This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• June 17th: There will be no school for students on Tuesday, June 17th in observance of Bunker Hill Day.
• End of the Year: The last day of school for ALL students is on Wednesday, June 25th. Also on Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday, June 25th students will have a ½ day and be dismissed at 12:30pm.
• SSC: The last School Site Council meeting of SY 2013-2014 will take place on Tuesday, June 10th from 5:30pm-7:00pm in the Library. All are welcome.
• Health and Wellness: The last Health and Wellness meeting of SY 2013-2014 will take place on Tuesday, June 10th from 3:30pm-4:30pm in the Guidance Office. All are welcome.
• BPS Transportation: Below is a message from Transportation Director Carl Allen. I strongly recommend that the Curley K-8 community gets involved.
  

  This is a personal plea from me to get your students (grades 5 and up), your staff, your parents — and YOU registered for Community 
PlanIt and taking part in this really important community discussion.
 Register at communityplanit.org/bpsdot. It starts on Monday!!



  This is a great opportunity to use technology, talk
 about civic engagement, train students on responsible use of social media,
 and actually engage in a meaningful way on a policy matter that directly
 impacts THEM! 

I think this community conversation will be a good experience in its
 own right for those that take part — and clearly getting your
 community and kids talking and learning about it is important because
 riding the MBTA is going to be a bigger part of your school’s culture
 and that of BPS as a whole with the changes we’ve made.

  

Please help me get folks signed up and in the game!! communityplanit.org/bpsdot

• Families Notice: We know that dismissing almost 900 students at the end of each day can be hectic and cause traffic, but we are asking families to please not park in the staff lots during dismissal. There have been a few close calls over the last week where students filing to buses were almost hit by cars. We must assure the safety of all students during arrival and dismissal. Also please do not dismiss your child after 2pm. There is a growing pattern of early dismissals after 2pm and it is disruptive to the work going on in the classrooms.
• Rockmonitor Midway Café Show: Please join us on Friday, June 20th for the 3rd Annual Rockmonitor Midway Café Show. The event is for adults only and goes from 8pm-11pm and all proceeds go toward the arts and science programming at the Curley. All performances are by Curley Community members and all families are welcomed!

The minutes of the May School Site Council (SSC) meeting are up and may be viewed here.

Several important issues were discussed, including the vote to drop the mandatory uniform policy for next year, and in it’s place to adopt a voluntary one.

It was not an unanimous vote.

Parents Katie Fitch and Megan Jewitt did amazing work in putting the survey together, collating everything and doing the heavy lifting – thank you!

The vote results and Katie and Megan’s uniform recommendations are here. The Parent survey is here.

Other important updates included the budget. Principal Grassa confirmed again the restoration of a K1 and a K2 class, though both are General Ed – we lost a K1 SEI strand. Other changes will include teachers taking on lunch duty, specialities being shorter and other adjustments.

In addition, there were important updates on what the School Climate team is working on to improve ideas about behavior expectations and consequences, hiring, parental involvement, the curricular changes around the move to the Common Core curriculum, and the important work being done around General Ed and AWC curricular and social dynamics in 4th-6th grade.

All the above are covered in the meeting minutes, again, here. Past minutes and agenda may be found on the SSC page.

For more details about the school climate team, contact parent representatives Noreen Power or Dana Willeke. For information about hiring, contact Carrie Fletcher or Darryl Elow. For information about 4th-6th grade curricular and social dynamics, please contact Noreen Power or Leah Barcan. For budget related questions, please contact Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, Carrie Fletcher or Jill Lazer.

The last SSC meeting of this year will be next Tuesday, June 10th from 5:30pm – 7pm in the library. It will include a detailed assessment of this year’s implementation of the School Quality Plan, which is the master blueprint for the Curley’s improving academic achievement, and will be presented by Principal Grassa. All are welcome to attend.

For more information on the SSC, visit the SSC page.

Our 5th grade teacher, Ms. Quatrale, wants to increase the use of technology in her classroom. She has created a project using Donor’s Choose.

From Ms. Quatrale:

“So far this year I have received a overhead projector, 3 chrome Books, Infocus projector, and listening center thanks to Donors Choose. It has been amazing. The project I have just created is my most adventurous. I am really looking to the future and trying to make sure that my students have all the technology they need, especially if we are to adopt the PARCC assessment, which is taken on the computer.

My Project: I am requesting three laptops, two ipads, an audio visual cart and a document camera for my classroom. If my project is funded I will finally have a classroom where groups of students can be working on projects while I am meeting with other groups.”

Read More about Ms. Quatrale’s Project and Donate Here:

Ms. Quatrale’s Project

The Curley After School Program is proud to announce the expansion of CASP into the summer.   The summer program will be held at the Hennigan Elementary  School.   We are excited to offer  a 5 week program for this summer.

• First week:  July 7th – 11th
• Second week:  July 14th – 18th
• Third week:  July 21st – 25th
• Forth week:  July 28th – Aug. 1st
• Fifth week:  Aug. 4th – 8th

Participants may attend all five sessions or choose which weeks to attend.  Curley students as well as students from other schools are encouraged to join.  The hours will be Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 4:00pm.  There will be many activities for the children to engage in.

For additional information you can contact Torri Canada, the CASP Program Director at 617-777-9330 or at tcanada@bostonpublicschool.org . Spanish speakers please contact Ms. Cruz at 774-381-0732 or lcruzortiz@bostonpublicschool.org .

• CASP Summer Program and Pricing Information
• 2014 Summer Program Application

*********

Programa de Verano – 2014

Es un gran orgullo informarle que el programa de verano de la Escuela Curley anuncia la expansion del programa de verano este ano.  El programa de verano se llevara a cabo en la Escuela Elemental Hennigan.  Es de nuestro gran exito el ofrecerle un programa de verano de 5 semanas.

• Primera Semana – Julio 7 – 11
• Segunda Semana – Julio 14-18
• Tercera Semana – Julio 21 -25
• Cuarta Semana – Julio 28-Agosto 1
• Quinta Semana – Agosto 4 -8

Los participantes deben asistir las cinco secciones o escoger el periodo de semanas que van a asistir.  Estusdiantes de la Escuela Curley y otras escuelas estan invitados a asistir.

Los dias y las horas son de Lunes a Viernes de 8:30 a.m. a 4:00 p.m.. Habran muchas actividades en las cuales los participantes estaran envueltos.

Para informacion adicional se pueden comunicar con Tori Canada, Directora del Programa CASP o a la red informativa toricanada@bostonpublicschool.org.  Para espanol por favor comuniquese con la Sra. Cruz al 774-381-0732 o lcruzortiz@bostonpublicschool.org

• Programa De Verano de CASP/Informacion de precios de Programa de Verano de CASP

• Aplicacion de Programa de Verano 2014

In celebration of our diverse school community we invite you to join us for International Week at the Curley K-8 school from June  2nd – 6th, 2014. This week-long celebration will include classroom exhibits, activities, and performances. Each class will learn about a different country; on Friday they will “travel the world” by hosting and visiting one another’s adopted countries.

On Thursday, June 5th, students, teachers and parents will also present a Multicultural Showcase of songs, poetry, skits, and dances celebrating our cultural diversity. The evening performance will be at 5pm in the Upper School Auditorium. Come and enjoy delicious food from all over the world prepared by our community. We welcome family participation and hope you’ll consider sharing your heritage at the showcase. Read about last year’s celebration here.

We need volunteers to help organize this event. For more information about this event please email Ms. Canada or call her at 617-777-5018, or email Ms. Monteiro-Roby or call her at 617-756-3667.

This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• Families Notice: We know that dismissing almost 900 students at the end of each day can be hectic and cause traffic, but we are asking families to please not park in the staff lots during dismissal. There have been a few close calls over the last week where students filing to buses were almost hit by cars. We must assure the safety of all students during arrival and dismissal. Also please do not dismiss your child after 2pm. There is a growing pattern of early dismissals after 2pm and it is disruptive to the work going on in the classrooms.
• Spring Music Concert: Thank you to our AMAZING Arts Committee for hosting a FANTASTIC spring concert on Thursday. It was great to see so many families come and watch their child perform.
• International Week at the Curley K-8: In celebration of our diverse school community we invite you to join us for International Week at the Curley K-8 school from June  2nd – 6th, 2014. This week-long celebration will include classroom exhibits, activities, and performances. Each class will learn about a different country; on Friday they will “travel the world” by hosting and visiting one another’s adopted countries. On Thursday, June 5th, students, teachers and parents will also present a Multicultural Showcase of songs, poetry, skits, and dances celebrating our cultural diversity. The evening performance will be at 5:00pm in the Upper School Auditorium. Come and enjoy delicious food from all over the world prepared by our community. We welcome family participation and hope you’ll consider sharing your heritage at the showcase. Read about last year’s celebration here. We need volunteers to help organize this event. For more information about this event please email Ms. Canada or call her at 617-777-5018, or email Ms. Monteiro-Roby or call her at 617-756-3667.
• End of the Year: The last day of school for ALL students is on Wednesday, June 25th. Also on Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday, June 25th students will have a ½ day and be dismissed at 12:30pm.
• PARCC: Students in Ms. Anderson and Ms. Signes classes will take the PARCC Assessment on Monday, June 2nd and Tuesday, June 3rd. This is a pilot and therefore we will not receive any data or results. We piloted this in the middle school in April and students enjoyed the opportunity to use computers and get a first hand look of what they will be expected to do in the future.

Below is a email sent out to BPS Principals and Headmasters from BPS regarding the proposed changes to 7th and 8th graders transportation next year. Below are excerpts pertinent to parents from that email. Please read!

Please also note: Carl Allen, BPS’ Director of Transportation, will be at the Curley for this Friday’s Principal’s Breakfast to also answer questions. The Principal’s Breakfast will start at 8:45 am in the Library. – Ed.

*****************

This message is for all schools that serve current 6th and 7th grade students.

As you know, the Boston School Committee has voted to provide free seven-day MBTA passes to all 7th and 8th grade students who live more than 1.5 miles from their school this fall. This will replace yellow bus service for these students. Students with disabilities who receive yellow bus transportation as part of an IEP are not affected.

We have prepared letters and an FAQ for families about the MBTA pass program. These are included in this Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/a/bostonpublicschools.org/folderview?id=0B0y9JF1wAc-rb09tZ1I0YWFZbW8&usp=drive_web

This Drive contains the following:

–A letter and an FAQ in eight languages for families

–A poster to raise awareness about the MBTA program

–A Community PlanIT flyer/poster

The letter to families describes who will be affected and who will not be.

This letter also announces a community meeting to answer parents’ questions and hear their feedback: Monday, June 2 at 6pm at Madison Park; and it invites all students and families to participate in our new Community PlanIT online engagement. Anyone can sign up now at bostonpublicschools.org/mbta.

We will also send an automated call to families later this week.

The website for this program is bostonpublicschools.org/mbta. The BPS Transportation Department will be sharing additional resources in the next few days.

This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• Families Notice: We know that dismissing almost 900 students at the end of each day can be hectic and cause traffic, but we are asking families to please not park in the staff lots during dismissal. There have been a few close calls over the last week where students filing to buses were almost hit by cars. We must assure the safety of all students during arrival and dismissal. Also please do not dismiss your child after 2pm. There is a growing pattern of early dismissals after 2pm and it is disruptive to the work going on in the classrooms.
• Spring Music Concert: The Spring Music Concert with the Community Music Center of Boston will be held on Thursday, May 29th at 9am in the Auditorium. For more details, or to be involved in its planning, please contact art teacher Anna Youman.
• International Week at the Curley K-8: In celebration of our diverse school community we invite you to join us for International Week at the Curley K-8 school from June  2nd – 6th, 2014. This week-long celebration will include classroom exhibits, activities, and performances. Each class will learn about a different country; on Friday they will “travel the world” by hosting and visiting one another’s adopted countries. On Thursday, June 5th, students, teachers and parents will also present a Multicultural Showcase of songs, poetry, skits, and dances celebrating our cultural diversity. The evening performance will be at 6:00pm in the Upper School Auditorium. Come and enjoy delicious food from all over the world prepared by our community. We welcome family participation and hope you’ll consider sharing your heritage at the showcase. Read about last year’s celebration here. We need volunteers to help organize this event. For more information about this event please email Ms. Canada or call her at 617-777-5018, or email Ms. Monteiro-Roby or call her at 617-756-3667.
• Memorial Day: Just a reminder that we do not have school on Monday, May 26th in observance of Memorial Day.
• End of the Year: The last day of school for ALL students is on Wednesday, June 25th. Also on Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday, June 25th students will have a ½ day and be dismissed at 12:30pm.
• School Climate Surveys: The BPS Parent surveys are in business envelopes labeled Data and Accountability and were sent home this week with students. Please take time to fill out this survey and return it to school. We want to hear what you are thinking! Completed surveys should be returned to the lower or upper school main office and should be completed by May 30th.  If you have any questions please contact Ms. Alvarado or Ms. Monteiro-Roby. They may also be completed online at http://www.bostonpublicschools.org/climatesurvey. Please fill out seperate versions of the survey for each of your children if you have more than one student in BPS. If the Curley is a top responder, we will qualify for a fundraising raffle!
• Rising 4th grade students Meet and Greet: We are welcoming ALL 3rd grade families to a breakfast to meet the 4th grade team. This event will take place on Tuesday, May 27th from 8:40am-9:40am in the Upper School.
• Principal’s Breakfast: The next Principal’s breakfast will be this Friday, May 30th at 8:45am in the Library. The BPS Director of Transportation Carl Allen will attend to discuss transportation changes for 7th and 8th graders next year. Myriam Ortiz, Executive Director of Boston Parent Organizing Network (BPON), will also present on the importance of parental involvement.

The next Principal Breakfast is on Friday, May 30th at 8:45 a.m. in the library.

1. There will be a presentation by Carl Allen, Director of Transportation. He will address concerns on changes for all 7th and 8th grade students with corner pick up and drop off starting school year 2014/2015 and gather feed on the MBTA sate transition implementation for next school year. This is an important meeting and we encourage families to come out and learn how your child will be impacted by the additional 4,586 students who would receive MBTA monthly passes allowing them to ride the MBTA for free to and from school each day.
2. We have also invited Myriam Ortiz Executive Director of Boston Parent Organizing Network – Agency of Jamaica Plain (BPON). We ill discuss the importance of parent involvement in our schools and how we can work representing different ethnic groups. It is important to involve parents in decisions about the education of their children. Hope to see you! Parent voices count!

***********

El viernes 30 de mayo a las 8.45 a.m. en la biblioteca de la escuela intermedia se llevaran a cabo dos presentaciones:

1. Presentacion or el director de transportación, Carl Allen.  Estara contestando preguntas sobre la transportación de los estudiantes de septimo y octavo grado.  Tambien estara adquiriendo información para pasarla al departamento de buses publicos y como se va a implementar para el proximo año, es importante que vengan a la reunion para saber cual va a ser el impacto de su hijo/hija con los demas 4,586 estudiantes que recibiran pases mensualmente del departatmento de transportación publica y que lo usaran para viajar a la escuela diariamente.
2. Tambien hemos invitado a Myriam Ortiz Directora Ejecutiva de Boston Parent Organizing Network – Agencia de Jamaica Plain.  Nos informara la importancia del envolvimiento de los padres en nuestras escuelas y como podemos trabajar representando los diferentes grupos etnicos.  Es importante la participación de los padres en las decisiones sobre la educación de sus hijos.  Esperamos verlos!  RecuerdenSus voces cuentan!

Families and friends are warmly invited to attend a musical celebration by the K-5 grade students.

The Spring Music Concert will be held on Thursday, May 29th at 9 am in the Auditorium.

Parents are also invited to a reception sponsored by the SPC at 8:30 am in the auditorium lobby.

The Curley Music Program is organized and funded through a joint effort of the Curley School Parent Council, the Community Music Center of Boston, Edvestors, and the Boston Public Schools.

The music specialists leading the concert – Jay Gates, Patrice Monahan, and Liza Kitchell – ask all students to wear white tops and black bottoms.

For more details, or to be involved in its planning, please contact art teacher Anna Youman.

The flyer for the concert is here.

*****************

Estimadas familias de los estudiantes de Kindergarten al quinto grado, estoy llamando para recordarle del Concierto de la primavera de la organización de Musica de la Comunidad de Boston.

El concierto es el 29 de mayo a las 9:00 a.m.

El vestuario es blanco para la camisa/blusa y negro para el pantalón o falda.

Se ofrecerá una recepción auspiciada por el Consejo Escolar de Padres en el corredor, cerca del auditorio a las 8:30 a.m.

Para mas información, por favor refierase al volante el cual fue enviado a la casas con el estudiante en la bolsa de los libros.

This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:

• Families Notice: We know that dismissing almost 900 students at the end of each day can be hectic and cause traffic, but we are asking families to please not park in the staff lots during dismissal. There have been a few close calls over the last week where students filing to buses were almost hit by cars. We must assure the safety of all students during arrival and dismissal. Also please do not dismiss your child after 2pm. There is a growing pattern of early dismissals after 2pm and it is disruptive to the work going on in the classrooms.
• Spring Music Concert: The Spring Music Concert with the Community Music Center of Boston will be held on Thursday, May 29th at 9am in the Auditorium. For more details, or to be involved in its planning, please contact art teacher Anna Youman.
• International Week at the Curley K-8: In celebration of our diverse school community we invite you to join us for International Week at the Curley K-8 school from June  2nd – 6th, 2014. This week-long celebration will include classroom exhibits, activities, and performances. Each class will learn about a different country; on Friday they will “travel the world” by hosting and visiting one another’s adopted countries. On Thursday, June 5th, students, teachers and parents will also present a Multicultural Showcase of songs, poetry, skits, and dances celebrating our cultural diversity. The evening performance will be at 6:00pm in the Upper School Auditorium. Come and enjoy delicious food from all over the world prepared by our community. We welcome family participation and hope you’ll consider sharing your heritage at the showcase. Read about last year’s celebration here. We need volunteers to help organize this event. For more information about this event please email Ms. Canada or call her at 617-777-5018, or email Ms. Monteiro-Roby or call her at 617-756-3667.
• Memorial Day: Just a reminder that we do not have school on Monday, May 26th in observance of Memorial Day.
• End of the Year: The last day of school for ALL students is on Wednesday, June 25th. Also on Tuesday, June 24th and Wednesday, June 25th students will have a ½ day and be dismissed at 12:30pm.