Good news:  BPS has moved to single-stream recycling.  We are pleased to announce that the Curley has already begun to implement single-stream recycling.  Because our school is so big, we have an entire recycling dumpster.

Thank you to each member of the Recycling Committee so much hard work and enthusiasm about this program.  We are thrilled to have the chance to make recycling work at the Curley, and we can’t wait to see the data on how much we are diverting from the waste stream in May and June!  Single-stream recycling is a work in progress at the Curley – our Recycling Committee will collaborate with Jeff Slater, our custodian, and other school leaders to determine how the single-stream process can best work.  Please share your ideas.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

PARENTS: Help hang signs and put stickers on the indoor blue barrels.  Encourage your child to recycle at school, and share your feedback on how recycling is working (or can be improved) at the Curley. Contact science teacher Stephanie Selznick or Curley parent Susan Cascino to assist or to share your ideas.

TEACHERS: Sign up your classroom to be part of the MA DEP Green Team (www.thegreenteam.org)!   And complete the Recycling Self Reporting Worksheet (link below) before your class starts recycling single stream.  This provides a baseline to measure progress over time – and schools that return their Reporting Worksheet and sign up with the Green Team will be put at the top of the list to receive a visit from Curby the Recycling Robot or BPS staff for a recycling kickoff event.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Recycling FAQs
• Recycling Facts
• Recycling Self Reporting Worksheets
• Recycling Curriculum Ideas
• Sustainable Schools Best Practices Guide
• BPS Single Stream Recycling Presentation

Principal Slater will give an update on what’s happening at the Curley at 8:45 a.m.

After Principal Slater’s update, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., there will be a presentation by Al Vega. Mr. Vega, who is the Healthy Schools Coordinator, MassCOSH and the Boston Healthy Homes and Schools Collaborative, will speak on “Environmental Health at School and at Home, and it’s Connection to Asthma.”

For more information, please call Betty Alvarado, Parent Coordinator at 617-304-6771.

Background

The Community Initiatives Committee is comprised of parents, teachers and community organizations.  The Committee organizes a community clean-up of the schoolyard each semester and undertakes general improvement projects (planting, painting, etc.)  both outside and inside the school.  Together with Earthworks, we steward our orchard on Centre Street with the aim of maintaining, harvesting, preserving and donating the fruit of our labor.  For the past two Januarys, the Curley has hosted Boston Cares’ day of service in which more than 600 volunteers chose to take “a day on” rather than a day off.

In 2008, the Curley K-8 was the recipient of a $300,000 grant from the Boston Schoolyard Initiative (BSI) to design and build an improved schoolyard and an outdoor classroom for all our students!  The ribbon cutting ceremony took place on October 8, 2009, opening the schoolyard after Phase 1 of the project was completed.  A new mural was completed in Summer 2010 in conjunction with Mayor Menino’s mural crew.

We are currently seeking a grant or grants in order to bring Phase 2 of the project to a successful conclusion (namely, a gateway seating area at the Centre Street entrance and a playing field with perimeter track behind the school.

To get involved or to join the Community Initiatives team as a volunteer, community partner or funder, please contact Principal Jeff Slater or any of the following Curley parents:  Julie Smith-Bartoloni, Liza Stearns, Flo Zimmerman (orchard) or Asa Runefelt (outdoor classroom)

The event is entitled “Choices in Little Rock.” Dr. Roberts will look back on his historic experiences from 1957 as a 15-year-old student at Central High School Little Rock, AK. The talk will be held in the Upper School Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public.

For more details, click here.

Further questions? Please contact Curley parent Jeremy Nesoff who is coordinating this event.

Dr. Terrence Roberts

Thursday May 17th, 2012 is the 58th Anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. On this day, please join us for a very special opportunity to be in conversation with Dr. Terrence Roberts as he looks back on his historic experiences from 1957 as a 15-year-old student at Central High School Little Rock, AK. Today Dr. Roberts travels around the country sharing his powerful story of individual choices and civic participation.

Students studying Choices in Little Rock, a unit that explores the story of nine courageous students and their attempts to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, will introduce Dr. Roberts and participate in the evening. The Facing History and Ourselves Teaching Guide: Choices in Little Rock provides insight into the consequences of challenging long-held beliefs about race. This resource explores the history of segregation in the United States and its legacies.  Choices in Little Rock helps us consider how ordinary people shape a community, a state, and, ultimately, a nation.

This event is free and open to the public. A special invitation is extended to 8th grade Boston Public School teachers of the Facing History and Ourselves Teaching Guide Choices in Little Rock. To learn more about Facing History and Ourselves and additional resources available to educators please visit www.facinghistory.org.

All students in Boston Public Schools 8th grade Civics classes engage in a study of this Facing History Unit and readChoices in Little Rock. The event is appropriate for 3rd Graders and older, or for all ages who have an interest in history, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and hearing from Dr. Roberts.

For more information, please contact Curley parent Jeremy Nesoff who is coordinating this event.

On Saturday morning we’ll be selling the plants that weren’t sold last week in front of the Curley at discounted prices. Please stop by between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. if you would like to buy a few more plants for your garden at great prices.

SmartTALK Family Math Night
Thursday, May 3, 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Lower School Cafeteria

You are invited to SmartTALK Family Math Night. Come and explore math in fun, hands-on ways. Teachers from the Curley and Curley After School Program will host this learning event.  Pizza will be provided.

For more information about this event contact Maria Monteiro-Roby at mmonteiroroby@boston.k12.ma.us or 617-756-3667.

Annual Curley Pride Walk at the Wake Up The Earth Parade
Saturday, May 5, 10:30 a.m.
JP Monument at Centre and South Street

We invite all Curley families, students and staff to join together for our Annual Curley Pride Walk in the Wake Up The Earth Parade. Please meet at the Monument in Jamaica Plain (intersection of South and Centre Street) at 10:30 a.m. and we will walk together down Centre Street. Please feel free to join anywhere along the route and wear your Curley Lion T-shirts!

Students will be making lion crafts in their art classrooms this week that they will bring with them as they show their pride in this Jamaica Plain community event!

Lift As We Climb ~ A Party with a Purpose!
Sunday, May 6, 7 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Milky Way ~ 284 Amory Street, Jamaica Plain

Spring Fundraiser Series 1st Sundays: April 1st, May 6th and June 3rd
Soul, Deep House, and Dance Music featuring DJ: Eddie Neal!

Lift As We Climb is a party with the purpose of generating funds to support the experiential learning and character development of local Boston students through travel to Washington DC to learn about Art, Science and History; most notably Civil Rights movements in American. We also hope to educate and entertain attendees through a wide range of Soul and Deep House Music.

All proceeds of this fundraiser benefit the annual trip of eight grade students at the Curley. A $10 donation is suggested.

Dr. Terrence Robert

Thursday May 17th, 2012 is the 58th Anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision. On this day, please join us for a very special opportunity to be in conversation with Dr. Terrence Roberts as he looks back on his historic experiences from 1957 as a 15-year-old student at Central High School Little Rock, AK. Today Dr. Roberts travels around the country sharing his powerful story of individual choices and civic participation.

Students studying Choices in Little Rock, a unit that explores the story of nine courageous students and their attempts to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957, will introduce Dr. Roberts and participate in the evening. The Facing History and Ourselves Teaching Guide: Choices in Little Rock provides insight into the consequences of challenging long-held beliefs about race. This resource explores the history of segregation in the United States and its legacies.  Choices in Little Rock helps us consider how ordinary people shape a community, a state, and, ultimately, a nation.

This event is free and open to the public. A special invitation is extended to 8^th grade Boston Public School teachers of the Facing History and Ourselves Teaching Guide Choices in Little Rock. To learn more about Facing History and Ourselves and additional resources available to educators please visit www.facinghistory.org.

All students in Boston Public Schools 8th grade Civics classes engage in a study of this Facing History Unit and read Choices in Little Rock. The event is appropriate for 3rd Graders and older, or for all ages who have an interest in history, the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and hearing from Dr. Roberts.

For more information, please contact Curley parent Jeremy Nesoff who is coordinating this event.

Following the breakfast, there will be an important presentation on Special Education – Basic Rights