Subject: MS Tuesday Letter
From: <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:30:00 -0500

---------------------------------------------------
  
  MIDDLE SCHOOL TUESDAY LETTER
  
---------------------------------------------------

FROM THE SCHOOL
--------------------------------------------------

This Week's Query
How do we keep our resolutions for the New Year?

Notes From Sally
This week's assembly:  scenes from the 8th grade Drama classes.  
Parents are welcome to join us at 2:45p on Friday in the Arts Center 
theater.

Unfortunately we realized that when we posted our first trimester 
reports, attendance data was not included.  This will be corrected, 
and reports will be reposted by mid-week with attendance data 
included.   Our apologies!

Last call for Lost and Found!  If you know of something specific that 
your child has lost, please let me know by Friday before the clothing 
is donated.  Everything with a name in it was returned to the owner.

Drama teacher Tim Reagan will have a student teacher working with him 
over these next few months.  Please help us welcome Chelsea Padro to 
the Middle School.

Thanks to the students who are faithful tutors for the students at 
Hearst School across the street!  If any other students would like to 
participate in this program on Mondays or Thursdays, they can just 
let me know.    Tutoring takes place from 3:30 - 4:30, and students 
may be picked up on 37th Street when they are finished.

As we get back into the swing of things, I thought a few basic 
reminders would be valuable.  On 37th Street, please remember to pull 
all the way forward, both for drop-off in the morning and for pick-up 
in the afternoon. This keeps the traffic line stretched out so that 
we have fewer bottlenecks.  Also, please remember that students 
should not be left at school without supervision past 3:45p in the 
afternoon (2:25p on Tuesdays.)  This is for your child's safety!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the Holiday Gift 
Drive!

Instrumental Music Notes
5/6 Full Orchestra and Handchime Choir - Wednesday rehearsal period

7/8 Full Orchestra and Handbell Choir - Wednesday rehearsal period

5/6 Full Orchestra and Handchime Choir - Tuesday January 15th 2:30 - 
5:00 Art Center

7/8 Full Orchestra and Handbell Choir - to Lower School Friday 
January 18th 8am - 10:30am

Math Meet on January 30th
Attention 6th, 7th and 8th grade parents: The second math meet of the 
year will take place on Wednesday, January 30th, at St. Patrick's 
Episcopal Day School. At the meet, students will complete six fun and 
challenging problems along side other middle school students from 
area independent schools. An after school snack is provided at the 
meet. We will leave Sidwell Friends around 2:15 pm, and return to the 
Sidwell Friends garage at 4:15 pm. This a wonderful way for students 
to share an experience outside of school with other math enthusiasts 
their age. In order to attend, students need to sign up with their 
math teacher. They also need to have a math meet permission form 
(provided by their math teacher) signed and turned in to their 
teacher if they haven't already turned one in this year.

You Met the 90 for 90 Challenge - Thank You!
Thanks to the generous support of more than 725 SFS families, we 
succeeded in our efforts to reach 90 percent parent participation by 
December 31. This means the school will now receive an additional 
$90,000 from anonymous donors. Your gifts make a vital difference in 
support of financial aid, faculty salaries and professional 
development, classroom resources, and more. Thank you!

If you missed this opportunity to make your gift to meet the 
challenge, please remember that we are striving for an even higher 
level of parent participation by June 30, the end of our fiscal year. 
At the end of June in 2012, 95 percent of parents had made a 
contribution to the Fair Share Fund. With your help, we can surpass 
last year's participation!

We could only achieve this milestone with the help of our Fair Share 
Fund parent volunteers. We thank each of you who so generously 
donated your time on behalf of Sidwell Friends School.

PA ANNOUNCEMENTS
---------------------------------------------------

Board of Trustees Invitation: Community and Quaker Life Committee
As a vital step in the Sidwell Friends School Long Range Priorities 
implementation planning, you are invited to a Special Session of the 
Board of Trustees (Community and Quaker Life Committee) hosted by the 
Parents Association concerning the role of Quakerism in the life of 
the school:

The Quaker Audit

The SFS Board perceives a powerful consensus within the community for 
preserving, renewing, and extending Sidwell Friends' identity as a 
Friends school in the coming decades. How is Quakerism manifest in 
the life and program of the school?

And

The Quaker Conversation

The opening of the Robert L. Smith Meeting House at Sidwell Friends 
School at the center of the Wisconsin Avenue campus offers an 
unparalleled opportunity to deepen our students' spiritual experience 
on campus while convening a greater conversation within the broader 
community. What kinds of events might illuminate this Quaker 
Conversation?

Please mark your calendars and join us for one or both of two 
meetings: Wednesday January 16th in the Robert L. Smith meeting house 
and Thursday January 24th in the Lower School meeting house to 
discuss these two topics.

6:30 Light supper

7:00 Introduction to Quakerism by Tom Farquhar

7:30 Tom and PA QLC and members of the Board CQLC lead small group 
discussions

9:00 Adjourn

If you plan to attend please RSVP to Kathi Webb so we can ensure we 
have enough food for supper -- if you decide to come at the last 
minute that is fine too; please don't let the lack of a RSVP deter 
you from participating!

Community Service Corner
Toiletry Collection: Did you and your family travel over the 
holidays, and did you return with some extra travel size toiletries? 
Please consider contributing to the ongoing MS Toiletry Collection! 
Travel- or regular-sized personal care items will be donated to our 
partner organizations. A collection basket is in the MS office 
throughout the school year.

Your Old Cell Phone Can Save a Life: Consider donating your old cell 
phone to our partner, Secure the Call. They convert old cell phones 
into 911 Emergency Access Phones. There is a collection barrel in the 
MS lobby.

Questions? Contact MS Community Service Co-Clerks Sara Jane Harris or 
Felice Roggen.

OTHER NEWS
---------------------------------------------------

ARTRAGEOUS 2013 is coming on January 27th!
Recruiting Student Performers!

Share your talent - singing, dancing, playing - with a happy crowd of 
Sidwell families and friends at the all-free, all-school, all-age 
Arts Festival in the brand newly renovated Kogod Arts Center!

WHEN: Sunday, Jan 27: 1pm-4pm

WHERE: Kogod Arts Center on the Upper School campus: Town Square, 
Chamber Arts, The Artist's Block and the Art Stops and Food make up 
our own Arts Street Fair.

WHAT: Dance, sing, play an instrument. Demonstrate a skill. Do magic. 
Recite a poem, share a drawing, painting or sculpture and talk about 
it.

DETAILS: Solo or group performance: maximum 2-3 minutes for a solo, 
3-4 minutes for a group. Large groups can do one or two songs, not 
over 6 minutes. (The time limit is because lots of people want to 
perform and we want to give the chance to everybody!)

Please note: this is a Festival~ there is not a lot of set-up time or 
fancy tech support. Bands must plug their instruments into existing 
equipment and follow instruction by Hosts and MCs at each stage. 
Solos, duets and small groups will perform in Chamber Arts and have 
one mic, regular and electric piano and small amplifier for one 
instrument.

SO ~

Can you perform? Hope so! Send Roberta Gasbarre your name(s), contact 
info, performance type and title, and preferred time slot (in half 
hours) - or if you are OK any time, that's great too. Just reply to 
this email to let me know.

Questions? Email Roberta Gasbarre, Jamie Sandel ('13)'s mom, and this 
year's talent scout!

Can't WAIT to see you (or your Sidwellian) perform...

Calling All Volunteers!

ARTRAGEOUS is just around the corner and we need you! Come and join 
the fun! We need volunteers starting at 10am. Volunteer for half an 
hour, or as much time as you have. Interested? Please email Dana 
Lucas at [email-masked].

Art Can Supplies Request 

We can help you clean out your closet! Artrageous 2013 is in need of 
your gaudy garish ties. The Refashionista Station will transform them 
into something fabulous. Please drop-off in box at MS office.

Quaker Quotes
Quote for this week:

"Each person has inside a basic decency and goodness. If he listens 
to it and acts on it, he is giving a great deal of what the world 
needs most. It is not complicated but it takes courage. It takes 
courage for a person to listen to his own good." - Pablo Casals

"Quaker Quotes" is a weekly submission by Melissa Belman, Holly Moore 
and Cynthia Terrell. We welcome your thoughts.

MS Newsletter Information

     How to Subscribe: send an e-mail to [email-masked] 
with only "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

     How to Unsubscribe: send an e-mail to 
[email-masked] with only "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject 
line.

     How to Submit an Article to Tuesday Letter: Please send 
submissions, in the text of the body of the email, to 
[email-masked] by 2:00 p.m. on Monday. Please reference 
"Newsletter Submission" and the publish date(s) in the subject line. 
Please do not include any formatting such as indents, bullets, 
boldface or all-caps and keep submissions succinct. If you have a 
form or flyer to include with your submission, send it as a PDF 
attachment. Receipt of your submissions will be confirmed as soon as 
possible. Submissions may not run for more than three weeks.

     How to Modify an existing Submission: Please send a redline or 
otherwise clearly indicate the change to be made in a second email.

     Note Concerning the School Calendar: The calendar entries that 
appear in the right column of each Newsletter are automatically 
generated by the school, not by the Tuesday newsletter editors. All 
changes or additions to the school calendar must be made through the 
school scheduling office, reachable at [email-masked].

---------------------------------------------------
The Parents Association newsletters are a forum for communication 
among parents and provide 
announcements concerning School or PA events or information related 
to a School or PA event. 
MS newsletter submissions should be sent to 
[email-masked].

Sidwell Friends School
---------------------------------------------------
3825 Wisconsin Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20016
Tel: (202) 537 8100
Fax: (202) 537 8499
http://www.sidwell.edu/
               
How to Unsubscribe: If you have wish to have your name removed from 
the subscription list, send an e-mail to [email-masked] 
with only the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.