Dear Lower School Families,

I hope that you’ve been able to enjoy the beginnings of spring! As the weather warms up, our classes have been out and about, learning from visits to different places. These explorations have included a walk to a local garden to observe signs of spring, trips to the Poet’s House, the South Street Seaport, local bookstores, and the Bronx Zoo to see rainforest habitats, and a neighborhood walk to see construction sites, people working on scaffolding and pouring cement, and even a new sewer being installed!

As an institution, we deeply value providing our students with frequent opportunities to leave the school building and visit places that connect to and enrich their studies. Another rich component of our school community, though often unseen, is to host visitors interested in learning about progressive education. Several times each month, we welcome educators into our school to observe, listen, and learn – to leave their school buildings, and to be enriched by a different perspective. By opening our doors to others, we not only benefit from engaging in conversations about our educational practices and beliefs, but are also participating with and serving within the broader educational community.

This year alone, we’ve hosted approximately 70 visitors to the lower school! Our visitors have included experienced teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, new teachers, and administrators from a wide variety of places, among them Staten Island Academy, the Buckley School, Medgar Evers College, Sunbridge College, Washington Market School, New Canaan Country Day School, New York University, Wagner College, Scholastic Books, Teachers College, and Uganda, whose Queen visited our movement classes earlier in the year.

For the past few years, we’ve also welcomed a special group of visitors: Icelandic educators who come to visit NYC independent schools, an outgrowth of the research done there by Harriet Cuffaro, our Social Studies Consultant. Their primary focus is on our work with blocks - a particularly high priority as blocks are now an established early childhood material in the Icelandic schools. We now have visitors from Iceland to our school annually. This morning, we welcomed our fourth delegation of Icelandic playschool teachers this year! It is truly an exciting and unique experience to be a part of, and a relationship we look forward to continuing.

I’m so pleased to have a chance to share with you in this week’s blog!

May you find moments to enjoy the season in ways that connect and enrich your lives outside of school as well as within.

Happy Spring!
Megan

This Week's Attachments:

Early Kindergarten

Luise and Julia's Kindergarten

Jamie and Dave's First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Third Grade #2

Spanish Resource List

Announcements:

Coffeehouse - The annual Human Rights Coffeehouse will be on May 13th at 7:00PM at the high school on Charlton Street. There are still some slots available for members of the community to participate with music, poetry, or any other material with a human rights theme. This Coffeehouse is co-organized by mathematics/music teacher Micah Dov Gottlieb and the High School Human Rights Club. If you are interested, please contact Micah at mdgottlieb@lrei.org.

Early Childhood -
Join Elaine and guest Hollee McGinnis of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, for a discussion including helpful information about listening and responding to our kids as they talk to each other about families in all their wonderful forms.
Tuesday, May 16th at 8:45 in the Cafeteria
Sponsored by the LREI Adoption Committee

May Book Fair - The Literary Committee will have a Spring into Summer Book Fair in the Auditorium on May 25th. A selection of the optional and all of the required reading titles will be sold from 8AM-6:30PM.

Upcoming Events:

5/9 - 8:45AM - Parents of Children of Color (POCOC) Meeting

5/10 - 8:45AM - Fours and EK Assembly

5/10 - 6:00PM - Erin and Carin's Fourth Grade Picnic

5/11 - 8:45AM - What to Expect in Second Grade with Elaine, Cafeteria

5/11 - 8:45AM - Multicultural Committee Meeting

5/11 - 6:00PM - Suzanne and Patricia's Fourth Grade Picnic

5/12 - 8:45AM - What to Expect in First Grade with Elaine, Cafeteria

5/15 - 6:00PM - Colleen and Ronnie's Second Grade Picnic

5/16 - 6:00PM - Kinjal and Caroline's Second Grade Picnic

5/17 - 8:45AM - First Grade Assembly

5/17 - 6:00PM - Kelly and Meredith's Third Grade Picnic

5/18 - Lower and Middle School 24 Game Challenge

5/18 - 8:45AM - Parent Rep Meeting

5/19 - Grandparents and Special Friends Day!

5/22 - 6:00PM - Chap and Michael's Third Grade Picnic

5/23 - 6:00PM - Dorothy and Romy's First Grade Picnic

5/24 - 8:45AM - Second Grade Assembly

5/24 - 6:00PM - Gina and Elizabeth's First Grade Picnic

5/25 - Spring into Summer Book Fair!

5/26 - Field Day! School closes at 1:00PM (Fours-First Grades - 12:45)

5/29 - School Closed for Memorial Day

5/31 - 6:00PM - Brooke and Charles' Kindergarten Picnic

Click here to access the full calendar.