Eleanor Roosevelt High School PTA

Monthly Newsletter

September 2011

In This Issue
Model UN in China
Volunteer Opportunities
Summer Activities
New Course Offerings
Model UN Team Goes to China
Model Un Team in China
Read about the Model UN team's amazing trip to China. See Summer Activities below.
Upcoming Events
 
9/15 @ 6:00p
PTA General Meeting


9/16 @ 7:30a
12th Grade Family Breakfast


9/20 @ 5:30p
Curriculum Night
 
School Directory

Is your family's information included in our school directory? This is an essential tool for keeping in touch with your child's friends and their families. 

We cannot include your information unless you give us permission! If you are a new family, you may have signed up at the orientation in June; if not, or if you need to correct information for this year's directory, please use the links below to sign up. You can contact Mary Beth Walsh ([email protected] or 212 799 7049) with any questions or to check if you're listed. 
Quick Links

 

 

 

Eleanor Roosevelt in NYC
"Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. For one thing we know beyond all doubt: Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, `It can't be done.'" Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn By Living (1960), quoted by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project of The George Washington University.
 

 

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New Faces:
Laurie Bernstein

(Guidance Counselor)

 
Laurie Bernstein
Laurie Bernstein joins Eleanor Roosevelt from Wagner Middle School where she spent the last nine years as a guidance counselor.  Laurie is also a licensed mental health counselor who has taught graduate level counseling classes at Hunter College.  She was the recipient of the OTTY Educator of the Year Award in 2004 and holds a Masters degree in School Counseling.  When she is not at work she enjoys time with her one-year-old daughter.
Dear ERHS Parents,

Welcome back to school!

 

To our new families, we're delighted to have you as part of our community and look forward to meeting you and your child this year. For returning parents, you'll see a difference in our new monthly email newsletter - we've been working hard over the summer to improve communications with our families and we hope you like the results.

 

The PTA is part of what makes our school so great - stay involved with your child's education! We encourage you to read the weekly email, which includes a message from our principal, and to attend the monthly PTA meetings which are packed with information on school events, PTA initiatives, and presentations relevant to your child's high school experience. Volunteer! Whether you assist at tours, volunteer in the library or at the International Dinner, work on our auction or help with other PTA initiatives - it all adds to our community. Parent participation is vital to ERHS's success! 

We look forward to a great year,

Mary Beth Walsh & Susan Carr
PTA Co-Presidents
Volunteer Opportunities 

Advisory Parents

The PTA has started a new initiative to improve communication and parent involvement; we invite you to become an advisory (class) parent.  The advisory parents will coordinate with their two grade representatives to reach out to our families in their grade to welcome them to our community, inform them of important school activities and solicit their ideas and concerns, and encourage them to be involved in various school and PTA events. If you are interested in serving as an advisory parent, contact Mary Beth Walsh at [email protected] or Susan Carr at [email protected].

Canstruction

Courtesy Canstruction
This November ElRo is making its debut at the annual
Canstruction� charity competition. Mentored by architect parent Sandra Forman and faculty members Niki Lederer, Chin-Sung Lin, Yeou-Jey Hsu, Adrienne Rubin, and Howard Schott, students will design and build a giant structure made entirely from cans of food. The structures will then be on display from November 10-21 at the World Financial Center Winter Garden and Plaza to raise funds and awareness to fight hunger. At the end of the exhibit the cans will be donated to City Harvest. You can help by making a canned food or monetary contribution. Check the team website to learn more about our design and canned food needs.

PTA Newsletters

Copywriters, graphic designers and photographers are needed to work on the monthly PTA email newsletter. The time commitment is limited and much of the work can be done from home. Help the PTA get its message out to the ERHS community in style! For more information or to volunteer, contact PTA Secretary Matthew Haiken at [email protected].

Library Volunteers

 

Since January of 2011, I've had the pleasure and responsibility of being Eleanor Roosevelt's part-time librarian. I'm happy to say, I will be continuing in that capacity for the 2011-12 school year.  I'm grateful for the faith placed in me, and the opportunity to work with, and learn from the wonderful students and faculty of this unique school. We want the library to be a steadfast, supportive presence in the academic lives of the students and faculty. Mr. Saliani, Ms. Ettenheim, and I have been discussing how this can best be achieved, and maintained. While there are many components to the library's central role in supporting ElRo's mission, Information Literacy is key to your children's success during, and beyond high school. To that end, I will be devoting a lot of time and energy to insuring that your kids understand, and are able to perform sound research. Feedback and ideas from all corners--faculty, students, and parents--will be absolutely necessary to the development, growth and health of ElRo's library. Volunteers are intrinsic to the our success. I was pleased to work with several wonderful parents last year, and hope to see you again this year. If anyone else wants to devote some time to the noble cause of promoting a lifelong love of learning, please contact me ([email protected]). Your skills, talents and support will be greatly appreciated.


-- Harriet Mendlowitz (Librarian)
Summer_ActivitiesSummer Activities 

Model UN Team Goes to China

Nine students and three staff members (Ms. Greenstein, Ms. Cohen and Mr. Spear) left ELRO on Wednesday, August 3rd at 7 am, traveled to Toronto and landed in Beijing the following day.  Our first hotel looked like the Forbidden City. Our first week was spent at the Model UN Conference where we were among 3,000 participants. We had a fabulous time at the Global Village and the Delegate Dance where we met so many young people of diverse backgrounds and cultures.  After the conference was over, we toured with students from Scotland and Switzerland and made great friends.  We went to the Forbidden City, the Silk Market, the Great Wall, Drum Tower, Tiananmen Square, the Olympic Bird's Nest, 789 Art Studio, and the Summer Palace.  We camped out at the Great Wall. Our day began or ended with Mandarin language lessons and we went on scavenger hunts.  We learned about Chinese culture, religion, economy, art and education.  On tour we ate a variety of different foods, such as scorpion and many unknown dead animals.  Our entire trip was an amazing cultural experience, which we are so grateful for and will never forget.  The Chinese people loved us and were constantly asking us to take pictures with them.  It made us feel like celebrities.

-- Gabriella Carr-Malatzky (Senior)

Professional Development: AP Physics

This year, for the first time, 20 students at Eleanor Roosevelt H. S. have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement Physics B. I believe that this is a unique and profound academic step forward for our school. To prepare for this, I attended an AP Physics workshop at Hofstra University from June 28th through July 1st. The workshop met from 8 AM to 4 PM each day. Taught by a very experienced AP Physics teacher, Jesus Hernandez, 15 of us learned how to navigate through a wealth of material, emphasize problem-solving skills, design open-ended labs, and organize class time in such a way that our students could have a memorable AP experience. I was easily the oldest and most experienced teacher attending. When, on the first morning, we were asked to briefly describe our experience, I mentioned that I had just completed my 43rd year of teaching. Expressions in the room were blank with all present thinking that I had given my age as 43! When the penny dropped, there was considerable surprise! As for me, I was delighted to spend the time with a group of young, motivated and bright colleagues. None of this would have happened without the generous support of the Parents Association. Thank you for giving an old dog the opportunity to learn some new tricks. 
 
-- Howard Schott (Social Studies & Science Teacher)
New Course Offerings 

Health (Grades 9, 10 and 12)
 
At ELRO we want to give our students the ability to be well versed with the constant changes in health issues we face today. To do that we are providing all of our 9th, 10th and 12th graders with the unique opportunity to take health education courses.  The focus of the course is to give each student the opportunity to obtain, interpret and understand health information and services, and apply that knowledge to make informed health enhancing decisions in their daily life. This class will provide students with the Health Education necessary to enhance the health and wellness for themselves and others. This will allow us to explore in detail many health issues that are prevalent in today's society including: Prescription Medication Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Mental Health and my favorite, the opportunity to learn the lifesaving skills of (CPR) Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and (AED) Automated External Defibrillators.

-- Bill O'Sullivan (Physical Education Teacher)

 

Writing (Grades 9 and 10)


Based on student, parent and teacher feedback, the ElRo English Department has perceived a growing need for writing instruction.  This year we are introducing Freshman and Sophomore Composition, a one-semester course that is distinct from the 9th and 10th grade English courses.  It begins on the level of the sentence, moves to the paragraph, and culminates in argumentative, research, and nonfiction writing.  By the end of Fresh/Soph Composition, students will be able to:
  1. produce clear and coherent writing using the conventions of standard written English;
  2. make effective use of all steps of the writing process (prewriting, drafting, revision, proofreading and publishing);
  3. match the development, organization and style of their writing to suit the task, purpose and audience; and
  4. conduct research using multiple reliable sources and appropriately document their findings.
-- Emily Fink (English Teacher)