Newsletter #31


Dear parents,

In August 2019, Jack became one of the youngest people to climb the Grand Teton in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jack is a J4 student in Ms. Camilo's homeroom. When he was offered the opportunity to take on the challenge, Jack made a decision to try. He was not only climbing a mountain, he was challenging is own capacity to adapt in the face of adversity.

A few months ago, Jack and I were sitting in my office with his mother and Ms. Scullin discussing the climb. I was intrigued by his story and I considered how his adventure could inspire our students.

resilience (n.)

1620s, "act of rebounding," from Latin resiliens, present participle of resilire "to rebound, recoil," from re- "back" (see re-) + salire "to jump, leap" (see salient (adj.)). Compare result (v.). Meaning "elasticity" is from 1824.

Listening to this outstanding adventure, it became clear that Resilience was the learning experience we could share with all the Junior School. We ended our conversation with a decision to organize a Junior School Assembly led by Jack.

And then came COVID-19. 

“My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon.” ― Mizuta Masahide, 17th century Japanese poet and samurai

No doubt this current crisis has forced many of us to put aside projects, and routines we had in place. But, we choose to not to stay passive in the face of this disruption. And we challenge ourselves not to lose sight of our school's Mission. Our resilience has been challenged. And, while it might have been easier to put aside Jack's assembly while the school remains closed, we looked to the "moon" and it became evident that there will never be a more meaningful time to invite a discussion on resilience for our JS students.

Jack, along with his parents, will share the lessons they learned on the mountain including resilience, but also goal setting, risk taking, teamwork, trust and mindfulness. Jack will also be joined by a few friends who will share how we can all apply these lessons to our everyday lives - in school, in sports, and in life.

But being resilient does not mean that we can overcome all challenges. 

 “It may sound strange, but many champions are made champions by setbacks.” ― Robert Eugene Richards, American athlete who made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events in the 1948, 1952, and 1956.

Knowing our limits at a specific time of our life, and helping our children to identify these limits is crucial. We all have different boundaries, explained by our diversity of experiences and other variables. The current pandemic is challenging our personal boundaries, and our students' adaption to this specific adversity. Today's pandemic is our own Grand Teton. But it is a different mountain for each of us.

The learning environment we have designed for the UNIS Junior School aims to offer a quality of instruction, challenged by the extraordinary constraints of our time. It aims to offer our students the ecosystem to learn, to teachers to teach, while taking into consideration the well-being of our community. However, we understand how challenging this can be, how these challenges can be perceived in entirely different ways, and with a broad range of intensity. 

And so, while we encourage everyone in our community to do their best to be resilient, and to climb their own mountains, we want to reinforce here that the Junior School will measure our students within their own boundaries during this very unique situation. And, we respect and expect that you, the parents, will exercise your indisputable parental rights to assess your family's boundaries and decide what your child can or cannot do at this time.

Therefore, if you believe that your child is able to join only part of our Distance Learning Program, but not all, be reassured that you have this right. Be reassured that the school has adopted a compassionate approach and that in no way will the school penalize a student because of circumstances that are beyond their control. The UNIS Junior School will meet the students where they are.

Today, if it causes tension for your JS child to join the full Distance Learning program and all it has to offer, if you assess that your family is at its limit in this very unique situation, if you feel that your family well-being requires the pressure to be lowered, you can make this choice. Inform your teachers about it. And at any time, you have the right to revisit this decision.

Resilience does not mean we will always rebound right away. But, as the Japanese proverb says, ななころびやおき - Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

Pascal Vallet, Junior School Principal 

Susan Scullin, Junior School Assistant Principal

REMINDER

We know that not all families are able to join all live learning sessions. We understand that some families have unique circumstances that may prevent this. In those cases, students may work instead on the asynchronous Seesaw activities provided by their teachers, at a time convenient for the family, as the activities remain relevant to the day’s lessons. As we explore our technology in the coming weeks, we hope to be able to include recorded sessions for those who were not able to attend live.

Please note that we are still in the process of developing our use of technology and its integration with our curriculum and teaching. Our teachers are working hard to transform their lessons in this new environment; we know that there will be tech glitches and unforeseen issues. We will address them as they arise!

IN RESPONSE TO PARENT FEEDBACK, WE WILL NO LONGER ASK PARENTS TO COMPLETE A DAILY ATTENDANCE FORM. INSTEAD, WE WILL REACH OUT TO FAMILIES TO OFFER SUPPORT WHEN WE NOTE THAT A STUDENT IS NOT ENGAGING IN LESSONS AND ACTIVITIES. 

Robert Knepper, an American actor, may have had our JAU students in mind when he said: “I come to work with a smile and I leave with a laugh, and I’m so grateful.”  Because that is exactly how I felt!

IMPORTANT DATES

EVENTS THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: SPECIAL JS ASSEMBLY - WEDNESDAY, MAY 6 at 12:30

We are pleased to invite you to join a special JS assembly at 12:30 on Wednesday, May 6th featuring Jack Berna J4AC.

In August 2019, Jack became one of the youngest people to climb the Grand Teton in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jack will host the assembly along with his parents. They will share the many lessons they learned on the mountain including goal setting, risk taking, resilience, teamwork, trust and mindfulness. Jack will also be joined by a few friends who will share how we can all apply these lessons to our everyday lives - in school, in sports and in life.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

You will find, within your child's schedule (check the Google Doc), this week's May 6 Wellness Wednesday activities, including the Zoom link. We would like to express our gratitude to the TH students who joined us last week and for all the Junior School students who participated in these activities!

Note: All links will be fully updated by end of day Monday.

JS.Wednesdays Wellness Activities 4.24.2020.pdf

TECH SUPPORT: HOW TO MINIMIZE YOUR SCREEN IN ZOOM FOR iPAD USERS BY ETHAN LEE (J2H)

Ethan made a "how to" book during J2EH’s non-fiction writing unit. He created a “how to minimize your zoom screen for ipad users” because he realized so many students in the class didn't know how to do it yet. Ethan worked hard on this project and we are proud to share it with you. 

TECH SUPPORT (REMINDER): 11:00-12:00 EVERY DAY FOR FAMILIES

As a reminder, every week, Monday through Friday between 11:00-12:00, LIVE tech support is available for you and your child. Please use this link to connect with us with your questions: Live Tech Support for Families. 

You can also find this link at the very top of your child's homeroom schedule.

Francesca Zammarano and Javier Alvez  | JS Academic Technology Integrators


TO READ: STUDENT AUTHORS

We are proud to share a poem written by Kieran in Ms. Romano’s J3 class. It was chosen to appear in WNYC Radio’s online collection of listener-submitted poems during their 2020 National Poetry Month Challenge. Please join us in congratulating Kieran on her achievement!

We are also proud to share personal narratives written by two of Ms. Decicco’s J4 students, Our Local Hero by Soyinka and Golden Rays by Lara.

Tomorrow, by Kieran J3R

Tomorrow, by Kieran J3R

What comes taunting you forever, 

Coming closer & closer, 

Just as its about to come, 

It goes. 

Tomorrow comes taunting you forever, 

Coming closer & closer, 

Just as tomorrow’s ‘bout to come, 

It goes.

Our local hero, by Soyinka J4D

This past St Patrick Day, it was a cold morning and Patrick Johnson’s alarm was ringing as usual at 6 am. The ringing was loud enough to wake up the whole household which was a tiny apartment on the 13th floor of a Brooklyn building. The protagonist, Patrick is a 6-foot tall 41 year old Amazon worker, he does the packaging. His hair is as black as coal and he’s skinny like a tree branch. Patrick lives with his two young kids and beautiful wife, Sonia. That Tuesday morning, life changed for Patrick. As usual, he woke up at 6 am, grumpy and wanting to stay home. He was nervous to go outside, fearing the scary coronavirus that is spreading so fast. But going to work was the only way to feed his family.

As usual, he skipped breakfast and walked to the nearest subway station, which was ten blocks away. The subway station was crowded with essential workers and healthcare workers. Patrick patiently waited for the 6 train.

Every day he waited for at least 15 minutes for the train. When it finally arrived Patrick had to find a seat for his 45 minute trip. He eventually found one at the far end of the wagon. He sat down and pulled out a book, but could not concentrate because of the number of people on the train and everyone’s fear of catching the virus. 

All of a sudden, one of the passengers started to cough incessantly. Patrick was relieved as he was getting to his stop. But as he was about to step out of the train the coughing man started to cry for help. Everyone else ran out of the train fearing for their lives. But Patrick stayed and didn’t get out at his stop. For some reason, he felt he should help him. Patrick had gloves and a mask on him. He felt protected. Patrick stayed by the man for 3 more stops until they could get to the closest hospital. He whispered to the man: “I’m going to help you”. The ailing man could not answer, he was short of breath. Patrick lifted the coughing man and carried him to NYU Hospital from the 23rd street subway station. When they arrived at the hospital, it looked like a war zone. There were people in hazmat suits looking like astronauts everywhere. Patrick was scared. He led the man to the closest nurse. She looked at Patrick and asked: “Is this your relative?”

“No, he is not” replied Patrick quietly, “I found him on the train coughing and I didn’t want him to die, I had to save him”.

“What an amazing thing you just did” exclaimed the nurse “but now you should leave.”

“I will leave when I know he’s ok” Patrick whispered, exhausted, “I’ll wait across the street on the bench”.

A few hours later, the nurse came out to look for Patrick. She said that the coughing man was much better and that thanks to Patrick the doctors saved him just in time. 

“You saved his life, you are a real-life hero and the NY1 camera crew is here and they would like to interview you!”

A few minutes later, Patrick was on TV talking about what he did. A few days later, he was on every news show. Everyone knew him, and he was a hero. Even his boss at Amazon noticed him and decided to give him a new job that he could do from home.

A week later, Patrick’s alarm clock rang at 8 AM, he took his time to get out of bed, got into the shower with a smile, and had a nice breakfast with his family. He was now working from home therefore he was able to help his children with homeschooling and enjoy home-cooked meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Golden Ray, by Lara J4D

Kids screeched and bolted around in the playground. Golden rays sloshed down upon the playground like someone was washing the grounds with golden water. She whipped her head around to see one of her friends propelling himself forward toward her with a soft ball clutched in his hand. She instinctively bolted off, laughing and wheezing. He threw the ball with such velocity it whistled through the air like a bird, and it clipped her ankle. Nora weakly fell to the ground, laughing uncontrollably. 

“Got you!” He cried, darting past her tauntingly.

Nora snatched the ball quickly, and charged after him like a bull, and tossed the ball at him.

“Miss!” He called back tauntingly, and sped up like a cheetah to get away.

“I can still get you!” Nora called back, gaining back her stamina.

She charged after him, loping across the playground like a rabbit. She easily caught up, and dunked the soft ball on his head like a basketball into a hoop.

“Hah!” Nora cried tauntingly with a snicker, and darted away into the covered side of the playground. She dove behind a pillar, where several of her other friends were hiding. They snickered childishly, and pulled her behind the cover of the pillar as the tagger called their names, scoring his eyes across the playground like a hawk. He crossed his arms, clearly unamused. He suddenly arched his eyebrows and smiled. He quickly loped toward the pillar, and kids scattered away like moths, wheezing and laughing. Nora suddenly gasped as she tripped on her shoelace, unable to catch herself. She toppled forward, her friends suddenly darting toward her to try and stop her from falling. Before impact, Nora shut her eyes like locked chests. She felt no pain. 

No impact.

She opened her eyes in confusion. Realization pounded on her head like a hammer. She had been dreaming about the past. Nora sighed. Inside her room it felt cold, like a frosted blade of grass. Her dream had brought her warmth, but now it was gone.

Dread seeped through Nora’s body like water dripping through stones.

Nora shut her eyes, her thoughts creating a barrier around her. 

Nora soon fell asleep, solid darkness preventing any dreams to disturb her.

BIT OF NEWS: SEE OUR MASTER CLASS SERIES

On Wednesday, April 28th at 6pm, Mr. Shapiro spoke about his career, including overseeing the production of the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine tragedy, the war in Kosovo, and the Clinton Impeachments. He also spoke about “why media is important” and the role media plays in the time of COVID-19. 

If you were not able to attend the Getting to Zero Waste in Your Daily Life webinar on Tuesday, April 21, with Guest Speaker Sandra Noonan, Founder of the Zero Waste NYC Meetup, Chief Sustainability Officer of Just Salad, and Co-Founder of the Zero Waste NYC Workshop, click on the link below!

Smiling Mask Concert

UNIS Event

Michael Mayer

UNIS Speakers Series  3


Max Hollein

UNIS Speakers Series 2

Justice Breyer

UNIS Speakers Series 1

REMINDER: HOW TO CONTACT THE SUPPORT TEAM

REMINDER: UPDATE ZOOM

If you haven't already, please ensure as soon as possible that the device used by your JS child for schoolwork has the most up-to-date version of Zoom.

Zoom has updated the hyperlinks in chat, allowing for them to now be live! This is a game-changer for student use (especially the little ones) as they will now be able to go to a link with one click!

We recommend that you periodically check for updates as Zoom is continually fixing and updating itself.

Here is a quick video for you on how to do this (on ma cos x)

Thank you for your support and please use the Tech Support for Families link in your child's schedule to connect with us between 11:00-12:00 each weekday if you have any questions. 

REMINDER: BEFORE YOUR MORNING MEETING STARTS EACH DAY!

REMINDER: ACCESSING STUDENTS' SCHEDULES FROM THEIR DEVICE? TRY THIS!

In response to requests from parents asking that students have access to their schedules directly from their own devices, and thanks to the creativity of Javier Alvez, our Tech Integrator, we have been able to add all of our JS students' schedules to their CLEVER accounts:

From a school Chromebook:

From iOs or Android:

From personal Chromebook, Mac os x or PC:

REMINDER: MOVING UP WEBINAR FOR J4 PARENTS - MAY 7

REMINDER: VIRTUAL INTERNATIONAL FOOD AND FUN FAIR 2020

The UNIS PA presents the inaugural "International Food and Fun Fair 2020"! Lee Bruner, MS teacher, had this wonderful idea of bringing IFFF to online to bring the community together. We couldn't agree more. 

Idea is simple. You can go online and add your own recipe(s) from your country (from the heart or physical location) along with pictures or videos to share. The origin of the recipe will be pinned on the world map. It would be wonderful to see our student chefs there, too.  

There will be no line to sample these delicious recipes from all over the world, the Padlet is live as of Saturday and will stay open so please post your recipes when you can and keep checking back for new ones! 

We do hope to see many of you there. 

Stay healthy and keep cooking,

UNIS PA Cultural Event Committee

REMINDER: VIRTUAL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS

For your information and convenience, below we are listing courses that are virtually available from after school providers. If interested, please feel free to register using their links. We will keep sharing with you more and more online resources.  

Please note that UNIS has NOT processed charges for the registration in the Spring After School Activities. 

FROM THE AFTER SCHOOL PROVIDERS: 

Amanda Sawyer is offering all her classes remotely. She has also recently partnered with a few specialists in self-defense & physical fitness, yoga… 

If interested please register using the above link. 

Writopia 

US Chess Academy 

CinemaKidz

Spark Business Academy 

Parker Anderson Enrichment 

MORE ONLINE RESOURCES at your disposal: 

Some more resources for students: 

Additional free learning websites: 

We will share more resources, as we learn about them. I am at your disposal if you need any further information. 

Please stay safe! 

Lidana Jalilvand, Director of Special Programs

REMINDER: UPDATE YOUR PARENT CONTACT INFORMATION

Periodically, please take the time to review your family profile and contact information to ensure that your cell phone numbers, email addresses and home address are correct and are entered in the correct fields. You may update your information at any point throughout the year, but if you have not reviewed your information recently, we encourage you to do it today. 

All departments at UNIS rely on the information that you provide in the Veracross Parent Portal to contact you. The only way you can be reached in an emergency, or when there are school wide announcements, is through the information that you have entered in the Portal. After logging into the Portal at myunis.vc , you may review and update all of your family contact information by:

If you need support in order to make your updates, please email veracross@unis.org