• A letter from the Director
• The Power and Price of Privilege
• Students Mobilize to Fight Global Warming
• Admissions Update
• From Self and Family to Immigration
• Science Through Teamwork
• Middle School Social Studies
• HS Elective Spurs US Foreign Policy Debate
• All About LREI Institute, 2007
• Letter from the Parents Association

As directed by the sign at the classroom door, I waited for the maitre d’hotel to seat me. (In the spirit of honesty, I must disclose that the maitre d’ was my first grade son, Harry.) A few moments later I was on my way to a choice seat in the hottest eatery in town, Dottie’s Polka Dot Bakery. Dottie’s was the central project of the social studies curriculum, and the culmination of months of work, by the fifteen students in Jamie and Bonnie’s First Grade. Early on in the project, the children’s tours of the neighborhood services led to the decision to create their own bakery. This prompted a long list of questions and negotiations—How do you begin to turn the classroom into a bakery? What features do all bakeries have in common? What jobs are there in a bakery? What would the first graders’ bakery sell? What would the bakery be called? Who would perform which job? Who would do the baking? What would they bake? Whose design would be used for the logo? The students began to investigate through visits to a number of bakeries and consultations with a long list of professionals—bakers, restauranteurs, marketing experts, etc. Finally, there was baking to do and placemats, plates, T-shirts and aprons, among other items, to create. Cookbooks were produced, treats baked and advertisements created. Signs went up all over the building inviting parents and schoolmates to the grand opening. And then the big day arrived. A steady stream of visitors put the children’s planning to the test. For the three days the bakery was open, all worked like a well-oiled machine.

Back to my visit. I ordered a cupcake and a cup of Bunny’s Special Drink. My waiter handed my order to the counterperson who began preparing my snack. While we were waiting the maitre d’ offered an entertainment book—a collection of student created connect-the-dot puzzles and coloring pages. Soon after the clean-up person poured my drink my cupcake arrived. Delicious, moist and delicate. As soon as I was done I was handed a bill and was directed to the cashiers. My total was tallied and I paid in dimes (the only denomination accepted.) On my way out the door, the customer service person asked me to rate my experience. I gave high marks all around, as did all other visitors I spoke with. Truth be told, I spent a lot of time in the bakery over the next few days, bringing with me as many guests as I could, as a snack at Dottie’s was an experience not to be missed.

The first graders completed their three days as bakery workers with a deep sense of satisfaction for a job well done. They had set an ambitious goal for themselves and had surpassed it. Prompted by their teachers they had investigated the “real world.” They learned through the experience of visiting bakeries and had created their own bakery to narrow the divide between learning and life. At the end of this experience these learners have a deeper understanding of what it takes to participate in a community and how to be of service to it, of the ways in which people work best together to realize a goal. They have written, drawn, added, graphed, multiplied, charted, negotiated, measured, discussed, explained, timed and cooperated. This type of social studies project is central to the experience in our lower school classrooms. Teachers create opportunities for students to experience the world and to apply the skills they have acquired. They go out into the City to observe, investigate, interview and learn. Upon returning to the classroom students can continue their learning with a deeper understanding from having visited authentic working models.

A week later visitors to the High School encountered signs advertising G.W.O.T. Day. What does G.W.O.T stand for? Why, Global War on Terror, of course. An outgrowth of a junior/senior elective on American foreign policy since September 11th, 2001, G.W.O.T. Day is a series of student conceived, organized and taught seminars focusing on American foreign policy and the history of the current conflict in Iraq and other parts of the world. Students participated in a series of student taught seminars including Middle East Geopolitics, The Bush Revolution, Islam and Terrorism, Human Rights, The Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Human Rights. In addition, all students watched an advance copy of Operation Homecoming, a film focusing on the lives of soldiers in Iraq. The day ended with a presentation by, and discussion with, Martin Smith, a high school dad and documentarian, who spoke of his experiences in Iraq. An engaging and provocative day for the high school students and one that provided an experience not unlike Dottie’s Bakery did for the First Graders. While the High School students’ “neighborhood” was thousands of miles from Charlton Street, the goal—learning about and through the experience of others, planning, researching, implementing, teaching—was much the same. In the same way as our youngest students, the Fours, spend the year learning about themselves, their families and the classroom, our High School students use their skills and abilities to make sense of the world around them. As wonderful as it was to sit in the bakery, order a treat, enjoy it, and report on the student created experience it was just as moving to walk around through the High School on that day and hear students leaving classrooms continuing discussions and debates about the state of the world. Again, a student generated experience. Students challenging and helping their peers to better understand the world.

These are but two examples of our rich social studies/history program. These sorts of experiences happen throughout the school year in all grades. Within a week of the projects described above, the Fifth Grade had created an Egyptian tomb and the Sixth Grade had performed the annual Medieval Pageant. Other Lower School classes were studying the school, New York City—now and in the past, and their personal immigrant pasts. High School classes were investigating world history and the development of the concept of human rights and the history of New York City, all in service to fostering better understanding of the various communities they are a part of today and the skills necessary to be successful members of the communities they will join throughout their lives. There are smaller moments in social studies that are just as meaningful. A group of students in an early childhood classroom discuss a block building, making sure that wheelchairs can fit through the building’s doors. Fourth graders interview a grandparent who is an immigrant learning something, finding their place in history. Seventh graders prepare for a trip to Colonial Williamsburg by preparing questions for the Colonial residents they will meet. Eighth graders trace the origins of the civil rights movement to the days following the Civil War and discuss current events in this same light. High school students debate immigration policy, past, present and proposed.

Social studies will always be at the heart of what we do at LREI as understanding one’s place in the world, one’s relationship to the world and the ways in which one can have an impact on the world are central to leading a purposeful life.

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by Sharon DuPree, Director of Diversity and Community

Tim Wise speaks to the LREI Faculty about the origins of societal privilege.

On March 20th and 21st, Tim Wise, Director of The Association for White Anti-racist Education (AWARE), came to LREI to facilitate provocative dialogue  on race and privilege in America with students, faculty and parents.  Mr. Wise discussed the need for American citizens to understand the shift in image of our nation as a superpower. Our country is no longer viewed, without question, as the only model.  More and more countries around the world are beginning to participate in major ways in what has now become a “global” society.  Students must learn the skills necessary to interact with those whose values and customs may be unfamiliar and who therefore have experienced life differently.  He also discussed what it means to be privileged as a result of characteristics such as sexual identity, religious affiliation, class status or race/ethnicity.

Everyone, regardless of background, is privileged in some way. Privilege, in general, is when you are given something simply because of some characteristic you have - not necessarily because you’ve done anything to earn it.  For example, if you are an adult, younger people may feel you are privileged because your age gives you power.  People are more likely to listen to what you have to say.  You have more economic and more decision making power.  Privilege and power go hand in hand.  To be aware of the power you have because of a privilege is to make informed decisions about how to use that power for your own gains, and also about the ways in which you can give up some of that power to make life easier for others.

While at LREI, Tim Wise spoke often about white privilege.  He discussed the historical foundations of white privilege and also revealed a personal example of how the racism that is often born out of white privilege still exists in his own psyche.  He told of a time when, he was at an airport boarding a plane, he realized was piloted solely by African Americans, and for a time he wondered if the pilots actually had the capacity to fly the plane. He reflected upon his anxieties and realized there was no logical reason why these pilots’ abilities would be any less than the ability of White pilots. However, the perception he had of African Americans’ “inferior abilities” was still there, regardless of how much anti-racist work he’d done in the past.

White privilege is so powerful because it’s so firmly embedded in the foundation of our country. The structures behind most of America’s major institutions (such as schools) have been created to promote and maintain a White perspective.  The problem with having systems that promote only one world view is that it forces all to see the world through a single lens.  Imagine if everyone in the LREI community had to see things from one person’s perspective.  Pick someone who is very different than you are and think about how you might feel if you were forced to value the things they value, speak the language they speak, eat the foods they eat, in order to be considered an asset by society.  That person would have a lot of power over how you had to live your life if you wanted to be deemed successful.  But that person would also lose out on the chance to learn about the world from your point of view.

Many think People of Color are the only individuals that are harmed by White privilege.  Tim Wise helped us to understand how White people might also be negatively affected. There is a reason some White people in our country feel they have no culture.  When many immigrants come to America, in order to take advantage of opportunities, to live the American dream, or to be accepted as an American, they have to give up many of their native traditions, customs and languages and take on an “American” persona.  In fact one of the main charges of our public school system was to assimilate immigrants. But when many of us think of our nation, we think of it as an inclusive place that invites and values all types of people.  We believe in democracy, equality and justice for all.  Conflicts arise when we have to balance our need to unite around commonalities, while at the same time value the differences that make us unique.  In order to tackle this dilemma we must continuously dialogue with each other.  Dialogue around differing views is crucial to teasing out truth, and to creating a nation that reflects a multicultural perspective.

Some of our students, faculty members and parents responded to Tim’s visit by asking the age old question, “Why do we have to talk about this diversity stuff again?”  Those who ask this question feel as if we don’t need to talk about diversity themes because we already did that last year and many years before that. Everything has been done.  After all, don’t we have a number of students of color in the school? Didn’t we send a number of faculty to a conference on socioeconomic class?  We even had a workshop on religion at a recent faculty professional development day. And what about the zillion parent affinity groups?  What people who ask this question don’t realize is that diversity education is not about how many families we have of a particular background, or how many activities we do to celebrate the cultures of “other,” but more about what are we doing to connect, support and value everyone in our school community.  The questions we should be asking ourselves are: How can we more effectively relate to each other in ways that are caring and supportive? When we are uncomfortable how can we work through differences of opinion in a respectful manner?  What are our diversity education successes as a community? What part do I play in LREI’s diversity successes and/or failures?  In order to answer these questions, all must be involved in the ongoing teaching and learning of self as well as other.

People in and outside of LREI are often afraid to share their experiences or opinions about sensitive topics such as race or class because they’re afraid they’ll be labelled for saying something that others might find offensive.  But if we don’t talk we’ll never become more aware and learn how to not step on each other’s toes.  In addition, with the societal set-up that we have, we all (including those of us like Tim Wise who is one committed to dismantling oppression) have thoughts and at times exhibit behavior that might be defined as offensive. Since we are at various places in our diversity education, some of us are always going to be further along than others. Some of us are always going to have to be patient with others, or work harder to get to the next level.  What this means is that we are all going to make mistakes.  There is no script, no “perfect” language you can use, no perfect action you can take to ensure you will never say or behave in a way that might hurt someone else. We all have to be courageous enough to say what we feel and to be willing to listen and respond in ways that can be heard by others.  We need to give each other room to make mistakes, work through conflicts with dialogue and caring, and then move on in our work towards common goals. If we all experience personal growth, the oppressive systemic structures will become weaker and the privileges we enjoy as Americans will be more equally shared by all.

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High School students take the fight to reduce greenhouse gases to the Capitol.

On Tuesday, March 20, thirty-three students, two faculty members, and three parents traveled from LREI to Washington, DC to attend the Climate Crisis Action Day demonstration.  The demonstration was held on the front lawn of the Capitol.  There were several thousand people in attendance according to estimates from the organizers, and demonstrators represented forty-eight out of fifty states.  The purpose of the day was to urge Congress to take immediate action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as a country and to advocate rewards such as tax credits for companies that reduce their environmental impact and utilize “green” technology and renewable resources.  Speakers included Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Senator Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Senator John Kerry (D-MA).  Senator Kerry stressed the responsibility of the United States in leading the fight against global warming and discussed how becoming “greener” can also provide economic benefits and new jobs for the country.

The students woke up at the crack of dawn to be on the bus at 5:45 in the morning. We arrived in Washington, DC at approximately 10:30AM and took the Metro to the demonstration.  When we arrived at the demonstration, speakers were already presenting, and a slew of volunteers were giving away “go green” posters and paraphernalia.  As the demonstration was winding down around 1:00PM, we all walked over to the Russell Senate Office Building to visit the office of Senator Hillary Clinton.  She was not available to meet with our group, but we met with one of her environmental aides, David Mustra, whom we talked with about Senator Clinton’s environmental policies and stance on the issue of global warming/climate change.  We also gave him letters signed by each of us, urging Senator Clinton to support two bills currently proposed in the Senate, which, if passed, would put new limits on America’s global warming pollution.

This demonstration gave us the realization that we as a nation, as a people, and individually are failing to respond sufficiently to the threat global warming poses.  In light of this realization, the Elisabeth Irwin Environmental Action Club will be resuming weekly meetings and continuing its campaign to make the school more environmentally conscious, to reduce energy consumption and waste by employing more efficient habits and devices, and to implement a comprehensive recycling program.

LREI Students at the Step It Up 2007 Sea of People Rally in Batter Park, NYC.

On Saturday, April 14th, 2007 over 90 members of the LREI community covered themselves in blue and joined hands with thousands of others to form the human coastline around Lower Manhattan called the Sea of People. Organized by the environmental campaign Step It Up 2007, this rally was one of 1,400 across the country that warned against the dangers of global warming that day.

Consisting of a U-shaped chain of people in blue stretching east and west from Battery Park, the Sea of People illustrated what the tip of Manhattan might look like after a rise in sea level brought on by melting of the glacial ice sheets. At the rally preceding the event, Step It Up 2007’s organizer, writer and activist Bill McKibben joined with Congressional Representative Anthony D. Weiner of Queens and other speakers from the country to urge Congress to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.

According to Middle School Science Teacher Sherezada Acosta, who works as an event volunteer, LREI was the single largest group to participate in the event. The  LREI community’s incredible support of the Sea of People was the result of weeks of hard work by members of Wendy and Sherezada’s Fifth and Frank and Steve’s Sixth Grade Advisories. As part of their ongoing study of global climate change, students in both these advisories promoted the event by speaking at division meetings, coordinating with parents and friends, making signs, and designing a bulletin board to raise community awareness.

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by Samantha Caruth, Director of Admissions

The 2006-2007 admissions season has been filled with many tours, interviews and school visits. In addition to conversations with prospective parents, nursery school directors and middle and high school placement colleagues, we have established relationships with academic enrichment programs. For example, the Boys Club of New York and Summer on the Hill have sent applicants to our Middle School and High School divisions. We have also partnered with schools celebrating their first class of Eighth Grade graduates this year. From these new ‘feeders’ we met applicants from The School at Columbia University, The Solomon Schecter School of Manhattan, KIPP Star College Prep School and Claremont Preparatory School.

This spring, we are continuing the important work of expanding our diversity efforts by attending a school fair hosted jointly by NYSAIS and The Lesbian, Gay Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, as well as serving as a panelist at an independent school forum held by the Metropolitan Chapter of Jack & Jill of America, Inc. In addition, we will continue our participation in the spring independent school fairs.

Our work this year, as always, has been enhanced by our active LREI parent volunteers. We have called on parents to speak at open houses, host playgroup visits, attend prospective family receptions, and much more. Thank you to everyone for their time, expertise and commitment to LREI that is evident in every smile, call or conversation.

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by Harriet Lieber, Lower School Learning Specialist & Lower School Newsletter Correspondent

Fourth Graders learn about the immigrant experience from a guest speaker who entered the U.S. through Ellis Island as a young boy.

You may know that Social Studies is the axis around which all of our Lower School programs revolve, but have you ever wondered why your children are studying particular topics, or how those topics were chosen? In fact, our Lower School social studies program  is not a group of random topics, but has been thoughtfully developed to reflect the developmental stages of elementary school students. It is based both on how children learn and on their increasing ability to understand the world in new and more complex ways as they get older.

In the Fours and EK, our children learn more about themselves and their families. They explore topics that are relevant to children who are learning about the world as it relates to them, by discussing similarities and differences in their own lives and the lives of people whom they know. Each child’s family joins the class to share a tradition or activity that they find meaningful. As the children take pride in their own lives, they learn about families that may be quite different from their own and celebrate those differences together. Throughout the year our youngest children work to become more independent, self-sufficient and respectful of one another.

Our Kindergarten students begin to move beyond thinking and learning about themselves and start to study their daily environment. They conduct an in-depth study of the school and the people who make it work. What does everyone do? Why are their jobs important? What do they need in order to do their jobs, and where do they do them? They tour the building to learn about all its different parts and functions, interview people, make maps, and discuss their findings as a group. Kindergartners then write books that reflect what they have learned and proudly share their books with other members of the school community.

By First Grade children begin to look beyond themselves and their environment and start to explore  the school’s neighborhood. First teachers ask, “what is a neighborhood?” and “what are the needs of a neighborhood?” Classes take neighborhood walks, map the area surrounding the school, and investigate which types of services are available. They create models of “ideal” parks and pick an aspect of neighborhood life to study in-depth, and then recreate both in the block area and through special projects. Most First Grade parents are surprised to see the self sufficiency that their six and seven year old children show as they run a book store, serve patrons at a bakery or deliver mail throughout the Sixth Avenue building of our school.

Second Graders are better able to understand their place in the larger world and focus their inquiry on New York City. What does it mean to live on an island? What are the needs of a city and how do they differ from the needs of a neighborhood? How are those larger needs met? What are some of the neighborhoods that make up a city and how are they culturally defined? Second Graders become observers who take trips with keen eyes and who learn to record what they have seen. Their work in the block area becomes more refined, helping them to think about what the needs of a city might be and how  a city can try to meet those needs. Through their block environments they begin to understand what might not at first be apparent and work hard to ask questions and problem solve in order to arrive at reasonable answers.

As children move into the upper end of elementary school they are able to understand what life might have been like in time periods other than their own. Our Third Graders study Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands and settlers in New Amsterdam. Because our children have a geographical understanding of where these people lived, they are able to experience their learning about these long ago people in very concrete ways. A visit to Inwood Park allows them to walk through undisturbed wooded areas, to imagine what it would have been like when the whole island was wooded and wild, and to see caves that were used by Native Peoples. Walking through lower Manhattan similarly allows them to connect with a place and the people who lived there centuries ago.

Finally, our Fourth Graders are prepared to study the past in a way that is further removed from their own experience. Family studies introduce students to difficult questions about the many reasons people either chose or where forced to leave their homelands. How did they get here? Where did they go when they arrived? What were their lives like? What motivated them to make the journey? Current immigrants visit our classrooms and are interviewed by our students The classes make the voyage to Ellis Island and explore the Lower East Side to learn about tenement life. Immigration in all its forms is discussed, and the children develop a greater awareness of how this country of immigrants was formed by people of many rich and diverse cultures.

As our children move through the elementary school, their learning expands in ever increasing circles with them standing firmly at the center. Each years study builds upon the learning from the previous year and prepares our children for the learning that is to follow. By the time our students reach Middle School they have learned to be involved, critical thinkers who are ready to take on the challenges that will be presented to them.

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by Jennifer Hubert Swan, Middle School and Coordinating Librarian & Middle School Newsletter Correspondent

A visitor and a student guide are startled by 'grave robbers' in the Fifth Grade Egyptian Tomb.

History came alive in the Middle School in early March as young anthropologists and medieval storytellers staged the annual Fifth Grade Egyptian Tomb and Sixth Grade Medieval Pageant. Up on the third floor, the Fifth Grade classrooms were transformed into an Egyptian art workshop and a freshly excavated tomb, complete with mummies, canopic jars (to preserve internal organs for the afterlife), and hieroglyphic wall paintings. Short kohl-eyed guides, dressed in white linen wraps, solemnly led visitors into the papier-mâché tomb, eloquently describing each artifact within. Though the guides were extremely knowledgeable, if visitors inquired about an object that the guide was unfamiliar with, they were quickly informed, “Archaeologists haven’t discovered the purpose of this piece.” Guides also shared that while this was a newly discovered tomb, “tombs have been unearthed regularly around this same spot for the last three or four years.” Imagine that! What lucky students to live and work around such a fertile archeological area!  Meanwhile, the Egyptian craft workshop set up next door to the tomb was busier than a pharaoh’s pyramid-raising. Lower School students and parents who visited the site were treated to “Make Your Own Ankh” lessons and studies in hieroglyphic symbols. Anyone who visited the Fifth Grade Egyptian tomb came away with a new appreciation of the clever capabilities of these Middle School archaeologists, and the guiding, patient instruction of their core teachers, Heather Brandstetter and Wendy Bassin, and art teacher Melissa Rubin.

Likewise, the Sixth Avenue auditorium was a hub of activity as the Sixth Grade, under the direction of drama teacher Julia Collura and music teacher Henry Chapin, readied themselves for the production of their medieval pageant, which consisted this year of a retelling of the Beowulf legend, a Japanese folktale that featured a clever badger and a magic fan and the story of Sundiata, the mighty lion king of the medieval African kingdom of Mali. Over the course of the third quarter and with the help of Julia, Henry and their core teachers Lynne Cataffi and Frank Portella, the Sixth Graders rehearsed lines, made scenery, and even composed their own musical accompaniment.. The Sixth Graders wrote their own dialog, based on the tales, including a completely original story of a humorously misunderstood Grendel, who couldn’t understand why humans would deny him their flesh when he couldn’t help being hungry. Middle School classmates were treated to the colorful drama of these tales during a weekly Middle School meeting, while Sixth Grade parents organized a medieval potluck feast, complete with a tasseled tent and banner-draped tables, to accompany an evening production of the tales. The crowning touch to the whole event were the “ABC’s of Islam,” a primer of letters, researched and written by the students, that each introduced a concept of medieval Islam. The letters were “aged” using ancient tea-staining techniques and gently burned edges, and hung around the Sixth Grade classrooms for students and parents to enjoy. In addition, an extension of their social studies investigations of castles and the role of seige weapons, parents were able to see the fruits of their childrens’ labor in creating scale models of medieval period catapults called trebuchets. To complete this work, students drew on their understanding of concepts explored (projectile motion and how to control for variables) during the construction of small LEGO prototypes of their siege machines. These models, in combination with the use of the Interactive Physics simulation software, allowed students to test in more controlled environments some of their design theories.  Their work throughout this process led to discussions on forces, levers, moments (torque), momentum, energy transfers, and the effect of gravity on the trebuchets. The understanding of these concepts as well as the computer investigations made it possible for students to construct more effective trebuchet models, which were capable of accurately hitting targets at a distance of 4 to 5 meters.

These two annual events, while obviously fun and engaging, are excellent examples of how our progressive approach is used to contextualize important subject area content through experiences that allow students to more fully engage the cultures and current events they encounter both inside and outside the classroom.??

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by Karyn Silverman, High School Librarian & High School Newsletter Correspondent

Martin Smith speaks with High School students about his experiences as a journalist on the frontline in the global war on terror.

On Monday, March 12, High School students experienced a truly progressive day of educational programming.  Conceived and designed by the students in an Eleventh and Twelfth Grade History elective, “G.W.O.T.” Day impressed, illuminated, and inspired.

The elective which prompted the student-led day, titled The Global War on Terror: American Foreign Policy Since 9/11, grew from student interest. History teacher and Department Chair Tom Murphy designed the course to fulfill the departmental requirements but also to answer several essential questions which students had asked of him, each other and other faculty, and which boiled down to a desire to understand our national involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.  The 18 students (12 seniors, 6 juniors) took these questions to their peers as their final project, and did their best to convey a trimester of information in one day.  They succeeded.

For G.W.O.T. Day, the 18 members of the class designed a full curriculum. They considered how to best impart their knowledge to other students, and how best to work with their own strengths; Tom met with them multiple times as their teacher and consultant, but he provided feedback only. Indeed, he jokes that all he had to do was make one phone call, to obtain the documentary “Operation Homecoming” which was shown as part of the day’s program; the students even chose and contacted the speaker who concluded the program!  Obviously, Tom did much more, but his work was in preparing his class for the challenge of conducting the day; the actual day belonged to the students.

G.W.O.T. Day began with an assembly that served two purposes: explaining the day’s format and a wonderful introductory speech describing what the class had covered and how it had changed the students’ thinking. They had gone beyond media images, and whether they as individuals supported, abhorred, or were neutral about America’s Foreign Policy in the past 6 years, they learned something new.  After the entire school watched the short documentary as part of the introductory piece, they were divided into groups (predetermined, mixed grade, 10-15 people per group) to follow a set schedule.  Each group moved through a rotation of presentations and classes, with the end result that every group was exposed to multiple facets of foreign policy, the war, and the background of various corollary issues.

Each session had a different focus and was taught by a team of students. Sessions included “The New Terrorism,” “Islam and Terror,” “The Bush Revolution,” and “Geopolitics.”  Within each session, the students leading the discussion presented visual aids—maps, diagrams, articles—and provided a lively mix of discussion and information. They asked their peers to brainstorm information, and then worked with their responses to push their peers to re-examine misconceptions or to dig deeper for answers; one session included a student-produced film.  Dialogue was lively and thought-provoking, and everyone stayed on task and excited by the material without any need for faculty intervention.

The day concluded with a discussion with current parent and guest speaker Martin Smith, journalist, producer, writer, and director, frequently for PBS’ Frontline. Mr. Smith shared clips from films for which he was writer, director, and producer, including Gangs of Iraq and Beyond Baghdad.

From start to finish, this was progressive education and LREI at its finest. Students took an idea, faculty turned it into a course, and then students repossessed the idea and brought it to their peers in miniature classes that exemplified the interactive and innovative ideals that shape our teaching.

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by Catherine Friesen, Assistant Director of Summer Programs

Students in LREI Institute's Robotics major use their design and programming skills to solve complex problems.

Immediately after the LREI school year ends, Summers at LREI fills the campus with another set of exciting programs. While Little Red Summer Camp for ages three-and-a-half to ten is the largest of these programs, LREI Institute offers a unique forum for children ages ten to fourteen to explore creative and academic topics. The core of LREI Institute consists of two-week major and minor workshops taught by specialists and teachers from LREI’s Middle School and High School. The generous summer format of the Institute gives students and teachers the opportunity to develop in-depth projects, benefit from guest speakers, collaborate across disciplines, and use the city as a classroom through field trips. Workshops are framed by Institute Home Group, which allows all of the students participating in workshops to socialize and have fun as a community.

This summer, science-based majors are Robotics with Sherezada Acosta from the Middle School science department, and two majors taught by Stephen Volkmann (also from the Middle School) entitled The Science of Invention and Engineering: Bridges. Also offered as a major is Chess led by Micheas Yohannes, the chess teacher in Afterschool at LREI and the Institute for the past two and a half years. Majors focused on a creative discipline are Writing New York, a course which includes creative writing in the form of poetry, short story, and essay formats led by Ariel Horn Levenson from the Dalton School, and two Moviemaking majors with LREI’s High School media teacher, Vinay Chowdhry. The moviemaking workshops will explore Documentaries and Special Effects. Marcus Chang, LREI’s Co-Athletic Director and Physical Education Department head is teaching the Challenge Course as a major for the second summer.  Students in this workshop spend much of the time away from the LREI campus learning bouldering, orienteering and climbing skills. Majors take place for two and a half hours in the morning Monday-Thursday and for a full 9:00AM-4:00PM day on Friday for field trips and special projects.

Minors this summer are Fine Art Workshop: Drawing & Painting, 3-D & Collage, Functional Art, and Karate led by LREI’s Vincent Barile, Basketball with Marco Sanchez, and Physical Theater and Summertime in the City with Nora Woolley from LREI’s Afterschool and Little Red Summer Camp programs. Minor workshops meet Monday-Thursday afternoons for an hour-and-a-half.

Registration for LREI Institute is done in two-week sessions: June 18-June 29, July 2-July 13, and July 16-July 27. Different majors and minors are offered each session. There are four schedule options. Students who choose both a major and minor participate in the program from 9:00AM-4:00PM Monday-Friday. The hours for major-only registration are 9:00AM-2:00PM Monday through Thursday (including lunch and home group time) and 9:00AM-4:00PM on Friday. Minor-only registration is either 2:00PM-4:00PM Monday through Thursday or an extended minor 12:30PM-4:00PM Monday through Thursday including lunch and home group before the minor workshop.

LREI Institute is held at LREI’s Elisabeth Irwin High School at 40 Charlton Street. For more information, contact the Summers at LREI office at 212-477-5316 ext. 506 or 239, or email cfriesen@lrei.org.

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