Thursday 6/10: 5^th grade goes to the White House with Everybody Wins Power Lunch Partners

The Wizard of Oz performance, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday 6/12: Birdwalk in Fort Dupont Park, 9-10 a.m.

Friday 6/18: Report Cards Distributed. Students whose families are vacationing or have previous plans for the week of June 21, please let us know and we will send home their June Memory Books and end of year packets.

Sunday 6/20: Brent Year-End Picnic, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Brent Day at the Nationals Game, 1:35 p.m.

Monday-Tuesday 6/21-22: Uniform-Free Days. Uniform Swap 8-10 a.m. and 3-5 p.m.

Tuesday 6/22: Last Day of School

5^th Graders Perform Hamlet at the Folger: Brent’s 5^th graders capped off their year-long partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library by performing an act from Hamlet at the George Didden Shakespeare Festival on Wednesday June 2. Brent is lucky to be one of five schools on Capitol Hill to participate in this introduction to Shakespeare and the world of theater led by artist-educators from the Folger. The 5^th graders explored the language and world of Shakespearean England, learned about period costumes and stage combat, then performed in the Folger’s Children’s Festival. Congratulations to Brent’s 5^th grade thespians, and thank you to Ms. Vaugeois, Ms. Woodard and the parents for your support!

Birdwalk This Saturday: By popular demand, Mike Mangiaracina is offering a birdwalk in Fort Dupont Park this Saturday June 12 from 9-10 a.m. This walk will be appropriate for kids and parents of all ages, and we will keep a checklist of all the birds we see and hear in this wonderful urban park. Meet in the parking area off of Fort Dupont Drive, near the entrance at Randle Circle and Fort Dupont Drive, SE. Please e-mail Mr. Mangiaracina to RSVP so we know how many people to expect: mike.mangiaracina@gmail.com.

Enjoy the Wizard of Oz this Thursday: Support Brent’s talented young actors! Selected students from all grades will perform in Brent’s second annual school play, The Wizard of Oz, this Thursday June 10 at 6:30 p.m. The actors have been working hard after school almost every day for months to prepare for the big performance! The actors should arrive by 5:30 p.m. on Thursday to get ready, and should bring their costumes to school on Wednesday for the dress rehearsal. We’re looking for parent volunteers to help the actors get into costume and assist with crowd control on Thursday night; please contact Mrs. Miller at s.derr@yahoo.com or Ms. Homayoun at all4wski@yahoo.com if you can help.

Sign Up for the Brent’s Year-End Picnic and Nats Game: Celebrate Father’s Day and the end of the school year with a big Brent extravaganza on Sunday June 20! The festivities begin at Garfield Park (2^nd and F Sts., SE) with a picnic catered by Brent’s very own Powell family ($10 per person for the catered lunch; or you can bring your own picnic lunch at no charge). Then we’ll walk en-masse to the stadium and watch the Nationals crush the White Sox at 1:35 p.m. Each Brent student can receive two free tickets to the game (student + guest) and we’ll all sit together in the outfield; additional free tickets may be available. Please return your ticket request form to school so you can receive your free tickets on June 20, and you can purchase lunch tickets before and after school in the front hall. Contact Daniel Holt at Daniel.holt@mail.house.gov with any questions. See you there!

Chinese Teacher Welcome and Recognition: Let’s get ready to welcome our new Chinese Exchange Teacher! Ms. CUI Jiangwei (Ms. Cui – pronounced Tsway) will arrive in our community on August 7. We will need volunteers to host welcome events and to take her on sight-seeing expeditions in her new hometown. Please contact Tobie Meyer-Fong (tmeyerf@mindspring.com) if you have leads on a long-term apartment (or shared apartment) for Ms. Cui or would like to host her for the first few weeks. Ms. Cui is from the city of Harbin in Heilongjiang Province. Harbin is in China’s far northeast and is famous for its winter ice festival – and for freezing cold temperatures far below zero! It is near Russia, and in the early twentieth century, the city had a significant Russian minority population. Ms. Cui has been teaching Chinese as a foreign language and English at Harbin Anjing Elementary School. She has nine years of teaching experience and is very excited about joining the Brent community. She is skilled in Chinese arts, including painting, calligraphy, music, dancing – and cooking! Let’s all look up information on Harbin, Heilongjiang so that we can surprise Ms. Cui with how much we know about her hometown! Award for Ms. Yu: Our current Chinese teacher, Yifang Yu, received special recognition for her contributions at Brent and beyond at the Teachers of Critical Languages Program’s concluding workshop. Marianne Craven, the Managing Director of Academic Programs at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs celebrated Ms. Yu for her achievements and for exemplifying the Teachers of Critical Languages Program’s values. Congratulations to Ms. Yu!

Green Team News:Brent has been featured in the cover story of the May issue of the Chesapeake Bay Journal (www.bayjournal.com) for helping to decrease the pollution in the Anacostia River and Chesapeake Bay. Thanks to all students, parents and neighbors for your help in supporting and maintaining the green spaces around school!

Quality Family Time: National Get Outdoors Day, Kingman & Heritage Islands (near RFK Stadium parking lot #6), Saturday June 12 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Enjoy live music, rock climbing, canoeing, fishing, bird watching, golfing, biking, geocaching, and planting flowers along the Anacostia River. See www.kingmanisland.org or www.livingclassroomsdc.org. Beaches, Blues, Crabs and Bacteria, Koshland Science Museum (6^th and E Sts., NW), Saturday June 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Explore the importance of clean beaches, learn how water quality tests work, and get a close-up view of animals that are part of beach ecosystems. See www.koshland-science-museum.org. Bolivia Fest, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, Saturday June 12 from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Celebrate the arts and artisans of Bolivia and the Peruvian Island of Taquile with craft demonstrations and live performances. See www.nmai.si.edu. Flag Day Family Festival, Smithsonian Museum of American History Museum, Saturday June 12 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Celebrate Flag Day with the actual flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, enjoy live performances and hands-on activities.

Several Short Notes: Vote in the LSRT elections: Today is the last day to vote for LSRT parent reps. Bessie will be at school at 3:15 p.m. and from 6-6:30 p.m. with the ballot box, or you can submit your ballot to the box in the office. Each parent may vote for up to four people to represent Brent next year in this advisory board to the principal. Brent recycles: Please bring in your empty CapriSun and HonestKids juice pouches and Elmer glue sticks to the collection bins by the front desk or cafeteria until the end of the school year, and our Brent Recyclebots team will submit them for recycling. Music students: All students who have borrowed instruments from Brent must return them to Ms. McDowell by this Friday June 11. After-school music classes on Fridays have concluded for this year. All guitar and piano students need to schedule an individual session with Ms. McDowell. Health Department Award: From Nurse James: Brent Elementary has once again achieved a 100% immunization compliance rate for 2009-10. As a result, the Department of Health has awarded Brent Elementary School the immunization excellence award. Thank you Brent parents and staff for your consistent effort in maintaining our children’s immunizations! Exhibit night thanks: Ms. Basralian and Ms. Rouse would like to thank everyone for their hard work to make last week’s museum exhibit night a big success! Paper bags needed: Please donate brown grocery bags to Ms. Basralian, who can use them to send home student artwork. Swim and help Brent: The Capitol Skyline Hotel swimming pool has agreed to donate 10% to Brent if you use the code Brent Friends Swim when you sign up for a pool membership this summer. The membership costs $450 per family, and the pool is convenient (South Capitol and I Sts., SW), fun and is filled with Brent families! See www.capitolskyline.com or contact General Manager Jeff Ragonese at jragonese@capitolskyline.com or (202) 349-1550. Middle school meeting with Chancellor Rhee: Chancellor Rhee will meet with the Brent community at Jefferson Middle School (801 7^th St., SW) on Wednesday June 23 from 5-6 p.m. Uniform swap volunteers: We’re still looking for volunteers to help sort and distribute clothes for the uniform swap on Monday June 21 and Tuesday June 22, from 8-10 a.m. and from 3-5 p.m. Please contact Christy Birdsong at crobbins_73@yahoo.com or (202) 607-7350 to volunteer.

• TuesNews
• Comments Off