Newsletter #35


Dear parents,

Grant Wood was born in 1891 on a farm near the small town of Anamosa, Iowa. Wood is one of the major figures of the American regionalist school which flourished in the 1930s and whose favorite subject was rural life in the Middle West.

With my intention to illustrate this Newsletter with a representation of the summer to come, "New Road", created by the artist in 1939 came to mind. It may seem a strange choice. Surely one year ago Georges Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" would have been an obvious choice, and Grant Wood's "New Road" would have remained hidden in my memory.

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte) painted from 1884 to 1886, Georges Seurat.

But this representation of a summer road in the Middle West echoes the epoch in which we are living today: "The dramatic vantage point looking directly down the steeply descending pathway imbues the bucolic scene with a sense of excitement. Landscapes such as New Road serve as both optimistic celebrations of better times to come and subtle portrayals of the state of American life as it turned from the calamities of the 1930s to the even more ominous, existential challenges [to come]. Suspended in time and poised at a particularly fraught moment in the history of the country, they are replete with the ambiguities and subtle ironies that underlay Wood’s seemingly benign, straightforward regionalist vision."*

Initially it may seem that the main reason to prefer Wood to Seurat is the lack of need for social distancing in Wood's representation of Summer. However, "New Road" also reminds us that, on this journey, there is hope but also an uncertainty about the end of the road (as was the case in 1939). I encourage all of us to take control of our future, with rigor and optimism, together. And, as it was the case in 1939 when Wood painted this iconic road in the midwest, challenges can lead to even greater ones. The recent events affecting the United States are a clear demonstration of the need to stand by our mission, the UNIS mission, and its values together.  More than ever, we need a peaceful, compassionate and sustainable World. 

Pascal Vallet, Junior School Principal 

Susan Scullin, Junior School Assistant Principal

* National Gallery of Art, New Road

UNIS SUMMER CAMP

This summer needs to be reinvented. And we are here if you need us.

As shared by Dr. Brenner last week, we are pleased to share UNIS’ summer course offerings. All of the UNIS offerings will be virtual, available to all our students, and at no cost to our families. There will be two optional sessions, each running for two weeks. Details can be found below. We encourage all families to click here to learn more about these classes and to register for them by 5:00pm on June 2nd so we can plan for appropriate staffing. We also created an E-learning Resources for Everyone brochure as a service to the community. It is a compilation of programs and resources available throughout the city and beyond.

This summer is likely to be a time of continued social distancing, and we are excited to offer summer programming for UNIS students to continue meeting students’ needs.  To do this, we are offering 4 weeks of summer programming, split into two 2-week sessions. The registration for our UNIS Virtual Summer Camp is now open and will close on June 2, 2020 at 5 PM.

Session 1 

July 6-9 and July 13-16

Session 2 

July 27-30 and August 3-6

Sessions run Monday-Thursday and consist of 90-minutes of 

live instruction and work time.

These enrichment courses are purposefully designed as neither full-day programs nor as a rigorous extension of the school year.  Instead, our goals are to provide students with fun, educational activities and to help families fill some of the summer days, when outdoor options may still be limited.

For RISING JA-T2 students

Writing Workshop: In this session, young writers will brainstorm issues or moments in time that inspire them to write. They will experience and discuss how poetry, storytelling and speechwriting by writers of all ages can convey powerful ideas and plan for an audience they specifically want to reach. They will receive teacher and peer coaching to choose a genre and develop a project to publish. A webinar co-hosted by UNESCO’s Voices of Future Generations will coincide with the end of the first session and serve as a launch to the second session. 

STEM Design Workshop: In this session, young engineers will discover how the world works through a series of engineering and tech design challenges. They will uncover the hidden math and science in everyday life while strengthening their communication, collaboration, inquiry, problem solving, and flexibility skills.

Registration closes on Tuesday, June 2 at 5:00pm. If you have any questions please email Francesca Zammarano at fzammarano@unis.org. You will be notified of your child’s placement on Monday, June 8.

Germain loves to read to our students every Wednesday and he will continue over the Summer for our students in Pre-K to J2.

Because he said so!

IMPORTANT DATES

EVENTS THIS WEEK

UPCOMING EVENTS

FROM THE J3/J4 PEACEKEEPERS: WHAT TO DO DURING COVID -19

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: J4 GRADUATION CELEBRATION - FRIDAY, JUNE 5 at 9:00am

This coming Friday, we will celebrate our J4 students moving up to M1 with a virtual graduation. It is a unique moment for our students and an unconventional celebration. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: IF YOU MISSED IT

UNIS TOWN HALL - WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

Dr. Brenner held his Town Hall last Wednesday, May 27th. If you missed it, click on the video below.

JS PARENT Q&A - THURSDAY, MAY 28

On Thursday, May 28, 2020 at 7:15PM, we invited parents to join a Junior School Webinar Q&A, as an opportunity to receive parent feedback regarding the Distance Learning program and to have questions answered by the Junior School team. Click on the link below to view.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: SPECIAL WEBINAR - ROBERT JENKINS OF UNICEF - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3 AT 1:00

Please join the J3/J4 UNIS PeaceKeepers for a discussion with Robert Jenkins, Chief, Education and Associate Director, Programme Division of UNICEF on Wednesday, June 3rd from 1:00pm

TECH SUPPORT: 11:00-12:00 EVERY DAY FOR FAMILIES (PARENTS AND STUDENTS!)

As a reminder, our Tech Integrators, Francesca Zammarano and Javier Alvez, are available live every weekday from 11:00 - 12:00 to support all JS students (and their parents too) in the use of technology.

We strongly encourage your child to connect with these teachers for advice and training with their Distance Learning devices and applications. The link for the daily sessions can always be found at the top of your child’s schedule.

Live Tech Support Daily from 11-12 Zoom Link

INFORMATION: VIRTUAL BOOK FAIR (BOOKS OF WONDER) JUNE 1 THROUGH JUNE 7 

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” - Dr. Seuss

UNIS, in partnership with Books of Wonder, proudly announces that the 2020 Junior School Book Fair is going virtual! Please support our Junior School and a beloved local bookstore. Books of Wonder is known for its highly curated selection of children’s books. 

Please share our Book Fair with families and friends to support our cause. The event will run from June 1 through June 7.

Books of Wonder provides delivery services across US and internationally as well, so our families who are currently overseas can also participate.  

Questions? Please email all Book Fair co-chairs: Vicki Tse: vtse@me.com, Giulia Celli: gbcelli@me.com, Fadya Tannous-Lurie: fspeero@earthlink.net

INFORMATION: SAVE THE DATES: UPCOMING MASTER CLASSES

On Wednesday, June 3 at 6 p.m, we invite you to listen to Ms. Prem Premsrirut who will share her knowledge of COVID-19. A scientist, President and CEO of Mirimus Inc., Ms. Premsrirut has been working on the second line of the COVID 19 response designing protocols to test and validate new diagnostics. Details will follow in a future email.

And, on Tuesday, June 9 at 5:30 p.m., award winning photographer Peter Turnley will offer a Master Class titled “Visual Diaries of the Lifetime of a Documentary Photographer.” Mr. Turnley is renowned for his photographs of the realities of the human condition. He has worked in over 90 countries and has witnessed most major stories of international geopolitical and historic significance during the last forty years. Mr. Turnley has both American and French nationality.

On Tuesday, May 12th, we had the opportunity to engage in a conversation with Carol Bellamy. Ms. Bellamy headed the Peace Corps and ran UNICEF. She has been a leader in education, Board Chair of the IBO, and CEO of World Learning. 

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

TO READ: FROM OUR TUTORIAL HOUSE STUDENTS

ENGLISH FOR KIDS CLUB - THE WITCHES

Hello! The English For Kids Club is back here this week again to bring you another book. The book that we will be sharing with you guys today is The Witches by the British writer Roald Dahl. The book is a children's fantasy novel and is set partly in Norway and partly in the United Kingdom, featuring the experiences of a young British boy and his Norwegian grandmother in a world where child-hating societies of witches secretly exist. The book fits the age range of 8-11 and has a Lexile reading level of 740 L. Hope you enjoy it!

 Dave Sun T3

 BIT OF NEWS: JA SPRING SING ON TUESDAY, JUNE 2 AT 1:00 

You are invited to our JA Spring Sing 2020 

Reminder for JA parents: 

Your student will sing solo along with my accompaniment 

Ms. Boekholt

Here is a project from Holly Jenvey, '18, a budding journalist at DePaul University, who interviewed UNIS for her piece entitled A peek of how NYC is dealing with online learning and college decision making

 REMINDER: REPORT CARDS AND PARENT TEACHER CONVERSATIONS

Our school's closure due to the Covid-19 Pandemic has disrupted routines that the Junior School is usually proud to organize. While the current situation has forced upon us some challenges to overcome, there are still key moments in your child's journey at UNIS we do not want to miss. Some are more easily replicated in our Distance Learning Environment, and some need to be adapted to our "new normal".

Communicating with families regarding our students' learning journey is essential. It is with this in mind that the Junior School is organizing Parent Teacher Conversations between now and the end of the school year. These conversations will allow each parent to have a face-to-face interaction with the Homerooms Teachers, as well as the French Mother Tongue Teachers who teach literacy and mathematics in French. And, at the end of this term, on June 12th, 2nd Semester Report Cards adapted to the current situation will also be available for download by families.

Typically, a Junior School report card offers a narrative reflection on your child’s demonstrated use of the IB Approaches to Learning (ATLs). Given the complex interrelationship during distance learning between students, families, and teachers, these approaches to learning have become a shared endeavor more than ever before as everyone adapts to the new context. For this reason, UNIS Junior School homeroom and language teachers will engage with families in conversation to discuss and honor the observations from both sides of the family/school partnership in regards to the student’s evolving ATLs. 

PARENT TEACHER CONVERSATION: DETAILS

PARENT TEACHER CONVERSATION: GOALS

PARENT TEACHER CONVERSATION: NOTE FOR J4 PARENTS - STUDENTS ARE ASKED TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION

As we are seeing our J4 students leaving for Middle School, the J4 Parent Teacher Conversations will also include our J4 students. 

2nd SEMESTER REPORT CARDS:

The June 2020 UNIS Junior School report card reflects the opportunities for assessment during this term, which included our first exploration of distance learning. The report does not assign achievement levels in deference to the variability of students’ access to instruction, materials and appropriate supports, and the impact of this variability on student performance. For the core areas of math, reading, writing, and languages, you’ll find a brief course description followed by bulleted statements that capture your child’s performance across the term as evidenced by their live and asynchronous participation in coursework. These reflect the strengths your child has demonstrated this term, as well as the areas that would benefit from more attention in the future. For the specialist subjects of science, music and theater, art, and physical education, you’ll find the course description that gives the context for your child’s learning in these areas this term. 


REMINDER: JS LIBRARY: ADDITIONAL RESOURCE

The Junior School Library has acquired an additional digital resource to support our students’ reading and learning.  Capstone Interactive Library features over 5,000 unlimited user ebook titles, supported by recorded audio.  Students may search by subject, level, and genre among other filters.  The direct link may be found on the Junior School Library Home Page under READ AND LISTEN ONLINE.

REMINDER: BEFORE YOUR MORNING MEETING STARTS EACH DAY!

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