned. Their final project is to create an art piece and reflective explanation about their cause in order to bring visibility to it for their peers and the school community at large.
studying linear functions. They will use what they learn to predict the consequences of leaky faucets. Stay tuned….
conducting experiments to gain an understanding of Newton’s Laws of motion. These understandings will be used to design and construct Mousetrap powered vehicles that demonstrate these laws.
reviewing fundamentals of Spanish grammar and vocabulary so that they can begin to study the imperfect, the new past tense as a prelude to their readings in Cuentos Simpáticos.
completing a composition using adjectives and verbs, both regular and irregular, to describe themselves physically and to describe an activity that they were involved in during the summer.
are working on the climbing wall for fitness. Students are challenging themselves on the wall with different challenges, like using only certain colored pieces or having two people cross paths as they work across the wall. On sports days, they are working on volleyball skills and strategy.
learning Breachtian conventions in preparation for creating their own piece of political theater. This week students learned about “Geste” and the impact of ensemble tableaux.
sketching out their ideas and exploring painting techniques as they prepare to paint the art room stools around this year’s theme of literary characters.
Eighth graders are incorporating Literary Characters for this years theme.
beginning an exploration of digital photography by going on a “Photo Scavenger Hunt” in which they were asked to look for a variety of things to photograph that included interesting textures, reflections and other artistic elements
are creating original podcasts that examine music that interests them and answer the following questions: “why is this music important to you?” “what do you like about the sound of it?” “when do you usually listen to it?”

Of General Interest . . .
1) From Phil: LREI participates in a voluntary program under which we have agreed to reduce our energy consumption when peak energy requirements may place extreme demands on the system. In preparation for an actual event of this kind, we are required to reduce energy consumption in exercises (not real events) that take place twice a year, once in the winter and once in the summer. As you may have heard from your children, today we participated in such an exercise. From 11:00AM-12:00PM we turned off as many lights, computers and other electronic devices/appliances as possible. All seems to have gone smoothly.

2) Click here for important information for current families applying another child to LREI.

3) Pete Seeger will be performing this Saturday, September 27th in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden Be a part of music history at this rare public performance
with Pete Seeger, Tao Rodríguez-Seeger, Guy Davis together in a Special Family Concert. For additional information, click here.

4) This week, Creative Time is presenting a group exhibit/idea space called Democracy in America: The National Campaign at the Park Avenue Armory. Work from over 40 artists responding to the idea of what American democracy means is currently being exhibited across 4 floors at the Armory. Creative Time thinks of it as the “anti-convention.” What this show means for you–politically engaging art. See this article from the NY Times. What this means for children–long wooden hallways to run down, big wooden sculptures that can be touched, free ice cream from the Center for Tactical Magic’s anarchist ice cream truck, and the opportunity to do karaoke with protest songs. The show is hurting for people during the day, so it’s quiet too. For a complete list of events, click here. And it’s all FREE! The show runs daily from noon to 10PM at the Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, between 66th and 67th Streets. The show runs through September 27.

5) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.

November 11, 2008
An Expert’s Guide to Negotiating the Prickly Points of the ‘Tween Years
Temple Israel, 112 East 75th Street, 12:00-2:00 pm
Speaker: Julie Ross, M.A., Executive Director and Founder of Parenting Horizons; Author of “Practical Parenting for the 21st Century: The Manual You Wish Had Come With Your Child” and “How to Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of ‘Tween Years”

For all grades . . .
1) Medieval fantasy author T.A. Barron (The Lost Years of Merlin, The Great Tree of Avalon) will be appearing at LREI courtesy of the independent bookstore Books of Wonder, to introduce the first book in his new series, Merlin’s Dragon, on Monday, September 29th from 3:15-4:15. He’ll also be meeting with the Sixth Grade beforehand to discuss his body of work, which is richly steeped in medieval European history and myth. After speaking with the sixth grade, Mr. Barron will be available to meet, speak with, and sign books for all students and parents from 3:15-4:15PM in the Sixth Avenue library. There will be some copies for purchase on hand, but you also can pre-order books for your child. Orders for books can be placed in advance through the attached payment form and informational flyer.

2) School Picture Day is coming up!

Coffee Pond Photography will be taking individual portraits of each student and each class. Students in grades 7-8 will have pictures their taken on 10/6/08 (in case of inclement weather, pictures will be taken on 10/27). Students in grades 5-6 will have their pictures taken either on 10/27 if the 10/6 session is canceled or during the first week of November when Coffee Pond returns for makeups.
Coffee Pond Photography is able to offer a limited number of photo scholarships. Please reply to Kim Cherubin via email kcherubin@lrei.org (or call at extension 215) by the end of the day Thursday, 10/2, if you receive tuition assistance and are unable to pay for photographs. Because of the small number of scholarships available, they will be first come-first served. Please list the name(s) and grade(s) of the children for whom you are requesting the package.
You will receive proofs in the mail directly from Coffee Pond and can choose which photograph you like best. All orders will be placed online using the Coffee Pond website. To get the best photo of your child, please make sure they are dressed appropriately that day. If you have any questions about ordering, you can email Coffee Pond at lifeguards@coffeepond.com or call 800.635.2323 between 9AM and 5PM on weekdays.

3) Judo Team: A reminder that practices are on Fridays at the Thompson Street Athletic Center and will run from 3:30-5:30PM. There are no try-outs and all MS and HS students are welcome to join. Talk to head coach Larry Kaplan or assistant coaches Frank Portella and Victor Diggs if you need more information.

4) Middle School Chorus and Band—The Little Red Singers (grades 5-8) meets once a week on Tuesdays, 11:30AM-12:30PM. Lower School music teacher Ledell Mulvaney directs the chorus. The Middle school band (sixth-eighth grades) meets on Fridays from 2:15-3:15PM. The fifth grade band will begin practices at the start of the second quarter. Practices will take place during the school day. Additional information will be forthcoming. Middle School music teacher Matt McLean directs the band.

For Seventh and Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) As outlined in the handbook, seventh and eighth graders who want to leave the building after dismissal and then return to use the library or lab must have a signed permission form. Click here to download the form.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) On Thursday, October 2nd, sixth graders will participate in our annual Downtown Independent Schools Committee (DISC) Field Day at Pier 40. Sixth graders from LREI will participate in a variety of games and athletic events with students from Village Community School, Grace Church School, Friends, City and Country, and St. Luke’s School. The students will leave at 10:30AM and have a picnic lunch at Pier 40 at 11:00AM. The field day activities will begin at 11:30PM and will finish around 1:30PM. We should return to the Sixth Avenue building by about 2:00PM. We expect all sixth graders to participate in this event. In preparation for this event, students should dress appropriately for the weather. A jacket or sweatshirt will be important. Sneakers, hats, water bottles, sunglasses, etc. are recommended. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles). This is an exciting day for sixth graders. Please do not hesitate to call me if you have any questions.

2) On Tuesday, October 14th, the sixth grade will visit the Cloisters to view their Medieval collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).

For Fifth Grade Families . . .
1) On Thursday, November 13th, the fifth grade will visit the Met to view their Ancient Near East collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).

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

View important middle school dates here.
View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.

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

Be well,
Mark

Curriculum Night into Day

msilberberg — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:59:58 +0000

Dear Families,

Thank you so much for your active participation in this past Tuesday’s Curriculum Night. We hope that you left with a clear sense of how the curriculum that your child will experience this year is structured. We also hope that you will use the evening as a springboard to help you to be an active participant in the curriculum with your child. When questions about the curriculum emerge, seek out your child’s teachers. Take advantage of the blogs, which you can access through the “Digital Classroom” link on the sidebar, and use them as jumping off points for conversations. I have written elsewhere about the way in which we approach curriculum at LREI and those ideas were much on my mind as I left the building on Tuesday evening. As I imagine you were, I was truly impressed by our Middle School teachers and their ability to develop curriculum that is experiential, relational and oriented to action.

While Curriculum Night is an opportunity to look at the big picture, it is also an opportunity to get clarifications about specific procedures and practices. In the fifth grade, there were a number of questions about homework. I include below a letter that I sent to the fifth grade families as I think it’s points are relevant for all grade levels.

Homework:
First and foremost, homework is practice; it is not a quiz or a test. Homework is not generally graded for correctness, but rather for effort and completion. That does not mean it should be done haphazardly or carelessly. It should be done in relation to the expectations established by the teacher. For example, spelling does not need to be perfect, but work should be proofread and errors that are caught corrected. In math, a problem may be done incorrectly, but students are expected to show how they arrived at their answer.

For us, the measure of a successful homework session is not one where everything is done correctly, but one where the work reflects a focused and committed effort on the part of the student. Practice is also a time for risk-taking and a natural consequence of risk-taking is error making; we learn from these mistakes. So errors that are the result of risk-taking are useful for teachers and are an important part of the learning process. Errors that are the result of carelessness or lack of effort point to areas where students may need more support in terms of their study skills.

Homework will often be assigned as part of an on-going project. When this is the case, students are not expected to bring in a completed project when only a component of it is due. In most cases, the assigned homework will be used in class to teach students the next step in the project. So if your child is asked to write an introductory paragraph, she and you should not worry about the body and concluding paragraphs. Her teacher will take her through the rest of the process and the homework completed in the evening will often become the foundation for the class work for the next day.

It is also crucial for us to know where your child is encountering challenges. Without this information, we cannot provide the best support. Your child should know that at some point during the year, he will encounter this kind of challenge; it is a normal part of the learning process; it is perhaps the most important part of the process.

So what can you do to best support your child? Here are a few ideas:

Make sure that you have read the homework section in the Student and Family Handbook.
If you are unclear about the particular expectations for homework in a class, first check on the teacher’s blog as this information is often posted there. If it is not on the blog, contact the teacher.
Each family will need to consider what level of intervention makes sense with regard to student errors and confusions. Some families will leave the identification and correction of any problems to the teacher. Some families will intervene more directly. As a guideline, it is helpful to address these issues by asking questions of your child rather than by telling or doing the work for her.
Help your child to understand the parameters of the assignment. Help him to budget his time so that assignments that are assigned over multiple days are worked on over multiple days. Extra effort is generally fine if it falls within the assignment parameters; doing more when it falls outside these parameters may not be helpful.
Your child should work independently on her work, but she should feel comfortable asking you for clarification and you should feel comfortable monitoring her progress.
Students should be able to complete most nightly assignments in 15-30 minutes. If it is taking substantially longer than this or if the 30 minutes is filled with tears and frustrations, you should intervene and stop the homework session. You can send an email or a note to the teacher or better yet you can help your child to feel comfortable seeking out his teacher first thing the next morning. This will help him to develop important self-advocacy skills that will be important for his on-going development as a learner.
In those cases where the level of anxiety or frustration is happening with some regularity or if you have specific questions, it is important that you bring your child’s teacher into the conversation. If you feel that this is happening in more than one class, it would make sense to touch base with your child’s advisor who can help you navigate through the problem.

One of our main goals in the middle school is to help students understand who they are as learners. As a result, it is important for students to come to terms with and own their areas of challenge and strength. This will allow them to better identify and use strategies that lead to success. In this way, students will come to see their challenges not as judgments of their worth, but as obstacles that can be overcome. Over time, these strategies will be internalized as habits and students will come to know what they have to do to produce their best work. Again, this is a process and students will work through it at different rates. We acknowledge that this can be frustrating for some students and for some families.

Homework is one medium we use to nurture excellent learning habits in our middle school students; students will over time grow into these habits. While we acknowledge that challenges can emerge because students develop these habits at different rates, students will master these habits as they move through the middle school. In those cases where a student really struggles with a particular learning skill, we will work with the student to develop alternative strategies that will help her to better manage the challenge so that she can produce her best work. It is our job to make this happen and we are most effective in this work when we are able to do it in collaboration with you.

Regards,
Mark

This Week’s Attachments
General:
PA Welcome Fair Flyer
Eighth Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
DC Trip Registration Form
Seventh Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
Williamsburg Trip Registration Form
Fifth and Sixth Grade:
Ashokan Trip Registration Form

Of General Interest . . .
1) From Director of Advancement Pippa Gerard: Please see attached invitation to our Building for Action announcement, an essential moment in the future of the school, on September 24th at 6:00PM. We hope you will be able to attend.

2) We hope that you will attend one of the PA Welcome Fairs, which are scheduled for Monday, September 22nd at 6PM at Charlton Street and Wednesday, September 24th at 8AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria.

3) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.

4) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). 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. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2008-2009 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.

For all grades . . .
1) School Picture Day is coming up! Coffee Pond Photography will be taking individual portraits of each student and each class. Students in grades 7-8 will have pictures their taken on 10/6/08 (in case of inclement weather, pictures will be taken on 10/27). Students in grades 5-6 will have their pictures taken on 10/27. Retakes for students in grades 7-8 will also be taken on 10/27. You will receive proofs in the mail directly from Coffee Pond and can choose which photograph you like best. All orders will be placed online using the Coffee Pond website. To get the best photo of your child, please make sure they are dressed appropriately that day. If you have any questions about ordering, you can email Coffee Pond at lifeguards@coffeepond.com or call 800.635.2323 between 9AM and 5PM on weekdays.

2) Judo Team: A reminder that practices are on Fridays at the Thompson Street Athletic Center and will run from 3:30-5:30PM. There are no try-outs and all MS and HS students are welcome to join. Talk to head coach Larry Kaplan or assistant coaches Frank Portella and Victor Diggs if you need more information.

3) Middle School Chorus and Band—The Little Red Singers (grades 5-8) meets once a week on Tuesdays, 11:30AM-12:30PM. Lower School music teacher Ledell Mulvaney directs the chorus. The Middle school band (sixth-eighth grades) meets on Fridays from 2:15-3:15PM. The fifth grade band will begin practices at the start of the second quarter. Practices will take place during the school day. Additional information will be forthcoming. Middle School music teacher Matt McLean directs the band.

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

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

2) Practice for the Middle School Intramural Soccer Program for fifth and sixth graders is on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7:00AM at J.J. Walker Field on Carmine Street just west of Hudson. Students are walked back to the school building after the practice. Click here for the permission form (you do not need to complete the travel page), which should be brought to the first practice. I also encourage you to read the Sports Information Packet; it contains useful information about the philosophy and expectations of our athletic program.

2) On Tuesday, October14th, the sixth grade will visit the Cloisters to view their Medieval collection. Students will need to bring a lunch on this day (no nuts, seeds, and glass bottles).

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

View important middle school dates here.
View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.

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

Be well,
Mark

Fun at Work

msilberberg — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:42:05 +0000

Dear Families,

Just below the eighth grade classrooms on the Bleeker Street side of the building, there is a small dedication plaque in honor of Rank Smith who followed Elisabeth Irwin as the school’s second director. You have likely walked past the plaque many times, but may not have read its words. It says, “Where school is fun at work.” Simple, but profound.

At our beginning-of-the-year meetings, the Middle School faculty talked about this quote and its relevance to our teaching practice. For us, the use of the word “fun” pointed to something deeper and more purposeful than just having a good time. A recent article in Educational Leadership by Steven Wolk explores similar ground as it examines the idea of schools as “joyful” learning communities. For Wolk, joy is the “emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something good or satisfying.” This “something” can produce moments of unexpected or easy joy, but the pursuit of joy most often requires a fair amount of dedicated and committed work. Seen through this lens, schools that are a joyful places are ones where “the hearts and minds of children and young adults are wide open to the wonders of learning and the fascinating complexities of life.” I find LREI to be just such a place; I hope you do too.

In our meeting, I asked the members of the Middle School faculty to think about some of the ways that they’d like to bring more joy into our work with your kids and with each other this year. Here is a collection of some of their responses:

Help students to discover that the creative process is the learning process
Ensure that learning process is safe, meaningful and personal
Create opportunities for students to explore literary genres that interest them
Continue to explore the ways in which math is embedded in other subjects and in day-to-day experience
Allow students to engage in independent inquiry that is driven by their own interests
Connect student interests to key skills and concepts that are part of the curriculum
Provide more authentic opportunities for students to publish and share work
Allow students to build on skills developed in PE activities by having them create their own games that we can then play
Make sure that students know that they have a voice and that their ideas are valued
Use student input to help shape projects and activities
Let a sense of excitement enter into our investigations
Use student-built models and machines to explore and discover how the natural world works
Connect students’ science understandings to a better understanding of how things are interconnected
Discover the joy of community service and giving back
Allow students to be teachers
Make sure that students are really getting to live their learning experience
Challenge students to explore the range of places where learning can take place
Make more room for laughter
Provide a sufficiently wide range of “tools” for students to use as they play with ideas
Make sure that students have “time to tinker”
Connect language learning to real lived experience
Engage parents in the learning process with their children
Make our learning spaces comfortable
Shift from working with to exploring with students
Help students to discover themselves as active citizens within and beyond the LREI community

Taken individually and collectively, these statements provide clear evidence of our commitment to a program where “school is fun at work.” I hope that you were able to sense this potential for joyful work in your meeting with your child’s advisor and in your child’s comments on her/his first few days of school. I encourage you to join us in this on-going inquiry by spending time as a family thinking about ways that you can help to make this a truly joyful year.

In this spirit of collaboration, the members of the Middle School faculty are looking forward to seeing you this Tuesday evening at 6:30PM for our Middle School Curriculum Night. At the event, you will get to meet your child’s teachers who will provide you with an overview of their classes and their class expectations. We hope that all of you will be able to attend as Curriculum Night helps to provide a meaningful frame for the work that we will undertake together over the course of the year.

Childcare for this evening is available. Please contact Mary Shea at mshea@lrei.org to register or to inquire about the details. We ask that you make every effort to contact Mary by mid-day on Monday. and that you do not drop your child off on the evening of the event without having first contacted Mary.

Finally, the Middle School marked the 9/11 anniversary by attending and participating in the September Concert at Washington Square Park. The concert was coordinated by High School music teacher Vin Scialla and featured performances by the High School Jazz Band and Chorus and high school and middle school bands. All of the participants took part in a community singing of the Beatles “Let It Be.” In their advisory groups, students also had time to reflect on the significance of this day. Their comments were thoughtful as was their participation at the event.

Regards,
Mark

This Week’s Attachments
General:
2008-2009 LREI Calendar
Eighth Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
DC Trip Registration Form
Seventh Grade:
Permission form to leave and reenter the building
Williamsburg Trip Registration Form
Fifth and Sixth Grade:
Ashokan Trip Registration Form

2) From our librarians: Brooklyn Book Festival this Sunday, September 14th. LREI librarians recommend students and families check out speaker panels in the Youth category — some great authors will be speaking! Full details can be found at: http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/

3) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.

For all grades . . .
1) Click here here to review revisions to the 2008-2009 Student & Family Handbook.

2) Click here to view examples of school-to-home letters.

3) Judo Team: We’re proud to announce that the LREI Judo club is now a competitive team! Practices will start this Friday, September 12th at the Thompson Street Athletic Center and will run from 3:30-5:30PM. There are no try-outs and all MS and HS students are welcome to join. Talk to head coach Larry Kaplan or assistant coaches Frank Portella and Victor Diggs if you need more information.

4) Middle School Chorus and Band—The Little Red Singers (grades 5-8) meets once a week on Tuesdays, 11:30AM-12:30PM. Lower School music teacher Ledell Mulvaney directs the chorus. The Middle school band (sixth-eighth grades) meets on Fridays from 2:15-3:15PM. We are in the process of identifying a practice day and time for fifth grade musicians. Middle School music teacher Matt McLean directs the band.

2) A reminder that students who intend to participate on athletic teams must submit a completed permission form. Click here for the permission form. I also encourage you to read the Sports Information Packet; it contains useful information about the philosophy and expectations of our athletic program. If you have questions contact Athletic Director Peter Fisher. Game schedules can be found at http://lrei.org/athletics/fallsports.html.

2) The Middle School Intramural Soccer Program for fifth and sixth graders will begin on Monday, September 15th with practices on Monday and Wednesday mornings at 7:00AM at J.J. Walker Field on Carmine Street just west of Hudson. Students will be walked back to the school building after the practice. Click here for the permission form (you do not need to complete the travel page), which should be brought to the first practice. I also encourage you to read the Sports Information Packet; it contains useful information about the philosophy and expectations of our athletic program.

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

View important middle school dates here.
View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.

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

Be well,
Mark

On the first day of school . . .

msilberberg — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:06:05 +0000

From guest blogger Phil Kassen:

Dear LREI Community,

I am writing this to you mid-day today, the first day of school. As I write, the upper classes in the high school have been dismissed and the ninth grade is continuing their orientation. The middle school is moving from a morning with a schedule of abbreviated classes to an afternoon filled with family conferences. Our youngest students are all gone for the day, having spent some time in their new classrooms as part of the phase-in schedule and the upper elementary students are enjoying lunch and recess. The past few hours have been filled with excited reunions and the eagerness to return to school that we see each year on this most wonderful of occasions. The school year is off to a terrific start and over the next few days all students will begin their full program. I look forward to sharing their many and varied successes with you.

Of special note, as you have heard, we did significant construction in the middle school and the high school over the summer. I invite you to visit the middle school classrooms which are as functional as they are beautiful. I also extend an invitation to all to attend a gathering on Wednesday, September 24th to hear more about our plans for both sites.

I have attached two letters to this week’s blog. Click here to read a note from Chap, Director of Diversity and Community, reminding families of students new to LREI about our family orientation, LREI 101, which we ask you to attend on Monday, September 8th at 8:45AM. The second is from the parents of a student in our Early Kindergarten introducing their son, who has a physical disability, to the community.

A reminder of a few upcoming events:

Monday, September 8th, from 8:45AM-10:15AM I ask that all new families attend LREI 101, our orientation program for new families. This gathering is an essential component of your entry into the LREI community. We will meet in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria.
Monday, September 8th, 6:00PM, Michael Patrick, ’71, Chair of the LREI Board of Trustees and his wife, Carol Sedwick, invite new families to a reception in their home at 6:00PM, 250 West 94th Street, 15E.
Wednesday, September 24th the LREI Board of Trustees will host an event to share plans for the future of LREI. Please plan on attending this evening event. You will receive an invitation shortly.

Finally, mark your calendar for your child’s curriculum night:

Fours-First Grade—Thursday, October 2nd, 6:00PM (new date)
Second-Fourth Grade—Tuesday, October 7th, 6:00PM
Middle School—Tuesday, September 16th, 6:30PM (correct date)
High School—Monday, September 22nd, 6:30PM

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Best,
Phil

============================

Dear Families,

As Phil so eloquently summarized, our first day was with filled with a palpable sense of excitement about what the year holds in store for us. I also hope that your afternoon meeting with your child’s advisor marked the beginning of an important year-long collaboration. It was truly a first day filled with promise.

That said, the loss of Owen Gerson continues to be very present in our minds and I wanted to share with you how the Middle School faculty is preparing to address questions and concerns that may arise from students. Ultimately, our focus is to support students, the parent community, and the community of teachers and staff. This will be an interdependent process founded in open, honest, and developmentally appropriate dialog.

Yesterday, middle school faculty members met with a psychologist who is a bereavement specialist. She was helpful and wise and provided us with resources that will guide us through this on-going process. We will also take important cues from the students themselves as we listen to their thoughts and questions. We are also very much aware that conversations at home have varied in their level of detail and depth. This is fine.

Following up on your meeting with your child’s advisor, it may be useful to let her/him know how this discussion has unfolded (if you have decided to have it) in your family. For some this topic may be complex, so feel free to be brief in your response; it really is just a way for advisors to stay in touch with how the experience differs for each family.

As it is important for students to experience the start of the school year as exciting and joyous, we will look for those moments that emerge naturally as entry points for more structured conversations to acknowledge the range of responses that students will be having and to provide appropriate levels of support.

In the face of this tragedy, I have been comforted by the immeasurably profound sense of community that resonates throughout LREI. I hope that it has been and continues to be a source of strength and support for you as we move forward. If you have specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

Regards,
Mark

Of General Interest . . .

1) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.

2) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). 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. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2008-2009 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.

For all grades . . .
1) Click here here to review revisions to the 2008-2009 Student & Family Handbook.

2) The official start of the school day for Middle School students is 8:15AM. Morning homeroom will run from 8:15-8:30AM. It is important that students arrive to school on time. Please remember that students who are late to school and who do not have a note from their parent/guardian will be expected to make up this time at the end of the day.

3) I have posted to this website a document that contains several of the letters of communication that faculty members may send out as email during the course of the year. We recognize that these letters have a formal tone, but we feel that they contain important information that you should know about your child’s progress. In addition, this information allows for better coordination among Middle School faculty members. It is helpful if you read these letters now so that you are familiar with their form. You can access the letters here.

5) From School Nurse Kitty Highstein: Welcome back! It’s good to see everyone after the summer break. Now is the time when we do our school-wide, post-vacation head checks for lice. As a measure of insurance that the school remains lice free, we ask “Licenders” to come in and help us out. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Licenders, it’s a company that sends trained personnel into schools to check children’s heads for lice. Each individual head check takes only a few minutes, at most. Licenders will be coming to the school on Monday, September 8th, and will begin checking children, class by class, at 8:30AM in the Lower School art room. Head lice do not discriminate, not by age group, area or economics. Even the Vikings had them, we’re told! If your child is found to have lice and/or nits, s/he will need to go home to be treated. In that case, we will call you right away and ask that you come to pick him/her up. I will make your child comfortable in my office until you arrive. On the morning that your child returns to school, please stop by my office before going to the classroom so that I can do a final head check. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to stop by my office or give me a call. My extension is 235.
6) New Parents—you are invited to a cocktail party hosted by Board Chair Michael Patrick (LREI ’71) and his wife Carol Sedwick— Monday, September 8th at 6PM, at the home of Michael and Carol, 250 West 94th St. 15E

7) Middle School Curriculum Night—Tuesday, September 16th at 6:30PM. All are invited to attend.

2) First meetings dates for the fall sports teams are below. If you have questions contact Athletic Director Peter Fisher. Game schedules can be found at http://lrei.org/athletics/fallsports.html. The full practice schedules will be forthcoming.

Soccer: first practice is Tuesday, September 9th at 7:00AM at JJ Walker (Hudson and Carmine St.). Students should meet at the field.
Volleyball: first meeting is Tuesday, September 9th at 3:45PM at the Thompson Street Athletic Center.
Cross-country: first meeting is Monday, September 8th at 3:45PM at the Thompson Street Athletic Center

Click here for the permission form, which should be brought to the first practice. I also encourage you to read the Sports Information Packet; it contains useful information about the philosophy and expectations of our athletic program.

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

View important middle school dates here.
View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.

A reminder that the homework blog “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

Welcome back!

msilberberg — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:55:49 +0000

Dear Families,

Greetings! In June, the Middle School faculty members packed up their rooms to make way for the summer camp who made excellent use of all of our spaces. Truth be told, it was nice being surrounded by the sounds of camp as I took advantage of the time to think about things middle school. As July came to an end, the summer camp packed up and was almost immediately replaced by a legion of contractors and craftspeople who are hard at work at a major renovation of our Middle School space. All of the core classrooms and common spaces will arrive shiny and new in September. These rooms will also reflect some new technology additions including ceiling mounted wireless projectors, which we will use in conjunction with a set of new tablet notebooks. The tablets and projectors will allow teachers and students to more easily collaborate and share work. Over the course of the year we will also explore a number of other ways to use these tools to enhance our curriculum.

I hope that things have been equally exciting for you and that you are all enjoying your summer and finding time to be with family and friends. With August here, it is only a short time before we are back in full swing. So I hope that you make the most of these last few weeks.

One item to add to your to-do list is a review of the Middle School Student and Family Handbook. The handbook contains a number of important revisions. These revisions are indicative of the rich professional dialog that took place this past year. While we certainly expect that you will review the full handbook, a link to a detailed summary of the revisions can be found here.

One important change has to do with the schedule for the first day of school (Thursday, September 4th), which has been adjusted to allow each family to meet with their child’s advisor in the afternoon:

Beginning of the year meeting with your child’s advisor:
Advisors meet with each advisee and her/his family at the start of the year to introduce her/himself and for you to learn more about her/his role as an advocate and liaison. This meeting will occur on the afternoon of the first day of school and provides all parties with an un-charged, friendly environment to get to know each other. It is also a chance to establish connections and set goals. This is especially useful for new families and for fifth grade families as the meeting will provide families with a sense of what is new and what to expect. This meeting will also provide a chance for families to discuss any goals or concerns that they may have.

On the first day of school, we will run abbreviated morning schedule with students seeing all of their teachers. Following lunch and recess, the mini-conferences will begin. Advisors will meet with the advisee and her/his parents for 15 minutes. Faculty members who are not advisors will be with kids at Houston Street doing structured games (a kind of mini field day). Parents will pick their child up from Houston Street and can leave with their child after meeting with the advisor. Students may also return to Houston Street following their conference and will be dismissed at 3:15PM.

In order to schedule these conferences, please click here. If you have any questions about this meeting or how to schedule it, please do not hesitate to contact me. We think that this chance to meet with your child’s advisor will be the beginning of a great yearlong partnership.

Some other revisions to the handbook touch on:

Clarifications of the arrival and dismissal policy
Homework blogs and agenda books
Daily Study Group for seventh and eighth graders
A statement about unkindness and exclusion
Preparation for Family conferences with your child’s advisor
Communication between home and school
Student support

These revisions reflect our efforts to make important Middle School policies and practices clearer so that we can better achieve our divisional goals and the school’s mission. I encourage you to review the handbook with your child as this provides an excellent opportunity to talk about hopes and goals for the coming school year. If you have specific questions, please do not hesitate to contact me before the start of the school year. Whether before school starts or during the year, my door is always open and I look forward to hearing from you. The following are a few other important items to keep in mind as you review the handbook:

The official start of the school day for Middle School students is 8:15AM. Morning homeroom will run from 8:15-8:30AM. It is important that students arrive to school on time. Please remember that students who are late to school and who do not have a note from their parent/guardian will be expected to make up this time at the end of the day.
I have posted to the website a document that contains several of the letters of communication that faculty members may send out as email during the course of the year. We recognize that these letters have a formal tone, but we feel that they contain important information that you should know about your child’s progress. In addition, this information allows for better coordination among Middle School faculty members. It is helpful if you read these letters now so that you are familiar with their form. You can access the letters here.
With regard to communication, please make sure to keep of abreast of Middle School and schoolwide events by reading the weekly blog, which you can access at any time at http://blog.lrei.org/msnews. The blog is updated every Thursday afternoon.

As I mentioned in the spring, we welcome the following new teachers to the middle school team this year:

Sara-Momii Roberts – Eighth grade core teacher
Matt McLean – Middle School music and band
Susannah Flicker – Seventh grade learning specialist

In addition to these new faculty members, the following faculty members will take on new responsibilities as follows:

Peter Fisher – Eighth grade PE and Athletic Director
Larry Kaplan – Fifth through seventh grade PE and Intramural Sports Program Coordinator
Ledell Mulvaney – Middle School chorus

Amidst travels, spending time with families and friends, and reflecting on the past year, many returning faculty members spent time this summer focusing on their curricula and on life in school in general:

Middle School art teacher Carin Cohen, PE teacher and Athletic Director Peter Fisher, and science teachers Sherezada Acosta and Stephen Volkmann all taught classes at the LREI Summer Institute.
Sherezada also participated in a Salvadori Center workshop that focused on integrating standards-based built-environment projects and activities into the curriculum so that students can use the “urbanscape” around them to increase their knowledge of mathematics, science, arts, language arts, social studies, and technology. In August, Sherezada participated in workshops at EduChange’s Annual Summer Invitational on backwards planning, assessment and rubric design and subject-specific differentiated Instruction.
Middle School librarian Jennifer Hubert Swan completed her third summer teaching a Young Adult literature survey course in the Queens College graduate library program.
Middle School art teacher and visual arts department chair Melissa Rubin taught a visiting artist workshop to graduate art education students at Manhattanville College during the first week of July and had artwork in an exhibition at the Gold Dome Gallery in Oklahoma City, OK.
Ana Fox Chaney continued her masters program at the Bank Street College of Education in Leadership in Mathematics Education. The program’s focus is on innovative curricular and instructional approaches and new assessment strategies in mathematics.
Sixth grade core teacher and dean Lynne Cattafi worked with a number of colleagues from the lower and high school divisions to develop an intensive three-day orientation program for new LREI faculty members. Lynne was also the recipient of one of our first travel grants. In August, Lynne traveled to Turkey. This experience will certainly add a new dimension to the Islam unit of our sixth grade study of the Middle Ages.
Fifth grade core teachers Wendy Bassin and Heather Brandstetter were also the recipients of a summer grant that they used to develop new materials and resources for their fall Civilization Simulation. This work will further enhance an already rich unit of study.
Eighth grade core teacher Sara-Momii Roberts participated in the Facing History and Ourselves Summer Institute that was held Teachers College. The Seminar challenges participants to explore a range of inquiry-based approaches to the teaching of history and to reflect on questions about what it means to participate responsibly in a civil society.

A most impressive list and reflective of the commitment that LREI faculty have to their own continued professional growth. Rest assured that whether connected to the projects noted above, or through the day-to-day work that the teachers have planned for students, we have many thought provoking and challenging activities planned for the coming school year.

A few specific reminders:

Foreign Language—If you are a fifth grader or a student new to LREI and have not informed me of your choice for foreign language, please call or email to discuss this.
New Student Orientation—All students new to the Middle School (this includes all fifth graders and sixth-eighth graders new to LREI) are invited to join us for an orientation session on Wednesday, September 3rd at 8:45AM in the Sixth Avenue auditorium. Faculty and returning students will be on hand to answer your questions and to let you know the inside scoop on being an LREI middle schooler. Parent/guardian(s) are encouraged invited to attend.
Summer Reading—Sixth through eighth graders should bring summer reading assignments to school on the first day. If you are not sure if you have completed all that you have to do, check out the summer reading section of our website— http://www.lrei.org/libres/sr.html.
Middle School Chorus and Band—The Little Red Singers (grades 5-8) meets once a week on Tuesdays, 11:30AM-12:30PM. Lower School music teacher Ledell Mulvaney directs the chorus. The Middle school band meets on Fridays from 2:15-3:15PM. Middle School music teacher Matt McLean directs the band.
New Parents—you are invited to a cocktail party hosted by Board Chair Michael Patrick (LREI ’71) and his wife Carol Sedwick— Monday, September 8th at 6PM, at the home of Michael and Carol, 250 West 94th St. 15E
LREI Medical Forms—please make sure that you return all medical-related forms to School Nurse Kitty Highstein before the first day of school.
Ashokan—Fifth and sixth graders will leave for their three-day outdoor education trip to the Ashokan Center in the Catskills on Monday, October October 6th. Please read and complete the forms that have been enclosed in this mailing.
Middle School Curriculum Night—Tuesday, September 16th at 6:30PM. All are invited to attend.

Among the many highlights of the Middle School program are the overnight trips taken by each Middle School grade. The fifth and sixth grades begin our trip program for the year with their annual journey to the Ashokan Outdoor Education Center. This three-day experience provides an excellent opportunity for our middle school students and faculty to learn together in a setting that helps to further the sense of community that is so important to our program. The fee for the Ashokan trip is $300 and payment is made directly to LREI. In late-October, seventh graders will travel to Williamsburg, VA as part of their study of Colonial America. Eighth graders will travel to Gettysburg, PA and Washington DC in May as a part of their two-year study of American history. The pricing for the Williamsburg trip is $675 and the pricing for the DC trip is $659. Payments for these trips are made directly to our tour company NCT. I’ve included a copy of the trip registration form, which will allow you to register for your child’s trip. All children will participate in these grade-level trips. In addition, our two optional foreign language trips (Spain and France) will take place over Spring Break. The projected cost for these trips is just above $2,000, which includes all travel fees and spending money. I’ve included this information to alert you to the additional payment so that you can plan accordingly. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions about the payment for your child’s trip.

That’s all for now. With the start of school just around the corner, I hope that you make the most of these last days of summer and that you return with interesting experiences and stories to share as we embark on new and exciting adventures in the fall.

See you soon,

Mark Silberberg
Middle School Principal

Some summer thoughts . . .

msilberberg — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:48:27 +0000

Dear Families,

Fourth quarter progress reports are about to go out. A reminder that these reports include written comments from students on their work this year in each of their classes. We think it fitting that each student’s voice find it’s way into her/his final report. I must say that it was a great pleasure reading through all of these reports. The students’ reflections were thoughtful, honest, and focused on growth.

Many of you have asked about the supply letters. For those of you who want to get a jump on things, a link to the letter is below. You can also find links to the summer assignments.

General:
Middle School Supplemental Reading List
Middle School Supply Lists
2008-2009 LREI Calendar
Eighth Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List
Summer Math Assignment
Seventh Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List
Summer Math Assignment
Williamsburg Trip Registration Form
Sixth Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List
Summer Math Assignment
Fifth Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List

A reminder that the first day of school is Thursday, September 4th. We will be modifying the structure of this day to allow for every family to meet with their child’s advisor. I will send more information in August explaining how to sign-up for this meeting.

In the meantime, I hope that you all have a most excellent summer!

Be well,
Mark

Wrapping Up and Moving Up

msilberberg — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:38:34 +0000

Dear Families,

It’s been a busy week in the Middle School with

the sixth graders sharing some most excellent poetry at their potluck on Tuesday morning,
the fifth graders wowing us with their robotic amusement park rides, memoirs, math games, animations of Greek myths and a stellar dramatic production in which Ulysses was put on trial,
the seventh graders sharing scenes from Romeo and Juliet and then arguing a simulated supreme court case on national security and the first amendment at the courthouse in Brooklyn; and
the eighth graders preparing for the culmination of their Middle School experience, which will take place next Tuesday at our Moving Up Assembly/Ceremony.

It has been an exciting year in the Middle School and these culminating events point to just how far we’ve all traveled together this year. In a way, I’m surprised that the end of the year is upon us. However, with so much amazing work going on, it’s hardly surprising that it’s turned out that way. It has been a pleasure working with you and your children and I look forward to our continued collaboration in the fall. In the intervening months, I hope that you have a joyful summer filled with plenty of quality time for family and friends. Relax and be well!

This Week’s Attachments
General:
Middle School Supplemental Reading List
2008-2009 LREI Calendar
Eighth Grade:
Seventh Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List
Summer Math Assignment
Sixth Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List
Summer Math Assignment
Williamsburg Trip Registration Form
Fifth Grade:
Summer Reading Assignment and Reading List
Summer Math Assignment

Of General Interest . . .
1) From Phil Kassen: Marcus Chang — Middle School PE teacher and Athletic Director — has resigned from his position at LREI. Peter Fisher, coach of the championship eighth grade boys basketball team and the high school baseball team and currently teaching in the lower and middle schools, will take on the athletic director responsibilities next year. Peter will spend some time this summer organizing 7th-12th grade athletics for the ‘08-’09 school year and will spend considerable time in the high school in the fall getting to know the high school students better.

3) From High School technology coordinator Tim Cooper: 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

3) From Middle School librarian Jennifer Hubert: A gentle reminder that Sixth Avenue library will end book circulation on Monday, June 2. This means that no more materials may be checked out from the library so that we can begin shelving and shelf-reading. However, regularly scheduled classes will continue as usual and students, faculty and parents should feel free to use the library space for study and independent reading. Please encourage your students to look for and return any overdue library books that may be hiding in their desks, lockers, closets, backpacks or under the bed. If you have any questions or concerns about your child’s library books, please contact me.

4) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.4) LREI is a member of NYC-Parents in Action (NYC-PIA). 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. Please read the attached flyer to view their 2007-2008 calendar. You can also access their website at http://www.parentsinaction.org/.

For all Grades:
1) The attached 2008-2009 calendar reflects an important change. Next year’s Family Conference dates for the Middle School will mirror those of the Lower School (November 7 and 14 and April 17 and 24 — All Fridays and both divisions will be closed on these days).

2) Please make sure to read the attached summer work assignments, which appear below in the grade level sections.

3) On Friday, June 13th, the Middle School students will attend our High School Graduation Ceremony at the New York University. Please note that this is not an early dismissal day for Middle School students. Students will leave the Sixth Avenue building at about 12:45PM. At the graduation, Middle School students will be recognized for their hard work, completion of their current grade and their movement to the next, and will join in the celebration of the accomplishments of the seniors as they move on to the next phase in their education. As this is a very special occasion, we ask that students dress appropriately—no jeans, no printed T-shirts, shirts with collars and shoes are preferable. After graduation, the students will return to the Sixth Avenue buildings by 3:15PM.

4) Just a heads up that the annual End-of-Year Middle School dance will take place on Monday, June 16th (not the 9th as indicated on the Art calendar). The dance location has been moved to the Thompson Street Athletic Center because of renovation work at Charlton Street. The dance will start at 6:00PM and pizza and ice cream will be provided.

5) Also for Monday June 16, please make sure that your child comes to school with a bag lunch (no nuts, seeds, or glass bottles). The fifth grade will be going to Central Park for lunch and after lunch will visit the Central Park Zoo. The sixth and seventh graders will be off to Bear Mountain and the eighth grade will spend the day at the beach.

6) As we have done in the past, I will be posting a sign-up sheet outside of my office for students who want to help lower school teachers pack up their rooms. That said, we are also going to do a fairly extensive packing up of the Middle School classrooms. This is partly to make space for the summer camp, but also to prepare the rooms for some significant freshening up work for the fall. Some Middle School teachers will also be asking for packing up help over the next few days and starting at 1:00PM on Wednesday, June 18th and for the full day on Thursday, June 19th. Students who want to help Middle School teachers should speak directly to their teachers. Students may also sign-up to help Lower School teachers on the 19th as well. Students will be paid $5 for work that is done after school hours. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

For Eighth Grade Families . . . .
1) For those students moving on to EI, you should have received the summer work assignments. If you have not received them, please contact high school principal Ruth Jurgensen.

2) Mark your calendar: Eighth Grade Pre-Moving Up Party, Friday, June 13, 2008. Please arrive by 6:00PM for the Potluck Dinner and Recognition Program, which will be followed by dancing until 9:00PM. The event will take place in the Sixth Avenue auditorium. Please note that due to space consideration, we ask that attendance at this event be limited to parents/guardians and their eighth grader. Additional details from your parent reps will follow.

3) The Moving Up Assembly/Ceremony will take place on Tuesday, June 17th, in the Sixth Avenue auditorium. The assembly will start promptly at 9:00AM and will run until about 10:30AM. Given space constraints we ask that only immediate family members attend (that being said, if there are extenuating circumstances please contact me directly). Immediately following the assembly, the eighth graders will return to their classroom and parents will exit out the Bleecker Street doors and gather by the steps in front of Sarah’s classroom. The rest of the Middle School community will exit the building from the Sixth Avenue side and then join families by the steps. When all are assembled, the eighth graders will receive their certificates and process one-by-one down the steps.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .
1) Please read the attached summer reading and summer math assignments. Click here to view the supplemental reading list. Next year’s core teachers will visit the class to go over the assignment. If you have questions about the summer math work, please let me know. If there is sufficient interest, we will do a morning informational session for parents/guardians with the math teachers.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) Please read the attached summer reading and summer math assignments. Click here to view the supplemental reading list. Next year’s core teachers will visit the class to go over the assignment. If you have questions about the summer math work, please let me know. If there is sufficient interest, we will do a morning informational session for parents/guardians with the math teachers.

2) While there is still much to do this year, I wanted to get information about next year’s trip to Williamsburg out to you. We are asking that families register for the trip by June 1, 2008. Registration for the trip is handled by our tour company NCT. The attached form continues the relevant registration information. If you have questions about payment, please do not hesitate to contact me.

For Fifth Grade Families . . .
1) Please read the attached summer reading and summer math assignments. Click here to view the supplemental reading list. Next year’s core teachers will visit the class to go over the assignment. If you have questions about the summer math work, please let me know. If there is sufficient interest, we will do a morning informational session for parents/guardians with the math teachers.

For additional information, follow these links:

Calendar of Events
LREI Athletics. For general LREI Athletics news go to this link . This page will provide general announcements, game summaries, league standings and season recaps.
Click here to view the Middle School Photo Gallery.

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

Be well,
Mark