Your Children's Art, Your Children's Voices

Your Children’s Art:

If you look to the left of the reception desk, you’ll notice a beautiful new quilt, just hung yesterday. It was made with great care by last year’s Fourth Grade class as they moved from Lower into Middle School and represents their gift to LREI. The quilt contains children’s images of Peru, a focus of study related both to their Spanish language and service learning. As part of this curriculum, funds were collected (in conjunction with the Heifer Project) to support the purchase of indigenous farm animals for a small and struggling Peruvian village.

This year’s Fourth Graders have been painting sunflowers from observation. They looked not only at the arrangement in front of them, but also at "sunflower art" by artists, Van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe and Suzanne Valadon. The differences in interpretation speak to our students’ creativity and to our program – personal interpretation within a guiding structure. To learn – and see – more, click on the "Sunflower Gallery" link on the right.


Your Children’s Voices:

As backpacks were being filled this week in each and every lower school class, children’s comments included the following:

First Grade Teacher: How do you feel about being able to help?
My heart is beating really slow. It is too full to beat fast.

Second Grade Teacher: Why are we packing these backpacks?
Because these people are very poor and millions of people got forced
out of their own houses.
Hurricane Katrina was bigger than usual. It was an unusual hurricane.

Second Grade Teacher: What kind of note should we send with the backpacks?
I hope you make lots of new friends.
I hope they don’t push you too hard in your new school.
I hope these supplies come in handy.
I hope your new home is as comfortable as your old home.

Second Grade Teacher: What is charity?
Charity is like when a hurricane hits, some people don’t have stuff and we do. We give them stuff of our own so we can be even.

Third Graders wrote:
We wanted you to know we are thinking about you.
Our school has been making tons of donations.
Hope you can go home soon.
I hope people are being nice to you.
If you had a pet I hope you get it back.
May all your wishes come true!

Thanks to all of you for your generous donations of backpacks and school supplies. I’m sure that they will be appreciated nearly as much as your children’s heartfelt wishes.

Elaine

This Week's Attachments:

Parent Rep Meeting Minutes - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Parent%20Rep%20Minutes.pdf

Michelle and Laura's Fours - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Fours.pdf

Brooke and Charles' Kindergarten - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/K%20Brooke%20and%20Charles.pdf

Luise and Julia's Kindergarten - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/K%20-%20Luise%20and%20Julia.pdf

First Grade Reading - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Reading.pdf

Third Grade - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Grade%203.pdf

Fourth Grade Math - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Fourth%20Grade%20Math.pdf

Fourth Grade Technology - The attached message from Celeste asks you to email her a time preference for your child's morning keyboarding class. If she does not hear from you by next week, she must assign your daughter or son to a group.
http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Celeste.pdf


Announcements:

Morning Procedures - Please remember to wait with your children in the Bleecker corridor until 8:30AM. We're all excited to start the day, but teachers need to use the morning to meet and prepare for activities.

In addition, we are asking that Second-Fourth Graders remember to use the Bleecker stairs, and parents of Fours-First Graders bring them up the central staircase. If you have children in both groups, you may all use the central stairs.

Multicultural Committee Meeting - Thanks to everyone who came to the potluck lunch last weekend. This parent committee's first official meeting will be Thursday, October 6th at 8:45AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria. On the agenda: brainstorming for activities and meeting topics for the year and early planning for Karamu!, our annual high-energy performing arts event in January. All parents are encouraged to join this very diverse group. Questions? Contact co-chairs Mario Murillo (mario@wbai.org) or Noreen Stallings-Hall (nstallings@lcbf.com).

Asian-American Families Breakfast - Please bring your whole family for this group's first get-together of the year on Friday, October 7th, 7:45-9:00AM in the Sixth Avenue Cafeteria. If you have to come late or leave early, that's fine - it's very informal. It's also potluck, so please let Ruth Yang (ryang@walzyanglaw.com) know what food you will bring. And if you forget to sign up or can't bring anything, please still join us!

From the Afterschool Office - Afterschool at LREI welcomes our first October First Friday guest, Imani Faye, for an afternoon of dance and music from Guinea and Mali. The program will take place on Friday, October 7th from 4:00-5:00PM in the Big Room. The event will be structured in a workshop format, with plenty of opportunities for children of all ages to play with the movements and rhythms from these West African countries. Ms. Faye is a professional dancer and educator who has worked with numerous West African dance companies. Students of all ages, parents and caregivers are welcome to attend and participate. Contact the Afterschool office at x239 for more information.

Open House - The Manhattan Country School Farm will host a free Open House on Saturday, October 15 from 12:00-4:00PM. An overnight stay is available at the cost of $35 per person (this does not include food). This is a wonderful opportunity for Third Grade families to explore the farm before their trip. The farm is about 3.5 hours from the city in Roxbury, NY. Interested families should RSVP to Ginny Scheer, farm director at 607-326-7049 and see the detailed directions and map at: www.manhattancountryschool.org

School Photos - Thank you for your flexibility and understanding when inclement weather cancelled our photo day this week. Photos are now set for Monday, October 24th.

Loving Without Spoiling Parent Evening - A limited number of tickets are available for this talk with parent educator Nancy Samalin on October 26th. Look for the sign up sheet on the Parent Association board next week. http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Nancy%20Samalin.pdf


Mark Your Calendars!

The Concert for Katrina Relief will be on 10/17 at 6:30PM in the Charlton Street PAC.

School will be closed on:

• 10/4 (Rosh Hashanah)
• 10/10 (Columbus Day)
• 10/13 (Yom Kippur)

Curriculum Meetings are on:

• 10/6 - 6:00PM - Second-Fourth Grades
• 10/11 - 6:00PM - Fours-First Grades

Childcare will be available for these meetings. The cost is $15 and a pizza dinner is included. Please look for sign-up sheets outside of your child's classroom. Advance sign-up is important, and care is for LREI students only.

Third Grade Farm Meetings for parents will be held in the classroom. Students will attend Early Bird on the day of their meeting.

Farm Meetings are on:

• 10/12 - 8:00AM - Chap & Michael's class
• 10/26 - 8:00AM - Kelly & Meredith's class

The First and Second Grade Math Breakfast has been moved to 10/27 at 8:30AM.


In the Next Few Weeks...

10/4 - School Closed for Rosh Hashanah
10/6 - 8:00AM - Lesbian Gay Straight Alliance Meeting
10/6 - 8:45AM - Multicultural Committee Meeting, Sixth Avenue Cafeteria
10/6 - 6:00PM - Curriculum Meeting for Second-Fourth Grades
10/7 - 7:45AM - Asian-American Families Breakfast, Sixth Avenue Cafeteria
10/10 - School Closed for Columbus Day
10/11 - 8:45AM - POCOC Meeting
10/11 - 6:00PM - Curriculum Meeting for Fours-First Grades
10/12 - 8:00AM - Chap & Michael's Farm Meeting for parents
10/13 - School Closed for Yom Kippur
10/14 - 8:45AM - Meeting for New LS Parent Reps
10/17 - 6:30PM - Concert for Katrina Relief, Charlton Street PAC
10/18 - Erin, Carin, Stacey and their Fourth Graders leave for the farm
10/19 - 8:45AM - Second Grade Assembly
10/20 - 8:45AM - Parent Rep Meeting
10/21 - Erin, Carin, Stacey and Fourth Graders return from the farm