Spring 2007

Volume 5, Issue 3

Holyoke Publ ic Schools

By

Dr. Eduardo B. Carballo

Superintendent of Schools

Spring is here and there is lots going on in the district! Eight of our teachers received the Har-old Grinspoon Excellence in Teaching Awards. A delegation from the main office surprised them at their respective schools on Friday, March 16th. I enjoy going around to the schools and surprising the teachers and so again, I want to congratulate and thank this year’s award recipi-ents for their contributions to our children’s learning. The recipients are: Cynthia DiDo-nato, Holyoke High; Darren Walsh, Lawrence Elementary; Lisa O’Neil and Jennifer Lee, Peck Middle School; Philip Christofori, Kelly School; Donna Dempsey, Sullivan Ele-mentary; Diane Ayers, McMa-hon Elementary; and Kenneth Lombardini from Dean Tech.

Rising Stars week is April 23 through April 26. Forty-two letters went out from my office notifying parents that their child had been chosen. The banquet is scheduled for Wednesday, April 25, and I hope to see all the new Rising Stars there!

Holyoke High School’s musical, Beauty and the Beast, was per-formed in March. With the students and staff putting in so much hard work and effort, I hope many of you enjoyed this fantastic show.

We are gearing up for the sum-mer programs. KinderKamp was a huge success last year and we are hoping to service an-other 60 incoming kindergarten students in an effort to get them ready for a successful first edu-cation experience. Summer

School classes will be offered for every grade level as well as additional classes for credit being held at Holy-oke High School and the Special Educa-tion camp will run at Jericho. There will be announce-ments before the summer break. Keep your eyes on Channel 12 and check with your child’s school for more details. Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss. Mil-lions of children have grown up with his books. His wonderful style of writing made it easy for the young ones to “read” at an early age, and his invention and illustrations of strange looking animals with even stranger sounding names was ingenious. His books have been translated into more than fifteen languages and over two hundred million copies have been printed. The interesting thing about these books is the vocabulary is lim-ited, but this makes them so accessible to the younger chil-dren. Who can forget Green Eggs and Ham with “I am Sam, Sam I am.” The great thing about these books is the fact that parents read them to their children and the children, in turn, read them to their parents and siblings. This fosters an interest in reading, which hope-fully continues throughout their lives. You never stop learning and you need to read to learn.

Inside this issue:

New HHS Website 3

Celebrating Dr. Seuss 4

Mayor’s Message 5

Grinspoon Winners 6

Arts & Music 7

School Briefs 9-10

Spanish Highlights 13-16

Holyoke Public Schools Connections A Community Working Together

Our Web site: www.hps.holyoke.ma.us

Grinspoon Awards, Rising Stars, Summer Programs

Spring has sprung for Holyoke Schools

Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Eduardo Carballo, reads with Metcalf Pre-Schoolers Franchesca Rivera

and Isaac Aponte.

www.hps.holyoke.ma.us

What’s New on the Web

By Judy Taylor The newly revamped Holyoke High School website has been estab-lished and is available at www.hps.holyoke.ma.us/hhs . Please see page 3 for detailed in-formation about this site. Recent enhancements to the District Website include new pages for : English Language Learners, McHugh Educational Center, and Curriculum - (includes Maps and Alignments, District Accommoda-tion Plan, Early Childhood Accredi-dation, Literacy, and Math Pro-grams, Saturday School Program, Connections After School Pro-gram, Grade Level Benchmarks K-8, Professional Development Plan 2006-2007). Additionally, the fol-lowing documents have been posted: Turn Around Plan, Student Handbook, and America’s Choice Action and Implementation Plans (added to school pages).

Page 2 Connections

Edited by Kelly Doktor

kdoktor@hps.holyoke.ma.us Special Thanks to:

Luz Aguilar, Cris Brown, Kim Counter, Laura Dupont, Mike Hines, Judy Taylor, Judy Williams and Chris Zajac

Contributing to this issue:

Mission Statement The mission of the

Holyoke Public Schools is to provide educational

opportunities for all students to reach their full potential in a safe, secure, healthy learning

environment while valuing diversity and

promoting responsible citizenship.

Holyoke School

Committee

Mayor Michael Sullivan

Michael Moriarty

Mary Signet

Yvonne Garcia

Barry Conway

Mollie Plant

William A. Collamore

Margaret Boulais

Gladys Lebron-Martinez

Jonathan Allyn

Carol Babkiewicz

Lorie Banks

Pauline Carriere

John Cavanaugh

Michelle Chmura

Steve Damon

Rachel Kuhn Daviau

Kate Dean

Helen Gibson

Jose Gonzalez

Karen Guillette

Paul Hyry

Lois Keefe

Betty Larivee

James Lescault

Maureen Lyons

Joanne Marcotte

Lee McGarrigle

Debbie Menard

Aaron Morris

Winnie Moynihan

Nora Burke-Patton

Hava Preye

Mary Kate Richie

Jody Spitz

Nancy Stenberg

Chris VanLeeuwan

Sue Werenski

Even Start Family Literacy’s parents sing praises

A program is only as good as how its participants evaluate their learning experience and articulate the impact the pro-gram has made in their lives. The Holyoke Even Start Family Literacy Program has recently conducted a parent focus group under the supervision of the program’s Local Evaluator, Dale Parker.

This evaluation process has been undertaken every year for the past five years to provide feed-back to the staff during program planning and design. The follow-ing are some of the parents’ written remarks and self-evaluations that they have agreed to share with the Connections readership.

“Making the decision to learn English as a second language was the best thing in taking the first step towards a better future for my children and my family.

The teachers are very nice and they do a great job. I am very happy that communication with my children is improving. They have noticed that I am able to help them with homework, and I am also able to read with them daily. Seeing how happy this makes my children also, makes me happy.” - Roselyn Rodriguez

“My writing ability has im-proved, I feel more confident in speaking English in my daily life. The teachers teach us how to read children’s books for content and proper pro-nunciation so we can read to our kids. The home visits are good because she does draw-ing and writing activities with the kids. She includes me and we read together, the children love it.

In parent Ed class I learned that my children can have a tutor if needed. The teachers are nice and teach us about our rights and the school system.

By visiting the school I saw how my grandson is taught. I was able to talk with the teacher and see all of the work he had done. I felt proud because the teacher said that he is very intelligent. Visiting the school has helped me develop a good relationship with the teacher. I lost my fear of going into the schools. Now I can go alone”. - Alma Torres

“The Adult Education compo-nent has helped me a great deal. I now have the confidence to interact in English with the peo-ple of my community. Even though my English is limited, I am

not afraid to speak it. I am get-ting better at understanding what people say as well. Due to this I have more self-esteem and I am more emotionally stable.

The Home Visits have been beneficial to me and my child in improving our reading skills together. My child waits with anticipation for these visits from the home visitors.

- Dalin Portes

Any Holyoke parent, with chil-dren between the ages of 3-7 years old, is welcomed to apply. For further information or refer-rals please call 534-2165 or 534-2040 ext. 6212

Roselyn Rodriguez and her two sons work on homework together. She credits the Even Start Program in helping her children with their

schoolwork.

Volume 5, Issue 3

Title I Parent/School

Events

**All start at 6:30 p.m.

April Activities

4/23 at Donahue School

Bingo for Books

4/25 at Sullivan School

Reading Café

4/26 at McMahon School

Family Game Night

4/30 at Morgan School

Bingo for Books

May Activities

5/1 at Lawrence School

Dinosaur Night

5/2 at EN White School

Bingo for Books

5/3 at Mater Dolorosa

Arthur Literacy Night

5/14 at Morgan School

Bingo for Books

5/17 at First Lutheran

Pocket Math

5/24 at Kelly School

Exploring the Ocean

June Activities

**All are ALOHA! Bingo

6/5 at EN White School

6/6 at Lawrence School

6/7 at McMahon School

6/11 at Morgan School

6/14 at Kelly School

Page 3

Continued from Page 1

Page 4 Connections

Above (left), Sullivan kindergartner Giovanni Rosado and his second grade partner, Jerry Cruz, illustrate a Cat in the Hat poem during an afternoon of Dr. Seuss related language arts and math activities on March 2. At right is second grader Justin Rodriguez who made a Cat in the Hat hat with a sugar cookie, marshmallows and red frosting.

On March 5th, 14 stu-dents from Peck Middle School were guest read-ers for kindergarten students at Morgan Ele-mentary School as a part of the Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’ birthday. At right, Andres Colon, Reads Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who to a class; and be-low, Becca Deleporte reads in another room. The GEAR UP Program helped to support the trip.

Dr. Seuss leads the way in Holyoke for great reading in March

Over 125 parents and children attended an interactive family literacy night at Kelly School on March 22. Activities included all subject areas - math, reading and writing. The Cat in the Hat was prowling the room as well – full of mischief and the chil-dren loved having their pictures taken with The Cat! Assistant Principal Hector Santos greeted all parents and children and provided translations in Spanish throughout the eve-ning. Maria Ramos, who attends a GED class in the Pathways to Family Success family literacy program, brought her children Yamilet, age 9 and Uriel, age 6 and said “I am so glad that we came! The kids and I enjoyed

the activities and the books very much.” Each child who attended the event received a Dr. Seuss book to take home and also enjoyed ice cream, cookies and juice. This family literacy event was a collaboration among many different programs. The Holy-oke Public Schools were repre-sented by Title I, Even Start and Pathways to Family Success family literacy programs, and the Student Assignment office (which gave parents Kindergar-ten registration packets and information about this sum-mer’s Kinder Kamp). Addition-ally, Holyoke-Chicopee-Springfield Head Start and the Holyoke Early Childhood Part-nership Council co-sponsored

this event, with staff available to inform families about Head Start and childcare options.

Dalin Portes and her children meet The Cat in the Hat at

Kelly School.

Sullivan students celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday

A cold, wintry morning did not stop Sullivan Elementary School kindergartners from going out to see the brightly-colored Volkswagen bug from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Am-herst. Museum representative Corey Feltovic answered all the chil-dren’s questions about their favorite author. The visit culminated a full author’s study unit on Eric Carle.

Local community leaders have been reading to the Peck Middle School students in the library. Each month a different readers and writers group, functional education or TOP group of students is cho-sen to participate.

Those from the community who have read so far are: Mayor Mi-chael Sullivan, Holyoke Fire Chief David Lafond, HHS basketball coach Anthony Rigali, Holyoke Police Chief Anthony Scott, Chan-nel 3 meteorologist Brandon Butcher, and Read 180 Coordina-tor Lynn Lajoie.

Requirements for students to be selected are completed class work and maintaining good behavior.

Guest Readers at

Peck Middle School

Page 5 Volume 5, Issue 3

of being invited to one school to give a “pep talk”…I am sure that these young minds were truly inspired by my words… (That’s sarcasm in case the Math teachers did not recognize it). It was ap-parent that these students were very focused and somewhat nerv-ous about this experience. I told them to do “the best they can.” What else can you say?

Where did I put my mittens? I should have kept the sleeve sus-penders.

By

Michael Sullivan

Mayor of Holyoke

This time of the year seems to be particularly dreary. Even back when I was attending Kirtland Ele-mentary School, it was…cold, dank, mornings with puddle-laden after-noons and the smell of soggy mit-tens drying on the coat room radia-tor. There was no place to really play as the local glaciers receded leaving grassy areas soaked and asphalt surfaces with rivulets of melting snow. Then there was the stress of pulling on your galoshes (boots) over your shoes and keep-ing track of all the scarves and hats. Yes, I was one of those kids with sleeve suspenders that kept your mittens attached to your coat. Of course we all thought we might avoid this unpleasantness this year…but Mother Nature had

another idea. So here we are waiting for spring to re-turn, the season that we had thought was here in December.

If those memories are not unpleasant enough, I cannot imagine how difficult they are when you add the MCAS. Trapped in a room for an ex-tended period of time, taking a “high stakes” test which everyone is telling you to “just do your best” and you’re only in the 3rd grade! I would be losing more than my mittens.

I have to commend the incredible teachers in the Holyoke Public Schools for attempting to make this experience palatable…you are all true angels. I had the pleasure

Memories of spring now include MCAS

HOLYOKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Eduardo B. Carballo, Superintendent

NOW OPEN !! Applicants must be

five years old on or before September 1, 2007

Kindergarten applications available at

the schools and at the Student Assignment Center 1st Floor - 57 Suffolk Street

Tel: 534 - 2007 Hours of Registration: 8:30 - 2:30 M-F

Get Ready for Kindergarten!!

HOLYOKE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Free Summer Program For 4 & 5 year olds entering

Kindergarten in Fall 2007 July - August; Monday-Thursday 9-1

Families must register at:

Student Assignment Center

1st Floor - 57 Suffolk Street

Tel: 534-2055 **Priority given to students who have not had PreK experience.

Coming Soon…

Information about the

Summer Program

Stay Tuned to Channel 12 for announcements

Mayor Sullivan (center) gives a pep talk about MCAS to students at McMahon.

Page 6 Connections

Diane Ayers, Middle School math teacher at McMahon, receives her award from principal Sue Frederick and Superintendent Dr. Carballo.

Philip Christofori, art teacher at Kelly School, is flanked by students and Rafael Bones, Meaghan O’Neill and Dr. Carballo.

Donna Dempsey (3rd from left), special educa-tion teacher at Sullivan School, is with the stu-dents on her special day.

Cynthia DiDonato, math teacher at Holyoke High School, shares her moment with students and HHS Principal David Dupont (L) and Dr. Carballo.

Jennifer Lee, science teacher in the TOP Pro-gram at Peck Middle School, receives her prize from Principal Terri Pudlo and Superintendent Dr. Carballo.

Kenneth Lombardini, machine technol-ogy teacher at Dean Technical High School, receives his award in the machine shop.

Lisa O’Neil, middle of group, a special education teacher at Peck Middle School, beams with stu-dents and administration.

Darren Walsh, second grade teacher at Law-rence School, shares a smile with students and principal Hilary Russell and Dr. Carballo.

About the Award… There was a great celebration in Holyoke the day before St. Patrick’s Day. On March 16th, Superinten-dent Dr. Eduardo Carballo; Human Resource Director Rafael Bones; and HPS Recruitment Specialist Meaghan O’Neill presented eight teachers with the coveted Excellence in Teaching Award.

The program rewards winning teach-ers with $600 cash award, a YMCA Membership, dinner event, participa-tion in various workshops, an after-noon in the Berkshires seeing a per-formance at Jacob’s Pillow as well as flowers and other gifts.

Nominated by building principals, Grinspoon Award criteria are: pro-fessionalism, great attendance, col-laborations, performs above and beyond, links community to the classroom, respected by peers and demonstrates enthusiasm.

Praises from Principals: On Diane Ayers: “...eager to join McMahon staff and flexible with adjustments in moving to a new school.”

On Philip Christofori: “...enthusiastically taken on challenge of establishing mentoring relation-ships.”

On Donna Dempsey: “...students have passed the Alternative MCAS Assessments every year scoring 100 points.”

On Cynthia DiDonato: “...supports and involves students in community (National Honor Society).”

On Jenn Lee: “...she teaches to her students’ individual differences and ensures each child is involved in active learning.

On Ken Lombardini: “...he teaches by example, very active volunteer for school and community.”

On Lisa O’Neil: “...her teaching is commendable and the students are the sole benefactors.”

On Darren Walsh: “...creates new, stimulating activities for students, experiments with varied effective centers such as Mystery Reader.”

Page 7 Volume 5, Issue 3

McMahon School The McDermott School of Irish Dance vis-ited in March to perform Irish dancing for the students. The dancers also gave insight into the origin and culture of the dance by answering questions from the audience. The performance was coordinated by Carol Hepworth.

Morgan School Student cellists and violinists performed at Barnes and Noble in March as a fundraiser. Barnes and Noble donated a percentage of sales made during the concert to the Mor-gan School PAC. Later that week, the group played at Holyoke High School. They also participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade playing while riding on the city-wide music float.

Kelly School Art Teacher Denise Descoteau recently had her artwork featured in The Central Gallery at UMASS Amherst. The exhibit entitled, “If You Walk in the Woods…” was on display during the month of March.

Sullivan School Music Teacher Jose Gonzalez has pro-duced a new bilingual CD of Children’s Songs titled Caribbean Fiesta for Kids! which includes new versions of the classic Latin children’s songs Chequi Morena and El Coqui as well as original songs written by Gonzalez. The CD can be pur-chased at www.CDBaby.com. His CD has been featured on the PBS TV Special “Visions of Puerto Rico.” Steve Damon, Sullivan Band Director, is the 2007 recipient of the Excellence in Gen-eral Music Teaching, presented by the Soci-ety for General Music in Massachusetts. He was honored at the conference in March. Damon was featured in the winter edition of Connections for recording students playing and gathering feedback from musicians from around the country. He now has comments from 15 states and the District of Columbia.

EN White In addition to choral, guitar, and recorder classes, Choral Director Robert Dickson is teaching music and production classes. The classes will help prepare students for careers in both music performance and music production. The curriculum includes writing and performing radio and dance shows and television commercials; compos-ing, noting and music theory. The culminat-ing event will be an actual performances by students as disc jockeys during Field Day.

Andrew Verrocchi, String Program Direc-tor, began a viola class to supplement the violin program. Adrienne Sambo, Holy-oke’s city-wide cello teacher, also comes to EN White to teach two afternoons a week.

The Lynch Middle School held its sixth annual Literacy Night in March. The event included the new Lynch band performing under the direction of Kevin Noble. Members of the band are: Sixth graders - Rhys Duquette, Kiara Fernandez, and Jaime Monegro; Seventh graders - Jason Arble, Luis Gonzalez, Brittany Morin, Pe-ter Shewchuk and Kris Tardy; Eighth graders - Caitlin Anable, Tyler Arsenault, Nelson Balvin, Manuel Bodon, Joey Judd, Nick Kelleher, and Shanice Reyes.

Faculty Art Show

The eighth annual art exhibit featuring works from Holyoke art faculty runs until April 22 at 4 Open Square Way. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 9-5 and Saturdays from 11-5. Each year faculty members display work they have created outside their

responsibilities as teachers. Above top, artwork on display; middle photo shows retired Art Depart-ment Head Lora Bar-rett shares a laugh with Alissa Breyare while preparing for the show. At left, those enjoying the opening reception catered by the culinary arts students from Dean Technical High School.

Lynch band performs at Literacy Night

Student Art Exhibit The Heart of Holyoke Student Art Ex-hibit will feature over 150 works of art at the Holyoke Public Library April 5th through April 26th.

Page 8 Connections

Pi Day at E.N. White a true collaboration among teachers

Sixth graders at E.N. White School celebrated March 14th in a special way. March 14 or 3-14 is Pi Day. For many of us, Pi is a number that we were told to use to calculate the circumference and area of a circle, but for stu-dents at E.N. White, it is a never-ending number that was discov-ered by Archimedes that repre-sents a relationship between the diameter and the circumference.

The students were treated to a day-long celebration of Pi that included face painting, songs and pie! Lori Mathurin, math teacher, wanted to create hands-on ex-periences into the world of Pi. She set up several centers around her classroom where the students participated in a variety of activi-ties that explored the various aspects of Pi. They measured the circumference and diameter of assorted circles like hula hoops, bike tires, and mixing bowls, then

compared that information to get a real understanding of the num-ber and be able to take ownership themselves. “Lessons that are hands and minds-on are more meaningful and relevant to the students,” said Mathurin. The students also strung beads using 10 different colors to represent each digit in Pi. The students continued more than 800 places after the decimal, and the beads measured the length of the chalk-board.

The students also measured the circumference of volcanoes that they created as a part of a unit on landforms. “Math and science are natural partners,” said science teacher Mark Vatousiou. Pi Day was crossed over into ELA classes with students creating a list of as many circles they could think of in the world with the top three winners receiving - pie! There was also a read-aloud of Sir

Cumference and the Dragon of Pi. The chil-dren re-sponded to the story by creating Odes to Pi. “It’s amazing to see what the children come up with to praise a number that until re-cently was only a means to calculating the circumference and area of a circle for me and unknown to them. I really get the concept of Pi now too,” said ELA teacher Alecia Pettengill. Each 6th grade classroom also created a themed-door that high-

lighted Pi. When students re-flected back on their day of learn-ing it was best concluded by Ericka Velez’ comment: “I loved Pi Day because we were learning math and didn’t even know it. We were having so much fun!”

Twenty-six students in Lorie Banks’ eighth grade math classes at Peck Middle School participated in a St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital “Mathathon” fundraiser bringing in over $200. Students were given a book of 8th grade math problems to solve and they could receive pledges based on the number of problems solved or they could accept straight donations.

Students enrolled in the Connections Life Skills after school pro-gram at Dean Technical High School recently participated in the Money Smart program sponsored by the Holyoke Credit Union. Barbara Baran and Jane Therrien of the Holyoke Credit Union spent two afternoons with students explaining banking and money management skills. After providing a brief explanation of how banks operate, the women allowed students to experience banking procedures first-hand. They learned how to open bank accounts, write checks, balance an account and to make deposits and with-drawals. Life Skills workshop instructors, Joyce Siok and Maureen Lyons, say the presentation provided worthwhile information delivered by HCU employees in a caring and supportive manner.

Holyoke Credit Union assists with life skills Ann Dixon, representative from The Honda Finance Corporation on Kelly Drive in Holyoke; and Terri Pudlo, Peck Middle School principal, recently met and out-lined a partnership between the business and the school. The first commitment is Honda supporting a mentoring program with 17 of its

employees paired up with students and having lunch once a month. In addition to mentoring, Honda will fund a student dinner for the 25 Book Campaign, buy books to enhance science and social studies classrooms, and fund a student trip to Sunset Resort in Connecticut in June.

Honda Finance and Peck in partnership

Kiara Calderon and Ericka Velez count beads to the 800th place past the decimal point in the Pi equation.

Page 9 Volume 5, Issue 3

Dominican Republic Pen Pals Students in Linda Over-lock’s fourth grade classes have been writing to students in the Do-minican Re-public. By writing letters, their pen pals are learning more English skills. E.N.

White students have learned their pen pals wear uniforms to school and the school only has two classrooms. The children use outhouses for bath-rooms and the library has two book-cases, but does not have many books. The two classes have been exchanging photos as well.

“Egg-citement” in classroom Mrs. Healy’s second graders have been carefully watching 18 fertilized chicken eggs inside an incubator since March 7th. While anticipating the chicks’ birth, students have been busy making daily recordings of tempera-ture and humidity in the incubator. Three times a day, the caretakers must roll the eggs over. Students gather data, and incorporate those numbers into math activities. The eggs were provided by the Hampden County Improvement League which

requires the chicks be placed at a farm when old enough. The league provides instructions through a man-ual and teacher training. The class-room activity is an exciting way to meet the state curriculum standard to recognize that animals and plants are living things that have needs.

Professional boxer visits While reading The Contender by Robert Lipsyte, middle school stu-dents in the Read 180 program wanted to know more about the sport of boxing. Teacher Mary Menard arranged a visit by Iowa na-tive and boxer Jeff Farmer who is currently training at the Holyoke YMCA. He talked to students about the rigors of training and emphasized the need for a person to have “a sin-gle-minded dedication in skill building” in order to become successful in the sport.

A view of the two-room school-house in the Dominican Republic.

Dominican students

Petitions by students Seventh graders at Donahue School were inspired by projects they did with the Book of the Month, Talking Walls, by Margy Burns Knight. Above (L to R) Geraldo Ramirez, Ixia Maldonado, Rosa Colon and Charity Lebron learned about the petition process. In doing so, their petition to get bathrooms cleaned up has been accepted and a remodel-ing/painting project is underway. The second petition of getting healthy vend-ing machines is still pending.

Write It and Recite It! The Title I Parent Night held on March 12th was a Poetry Slam. Students in grades 3-8 participated in the event by presenting poetry written by them-selves and famous authors. The night also included pizza, cookies, juice and a raffle for poetry books.

Report Writing All classrooms at Donahue School turned into research labs during the recently completed America’s Choice report writing unit. Selected picture books from grades 3 and 7 are on dis-play outside the office along with re-ports from other grades.

Natalie Pedraza recites her poem as Aimee Estrada waits her turn at

Donahue’s Poetry Slam night.

Netanya Ortiz shows Paul DeLeon her picture book about hair entitled, “Reveal the Secrets.”

Page 10 Connections

Doris Ransford, president of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, State Representative Michael F. Kane, State Senator Michael R. Knapik and John Hazen, president of Hazen Paper Company, observe fifth grade students from Sullivan School (L to R) Giovanny Pagan, Austin Chotain, Bridget Higgins and Maggie Bryant, participating in a design challenge to make paper as part of the Holyoke Manufactur-ing Education Initiative. The initiative at Hazen Paper Com-pany is a program of the World Is Our Classroom, Inc., a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide students with a curricula to emphasize real-world contexts using hands-on learning in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. All Holyoke fifth grades participated in the program this year.

Students in the Quilting Workshop at the Holyoke High School Connections Program recently attended “Hands Across the Valley Quilters Guild Quilt Show” at Amherst College. The students, from HHS and Dean Technical were impressed by the 380 hand-made quilts and clothing accessories that were on display. Stepha-nie Jusino from Dean said, “I can’t believe how long it must have taken to make the quilts.” Tashia Davis learned that you can make a quilt from using photographs as a guide in your design. Above, Stephanie Jusino and Haydee Santiago make a quilt bag.

Morgan School Kia, the certified ther-apy dog from the Bel-chertown Public Li-brary, recently visited Morgan School. At right, second grader Olegario Carillo shares a hug with Kia after he and several other sec-ond graders read books to him as he is trained to be an

excellent listener.

Metcalf Pre-School As a part of the ongoing science and health curriculum in the preschool program, the chil-dren at the Metcalf PreSchool have been learning about nutri-tion and healthy eating habits. The series of six lessons has been taught by Karen Lennon (right) of the Family Nutrition Program at UMASS. As a follow-up to these lessons, a training session for par-ents is being planned for May. A “Nutrition Corner” is set up in an area in the library which has children’s books and games to be used during the program.

McMahon

School After giving the fourth grade students a pep talk about doing their best during the MCAS test-ing, Mayor Mi-chael Sullivan (center) shows a light-hearted moment with the class as he is balancing on crutches recovering from an ankle injury. The school has had a great turnout for its MCAS ELA after school preparation program.

On a sad note, long-time cafeteria worker Claire Hart recently died. She was known to everyone as “grandma” by many of the students.

Holyoke Lions Club offers glasses to city students The Holyoke Lions Club and Holyoke Opticians have teamed up with the Holyoke School Health Program to provide up to 40 free pairs of eyeglasses to eligi-ble students as identified by school nurses, vision and hearing testers, and parents. In November 2006, Lions Club member Ray Lange extended the offer on behalf of the club for city students. The goal of the program is to provide glasses quickly to those in need for whom the cost of the glasses is a financial hardship. Once a child has been identified as eligible for the “Glasses for Stu-dent’s Program,” a parent will be asked to sign a permission form that will allow the nursing supervi-sor to share the child’s name via

email with the Lions Club Pro-gram Coordinator and Treasurer for funding approval. Once funding

is approved, the parent will re-ceive that confirmation and then will be able to take the child to Holyoke Opticians on High Street to get fitted for glasses that are usually ready within one week. The funding is only for eyeglasses with a prescription that is less than one year old. The Lions Club does not pay for any exams. There are three issues that face some of our children who need glasses. One is the inability for parents to replace broken or lost glasses due to insurance restric-tions. Another issue is the long waiting period between the time a prescription is written and the time MassHealth approves pay-ment. Lastly, there may be no insurance coverage at all for some families.

Upcoming

Appeals Board Meeting Dates

All Meetings held in the Conference Room at Holyoke

High School

6-8 PM

• June 13, 2007

• Aug. 15, 2007

• Sept. 6, 2007

Title I News & Notices The Parent Academy

Parents of students in elemen-tary grades are invited to the first Title I Parent Academy to be held on Saturday, April 28 at Donahue Elementary School from 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Parents will have the opportu-nity to select workshops that include math, reading and ELL topics. On site childcare will be available.

Summer Boredom Program Students in K-2 will be invited to participate in an at-home learning program. Those who voluntarily sign up for the program will received a packet of reading, language arts, and math materials to do over the summer. Students will receive the information which must be filled out and returned by May 4. Students will receive the packet two weeks before the end of school. For more information on either of these programs con-tact Pauline Carriere at 540-2434.

Holyoke Public School student Christina Cruz is a recipient of

glasses from the Holyoke Lions Club and Holyoke Opticians. She says she loves her glasses because “things are

not blurry anymore.”

Volume 5, Issue 3 Page 11

Division II National Basketball Champions

Lynch cheers on Barton College Bulldogs of NC Seventh graders at Lynch Middle School had a once-in-a-lifetime basketball experience in March. They were one of eight schools in Western Massachusetts chosen to attend an opening round of the Division II Elite 8 Tournament at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. Lynch’s adopted team was the Bulldogs of Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina. Lynch students pre-pared for the day by researching Barton College and learning about the region the college is located. Students also made signs and painted their faces to show support. After the Barton team pulled off an overtime victory in the first round and saw the enormous support by the students, the team decided to visit Lynch Mid-dle School to show their appreciation. Barton College administration then paid for seventh graders to attend the championship game held on March 24th that saw the Bulldogs win the Division II Championship. The follow-ing organizations made the experience possible: Division II Championship Committee, Verizon, Barton College and the NCAA.

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Parents/Guardians of Current 6th Graders

In order to enter 7th grade in September 2007, documentation of the following

requirements will need to be submitted to the School Nurse:

Physical Exam (copy of exam or appoint-ment date), 2 doses of Measles vaccine (MMR), 3 doses of Hepatitis B vaccine

(within the last 5 years), and the Varicella vaccine (or physician documented case)

The Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Creative Schools Grant funded the Enchanted Circle Theatre and the Hitchcock Center for the Environ-ment working together with the fifth grade teachers and students at the following Holyoke schools: Morgan, E.N. White, Donahue, Kelly and Sullivan. This grant provided four consecutive days of workshops that integrated the arts into the science curriculum. Teachers chose either Weather & Climate or Animal Adaptations as the focus this year. Above are the students that took part in the modeling of lessons given by Priscella Hellweg and Ted Watt. This year is the first of a two-year grant.

Engineering Workshop HPS is working in collaboration with the Pioneer Valley Re-gional PreK-16 Network and has been awarded funding to hire the Boston Museum of Science to train 20 (grade 3-5) teachers in how to implement the Engineering is Elementary curriculum. The EIE curriculum integrates an elementary school science topic with a specific field of engineering. The train-ing will be a two-week work-shop in Holyoke and teachers will be paid a stipend of $800 for the two weeks. Teachers interested in participating should contact Dr. Helen Gib-son, Science Academic Coordi-nator by calling 534-2312 or by

Email:

hgibson@hps.holyoke.ma.us

Lynch Middle School Selected eighth graders re-cently finished a six-week grant funded program called GoFIT, an organization in Springfield that promotes nutrition and fitness in young people. This program was in collaboration with the school’s physical edu-cation curriculum and featured guest speakers, aerobics, and free sneakers for each partici-pant. The program was made possible with a grant from Citi-zens Bank. Sam Lawson, a Lynch 7th grader, took third place in The Springfield Republican newspa-per’s Kids in Print writing con-test. His teacher, Cathleen Foley encouraged him and classmates Mary Ellen Har-nois and Matthew Goulding to participate. Lawson had to complete an essay based on the Supreme Court cases deciding that schools can restrict stu-dents’ freedom of speech in certain cases.

Donahue School Third graders Jose Perez, Julia Mantilla, and Dayanise Cruz were the winning stu-dents in a recent Holyoke Gas & Electric electrical safety poster contest. Corrina Caraballo, Francheska Feliciano and Alyssa Hurley are Rising Star recipients. The girls have shown great leadership, good citizenship and a diligence for learning.

Dean Technical Josvette Colon has been nominated for the Title I Robert Watson Memorial Scholarship. She has already been awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award and will receive it and a letter signed by President Bush at her graduation. Josvette’s goal is to earn a four-year degree in Fine Arts, leading to a career in art education or in a museum of fine arts.

Kelly School Spear-headed by Diane Baez, the school celebrated St. Pat-rick’s Day with a luncheon for the staff with traditional Irish foods. Staff dined while Irish music played in the background and scenic photos of Ireland flashed on the school’s Smart-Board. Karoline Syner and Lisa Mier recently began a fitness club at the school for students in grades K-5 as well as teach-ers. During the three-day-a-week program, students par-ticipate in various physical ac-tivities and learn about healthy eating habits. Depending on the number of miles walked, stu-dents can earn rewards.

Holyoke Public Schools

Volume 5, Issue 3

Primavera 2007

Estos son los puntos mas sobresalientes del Boletin

Por

Dr. Eduardo B. Carballo Superintendente de Escuelos

Bien, la Primavera está aquí y hay cosas que continúan en el distrito. Ocho de nuestros maestros fueron denominados por la Exce-lencia de Harold Grinspoon en la Enseñanza de Premios. Una delegación de la oficina central los sorprendió en sus respectivas escuelas el tercer viernes de marzo. Yo dis-fruto caminando por las escuelas y sorpren-der a los maestros y de nuevo, quiero felici-tar y agradecer a los recipientes de premio de este año por sus contribuciones al apren-dizaje de nuestros niños. Los recipientes son: Cynthia DiDonato, Escuela Superior de Hol-yoke-HHS; Darren Walsh, Escuela Lawrence; Lisa O’Neil y Jennifer Lee, Escuela Peck; Philip Christofori, Escuela Kelly; Donna Dempsey, Escuela Sullivan; Diane Ayers, Escuela McMahon; y Kenneth Lombardini, Escuela Dean. La semana de Estrellas (Rising Stars) es el 23 de abril hasta el 26 de abril. Cuarenta y dos cartas salieron de mi oficina notificando a los padres que sus estudiantes habían sido elegi-dos. El banquete esta programado para el miércoles, 25 de abril y espero ver algunos de ustedes allí. La música de la Escuela Secundaria de Holyo-ke-HHS, se llevó a cabo en marzo y este año ellos realizaron la Bella y la Bestia. Fue un gran espectáculo. Los estudiantes y el perso-nal pusieron mucho trabajo difícil y esfuerzo en estas producciones y espero que muchos de ustedes vieron y disfrutaron de ello. Aumentamos los programas de verano. El KinderKamp fue un éxito enorme el año pasado y esperamos atender a otros sesenta estudiantes de jardín de infancia en un es-fuerzo para prepararlos para una primera experiencia de educación exitosa; las clases de Curso de Verano serán ofrecidas para cada nivel de grado; las clases se llevarán a cabo en la Escuela Secundaria de Holyoke-HHS y el campo de Educación Especial se llevará a cabo en Jericho. Habrá anuncios

antes de las vacaciones de verano. Vea el Canal 12 y compruebe con la escuela de su niño para más detalles. Feliz Cumpleaños, doctor Seuss. Millones de niños han crecido con sus libros. Su maravi-lloso estilo de escribir lo hizo fácil para los jóvenes "leer" en una edad temprana, y su invención e ilustraciones de animales de aspectos extraños hasta con nombres de sonidos extraños fueron ingeniosas. Sus libros han sido traducidos en más de quince idiomas y más de doscientos millones de copias han sido imprimidas. Lo interesante de estos libros es que el vocabulario es limi-tado, pero esto lo hace tan accesibles a los niños más jóvenes. Es reiterativo, pero man-tiene su interés. Quién puede olvidar Huevos Verdes y Jamón “con soy Sam, Sam soy”. La gran cosa sobre estos libros es el hecho que los padres los leen a sus niños y los niños, por su parte, los leen a sus padres y herma-nos. Este cría un interés en leer, que con esperanza sigue en todas partes de nuestras

vidas. Usted nunca deja de aprender y usted tiene que leer para aprender.

Superintendente Dr. Eduardo Carballo lee con estudiantes Pre-escolares de la Escuela Metcalf Franchesca Rivera and Isaac Aponte.

Ha llegado la Primavera a las Escuelas de Holyoke

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Los padres de Alfabetismo Even Start cantan alabanzas Un programa es sólo tan bueno en como sus participantes evalúan su aprendizaje de expe-riencia y articulan el impacto que el programa ha hecho en sus vidas. El Programa de Alfabeti-zación de Familia en Holyoke, ha llevado a cabo recientemente un grupo de enfoque paternal bajo la supervisión del Evaluador Local del pro-grama, Dale Parker.

Este proceso de evaluación ha sido emprendido cada año durante los últimos cinco años para proporcionar información al personal durante la planificación y diseño del programa. Los siguien-tes son algunos comentarios escritos por los padres y auto evaluación que ellos consintieron en compartir con los lectores del Programa Uniones. “Tomando la decisión de aprender inglés como una segunda lengua fue la decisión más perfecta que he hecho en tomar el primer paso hacia un mejor futuro para mis niños y mi familia. El Programa (Even Start) me ha ayudado a aprender el lenguaje inglés. Los maestros son muy agradables y ellos hacen un gran trabajo. Estoy muy feliz que la comunicación con mis niños está mejorando. Ellos han notado que estoy capacitada de ayudarles con la tarea, y también puedo leer con ellos diariamente. Ver a mis hijos felices también me hacen sentir muy feliz. Me gusta la clase dada en (Even Start) porque aprendo sobre la escuela de mi hijo y las visitas al salón de clase han ayudado a mis niños a sentirse importantes y los ha motivado para hacer el trabajo mejor en su clase.” --Roselyn Rodriguez “Mi capacidad en escritura ha mejorado, me siento más confidente hablando inglés en mi vida diaria. Los maestros nos enseñan como leer libros de niños para pronunciación y conte-nido apropiado para poder leerle a nuestros niños. Las visitas al hogar son buenas porque ella hace actividades de dibujo y escritura con los niños. Ella me incluye y leemos juntos, a los niños les fascina. En la clase de Educación para padres aprendí que mis niños pueden tener un tutor si es nece-sario. Los maestros son agradables y nos ense-ñan sobre nuestros derechos y el sistema esco-lar.

Visitando la escuela vi. como le enseñan a mi nieto. Yo pude hablar con el maestro y ver todo el trabajo que él había hecho. Me sentí orgullosa porque el maestro dijo que él es muy inteligente. La visita a la escuela me ha ayudado a desarrollar una relación buena con el maes-tro. Perdí mi miedo de entrar a las escuelas. Ahora puedo ir sola”. - Alma Torres

“El componente de Educación de Adultos me ha ayudado mucho. Ahora tengo la confianza para relacionarme con la gente de mi comuni-dad en inglés. Aunque mi inglés sea limitado, no tengo miedo de hablarlo. Estoy mejorando en entender lo que la gente dice también. Debido a esto tengo más amor propio y soy más estable emocionalmente. Las actividades y las técnicas sobre la lectura a niños que he aprendido en el componente de Alfabetización Interactivo me han ayudado a leerle a mi niño con más eficacia, en la cual hago regularmente. Las Visitas al Hogar han sido beneficiosas para mí y para mi niño en el mejo-ramiento de nuestras habilidades de lectura. Mi niño espera con anticipación estas visitas al hogar. Estoy agradecido por la información que consi-go de la clase de Educación Paternal. Esto me ha ayudado a hacerme más consciente de las cuestiones de educación que afectan la educa-ción de mi niño y me involucraron en la educa-ción de mi niño y la escuela. Voy a la escuela de mi niño casi diario (Head Start) para verla tra-bajar y hacer actividades con ella. Esto ha resul-tado en una buena relación con el maestro de mi niño.

Estoy agradecido y aprecio lo que el personal de (Even Start) hace para ayudarme y ayudar a mi niño a integrarse en la comunidad de habla

inglesa”. -Dalin Portes Cualquier padre de Holyoke, con niños entre los 3-7 años de edad, son bienvenidos a aplicar. Para información adicional o referidos, por favor llamar al 534-2165 o 534-2040 ext. 6212.

Roselyn Rodriguez y sus dos hijos trabajan juntos en las tarea. Ella da credito al Programa Even Start en ser exitosa para ayudar a sus ninos con sus tareas.

Title I Noticia Estudiantes en el Jar-dín de infancia en Grados 1 y 2 serán invitados a participar en un programa de aprendizaje en el hogar. Los estudiantes y los padres que se registran voluntariamente para este programa recibirán un Paquete de mate-riales para hacer en los meses de verano. Las actividades incluyen artes de lengua-je/lectura y matemáticas. Los estudiantes recibirán la información en la mitad de abril y la forma de permiso pa-dre/estudiante debe de ser devuelta para el 4 de mayo. Si usted necesita más infor-mación por favor comunicarse con Pauli-ne Carriere al 540-2434.

Page 15 Volume 5, Issue 3

Por

Michael Sullivan

Alcalde de Holyoke

Este tiempo del año parece ser en particular triste. Incluso antes cuando yo asistía a la Escuela Primaria Kirtland, las mañanas eran tan frías, húmedas con charcos en las tardes, el olor de guantes empapados secándose en el radiador del cuarto de abrigos. Realmente no había ningún lugar para jugar ya que los glaciares locales retrocedían dejando áreas cubiertas de hierbas empapadas y superficies de asfalto con riachuelos de la nieve que se derretía. La tensión de ponerse su galashes (botas) sobre sus zapatos y manteniendo la pista de todas las bufandas y sombreros. Sí, yo era uno de aquellos niños con ligas de manga que guardaban sus manoplas (guantes) atadas a su abrigo. Por supuesto todos pensábamos que podríamos evitar este tiempo desagradable este año, pero la

Madre Naturaleza tenía otra idea. Así que estamos esperando la primavera que habíamos pensado que había vuelto en diciembre. Si aquellas memorias no son muy agradables, no puedo imaginar que difícil son cuando se añade el MCAS. ¡Atrapados en un cuarto durante un gran período del tiem-po, tomando “la prueba y todos te dicen “haz todo lo posible” y tu estás solamente en el 3er. grado! Yo perdería más que mi manoplas (guantes). Tengo que alabar a los maestros de las Es-cuelas Públicas de Holyoke por tratar de hacer esta experiencia placentera…todos ustedes son unos verdaderos ángeles. Tuve el placer de ser invitado a una escuela a decir "unas palabras de aliento"…estoy se-guro que estas mentes jóvenes fueron real-mente inspiradas por mis palabras… (Ese sarcasmo por si los maestros de Matemáti-

cas no lo reconocieron). Era aparente que estos estudiantes estaban muy enfocados y algo nerviosos sobre esta experiencia. Les dije que hicieran “lo mejor que ellos puedan. ¿” Qué más se puede decir? ¿Dónde puse mis manoplas (guantes)? Yo debería haber guardado las ligas de la manga.

Las memorias de la primavera ahora incluyen MCAS

El Programa de Salud Escolar ha estado tra-bajando con el Club de Leones de Holyoke y los Ópticos de Holyoke en la Calle High para proporcionar gafas gratis a estudiantes elegibles identificados por las Enfermeras Escolares, Probador de la Visión y Audición, maestros y padres. En noviembre de 2006, Ray Lange del Club de Leones de Holyoke extendió una oferta al Programa de Salud de las Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke para proporcionar 30-40 pares de gafas gratis a estudiantes en nuestras escuelas. El objetivo del programa es proporcionar gafas rápidamente a estudiantes identificados que necesitan gafas para participar en la escuela y/o para quien el costo de las gafas es una privación financiera. En general, tres problemas afrontan a algunos de nuestros estudiantes que necesitan gafas. Una cues-tión es la inhabilidad de sustituir gafas perdi-das o rotas debido a restricciones de segu-ros. El seguro por lo general cubre sólo un (1) par de gafas por año. La segunda cuestión para estudiantes es el período de espera prolongado para obtener una prescripción y el seguro de MassHealth apruebe el pago.

Esto puede tomar hasta de 6-8 semanas o más. Para niños con mala visión, esta larga e s p e r a puede y a f e c t a r n e g a t i v a -mente sus académicas. La tercera cuestión es ningu-na co-be r t u r a de segu-ros en absoluto para algunas familias. Una vez que un niño ha sido identificado como elegible para “el Programa de Gafas para Estudiantes”, se le pedirá a un padre firmar una forma de permiso que permitirá que el Supervisor de Enfermería comparta el nombre del niño vía un correo electrónico

con el Coordinador del Programa de Club de Leones y el Tesorero para solicitar la aprobación de financiación. Una vez que la financiación es aprobada, el padre recibirá una copia verificada de un correo electróni-co firmado por el Supervisor de Enfermería de la Enfermera Escolar. El padre/persona encargada, entonces podrá llevar al niño y el correo electrónico verificado a los Ópticos de Holyoke en la Calle High para obtener un par de gafas gratis que estarán listas por lo general dentro de una semana. La financia-ción NO es para un examen visual. El padre debe proporcionar una prescripción para las gafas que tiene menos de un año. La financia-ción es para las gafas SÓLAMENTE. Gracias a la generosidad del Club de Leones de Holyoke y a los Ópticos de Holyoke “las Gafas para Estudiantes” han sido muy exito-sas y diariamente estamos consiguiendo más referidos. Como tal, el Club de Leones de Holyoke acaba de ofrecer en financiar 35 más pares de gafas gratis. ¡¡De parte de to-dos nosotros en el Programa de Salud Esco-lar y de todos los estudiantes que se han beneficiado del Club de Leones y la bondad de los Ópticos de Holyoke, les damos las GRACIAS!!.

El Club de Leones de Holyoke ofrece gafas gratis

El alcalde Michael Sullivan (centro) da unas palabras de aliento sobre el MCAS a estudiantes en la Escuela de McMahon.

Estudiante Christina Cruz re-cientemente recibio gafas del

programa. Ella dice que esta feliz “que ya no ve las cosas borrosas.”

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Holyoke Public Schools

Media Center

c/o Kelly Doktor

500 Beech Street

Holyoke, MA 01040

Connections

Escuelas Publicas de Holyoke

Eduardo B. Carballo, Superintendente

Comienza

El 2º de Abril Los niños tienen que cumplir los

cinco aºos en o

antes del 1º de septiembre del 2007

Los solicitudes están disponibles en

las escuelas elementales y

La Oficina de Asignación de Estudiantes

Localizada en

El Primer Piso - Calle Suffolk #57

Tel: 534-2007

Horas de registrar: 8:30 hasta 2:30

lunes a viernes

¡Preparacion para Kindergarten! Escuelas Públicas de Holyoke

Programa de Verano

Para niños/as de 4 y 5 anos de

edad entrando a Kindergarten

En el Otoño 2007

julio - augusto

lunes a jueves 9:00 - 1:00

El programa sera gratis

Familias deben registrarse en:

La Oficina de Asignación de Estudiantes

Tel: 534-2055

**Daremos prioridad a estudiantes que no han tenido experiencia pre-escolar.