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Suzie Blackburn
Amigos Art
January 5, 2010
Greetings and Happy New Year!
In art class, the 1-4th grade students have been busy learning about the purpose and function of wearing masks. The students are creating their own masks through the inspiration of various cultures.
Many grades are also beginning their clay units where they will learn about a range of clay construction and sculpting techniques. The students will make such items as ceramic vases, Islamic inspired tiles, clay figures, mugs with faces, owls, and more.
Every day I continue to be awed by the beautiful work created by the Amigos students. I expect students to not only create their own art, but to be able to learn and talk about the artwork of others. The students continue to share insightful and inspiring observations about the art they see.
Please take some time to walk around the school and look at the artwork on display. The students are proud of their beautiful, creative work!
Early Childhood Resource Specialist
(Early Literacy support in English and Spanish)
In Spanish, I have been working closely with the K teachers Jim St.Clair and Sarah Newton to develop and implement vocabulary-based phonics support for students.
In Writing Workshop, we have been focusing on writing 2-3 page stories,
using phrases that students are learning to help begin sentences. Winter
writing samples will be assessed later this month, and we have seen much progress at various levels in all K writers!
We will also be playing ‘pictionary’ and ‘charades’ with the students this month to help them learn and practice their action words. (Try this at home!)
The First grade Spanish as a Second language groups that I am supporting have become solid beginning readers, learning phrases from the books they are reading. They are becoming more confident in their ability to talk about the books that we’ve read. First grade will also begin expanding their working knowledge of action words, and are beginning to understand how to conjugate those words from the context of the ‘first person’.
In Second grade, the SSL groups are progressing in their acquisition of Spanish reading skills and in understanding the basics of present/ past tense use of verbs they learn in the stories. They are also becoming more confident in talking about the books they are reading in Spanish.
In English, the First Grade writers are working diligently at expanding the stories in Writing Workshop, by adding interesting details, feelings, and adjectives. Our next lessons will be on adding ‘voice’; we love to see your child’s personality peeking out at us from their stories! The individual students who work with me in beginning English and Spanish reading have made excellent progress.
My Second grade English Literacy group recently gave a 5 star performance of a reading play to the K students. They are becoming fluent, expressive readers.
As January draws to a close (gulp!), we will be assessing our students’
progress in English and Spanish literacy, and re-grouping our students
who receive extra support as we head into the second half of the year.
One of our professional goals in the next two months is to look at more innovative ways to measure our students’ oral language proficiency and progress in both their first and second languages.
Best wishes for the New Year,
Linda Schwetz
Early Childhood Resource Specialist,
LLI and SSL Specialist
Hello Wonderful Amigos Families! Happy New Year!
Diane Goodwin, the ESL teacher for grades 3-5, and Joanna Nicolich, the Title I Reading Teacher for grades 3-5 are ringing in the new year with continued literacy support for the third, fourth, and fifth grade Amigos Students. We have the privilege of working collaboratively with the English teachers in their classrooms and with the students in small groups. We both take reading groups for instruction during Reading Workshop time and focus on the skills needed for reading success. In the upcoming term we’ll focus on reading Traditional Literature, including myths, legends, and fables in third grade. In the fourth and fifth grades we’ll be working on reading nonfiction texts, which will align with the students’ content-area curriculum.
Please continue to encourage your child to read in a quiet comfortable space every day. During Writing Workshop, your children will continue to generate ideas, draft, revise, edit, and finally publish their finished pieces. We emphasize writing as a process and remind students that writers write for a variety of purposes each day. Talk to your child about what he or she is writing at school. During Poetry Workshop time, students are exposed to all types of poetry from the humorous to the inspirational and will continue to write their own free verse pieces. In all three grades, we have begun looking at testing language and strategies in preparation for upcoming ELA MCAS testing beginning in March.*
It is truly a pleasure working at the Amigos with your bright, and energetic bilingual children. Our expectations for achievement are high, and we work daily to promote growth academically, socially, and emotionally. We ask that you continue to do your part at home by providing a quiet homework space, and’ reasonable’ bedtime, and by showing active interest in what your child is learning.
Your children are our children, too.
Most Sincerely,
Diane Goodwin and Joanna Nicolich
To: “LLI” Families (grades 1 and 2) / Familias de “LLI” (grados 1 y 2)
From: María L. González, LLI teacher
Date: January 5, 2010
Happy New Year and Happy Winter! We are now officially in our 15th week of Leveled Literacy Intervention, (LLI), and therefore approaching the end of our 18-20 week session. New groups will be established in February for session 2 of LLI. Families will be notified in writing if their child qualifies for extra reading support in English.
Students in both grades have made tremendous progress. First graders are very excited with non-fiction books about snakes and sharks. They were fascinated to find out that shark sizes range from a pencil to a school bus. Their writing books are nearly filled with responses to books and other helpful literacy-based strategies. Second graders recently read Pop, Pop, Popcorn, while munching on warm popcorn. In addition, we are reading a chapter book together called Snowshoe Thompson, based on the true story of John Thompson (a Scandinavian immigrant who became a legend in the 1850’s by introducing skis to America). Students will be writing letters to John about his dangerous journeys in the snow.
Writing books will go home with 1st and 2nd graders at the end of the LLI session. Please take the time to look through your child’s writing and see the growth since September. Most importantly, please encourage your children to read the books in their reading bags
every day. Let’s finish the last inning with a home run!
Music Program, Grades K – 4
Happy New Year to all. In the upcoming months, we will be focused in the music classroom on the musical culture of Africa and of the African-American musical repertoire, with an eye towards
what we have now instituted as our annual Martin Luther King/Black History month concert, with all students in grades JK-4 performing. Last year, the Amigos students in these grades performed
a selection of songs from the classic repertoire of spirituals/ (gospel) and blues, following an outstanding video created by Liz Lyster, which featured a wonderful timeline, historically and musically,
of the African-American experience. Students will be engaged in a variety of activities, including the development of a listening repertoire, featuring such artists as Louis Armstrong, Elsa Fitzgerald,
Paul Robeson, and Marian Anderson, as well as some pieces composed and played by excellent jazz musicians, with lyrics adapted for younger children, (e.g., "Jazz for Kids"). Students will
listen to, sing, and/or accompany selections from the African folksong repertoire, including the Ghanese song, "Funga Alafia", and listen to selections from a CD of the group "Ladysmith Black Mambazo".
Picture and storybooks which support this learning will be introduced - a picture/storybook entitled "The Laughing River" for younger children, biographies/picture books about Marian Anderson
("When Marian Sang") and Elsa Fitzgerald ("Elsa Fitzgerald- the story of a vocal virtuoso), among others, for the older students. Theoretical concepts will be addressed - the aural distinction between
major and blues scales, for example, and song form and style - e.g., "call and response style", the 12-bar blues, etc., and students will be encouraged to improvise rhythms in an African drum circle,
as well as to improvise short rhythmic patterns on the breaks at the end of the phrases in a 12-bar blues, or on the chorus of an up-tempo spiritual. Students will be introduced as well to
George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", (from Fantasia 2000), which provides a visual metaphor for the multiple uses of the word blue - (e.g., a color, a feeling, a musical style). We will also
study some of the poetry of Langston Hughes, including the wonderful poem "African Dance", which we will set with percussion improvisation and dance.
Jill Borenstein, Amigos Music Teacher
PHYSICAL EDUCATION GRADES 1-3
In January we will be covering a basic gymnastics unit. The areas we will be working on are tumbling, balance beam work, swedish box-vaulting, and mini-trampoline.In February we will be working on a large ball skills unit. The skills we will be working on are dribbling, passing, catching, and shooting. All of our classes start with a fitness warm up.The warm up is used to help imrpove the fitness levels that will be tested after February vacation. The areas we work on are cardiovascular endurance by jogging and rope jumping, upper body strength through pull ups and push ups, abdominal strength through crunches, and flexibility through various stretching exercises. For your childs safety and comfort sneakers should be worn during physical education class
Jack Reardon
PE – Grades K – 3
Physical Education, Grades 4 – 8
In Physical Education we are currently doing:
- Lacrosse grades 4,6,7 and 8
- Seventh-grade also does life skills on Thursdays
- Fifth grade is starting ballroom dancing. Ballroom dancing will be seven-week and the eighth week students will perform at the high school.
- Following lacrosse will be fitness testing for grades 4,6,7 and 8
Dave Richarson,
PE Teacher
What Do I Do If I Think My Child May Have Difficulties That Could Affect His/Her Educational Achievement?
If you suspect that your child is struggling academically or may struggle when he/she reaches a higher academic level, there are many resources available to you and our child to support his/her education. The Special Education team includes many professionals who provide special education services to children with different types of difficulties. Among these professionals are speech-language pathologists, learning specialist, occupational therapists, physical therapists, behavior specialists, and school psychologists. The specialist may give suggestions to the teacher on how to make simple adjustments to the child’s daily routine that may improve some of the difficulties.
If these “pre-interventions” do not appear to be effective, the child may receive an evaluation in the problem areas. The specialist will get the parent’s permission to test, perform the testing, write a report, and convene a meeting with the child’s team of educators. Ask the education or pre-referral team how eligibility is determined in your child’s school. Please refer to IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), which determines how a child qualifies to receive special education services. If your child does qualify for special education services, the appropriate specialist will write goals for your child to help support areas of weakness, and this plan is called an Individual Education Program (IEP).
There are many resources available to you as a parent. If you are concerned that your child is having difficulties with learning, language, mobility, cognition, or other problems, please contact your school psychologist to begin working as a team with your child’s educators. Children with difficulties benefit most from early detection of problems. Catching these problems early will help reduce their academic and social impact.
¿Qué hago cuando pienso que mi hijo/hija posiblemente tiene dificultades que pueden afectar su logro educacional?
Algunos niños pueden tener dificultades que son fáciles de identificar como impedimentos auditivos y otros pueden tener dificultades que no son tan obvios. Si sospecha que su niño está teniendo problemas académicos o podría tener problemas cuando llegue a la edad escolar, hay muchos recursos que están a su disposición. Hay muchos profesionales que proveen educación especial a niños con diferentes tipos de dificultades e discapacidades. Entre estos profesionales hay patólogos del habla y lenguaje, especialistas de aprendizaje, terapeutas ocupacionales, terapeutas
físicos, especialistas del comportamiento, y psicólogos escolares.
Si esta “pre-intervención” no parece ser efectiva, el niño recibirá una
evaluación sobre las áreas problemáticas. El especialista obtendrá permiso de los padres para examinar, escribir un reporte y convocar una reunión con el equipo de educadores del niño. Pregúntele al equipo académico como determinan los requisitos necesarios en la escuela de su niño. Por favor refera a del “Acto de Educación de Individuos con Discapacidades” (Individuals with Disabilities Act – IDEA), que determinaran como el niño califica para recibir servicios de educación especial. Si su niño califica para servicios de educación especial, el especialista apropiado escribirá metas que ayudaran a su niño en las áreas con debilidades, y este plano se llama “Plan Individualizado de Educación” (Individualized Education Program – IEP).
Hay muchos recursos disponibles para usted como padre. Si usted está preocupado porque su niño está teniendo dificultades con el aprendizaje, lenguaje, movilidad, cognición, u otros problemas, favor de comunicarse con su distrito escolar para empezar a trabajar con el equipo de educadores de su niño. Niños con dificultades benefician de la identificación temprana de problemas académicos. Al descubrir estos problemas temprano ayudaras a reducir el impacto académico y social.
Resources/Recursos:
Amigos Computer Lab
The morning FasttMath sessions are under way. We open at 7:30.
The computer lab is seeing classes, grades 3,4 & 5, come in to do FasttMath and Study Island. Fast Math is a networked software application assisting students practice basic math fact fluency. Study Island is an online MCAS prep that helps students prepare for the state test.
JKs and Kindergarteners have been in using the math programs Building Blocks and Investigations.
1st and 2nd grade have also been working with the Investigations math software. 1st grade is experiencing logging on to their own individual accounts that they will have during their time here at the Amigos School.
3rd & 4th grade have just finished an extended writing project and have been in the lab to use the computers to word process.
6th graders are completing a wiki science project.
7th grade is working on a geology research project and have spent time in the lab on-line.
8th grade is writing a play with the Science and Social Studies Classes.
Astronomy Club has also been using the lab on Monday afternoons.
The website development team has been working on updating our website. Recently a few recent additions have been uploaded.
Literacy Coaching at Amigos
Teachers in grades 3 to 8 are working towards implementing the English and Spanish Language Arts Curriculums through the Literacy Collaborative Framework. Grades 3 to 5 are in their fourth year of training and implementation, while grades 6 to 8 are in their first year. Training includes attending professional development courses, taught by the building coach, and weekly or biweekly planning sessions also with the building coach. This year our professional development for grades 3 to 5 focuses on units of study, long term planning, and curriculum mapping. Grades 6 to 8 are focusing on an introduction to the Literacy Collaborative Framework.
The Literacy Coach collaborates with teachers to support improved literacy instruction and promote student learning and achievement. During a session, teachers and the coach may collaborate to develop instructional plans, deepen understanding of the Framework or a particular instructional practice, use data to identify students at risk or students in need of enrichment, design units of study and curriculum maps, and/or assess student progress in Literacy. The Literacy Coach also may teach, co-teach or observe literacy lessons.
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