Morse School 40 Granite Street Cambridge, MA 02139 617.349.6575 Fax: 617.349.6576 morse.cpsd.us
How Do We Know It is Autumn? By: Kindergarten Room B6 Kindergarten and Junior Kindergarten students focus on experiencing and making observations of the world around them. Students begin to learn to use these observations as evidence to support a claim through their growing language skills. As part of a year-long unit of study on seasons and weather, we read the books Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn (K. Pak) and Have You Seen Trees? (J. Oppenheim). Then, students sketched an autumn tree in our own CitySprouts Garden. We are looking forward to noticing other trees around the Morse School as we observe the changing seasons during the school year.
Patricia Beggy Principal pbeggy@cpsd.us Samantha Headley Assistant Principal sheadley@cpsd.us Denise Sullivan Family Liaison desullivan@cpsd.us Aleida Inglis Adjustment Counselor ainglis@cpsd.us Elaine Delaney Secretary edelaney@cpsd.us Joyce Costello School Psychologist jostello@cpsd.us "We are one heart, We are one hand, We are people and children of many different lands." –One Heart, One Hand – Morse School Song Montgomery-Grout
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December 2 | 6-8PM Friends of Morse Movie Night December 7 | 6:30-8PM School Council Meeting December 15 | 6-7:30PM Title I Family Game Night Fletcher Maynard Academy December 24 - January 2 No School: Winter Break
Fall 2016
See more: morse.cpsd.us/calendar
Upcoming Events
Calling All 3rd, 4th & 5th Grade Singers to JOIN the Morse Morning Singers!! By: Kelly Graeber, Morse School Music Teacher WHO? 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students who LOVE to sing! WHAT? The Morse Morning Singers, a before school chorus singing challenging music! WHERE? Morse School Auditorium WHEN? Thursday mornings from 8 to 8:30AM WHY? Because singing is FUN! What's New with Technology at the Morse? By: Jen Lavalle, Morse School Instructional Technology Specialist Students in all grades are practicing how to apply the Morse Code while using the technologies in their classrooms and in the Computer Lab. In 3rd - 5th grade, students are learning about digital citizenship - the expectations for appropriate, safe, and productive online behavior. Students are learning to distinguish between public and private information and how to make safe choices, including what makes a strong password! Here are some resources for speaking to your child about being safe online: Kids.gov: Online Safety Activities and Games for students http://bit.ly/2g7b0Zg Kids.gov: Resources & articles for parents http://bit.ly/2fLWDc3 Commonsense Media: Privacy & Internet Safety information for parents http://bit.ly/2gy2VNR Questions or comments? Please don't hesitate to reach out! Jen Lavalle, Instructional Technology Specialist, jlavalle@cpsd.us
Morse School Sends a BIG “Thank You!” Pictured here is Kelly Graeber playing the piano donated by Ms. Pamela Ferrante. Ms. Ferrante is a long time neighbor who once was herself a student of the Morse School. In fact, generations of her family have attended the Morse School. The piano is in absolute pristine condition and will bring many years of musical enjoyment to the Morse School Community. Thank you, Ms. Ferrante!!!
Fall Activities = Lots of Fun! By: Junior Kindergarten Room B8 & K-1 Room A6 This fall, Room B8 (Junior Kindergarten) and Room A1 (Kindergarten/1st) did a series of fall activities integrating literacy and science. First, we read the story of "The Little Red Hen" as retold and illustrated by Byron Barton, our JK "Author Study" for the month of November. We discussed how the Hen persevered by completing all the steps of making bread, from planting wheat seeds, to harvesting the grain, to grinding flour, and finally baking bread. Then, Ms. Shay showed us how to plant winter wheat seeds in the Morse garden! We learned that these special seeds will start growing even as the weather turns colder. We used our science notebooks to document our planting experience. Ms. Shay came back to our classroom, and showed us how to make bread, just like the Little Red Hen: we mixed yeast, flour, water and salt together to make dough. Then we let it rise, and baked it in the oven. It was delicious!
International Fall Festival Hosted by the Friends of Morse By: Sara Hendren & Brian Funck International Night 2016 was a huge success, gathering about 160 members of the Morse community for an evening of music, food, games, and more. Kids chose from craft activities including origami and Mexican paper flowers; they also participated in games identifying international currency, running chopstick races, and testing their skills in Go-Go-Im, a toss game from Israel. Families brought food dishes from all over the world, and local musician Gian Carlo Buscaglia played music—and generated a good dance party! Ms. O'Connor and parent helpers ran International Night's first decathlon, and a surprise visit from former Assistant Principal Mr. Mili, who did his traditional reading of Strega Nona with performance help from Miss Elaine, made the evening complete. Thanks to so many parents, teachers, and staff for volunteering in numerous ways, and thanks to all families for sharing your cultural ties with the whole community. Photos (from top left): –Everyone eagerly dives in to all the delicious food. –Local musician Gian Carlo Buscaglia entertains all that attended. –Wonderful posters made by many families of the Morse School. –The return of Big Anthony & Strega Nona! –The itinerary for the night.
What is Growth Mindset? Has your child come home and said the words Growth Mindset? Or doesn’t seem to “give up” so easily on tasks? It could be the result of what they are hearing every day at the Morse School. Below are a couple of templates that offer an explanation to Growth Mindset. If you have questions ask your child’s teacher or any other Morse School staff member.
A Night at the Garden By: Aizza, Amelia, & Angelene Officer Ortiz, our police liaison from the Cambridge Police Department, got eight tickets to the Boston Celtics game on November 11th, 2016. Eight grade five students earned tickets to the game for positive behavior, strong effort in academics, being kind, and being a leader. We met at the police station and had pizza and drinks with Officer Ortiz and some kids form the Amigos School. We boarded the bus and headed off to the TD Gardens. When we got there, we waited, and waited, and waited for the sales person to bring us to the court level seats where we were going to watch the team practice. But, she was a no-show! We were a little disappointed but were so happy to be there, so off we went to our seats. When we got to the seats, we couldn’t believe how high we were. It was a bird’s eye view of the entire Gardens! During the game, Isaiah Thomas, #4 for the Celtics earned so many points for the team. A couple of players from the Nicks got ejected from the game for being rude to the referee . . . not a good idea! We all worked very, very hard to get on the Jumbotron. We danced. We screamed – almost bursting the eardrums of everyone around us! Through perseverance, we got on! It was just for a few seconds, but it was worth it! We freaked out! We felt so lucky and would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Officer Ortiz!
Exploring Cambridge On October 19th, over 60 staff members from the Morse School participated in a first-of-its-kind learning expedition called Exploring Cambridge. Educators spent the afternoon walking in tour groups to learn about the Cambridgeport neighborhood, which surrounds the Morse School. Exploring Cambridge is an initiative which was developed by and for educators in the Cambridge Public Schools. Each “walk about” was designed to take about an hour, led by members of the local community. The weather could not have been more perfect for Morse’s first endeavor at this school-wide project. Before venturing outside, staff gathered in the lobby facing the school’s beautiful, silkscreened mural, where Principal Pat Beggy gave a brief history and overview. Painted by Japanese artist Tomie Arai, the mural contains symbols and imagery that speak to the school’s multicultural history and unique position along the Charles River. Staff listened as Ms. Beggy shared some of the rich history of the Morse School, including some of Cambridge’s firsts; Morse was the first elementary school in Cambridge to have electricity, and one of the first schools in the district to have a female principal. The staff also looked at demographic data from the Cambridgeport community, and watched informational videos about the school’s namesake, Asa P. Morse, and the history for building 808 Memorial Drive. Each walking tour was designed to explore a different corner of Cambridgeport. The goal was for teachers and staff to connect directly with the people, places and things that are important to Cambridge students and families. Along their path, teachers were encouraged to notice what kinds of dwellings, public transit, shopping centers, parks and playgrounds they came across. Cathie Zusy, president of the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Association, led a tour to the “Beat the Belt” mural behind the Micro Center, with a final destination at Magazine Beach. Valentino Robinson, Director of Community Affairs at Cambridge Community Center, led a tour to check out the new King School playground, and the Cambridge Community Center. School Safety Officer Ozzie Ortiz led a tour to Dana Park and Hoyt Field. Deacon Sarris Blunt and Reverend Jeremy D Battle met a tour at the Western Avenue Baptist Church, sharing about the mission of their congregation to serve families and partner with the local community. Other stops along the six different tours included the Trader Joe’s mural painted by Cambridge artist David Fitcher, 808 Memorial Drive, Woodrow Wilson Court and Old Morse Park. After the engaging learning experience, staff reconvened in the Morse library, joined by Superintendent Salim, Chief Planning Officer Lori Likis, and Program Manager for Educator Development, Chris Colbath-Hess. Teachers and staff reflected about what they learned, and the impact of participating in this experience. One teacher who commutes to Cambridge from a town about 30 minutes away remarked how her tour had deepened her understanding of both the local area, as well as Cambridge as a whole. Ms Likis and Assistant Principal Samantha Headley shared how this work aligns with the overarching goal of the district: developing teacher capacity for cultural competence and culturally relevant instruction. Exploring Cambridge was the collaborative effort of district and school-based educator teams. The Fletchard Maynard Academy and the Martin Luther King School also participated in neighborhood tours. The Morse staff has new a Cultural Proficiency team, and they plan to continue this work by developing a new set of tours to explore different neighborhoods of Cambridge in the Spring.
