Tuesday Bulletin Weekly Newsletter of the Home and School Association Lafayette Elementary School Washington, DC May 18, 2010 www.lafayettehsa.org Jennifer Lanoff, editor

MARK YOUR CALENDAR May 19-20 (Wednesday-Thursday) – 3rd Grade D.C. Theatre Café May 26 (Wednesday) – Pre-K/ Kindergarten Field Day May 28 (Friday) – 1st Grade – 5th Grade Field Day May 31 (Monday) – No School (Memorial Day) June 3 (Thursday) – Karaoke Night at Señor Pepper – D.C. School Solidarity Project June 4 (Friday) – Pre-K Graduation June 10 (Thursday) – HSA Board Meeting, 6:15 p.m.; General Meeting, 7:15 p.m.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL – Learning through art at Lafayette…(see page 3)

FROM THE HSA –Diana Blitz and Lisa Resch, HSA co-presidents No doubt you too are wondering how the month of May can possibly be so busy. For those of you newer to having school-age children, suffice it to say there are many incredibly busy May school schedules ahead of you. It seems like every weeknight, many Saturdays and Sundays, and each school day is filled with culminating school projects, performances, celebratory farewells, and anxiety about next steps. So, it is not just you – we all are dizzy at the end of the school year and look forward to summer vacations. Currently the HSA Board is in the process of negotiating and finalizing the proposed FY 2010-2011 budget. Essentially, this means we review our year’s income from dues, donations, and fundraising events, as well as our expenses stemming from our art teacher’s gross pay, student activities, supplies, equipment, etc. We then balance this budget which happily includes a significant sum to be budgeted for a Capital project of some kind. The Board is very interested in your input regarding this very exciting expense. In years past we have renovated the library, the cafeteria/ auditorium, and repaved the area now referred to the green-top. This year, we had planned to fund new playgrounds. Instead, with your approval, we granted each Lafayette teacher $1000 to direct towards classroom improvement to further enrich our children’s educations. Additionally, we designated $37,000 to enhance our technology in the classrooms. At this point, the HSA include a significant line item expense designated as a Capital project; this means we have fundraised dollars not immediately earmarked for a budgeted expense. Please contact us to share your ideas about future projects we may undertake to provide the best possible learning experience for our children.

D.C. THEATRE CAFÉ SCHEDULE Here is the schedule for the D.C. Theater Café this week. Please have your children bring $3!

Wednesday Thursday 9:10-9:45 a.m. 9:10-9:45 a.m. Kushnir (primary blacktop door) Harn (primary blacktop door) Stanton (PPC door) Howard (PPC door) Nickel (Music room door) Cobb (Music room door)

9:55-10:30 a.m. 9:55-10:30 a.m. Fratto (primary blacktop door) Phillips (primary blacktop door) Shapiro (4) (PPC) Baldwin (PPC door) Kennedy (Music room door) Stoffa (Music room door)

10:40-11:15 a.m. 10:40-11:15 a.m. Jewett (primary blacktop door) Breslin (primary blacktop door) Betz (PPC) Gregal (Music room door) Yedwab (Music room door)

1:45-2:20 p.m. 1:45-2:20 p.m. Martinez (primary blacktop door) Hill (primary blacktop door) Pajor/ Sherman (PPC) de Jonckheere (PPC) Johnson (Music room door) Allen (Music room door)

2:30-3:05 p.m. 2:30-3:05 p.m. Ghamarian (primary blacktop door) Jensen (primary blacktop door) Haigler (PPC) Shapiro (K) (PPC) Tepfer (Music room door) Freund (Music room door)

FIELD DAY NEWS – Ms. McClure, Physical Education Teacher Thank you to everyone who signed up to volunteer for field Day. I had a great response. I’m still short about 10 volunteers. If you can help, please email me to let me know at [email protected]. Volunteers are needed on Friday, May 28th from 8:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Those who have already volunteered will receive an email soon with information about the day. This year’s theme is “Let’s Move.” Children will travel in groups of four to all the different stations. My goal is to have each group with at least one pedometer. If your family has a pedometer, and your child is allowed to use it, please have them wear on field day. We will be estimating and adding up steps and then converting to miles and then plotting on a USA map. How far can the entire school travel on field day? Can we make it all the way to California? If you don’t have a pedometer you can purchase one at any sporting goods store or target. They come with all different sorts of features. You don’t need all the bells and whistles. Just the step counter. They cost anywhere from $10 to $25. I even saw one line for $6 at http://www.bodytronics.com/p/bodytronics_pedometers/ONYX?s=pg Don’t know if you could get it in time, but might be worth checking into.

FROM THE ART ROOM – Laurie McLaughlin, Art Teacher Grades 1-5 Thank you to everyone for supporting your young artist and musician at Arts Night last week and for all the positive complements on our “museum!” Arts Night was made possible by some very important people so I need to extend a special thanks to the following: To Lynn Main for her vision of Arts Night the first year she became our Principal and for her ongoing support; To the LHSA for providing the financial support for the refreshments; To parent alum Sandy Rosengarden who orchestrated the programs, pizza, and refreshments set up and clean up – our Arts Night sponsor; To Chris Berg for single-handedly typing all the labels for the art work; To parents Carmen McMurtrie, Susan LaMountain, and Linda Geen, and intern Lindsay Elliot- Foose, for their help labeling and hanging the artwork; To all the parents who rounded up volunteers or who worked a shift on Arts Night itself; To Mr. Young who installed extra lighting at the last minute, and his staff who helped in a myriad of ways get the building ready for our special event and dealt with the squashed brownies and spilled juice during and after the evening; To our arts integration coordinator Jackie Snowden for her support. Thank you. YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!

IMAGES APOLOGIES Images is a huge undertaking as you might imagine and invariably things go wrong when you’re laying out 630 pieces of writing and art on the computer. A page of type disappeared from Ms. Shapiro’s 4th grade class Tuesday Bulletin 5-18-10 – page 2 leaving out three fourth graders. We are making new books for them but are also producing an addendum sheet that will be available on the IMAGES sales table in the Great Hall and provided to all the 4th graders. We thank them for their understanding and patience and thank you all for supporting publications! Books are selling out quickly but will be on sale in the Great Hall before school until they’re gone. Checks preferred made out to LHSA $15 each or two books for $28.

GREAT NEWS FOR LAFAYETTE WRITERS – Kathy Echave, Reading Specialist Once again Lafayette students did very well in the city-wide Larry Neal Young Writers’ Competition sponsored by the DCAAH Commission. Lafayette had six finalists in three different categories: essay, fiction and poetry. Lafayette OWNED the essay category! Claire Shaw, 4FJ, placed first. Sophie Strazzella, 3J, placed third and her classmates Josh Taubman and Claire Trinity tied for honorable mention. In fiction, Alexandra Radifera, 5G, won honorable mention for her short story, as did George Miller, 3T, for his poetry entry. We can be proud, too, of Lafayette graduates Julia Nessman and Claire Parker, 7th graders at Deal. Julia placed second in the essay competition and Claire placed first in the fiction category. Student-writers who placed first, second, or third won cash prizes for their efforts. For example, first place winners in each category were awarded $500. Congratulations to all Lafayette students who entered the annual writing competition and keep writing! (We’re still waiting to hear from the Junior League of Washington about the winners of their Youth Poetry Contest, so we may have more good news about writers in the next T.B.)

FROM THE PRINCIPAL – Lynn Main, Principal For the past two weeks we have been celebrating the arts at Lafayette. First we had the pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and instrumental music students perform. Last week first through fifth grades took to the stage. The entire school has been turned into a large art gallery with every student having a piece of work on display. And to top it all off, this year’s edition of Images has arrived with a writing (or dictation) selection in print. We know how powerful the arts can be when it comes to learning. Just ask anyone, including our current PKers, how they learned the alphabet and all will break out into The Alphabet Song. Last week the fourth grade sang Fifty, Nifty, United States as part of their arts night program. This has been a favorite for several years now. In the back of the cafeteria were a group of Lafayette graduates, now students at Deal. As the song started they began to mouth the words along with the students on stage. As they got to the list of states, it was clear they remembered them all, in alphabetical order, just the way they had learned them a few years ago. And that is the way they will probably remember them forever. We know that acting out stories with gestures and sound effects is also a great way to learn. The third grade students gave us a little teaser when they performed their reader’s theater on the life of the Marquis de Lafayette for the French ambassador. Last week we heard a little about the history of Lafayette school. More will be on display on Wednesday and Thursday when our annual D.C. Theater Café will be occurring. While it looks as if each child has just learned a few lines or so, the reality is that over the days of practice that have occurred, every child learns every line of the script. A great way to learn a lot of information that is fun for all. As you walk around the school, the art on display also tells a lot about how art helps us learn and teach. Since their first appearance two years ago, the third grade Washington Monuments pictures still amaze me with their skill and sophistication. So many of these pictures are so wonderful that I’m fairly sure that if they were framed and in a Georgetown boutique, they would easily sell to tourists and locals alike. And what a fun way to learn about architecture and the history of this beautiful city. So if you didn’t make it up to one of the arts nights presentations (and that seems highly unlikely given the size of the crowds), drop in anytime in the next two weeks. The artwork is up for you to see in various locations around the school. We have more singing and dancing activities planned. More scripts to write, more stories to act out. We have a lot to still learn this year. And we will be doing a lot of it in that very special way that makes Lafayette so successful. With good teaching and a big dose of the arts.

Tuesday Bulletin 5-18-10 – page 3 COMMUNITY NOTICES * Join CREATE Arts Center for our Spring Fling for the whole family on Saturday, May 22nd, 6 to 9 p.m. at the Photogroup, 8040 Georgia Avenue, Spring (behind the building where Mayorga used to be). The kids can make decorative boxes and watch the movie “Up.” We’ll have food from local restaurants, art on exhibit and for sale, and great live music by the bands Icarus and 3 Drink Minimum. Come out for a fun evening and help support CREATE’s smARTkids Art Program, which brought afterschool art classes to 50 at- risk elementary school students this year, and our Studio Downstairs, a supportive open art studio program for adults living with mental illness. Adults $25, kids 12 and under $5 – for dinner, dessert, beer, wine, live music, art exhibit, and a craft and movie for the kids. What a deal! For more information, call 301-588-ARTS or go to www.createartscenter.org. Parking available next door at the Veridian, 1133 East-West Highway. * Wonderful, loving, & reliable nanny available starting in late June. Our two children will be in camp/school full time so we are looking for a new family for our wonderful nanny. Yenni has cared for our children for six years and has become an important part of our family. She is incredibly reliable, caring, and loving, and more patient with our children than we are. She has experience and enjoys working with children of all ages, including twins. She is available to work Monday – Thursday starting as early as June 21st. She does not drive but does not mind walking or using public transportation. If interested, please call Yenni at (301)385- 8580 or Jeanne (employer) at (202) 966-2760. * Come try our new neighborhood Yoga Studio. Valerie Grange has opened Buddha B Yoga on Greenvale St. in her Chevy Chase home, offering Hatha and Vinyasa (flow) yoga classes at various levels. After about a month’s worth of classes, I have found Val to be a creative instructor, well-versed in assists and proper alignment. Her studio is lovely, and you can’t beat a short drive and hassle-free parking. I was also thrilled to find convenient class times (including early morning and right after school drop-off) and very competitive prices. Check out Buddha B Yoga at http://buddhabyoga.com. First class is free, so you have nothing to lose. Kara Parmelee. * DC Youth Orchestra Program turns 50 - are you an alum? In 1960, some remarkable revolutionaries brought children and adults together to share their love of music, in the DC Youth Orchestra Program. Since then, tens of thousands of musicians have shared that experience. Were you one of them? We’re trying to connect with all our alumni. If you’re a DCYOP alum, email [email protected] with your name, instrument, and years you played at DCYOP. You can find other with alumni and keep up with the program by joining DCYOP on Facebook. Please help us celebrate our inspiring and living legacy on August 21 with an Alumni Orchestra Concert at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. Go to www.dcyop.org for details on the free concert and other anniversary events.

E-mail submissions for next week’s issue to [email protected] or drop them in the Tuesday Bulletin drawer in the Great Hall by 3:15 p.m. Friday.

Tuesday Bulletin 5-18-10 – page 4

COME AND SUPPORT THE D.C. SCHOOL SOLIDARITY PROJECT

Thursday, June 3rd 6:00 p.m.

Kids and Families Early/ Adults Late

We are collecting new and gently used books for the Alice Deal Middle School Library Please see attachment for suggested book list.

Financial donations will also be accepted.

Sponsored by Lafayette Elementary School HSA and Entertainment Exchange

If you’d like to volunteer for this event, please contact Laura Scalzo [email protected]

Tuesday Bulletin 5-18-10 – page 5

ALICE DEAL MEDIA CENTER WISHLIST FOR LAFAYETTE ES

1. Among the Hidden 2. Four Perfect Pebbles 3. Moving Day 4. Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps 5. Miracle's Boys 6. Peace Locomotion 7. Daughter of Venice 8. The Angel's Command: A Tale from the Castaways of the 9. Castaways of the Flying Dutchman 10. Voyage of Slaves: A Tale From Castaways of the Flying Dutchman 11. I was a Rat - 12. Fablehaven – Books 1-5 13. Any RECENT sports Biography 14. Sports books 15. Bone Graphic Novel Series 16. Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1 17. Spider-Man: The Ultimate Guide 18. Batman: The Ultimate Guide to the Dark Knight 19. Superman: The Ultimate Guide to the Man of Steel 20. Superman: The Complete History 21. Batman: The Complete History 22. Wonder Woman: The Complete History 23. Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide to The Amazon Princess 24. The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia 25. Age of TV Heroes: The Live-Action Adventures of Your Favorite Comic Book Characters 26. Before We Were Free – Alvarez 27. Airhead – Cabot 28. The Goddess of Yesterday – Cooney 29. The Breadwinner – Ellis 30. Diamond Willow – Frost 31. The Graveyard Book – Gaiman 32. The Thieves of Ostia (all others in series) - Lawrence 33. The Red Pyramid – Riordan 34. Keeping Corer – Sheth 35. Unwind – Shusterman 36. The Bronze Bow – Speare 37. Leviathan – Westerfeld 38. Zorgamazoo – Weston 39. Feathers – Woodson 40. American Born Chinese – Yang 41. The World of King Arthur and Hist Court – Crossley-Holland 42. Moving North: African Americans and the Great Migration – Halpern 43. Montezuma and the Aztecs – Harris 44. Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith – Heiligman 45. Courage in China – Jiang

Tuesday Bulletin 5-18-10 – page 6 46. The Story of My Life – Keller 47. Into Thin Air – Krakauer 48. No Pretty Pictures – Lobel 49. Adaptation – Silverstein, Alvin 50. Belly-Busting Worm Invasions! Parasites That Love Your Insides! – Tilden & Watts 51. Circulating Life: Blood Transfusion From Ancient Superstition to Modern Medicine – Winner 52. The Incas – Wood 53. Wild Lives: A History of the People & Animals of the Bronx Zoo – Zoehfeld 54. 13: Thirteen Stories That Capture the Agony and the Ecstasy of Being Thirteen – Howe 55. Amiri & Odette – Myers 56. 19 Varieties of Gazelle – Nye 57. What Haw Your Lost? – Nye 58. Shelf Life – Paulsen 59. Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys – Scieszka 60. A Christmas Carol – Dickens 61. Fire Girl – Abbott 62. Wonder – Vail 63. Vive La Paris – Codell 64. Born Free – Adamson 65. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child – Jimenez 66. A Mind with Wings: The Story of Henry David Thoreau – Hausman 67. Onward: A Photobiography of African-American Polar Explorer Matthew Henson – Johnson 68. Are We Alone?: Scientists Search for Life in Space – Skurzynski 69. Over the Mountains (An Aerial View of Geology) – Collier 70. 50 Siple Steps to Save the Earth from Global Warming 71. Swimming Upstream: Middle School Poems – George 72. How to Eat a Poem: A Smorgasbord of Tasty and Delicious Poems for Young Readers 73. Anne of Avonlea – Montgomery, L.M. 74. Anne of the Island – Montgomery, L.M. 75. Hurricane Katrina: Aftermath of Diesaster (Snapshots in History) – Palser 76. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village – Schlitz 77. Higher Power of Lucky - Patron 78. Criss Cross – Perkins 79. Return to Sender – Alvarez 80. Anything But Typical – Baskin 81. Diego: bigger than life – Bernier-Grand 82. The Rock and the River – Magoon 83. Chains – Anderson 84. Hormone jungle: coming of age in middle school – Bagert 85. A Difficult Boy – Barker 86. Pieces of Georgia – Bryant 89. A Thousand Never Evers – Burg 90. Amazing But True Sports Stories – Hollander 91. Thrills and spills: fast sports – Parham 92. Donovan McNabb:leader on and off the field – Robinson 93. Baseball – Stewart 94. Basketball – Stewart 95. Football – Stewart 96. The Road to Paris – Grimes 97. Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan – Christie 98. Keeping the Night Watch – Smith

Tuesday Bulletin 5-18-10 – page 7