The Busy Hum

From guest blogger Phil Kassen:

Welcome Back!

Happy New Year!  I hope you and yours enjoyed the Winter Break.  It was a pleasure to welcome your children back to school earlier this week.  It did not take long for the hallways and classrooms in all three divisions to regain their busy hum.

The faculty spent a full and enriching day on Monday, our second professional development day devoted to looking at issues of socio-economic class, involved in a series of divisional and inter-divisional conversations. High School history teacher Nick O’Han and Chap, Director of Diversity and Community, organized the day’s events, inviting two speakers from the Citizens’ Committee for Children to help us look at socio-economic class through lenses wide enough to focus on all of the children in New York City and finely focused enough to look at how issues of class emerge in classrooms in each of our three divisions. It was a truly fascinating and challenging day. Conversations and exercises such as the ones we participated in on Monday will continue throughout the rest of the school year.

In the fall, Chap facilitated a well-attended discussion focused on how parents experience socio-economic class encounters with peers and with their children. We invite you to attend Bring the Conversation Home, Part 2 during which Dr. Patricia Romney, President and Founder of Romney Associates, will return to LREI to facilitate a second parent diversity discussion addressing issues of class. The focus of Dr. Romney’s work is change. Using her finely honed assessment skills as a starting point for change efforts, she has assisted organizations in the areas of diversity, community building, and leadership development.

Join us for one or both of the following events:

  • Wednesday, January 28, 6:00 PM– 8:00 PM in the Charlton Street Library
    (Please RSVP to the receptionist if you will need childcare for this event.)
  • Thursday, January 29, 8:30AM-10:30 AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria

On a different note, as we have for the past few years, early next week I will send to all LREI families a list of volunteer opportunities available during the long Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.  The Parents’ Association Community Service Committee is hard at work identifying service opportunities to add to this list.  If you know of ways in which LREI families can perform community service during the coming three-day weekend, please email them to me (pkassen@lrei.org) and I will add them to the list we will distribute early next week.  Thank you in advance.

Best,
Phil

Of General Interest . . .
1) Important Dates:

  • January 15, 2009: Re-enrollment contracts will be mailed to all families no later than this date.
  • February 1, 2009: Re-enrollment contracts are due.

2) Calling All Embroidery Buffs! Embroider a square for the 2009 Big Auction Community Quilt. All squares must be completed by February 1, 2009. Please see the PDF for details.

3) Red is Green Committee’s January Holiday Card Recycling Drive

  • 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.
  • Last chance: You can drop off your old sneakers in the collection boxes located in the lobbies of the Sixth Avenue and Charlton Street campuses through January 15. This drive is part of the Nike Re-Use A Shoe program. Shoes will be ground up and recycled into outdoor basketball courts, volleyball courts, tennis courts, soccer fields and playgrounds.

4) Afterschool Registration Information! Follow this link to download the new Afterschool registration forms for 2009, which are posted on the Afterschool portion of the LREI website. Registration for programs begins on January 6th and continues through January 9th. If you are registering for Instrumental lessons, turn in your form by 3:00pm on January 6th to be included in the registration shuffle. During registration week, Afterschool will offer free childcare. Please contact the Afterschool Office with any questions at 212-477-5316 ext 239. You may also email Kelly Eudailey at keudailey@lrei.org or Cari Kosins at ckosins@lrei.org.

5) Save the Date for Karamu! Friday January 23rd… Karamu! is a multicultural celebration of music, dance, and food celebrating the diversity of our school and community – all are invited! Tickets go on sale Tuesday, January 20th. Discount tickets are available – please contact Juliet Burrows (jkka@mac.com). This event always sells out so get your tickets early! Here are ways to be involved: get tickets & come to the show, volunteer to help out on the day of or donate a prepared dish for the feast!. More details to follow… join the fun of this wonderful community building event!

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

7) 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/.

  • January 13, 2009
    Blogs, Chats and Facebook: Understanding Our Children’s Cyber World
    Temple Israel, 112 East 75th Street, 12:00-2:00 pm
    Speaker: Charlene Giannetti, Author of “Boy Crazy: Keeping Our Daughter’s Feet on the Ground When Her Head Is in the Clouds”
    To reserve a place at a PIA luncheon, please contact your School Representative. All School Reps should RSVP for themselves and up to 2 guests. Space is limited.
  • February 9, 2009
    Teen Scene XXIII
    Park East Day School, 164 East 68th Street (between Third and Lexington Avenues)
    6:00-8:00 pm
    Co-sponsored with Parents League. Panelists: Independent School Teenagers. Moderator: Lucy Martin Gianino. Space is limited.RSVP Required. For reservations, click here.

This Week’s Attachments
General:
Eighth Grade:
DC Trip Registration Form
Seventh Grade:
Fifth and Sixth Grade:

For All Grades . . .
1) Just a reminder that the Middle School dance originally scheduled for Friday, January 9th, has been rescheduled for Friday, January 30th. The dance will start at 6:30PM for fifth graders and at 7:00PM for sixth through eighth graders. The dance will end at 8:30PM for fifth and sixth graders and at 9:00PM for seventh and eighth graders. Permission slips will go out the week of the dance.

2)  It’s time again for the Middle School to participate in the National Geographic Geography Bee. The first round of the will take place between January 8th-13th in the classroom. In this round, students respond orally to a series of geography questions. Participation in the Bee is voluntary and those who don’t want to participate will serve as the audience for their peers who do choose to participate. We will do the final and championship rounds at Middle School meeting on Wednesday, January 14th. The winner of the championship round will then take the state-qualifying test on Tuesday, January 20th. Some useful resources can be found at:

http://geography.about.com/library/quiz/blpreviss.htm
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee/ax/newquizstart.html
http://geography.about.com/od/testyourknowledge/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geographybee/resources.html

3) Middle School “Pajama Day” is scheduled for next Friday, January 16th. Highlights will include hot chocolate and cookies at lunch and stories read by eighth graders during independent reading. Here are a few guidelines, which were developed by the Student Representatives on the occasion of the first Pajama Day:

  • Just because it’s Pajama Day doesn’t mean the dress code went to sleep
  • A robe adds a nice touch
  • No lingerie or underwear
  • If you wear boxers, please wear some type of undergarment beneath
  • Slippers are fine, but you should bring a pair of shoes/sneakers (especially if you have PE)
  • Blankets and stuffed animals are welcomed, but should not be so big that they require their own desk
  • If you don’t wear pajamas, we do not want to know about it!
  • If you can imagine Mark wearing it, it is probably okay.

For Eighth and Seventh Grade Families . . .
1) Boys and girls practice and basketball schedules are online:

For Eighth Grade Families . . .
1) A reminder that final payments are due on February 18th. If you have payment questions, please let me know. If you have not registered, please do so ASAP using the attached form.

For Seventh Grade Families . . .
No updates this week.

For Fifth and Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) Click here to view the full practice and game schedule for the intramural basketball program.

For Sixth Grade Families . . .
1) On Friday, January 23rd, the sixth grade will visit St. John the Divine.

For Fifth Grade Families . . .
1) On Wednesday, January 28th, the fifth grade will travel to the Brooklyn Museum to view their Egyptian artifact collection.

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

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