Schools will be closed from 12/26/2011-1/2/2012.  All students return to school on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.  

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School 131, has brought some of the most sought out after High Schools to the Chinatown/Lower East Side for over 10 years.   Private Schools are also represented at the MS 131 High School Fair.  The High Schools, are exposed to Middle School children in their setting.  This small fair has been a huge success and a gem in the neighborhood.  Middle schoolers, find this fair less intimidating and are able to walk around prepared with an organizer and with their teachers. The MS131’s High School Fair facilitates the attendance of parents, who otherwise would not be able to attend a Saturday High School Fair.  Six, Seventh and Eighth grade parents are all welcome to come.   Other Middle Schools in the area are also welcome to attend with prior notice.  Parents and children who are not enrolled at MS 131, must register prior to the date and bring ID, on the day of the High School Fair.  Organizers will be available for the community as they walk around and meet the High Schools. 

Dr. Sun Yat Sen Middle School 131 is located at: 100 Hester Street, New York City, NY 10002 and will open its doors at 8:45am, on November 4, 2011.  

Contact:
Alice Hernandez

Dr. Sun Yat Sen MS 131

100 Hester Street, NYC, NY 10002

hernandezcommunity@gmail.com

- With a heavy heart and deep sadness, I am writing to inform you all that our beloved colleague, Danny Li, had passed away on April 27th of 2011. Danny has been an integral part of the MS 131 family for a long time, starting from being a student, a YMCA staff member for over 15 years, to rejoining the school as a staff member.  He has reached out to many of us and our students in his own ways.  I will remember him as someone who is loving and helpful with a smile.

 Phyllis Tam

Principal

 

 

 - The longer I work in one, the more I believe that a school is not a building. It's a collection of people, young and old, who gather 182 days a year to laugh, to cry, to think and to learn. A school has a culture, a history, its own language, and a shared sense of identity. A school is a living thing. No person helped define who MS 131 was more than Danny Li. He was incredibly hard-working, usually arriving about 7:30 or 8, and staying until at least 8 at night. He worked 6 or 7 days a week, and would take on additional responsibilities often. When we were left in the lurch, and needed a librarian, he gamely stepped in, working with kids through all the four lunch times. I never heard Danny say a single mean-spirited thing about any person. I never heard him raise his voice. I never heard him belittle or attack anyone. In the four years that I had the privilege of knowing him, I never heard him ask for a single thing. In fact, speaking with a YMCA co-worker who knew him since 1994, he said the same thing. He told me that on Danny's last day, he climbed out to the roof to collect the handballs. He wanted to give them to the kids at the Y. If a school is a living thing, this week it walks with a heavy heart.

I'll miss you Danny.

Jon Levin

Leaders Academy Director

- Danny was a man of few words. He never complained, he never had any harsh words for anyone. He was greatly admired by our kids. His legacy is our kids. He touched them with his kindness and guidance. He taught our students to behave honorably, be fair and nice to others. His last lesson was that life is short, precious and fragile. Danny will be remembered for his kindness, child like innocence and curiosity. The Greeks have a word for Danny, (ἀρετή)"Arete". It means excellence of any kind, loosely translated as virtue. It really means "being the best that you can be". Danny was always the best we could all be!

Alice Hernández

Community Academy Director

Students from M.S. 131 along with staff have embarked on a fundraising campaign to donate funds to the Japanese relief efforts, and it's continuing at full steam. In discussing the situation in their Advisory classes, students were not finding it easy to connect with the disaster, or to find a concrete way to help. Then, several groups came up with an amazing idea of making paper cranes to raise funds. Inspired by the book Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes, they asked teachers to help by teaching their Advisories to make origami cranes. More than a dozen students came together to teach the adults a class on making paper cranes to raise funds. They achieved their goal, teaching the educators in small groups how to make paper cranes and thus enable them to teach their students during Advisory.

The entire school community is involved in this project, and paper cranes are everywhere around the school. So far, more than 1,000 paper cranes have been collected and will be sent to Students Rebuild's, Paper Cranes for Japan (a project that will donate $2 to relief efforts for every crane that is collected).  Thanks to Ms. Lizandra Rivera for initiating this campaign at MS 131.

On Saturday March 5th, MS 131 6th grade students and their families attended the Computers for Youth Family Learning Workshop.  Students learned how to setup a computer and monitor, played educational games, and at the end of the workshop they took home the computer! 

The students and families were excited to hear that the computers come with over 50 educational programs installed.  In addition, Computers for Youth provides 3 years of 24 hour tech support to families in English and Spanish.  You can call the hotline at 1-800-655-0098. 

Families that do not have internet access at home were able to sign-up to receive discounted broadband.  A representative from their local provider will contact them soon. 

At the end of the day, families went home with a free computer and knowledge of fantastic online educational games and programs. 

6th Grade families are invited to attend the CFY Bring IT Home Family Learning Workshop this weekend!  On Saturday March 5, 2011, there will be a morning workshop and an afternoon workshop.  Students will receive a free computer with 51 educational programs installed.  Families will also learn about discounted broadband access for their homes.

Winter recess begins on Friday, December 24.  Classes resume on Monday, January 3.   

MS 131 will be closed for Veteran's Day on Thursday November 11, 2010.

MS 131 Spirit Week was a blast!  Check out photos from our ice cream party.