Fletcher Maynard Academy

December Happenings

Don’t Forget! 2pm Dismissal Every Wednesday

Gazette

FMA Turkeys are Hot to Trot -Coach Evan

Asfallturnstowinterandthedaysshorten,sotoocomestheannualFMATurkeyTrot.MothernaturesmileduponusandallowedustoreturntoIzzy’sParkforthisyear’sedition.TheracesputonadisplayoftheFMAstudents’athleticprowess,funlovingnature,andsportsmanship.

Congratulationstoalltherunnersonafantasticday!Manythankstoallthestaffandfamilymemberswhoparticipatedandhelpedmakethisyear’sTurkeyTrotsomemorable.Ittrulywouldnothavebeenpossiblewithoutallofyoursupport!

• December 3 & 4 Dental Screenings

• December 4 No Uniform Day • December 12 Qualls Academy • December 16 & 17 Vision &

Hearing Testing • December 18 Holiday Music

Concert, 8:30am • December 22 Kwanza

Celebration, 6-7:30pm • December 24-January 1 Winter

Vacation

Fletcher Maynard AcademyCelebrating our Diverse CulturesFMA at the Celtics. Ms. Brennan

On November 18 FMA students, teachers, and families enjoyed a fun night out at Bank-north Garden for the Celtics game against the Mavericks. We were able to participate in the pregame high five tunnel ON THE COURT! Although the Celtics lost a close game, it came down to the last 20 seconds. Jayson Sandoval received a birthday shout out, and multiple students and their killer dance moves got air time on the Jumbotron! Thank you to the PTO for organizing such a fun evening out.

At the FMA we celebrate the many cultures we represent. We wanted to learn more about your family’s culture, so we asked you to share your family’s passed down advice. Whether that was advice from Grandma, an uncle, or Mom and Dad, we were so excited to hear so many wonderful stories written by our families during our International Dinner of Thanks. One student even shared her advice to her mother onstage, leaving us thinking about the advice WE might give! Here are just a few of the advice stories that you shared with us. Thank you for sharing with us, and we can’t wait to keep learning more about all of the cultures we represent!

Advice from Ghassan and Maha: • I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I

can’t accept not trying. Advice from Angel Cotto and Delia Soto, her grandmother:

• Mejor solo que mal acompañado. -- It is better to be alone than in bad company.

• Di me con quien andas y te diré quien eres. -- Tell me with whom you walk and I’ll tell you who you are.

Advice from Jeanne, J’Yanna Griffin’s mother. • My mother always told me to ask Jesus for guidance

during the day. I pass that on to J’Yanna and my family.. Advice from Raya Maggor, 1st grade, Ms. Swedberg's class.

• My mom told me, 'Raya you need to understand that life's not fair.' And I told her, 'I know life's not fair, but we need to work hard to make it fair whenever we can.'"

Fletcher Maynard AcademyFirst graders in both Ms. O'Donnell's and Ms. Swedberg's classes have visited the garden almost every Friday since the first week of school. They helped plant, weed, water, harvest, and prepare for winter. They don't look at the plants purely as gardeners though-- they're scientists. Each week they hone their observation skills, getting more detailed in their drawings and written descriptions as they get more experienced at looking closely. They make predictions about what they'll find in the digging bed, and are constantly asking "why?".

On their last fall CitySprouts day, first graders applied these skills to something extra special-- popcorn. After a read aloud they passed around whole cobs, feeling the hard red and yellow kernels and removing them. Watching and listening patiently, students signaled the start of the popping with their hands and predicted whether the red kernels would yield red popcorn. As the kernels started to sizzle and pop they noticed something. Though they all looked white from far away, up close students could see the remains of red shells on some kernels and yellow shells on others. By looking closely and comparing the corn before and after it popped, the budding scientists figured out that the corn bursts open. They also learned that some of the most satisfying science is also delicious.

Citysprouts Exploration in the FMA GardenWhat Ms. Martin's Class is Thankful For

What I’m Grateful For by Caison

I’m grateful for my friends, family and my parents. I am grateful for my friends because they make me laugh and they have my back when I don't feel good. We spend a lot of time together. We help each other when we're hurt. They tell me my right and wrong. We fix each others mistakes, we learn from each other. They are the best friends I could ever ask for.

My family has made my life even better. They help me with school and they make me work hard. I achieved two honor rolls and a certificate from Harvard University. I would not be here today if it wasn’t for my mom and dad.

They are the best parents I ever had. They make me laugh and we play fight sometimes. We spend a lot of time together and sometimes we go out to have fun!

These are all of the things I am grateful. You can still think about the things you are thankful for. They will help you achieve things in life.

Thanksgiving by Jamarc Denis

Thanksgiving reminds me of all the things I am thankful for. I appreciate my dad, mom, and grandpa. I especially appreciate my grandma because she works hard everyday to keep our house clean and makes dinner for our family everyday. I am very thankful for family because they care about me and each other.

I am also thankful for my dad because he works so hard to let my sister and I have new clothes and shoes. He doesn't get help with stuff like that.

And last but not least, I am thankful for FMA because I learn everyday. So that's what I'm thankful for. What are you thankful for?

Fletcher Maynard AcademyMunchkins with Mathematicians WaddellIn early November, the third graders in Room 311 hosted the first of our monthly classroom breakfasts. The monthly breakfasts are a wonderful opportunity for parents, students, and teachers to socialize with one another and for the students to share with their parents what they’ve been working on in class. This month, our focus was on mathematics and the students spent time demonstrating to their parents how they solve three digit addition and subtraction problems using strategies, round numbers to the nearest 10 and 100, and check the reasonableness of their answers. The students made charts to showcase their thinking and displayed their math journals. However, the most popular activity at our breakfast was clearly the math games! Students took the opportunity to challenge their parents to friendly, yet competitive games of Rounding War and many parents found themselves being “schooled” in rounding! Room 311 is looking forward to our next monthly breakfast, Croissants with Characters in mid-December.

FMA November Students of the Month

Room Student311 Victor Costa310 Kidani Shabazz-

McClain 307 Oison Boyko305 Cory Sanders304 Natalie Douyon-

Ortiz303 Miriam Cruz-

Pimental301 Nikita Reece210 Miguel ChavezSpanish Daniel AwgchewArt Tashara DavisTechnology Jacqueline

Visit to Otis Family Home MartinThe 4th grade class went to Beacon Hill to visit the home of the Otis Family.  The kids learned about life in Boston in the 1800s and about the neighborhoods in Beacon Hill. Students created plaster and toured the home. After touring the Otis House and learning about the architecture and design, the students explored Beacon Hill and saw important buildings such as the African Meeting House.

Fletcher Maynard AcademyFMA Winter Tech Update McGonegalMr. McGonegal, FMA Instructional Technology Specialist

Well, it's been quite a year of computing thus far at the FMA! The CPS technology replacement cycle is almost complete, and we now have interactive whiteboards, iPads (JK-2) and Chromebooks (3-5) integrated in every classroom. Our new lab is nearing completion; watch for a grand opening gathering in early 2016!

The annual "Hour of Code" week is almost upon us! On the week of December 7th through the 13th, all FMA computer classes will focus on coding skills, and what it means to program a computer. Our second through fifth grade students actually get a crack at the wonderful computer programming activities on Code.org quite often, and I encourage FMA families to check them out at home. For more information, and for some really fun coding games, check out https://hourofcode.com

For those of you considering giving technological gifts over this coming holiday season, I want to highly recommend a web site called "Common Sense Media." Commonsensemedia.org is a wonderful site run by a consortium of parents, tech leaders, and scholars, who give very sound advice not only on technical hardware and software, but on how to thoughtfully guide your kids on how to best navigate the media and technology that is sop pervasive in their lives. Check it out at http://commonsensemedia.org

Finally, check out the list of FMA Student Logins to CPS Web-Based Resources appended to this newsletter. There are many great web-based activities offered by the Cambridge Public Schools that your students can access from home computers, tablets, and in some cases, even mobile phones! Note that user names and passwords vary slightly for each, and some resources are only available at certain grade levels.

http://bit.ly/1jxi1mX

In design, a picture is truly worth more than a 1000 words. True to form, Harvard students described their projects using image boards. The day concluded with our Doers sharing their ideal MLK Streets visually.

With the elevation of design to the C- Suite in industry, design’s importance is being acknowledged more and more everyday. The academic world is following suit. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (aka STEM) now often includes an A (STEAM). Most equate the A to Art, however the A actually represents Art and Design.

Professor D’Oca commented on how smart and engaged our Doers were. He would like to work again with them in the Spring. They represented FMA well!

Excerpted from article by Michael K. Dawson, CoFounder Innovators4purpose.

Professor Daniel D’Oca, Harvard Graduate School of Design, has created a course where graduate students use the tools of design to explore “How Might We revitalize these streets and the neighborhoods surrounding them to resemble environments that King would be proud of?”

In this course, which includes architects, landscape architects, urban designers and urban planners - students target two MLK streets for improvements: Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in St. Louis and Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in Washington, D.C. Students traveled to these two cities to work with local residents, community organizations, elected officials and others to devise plans to remake these streets and neighborhoods. On November 17, Professor D’Oca invited FMA’s Creative Doers to listen to his students findings and then share their own vision of an ideal Martin Luther King Blvd.

Over the course of this school year, our Doers are studying the field of Design. The word “design” encompasses a lot and it’s often difficult to come up with an agreeable definition. One definition that I like defines design as “making things better for people.” Designers turn concepts into something that is desirable, viable and adds value to people’s life.

Michael K DawsonFMA Creative Doers go to Harvard

Fletcher Maynard Academy