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Students, remember to bring violins and band instruments on Wednesday – Concert Wednesday evening!

On Monday we’ll observe the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr and Tuesday is a professional development day for teachers.  We will visit The Clark Museum of Art to practice our Visual Thinking Skills and to explore some of the rich opportunities in our own backyard.  This also means we won’t see your children until Wednesday – the day of our Winter Strings and Band Concert.  Please encourage them to practice at home and bring their instruments to school on Wednesday!

At last Friday’s parent coffee I was reminded of how valuable it is for you as parents to know how the school is addressing important topics with your children.  So, I’ll share with you our discussion at staff meeting about the different ways in which classes will learn about Martin Luther King.  Tolerance and the power of non-violence were central to his work and to our work with social inclusion.  It makes sense for us to make these connections clear to all.  In both 5^th/6^th grade and the Junior High they will watch videos from the civil rights organization Teaching Tolerance.   The Junior High will focus on the Children’s March in Birmingham and the 5^th/6^th grade will learn about the Voting Rights Act.  Younger students in 3^rd/4^th will hear part of King’s I Have a Dream speech and talk about their dreams for making the world a better place.  Pam will also focus on social justice on a local scale as she shares the book Polly Pastrami Achieves World Peace.  In the Primary they’ll talk about what it means to be tolerant and celebrate differences and why we celebrate King’s birthday.  Ellen will incorporate the concept of ways in which we are all the same as the kindergarten continues work on their bodies and learns about all that’s the same on the inside.  As a school community we’ll sing Walk a Mile, a great song about empathy and understanding – walking in another person’s shoes.

Over the next weeks I will share with you some of the ways in which we are promoting social inclusion throughout the school.  The first is a description of our EST (Educational Support Team) process (see your School Handbook) and its expansion to include both academic and social issues.  As often as once a week, the EST meets to consider the needs of individual students.  A student can be referred to EST by a teacher or a parent.  The team consists of Christine, our instructional support teacher, Ellen, Rachel, Mr. H, our guidance counselor, and me, plus the student’s parents and classroom teacher.  Often the classroom teacher will raise a concern in a conference with a parent or vice versa and together they will decide to refer it to EST.  Recently we’ve used the EST process to address social issues such as feeling excluded or unhappy about friendships as well as academic concerns about reading, writing, or math.  This is a great forum for getting a full picture of a child and developing strategies for appropriate support.  Please feel free to contact me or your child’s teacher if you think this might be useful for your child.