Dance! Dance! Dance!
Over the past 8 weeks in Physical Education class the 5th graders at the FMA have been practicing their dance moves. The students learned the merengue, salsa, swing, bachata and tango during school. The dance classes culminated with an evening at the high school where all the fifth graders from Cambridge were dressed to the nines for an evening of dancing to show off their new moves. In addition to the 5th graders displaying their new skills, the MIT dance team accompanied by a youth team of dancers also came and performed for the audience.
The evening ended with the merengue dance-off during which the merengue champions were named from each elementary school. Congratulations to Terrence and Sanaya taking home the merengue dance-off award for the FMA and to all our students who did such a wonderful job all spring! The citizenship awards were also presented to Laurent and Iyanna for excellence in ballroom dancing! A special congratulations goes out to all the FMA students who participated this spring; their excellent attitudes and work ethic were noticed by all and you set the bar very high for future classes! Many thanks to all the families and staff who made it out to the high school to cheer on our students on their big night!
FMA May Students of the Month
Powell – Anycia Pierre
Brennan – Daicha Milord Lormilus
Williams – Jesse Welch
Martin – Emalis Villafane
Sargent – Rizwan Shahorin
Reardon – Leul Frezer
Waddell – Marlon Baronvil
Oluwole – Christian Cadet
Tucker – Daniel Clarke
Chao – Azariah Zewde
Allen – Daniel Lestrade
Abdul-Musawwir – Jhenassy Shaw
Lincoln – Stardom Brown-Blakey
Casselli – Neviah Cius-Imbert
Higgins – Yui Ochi
McGonegal – Zitto Wilson
Terrizi – Aniyh’lis Leon
Reardon – Calvin Chen
Sisters With a Dream (SWD)
Sisters With A Dream, (SWD) a girls mentoring program at the Fletcher Maynard Academy, is experiencing a great year. Our girls in grades 3, 4, and 5 meet every Thursday after school from 3:45- 6pm.They are learning coding skills from the MIT Lemelson Center due to our collaboration and mentorship program with them. The girls are learning Scratch and the WeRobot program from our MIT student intern, Rovi Porter. They will present a capstone of the skills that they have learned on June 15, 2019.
In addition, the girls studied women inventors such as Patricia Bath, inventor of the Laserphaco Probe laser which revolutionized cataract surgery; Jie Qi, cofounder of Chibitronics used in specializing movement and light with arts and crafts; and Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, whose collaborations were used in creating Call Waiting and Caller ID. The main focus centered on the characteristics of an inventor and the obstacles that they overcame to achieve their success. We also looked at child inventors and realized that regardless of the inventors age, making inventions are possible; one only has to possess the characteristics of being focused, undaunted, imaginative and creative.
Following up on etiquette skills taught at our opening session and practiced with our first tea party in the FMA gym, on May 9th, the girls attended an English Tea Party held at MIT in the Bush Conference Room. This activity was sponsored by Ms. Leigh Estabrooks, our liaison from the Lemelson Center. The girls made their own “Fascinators”, worn with their dressy attire and had a great time.
On May 17 - 18, 2019 the girls attended a sleepover at the Museum of Science. They participated in planned science activities such as Binary Pizza (using pizza slices to learn how computers understand and transfer information using binary numbers) and Mend a Broken Heart (designing and testing an artificial mitral valve replacement for our model of the human heart). In addition to exploring the museum and other activities, they viewed the Planetarium and the Great Barrier Reef shows at the Hayden Planetarium and Mugar Omni Theater.
Additionally, the SWD will be sponsoring and presenting a poetry contest on June 3, 2019 with Qualls Academy. They will be reciting African American Poetry of their choice. Next year the contest will be open to all 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students.
Our end of the year dinner for the SWD girls and their mothers will be held Friday, June 14, 2019, at 5pm to 6:30pm at the FMA Library. A presentation of the SWD necklaces will be presented to each girl who participated throughout the year.
We look forward to doing more activities with the girls next school year. Enrollment to all girls in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade next year are now open. Applications are accepted on a first come basis and must be submitted to Ms. Harris, FMA principal, or Ms. Aishah Abdul Musawwir, FMA librarian by June 17, 2019. Continuation of STEM activities, arts and crafts, field trips, female entrepreneurship, and inventors will be our focus.
In August, 2019, MIT Lemelson Center will sponsor a STEM Fair for all 3rd 4th and 5th grade girls with Sisters With A Dream at Fletcher Maynard Academy. We look forward to seeing you there!
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