Only a week and a half’s worth of school left, but the days are still packed with activities.

PLEASE NOTE: Tomorrow’s visit to the Curley by State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez has unfortunately been cancelled. A last-minute unforeseen scheduling problem sadly.

Eighth Grade Moving On Ceremony

Thursday, June 20th, 2013,  11 a.m.
Upper School Auditorium

The 8th Grade Moving On Ceremony is this Thursday. Congrats to all our 8th graders!

For full details, click here.

MFABS Night for Curley Mamas

Thursday, June 20th, 7:30 p.m.
Bella Luna/Milky Way

It’s the last MFABS of the year! What is “MFABS” you asked? Click here!

Curley Annual K1-5th Grade Field Day

Friday, June 21st (Rain date: Monday, June 24th, 2013)

The different grades will participate during the following times:
9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. – Grades 3 and 4
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Grades 1 and 2
12:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Grades K1 and K2

For more details or to volunteer, click here.

Fifth Grade Field Day and Awards Ceremony Luncheon

Field Day, Friday, June 21st (Rain date: Monday, June 24th, 2013)
Approximately 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the Jamaica Pond Sugar Bowl

Catered Lunch and Awards Ceremony
(This event will be held on Friday, June 21st regardless of the weather.)
Approximately 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. at the Curley School

The Fifth Grade Field Day and Awards Ceremony Luncheon will take place at the Jamaica Pond and the Curley K-8 School on Friday, June 21st at 9:00 a.m.

For more details or to volunteer, click here.

Technology Committee Meeting

Tuesday, June 25th, 8 p.m.

The recently formed Curley Technology Committee, made up of interested parents, teachers, staff, grandparents, and community members, will be holding it’s next meeting on Tuesday, June 25, 8p.m.

It’s a conference call, so please email parent co-chairs Sunny Schwarz or Scott MacIntosh for details.

Teacher Appreciation Lunch

Thursday, June 27th, 1 p.m.
The SPC’s annual Teacher Appreciation Lunch is a chance for us to thank the teachers for all their hard work and say goodbye to all those who are leaving our community. If you are available to help set up and wait on the teachers, please email Dave Demerjian. This is a really nice event we’ve held forever for all the teachers and staff, and can be a lot of fun too.

Early Release/Last Day of School

Thursday, June 27th and Friday, June 28th, 12:30 p.m.

These last two days of the school year will both be half days. Students will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Please make the necessary arrangements for their arrival home.

Please note that our Curley After School Program (CASP) will close for the school year on Friday, June 21st. The last school day remains June Friday, June 28th. CASP will, however, reopen for their summer program on July 8th.

The 6th grade “Stars” field trip to Canobie Lake Park. The 5th grade field trip to the Museum of African American History and also the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill downtown.The 2nd grade field trip to the Aquarium. The PACE and K0/K1 field trip to the Big Apple Circus. 60 sixth grade students from the mainstream program and 40 students from the SEI program field trip to see the “Ancient Life” installation at the Museum of Science. What do all these trips have in common? They are all funded by you, the SPC.  The other thing they have in common? They would not happen without our support. This is just one example of the many ways the SPC (you!) are a partner in your student’s (and all our Curley family’s) education. Last week we sent home a Spring Fundraising letter in your student’s backpack. The letter provides an overview of the many community events and programming the Curley SPC organizes and supports throughout the year. This is our last appeal of the year and we are hoping to raise $5,000 to make our 2012/2013 budget. Your support helps our Curley students grow! Please send what you can in the envelope provided. Every bit counts; and donations from many families add up!

Curley 2013 Backpack Letter – English

Curley 2013 Backpack Letter – Spanish

Curley music teacher and headliner Jay Gates in the middle of his amazing Rod Stewart Tribute performance

If there was one word to describe this past Friday’s School Parent Council 2nd Annual ROCKMONITOR Midway Benefit Show, it would have to be “AWESOME!”

The event was organized by Curley parents Molly Mariano (left), Katie Fitch (center), Jess Ormsby (right) and Joe Wardwell - thank you all!

The event was organized by Curley parents Molly Mariano, Katie Fitch, Joe Wardwell and Jess Ormsby – thank you all. Curley parents, teachers, staff, extended families and friends sold out, yes, sold out, Jamaica Plain’s Midway Cafe. Thank you also to the Midway Cafe for hosting us.

We sold out the Midway!

Almost everyone in the entire venue danced late into the night, thoroughly enjoying 5 successive sets by Curley community members who were joined by their friends and collaborators!

Some of the Midway crowd

Social media buzzed about the event. Parent Carrie Fletcher tweeted later, “That was possibly the best Curley event ever. Mr. Gates is literally a rock star. Well done @JessOrmsby & Molly!”

K2 teacher Layla Hijab Cable later added on Facebook, “Had a great time. A community that cares and has a good time together deserves the best.”

Mayoral candidate John Connolly, who dropped in to support us, later tweeted, “.@curleyk8 benefit poss. coolest BPS fundraiser ever,all parent teacher acts incl headliner Rod Stewart tribute band pic.twitter.com/DUj8iPdAMb.”

Curley parents Daryn (far left) and Spiro Stylianopolous (far right) and Curley uncles George and Geo of Bunce-Opolous, with Curley parent Lindsey Weeramuni.

The evening began with the opening act of Bunce-Opolous, made up of parents Daryn (vocals/keyboard) and Spiro Stylianopolous (guitar/vocals) together with Curley uncles George (drums) and Geo (bass). They were joined for a few songs by fellow parent Lindsey Weeramuni on vocals. They performed songs by Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Alison Krauss, Tracy Bonham and Sesame Street.

Dance and drama teacher Kim Taylor Knight accompanied by her daughter Lydia Downard on violin (on stage, right).

Following Bunce-Opolous, there were a series of lovely dance pieces by dance and drama teacher Kim Taylor Knight. She was accompanied by her daughter Lydia Downard, a student at the Berklee School of Music who played an electric violin.

Dead-beat Daddies, with Curley dads Dominic Burdick (left) and Tom Stenquist (left) and Manning dad Josh Habib (center).

Next up was Dead-Beat Daddies. The three piece band of Curley dads Tom Stenquist (of Lars Vegas) on vocals/drums and Dominic Burdick on saxophone, were joined by Manning School dad Josh Habib on percussion, drums and vocals. The Dead-Beat Daddies were equally fun to watch and listen to, performing a series of beatnikesque musical numbers. Their opening number about how “hard” it is to be a dad was especially appreciated by the crowd.

Seamstress: Liz Laneri (guitar/vocals), Sally Bunch (bass), Jen Willsea (accordion/vocals) and Curley parent Molly Mariano (drums/vocals).

The fourth set was performed by the four women of Seamstress. Liz Laneri (guitar/vocals), Sally Bunch (bass), Jen Willsea (accordion/vocals) and Curley parent Molly Mariano (drums/vocals) rocked the foundations with original numbers, that included “She’s a Drifter,” “Celltown” and “Internet Troll.”

The Rod Stewart Tribute aka Jay Gates effect. Most of the packed bar danced like they were 20 again.

Then came the headliner – The Rod Stewart Tribute, aka Curley music teacher and performer/singer extraordinaire Jay Gates performing his amazing covers of Rod Stewart songs. He was fun. Yeah, fun. Really, really, really fun. After an amazing performance that got almost the entire bar to dance like they were twenty again, the crowd was so loud he had to perform one encore. The crowd then yelled so raucously again that he performed a second. Enough said.

Limited edition T-Shirt by parent and artist Matt Coplen

The Benefit show organized in support of our music, arts and science programs, raised a total of $1,000. The show was the SPC’s last fundraising event of the year – though don’t forget to help if you can through our SPC fundraising letter, which is the last effort of the year! The evening included raffles and the sale of fantastic limited-edition T-Shirts designed Curley dad and artist Matt Coplen.

Thanks are also due in particular to Molly and Jess for their amazing efforts throughout this past year as fundraising co-chairs. Together with many, many others, their extraordinary dedication and hard work these past few years have kept our music, science, arts programming going. Their efforts in organizing and coordinating all the fundraising efforts of dozens and dozens of parents have enabled our school to offer our children many curricular and enrichment opportunities. Again, thank you both!

Parent Katie Fitch and K2 teacher Layla Hijab Cable (right)

What a great event, what a great community! Still smiling.

This week’s Paw Prints from Interim Principal Mirna Vega-Wilson:

• On June 6th 50 Curley collaborators attended our annual Networking Breakfast. In a Curley circle we applauded our friends who expand our students’ experiences in sports, tutoring, restorative practice, counseling and arts. Some agencies include The Home for Little Wanderers, SquashBusters, Boston Medical Center, JP Trauma Coalition, Connolly Library, Community Service Institute, Strong Girls Strong Women, JP Boathouse, Northeastern U, Cambridge College, Sole Train, Spontaneous Celebration, Curley parents, CASP representatives, and Children Services of Roxbury.
• On June 14, 2013 twenty- three eighth graders departed the Curley K-8 School for Washington D.C. Accompanied by Mr. Cardoso, Ms. Levine, Ms. Ricciardi, and Ms. Mercado they will be visiting such sites as the National Museum of African Art, The Smithsonian, the White House, and Monuments: Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial to name a few. Students will be back on Saturday evening! They will be buzzing with what they have learned while on this trip!
• This has been a busy week with testing and in these last few weeks we will be celebrating students’ achievements. Please join us for the Eighth grade moving up ceremony on Thursday, June 20th at 11:00 a.m., The Fifth grade End of the Year Celebration on Friday, June 21st at 9:00 a.m. and the K2 End of the Year Celebration on Tuesday, June 25th at 1:10 p.m.
• The School Parent Council (SPC) is holding it’s last school fundraiser of the year at the Midway Cafe at 8pm tonight. An event reserved for adults, it will be an evening of musical entertainment that will draw on the talents of our parents and teachers.
• Please note that our Curley After School Program (CASP) will close for the school year on Friday, June 21st. The last school day remains June Friday, June 28th. CASP will, however, reopen for their summer program on July 8th.
• Our good friend Representative Jeffrey Sanchez will be visiting the Curley on Wednesday, June 19th at 11:00 a.m. to present the Curley students with books. This generous donation comes at a great time when students are going off to summer vacation! UPDATED: An unfortunate scheduling conflict has resulted in the the cancellation of this event. Nonetheless, all students are encouraged to read over the summer!

8th Grade Parents and Guardians,

You are cordially invited to the Eighth Grade Moving On Ceremony at the Curley K-8 School on Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 11:00 a.m.

The ceremony will be in the Upper School Auditorium. Please use the Pershing Road Bridge Entrance.

We will serve light refreshments. Tickets are required for each guest (3 tickets per student).

Congratulations!

____________________

Padres de Estudiantes de Octavo Grado:

Estan Ustedes Cordialmente Invitados a la CEREMONIA DE CULMINACION DE LA ESCUELA INTERMEDIA y el paso a LA ESCUELA SECUNDARIA, 20 de junio, 2013, 11:00 a.m.

En Auditorio de la escuela Intermedia (entrada por el Puente de la calle Pershing).

Se ofrecera refrescos. Boletos son requeridos para la entrada de cada uno de los invitados. Se daran 3 boletos por estudiante.

¡felicidades!

The SPC had it’s end of year meeting last Wednesday, June 5th. It featured a delicious potluck dinner and an opportunity to meet  our dynamic new principal, Katie Grassa. It was also a chance  and look ahead to next year: we  held elections for  SPC and SCC seats, and began signing up volunteers for our various working committees. The Curley now has more exciting opportunities than ever to work towards real change at the school. Please read the detailed minutes and election results here for more information.

Do you love to plan parties and events? We would to increase the size of our fundraising team before the end of  the school year. Email Genevieve if you would like to help with any of the important and fun events that we sponsor each year.

And don’t forget these end-of-year Curley events:

This Friday June 14th, at 8pm at the Midway Cafe in JP you will have a chance to rock out for the Curley!  Have you ever see our music teacher Jay Gates and thought, “wow, he kind of looks like Rod Stewart”? Now is your chance to see him perform in his Rod Stewart Tribute band! Other bands featuring talented Curley parents will also perform  It’s a fun, adults only event that will not disappoint.

Spring Backpack letter: We are attempting to raise $5,000 by reaching out to families one last time this school year.  Please think about contributing by mail, returning the envelope coming home in your child’s backpack, or making a donation via the website.

With our new principal, an ambitious playing field Capital campaign , and so many dedicated and engaged families and staff pitching in to make our school great, there is a lot to be excited for. Thank you for all your support this year!

Last year's Field Day pizza box relay being run by Tayvion DePina and Deanna Torella McLoughlan. Emmanuel Chidozie Sr, parent to 6th grader Nathan Chidozie, looks on.

The 5th Grade Field Day and Awards Ceremony/Luncheon will be held this year on June 21st at both Jamaica Pond and at the Curley. This will be the same day as Field Day for the K-4th grades. See below to volunteer!

• 5th Grade End of Year Celebration – English
• Final del Quinto Grado de la celebración del Año – español

Field Day

(Rain date: Monday, June 24, 2013)
Approximately 9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. at the Jamaica Pond Sugar Bowl

The 5th Grade will hold it’s Field Day though at the Jamaica Pond Sugar Bowl, though a rain date is scheduled for Monday, June 24th. Field Day activities will take place from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Last year, the 5th grade teachers organized stations that the kids rotated through, such as: tug of war, relay races, 50 yard dash, the relay with the “big clothes” event and more. They had a great time! Unique ideas for other events or supplies are welcome. For example, last year one parent coordinated a Frisbee station. We will need some parents to help run stations.

Ms Quatrale coordinating the frisbee toss. Students shown: Aine McMahon and Charlie Harper

Ms. Moran and Ms. Daly at Field Day 2 years ago

Catered Lunch and Awards Ceremony

(This event will be held on Friday, June 21, 2013 regardless of the weather.)
Approximately 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. at the Curley School

Field Day at Jamaica Pond will be followed by a catered lunch and Awards Ceremony from 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. back at the Curley. The lunch and Awards Ceremony will be held at the school onJune 21st regardless of the weather.

The teachers are planning to order sandwiches from The Real Deal Deli as a special treat. They ask that students donate $5 for food and drink. If family members would like to join us we ask that you donate an additional $3 per family member. Please be sure to RSVP below!

Immediately following the lunch the teachers will present all students will a certificate of completion. The teachers will also present select students with special awards.

5th grade parents and guardians, please view the English and Spanish flyers below for rsvp information and lunch information. Please volunteer!

• 5th Grade End of Year Celebration – English
• Final del Quinto Grado de la celebración del Año – español

For more information, please contact the 5th Grade Team:

Kimberly Daly
Kate Davis
Danielle Moran
Candida Mundo
Carla Orlando
Sharon Pina Pitts
Sarah Quatrale

Logo and flyer created by Curley Dad and artist Matt Coplen

Come to our FINAL fundraiser of the school year!

The 2nd Annual Curley Art & Music Benefit Show at the Midway Cafe is THIS FRIDAY!

Featuring parents and staff from the Curley playing LIVE MUSIC right in JP!

We packed the Midway last year and it was a lot of fun… bands, raffles, used records, tshirts, cash bar.

Tell your friends, bring your neighbors! Don’t miss this unique event and call your babysitter now for Friday June 14th!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ROCKMONITOR 2nd ANNUAL CURLEY ART & MUSIC BENEFIT SHOW

Friday, June 14th

$10 / 21+

Music starts at 8pm

Midway Cafe, 3469 Washington Street in Jamaica Plain.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Who’s Playing?

• The Rod Stewart Tribute
  featuring Curley music teacher Jay Gates!
  (http://www.firstclassfool.com/First_Class_Fool/HOME.html)
• Seamstress
  (Curley mom Molly Mariano)
• Taj
  (Curley dad Joe Wardwell)
• Deadbeat Daddies
  (Curley dads Tom Stenquist of Lars Vegas & Dominic Burdick)
• Bunce-Opoulos
  (Daryn & Spiro Bunce-Stylianopoulos and featuring Lindsey Weeramuni)

Interested in performing or helping out night of?

Email mollymariano@gmail.com

This week’s Paw Prints from Interim Principal Mirna Vega-Wilson:

• Congratulations to eighth graders, Astrid Baez and Jakelin Bonilla who were honored last Thursday, May 30th at the Mayor’s Awards Ceremony in Faneuil Hall. Jakelyn Bonilla received the Academic Achievement Award and Astrid Baez received the School Spirit Award.
• Our year is quickly coming to a close but before we leave for the summer we need to assess what our students have learned this school year. Next week we will begin assessing our students in English Language Arts (ELA), Math, Science and Social Studies. It is important that you encourage your child to do their best and to be in school every day on time. The schedule is as follows:
  • K1 – PALS assessment will take place throughout the month until June 20th
  • K2 – Dibels assessment will take place throughout the month until June 20th
  • 1 – Dibels and TRC assessment will take place throughout the month until June 20th & the Math assessment will take place on June 12th & 13th
  • 2 – Dibels and TRC assessment will take place throughout the month until June 20th & the Math assessment will take place on June 12th & 13th
  • 3 – Dibels and TRC assessment will take place throughout the month until June 20th. Also they will take the ELA & Math assessments on June 10th and the 11th
  • 4 & 5 – ELA & Math assessments on June 10th and June 11th
  • 6, 7, & 8 – ELA & Math assessments on June 10th and June 11th. Social Studies and Science on June 12th and 13th
• On June 6th, the Curley Ambassadors of Dance performed at the BPS Arts Festival in Downtown Boston.  The 2-day festival, organized by First Night, Inc., was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral on Tremont Street. The 30 dancers in the company have been rehearsing after school all year and include 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade students, as directed by Ms. Taylor Knight. Great job everyone!
• The Eighth Grade Moving On Ceremony will take place on Thursday, June 20th at 11:00 a.m. in the Upper School Auditorium. A formal invitation will be forthcoming. Students are preparing a ceremony that includes a celebration of what they have learned this school year!
• The Fifth Grade Field Day and Awards Ceremony Luncheon will take place at the Jamaica Pond and the Curley K-8 School on Friday, June 21st at 9:00 a.m. Information on this event went home today!
• There is a lot going on in these last weeks of school. Please check your child’s backpack or ask them about what is happening at the school!
• Our last day of school is June 28th. June 27th and 28th are early release days. Students will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. Please make the necessary arrangements for their arrival home.

Curley Annual Field Day for the K1-4th grades is on Friday, June 21 this year. A rain date of Monday, June 24 is planned just in case. To be held in the Lower School Yard, Field Day activities will be split into different time slots based on grade level. Times are below:

9 am. – 10:30 a.m. – Grades 3 and 4
10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – Grades 1 and 2
12:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. – Grades K1 and K2

Activities will include some old, and some not so old, favorites: potato sack races, football, basketball shoot, jump rope contest, face painting, spoon races, golf putt, bean bag toss, soccer relay, hula hoops, moonwalk, Twister, tug o’war, and ballon pop.

Volunteers Needed

The teachers need parent volunteers to help with games and assist with refreshments. Please call the school directly at 617-635-8239.

As part of our year in review series called 2012/13 Paw Tracks, below is a recap of the Curley’s February Makers Camp at CASP by Curley parents Dominick Burdick and Eileen McMahon:

_________________

Campers with their LOLs

We have to start by saying how proud we are of the attendees that came to the February 2013 Makers Camp held during February vacation at the Curley K-8 School. Our group of eight students all worked so hard on their projects, they learned some new skills, contributed to the cooperative design and assembly of a community project, and solved how to make a free standing structure out of spaghetti and marshmallows. All of them completed the construction of their own take home project.

LOL array under construction

The Aduino micro-controller is like a little computer that was designed to make it easy to create multidisciplinary electronic projects. It is possible to add external boards (aka shields) which plug into the Arduino and extend its functionality.

These shields include but are not limited to Global Positioning Systems, Wireless network, sound modules, temperature sensors, motion sensors, motor controllers and LCD displays. We focused on a locally designed product called LOL array (Loads of LEDs) that gave us the opportunity to introduce the kids to soldering and also to learn how to program some animation sequences.

The first day was an introduction to soldering – using lead free solder of course! We set up 3 soldering workstations and started out by soldering big pieces of copper wire to familiarize our students with the general principle of what a good solder weld is. We then moved to smaller wire with copper clad blank circuit boards, that allowed the students to practice soldering on the scale needed to work on the LOL array.

Learning to solder

Then with everyone suitably skilled up the students set about assembling the LOL array with its 126 LEDs and 4 headers, requiring over 250 individual soldering connections on a diminutive 2″ x 3” Arduino Uno sized board. Ms Falkner – one of our counselors from CASP – saw the light as it were and set about building her own. Several hours later each student had their own functioning LOL array and so it was on to programming.

Putting the LEDs into the LOL array

Soldering all those connections

For the animation the students had to design a sequence of panes that the LOL can display and then set about programming the Arduino to play them. By displaying a series of panes in quick succession the animation magic happens.

Programming the animation

The task of building the LOL array and programming is fairly intense and so it was good to have another fun activity in which all the students could cooperate and interact. The community project was a chance to see the LilyPad in action – this board is also an Arduino but is a little smaller than the Uno and when combined with conductive thread that can be stitched into material it allows us to create a wearable or flexible device. In this case our group decided to design and assemble a fabric panel showing a colorful dragon banner.

Colorful banner designed by the Makers Camp

Another activity that the group focused on was building the tallest structure they could out of spaghetti, marshmallows and tape. Maybe this is where Mr Eiffel got his idea from.

Tower made of spaghetti, marshmallows and tape.

On the last day the students finished up any remaining programming of the LOL array, built some boxes to put the Arduino and LOL array in and also finished the assembly of the banner project. We are happy to report that at the end of the camp everyone managed to take home a functioning LOL array and the skills on how to program it some more. There is a little more work to do to complete the community project which we will likely do in a follow up session soon. The camp was a pilot program designed to initiate curious minds into the electronics and programming world and to that end we consider it a success. Next time we will likely try to work with a larger group of students.

Working LOL

Finally, at the Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville on Sunday 14th April, there was an event called the “DIY Throw Down” where the camp’s attendees were invited to show off the product of their labors. For more information visit: http://www.cambridgesciencefestival.org/2013Festival/2013ScheduleOfEvents/DIYFestival.aspx

– Eileen McMahon and Dominic Burdick

Resources:
Arduino web site: http://www.arduino.cc/
Animation tool for LOL Shield: http://sequoia.github.com/LSS/
LOL Shield creator’s web site:http://jimmieprodgers.com/kits/lolshield/programlolshield/
Download LOL shield code https://code.google.com/p/lolshield/

Logo and flyer created by Curley Dad and artist Matt Coplen

Come to our final fundraiser of the school year!

The 2nd Annual Curley Art & Music Benefit Show at the Midway Cafe is just around the corner.

Featuring parents and staff from the Curley playing LIVE MUSIC right in JP!

We packed the Midway last year and it was a lot of fun… bands, raffles, used records, tshirts, cash bar. Tell your friends, bring your neighbors! Don’t miss this unique event and call your babysitter now for Friday June 14th!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ROCKMONITOR 2nd ANNUAL CURLEY ART & MUSIC BENEFIT SHOW

Friday June 14th

$10 / 21+

Music starts at 8pm

Midway Cafe, 3469 Washington Street in Jamaica Plain.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

Who’s Playing?

• The Rod Stewart Tribute
  featuring Curley music teacher Jay Gates!
  (http://www.firstclassfool.com/First_Class_Fool/HOME.html)
• Seamstress
  (Curley mom Molly Mariano)
• Taj
  (Curley dad Joe Wardwell)
• Deadbeat Daddies
  (Curley dads Tom Stenquist of Lars Vegas & Dominic Burdick)
• Bunce-Opolis
  (Daryn & Spiro Bunce-Stylianopoulos and featuring Lindsey Weeramuni)

Interested in performing or helping out night of?

Email mollymariano@gmail.com

From Somalia to Australia, the Philippines to Cape Verde, Puerto Rico to Israel, Russia to Brazil, China to Great Britain, India to Italy, the Curley is blessed with families, teachers and staff from everywhere under the sun. Kicking off with multi-lingual welcome songs led by Amika Kemmler-Ernst and three able students, last Thursday’s Multi-Cultural Performance (the culmination of a week-long Curley celebration of the strength of our diversity) brought that simple but profound truth home to many. The high point for me, in an evening filled with amazing performances, was the singing of the US national anthem by one of our PACE students. He “brought down the house.”

Amika’s amazing photographs above illustrate in pictures what parent Lindsey Weeramuni expresses in words about the richness of our school. Lindsey writes:

“I’m always impressed by how the audience at our multi-cultural events looks like the city of Boston. The performances brought out a wonderful combination of cultural and parental pride. One group of women swayed and waved the Cape Verdean flag while singing along as their children danced their traditional dance. Another father behind me shook his Puerto Rican flag proudly in rhythm to Miles Davis, giving his son a standing ovation as the drummer of the jazz combo. The closing routine by the spunky multi-cultural cheerleaders reminded me that in one way or another, we all come from “somewhere else.”

The organizing committee for the Multi-Cultural Festival, who deserve our thanks for their hard work and good cheer, are below:

Torri Canada
Ron Hobson
Amika Kemmler-Ernst
Maria Monteiro-Roby
Kim Taylor Knight
Betty Villalba-Alvarado

Another busy week on the cards for the Curley:

Technology Committee Meeting

Tuesday, June 4th, 8 p.m.

The recently formed Curley Technology Committee, made up of interested parents, teachers, staff, grandparents, and community members, will be holding it’s next meeting on Tuesday, June 4, 8p.m.

It’s a conference call, so please email parent co-chairs Sunny Schwarz or Scott MacIntosh for details.

School Parent Council Potluck and Elections

Wednesday, June 5th, 6 p.m.
Lower School Cafeteria

The final meeting of the 2012-2013 Curley School Parent Council will happen this coming Wednesday, June 5, at 6pm. We’ll start with dinner (it’s potluck, so bring something delicious), and then hold elections for School Site Council seats and School Parent Council officer positions. We’ll also be talking about the many other  ways to get involved with the Curley community. You can find out more by downloading the Curley Engagement 411 Volunteer Guide (.pdf).

Meeting takes place in the lower school cafeteria. Enter through the the lower school side entrance.

As always, child care and Spanish language interpretation available.

Have questions or need more info? Your SPC co-chairs are standing by. Just email Genevieve Day or Dave Demerjian.

BPS City-Wide Celebrate Arts Festival

Thursday, June 6th
Curley Ambassadors of Dance Performance: 12:15 p.m.
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, 138 Tremont Street, Boston

Student performers and exhibitors from dozens of Boston Public Schools will converge on the Boston Common at the Parkman Bandstand and Cathedral Church of St. Paul over 2 days to share and celebrate their work.

Kim Taylor-Knight’s Curley Ambassadors of Dance, made up of 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders, will be part of this showcase, performing dance pieces all of which have delighted us all this year. Their performance will take place on Thursday, June 7th at 12:15 p.m. at Cathedral Church of St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral, 138 Tremont Street, Boston. The festival is free and open to the public – come and celebrate the creative vision and talent of BPS students in our city’s signature public space!

For more information, email Kim Taylor Knight.