Feb
02
Dances Tell StoriesFebruary 7th at 9-10 a.m.
1st and 2nd grades
and
Curley Ambassadors of Dance
Curley Auditorium
For more information, please contact Kim Taylor Knight
Dance and Theatre Teacher, K–4
*************
Viernes 7 De Febrero De 9 a 10 de la Mañana
Primero y segundo grado Estudiantes
Auditorio de la Escuela Curley
Para mas información ponerse en contacto con Kim Taylor Knight
Maestra de las Artes Escénicas K–4
Feb
01
This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:
High School Choice forms were distributed on Tuesday, January 28th to our 8th grade students. Again, CHECK BACKPACKS! Please review your options as a family together, number your choices and make sure all special applications and recommendations are completed for high schools that require these processes. We look forward to helping our students through this transition.
Jan
31
WHAT: Advanced Work Q&A with principal, 4th & 5th AWC teachers, AWC parents and students.
WHEN: 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 11. We will begin at 8:30 sharp!
WHERE: Curley K-8 Auditorium (use main entrance at 493 Centre St.)
WHO: Current or new families considering the Curley for 4th grade AWC next year.
On Tuesday, February 11 at 8:30 a.m. the Curley K-8 will hold an Advanced Work Curriculum (AWC) info session with our principal, 4th & 5th grade AWC teachers, and current AWC parents and students. The session will run until approximately 9:30 a.m. and is aimed at current and prospective families whose children have been invited to 4th grade AWC next year and who are considering the Curley. If time allows, there may be an opportunity to observe an AWC classroom – but the nature of this meeting is primarily an info session/Q&A for parents.
Current AWC parents can also answer questions by phone or email, particularly if you are not able to attend this session. (NOTE: Current Curley AWC parents – if you’re willing to attend this meeting to talk to parents considering AWC, please email Carrie Fletcher. It is extremely helpful for people who are trying to figure out this process to talk to someone who’s been through it.)
Open Seats. A number of people have asked how many seats are open at the Curley for transfers into 4th grade AWC. There are a total of 25 4th grade AWC seats at the Curley. At least 13 current Curley 3rd graders have received invitations to Advanced Work – we do not know if all 13 will accept the invitation, although we suspect that most will – so we currently anticipate 12 open seats. We expect very few openings at 5th grade AWC; we typically see no more than 1-3 new students at 5th grade.
Reminder: Court Street advises that 4th grade Advanced Work selection sheets will be due on March 21. Please keep an eye out for these sheets, which should come home in your child’s backpack in the next couple of weeks (if they haven’t already).
Jan
30
A quick message to announce that the February meeting of the Curley School Parent Council, currently scheduled for February 5 at 6pm, has been postponed and is tentatively rescheduled for February 12th. This date will be confirmed early next week.
As you may know, Curley parents have organized to protest the cuts being proposed in next year’s BPS budget, and many will be attending the February 5 Boston School Committee meeting. If you’d like to find out about this upcoming meeting, or how you can get involved with a great team of families to restore our funding, please contact Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, Carrie Fletcher, or Jill Lazer.
Other news and notes:
Jan
29
The Health and Wellness Committee at the Curley recently received a grant from Boston Children’s Hospital to hold 2 events nutrition related events at the Curley. The first event will be held this Thursday, January 30th between 5-7PM during the 6th – 8th Grade Progress Report Open House.
During the Open House the Open House there will be some delicious snacks and ideas for healthy treats! Stop by and try roll ups provided by the Haley House and smoothies by Whole Foods. We will also be having a dietician from a local community health center and Cooking Matters presenting different ideas for healthy snacks and grocery shopping. This is a very casual, informational event so please stop by. The tables will be located outside the Family Resource Center.
Babysitting will be available during the Open House so that you can spend a little extra time at this event.
Jan
29
We need YOU.
Our first major response to the proposed budget cuts is happening TONIGHT and we are asking all parents, staff, and teachers to show their support for the Curley and all Boston Public Schools by attending the School Committee Meeting in their black Curley T-shirts, as we have done before. Curley parent and SSC co-chair, Heshan Berents-Weeramuni will speak on our behalf, but we need the School Committee to know that MANY dedicated parents and staff stand behind him. Past experience has shown that speaking with a single voice can be very effective at getting our message across, but the impact is that much greater when spoken from a sea of support. Come be part of that sea!
Let’s show the Boston School Committee that the Curley community is dedicated to helping 14 of our valued teachers and staff retain their positions. That we don’t want to lose Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) or Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) strands at our school due to faulty enrollment projections. That we have the facilities, faculty, and demand for three general education classrooms in K1 and K2, music and journalism classes, and that large schools like the Curley need more administrative support to function at their best, not less. Let’s all urge the School Committee and the Mayor to reconsider these issues before the BPS budget is finalized in March.
PLEASE find a way to come to tonight’s meeting as we are strongest when we stand together.
Boston School Committee Meeting
Wednesday, January 29th at 6 p.m.
(public comments are early on the agenda, so aim to be there around 5:50 PM to assemble as a group)
Edward Winter Chambers, 1st Floor, 26 Court Street, Boston
(2 blocks from the State Street or Government Center T stops)
Black Curley T-shirts will be available for purchase at the meeting, ($14 cash or check made payable to the Curley K-8 SPC). All proceeds benefit the Arts & Sciences at the school.
Additional upcoming School Committee Meetings while the budget is under review include; Wed. Feb. 5th – Carrie Fletcher to speak; Wed. Feb. 26th – Laurie Ciardi to speak. We need a good representation of our entire community at each meeting, so wash up your Curley pride T-shirts and plan to be there.
For more information, to sign up to speak at other School Committee meetings, join our planned lobbying of politicians and policy makers, be a part of our media team, or actively advocate in other ways, contact Heshan Berents-Weeramuni,Carrie Fletcher, Jill Lazer, or Dana Willeke.
Jan
27
This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:
On Tuesday, January 28th High School Choice forms will be distributed to our 8th grade students. Please review your options as a family together, number your choices and make sure all special applications and recommendations are completed for high schools that require these processes. We look forward to helping our students through this transition.
The PACE program has enhanced the lives of many students at the Curley School who are living with the everyday challenges associated with autism. Because of a very limited budget, the school and teachers are restricted to just how much they can provide the students. New technology, techniques, and tools are being created every day to help students with autism learn. With this fundraiser, we hope to provide some of the newest supplies available to give these students the best school experience they can have! Donated funds will be used to purchase supplies such as ink and lamination paper, iPads and associated software, and other tools and furnishings for the students’ and teachers’ classrooms.
Thank you to the previous donors including: Cynthia Poole, Joe & Lynn Noll, Grace Hall, Henry Wudarczyk, Ricky Wolfe, Jason Noll, Lauren Horn, Filip Cacinovic, Daniel Schwartz, Lisa Schwartz, Jamison Pezdek, Erica Levy, Daniel Sullivan, and Jillian Wudarczyk!
Jan
21
File under “one of the less surprising announcements of the year so far”: Boston Public Schools has announced at 3pm today it is canceling school tomorrow. On the BPS Twitter feed, BPS also announced that they canceling all after school activities today, including athletics, after 3:30pm, due to the impending snowstorm.
Please note – CASP Director Torri Canada says that CASP is still open, BUT would like parents to pick up students as soon as possible.
In an announcement on their website, BPS noted the following:
Due to the weather, all schools are closed Wednesday, January 22. School buses will not be running. After-school activities on Wednesday late afternoon and evening are also cancelled. All schools will dismiss at their normal times today.
Stay warm, cozy, and lift snow with the knees, not the back…
Jan
20
So you want to play boys or girls basketball?
You’ll need 3 things:
UPDATED: Tryouts are for students in 6th grade through 8th grade.
When: ***UPDATED Wednesday, January 29th, 2014 ***
Time: 2:45pm-4:30pm
Where: Upper School Gym
What you need to tryout:
When: ***UPDATED Thursday, January 30th, 2014 ***
Time: 2:45pm-4:30pm
Where: Upper School Gym
What you need to tryout:
If you have not gotten or returned a parent consent form, contact Mr. B or Mr. Robinson.
| GIRLS | BOYS | ||
| Mon. 3-3-14 | Curley @ Umana | 3:30pm | 4:30pm |
| Wed. 3-5-14 | Timilty @ Curley | 4:00pm | 5:00pm |
| Mon. 3-10-14 | Curley @ Higginson-Lewis | 3:30pm | 4:30pm |
| Wed. 3-12-14 | Edwards @ Curley | 3:30pm | 4:30pm |
| Wed. 3-19-14 | Dearborn @ Curley | 3:00pm | 4:00pm |
| Mon. 3-24-14 | Tobin @ Curley | 3:30pm | 4:30pm |
| Wed. 3-26-14 | Curley @ Orchard Gardens | 3:30pm | 4:30pm |
| Mon. 3-31-14 | Harbor @ Curley | 3:30pm | 4:30pm |
| Wed. 4-2-14 | Curley @ Dever-McCormack | 4:00pm | 5:00pm |
Jan
20
This week’s Paw Prints from Principal Katie Grassa:
Jan
16
At this week’s School Site Council (SSC) meeting, Principal Grassa presented the Curley’s budget for school year 2014/15, based on the enrollment projections she was given by BPS.
The minutes are below – please read:
SSC Budget Meeting Minutes – January 14th, 2014
Sadly, because of lower enrollment forecasts and funding decreases, deep cuts are projected, amounting to a $550,000 decrease in funding. We are projected to lose 14 staff positions – unprecedented, even with our recent history of budget cuts at the Curley.
Sadly, too, the Curley community is not new to budget cuts. In our most recent, major effort, some 137 parents and other community members were involved in arguing against budget cuts both at the Curley and system-wide.
Two years ago, we fought to refund some of the positions we lost, and we did get funding re-allocated to the Curley. We also persuaded BPS to amend how the district’s core funding formula (called Weighted Student Funding (WSF)) employed its student poverty weighting component. BPS adopted our proposal district-wide, and actually went beyond our recommendations.
Though we cannot be naively optimistic, budget projections do change. We feel there are also many points specific to the Curley we can have BPS reconsider over the next couple of months as the budget process plays out. We also already have a specific proposal around recognizing the size of a school as part of the funding formula. If adopted, this change to WSF would benefit 3/5th all Boston students. It is a sound concept, and very modest in funding terms.
So: we are getting the band back together to try our best to help our valued community members retain their positions, and give our kids the education they richly deserve.
If you want to join a large, highly organized group of Curley folks who’ve already helped all Boston public school students, contact Heshan Berents-Weeramuni, Carrie Fletcher, or Jill Lazer.
Jan
16
First Writer’s Club is a program at CASP (Curley after school program) encouraging students to write. Our writers were asked to write about escaping from a future city, and to be descriptive about certain aspects of their cities. This is the first in a series of stories. Here is what Mia wrote:
Blam! The steel door closed. Locked. It was dark and cold. He sat down and thought. He thought and thought. Two hours had passed. A tiny slit opened in the door, and a hand came through with a plastic platter of gruel. “Eat this, or rot till’ you’re dead as this door!” a voice spat from the other side. Then there were footsteps. The man was gone. He curled up and sniffed the gruel, and then he turned away with disgust. ‘How did this happen?’ he thought. He tried to recall the series of events that had caused this. As he thought, he suddenly became aware of a faint draft coming from the wall. He crawled over, and peered inside. A hole! Then his hopes melted when he looked through. Not only was he sixty feet up in the air, but the lockdown wasn’t a building! It was one of those… those… Well, they were airborne, no structure, flyi-Colt! It was a colt. No escaping. Then again, he could use the hole to go out, or escape from the colt. So he squeezed his hands through and started to push in opposite directions, therefore, widening the stone-cold wall gap.
The job was done after a while. He climbed through. Outside, it wasn’t the slightest bit warm. In fact, it was freezing. As he shivered, he gripped on tightly to the colt, trying not to fall to his death. A small jet passed by. ‘Should I take this risk?’ he wondered. No time to think! He let go. He was falling and falling.
Boom! He was on the jet. The top. He reached out for a handle of some sort, but couldn’t. pain rippled through his arms to his chest. He fell back on the surface, whining. Then he realized everything was bleeding. Everything went blurry and red. Then black, as he slowly closed his eyes.
“Hello? Hello? Wake up!”
“Ugggg,” he groaned, as he opened his eyes.
“Howdy ho! Look! A survivor! Com’on guys!”
“Wh-wh-what’s happening?” he whimpered.
“We’re the resistance. We found you on that nasty old blood Cross Jet, and took it down. You’re safe now,” the person explained.
“But-but-the ‘Blood Cross’? What’s that? I’m from Alabama, and I’ve heard no such ‘Blood Cross.’” He was puzzled.
“Oh, you’re from the other dimension? Cool! What’s it like? Ours is plain boring. Ever since the Blood Cross took over the world, at least.
“Your world has been taken over?”
Then there was silence. “Egh-em,” a person cleared his throat. “Randy Rouson. The head of the Blood Cross. He invented the amazing devices that Blood Cross owns. But then he took advantage. He and his group grew and grew. He and that group took over. Destroyed homes, lives, families. As we said before, we’re the resistance. We roam around spying on the Blood Cross. Learning their secrets. Anything to stop them. Well, you’re safe in these woods, there’s a portal nearby. We need to leave. Oh, and by the way, this world is the future. The future world. Good Luck.”
Jan
14
The Curley After School (CASP) program is holding its second Maker’s February Vacation camp for budding inventors to hone their electronics and computer programming skills. Open to girls and boys this camp will be the place to take on an electronics project. Instruction will be provided on soldering (lead free), electronic assembly, microcontroller programming. All equipment will be provided. Students will be using the Arduino open source microcontroller as a platform and create a battery powered LED display capable of showing animations, scrolling text, or anything that a 9×14 pixel display can do. Students will be able to take home their project at the end of the camp. Students who attended last year’s camp can take on different projects.
Camp times and dates are 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. daily Tuesday 18th to Friday 21st February. All 6th-8th graders are welcome, places are on a first come first served basis. Scholarships are available.
If you are interested please sign up using the CASP Maker’s Club Application Form, all students must be registered with CASP prior to attending (CASP registration). This class is going to be limited to 12 students so please sign up early if you want to attend.
Jan
14
The Northeastern University Summer STEM Program (NUSSP) is a free academic program run by the Center for STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). It takes an active role in shaping education in students entering grade 6, 7 and 8. The program will run from July 8th – 19th, Monday-Friday from 8:30 am – 4:00 pm.
The two-week academic day program emphasizes increasing students’ mathematics/science skills, introducing them to college life, and stimulating their interest in science and engineering as a potential career path.
Each day, students attend classes that include problem solving, study, research, writing and communication skills incorporated with biology, chemistry, physics, design concepts, and field excursions. Classes are taught by Northeastern graduate students and supported by undergraduate science and engineering students and faculty.
Cost: Free! Students must just provide their own lunch and transportation each day.
Contact: Daniel Sullivan.
Apply: Visit the Program’s page.
