Latin serves grades 5-8 at 4115 16th Street, NW and grades 9-12 at 4715 16th Street, NW.

For more information, visit www.latinpcs.org.

Locations include Cathedral Heights (St. Albans/NCS) as well as Bethesda and McLean.  Camps start the week of June 11 and run through the week of August 20.  Discounts are available for groups, siblings, multiple weeks, and early enrollment.

For more information, read the Headfirst Brochure or visit www.headfirstcamps.com.

We’d like to get your feedback on a proposed “Bike Rodeo” in Glover Park this coming spring. The tentative location is the basketball court at Guy Mason Recreation Center. Proposed dates include April 28th (Saturday), April 29th (Sunday), May 5th (Saturday) and May 6th (Sunday).

Bike Rodeo is the term Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) uses for a *fun* hands-on exercise using bikes and an obstacle course to teach kids the skills they need to safely stop and control their bikes. Anyone with a bike is welcome to participate, although WABA finds that kids up to age 12 are most interested in the event. Kids with training wheels are encouraged to participate too.

When WABA hosts a Bike Rodeo, most to all of these events are included: bicycle inspection, mounting, dismounting, straight line control, stopping ability, signaling turn, weaving & maneuvering (cones), small turning radius (“figure 8”) and slow speed control. Each participant usually takes around 15 minutes to complete the fun, interesting, educational, memorable course. Participants have fun while gaining hands-on safe biking training.

WABA instructors would host the event including design and setup of the course itself. The cost would be approximately $1,300-$1,500 ($975 for WABA instructors and equipment, plus permitting, insurance, and other expenses). If there is sufficient interest, we plan to approach ANC3B for funding.

The event would be open to participants from nearby neighborhoods assuming we are well within the 300 person event capacity.

If you or your family would be interested, please complete this very brief survey: http://goo.gl/TbVlo

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. And, if you would like to assist with event organization or promotion, please send me an email.

Mitch

mwander[at]gmail[dot]com

Winter classes, paid classes, will be offered at the Stoddert Recreation Center beginning Wednesday, January 25, 2012. Registration will begin on Tuesday, January 10 at 9:00 a.m. online, and at 3:00 p.m. in person.

To register on line, please visit the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation website at www.dpr.dc.gov.

The following classes will be offered:

Winter Classes

Ricky Davenport-Thomas
Site Manager
Stoddert Recreation Center
4001 Calvert St NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-299-3326
ricky[dot]davenport[at]dc[dot]gov

DCPS will host a middle school fair Thursday, February 9, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Columbia Heights Education Campus, 3101 16th St. NW.

Read the PDF version of the DCPS flyer

DC Public middle schools, education campuses & DCPS community partners will showcase their academic programs & extracurricular activities for parents.

For more information visit the DCPS website. You can also call Nancy Iheanacho at (202) 719‐6595 or email her at nancy[dot]iheanacho[at]dc[dot]gov.

Jinny Choi gave the teacher update.  She began by thanking the PTA for the generous holiday gifts and to the parents for helping with class celebrations.  She and the teachers are currently working on creating a leveled book library with PTA funds.  It will be used by every classroom.   Eve-lyn Turmail presented the current treasurer update and passed out the most recent balance sheet.  She explained the most recent expenditures.

Family Fun Night will be held again this year thanks to Sarah Strike.  She’s still putting it together and hoping to hold it on February 25 at the school.  To volunteer for this fun event please contact her or president@stoddert.org

Katherine Latterner is the head of Fillmore Art Center and she spoke about the history of Fillmore, it’s offerings to our students and introduced the President of Friends of Fillmore, who spoke about getting information out to families by creating a website and mailing list: friendsoffillmore.org   Donations may also be made on the website for materials not covered by DCPS.   Anyone interested in visiting Fillmore to learn more about classes or your child’s class in particular is welcome to contact Ms Latterner to make arrangements at k.latterner@dc.gov

Lauren Biel from DC Greens attended the meeting and spoke about the school garden.  She introduced Kelly, the new garden coordinator who will be at Stoddert on Wednesdays working with teachers and students.    This week, she worked with the 5th graders on nutrition, the 3rd graders on alternative energy and the kindergarteners on recycling.

The Big Chili planning continues!  Caitlin Oppenheimer is heading up the big event this year and could use lots of helping hands.   Discussions are in the works with the Embassy of Finland to confirm dates and times.  More information will be forthcoming but PLEASE don’t hesitate to contact her to volunteer- projects large and small need many hands to move them forward.  Contact her at bigchili@stoddert.org or    cecopp@mac.com

I skate on ice. I go to New York. I walk with my family. I make a snowman. I make a flower.

Savannah – Mrs. Redman’s class (2nd)

My Family Tradition

My family tradition is Christmas. Every Christmas my family puts up a Christmas tree. First, we put on the lights. Then we put on ornaments. After that we put on the ribbon, and last, but not least, we put on the star. When we’re done the house smells so nice.

Every Christmas my family watches How the Grinch Stole Christmas. My dad makes popcorn and gets the drinks. It takes a long time because it takes a long time to make hot chocolate. The hot chocolate tastes so good. We sit down, eat popcorn, drink our drinks, and watch the movie. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions.

This Christmas my family is going to New York City. My mom and dad are going to take us to the ice skating rink, and to see the Christmas tree, and we are going to Toys R Us. My mom told me the Toys R Us is really big. It’s big enough to fit a ferris wheel inside!

Another thing I’m doing for Christmas is reading a Christmas book. The Christmas book is Bear Stays Up For Christmas. When my family reads the book, we will be sitting by the fire.

Every Christmas my dad lights the fire. My family goes to the fire to warm up. The fire always feels just right. My mom sits by my dad and I sit by my brother and sister. I love Christmas!

Kayla – Mrs. Redman’s class (2nd)

How I Celebrate Christmas With My Family

Every Christmas my family puts up a tree together. We decorate the tree with lot of ornaments. There are different types of ornaments. We do it together at night after dinner. There are airplanes, balls, people, cars. and lights.

Every year we go to my uncle’s laundry mat. This year my family might go to my uncle’s for dinner. We get to see my uncles, aunts, and cousins. We celebrate my uncle’s birthday together. My cousin Tyler comes from Chicago, Illinois to celebrate my uncle’s birthday.

On Christmas morning we open presents from our aunts and uncles. My sister and I get a lot of presents. In the cards, we get Target gift cards to get toys. I get things I really wanted for Christmas.

This is who comes. My older cousins come. Two cousins are in college. My aunts and uncles come. There will be no grandparents because my grandparents died before I was born.

This is how the building smells. We smell different types of food. There are vegetables, noodles, and sweets. Every person who comes brings a dish. All the food is yummy.

This is how it looks. The place looks old because my grandpa bought the laundry when my dad was two or three. There used to be webs on the wall but my dad swiped them off. My uncle did not put pictures on the walls or it would look spooky when it’s dark.

This is how it sounds. You will hear a movie because someone brings a movie for the grownups so they don’t get bored. You will hear kids playing because my sister, cousins, and I play games and don’t watch the movies because it is very scary for the little kids.

My feelings are different for my holiday tradition. I’m happy for going to my uncle’s for Christmas. One of my other feelings is thankful for my aunts and uncles for providing a holiday party for my family members. These are my feelings for Christmas.

Acy – Mrs. Prosser’s class (4th)

The Chinese New Year

Every January 1, our family celebrates Chinese New Year. We usually hang lights, put out decorations, wear colorful clothes, and go to the Chinese Embassy to perform.

Like every year, people go on stage to perform and the rest watch. I sing different songs and I dance, but sometimes I don’t perform anything at all. This year I decided to sing a song. The performances are wonderfully awesome, especially the dancers. I think they even can perform at the Kennedy Center!

At home we celebrate the new year like Christmas, but something we do differently is that our grandparents give out money in red bags. That’s my favorite part! The children use the money to buy things they want. But sometimes kids like me want to save the money for an emergency. I call it emergency because kids have times when they really want something, but their parents won’t buy it for them. That’s the time when I normally use my money.

I also enjoy the dragon parade. That’s when people use sticks to place the fake dragon up high in the air. I like it when the dragon is swirling because it really looks like it is real. The last time I was in China, I saw two fake dragons swirling around high, and they were like chasing each other.

My favorite holiday is the Chinese New Year. I hope you’ll enjoy it, too!

Here’s a brief update on the outcome of the supplies and clothing drive for Afghanistan. It was very successful. We collected 4 boxes of supplies (pens, pencils, notebooks, crayons, paint, markers, rulers, maps, scissors, etc.), 7 boxes of boys and girls clothes, and 24 personalized letters to the girls at the orphanage from Ms. Chatalian’s 3rd Grade class.

We sent the packages to a military base in Kabul, Afghanistan in early November, and my husband (Benjamin Jensen) who was serving there arranged for them to be delivered to the Merman Girls’ Orphanage and Mothers’ Voices School in Kabul. Since we were able to collect so many items, we decided to send them to two schools, rather than one. The staff at Mother’s Voices School received a couple of boxes of clothing and supplies during Eid, an important holiday for the people in Afghanistan, and made a special plaque to thank the Stoddert Community. We will present the plaque to Dr. Cuthbert and the Student Council at the next Student Council Meeting.

A huge THANK YOU to all of you for your generosity and a special thanks to Dr. Cuthbert for being an enthusiastic supporter, the Student Council for advertising and managing the drive, Ms. Chatalian for getting the class to write personal letters to the girls, the PTA for funding the shipping and supporting the project, Max Jensen for his help and ideas, and Mary McLaughlin for picking up, sorting, and boxing the countless bags of donations. Happy Holidays!

Best wishes,

Oksana and Benjamin Jensen

P.S. The photos show 1) some of the boxes shipped; 2) staff at Mothers’ Voices school; and 3) the “thank you” plaque for Stoddert.