The Civil Rights Movement & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

For the last two weeks, students have been learning about the Civil Rights Movements and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Memorial Learning Commons.

We started with an activity. Students with brown eyes were able to play Duck, Duck, Goose while students with green, blue, and hazel eyes had to sit and watch. (Mrs. Dressler gave me this wonderful idea based off of Jane Elliott’s classroom experiment.) After part of the class played Duck, Duck, Goose for a few minutes, students were asked how they felt. Most students with green, blue, and hazel eyes shared that they felt sad, mad, and left out.

We then read Children of the Civil Rights Movement written by Paula Young Shelton and illustrated by Raul Colon. The book was based off of Paula’s childhood experience with the Civil Rights Movement. Paula was born in New York and moved, with her family, down to Atlanta, Georgia when she was very young so her parents could participate in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Uncle Martin).

I created and shared the following timeline so students could visualize that this devastating part of our history took place a long time ago. It happened long before the students were born. We discussed how it’s important for us to learn our history so the terrible aspects are not repeated.

Students shared how they would have felt if they couldn’t go through this gate (perhaps leading to a playground) because of the color of their skin.

Illustration by Raul Colon

I also prompted students to turn and share how they would have felt if their family wouldn’t get served in a restaurant, even though there were many empty tables, because of the color of their skin. Paula was only four years old when this happened to her and her family. She threw a tantrum which she referred to as her first protest.

Illustration by Raul Colon

We discussed how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great citizen to the United States and dedicated his life to make it so all people were treated the same, regardless of their skin color. Everyone agreed that we can do more to contribute to our community. All students (and teachers) came up with some things they can do to become a better citizen. Older students added a hand emoji into Drawing Pad on their iPad and wrote something specific they can do to become a better citizen of Memorial School and/or Burlington on each finger. Younger students shared their ideas aloud. Some pledges students came up with were having a lemonade stand to donate proceeds to a local animal shelter or cancer research, donating clothes and toys to those in need, visiting and singing to people in nursing and assisted living homes, help older neighbors shovel snow, etc.

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Our Successful Scholastic Book Fair!

Last week we far surpassed our goal and sold $8598.41 worth of books and other items! We earned $4046.31 in Scholastic Dollars to be spent on books for the library and periodicals (Scholastic News) for all classrooms.

Students raised $43.00 (and Scholastic matched) in the All for Books program to go towards books for students at Memorial.

The huge success of the Book Fair was only possible because of the amazing parent volunteers (Lisa Ramirez, Shawn Turnquist, Karen Donahue, Tammy Hall, Theresa Gibson, Binita Agarwala, Lisa Cline, and Chiamaka Porter) who helped set up, restock, assist students, manage cash registers, count money, and break down. Thank you parent volunteers! Thank you Lisa Russell, Adrienne Heenan, and Christyl Skelton for helping manage the cash registers. Thank you Alex Harrison, Courtney Kushmerek, and Paula Weldon for taking my duties for the week. Thank you Amy Percoskie for donating a huge bag of change. Thank you Shawn for busting out your credit card when students didn’t have enough money to pay for the tax on their books...we owe you! Thank you teachers for being so patient and for helping students select just right books.

A few of my favorite moments are captured below.

A student purchased Amy Krouse Rosenthal's I Wish You More for his sister who will be born in March. 

Ms. Conceison was caught purchasing a chocolate smelling eraser and a cupcake pencil sharpener for a girl she tutors.

A student purchased a cook book for her mom. (Gift wrapping was available when we had enough adult help.) 

 Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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Hour of Code

In celebration of Computer Science Education Week, we are focusing on digital literacy via the Hour of Code in the Memorial Learning Commons.

The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event. One-hour tutorials are available in over 40 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.

HourofCode.com

Kindergarten and first grade students are participating in Unplugged: Happy Maps (provided by Code.org). They’re learning about algorithms.

Source =  code.org

Mrs. Sullivan working with her kindergarten students.
(She has more patience than any other teacher I have ever observed.)

Mrs. Farrell and a few of her first grade students.

Second and fourth grade students are participating in Unplugged: Graph Paper Programming (provided by Code.org). They’re learning about algorithms and programs.

Source = code.org

Two of Ms. McLaughlin's second grade students.

Mrs. Gonzalez's students.

A few students are struggling with the concepts and I’m trying to push them to have a growth mindset. Instead of saying, “I can’t do this,” they’re being prompted to take a deep breath and say, “I can’t do this, yet.”

These unplugged/off-line coding activities are connected to problem-solving across the curriculum. Most students are having a lot of fun as they learn to code.

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Scholastic Book Fair

The whole school is excited about our Book Fair. An amazing selection of books is here!

At the Book Fair you will find the latest and finest titles for kids, as well as books of interest to parents. Here is an app to help you select just right books for your child: http://www.scholastic.com/apps/#/book-fairs

The Book Fair is a great way to get everyone excited about reading. And, you can contribute books to your child's classroom library. (Classroom teachers made a wish list available in the library!) 

Please check your child's teacher's blog to find out when your child will preview the books (Monday & Tuesday, December 14th or 15th). Students will fill out their own Book Fair Wish Lists when they preview the Book Fair. Students will have a chance to buy books (December 16th or 17th). 


Parents are welcome to come to the Book Fair anytime during the school day Monday through Friday at noon. Checks should be made payable to "Memorial School". We take credit card as well!  

We are collecting donations. Scholastic will match these donations and the proceeds will go towards providing books for Memorial Students.

If you would like to purchase books online, you may do so here:
http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/memoriallearningcommons

See you at the Book Fair! 

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Scholastic Book Fair Volunteers

Our Scholastic book fair will be December 14th-18th in the Memorial Learning Commons. I'm really looking forward to a successful book fair in order to get a lot of fiction and nonfiction books for our collection.

I need your help! If you're willing to volunteer, please fill out the form below.

Let me know if you have any questions, comment, and/or concerns.

Thanks so much in advance.

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Mrs. Olshaw's Visit to Oak Alley Plantation, Louisiana

Mrs. Olshaw and other Burlington Public School educators are in Louisiana this week for the NCSS (National Council for the Social Studies) Annual Conference. Yesterday her homeroom students and I connected with her via a Google Hangout on Air from the Memorial Learning Commons. 

Mrs. Olshaw showed us Oak Alley Plantation as she walked around the big house, through beautiful trees, and into slave homes.  She and her students compared Oak Alley Plantation to Plimoth Plantation (where her students visited as third graders).  

As you can hear from the YouTube video, her students were thrilled to "visit" Louisiana to learn about some of our rich American history.

Mrs. Olshaw in Louisiana connecting with her students in Burlington. 

An Oak Alley Plantation Slave Home

The YouTube video of our Google Hangout on Air (about 11 minutes)

Mrs. Olshaw and I would like to thank Katie Bercury, Burlington Public School's Social Studies Coach, for orchestrating the trip to NCSS as well as for helping plan this virtual field trip.

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Trusting the Process

Mrs. Dressler started a staff book discussion on the book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. Staff members and I are trying to foster a growth mindset in ourselves, as well as our students, opposed to having a fixed mindset.

This week I read The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthral aloud to students. (We’re in the midst of an Amy Krouse Rosenthal author study during the Global Read Aloud.) I shared that I’m an “ok” skier, reader, and deep breather and I strive to set goals, reflect, and trust the process to become a better skier, reader, and deep breather.

After reading the book, students brainstormed social, emotional, academic, and athletic tasks they’re “ok” at and shared with a few of their classmates. Third, fourth, and fifth grade students wrote a reflection about what they're "ok" at on their iPads using Google Classroom and Notability or Google Docs.

I look forward to continuing the conversation with students about trusting and praising the process.

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