East Coast Trip - Get ready to walk!

Our East Coast Trip is now 62 days away and now is a good time to get out and stretch those legs. We walk about four to six miles each day in this trip--through museums, up and down the National Mall in DC, along the battlefields of Gettysburg, and through the big-city streets of Philadelphia and New York City. Even the most physically-active students can get worn out by the amount of walking in our trip.

I encourage all our East Coast Trip families to take advantage of our beautiful weather to take a family walk two or three days a week. If you really feel the need to get a special new pair of shoes for the trip, get them now and start breaking them in. On every trip I've done, there's always one student asking for band-aids to patch up blistered heels from a new pair of shoes. Don't let it be you!

While on the subject of footwear, we will have one special dress-up night in New York City when we see our Broadway show. Again, consider a nice, but sensible pair of shoes for this evening. If you wear cute little strappy high-heels, it's likely your feet will be both cold and in pain by the time the evening is over. In the next few days, look for me to send out a more comprehensive list of what to pack. In the meantime, get out there and start walking!

Mr. Ippolito
rippolito@gmail.com

East Coast Trip - Assigning roommates

In just over 10 weeks, we will depart for our big adventure to New York City, Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and Washington, DC.  Right now is an exciting time to be an American, and even more exciting to see some of our nation’s historical landmarks and greatest treasures.

I need to let you know about two important dates:

Tuesday, January 27, lunch, my classroom (B-7) –ROOMMATE meeting

This is what so many students have been waiting for!  Bring your lunch, and meet everyone who is going on the trip.  We have 32 girls going on the trip (exactly eight rooms of four) and 11 boys (two rooms of four, one room of three).  We will start with an icebreaker to get to know everyone, and then we’ll get down to the business of choosing roommates.  You bring your lunch; I’ll provide dessert.

Tuesday, March 24, 7:00pm, Rio Norte Library – Pre-departure meeting

Organized by USA Educational Adventures, this meeting will go over the specifics of the trip.  We finally get to see our exact itinerary, hotel and flight information, and all that good stuff.  Now that we know for sure everyone who is going on the trip, our tour company is working hard right now to get us the very best flights and hotels possible.

Here is my very IMPORTANT request right now:  please e-mail me back just to simply say, “Yes, you have the right e-mail address, Mr. Ippolito.”  I will be using e-mail quite a bit from this point on, not only to share important trip information with you, but also to share photos and trip updates with parents while we’re back East.  It’s very important that I have an e-mail address that your family checks regularly.  Also, please let me know if you like to add an additional e-mail address (other parent, child going on trip) to get all this information as well.

This is a big trip, and you are placing your child into my care for a week.  Please feel free to e-mail me at rippolito@gmail.com (this is the e-mail address I check wherever I go) or call me on my direct line (provided in the e-mail I sent you) if you ever have any questions about the trip.

RVI