Tuesday News – March 9, 2010
Tuesday 3/9: Gala Committee meeting, 6:30 p.m.
604 South Carolina Ave., SE
Tuesday 3/10: Rehearsal for International Night Fashion Parade, 5 p.m. in the cafeteria
Thursday 3/11: Brent International Night, 6-8 p.m.
Tuesday 3/16: Brent Publishing Party, 6:15 – 7:15 p.m.
Friday 3/26: Early dismissal – school ends at 12:15 p.m.
March 29 – April 5: Spring Break
School resumes on Tuesday April 6
International Night this Thursday: Celebrate Brent’s rich diversity at International Night this Thursday March 11! Enjoy a feast with food from throughout the world prepared by Brent families, an international fashion show featuring Brent kids, and exhibits of cultural artifacts from around the globe. The festivities run from 6 – 8 p.m. It’s not too late to sign up to bring food! Please deliver your dish to school by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and be prepared to serve it at the buffet, where you’ll get an opportunity to explain your dish. Also, please let Ms. Homayoun (all4wski@yahoo.com) know if you can arrive early at 5 p.m. to help with set up or if you can bring tablecloths that represent a country or culture. And please contact Ms. Levin (ja9levin@gmail.com) if you can lend any costumes or international outfits for children or adults to wear in the fashion show. Anyone who is interested in participating in the fashion parade should attend the rehearsal on Wednesday March 10 at 5 p.m. in the cafeteria. Please pick up children from aftercare by 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Brent Publishing Party: Support Brent’s young authors at the Publishing Party on Tuesday March 16 from 6:15 – 7:15 p.m. The evening will begin with performances in the cafeteria, then families will visit the classrooms and hear students in kindergarten through grade 5 talk about the books they have written in class. You’ll have an opportunity to get autographs from the young authors, learn about their work, and celebrate their publishing success!
Brent Kids and the First Lady: Brent students in grades 1-3 were invited to a special event at the Library of Congress last Tuesday to hear Michelle Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan read Dr. Seuss stories to kick off the Read Across America program, which encourages grown-ups to read to kids throughout the year. The kids particularly enjoyed the First Lady’s spirited reading of the Cat in the Hat, in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday, and their souvenir red-and-white striped hats (see photo).
Reading Olympics: Students in grades 3-5 participated in a Reading Olympics with their War College tutors last week. The kids have been working so hard on reading fluency and comprehension (in Ticket to Read and in class), says Ms. Ewbank, that it seemed like a good time to change the pace and play a group game that brought together all of what they have been practicing. The Reading Olympics spanned three days and included a Main Idea Event, A Vocabulary Event, a Sequencing Event, and an Analyze Details Event. Each event required students to read a passage about the actual winter Olympics (such as one about Apolo Ohno and another about the snowboarding halfpipe) and compete to correctly answer questions about the passage using the skills for each event. Points were awarded to all teams with correct answers, so there were many teams tied at the end of the day. All the winning students received medals, and everyone had a great time. The tutors were fantastic about promoting sportsmanship and supporting the students while they worked – they wanted to know if we could play again! And the students all reported that they had lots of fun. See the photo of the Olympians in action.
Top Restaurants at the Gala: Several of Washington’s most talented chefs will be serving signature dishes paired with wines at Brent’s annual Taste of the Hill Gala on April 17 at St. Mark’s Church. Belga Café, Matchbox, Poste Brasserie, Bistro Bis, Charlie Palmer Steak and Sonoma have signed up to participate, and others are expected to join them. Nadine Brown, sommelier of Charlie Palmer Steak, will again pair the wines with each restaurant’s dish. If you haven’t already purchased tickets, please do so! Tickets cost $75 and can be purchased online at www.buybrent.org or by contacting Julie Santoboni at jsantoboni@gmail.com or Daniel Holt at Daniel.holt@mail.house.gov. (Also, please contact Julie if you can help sell tickets before or after school.)The next Gala Committee meeting will be held on Tuesday March 9 at 6:30 p.m. at 604 South Carolina Ave., SE. Food will be provided.
Middle School Update: The Middle School Working Group is looking for a deeper understanding of how Brent parents might feel about aspects of a potential DCPS middle school proposal. We need your priorities, your deal-breaker, and where we have room to strike a deal. We will be called on to represent your needs and desires and want to be sure that everyone has a chance to express them. Please take a moment to fill out the Middle School Survey that was sent home with your child today. You can remain anonymous or include your information on the survey. Please return the completed surveys to your child’s teacher or place them in the Middle School Survey box in the office as soon as possible (one survey per family). Contact Ruey Timberg at rtimberg@gmail.com or (607) 643-3005 with any questions. Thanks for participating.
Brent Ski Club: Lots of Brent kids hit the ski slopes this winter, and we seem to have enough future Lindsey Vonns and Bode Millers to start a ski club! Nothing competitive, just a great way to meet other families who love to ski. If we have enough interest, Tessa Muehllehner and John Day (parents of skiers in kindergarten and grade 3) will host a potluck dinner on Saturday March 13 to kick off the club, then go skiing the next day, if anyone would like to meet up. Contact Tessa and John at johnandtessa.dc@verizon.net or 202-544-9172 for details and to RSVP.
Quality Family Time: Terra Cotta Warriors, National Geographic Museum (17th and M Sts., NW). Stand face to face with the Terra Cotta Warriors that guarded the tomb of China’s first emperor nearly 2,000 years ago and became one of the greatest archeological finds of the 20th century. The exhibit ends on March 31 and most weekend tickets are already sold out, but tickets remain available for several weekdays (the museum is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, and stays open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays). See www.nationalgeographic.com/terracottawarriors for tickets and a schedule of available dates (tickets cost $12 for adults and $6 for children ages 2-12).
Reptile Day, National Aquarium (1401 Constitution Ave., NW), Saturday March 13, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Enjoy crafts and story time, talks about reptiles, and a 2 p.m. shark feeding. See www.nationalaquarium.com/calendar_march.html. Dino Rock at the Zoo, the National Zoo, Sunday March 14 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. See Grammy-award nominee Dino Rock’s “Dinosaur Babies,” an interactive musical puppet theater performance, as part of the Zoo’s Wild Side Stage series. (This event was rescheduled from Feb. 7). Tickets cost $5 for FONZ members, $7 for nonmembers. See http://nationalzoo.si.edu/activitiesandevents/celebrations/wildsidestage for tickets and details.
