Choosing to Participate

Dear Families,

Each year, our eighth grade students embark on a project to better understand and personalize the social justice issues that emerge from their study of post-Civil War US history. This project connects them to individuals and organizations that are making a difference in the community and beyond. Through this process, our eighth graders come to better understand the rewards and challenges of active citizenship and the need for all individuals to choose to participate. One benchmark point on what we hope will be a life-long journey is our annual spring Social Justice Teach-In scheduled for Wednesday, April 27th. At the Teach-In, share their work with the middle school community through a series of workshops and assemblies for the rest of the middle school.

The following is an update on the project from eighth grade core teacher Sara-Momii Roberts:

Progressive education presents opportunities for students to engage in real world experiences related to specific courses of study as an integral part of the learning process.  In eighth grade Core, the Social Justice Project is one important piece of our progressive approach.

The eighth grade core curriculum’s theme is “Choosing to Participate”. Borrowed from Facing History and Ourselves, the idea of “Choosing to Participate” challenges our eighth graders to engage in civic activities that bring equity to our various communities.  After learning about social movements in the United States including the abolition of slavery brought about by Lincoln and enslaved people acting on their own behalf, racial integration in schools post-Brown v. Board, The 13th, 14th and 15th Constitutional Amendments, and current and past “muckrakers” (investigative journalists), they each chose a civil/human rights topic that they felt passionate about and joined with others in the class to learn more about, and volunteer on behalf of, that issue.

This year’s eighth graders chose the following topics: Gun Violence, Sexual Trafficking, Malaria, The Environment and People, Educational Equity, Child Abuse, Gay Marriage Rights, Homelessness in NYC, Immigration Rights, and Child Soldiers.

Over the course of 6-months, students will research information about their topics, volunteer with NYC organizations, interview experts in the field and build websites to document their experiences.  Finally, they will plan and carry out a Teach-In on April 27 where they will share what they’ve learned with the greater LREI community.

In addition to developing active citizenship and leadership skills, the project has multiple academic goals aimed at helping students to:

  • Effectively communicate with organizations and individuals via phone, email and in person
  • Plan for, and carry out, informational interviews and volunteer visits
  • Research and document relevant facts, statistics, articles
  • Build websites in teams; assume work-roles patterned off of real editorial room environments (webmaster, photo/video editor, content editor, researcher); create appropriate visual and written sites
  • Create original Public Service Announcements on Photoshop and Illustrator
  • Plan workshops and school-wide assemblies for the Teach-In
Since November, the eighth grade Social Justice groups have engaged in a number of activities related to their project.  Here are a few highlights from the project:
  • Immigration Rights Rally in Albany:
    The Immigrant Rights groups boarded a bus at 6AM to Albany with the New York Immigration Coalition. They attended rallies and met with various immigrant rights groups while there.
  • Hunger Workshop at Mercy Corps in Battery Park City:
    The Educational Equity, Homelessness and Child Abuse Prevention groups attended a workshop on the causes of world hunger at Mercy Corps Action Center.
  • Interview with Geoffrey Canada, CEO, and the COO of Harlem Children’s School:
    The Educational Equity groups visited Promise Academy, the charter school of the Harlem Children’s Zone to learn more about the organizations goals and speak with the COO and CEO.
  • United Nations Conference on the Millennium Goals:
    The Child Soldier group attended a UN Conference on the Millennium Goals and met Peter Alderman, Founder and CEO of the Alderman Foundation, and Nicholas Kristof, NYTimes writer.
  • Visit with NYC Million Trees:
    The Environment and Community group visited the NYC Million Trees offices and learned about the various benefits trees provide to urban communities.
  • Interview with Patricia McCormick and Blogging with Spark!
    The Sexual Trafficking of Women group interviewed Patricia McCormick about her book, Sold, and are finalizing their first blog post for SPARK, a women and girls empowerment blog.
  • Interview with John Sexton, President of NYU:
    The Education Group willinterview with John Sexton, President of NYU, about his thoughts on what makes an exceptional education.
  • Meeting the founder of Common Ground, Rozanne Hagerty:
    The Homelessness in NYC group toured the Common Ground buildings and met with Founder Rossane Hagerty about their work with homeless people in New York.
  • Daniel Prins, Chief of the Office of Disarmament Affairs at the United Nations, speaks to our class:
    The Gun Violence group invited and hosted Mr. Prins in a wonderful Q and A-style conversation about nuclear weapons and their implications to our world. The conversation was born out work done by last year’s students who presented at a UN forum run by Mr. Prins. To learn more about this student work click here.
  • Charles King, founder and CEO of Housing Works, speaks to our class:
    The Homelessness in NYC group invited and hosted Mr. King, who spoke to our class about Housing Works‘ goals to help victims of homelessness and AIDS in the US and Haiti.
  • Screening of “Invisible Children” at LREI for 8th-12 grades:
    The Child Soldier group has invited San Diego filmmakers of “Invisible Children,” a film featuring escaped child soldiers, to LREI for a film screening and talk.
  • Visiting Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP) and assisting with their in-school anti-child abuse puppet shows:
    The Child Abuse group has formed a relationship with CAPP and has visited public schools with them to see them work with students

Impressive! These activities were in addition to regular reading, discussion, debate and writing about the issues connected to these experiences. To get a taste of the seriousness and thoughtfulness with which students have engaged with this work, below are some of the PSAs that students created as part of this work:

[flickrslideshow acct_name=”lrei-photos” id=”72157626498638470″ width=”460″ height=”345″]

We’ll have more to say about this work after the Teach-In.

Of General Interest . . .

1) From High School juniors Emma and Maya and sophomore Aaron: We are organizing a school-wide fundraising event for this Saturday, April 16th, 2011, from 7:00-9:00PM in the PAC at 40 Charlton Street. This fundraiser, known as the Little Red House of the Rising Sun, will raise money for the victims of the Tohoku Earthquake in Japan. All funds raised will go to the Yoshiki Foundation of America. Yoshiki Foundation of America is a non-profit, public benefit corporation whose funds are going to the Japanese Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami recovery efforts through the Japanese Red Cross Society. The coffeehouse will be a special event that will involve student performances from all three divisions of the school as well as guest performers. In addition to the performances, there will be food and drinks, and activities for attendees. Activities will begin at 6PM. Donation boxes will be placed at the Charlton St and Sixth Avenue buildings, on Monday morning. If you cannot make it to the coffeehouse, please donate! The donation boxes will be available until May 6th. You can support us by donating money, food for the event, and by attending the event itself. Tickets are $10. For more information about the event, to volunteer, to perform, or if you plan to donate food, please email us at LREI-Japan@lrei.org. Thank you so much for your support!

2) From the Red is Green Committee: We are having a week of activities to celebrate Earth Day–April 22nd. We are calling the week of April 18th Earth Week at LREI:

  • We are asking that students give a pledge of one thing they will do to help the environment. For example- Lily, Kindergarten: “I will turn lights off when I leave the bathroom“. These pledges will stream on the TV in the Sixth Avenue lobby during Earth Week. Please send your pledges to redisgreen@lrei.org.
  • Monday April 18th – Monday April 18th – interested children will have the opportunity to decorate canvas tote bags. We will also have a demonstration of how to make green cleaning supplies. Click here for the recipes. We will also have a petition for people to sign about stopping the use of plastic bags.
  • Wednesday April 20th from 6:00PM-8:00PM – the PA will host a presentation/workshop with Jamie Cloud (LREI parent) of the Cloud Institute on Sustainability. This will be an interactive and enlightening evening during which participants will think about sustainability and their relationship to the planet. Basically, how you can start thinking in new ways to help us “operate the planet” in a more effective, sustainable manner. For more information, see is www.cloudinstitute.org. All LREI adults and students in the fifth grade and older are invited. It is very important to RSVP to redisgreen@lrei.org. Click to see the flyer with complete details.
  • Thursday April 21st – children are invited to attend an after school gathering during which they will learn to plant and care for their own seedlings.

3) A message from Chap, Director of Diversity and Community: A reminder that our final Open PA Diversity morning, How to Raise an Ally: Social Justice at LREI Part 3 of 3 is on Friday, April 29, 8:45 – 10:00 am

4) Come check out the Afterschool blog at: http://blog.lrei.org/afterschoolphotos/. We have just posted The Afterschool Music Video!

5) The Big Auction will be at Capitale on May 11th. We are planning a great party and look forward to seeing you all there.

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

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

For All Grades . . .

1) Family Conferences and Subject Area Meetings (April 14th and 15th): Click here to sign up for conferences . At the Family Conference, your child will share work samples, offer reflections on her/his work and identify some goals for the fourth quarter. It is also a time for you to dialog with your child and her/his advisor about your child’s learning experience in the Middle School so far this year. As we did in the first quarter, you will also be able to have brief meetings with each of your child’s teachers should you so choose. To schedule these subject specific meetings please click here (link will be activated shortly). As always, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teachers if you have questions about her/his performance and/or the curriculum.

2) Mark your calendars: Just a heads up that our annual MS Arts Festival will open on Thursday, April 28th at 6:00PM for seventh and eighth grade families and at 6:30PM for fifth and sixth grade families. The evening will feature studio art work from students in all grades, digital art created by the eighth graders and performances by the seventh and eighth grade performing arts major classes (instrumental music, vocal music, dance and drama). The entire Sixth Avenue building will come alive with the arts. We hope to see you all there. In addition, the art displays in the auditorium will also be up on Friday, April 29th.

3) Afterschool Recitals:

  • Tuesday, May 3rd at 5:30 – Early Concert for students ages 4s-1st grade. (This concert includes Piano, Voice and Instrumental (guitar/bass, drums, brass and flute) students, PAPAS
  • Tuesday, May 31st at 5:30 – Piano & Voice Recital for 2nd grade – Middle School, PAPAS
  • Tuesday, May 31st at 6:30 – Instrumental Concert for 2nd grade – Middle School, 6th ave auditorium

4) Click here for images from last weekend’s New York State Theatre Education Association (NYSTEA) and Reaching Andromeda Theatre’s (RAT) NYC Student Theatre Conference attended by some of our seventh and eighth graders and coordinated by high school drama teacher and performing arts chair Meghan Astrachan

For Eighth Grade Families . . .

1) Some important dates :

  • Wed, May 4, 2010, 8:00am — 8th Gr. DC trip Parent Mtg.
  • Tue, May 10, 2010, — 8th Grade trip to DC (return on Friday)
  • Tue, Jun 7, 2010, 6:00pm — 8th Grade Science Exploratorium
  • Fri, Jun 10, 2010, 6:00pm — 8th Grade Moving Up Party
  • Tue, Jun 14, 2010, 9:00am — 8th Grade Moving Up

For Seventh Grade Families . . .

1) From Elizabeth and Matthew: We are excited to inform you that in conjunction with our current study of the American Revolution and our upcoming study of the Constitution itself, on Thursday, April 21st, the seventh grade will travel to Philadelphia for a day-long trip. We will visit the National Constitution Center, where we will participate in several activities that will help us better understand the founding and establishment of our country and its constitution. We will also visit Independence Hall and, time permitting, other historical sites. Like our trip to Williamsburg, the trip to Philadelphia will give us a first-hand understanding of important events in Colonial American history. Students should arrive to LREI on the morning of April 21st by 7:00AM. Our chartered bus will be departing promptly at 7:15AM. Students should be sure to bring their writer’s notebook, a bag lunch (with an extra snack for the return trip — we will not stop at a rest stop on the return trip — and as always no nuts, seeds, or glass bottles), an extra sweatshirt and a backpack for these items. Cameras and some spending money (no more than $10) are optional. Students should dress appropriately for the day’s predicted weather, and they should be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes. We will be departing from Philadelphia at around 2:45PM, and expect to return to LREI by 4:15PM. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .

No updates this week.

For Fifth Grade Families . . .

No updates this week.

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

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

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

Be well,
Mark

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