Weekly Email April 27, 2006

Dear parents,

Several months ago, I did a "Day in the Life of the High School" blog, in which I described vignettes from a walking tour of classes on a typical day. I have had several requests for a repeat of those snapshots, so without further ado, this morning, here's some of what was going on in and out of the High School:

* Tenth grade English students began a two- to three-page "Zoom In, Zoom Out" exercise focusing on both the details and larger significance of a passage of their choice from Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.

* Students in the eleventh grade Latin American and Caribbean History elective learned about the merging of Christian and Aztec traditions throughout Mexico's history.

* Ninth grade Chinese students expanded their knowledge of prepositions and continued to build their general oral and written vocabulary.

* Eleventh grade Biology students collaborated on presentations about research into primate learning, speech, biology and adaptation, and the implications about human development.

* Tenth grade French students took a test on double-object pronouns.

* Students in the eleventh grade Art and Politics: Toni Morrison English elective did a close reading of a passage from Beloved.

* Students in ninth and tenth grade Music classes visited Avery Fisher Hall, where they were treated to a normally private rehearsal of the New York Philharmonic.

* Eleventh graders in the Human Rights history elective worked on individual presentations that they will do on different issues concerning children's rights.

* Tenth grade students in Technology learned left-right animation using Adobe Illustrator.

* Eleventh grade Precalculus students worked on solving trigonometric equations in preparation for trigonometry-based projects.

* Tenth grade Physics students used springs to measure the relationship between amplitude and wave speed, along with other characteristics of waves.

* Students in tenth grade Spanish went over the difference between the imperfect and preterite tenses.

* Ninth grade Photography, Media Arts and Studio Art students prepared their final projects for Monday's grade-wide presentations, which will mark the end of the ninth graders' fifth (out of six) arts rotation.

* Students in the eleventh grade required trimester-long history of New York City course, "Gotham," learned about the New York City real estate scene - in the 1800's!

* Tenth grade Drama students performed self-written scenes and monologues which incorporate music.

* Students in tenth grade Photography went outside to Charlton Street to take pictures using self-made pinhole cameras.

* Eleventh grade students in the Exploring Class Dynamics in Global Literature class discussed wedding traditions in the Indian caste society and in working class England.

One of the great joys of being the LREI High School Principal is getting to see all of these different manifestations of an outstanding progressive edcuational program. I hope you have enjoyed these written snapshots of what I see every day.

Important announcements:
1) Please join us for a reception to meet incoming High School Principal Ruth Geyer Jurgensen on Monday, May 8th from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at Charlton Street (see the attached invitation).

2) A note from Director Phil Kassen about last night's Big Auction: Congratulations to all involved in creating last night’s spectacular Big Auction! A thousand thanks to the Auction Committee Co-Chairs—Mandy Bouquet and Sharon Fong—and to their hardworking committee members. Last night’s event was an overwhelming display of generosity and support of LREI and its progressive mission. For those who were not able to attend, please visit the hall auction in the Sixth Avenue building for a selection of silent auction items and sign-up parties.

3) For tomorrow's LREI High School Arts Festival, students should arrive at Charlton Street at 8:45 AM.

All the best,

Tony

CALENDAR
April
* Friday 21 School closed - High School Planning/Meetings Day - No classes
* Friday 28 High School Arts Festival

May
* Monday 8 Reception for incoming High School Principal Ruth Geyer Jurgensen
* Saturday 13 Coffeehouse!
* Tuesday 16 High School Parent Rep Meeting
* Thursday 18 Spring Concert; Day 40 of Trimester III classes
* Tuesday 23 High School Sports Award Evening
* Friday 26 Field Day - No Classes
* Monday 29 School closed - Memorial Day
* Wednesday 31 Senior Project Presentation Evening

June
* Monday 5 Last day of Trimester III classes
* Tuesday 6-Thursday 8 Trimester III Exams/Presentations; End of Trimester II
* Thursday 8 Senior Banquet
* Friday 9 Graduation
* Monday 12-Tuesday 13 Closing days
* Tuesday 13 School closes at noon for Summer Vacation



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.

Weekly Email April 20, 2006

Dear parents,

Spring is an exciting time for LREI High School seniors, for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, where they will be for the next four years becomes clearer as college results start to roll in. In a year when the Wall Street Journal has written about colleges rejecting students in record numbers, our students have done exceptionally well, with many getting in to colleges or universities that they had frankly considered to be "reach" schools. Please see the attached list of 2006 college acceptances as they stood as of April 11.

At LREI, Spring also marks the advent of Senior Projects. From the Handbook:

The Senior Project - a major piece of original work in the field of his or her choice - is the culmination of each student's career at the High School. The senior project has two components: the research paper and the practicum. Beginning in March, seniors work on the research component, meeting regularly with their project mentors on the faculty. The research component serves as the factual basis for a five-week practicum, which begins in mid-April. The practicum is a field experience that often involves professional internships and domestic or foreign travel. The Senior Project Evening on May 31 is a major event in the school year to which parents, teachers and the entire school community are invited.

The combination of research and productive work in the outside world makes the Senior Project an appropriate culmination to an excellent progressive educational high school experience, and unlike many Seniors at other schools, LREI Seniors often end up working harder, and with more passion, during the third trimester than they do during the second! Over the past few months, the Senior Project Committee, led by Senior Dean Adele DeBiasi Pelz and Senior Seminar teacher (and Principal-to-be) Ruth Jurgensen, has provided each Senior with as much structure as he or she has needed to select a paper topic and find an appropriate practicum/internship. This year's practicums will take students to Germany and France, and range from photography (studio and sports) to catering to working in a restaurant to early childhood school placement to film editing to theater to Middle Eastern politics to real estate, and on, and on. The Senior Project Presentation evening on May 31 truly is one of the highlights of the year.

The calendar for the next few weeks:

* Thursday, April 20 (tonight!): The next meeting of Parents of Children with Academic Needs, at 6:30 PM.

* Friday, April 21: Professional Development/Planning Day - No classes

* Saturday, April 22nd: Community Service Opportunity - National and Global Youth Service Day - Through this fun-filled day of service, Children for Children - an agency in NYC that plans service projects, hopes to make a lasting impact on New York communities and to encourage young people to become leaders and continue to give back to their own communities. The event will include live entertainment, hands-on service projects, refreshments and Children for Children t-shirts.
Saturday, April 22, 2006,
10am to 3pm
@ Riverside Park,
Riverside Drive at 103rd Street, Manhattan

For more information, email Nick Sullivan at nsullivan@lrei.org.

* Wednesday, April 26: Big Auction We hope you are planning on attending! If you do not have a ticket yet but want one, we need to know for sure by Monday, 10:00 AM. If you do need a ticket, or if you cannot attend but would like to bid on an item, please contact Pippa Gerard at 212-477-5316, ext. 236 or via email at pgerard@lrei.org. The auction catalog is available in the Sixth Avenue lobby or on our website at http://www.lrei.org/caleven/ba2006/index.html.
Many thanks for supporting LREI.

* Friday, April 28: LREI High School Arts Festival - stay tuned for more details ...

All the best,

Tony

CALENDAR
April
* Friday 21 School closed - High School Planning/Meetings Day - No classes
* Friday 28 High School Arts Festival

May
* Saturday 13 Coffeehouse!
* Tuesday 16 High School Parent Rep Meeting
* Thursday 18 Spring Concert; Day 40 of Trimester III classes
* Tuesday 23 High School Sports Award Evening
* Friday 26 Field Day - No Classes
* Monday 29 School closed - Memorial Day
* Wednesday 31 Senior Project Presentation Evening

June
* Monday 5 Last day of Trimester III classes
* Tuesday 6-Thursday 8 Trimester III Exams/Presentations; End of Trimester II
* Thursday 8 Senior Banquet
* Friday 9 Graduation
* Monday 12-Tuesday 13 Closing days
* Tuesday 13 School closes at noon for Summer Vacation



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.

Weekly Email April 6, 2006

Dear parents,

Welcome back! As the Spring gets going, a number of important events to keep in mind:

* It's Big Auction time - tickets are going fast - make sure you purchase your ticket(s) by next week. Please inform the development office if there is a group of people who would like to sit together. Tables will accommodate ten people.

This year's raffle prizes include a flat screen tv, dvd camcorder, digital photo lab, and much more. Raffle tickets are on sale in the lobby of both buildings or available by calling or emailing the development office. Family gatherings are a great opportunity to support LREI by selling raffle tickets. If you or your children would like tickets to sell stop by the development office before the long weekend.

Auction information and the catalog are available on the LREI website. For additional information, please contact Pippa Gerard in the Development Office, 212-477-5316.

* Once again, I have attached a workshop proposal, in .pdf format and in .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 in to me by Friday, April 14.

* This Saturday - 7 PM, at Charlton Street - COFFEEHOUSE! (When I say "Coffee," you say ...). This COFFEEHOUSE will have a bit of a harder rocking theme, with some of our louder bands playing. 7-9pm; $3 students+faculty & $5 guests.

* COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITY
Saturday, April 8
LREI Spring Arts Project at Hudson Guild
Ages: all ages boys and girls LS through High School (COMMUNITY SERVICE CREDIT AVAILABLE)
Hours: 11am - 1:00pm
Location: Elliott Center, 441 W. 26th St (bet. 9th & 10th)
Description: LREI children and parents will make Spring Crafts to decorate the Community Center. The center is located in Chelsea and provides services and programs for young and old which help community members achieve stability and self-sufficiency. For more information, see www.hudsonguild.org

LREI contacts: Denise Adler - 917.363.3343 or Jennifer Edson - 917.740.8654

April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate this, LREI is hosting it's annual Poem In Your Pocket Day next Tuesday, April 11. Students are encouraged to come to school with a poem tucked into their pocket, which they can read to classmates and friends. They can also stop friends in passing and ask them to share their poems or be asked to share theirs. In the High School, we will have our annual assembly dedicated to poetry and other readings.

Other upcoming events:

* The next Parent Rep meeting will be on Tuesday, April 18 at 6:30 PM.

* The next meeting of Parents of Children with Academic Needs will be on Thursday April 20th at 6:30 PM. 

All the best,

Tony


April
* Monday 3 School reopens
* Saturday 8 Coffeehouse!
* Tuesday 11 Poem-In-Your-Pocket Day
* Thursday 13 School closed - Passover
* Friday 14 School closed - Good Friday
* Tuesday 18 High School Parent Rep Meeting
* Friday 21 School closed - High School Planning/Meetings Day
* Friday 28 High School Arts Festival

May
* Saturday 13 Coffeehouse!
* Tuesday 16 High School Parent Rep Meeting
* Thursday 18 Spring Concert; Day 40 of Trimester III classes
* Tuesday 23 High School Sports Award Evening
* Friday 26 Field Day - No Classes
* Monday 29 School closed - Memorial Day
* Wednesday 31 Senior Project Presentation Evening

June
* Monday 5 Last day of Trimester III classes
* Tuesday 6-Thursday 8 Trimester III Exams/Presentations; End of Trimester II
* Thursday 8 Senior Banquet
* Friday 9 Graduation
* Monday 12-Tuesday 13 Closing days
* Tuesday 13 School closes at noon for Summer Vacation



As always, please browse the web site at www.lrei.org. Also, note the links to the Middle and Lower School weekly emails on the right. Please take a look at what the students in the other two divisions are up to!

All attachments are in .pdf format. To view these files, please download Adobe Reader, if you do not already have it. Click on this link or paste it into your browser: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html.
If you are having trouble opening the attachments, go to http://www.lrei.org/weekly/ms/ to access the files.