From the School

Query

This week's query: What can I do each day to work for peace?

Notes from Sally

The assembly this week will feature Jamey Turner on the glass harp. This assembly will take place in the Meeting House. Watch the Tuesday Letter for announcements of assemblies each week; parents are always welcome to attend. Unless otherwise noted, assemblies are held on Friday afternoons at 2:30 PM in the Arts Center. We have some great programs on tap for this year!

A reminder that there is a laptop information meeting tomorrow night (Wednesday) in the Drama Studio at 7:30 PM. Any parent who has questions about the laptop program is encouraged to attend. Laptops were issued to 7th and 8th grade students yesterday and will go out to 6th graders today.

Good news for those who were hoping for a SFS calendar – they will be issued this year after all and should be ready soon!

All Middle School students have participated in predicting what SFS will be like in 50 years and recording those predictions with members of their homeroom or advisory. On Monday those will be sealed into a new Time Capsule that will rest behind the cornerstone of the new Meeting House.

Community Health Initiative (CHI) meetings begin soon. One is scheduled for each grade level. These meetings with Middle School Counselor Michelle Parker and me are very important, and parents are urged to attend. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss the developmental milestones of the upcoming year and how to best support your children in their academic and non-academic work, to learn about the advisory curriculum and how parents can support this work from home, and to learn how best to navigate the social scene. The meeting is designed to help strengthen the communications and bonds between the school and parents in an effort to help support everyone in our community in making healthy and informed decisions pertaining to our children. Please mark these dates on your calendars:

5th grade CHI Monday, September 26th

6th grade CHI Monday, October 17th

7th grade CHI Wednesday, October 12th

8th grade CHI Wednesday, October 19th

All meetings start at 7:30 PM in the Drama Studio.

A few weeks after the grade-level CHI meetings there will be grade-level peer group meetings. The peer group meetings provide a unique opportunity for parents to have meaningful discussions on many of these same subjects in a safe and confidential setting. These meetings are for parents only and, again, help us learn to communicate in open, honest and healthy ways on issues of mutual interest and concern. The peer group meetings are for discussing non-academic issues only and are facilitated by parents from each class. The Middle School years are the years when our children change the most – they enter as children and leave as young adults. With this comes a wide-range of changes (emotional, psychological, neurological, hormonal and intellectual) that are baffling for our children as well as for parents. Opening the lines of communications on issues ranging from cliques to coed dances is the most important tool that we have to create a community that can best support our children.

Are you new to the Middle School? Lots of information about daily life in the division may be found on the Parent Portal of the website. On the Parents Association Middle School page there is a box with a link to a document called “Nuts and Bolts: Frequently Asked Questions about the Middle School.” It’s a good place to start if you have a question.

Directories went home with the youngest child in the family last week. Also remember that the directory is available on line. Please be sure to read the privacy statement on the first page of the directory. SFS phone numbers and email addresses are to be used only for school business.

One change: the 7/8 Debate Club will meet on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays this year. Interested students should see Burt Nadler.

Sixth graders will be attending the biennial Solar Decathlon on the mall on Monday, September 26th. Families of students in other grades may want to make time to attend this event – it is a fascinating display of sustainable technology! For more information, see the website: http://www.solardecathlon.gov

Instrumental Music Notes

Instrumental Music Notes

5/6 Full Orchestra Wednesday September 14th Rehearsal Period Room 101
7/8 Full Orchestra Wednesday September 14th Rehearsal Period Room 101

Thanks to everyone who auditioned. We are going to have a great year! If you were called back you must play for me before Wednesday. – Mr. Henderson

Choral Notes

From Ms. Holtz:

Congratulations to all who auditioned for a 7/8 choral group! The results have been posted and rehearsals will begin on Wednesday of this week. All rehearsal information will appear in the Tuesday letter—please check it. Parents will be receiving an e-mail containing the roster and rehearsal schedule for the semester. It looks to be another great year of singing! Thank you for your support.

7/8 Choral Rehearsals This Week:

Wednesday, September 14th
Boys Ensemble 7:25-7:55am
Girls Ensemble 3:45-5:30pm

Attention Parents of 6th, 7th and 8th graders!

Does your child enjoy tackling mathematical challenges and puzzles? Please encourage them to come to Math Counts practices, which occur every Thursday from 3:30 – 4:30 pm in Room 306, Andrew Callard’s (Mr. C’s) room. Math Counts is a national organization that sponsors competitions for middle school students every spring. During these practices, we work on challenging and interesting problems in groups and discuss new mathematical topics as they arise. Any 6th, 7th and 8th grader may attend, and he or she does not need to sign up in advance to attend a practice on any given week. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to meet others in their grade and in other grades who share their love of math. A delicious after school snack is provided.

The first Math Counts practice will take place next Thursday, September 22nd.

PE Update from Anne Renninger

Dear Parents,

Our first week of sports has been a wash out! Luckily we do not start games until the end of the month. We are still in the process of formalizing all of our teams. The girls soccer and girls tennis team rosters are full and the boys soccer team is over subscribed, so they will limit their numbers to 18 players per team. Our final decisions will be made by the 15th of September and posted by the 19h. The boys that move out of soccer can then go to football, cross country or athletic movement and training. Please come out and support all of our teams and athletes this fall.

Go Quakers!

Anne Renninger

Director of Physical Education & Athletics
Sidwell Friends School
202-537-8189

PA Announcements

Note to All 7th Grade Parents

If you have not been receiving e-mails from the 7th Grade PA Reps, please contact Peggy Dotzel (margaret.dotzel@verizon.net) to ensure that we have the correct e-mail address. Thank you. Your 7th Grade reps, Deborah, Felice, Nell and Peggy.

Thanks very much!

MS PA Diversity Committee

The MS PA Diversity Committee is seeking interested parents to join us! The diversity of our school – student, staff/faculty, and parent – community is as varied as all of us. If you are interested in joining or learning more about us, please contact the committee co-clerks Maria Carvalho (mpcarvalho2003@yahoo.com), Margaret Johnson (margaret_e_johnson@yahoo.com), or Beth Polakoff (bpolakoff@verizon.net).

Interested in Community Service at Middle School?

Interested in Community Service at Middle School? Join us for our first meeting of the year; Wednesday, September 21, from 8am to 9am in the Middle School Library classroom. We look forward to seeing you and hearing your ideas! Please let us know if you can make it or if you are interested but can't attend. Sara Jane Harris, sjrharris@comcast.net, and Susan Maniatis, susan.maniatis@gmail.com, co-clerks of MS Community Service.

Other News

Admissions Office Announcement

In an effort to work more closely with current families who are applying a child for the 2012-13 academic year, the deadline to submit Part I, the Application Form, is October 1, 2011. All supplementary material to complete the application is due by January 15, 2012.

The online application is available at www.sidwell.edu/admissions/application-materials. Please call the Admissions Office at 202-537-8111 if you have any questions.

Frustrated by the garage drop-off line?

Feel free to use the Zartman drive loop for drop-off and pick-up. Please turn right only when exiting. When dropping in the garage, please observe these rules: Pull far forward to allow cars behind you to drop students and direct students to exit cars on the curb side only. Feel free to drop students in the parking area, but make sure to pull far to the right so that other cars can pass on the left. When driving on campus, please use extreme care, do not idle motors while waiting, and never speak on a cell phone (hands free or not) while driving.

Events for Student Scholarships

NEXT-TO-NEW SALE
Sidwell’s hugely popular sale of quality used items is back and we need your help to make this event more successful than ever! The Next-to-New Sale will be held October 20-22 and is part of the Events for Student Scholarships program that raises money for financial aid. All proceeds directly benefit student financial aid.
We need your donations!
Collection times at the Wisconsin Avenue campus will run September 7 to October 10 on Mondays and Wednesdays from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. We will also have a limited number of collection days at the lower school—look for updates in future newsletters. Please click here for a list of items we accept and do not accept and directions on where and how to drop-off your donations.

We need volunteers!
There are volunteer jobs for everyone at this event! Both men and women are needed for weekday and weekend shifts. You can spend as much time helping as you would like—even a few hours is a huge help! We are looking for volunteers to assist with collecting, sorting and pricing donations, setting-up for the sale, cashiering, and cleaning-up, We are also looking for “Section Heads” for men’s clothing, textiles, shoes, and food for the volunteers. As a section head we ask that you take responsibility for a particular category of donations and oversee its organization. If you are interested in learning more about these positions, please contact Lauren Mulcahy, Director of Special Events at mulcahyL@sidwell.edu or at 202-537-8110.

This is a great way to meet members of the SFS community! Friends and extended family are also welcome to get involved.

Brightwood: Volunteers Needed

BRIGHTWOOD READING PROGRAM

Looking for a very rewarding and fun volunteer opportunity? Come learn more about our Brightwood Reading Partnership. Parent volunteers read to students at our sister school, Brightwood Elementary School in DC. Last year, volunteers read and donated more than 1500 books to students at Brightwood. A volunteer meeting will be held Friday, September 30th, 8:15-9 am, in the LS library. For more info, please email Vanessa Johnson, coordinator, at vannateach@verizon.net or call 301-613-5611.

MS TUESDAY NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

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Note Concerning the School Calendar:
The calendar entries that appear in the right column of each Newsletter are automatically generated by the official school