From Phil Kassen, Director

Dear LREI Community,

Greetings! This month, four brief notes and reminders.

There are many special events this month, from concerts to Afterschool shares to a variety of grade and class presentations. I hope that you are able to participate in some number of these wonderful occasions. One event that will involve all LREI students is next week’s Book Week. (You will find more information about the specifics of Book Week after my letter.) A central component of Book Week is that each student will have the opportunity to spend time with an author, illustrator, editor or publisher—someone who makes her or his living in a manner that uses skills and talents that your children are asked to practice and develop on a daily basis. For LREI’s students, these visits validate the hard work put into honing their literary skills. Thank you to the Literary Committee for making these experiences possible as well as for the energy and thought that goes into the creation of the book fair and the annual Literary Evening. Tickets for this event are on sale now in the Sixth Avenue lobby. One final literary note. All four of our librarians are now members of American Library Association committees. This is quite an honor. Congratulations to these dedicated professionals.

· Lower School Librarian Stacy Dillon is serving on the 2009 Association for Library Service to Children’s (ALSC) Maureen Hayes Author/Illustrator Award.

· Early Childhood and Interdivisional Librarian Jesse Karp (LREI ’87) has just been invited to serve on the 2009-2010 Young Adult Library Services Association’s Great Graphic Novels for Teens selection committee.

· High School Librarian Karyn Silverman is currently serving on the 2009 Young Adult Library Services Association’s Michael L. Printz Award. The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.

· Middle School Librarian and Library Department Chair Jennifer Hubert Swan is currently serving on the 2009 Young Adult Library Services Association’s Alex Award. The Alex Awards are given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.

1. A reminder and an update. While I am always happy to have people stop by to see me in my office at anytime, I am not always there. In order to make it easier to find me, I will be available for drop-in conversations in my Sixth Avenue office from 8:45 AM-9:30 AM on December 9^th (NEW DATE), December 12^th and December 17^th. No drop in hours on Friday, December 5^th.
2. We will be distributing an updated LREI Directory after Winter Break. Please contact Mary Shea (mshea@lrei.org) if you would like to revise your family’s information. Remember that you can print individual pages from the electronic version of the directory if you wish. Also, the most up-to-date school calendar is the one on the website. On this page, you can download LREI’s calendar to your iCal. You can choose which events are displayed on your version of our calendar by clicking on the “filter events” button on the left hand side of the calendar page.
3. Important Reminders
   • Deadline for applying for Tuition Remission is December 15, 2008/
   • Re-enrollment contracts will be mailed to all families no later than January 15, 2009.
   • Re-enrollment contracts are due on February 1, 2009.

We recognize that given current economic conditions, many families’ circumstances may have changed. If you are not currently receiving Tuition Remission and feel that changes in your family’s particular situation may now qualify you for Tuition Remission, we encourage you to apply now. Contact the Business Office to do so.

Warmly,

Phil

Updates and Announcements:

*Please read this important announcement from our Academic Support Center.

1. Book Week is back!

December 8 – 12, 2008

Children’s and Young Adult authors and illustrators will be visiting classrooms throughout the school, from the Fours to Twelfth Grade. Please check the bulletin board in the Sixth Avenue Lobby for the day’s schedule.

Tuesday, December 9, is this year’s Literary Evening, called “LAUGH LINES.” Five talented humor writers – David Rakoff, Patty Marx, Jenny Allen, Isabel Rose and Marisa Marchetto – will read from their work at the Charlton Street Performing Arts center from 7:00PM – 9:00PM We hope you’ll be there to enjoy these witty writers, whose work has produced novels, graphic memoirs, SNL skits, New Yorker stories and children’s books. Tickets are being sold in the Sixth Avenue Lobby and the Library. Childcare is available so please sign up.

The Book Fair begins on Wednesday, December 10, at 2:00 PM in the Sixth Avenue Auditorium and ends on Friday, December 12, at 6:00 PM. Stop by and buy! Browsers welcome too! Books for all ages, librarian recommendations, perennial favorites, adult reading, gift ideas, cookbooks and gift vouchers for teachers and specialists are available.

All proceeds go towards the LREI Literary Initiative, which helps the school’s library and librarians better serve our community.

There are many ways to volunteer during Book Week – Book Fair set up or clean up, sell Literary Evening tickets, be an author buddy – so please check the sign-up sheet in the Sixth Avenue Lobby and help Book Week be another great success.

2. Attached is the first LREI fall newsletter for the year. In our ongoing drive to be more sustainable we are distributing it exclusively by email. Phil welcomes your feedback as we move forward with this and other green initiatives. For additional news highlights, please visit http://www.lrei.org/news/.

3. Dear Parents: Since the auction is two months earlier this year (on Thursday, March 5th), we need to get our donation forms in earlier. The deadline for forms is Friday, December 12th.

Our goal this year is to have each parent donate/solicit one item, and we’re attaching a form here for your convenience. If you would like to run your ideas by someone, please contact one of us or Pippa Gerard at 212-477-5316 x236 or pgerard@lrei.org or Sandra Song at 212-477-5316 x275 or ssong@lrei.org.

Thank you and we hope to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Esposito Mamie McIndoe
917-226-0800 917-597-5603
jenn_espo@msn.com mmcindoe@marblechurch.org

4. A perfect gift!
LETTERMAN JACKETS NOW AVAILABLE!
Wool Letterman Jackets now available through
the LREI school store.
These beautiful warm, winter coats are now
available by special order only. The cost is
approximately $200 per coat. Each is personalized
with your name. Order by next Wednesday,
November 26th to receive by Holiday Break. For orders: Contact Kasey Picayo at
picayosmith@aol.com. See attachment for photo.

5. From the LREI Family Handbook
Vacations: We remind families to only take vacations during LREI breaks and that your
child’s time away from school does not begin before the school break does or end
afterwards. Teachers use each scheduled day to support their classroom program goals
and the School’s mission. Students who miss days adjacent to breaks, or who take
vacations outside of our break times, miss work and can disrupt planned activities. This
affects the learning of the absent students and her/his classmates. In addition, divisional
or all-school assemblies often precede our longer vacations. These gatherings are
essential for creating the sort of community that drew you to LREI. Students sing, listen
to speakers, applaud their schoolmates, meet students in other divisions and generally
strengthen community ties.

We will not honor families’ requests to receive work their children will miss due to family
vacation plans. Families that are presented with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to make
an extended visit to another city, country, etc. should speak to their child’s principal.

In general, we are focused on making sure that we are using each moment of each
school day as effectively as possible. Part of being able to do this is to have each
student in school each of these days. Thank you for your support of these efforts.

6. Red is Green Committee:

Red is Green Monthly Recycle Drives: Thanks to all the families who participated in the first LREI Recycle Month – we collected over 1000 plastic bags to be recycled! We’ll be keeping the box in the Sixth Avenue lobby for a while longer, so please continue to drop off plastic bags. Also, you can always bring your bags to Whole Foods, Staples, Barnes & Nobles and other chain stores to be recycled.

This month, Red is Green is collecting used sneakers! Through December 19 you can bring your old athletic shoes (no shoes containing metal please) to school and drop them off in the boxes located in the lobby of either building. Sneakers will be ground up and recycled into outdoor basketball courts, volleyball courts, tennis courts, soccer fields, and playgrounds through the NIKE grind program. For more information please check out their website at www.nikereuseashoe.com.

Still to come… January is recycle your greeting cards month! Save all your cards this holiday season and we’ll be collecting them in January. St. Jude’s Ranch accepts recycled cards which they use to make “green” holiday cards. The proceeds go towards helping abused, abandoned and neglected children.

7. Introducing the 2008-2009 Boys Basketball Varisty Team!