On behalf of the Lower School faculty and staff…

WE FEEL APPRECIATED!!!
BY YOU - OUR CREATIVE, COMMITTED & VERY GENEROUS LREI PARENTS!

(Who is that beautiful girl in the mirror?!?)

****


FOUNDER’S DAY is on the horizon!! On Friday, March 17th, students will travel with their buddies to the High School to enjoy the annual and now infamous faculty skit, “Founding of the Little Red School House”. Following the performance and assembly, children will all return to their classrooms for an ice cream treat to commemorate those early parent meetings in an ice cream parlor. Now, THIS is a tradition!!! School will dismiss at 11:45AM for Fours through First Graders and 12:00PM for Second through Fourth Graders.

This Week's Attachments:

Second Grade

Chap and Michael's Third Grade

Spanish Resources

Announcements:

Reminder for First Grade Parents: Tomorrow at 8:45AM there is a meeting in the cafeteria. Plans for next year's Second Grade will be discussed.

Reminder for Third and Fourth Grade Parents: Next week's Wednesday morning assembly at 8:45AM is for Fourth Graders and parents only. A shared Third and Fourth Grade Assembly is scheduled for April 26.

Attached are workshop proposal forms in .pdf and .doc format for the LREI Arts Festival 2006! This year, the Arts Festival is occurring on Friday, April 28, and will involve all students from grades 8 through 12. This is an exciting day when students choose from a variety of workshops offered by faculty, friends, parents and others in and out of the LREI school community. The workshops run in the morning and are followed by an afternoon of exhibitions. For more details, please see the attachment; in particular, if you or someone you know is interested in offering a workshop, please send the form to Tony (HS Principal) by Friday, April 14.

Upcoming Events...

3/10 - 8:45AM - tomorrow - Meeting for First Grade Parents, Cafeteria

3/15 - 8:45AM - Fourth Grade Assembly

3/16 - 8:45AM - Parent Rep Meeting

3/17 - Founder's Day Assembly and Buddy Get-Together! -- school closes at noon (11:45, Early Childhood) for Spring Break

4/3 - School Reopens

4/6 - 8:00AM - Lesbian Gay Straight Alliance (LGSA) Meeting

4/6 - 6:00PM - Fourth Grade Parent Meeting with Heidi

4/11 - Poem in Your Pocket Day

4/13-4/14 - School Closed

4/20 - 8:45AM - Parent Rep Meeting

4/21 - Parent-Teacher Conferences - School Closed

4/25 - 8:45AM - What to Expect in Fifth Grade with Mark and Elaine

4/26 - 8:45AM - Third and Fourth Grade Assembly

4/28 - Parent-Teacher Conferences - Half Day (school closes at noon, fours-first grades, 11:45AM)

Click here to access the full calendar.

Under New York

Blending their firsthand experience with the reading of Under New York, by Linda Oatman Riley, Second Graders in Tasha and Caroline’s class wrote the following subway observations – collectively, an urban poem:

Under New York.....

• There are shiny and squeaky dark rails.
• I saw graffiti flying past the glass.
• There is music being played. Guitars being strummed, saxophones being blown and people singing songs.
• There are a lot of signs; some are long and shiny, for example Grand Street.
• It’s loud! I could barely hear our talking.
• I see movie posters that say the month when the movies come out.
• There are letters on the trains so you know what train is coming on the tracks.
• There are a lot of subway maps you can read so you can get from place to place.
• I heard the train go screech.
• There are a lot of people talking and walking unless they’re sitting. But they might talk then also.
• Some trains push other trains and clean. They can be different colors.
• There’s a lot of garbage like paper and gum. And some rats and mice like to live in the train tracks.
• The ceiling is shaped like the top of the train.
• I see water dripping from the ceiling.
• There are newsstands. There is gum and candy there.
• It is pretty crowded. It is sometimes hard to walkthrough the tall and small people quickly walking.
• You have to be safe because if you are blind you can fall into the train track.
• It is very, very dirty. There is garbage everywhere.
• Homeless men and women live. I wish I could help them but sadly I can’t.
  
  WORTH A MILLION WORDS – or maybe a few hundred. Click here to access our photo galleries and enjoy some glimpses of Lower School life.

This Week's Attachments:

Diane and Molly's Early Kindergarten

Luise and Julia's Kindergarten

First Grade

Jamie and Dave's First Grade

Jamie and Dave's First Grade - 2

Jamie and Dave's First Grade - release form

Parent's League Spring Workshops

Spanish Resource List


Announcements:

On Tuesday, March 7th we invite you to join the first of two upcoming diversity discussions. At this gathering, Sharon DuPree—our Director of Diversity and Community—will present our Diversity and Community Action Plan. This plan outlines the ways in which we, the LREI community, will achieve the diversity goals that are central to our mission. We are finishing the last draft of this plan and parent input is essential to the success of these efforts.

During the second part of this evening we will all—parents and faculty—share strategies for having important and often difficult conversations about issues of diversity with your children. Conversations started in school often travel home. How can you continue and expand these conversations so that your children can see that their families are thinking about these important issues as well?

On Monday, April 17th we will host a second conversation. We invite you to join a discussion of the School’s placement policy for Lower and Middle School students. We will send home more information about this conversation over the next few weeks, but are hoping to address questions and concerns that we hear in the community.

Finally, please see the attached copy of the Diversity and Community Action Plan and the flyer for the discussions. I hope to see you on Tuesday.


Dear Kelly and Meredith's Third Grade Parents,

On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when your children have P.E. at the beginning of the day, it is especially important that they arrive by 8:30 in order to begin their class by 8:45. Children who arrive after 8:45 must be accompanied by their parent into the Sixth Avenue Building, and checked in with Eileen at reception. Please do not send your child to the library or classroom and feel free to contact me with questions.

Delia Hernandez


From Middle School Dean of Students Gabrielle Keller: From Monday, March 6th, through Thursday, March 9th, help us build classroom libraries in New York City Public Schools by donating your new and gently used books. For more information, please read the attached flyer.

In the next few weeks...

3/3 - 4:15PM - Afterschool's First Friday with musicians Sruli and Lisa

3/7 - 6:00PM - Diversity and Community Discussion, Auditorium

3/8 - 8:45AM - Fours and EK Assembly

3/10 - 8:45AM - Meeting for First Grade Parents, Cafeteria

3/15 - 8:45AM - Fourth Grade Assembly

3/16 - 8:45AM - Parent Rep Meeting

3/17 - Founder's Day Assembly and Buddy Get-Together! -- school closes at noon (11:45, Early Childhood) for Spring Break

4/3 - School Reopens

4/6 - 8:00AM - Lesbian Gay Straight Alliance (LGSA) Meeting

4/6 - 6:00PM - Fourth Grade Parent Meeting with Heidi

Click here to access the full calendar.