Dear Families,

Traditionally, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer. Last night, we hosted our annual new student reception, and celebrated (with strawberries, of course!) not only the end of the school year, but the beginning of summer, and looked forward to the fall. Our student hosts, current community members in Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Grades, were welcoming, encouraging and excited to meet their new school mates.

Every new student received a gift bag, which included a t-shirt, and a folder to keep. The folder contains important information, including a description of the 2007 summer reading assignments. While some may not consider summer work appropriate for a gift bag, in fact it actually is. What our students are receiving is a gift from their teachers. Not only do they receive the confidence that they as students will be able to enjoy and complete the assignments on their own, but the message that education does not stop once school is out is an important one to receive. Our students should be reminded that they have the luxury of living the life of the mind. They are given books, assignments are thoughtfully considered and rooted in the curriculum. Our assignments ensure that every student enters with something to talk about with a classmate, something to say in class, something to discuss with a teacher, something to connect him or her to LREI. As we are thinking of them all summer, they will undoubtedly be thinking of us. I encourage you to take a look at the assignments, which teachers will go over in classes in the next two weeks, and if you have any questions, please be sure to connect with any particular teacher before the summer vacation.

All the best,


Ruth


Calendar:

25 Field Day, 8:30 AM. All Twelfth Graders must attend.
28 Memorial Day, school closed
29 Honors Project Breakfast, Room 10, 8:00 AM; Rehearsals for senior project presentations, all day.
30 Graduation rehearsal, 8:30 AM; Senior Project Presentation Evening, 6:30 PM

June
2 Prom
7 Senior Banquet, 6:30 PM, PAC. Senior class guests are limited to 2 people per senior. Please RSVP to Adria Maynor, extension 323.
8 Graduation, 1:00 PM, The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts @ NYU
566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, New York City. RSVP & Ticket Policy for parents of graduating seniors: Seats for the LREI Commencement are limited. All attendees MUST have a ticket to enter the Skirball Center. Each graduating senior is allotted a maximum of six tickets. All other attendees may request tickets which will be available on a first come - first served basis. Please contact Adria Maynor with your ticket requests by May 18. Telephone:(212) 477-5316 x 323 E-mail: amaynor@lrei.org



This Week's Announcements and Attachments:

1. Thank you to the High School Parent Representatives for their hard work. If you are interested in continuing as a rep next year or would like to volunteer to serve as rep for the 2007-2008 school year, please let Kasey Picayo know. You can email Kasey at picayosmith@aol.com.

Also, please fill out the PA ballot and return to the reception desk at the Sixth Avenue or Charlton Street buildings by Wednesday, May 30th. Hard copies are also available at the reception desks.

2. Please be reminded that all students must complete 25 hours of community service this school year. If hours are not completed by June 8, students will have to complete their hours during the summer, but Ruth must approve the community service opportunity.

There are many opportunities available to students now that spring is here! Opportunities include several spring clean-up opportunities through the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Check out the calendar of opportunities offered by LREI for the rest of the school year.

3. On Friday, May 25th, we will hold our annual Field Day at Pier 40. This is a wonderful school event in which students from all three divisions will have the opportunity to participate in a fun-filled day of recreational activities. Students will spend the first part of the day in activities with their buddies. The younger lower school classes will return to the school after this while the third through twelfth grades will participate in a variety of activities in mixed age groups.

Students will need to bring their own lunch along with a container of water. (No nuts or seeds, please.) Plastic bottles are fine, but please no glass containers! Clothing should be comfortable and easy to move in, shorts or sweatpants and athletic shoes. No sandals. Sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat are strongly recommended.

Finally, it is very important for students to arrive at school on time, by 8:30AM. We will return to school in time for 1:00PM dismissal. Fours through First Grade will be dismissed at 12:45PM

Thank you for your cooperation. We are looking forward to an exciting day!

Thank you,

Field Day Organizers


4. Thank you to all of you who have served as Parent Representatives during the 2006-2007 school year. Your attention to the children is much appreciated. If you would like to be a Parent Rep during the 2007-2008 school year, email Kasey Picayo at picayosmith@aol.com

5. From our librarians:

Exciting news! The library will be migrating to a new computer catalog during June. Our current catalog and circulation software has become outdated, and is no longer accessible from most of our computers. The new software allows for catalog access from any computer via the internet, so our students will be able to check holdings from anywhere in the building or elsewhere-- including home! The new system has numerous additional advantages, and once it is running we will let you know so that you can explore the options.

There is only one complication--to ensure the smoothest possible transition, we need to close circulation of all library materials for several weeks. All library materials must be returned by Friday, June 1st. Your students have been and will continue to receive overdue notices and reminders, but it would be a great help if you could look around your homes and urge your student(s) to bring in those piles of books left from a research project during Trimester I!

6. To all families who have children participating in the LREI extracurricular sports program: In order to make sure that you receive timely notifications about changes to the practice or game schedules, we have created an email list that we will be using to provide these updates. If you child participates on an LREI sports team, we ask that you go to LREI SPORTS where you will be able to subscribe to the list. The instructions are posted on this page. After you subscribe, you will receive a confirmation email and instructions for how to reply. This email will be followed by a welcome email that will give you additional information about the list. Please note that subscribers to the list will not be able to post to the list. The list is for information distribution from the school. If you need to respond to an update, please respond directly to Marcus (mchang@lrei.org) or Larry (lkaplan@lrei.org). These updates will also go to coaches who will include this revised information in subsequent emails to their team lists. When you receive an email from this list , the subject line will indicate the group for which it is intended (e.g., [LREI-Sports] HS Baseball). If your child is not a member of the indicated team, you can delete the email without reading it. We do not expect the volume of this list to be that high so this should not be a problem. As we pilot this list, please send Marcus and Larry any feedback that you think would help us to refine this process. Thank you!

7. The 14th annual LREI camping trip will be held on the weekend of June 1-3. All LREI families and their children -- pre-K through high school -- are invited to participate. As in past years, we expect that a good time will be had by all: hiking, swimming, sports, fishing, camping, cooking, eating, singing around the campfire, etc.

The site, as in past years, will be near the Delaware Water Gap (somewhat north of where I-80 crosses the Delaware River). The cost will be $30 per adult, $20 per child. Also, we need volunteers to help with hauling food and supplies and equipment out to the camp site (and back) and providing extra space in their vehicles for those who need a ride out and back.

Click here for more information. We will have a sign-up table for a few mornings at LREI in May, when we get closer to the camping trip weekend.

Please save the date and let us know if you are interested in receiving more information -- and especially if you are interested in volunteering: Send an e-mail to Larry White (Lwhite@stern.nyu.edu).

Organizers:
Neil Capobianco (CapobiancoN@gtlaw.com)
Seth Tapper (sethtapper@yahoo.com)
Dave Trumbull (dave.trouble@gmail.com)
Larry White (Lwhite@stern.nyu.edu)

8. Click here for the calendar for the 2007-2008 school year.

9. Please do not schedule appointments, medical or otherwise, during the school day, between 8:30 AM and 3:50 PM. When a student must leave early for a non-emergency, it is very disruptive to the academic program and to a student's progress in any given class. Thank you.

10. Please do not plan vacations that fall outside of scheduled school breaks. Each school day is important. Today's classroom experiences are building blocks for tomorrow's. Missing school on either end of a scheduled break, or at any time other than when school is closed, is disruptive to your child's education and to that of her/his classmates. Often, the days preceding our longer breaks include community events such as buddy activities and assemblies. These essential community events are important. We feel strongly that students should not miss these occasions. It is our policy that teachers not prepare work ahead of time, or help students to catch up, if your family will be vacationing at times when school is in session. If your family is presented with a singular opportunity to travel that offers significant educational advantages we encourage you to speak with the division's principal in advance.

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.