Modeling Citizenship through Model Congress
Dear Families,
On Saturday, April 25, nine sixth graders participated in the 20th Packer Collegiate Middle School Model Congress. This year’s participants included Andrew, Ben, Georgia, Lola, Marcelo, Martine, Michelle, Odelia, and Simmon. The group has worked with faculty facilitator Sharyn Hahn since the end of October to write bills, prepare speeches, read students’ bills from the other schools that participate, and learn about and practice parliamentary procedure. The team spent the entire day at Packer Collegiate High School this past Saturday for the annual culminating event.
Nearly 200 middle school students from 13 area independent schools, including LREI, sent delegations of model legislators to the event. When students arrived at the event, they broke off into one of 17 separate committees based upon the content of their bill. These committees were meant to resemble actual congressional committees and included among others Judiciary, Education, Health, Housing & Urban Affairs, and Science Space & Technology. After a morning committee session filled with heated debate and criticism, the bills that passed committee were reviewed in one of four full sessions. (House I, House II, Senate I and Senate II).
The bills introduced by the LREI delegation included the following:
- Delegates: Benjamin and Marcelo
Title: An act to require that one out of every building on each block in U.S. cities that is rainwater accessible has a rainwater collection plant on its roof.
Preamble: This act would ensure that many buildings in New York City could reuse water that would normally go down to sewage and be unused. With these collection plants, buildings would have chlorinated and filtered water for bathing and washing. - Delegates: Lola, Michelle and Odelia
Title: An act to increase the amount of Farmers Markets/Greenware across the country.
Preamble: The purpose of this act is to increase the production of local farmers’ produce by creating more places where they can sell their harvests and where customers can get to know the agriculturists who grow their food. - Delegates: Georgia and Martine
Title: An act to stop the littering of gum and cigarette butts in public places and on the streets in Us cities.
Preamble: The purpose of this act is to enforce the prohibition of the littering of gum and cigarette butts in public places and on the streets. We will do this by putting more ashtrays up around in U.S. cities and large reminders to spit out gum into a trashcan and not onto the street or stick it to park benches. In addition, signs referring to the fines that will be imposed on offenders will be highly visible. Cities will be a much cleaner and safer place for people to live. - Delegates: Andrew and Simmon
Title: An act to build designated smoking areas other than outside of buildings on the streets in towns and cities in the United States.
Preamble: The purpose of this act is to stop smokers from smoking in highly populated outdoor areas, such as public train stations, outdoor bus stops, and children’s playgrounds. This will prevent non-smokers from inhaling second hand smoke.
The students’ hard work throughout the year resulted in a day of excitement and accomplishment. All nine of our delegates participated in all of the sessions and several debated in the plenary committees. At the end of the morning committee sessions, the students voted on the one bill that passed in their session that was the most controversial and informative, in order to bring it to the plenary session. These bills were then debated within one of the larger group in the afternoon. The bills introduced by Georgia and Martine and Marcelo and Ben were debated in these plenary sessions. Marcelo and Ben’s bill was passed during this session, which was a first for LREI.
The afternoon concluded with an Awards Ceremony in which all of the delegates were recognized for their the hard work and performance. In addition, special awards were given out to the best prepared and most “professional” delegates. Both Marcelo and Ben were awarded Honorable Mentions. All of the delegates had a good time and they are all looking forward to next year with their eyes on the coveted Golden Gavel award (of which we have won two over the past four years). We are very proud of all of the delegates for their commitment to the Model Congress program.
Of General Interest . . .
1) A message from Director Phil Kassen: Dear LREI Families, As you know, from time to time, members of our Village or New York City community with a visible public profile participate in the admissions process and, as the process moves towards its logical conclusion, join the LREI Community. For understandable reasons this can be exciting for all, parents, faculty and students alike. It is important, however, that we not do anything to alter the LREI experience for these families. Many well known parents have chosen our school because they feel at home here and often comment on how they appreciate being allowed to “just be parents.” It is important that this sense of LREI as a safe community, which begins during the admissions process, continues as these families begin to make a place for themselves in our school. I ask that you please remember that when these parents visit the school, when they participate in school activities or when they are, simply, here as moms and dads, that they are hoping to be treated in the same manner as you would treat any other member of the community. Thank you for your understanding.
2) Performance opportunity for LREI students, parents, faculty, and staff at the kickoff opening festival for WNYC Radio’s (NPR) 93.9 FM and AM 820
The Greene Space: A New Theater of Sound at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space – a new multipurpose, multiplatform street-level studio and performance venue located right next door to the High School on Charlton Street. A performance of “The Fall of the City”, a 1937 CBS radio drama by Archibald MacLeish that starred Orson Welles and Burgess Meredith that is considered one of the most socially significant – and boldly experimental – works in the history of radio, will be presented this weekend at the theater. For more information about this exciting event click here. To participate or for more information contact Meghan Farley Astrachan at mastrachan@lrei.org. Friends and family can buy tickets to the live performance at http://www.wnyc.org/splas.html or listen in on May 4th from 7-8pm on 93.9 FM!
3) Red is Green Committee Updates:
- May will be our last recycling drive for the LREI school year. During the month of May we are teaming up with the Community Service Committee. We will be collecting and recycling travel size toiletries. These items will be donated to the Outreach Program at St. Francis Xavier Church on West 15th Street. We need the following UNUSED travel size toiletries: soaps, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shaving cream and razors. These items will be given out free primarily to homeless individuals who come to the church where they are offered food, clothing and toiletries.
- Don’t forget to check out Lets Go Green’s website for eco-friendly water bottles, garbage bags, light bulbs, paper goods etc. LREI receives 25% of all sales as profit. Thanks for all your help. Start collecting and keep recycling!
- If you have any questions or suggestions, please email the Red is Green committee (lhommen@hotmail.com or kbeck2@nyc.rr.com).
3) Save the Date: The Annual LREI Camping Trip will take place June 5th-7th at the Riverbend Group Campground along the Delaware River, about 15 miles North of the Delaware Water Gap. Students and their families may camp Friday and/or Saturday night. Watch for details and sign-up tables – coming soon.
4) For updates on faculty performances, openings, presentations, and publications visit the Faculty in the News page on the school web site.
5) 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/.
This Week’s Attachments
General:
Eighth Grade:
Seventh Grade:
Fifth Grade:
Sixth Grade:
For All Grades . . .
1) A reminder that the MS Art Show opened today and will run through tomorrow in the Sixth Avenue auditorium. The Art Show is a wonderful opportunity to explore the impressive art work that middle schoolers have created so far this year.
2) Margaret, Sherezada and Sharyn’s advisory is currently participating in a campaign called Skip Lunch Fight Hunger. The point of this campaign is to raise money for those who do not have enough food, (particularly children) in NYC. This is very important for the city because one out of every five children in the city does not always have enough food to eat. Skip Lunch Fight Hunger is a fundraiser for the non-profit organization City Harvest. City Harvest is a food rescue program that not only saves the lives of New Yorkers, but it prevents food from being wasted by using valuable resources from local stores and restaurants that would otherwise be thrown out. On Wednesday, May 6 we will decorate donation jars to put in small businesses in the LREI neighborhood to raise awareness and funds for the organization. We will collect these jars and all of the donations will be given to Skip Lunch Fight Hunger. This will make a significant difference to those in need. If you own a business or know of a small business in your neighborhood that would be willing to host a jar, please contact our advisor Margaret Andrews at mandrews@lrei.org. If you would like to learn more about our team’s efforts, click here. Thanks for your support.
3) It’s My Park Day: We’ll do some more work on the flower beds in Little Red Square on the morning of Saturday, May 16th. Students and families are welcome to joins us.
4) AIDS Walk 2009: The AIDS Walk is an important LREI community service event and is scheduled this year for Sunday, May 17th. We’re hoping for strong representation from all Middle School grades this year. Please remember that students in grades six and below must be accompanied by an adult. Registering for AIDS Walk New York has never been easier. Just click on this link below and choose your registration type (“Join a Team” — we are team #1222). If you prefer, you can always register by phone. Simply call (212) 807-WALK (9255) and they will be happy to register you. If you are not able to walk, please make every effort to support the team by making a donation.
5) Our annual Middle School Awards Night will take place on Tuesday, May 19th, at 6:00PM in the Charlton Street PAC. This is a wonderful night in which all students in grades five through eight who participated on sports teams and/or in extracurricular activities are recognized for their effort and participation. Students will be recognized for their participation in the following activities: Model Congress, Little Red Singers, Band, Play, Musical, Robotics Team, Rube Goldberg Team, Intramural Soccer, MS Soccer, MS Cross Country, MS Volleyball, Intramural Basketball, MS Boys Basketball, MS Girls Basketball, Intramural Softball, and MS Softball.
For Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) The DC Trip parent meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 6th, at 8AM.
For Seventh Grade Families . . .
1) Our annual High School Arts Festival, is scheduled for tomorrow and our seventh graders participate in this exciting event. The Arts Festival is a day dedicated to art during which visiting artists run workshops with students. Students take a three hour class in the morning led by the artists, which gives students the opportunity to focus on one area of interest. In the afternoon there is an assembly where performing arts workshops can present and perform and special guest performers inspire. This is a wonderful day for art and for the seventh graders to get a taste of the high school experience.
For Sixth Grade Families . . .
No updates this week.
For Fifth and Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) Intramural Softball: If inclement weather necessitates practice having to be canceled, please consult the LREI online calendar, which will indicate that practice has been canceled (please make sure that you have selected and applied the filter for “Sports-MS Intramural Softball;” to do this click on the “Filter Events” link on the left sidebar). This information will be posted by 6AM on the day of the practice. If your child has a glove, s/he should bring it with her/him to the practice/game. If your child does not have a glove, s/he will likely be able to borrow one from another player. Click here to download a permission form. If you have any questions, please contact Larry Kaplan at lkaplan@lrei.org.
For Fifth Grade Families . . .
1) From Steve Neiman: Fifth graders are reminded to bring in photos or digital copies of pictures of family members/pets, to be scanned (or on a flash drive) for their family tree project.
============= For additional information, follow these links: =============
- View important middle school dates here.
- View all events with the LREI On-line Calendar
- Click here to see the 2009-2010 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