A Note from Principal Tony Byers
I usually reserve my introduction to the newsletter for a reflection on events at Graham and Parks or on how events beyond our school affect our students and families… this will not be one of those reflections. Instead I’d like to address a more concrete and less philosophical topic: tardiness, or being late to school. Hear more >>

Cambridge School Markets 
Our markets are open to all families, thanks to Food for Free and the Mayors office. Feel free to visit a market at a different school! Monthly schedule:
MLK: 1st Fridays (5/5, 6/2)
G&P: 2nd Thursdays (4/13, 5/11, 6/1)
Peabody: 3rd Thursdays (4/20 over vacation, 5/18, 6/15)
K-Lo: 4th Wednesdays (4/26, 5/24)



On the Ice! 
Some SEI 2nd and 3rd graders went ice skating in March at Simoni Rink, a few of them for the first time!

National Poetry Month is Here! 
By Kathy Greeley, ELA Coach

Spring has officially arrived and April, National Poetry Month, is here! According to Poets.org, “National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.”

We kicked off National Poetry Month with our 3rd Annual Family Poetry Night on April 5th. Over 120 people came together to read and write poetry. We offered a number of different poetry-writing workshops and then we had an amazing “Poetry Slam” at the end where brave students shared their incredible, brand new poetry.

Here are some ways you can celebrate National Poetry Month from Poets.org:
–Sign up for Poem-a-Day and read a poem each morning.
–Memorize a poem.
–Encourage a young person to participate in the Dear Poet project.
–Take out a book of poetry from the library or buy a book of poetry from your local bookstore.
–Chalk a poem on the sidewalk.
–Recreate a poet’s favorite food or drink by following his or her recipe.
–Celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 27, 2017. (We will do this at school, but start looking for your favorite poem now!)

What's Up in the Art Room?
By Liana Trail, Art Teacher

Each grade is creating some incredible art work!
JK/K- Finishing clay peer portraits; starting to build wood vehicles
1st- Finishing color wheel paintings; starting geometric sculptures with paper straws
2nd- Finishing on Australian Aboriginal themed sewing project
3rd- Working on three-dimensional mazes with cardboard, foam core, and paper
4th- Learning to create and work with hand-made paper
5th- Making personalized stamps for a printmaking series


From Many, One
If you look on the back of the Lincoln penny, you will see the words “E Pluribus Unum.” That is Latin for the American motto, “From Many, One.” These three simple words define something unique and wonderful about our country—that we are a nation made up of many different peoples who have come together from all over the world. E Pluribus Unum is also the name of our 2nd Grade winter expedition. Learn more >>



Staff Spotlight: Shakeela, Jodi, and Gina 
Get to know the Dragon After School staff with this handy Q&A. Read on >>



Staff Appreciation Lunch – Delicious!
The 2017 Staff Appreciation lunch was an enormous and delicious success! Thank you to all the G&P families who brought an incredible variety of tastes, textures and colors to make an incredible lunch buffet. Our staff felt your generosity and kindness and they were delighted. Many thanks to our generous sponsors--Whole Foods Alewife who provided a wheel of brie, goat cheese, roast beef and turkey, Trader Joe's Alewife who provided the flowers and Iggy's who provided the bread. Special thanks to the volunteers who worked so enthusiastically to put this all together--Nora Grodzins, Sarah Smith, Zhao Sun, Deb Morse, Jan Tompers, Paul DuBarry, Regina Googins, Evelyn Brogan, Sue Tierney, Jocelyn Kasper, Alyssa Morein, Lingli Chen, Helene Sandvad, Christa Cattin, Ena Valenzuela, Jess Goetz, Ala Salhab, Eva Ferreras, Ines Roman, Emily Newman, Sharon Mombru, Nick Bennett, Nancy Popper and Liza Tague. Over and over again we heard teachers say that this was their favorite day of the year--thank you for boosting everyone's spirits with your participation in this special event!



Updates from the Library!
Hear about all the goodness we've been up to in our library lately. Learn more >>  



In and Around G&P Classrooms
Take a peek into some of our classrooms and hear what our students have been doing! Read more >>                               


Friends of G&P Update
Are your closets overflowing? Tired of all those unloved toys? Or have tons of unused stuff just taking up precious room? Consider donating to our flea market sale the first weekend in June. We need clean, gently-used, in-good-working and sellable condition items such as clothing, toys (no plush toys, please), kitchen goods, electronics, strollers, bikes, sports equipment, furniture, etc. Items can be dropped off starting Tuesday, May 30th in the back of the auditorium, during drop-off and pick-up times only. If you have any questions, please send an email to [email protected]. And please help spread the word to your friends and neighbors! The proceeds of this event will go back into our classrooms.

Next Monthly Meeting is scheduled for Friday, May 5th at 8:30AM in the school lobby. We'd love to hear your ideas on how we can help our teachers and community.
                                    

Wow – Great Movie Night!
We had an amazing family movie night on March 3rd! It was a great community event with kids and their families laughing together and enjoying each other’s company. It was a delicious feast and it was a successful fundraiser for the 4th grades’ trip to Thompson Island in 5th grade. We set a new movie night fundraising record and made over $1,200. Thank you all for attending and bringing the most enthusiastic pajama-clad audience! As Kung Fu Panda would say: Awesomeness!

The 4th grade families worked hard to make this evening go so well. Thank you to all the bakers, popcorn poppers, and shoppers-- your cupcakes, cookies, cake pops, brownies, and popcorn accounted for 42% of our profits! Our original order of 18 pizzas disappeared so quickly that we sold an additional 11 for a total of 29 pizzas – thank you to the generous families who donated the pizza, which amounted to 35% of our profits! Thank you G&P families for your monetary donations at movie night, which amounted to 23% of our total.

To the non-4th grade parents who supported our work with their help, their advice and their donations – thank you so much. Especially Ena Valenzuela, Todd Melzer, Kris Dickson, Anna Henchman and Sarah Smith. The majority of these parents are on Friends of Graham & Parks, who gave us the opportunity to hold this fundraiser and then supported us so that we could not fail! Special thanks to Friends for investing in a new sound system – what a difference great audio makes to a movie night!!!

Finally huge thanks to Dana Yalin, Nancy Kramer, Sharon Mombru, and Sara Saint-Antoine who worked hard to plan and put this together and worked tirelessly to run the event. And to Wendy Jacobs our awesome cashier!! G&P generosity, can-do competency and community spirit combined to make this a terrific evening. Thank you all so much.

NOTE from G&P: A very special thank you to Liza Tague, who coordinated Movie Night as well as the amazing Staff Appreciation Lunch. The G&P community is so lucky to have her!

G&P Parents Night Out!
Need a date night or maybe just a quiet night? Send your child to the 5th Grade's G&P Parents' Night Out Fundraiser on Saturday, April 29th from 5-8PM! The 5th grade students and their families will be running a babysitting fundraiser in the school's gym to help pay for their Thompson Island Field Trip in May. There will be arts & crafts, board games, sports and lots of fun for school-aged G&P students! You must pre-register for this event; we cannot accept students at the door. Sign-up sheets and waivers will be sent in your child's school folder and are due back Thursday, April 13th. Please send them back as soon as possible as spots are limited.

Family Cultural Exchange Program
Parents, please join Family Cultural Exchange Program (FCEP) for our April coffee on Thursday, April 13th at Bourbon Coffee. You can meet us in the school lobby at 8:30AM to walk over to Bourbon together (1815 Mass Ave), or you can meet us there. Come meet other G&P parents from Cambridge and around the world. All are welcome!