Greene Notes

Welcome to the E.H. Greene Intermediate School Newsletter! We will share important information and highlight the great things our students and teachers are doing at our school. You can expect this in your inbox each week on Friday afternoon.

Attendance Line: (513) 686-1756

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR:

Now through December 6th - Canned Food Drive

Wednesday, November 21 - Friday, November 23 - Thanksgiving Break

Monday, November 26 - Vision and Hearing Screenings (5th graders)

Tuesday, November 27 - Vision and Hearing Screenings (5th graders)

Wednesday, November 28 - 8:30 - 10:15 am - MAP testing for 5th and 6th graders

Thursday, November 29 - 8:30 - 10:15 am - MAP testing for 5th and 6th graders

Tuesday, December 4 - 5th and 6th Grade Winter Orchestra Concert - 7:00 pm

Monday, December 10 - 5th and 6th Grade Band Concert - 6:30 pm

Thursday, December 13 - 5th and 6th Grade Choir Concert - 6:00 pm

Student Council is leading the canned food drive this year through the Freestore Foodbank. We are collecting items now through December 6th. We ask that donations be non-perishable items; also, we cannot accept any glass items. Thank you so much for donating to the canned food drive!

Annual Hearing and Vision Screening will take place for all 5th graders and New to the district students on Monday, November 26th and Tuesday, November 27th. Please email the nurse if you do NOT want your child screened.

dobrowolskil@sycamoreschools.org

We hope you have found our tips for implementing those Aviator Expectations at home helpful! Do you have a success story we can share? If so, please feel free to email Ms. Brubaker at brubakera@sycamoreschools..org to share! We can post your story (anonymously if you wish!) for others to see and from which to learn.

Also, be sure to ask your child about First Class Passes! Students have been receiving these passes for following the Aviator Expectations. Each team has come up with their own incentives for “cashing in” the passes. In addition, students can put passes into their team bucket for a monthly drawing that takes place along with our First Friday activities. We’ll tell you more about First Friday in the next newsletter.

I want to thank our PTO for sharing this with me. It is a Tech Talk Tuesday tip from the makers of the documentary Screen Agers. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving is this week, and I have some ideas about how to support more face-to-face interactions and fewer retreats into all our individual devices. Rarely do I say something so prescriptive, but I’m taking a leap. I recommend for Thanksgiving that all personal portable devices go into a big basket. Also, I recommend saying that all other screens are shut down for the day (except possibly for a TV if you watch sports that day, and a shared computer, for a reason I will explain below).

So, here are some fun ideas and I am jazzed to get to do these with my family in 2 days!

First, what a perfect time to look at all those wild and crazy photos you’ve taken throughout the year and to give thanks to the experiences that have transpired. It is also a nice time to look at pictures that are actually on photographic paper. What about taking that tub of photos that you’ve never put into an album, and dump them on a table like you would a puzzle, and then everyone casually hunts for treasures. And if you don’t have access to paper photos, here is why I said one shared computer could be OK—to look at photos together.

Another wonderful thing to consider is putting on music and getting people to demonstrate the dance moves from their “time.” Let’s undo the sad reality that in the U.S., the cross-generational bonding activity of dancing is pretty much reserved only for weddings. But we can change that, at least for one day. How about some square dancing (I loved when we did that in my elementary school), the Macarena, a few ballroom steps, or some disco moves (which is making a comeback these days).

What about cloud gazing? This TED Radio podcast is about Gavin Pretor-Pinney's Cloud Appreciation Society and all the joy and calm that comes from marveling at the clouds above, whether alone or with others. I am not sure if this would work in Seattle where I live because the sky is often one giant grey cloud, but I am motivated to do this on Thanksgiving.

Another idea for connecting with people and nature is to go outside and walk to a neighbor’s home to say thank you—thanking them for whatever you can think of—the key is the act of appreciation that we have wonderful people in our community and we are lucky to have them. I plan to take my family out on a walk and indeed do this. What a great way to build community—and even if they are out for the day, leave a note. Think how happy Mister Rogers would be... and you could come back and together watch the trailer to the record-setting documentary about him.

Board games are always fun and such a forgotten pastime. Monopoly has just released a Millennial edition where players collect “experience points” by visiting places like a meditation retreat or a 3-day concert. The player who collects the most experiences, not money, wins. However, it is so popular that it might be impossible to get for Thanksgiving. Consider stopping by a neighbor and seeing if they have a game you could borrow.

For more inspiration check out this list of boardgames I compiled last holiday season.

For this TTT, talk about what offline activities your family likes to do during the holiday season. Here are some questions to get the conversation started:

• What games did you play as a kid that you would like to share with your kids?

• Ask any guests or family if they have a bin of pictures they might want to contribute for a “picture activity.”

• What people are you thankful for in your community? How about something in nature?

• Why do we not have more opportunities for people of all ages to dance together? It is so fun!

Delaney Ruston, MD
Screenagers' Filmmaker
www.screenagersmovie.com
415-450-9585

Is your child looking to get involved in after school activities? Check out our Activities Brochure. We will announce to students before clubs start and how to sign up. This post will stay at the bottom of our newsletters if you are looking for it later.

Activities Brochure 2018-19

Website: http://www.sycamoreschools.org/Domain/10
Location: 5200 Aldine Drive, Cincinnati, OH, United States
Phone: (513) 686-1750
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EH-Greene-Intermediate-1777365652527973/
Twitter: @EHGreeneSchool