SFS LS THURSDAY LETTER 12-16-10

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thursday@listserv.sidwell.edu

DATE:

2010-12-16 08:30:00

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R. Hunter Biden <hbiden@senecaga.com>

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PROCESSED

Thursday - December 16, 2010

From the School

QUERY
“How can we listen to others with an open heart,
respect others and include others in play and
in games?”
-- Grade 2CHANGES IN AFTER-SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION
Change_in_Transportation_form.pdfWe take the responsibility of keeping your children safe very seriously. We will not accept any changes that are requested by phone. Please remember to inform your child’s teachers in writing about changes in transportation. We encourage you to send in a paper note on the day of the change as this is a reminder to your child about the change and helps him/her to feel responsible and comfortable with the plans. Please include the first and last name of your child and the first and last name of the child with whom your child is leaving school. If your child has forgotten the note, you may email the classroom teacher/s and Barbara Conte conteb@sidwell.edu before 10 AM to inform us of the change. Emails are not accepted happily as we are very busy throughout the day and often do not have time to check emails. Late changes will not be honored unless it is a true emergency. Last minute changes usually cause anxiety. See below for hard copy of transportation change. Read MoreWEDNESDAY MORNING MATH SCHEDULE CHANGES
Over the years, we have come to realize that it is difficult for families to get the children to Wednesday Morning Math in the weeks right before and after winter break. Therefore, we have decided to cancel the Wednesday Morning Math sessions for those two weeks – Wednesday, December 15 and Wednesday, January 5.
Wednesday Morning Math will return after its holiday break on Wednesday, January 12. We hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing break.
Raina and Merry

PA Announcements

FROM THE LS DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
We welcome your comments and feedback, as well as your experiences. Email arringtonlp@hotmail.com.
COMMUNITY SERVICE CORNER
WEEKEND VOLUNTEERING FOR FAMILIES IN JANUARY
Weekend slots fill quickly.
A Wider Circle
Join SFS families at A Wider Circle in Silver Spring on Sunday, January 9 from 1 to 2:30 PM. Volunteers will help sort children’s clothing, household items, pantry foods and furniture. Your time will greatly benefit AWC’s Neighbor to Neighbor as they help families who are just leaving shelters to make a warm, safe, and comfortable home. All families welcome (ages 4 and up), Kindergarten and First Grade families encouraged. Please RSVP to Sara Jane Harris, sjrharris@comcast.net.
Martha's Table
On Saturday, January 22 from 10 AM to 12:30 PM, we have 12-15 volunteer slots to work at Martha’s Table making and bagging donated food to feed people who are hungry throughout the city. You can even take a tour through the kitchen where you will see the enormous pot your Wednesday Veggies fill to make the famous Martha’s Table soup! All families welcome (ages 4 and up), Third Grade families encouraged. (Families can leave earlier than 12:30 PM if they need to.) Please RSVP by January 7 to Felice Roggen at froggen@mac.com . Spots are limit. Please do not sign up unless you can commit to the morning as this will prevent another family from using the slots.
LOOKING FOR WAYS TO GIVE BACK OVER THE WINTER BREAK?
Many families are interested in volunteering in the community, but have trouble finding meaningful opportunities for young children to help in a meaningful way. If you have a free morning or afternoon this winter break or over the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, and are looking for ideas of how you can help out, we have suggestions! We've put together a list of fun and age appropriate activities that you can do to support Lower School's community service partners (A Wider Circle, Bethesda Cares and Martha's Table). Everything from making apple crisp or bag lunches to playing a concert for the elderly. Please click on the Sidwell Friends School web link below for specific suggestions on how you can get involved. If you're interested, please contact the service partners directly. Some activities require advance planning and some can be done spur of the moment. Please share your volunteering experiences with us -- we'd love to hear how it went! -- LS Community Service Committee (Lisa Ward wards4107@comcast.net, Beth Zeugin bczeugin@comcast.net, Evelyn Nicholas wwwevelyn@comcast.net, and Karen Lager rklager@yahoo.com )
http://www.sidwell.edu/broadcast/action/clickthru.aspx?id=366.1201.638398.25157.7596
HOLIDAY GIFT COLLECTION A SUCCESS
A resounding thank you to all who contributed to the Holiday Gift Giving project. Volunteers delivered big boxes of toys and games to A Wider Circle and Martha's Table. And a box of wonderful books is on its way to the students at Brightwood Elementary. We appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness in making the holiday season brighter for those who are going through a difficult time during the holiday season. A special thank you, as well, to our volunteers who helped sort and deliver gifts: Simon Steel, Diara Holmes, and Damon Jones, Happy Holidays! -- LS Community Service Committee.
COMMUNITY SERVICE DAYS ARE COMING
In the new year, the Community Service Committee will be looking for parent volunteers to help with the community service projects on the parent-teacher conference days, March 1 (K and 1st grade) and March 3 (2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades). If you are interested in volunteering, please mark your calendar.
SALLY FOSTER GIFT WRAPS AND GIFTS
STOCK UP NOW FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
Sally Foster is a school-wide sale that includes quality gift-wrap and delicious gourmet chocolates among many other great gift items available through a convenient online catalogue. 50% of all sales go directly to student financial aid. All orders may be placed now through January 31, 2011 at www.sallyfoster.com. When prompted at check-out, enter the SFS account code 505552 so that 50% of the proceeds are properly recorded to our school.

Other News

VARIETY SHOW 2011: JANUARY 9
Here’s a Holiday Gift That Keeps on Giving!
Give your extended family, your friends, your child's favorite teacher tickets to Variety Show 2011 -- the annual showcase where alumni professionals in the performing arts return to entertain us. You’ll be giving your children an evening with great role models. And you’ll be giving the gift of student financial aid – all proceeds go to Events for Student Scholarships.
The Ninth Annual Variety Show is set for Saturday, January 29, 2011, at 8 PM in the Kogod Arts Center. Click here to buy tickets. Become a sponsor and give yourself the gift of a tax deduction! Order now; this show SELLS OUT!
CHEER VARSITY WRESTLING ON DECEMBER 18
Friends, Parents, Future SFS Varsity Wrestlers -- Come and cheer on our award-winning wrestling team!

When: This Saturday, December 18, 2010, 9 AM to 3 PM (last matches start around 2:45 PM) (Yummy Lunch and Snacks available all day!)
Where: Our new GYM!
Who: Our TERRIFIC SFS VARSITY Wrestlers and coaches, and supporters, in competition with St. Anselm’s Abbey, St. Albans, Mercersburg, Heights, Georgetown Prep, Georgetown Day, Burke, Archbishop McNamara
Why: It’s exciting, entertaining, and if you’ve never seen an SFS wrestling match, you’ll be AMAZED! Come and see, you may want to try the sport out yourself (Boys AND Girls)!
Questions? Please email pianolum@gmail.com.
KNITTING NOTES -- DESPERATE FOR NEEDLES!
We have many enthusiastic knitters every Friday, and more are interested! We expect to be teaching many new knitters in January. PLEASE send in your knitter with his or her own pair of size 7, 8, or 9 straight knitting needles. If you have some to spare, we’ll use them! If you have a lapsed knitter who has a pair of our needles at home, please return them! Contributions of yarn are also welcome. Send knitting materials to the LS Technology Lab.
Jenni Swanson VoorheesTECHNOLOGY IDEAS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
T4L_Parent Purchase Program.pdfDuring the holidays your children may have more time to spend online. I’ve put together a list of interesting, entertaining, and skill-building sites for our Lower School students. It is linked to the Lower School Technology page, but you can link to it directly here: http://www.sidwell.edu/broadcast/action/clickthru.aspx?id=366.1201.638398.25157.7598.
Third and Fourth graders should spend some time during the holidays practicing their keyboarding skills on Typing Pal Online: http://school.typingpal.com/?SIDWELL.
And finally, if your child has talked about Pixie, one of the drawing tools we use in class, it is available at a discount to parents courtesy of Tech4Learning. Please see the attached flyer.
Jenni Swanson Voorhees
Read MoreARTRAGEOUS SHOUT OUT - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
ARTRAGEOUS SHOUT OUT! Friends, Parents, Patrons, lend us your love of all things Art! ArtRageous (Sunday, January 30 from 1-4 PM) promises to bring out the artist or art appreciator in you if you'll help us bring out the RAGE in ART! This SCHOOL-WIDE day of COMMUNITY and ART is fabulously fun, and it CANNOT happen without YOU! We are excited by a new venue this year - the beautiful Middle School - and it's going to be exhilerating to celebrate the arts in ways old and NEW in the cool Blackbox Theatre, the professionally designed Art Studios, the inspiring Instrumental and Choral Classrooms - BUT WE NEED YOU. Set up (morning), Clean up (4-5:30 PM), Assisting Art Stops and other events (1-4 PM) - we've got a place only YOUR SHOES will dance in! To reserve your place in making this happen, please contact Rebecca Boylan at boylanr@georgetown.edu, and THANK YOU!ARTS GUILD REFLECTIONS -- SHARED BY A SFS PARENT
The next Arts Guild is THIS Friday, December 17, at 7 PM in SFS’s Kogod Arts Center. Let SFS US artists offer you a spectacular way to begin Winter Break! Please click on "Read More" to read reflections on Arts Guild shared by an Upper School parent. Read MoreSIDWELL'S GOT TALENT-CHILDREN NEEDED!
Last year, the Lower School children brought Star Wars the Musical and Chorus to Artrageous. The children were sensational. This year, we are asking for your child to participate in the first lower school talent showcase: Sidwell’s Got Talent!: Spotlight on the Lower School!

What is SIDWELL’S GOT TALENT ABOUT? A talent show showcasing the talents of dance, vocals, movement and the performing arts. The show will comprise of a collection of performances-each performance lasting no longer than 2 minutes. We are looking for original artistic expressions of the things your children enjoy and find fun. It should be both Artrageous and age appropriate! Examples include a song from a Broadway musical, a pop song, grade performance of one number from a grade play, fresh take on famous speeches.... Click on the "Read More" link below to find out more about participating in Sidwell's Go Talent!
The first open rehearsal will take place on Friday, January 7 from 3:30-6:30 PM at the Middle School theatre. (Note time, date and venue change). Please note you will not be required to stay for the whole duration -- we will be giving time slots for your child via email. Students seeking solo or small group performances may as always perform in Chamber Arts or Town Hall; please see article in Newsletter from Maude Fish re Artrageous.
Read MoreARTRAGEOUS WANTS YOU!
Put on your dancing shoes, exercise your fingers, warm up those voices, plug in the guitars, and rise up to this CALL for all performing musicians to participate in the fun event known as ArtRageous! This happening takes place in the beautiful spaces of the Middle School this year on Sunday, January 30, 1:00-4:00 PM. Write it down now, and reserve your chance to participate by sending a note to maude.fish@comcast.net. Please include your name, and/or your parent's name, and contact information, how you wish to perform, what you wish to perform, i.e. the title of the piece and its author, composer, or choreographer. If you have a specific time preference for your performance, you can include this in your email and we will TRY to accommodate. We seek performers of all ages and skill levels! Due to the high volume of talent at Sidwell, we suggest that you limit the duration of your performance to 2-3 minutes. Do you want to rock out with your band? Play the piano as a solo or in a chamber ensemble? Sing a folk tune with a fiddler or two? Perform a dance? or act out a skit? PLAN AHEAD, start preparing now, and send an email to Maude Fish. You will receive an acknowledgment via email in return.EVENTS FOR STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS ANNUAL AUCTION ON APRIL 16
Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 16, 2011 for the All Hands on Deck themed benefit auction at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium. All auction proceeds go directly to student financial aid. This will be a fabulous event you won’t want to miss!
Click on "Read More" below to find out about making a tax-deductible donation. Donation deadline is January 31, 2011. Donate today!

We still need volunteers to help solicit donations. This is much easier than it sounds. It entails following-up with about ten parents or businesses to make sure they get their donations in by the deadline. It only takes a couple hours, yet makes a huge different. To volunteer please contact events@sidwell.edu. Read More75 FOR 75 FAIR SHARE CHALLENGE
We are excited to announce that a few anonymous parents have joined forces to issue a collective Fair Share challenge to the current parent community at Sidwell Friends. Never before has your participation in the Fair Share Fund had such a monumental impact!
THE CHALLENGE: If parent participation in Fair Share reaches 75 percent by December 31, 2010, our anonymous donors will give a combined contribution of $75,000 to the Fund!
Click on the "Read More" link to find out more about the 75 for 75 Fair Share Challenge. Please make a gift or a pledge today and help us meet this extraordinary challenge! Visit www.sidwell.edu/support to make a gift or e-mail your pledge to Leslie Hutchens, Director of Annual Funds, at hutchensl@sidwell.edu. Thank you to all those who have already supported Fair Share! Read MoreWINTER BREAK CAMP
winter_break_flyer.pdfPlease join us over winter break – we are offering programs by the day for students in PK – Grade 10! Whip up delicious dishes with Chef Kevin, create adorable gifts and fashionable outfits and accessories with Handwork Studios, kick around with travel soccer coaches from Stoddert, and burn off excess holiday spirit our Sports & Games camp for the young ones! Click here for the flyer or apply online at www.sidwell.edu/summer. Sign up by the day with half, full and extended day options. Contact us with any questions – 202-537-8133 or summer@sidwell.edu. Read MoreGREAT NEWS FROM THE FOX DEN!
Now you can shop at the Fox Den 24 hours a day! The online store is up and ready for your viewing and shopping pleasure. Just click here and shop. Please feel free to call or email Donna C. Osborn (202.537.8198 or osbornd@sidwell.edu ) if you have any questions.LS THURSDAY LETTER INFORMATION
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Calendar

Thu, Dec 16th

PA Arts Committee Meeting

US Library Board Room
7:45pm - 9:30pm

Fri, Dec 17th

Assembly: US Chamber Chorus

LS MultiPurpose Room
9:00am - 10:00am

Sat, Dec 18th

Winter Vacation Begins

Mon, Dec 20th

Winter Break Camp

Lower School
9:00am - 3:00pm