What has our faculty been up to?

Dear Parents,

I thought you might like to hear what our faculty has been up to recently:

Meet Me at the MoMA: On the Friday evening before Thanksgiving, a number of teachers gathered at the Museum of Modern Art to view Elizabeth Murray’s current retrospective. Elizabeth is a former LREI parent, an extraordinary painter and a strong supporter of our school. We were graciously introduced to the surrounds and guided through the exhibit by current LREI parents, Mariet Westermann, art historian, and Mario Naves, artist and critic. Parent Joe Rabatin helped to coordinate this wonderful visit. Viewing art with colleagues within the exciting MoMA space was a rare and wonderful opportunity.

Lower School at the Movies: During a recent faculty meeting, teachers shared some of their PowerPoint presentations as a basis for cross-grade discussion and as a way to more fully appreciate each other’s work and classroom environments. An upper elementary teacher said, "I never get into the Fours room. I had no idea how much they do!" Early childhood teachers, on the other hand, were amazed by the excitement and beauty of overnight farm trip experiences. We ended the meeting with a dual resolve: to come together again in workshop format to experiment with new presentations, and to share in this same format our class trip sequence.

Reunion en español: During this week’s faculty meeting, Julie Sterling and Delia Hernandez guided faculty through a mini Spanish immersion lesson with discussion. In Spanish we all played a game and did a Spanish exercise with accompanying movement ("Total Physical Response"). Then, with Julie and Delia’s guidance, we talked about how the experience felt to us. Teachers described the ways that they incorporate Spanish into classroom experience and what they would need to extend this. Our goal is maximize those opportunities when Spanish can be woven into classroom life.

Word Study: First Grade teachers have set aside part of a morning this week to coordinate and enrich their approach to spelling, or word study. Tammy and Tina will lead the workshop.

NYSAIS Self-Study: Finally, teachers have been connecting with each other behind the scenes to ponder issues of curriculum in preparation for a large all-school document, which our school will complete by year’s end. This process, which culminates in a tightly focused review by a team of outside educators, occurs once every ten years in independent schools and is as labor-intensive as it is meaningful. We see it as an important springboard for learning about ourselves; a thoughtful consideration of ways to enhance our program and community.

Elaine

*CHILDRENS’ BELIEFS: Parents remind me that the tooth fairy and Santa fall into the category of some children’s dearly held beliefs. Please help your own children understand that here, too, there exist different interpretations from family to family.

*GIFT REMINDER: Please be respectful of our tradition of sharing our appreciation with teachers through kind words or a note, not with holiday gifts. A Book Fair gift certificate is another way to contribute to your child's class at this time of year. (P. 27 in the LREI Family Handbook contains further information on gifts for teachers.)

This Week's Attachments:

Fours - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/michelle.pdf

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

Colleen and Ronnie's Second Grade - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Colleen.pdf

Little Red Chorus - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Little%20Red%20Chorus.pdf

Afterschool Enrichment Share - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/enrichment.pdf

Afterschool Piano Recital and Instrumental Concert - http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/piano.pdf

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

Announcements:

The Spanish Resource List has been updated and is attached here. Please remember to contact Marguerite Lukes with any resources or Spanish-related events that may be of interest to our families. http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Spanish%20links.pdf

The School Store will be open tomorrow (12/2) and on both Thursday, 12/8 and Friday, 12/9. http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/School%20Store.pdf

Next week is Book Week! Please see the following attachments for details on next week's events. http://lrei.org/caleven/lit-eve2005/Book-Week2005.pdf and http://lrei.org/caleven/lit-eve2005/Lit-Eve2005PDF.pdf

School Photos - As the holidays approach, the school photo process is coming to a close. At this point we ask that you contact Coffee Pond Photography directly (lifeguards@coffeepond.com or 800-632-2323 ext. 0) with any questions about photo proofs or your order. This ensures that orders are processed quickly.

The Food Committee will meet on 12/12 at 8:30AM in the Cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.

Message from Julia Collura, Middle School Drama Director - The Middle School is currently in production for "Arabian Nights," which goes up January 20th and 21st. If you have any of the items on the attached list that you can lend or donate for the production, it would be much appreciated. Thanks so much and hope to see you at the show! http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ls/Julia.pdf

In the Next Two Weeks...

12/1 - TONIGHT - 6:00PM - Fourth Grade Parent Meeting with Heidi

12/7 - Book Fair through 12/9

12/8 - 8:45AM - Multicultural Committee Meeting

12/8 - 7:00PM - A Night of New Orleans in New York Literary Evening, Charlton Street PAC

12/12 - 8:30AM - Food Committee Meeting, Cafeteria

12/12 - 5:30PM - Afterschool Piano Recital, Big Room

12/12 - 6:30PM - Afterschool Instrumental Concert, Auditorium

12/14 - Afterschool Enrichment Share Day

12/15 - 8:45AM - Parent Rep Meeting

12/15 - 6:00PM - Winter Concert, Charlton Street PAC

12/16 - School closes at 12:00 (Early Childhood, 11:45) for Winter Break