Ms. Chang's advisory class produced two videos about Respect For All Week. Please watch both videos and vote for your favorite one!
Monday and Wednesday Advisory Video
The second video begins at 1:26 minutes.
The group with the winning video will get a pizza party!
VOTE BY NEXT WEDNESDAY, 3/30 AT MIDNIGHT.
RESULTS: First group won by two votes! Congratulations!
On March 26, 2011, we will begin our ELA Saturday Test Prep Academy for Middle School students. This program is designed to prepare your child for the 2011 New York State English Language Arts Exam. All students in grades 6-8 are invited and encouraged to participate.
All students will enter and leave the building through the front doors. The program will begin at 8:45 A.M and will finish at 11:00 A.M. In addition to the Saturday program, we will have one Wednesday afternoon session.
The dates are as follows:
Saturday, March 26
Saturday, April 2
Saturday, April 9
Wednesday, April 13 (2:45 P.M. - 4:45 P.M.)
Saturday, April 30
Please download and sign the permission slip no later than March 23, 2011 and return it to Ms. Braverman in room 424.
From Ms. Kramer:
On March 17th, I had the privilege of chaperoning a trip to Manhattan with the NYPD Explorers and two police officers from the 109th precinct. We stopped first at the St. Patrick's Day parade on 5th avenue and watched many members of our armed forces and local city police officers marched passed us. There were many Pipe Bands from high schools, colleges and adult societies. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being outside.
After the parade we headed to the 20th precinct on the Upper West Side with our officers' Sergent McGowan and took a quick tour of the precinct. After a yummy lunch at Wendy's we headed to the Police Museum all the way at the lower tip of Manhattan. Officer Ishaq led us through the museum and pointed out artifacts from fallen officers from September 11th and sicknesses that eventually killed those who worked at Ground Zero. The students had fun in the mock prison cell and taking a simulated fitness challenge versus the officers. Explorers win!!
 |
| NYPD Explorers trip to Manhattan 3-17-11 |
Update: View videos of the presentation, as well as thank you letters from East-West students at Youth Voices.
"Your struggle has taught me that no matter how hard it gets you can survive and become a better person. Thank you so much for sending your book to our school and then visiting us."
 |
| 12th grade students gather to hear Rosa speak. From Rosa Strygler |
Background information from Ms. Park:
Rosa Strygler is a holocaust survivor. She has written a book, Rosa, which tells the story of her growing up in Poland and being sent to Auschwitz in her early teens. She interweaves the story with her memories, as a mother living in New York in the early 70s, of having a son fall into heavy drug use and mental illness. It's a moving story, but an uplifting one in the sense of her strength as a survivor and someone who has given back to the community by volunteering at Rikers Island with young prisoners and helping to counsel them. She donated her books for the 12th graders to read and discuss when she arrived. All assignments were given through the Senior English classes.
Rosa currently lives in New York City with her husband and an adopted daughter from China.
Read more about Rosa on her profile at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which she greatly supports.
 |
| The two other pillars of East-West. From Rosa Strygler |
Rosa invited the students to ask her any question they wanted. She responded frankly as students grappled with the enormity of her life experiences. It was a valuable opportunity to learn about someone who lived through incredible hardship.
Above all, Rosa wanted to make sure that young people never forgot that the Holocaust happened so that it would never happen again.
Kwaku Oware-Addai, a 12th grade ELA student and recent first place winner of the G2G contest, wrote a poem to reflect on what he learned about the Holocaust. Continue reading for the full poem.
Holocaust
What is the holocaust?
Did it even exist?
Many people just call it a myth
6 million dead by one man’s hand
Surely countries took a stand
6 million that is just crazy
Killing the old, the young and even babies?
This can’t be true who would allow this to happen
6 million is as big as Manhattan
The holocaust is not a type of fiction
All those souls lost is not a prediction
They were taken from home and placed in camps
Telling the people they don’t have a chance.
Taking their name and given a number
Forced to sleep while outside thunders
Forced to work without pay
Some did not make it by the end of the day
Treated like animals and put in a cage
People waited for them to rot and decay
Death was around and invoked fears
Causing people to believe the end was near
But through the day and through the night
There were those who would put up a fight
Having hope allowed them to strive
Which led many to survive
Through the day and through the night
Jews fought a perilous fight
Facing death with light from hope
They no longer began to mope
Some were able to leave the camp alive
Walk out in the open while maintaining their pride
The holocaust was an event that should not have happened
Ignorance made men hate with passion
Lives were lost because of this action
The lesson of the story as you can see
Is don’t ever repeat history.
On March 11, Japan suffered an 8.9-magnitude earthquake, the greatest one in its history, as well as a devastating tsunami.
As an international studies school with Japan as one of our areas of focus, we responded immediately so that all students and staff were informed of the disaster and understood the severity and scope of its destruction.
Mr. Bantz, one of our Japanese teachers, and Ms. Panday quickly prepared a presentation as students and staff filed into the auditorium for Morning Muster. Students viewed video clips of the tsunami and learned which parts of Japan were affected. Mr. Bantz concluded by asking everyone to keep Japan in their thoughts. Mr. Sherman encouraged teachers to adjust their lessons to explore different aspects of the disaster, such as the scientific cause behind earthquakes.
Building compassion for countries and people who exist thousands of miles away and have different customs, beliefs, and language is an international school's ultimate goal. By increasing awareness of the interdependence of our wellbeing, we strive to train our students to become empathetic and proactive global citizens.
East-West students visit a Japanese elementary school (Japan trip 2009)