Did you Get “Got”?

April 1st is such a funny day filled with light-hearted tricks and belly laughter.  I wonder, how many people were “got” by an April Fool’s joke? Some jokes are elaborate — someone I know really got it this year. Her husband drove to her parent’s house, had the grandma pretend that she sold the family home, and write a fake check for $10,000 to her grandson as his part of the inheritance. In the span of a minute and a half, this poor April Fool’s recipient went through a rollercoaster of emotions ending with some of the deepest laughter you’ve ever heard!  And, her poor son thought he actually had $10,000 for that minute and a half. Some people are extravagantly tricked while others simply get salt on their cornflakes instead of sugar. It’s all in good fun.

 

I think my favorite part of this phenomenon is that companies join in the fun.  Some serious, mega-billion dollar companies go to great lengths to play pranks on their customers.  It’s amazing to see a day of lightness and laughter!   I hope you all either created, experienced or enjoyed hearing about others who took off their serious hat for a moment and enjoyed a good prank.

Happy Week 30, all!

–Dr. Shyla.

A Look Ahead

  • April 3:  Mandatory Open Mic Rehearsal for grades 3-8 participants, 1-2 PM (see below)
  • April 4:  Zeke’s Coffee Fundraiser deadline (see below)
  • April 5:  Open Mic for grades 3 -8, 2:30, Auditorium
  • April 5:  DewMore Baltimore Youth Poetry Festival, 4-7 PM (see below)
  • April 6:  DewMore Baltimore Youth Poetry Festival, 12- 8 PM
  • April 10:  Mandatory Open Mic Rehearsal for grades K-2 participants, 1-2 PM
  • April 11:  Zeke’s Coffee Orders Delivery/Distributed
  • April 12:  Open Mic for grades K-12, 2:30, Auditorium
  • April 15 – April 22:  Spring Break, SCHOOL CLOSED
  • April 23:  School resumes
  • April 29 – May 4: 8th Grade to Puerto Rico
  • May 1, 2, 3: Parent-Teacher Conferences, 1 PM DISMISSAL EACH DAY
  • May 6-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week
  • May 6-17:  10 Days of CNH Tenth Year Birthday Celebration (see below)
  • May 9:  Student Gallery Night/Board Elections, 6:30 PM
  • May 10:  Staff Professional Development, SCHOOL CLOSED
  • May 27:  Memorial Day, SCHOOL CLOSED
  • June 13:  8th Grade Graduation, 7 PM
  • June 20:  Last Day of School, 1 PM DISMISSAL

Hello Families,

The 2018-2019 Yearbook is now on sale! This year marks the 10 year anniversary of City Neighbors Hamilton and this exciting milestone will be celebrated throughout the yearbook. The yearbook highlights the amazing work in classrooms, fun field work, performances like Open Mic and Arts Showcase, Family Arts Night, Buddy Days, the smiling faces of our community.

Each year we hold a contest for the yearbook cover design. This year we had a record number of cover design submissions (14!) ranging from students in 3rd grade to 8th grade.  This year, Neve Monaghan’s bright colorful design will decorate the front of the yearbook. To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we held a second contest for a special logo. Teagan McCabe’s logo will also be featured in the yearbook.

  • The yearbooks are priced at $20.
  • Online orders are due by May 9th.
  • Paper order forms will be distributed the week of April 1st.
  • Order forms will also be available outside of the main office and from Ms. Cohen.
  • Paper order forms will be accepted through June.

Please use this link to order your book: https://tinyurl.com/CNHYearbook2019 (click on Books to order).

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

Best,

Miss Cohen / hcohen@cityneighborshamilton.org

Fun Way to Earn Family Participation Hours!

City Neighbors Hamilton is hosting the DewMore Baltimore Youth Poetry festival on Friday, April 5 and Saturday, April 6.  If you haven’t attended this before (formerly called Louder Than A Bomb), you must join us for the festival!  It’s incredible!

Youth poets from all over the city (including students from all three City Neighbors schools) share their spoken word poetry.  It is personal. It is powerful. It is inspiring.

The Final Stage (all finalists from around the city) will be on Saturday, April 6 from 5:00-8:00 in the auditorium. This event is free and open to the public so bring a friend or two!

We are looking for volunteers — If you are able to come and help out at any part of the event Friday or Saturday, we would greatly appreciate it!  We are looking for people to greet people as they enter, help with sign-in, direct people through the building, set up food in the cafe, or simply be here to lend a helping hand where needed. Below are all of the events of the festival:

  • Friday 4:00-7:00 — Crossing the Street — All school teams who work with DewMore will come to CNH for workshops with teaching artists.  The goal of these workshops is to mix students from different teams so that they build relationships and cheer each other on the next day, during the competition, rather than think of them as competition.  Crossing the Street is a beautiful way that DewMore minimizes the competition and builds community among poets.
  • Saturday
    • 12:00-4:00 — Middle School Bouts and High School Prelims — During this time, middle and high school students are competing in small groups to determine who will make it to the Final Stage.
    • 4:00-5:00 — The Mixer — Students, coaches, and families will hang out in the cafe, get to know one another, and prepare for Final Stage.
    • 5:00-8:00 — Final Stage — All community members are invited to cheer on the youth poets.  It’s seriously amazing. You must join us!

Please complete this Google Form if you can help with any part of the poetry festival.  It’s a super fun (and easy) way to earn Family Participation hours!  Hope you can join us as either a volunteer or audience member!

Encourage Your Representatives to Fully Fund Education!

In the next week, elected representatives in Annapolis will determine if and how much to fund education next year.    The House of Delegates has decided to fully fund Kirwan Commission recommendations around Special Education, pre-Kindergarten, poverty and more in the next two school years.   The Senate has voted to fund less. In the coming weeks, members of each chamber (the Conference Committee) will gather to determine the level of funding for education here in Baltimore and throughout the state.

Here’s what you can do.

1.  Sign this on-line petition!    http://bit.ly/FullFundingNow

2.  Call members of the Conference Committee and push them to fully fund education!   Here are the directions. Use this 1 pager that has numbers and a script

Likely, within the next two weeks, decisions will be made.  So, please act today!

Open Mics at All-School

In order to accommodate the outpouring of student interest in Open Mic, we will host two Open Mic All Schools:

Students in grades 3-8 will perform on Friday, April 5 (with a mandatory rehearsal April 3 from 1-2 PM). Students in grades K-2 will perform on Friday, April 12 (with a mandatory rehearsal April 10 from 1-2 PM). Please reach out to Ms. Novak with any questions at anovak@cityneighborshamilton.org.

Zeke’s Coffee Fundraiser

Zeke’s Coffee, our neighborhood coffee shop, partners with our school to make the City Neighbors Blend of coffee that serves as a fundraiser for our school. Zeke’s will give us $5 for every bag sold.  Please submit your orders by April 4.  Delivery and distribution will take place on April 11. If you have any questions, contact Lynette Svoboda at lsvoboda@cityneighborshamilton.org.

Baba Jamal

Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd-Graders enjoyed a two-day workshop with visiting Arts Every Day artist, Baba Jamal.  He mesmerized the students with his storytelling and helped them to develop their own.

As an Arts Every Day school, we benefit from fully-funded professional development on Arts Integration as well as visiting artists such as Baba Jamal and an upcoming Jewelry-making workshop with 3rd grade.  Thanks, Arts Every Day!

North Bay

.

Sixth graders enjoyed a few days of nature and community-building activities at NorthBay last week!

 

Message in a Bottle from the CNH Library Volunteers

Please support the CNH Library!  You can find our Amazon Wish List here, and when you purchase items from this list, they will be delivered to us automatically and help us immediately! https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2F3JXYOLFG5D1?ref=cm_sw_em_r_wl_dp_7NgqHxiKcdCvU Your kids love coming to the library and we love helping them, but we’re running low on some popular books, as well as some supplies.  Thank you! The Library Volunteers (And if you use AmazonSmile and designate City Neighbors Hamilton as your charity, we win twice! All you have to do is bookmark the site https://smile.amazon.com–instead of simply amazon.com–and every time you shop, a percentage of the proceeds will be sent to City Neighbors Hamilton! It’s the same shopping, same deals, AmazonSmile simply donates to the school.) ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Auditions for 2019-20 TWIGS (To Work In Gaining Skills) classes will be held from April 29 through May 6. Check here for 2019-20 audition dates and times