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Curley After School Program (CASP)

Mirna Vega-Wilson, Interim Principal
Torri Canada, Program Director

Applications and Tuition Information

If you have questions, please contact our Program Director, Torri Canada, at tcanada@boston.k12.ma.us or (617) 777-9330.

CASP Summer Program – 2013

The Curley After School Program is proud to announce the expansion of CASP into the summer. We are excited to announce that there will be 3 summer sessions available.

  • The first session begins July 8th to July 19th.
  • The second session Begins July 22nd to August 2nd.
  • The 3rd session begins August 5th to August 17th.

Participants may attend all three sessions. Curley students as well as students from other schools are encouraged to join. The hours will be Monday through Friday, 8:30am to 3:00pm. There will be many activities for the children to engage in.

Additional information including pricing is in the Program Flyer. You may also contact Torri Canada, the CASP Program Director at 617-777 9330 or tcanada@boston.k12.ma.us. Spanish speakers please contact Ms. Cruz at 774-381-0732 orlcruzortiz@boston.k12.ma.us.

El programa que se lleva a cabo despues de las horas de escuela, de la escuela Curley anuncia la expansion de su programa de verano. Estamos exitados de anunciar que el programa sera dividido en tres secciones.

  • La primera seccion comienza desde el 8 de Julio al 19 de Julio,
  • la segunda seccion comienza desde el 22 de Julio al 2 de agosto,
  • y la tercera seccion comienza desde el 5 de agosto al 17 de agosto.

Los participantes deben asistir a las tres secciones. Los estudiantes de la escuela Curley y otras escuelas estan invitados al programa. Los dias y las horas son de lunes a viernes de 8:30a.m. a 3:00p.m. Tendremos muchas actividades para que los estudiantes se envuelvan.

Habra informacion adicional en la red informativa de la Curley k-8. Tambien se puede comunicar con la Sra. Torri Canada, Directora del Programa al 617-777-9330 o a su red informativa tcanada@boston.k12.ma.us. Para espanol por favor comuniquese con la Sra. Cruz al 774-381-0732 o a su red informativa lcruzortiz@boston.k12.ma.us.

Do you need a Before School Program?

The Curley After School Program (CASP) is offering a before school program for Curley students K-8. The cost of the program is $5 per day per student.  The program’s hours are 7:20am to 8:20 am Monday through Friday. Activities will include arts and crafts, jumbo and puzzle worksheets, and reading. A drop in service will be available although there may be an extra charge related to this. Payments would need to be made monthly in advance. If you think that this program is something that you are interested in please fill out the form below:

El programa de horario despues  de horas de la escuela Curley (CASP) esta considerando ofrecer un programa antes de las horas de escuela para los estudiantes de grados k-8 de la escuela Curley.  El costo del programa es de $5.00 por dia. El horario del programa es de 7:20 a.m. a 8:00 a.m. de Lunes a Viernes.  Las actividades incluidas en el mismo son artes manuales, rompe cabezas, trabajos en hojas sueltas y lectura.

Los pagos necesitan hacerse mensualmente antes de que el mes comienze. Si usted cree estar interesado/a en este programa, favor de completer esta forma:

CASP Overview

The Curley After School Program, located in the Curley K-8 School in Jamaica Plain, is a new full service after school program currently serving the needs of over 60 students. Our program runs from 2:30pm – 6:00pm Monday thru Friday during the regular school year. Our schedule includes four 45-minute blocks per day for each grade. We provide academic support through homework help and one on one tutoring, as well as a number of enrichment activities, which will be detailed in the following pages. We are currently serving students in Grades K2-Grade 8 to the program.

Our permanent staff is composed of school staff.  We have regular education, specialist teachers as well as paraprofessionals.  Our enrichment activities are staffed by outside professionals, consultants and volunteers.

We provide a safe and healthy environment for our students to receive academic support and participate in enrichment activities.  We seek to give our whole school community genuine opportunities to learn coupled with opportunities to demonstrate learning.

Children must be at least 5 yrs old and between grades K1 to Grade 8 to be eligible for enrollment. You must register even if your child was registered for the last year.

Students who do not attend the Curley K-8 School are welcome! Transportation must be provided. The program is structured in three categories, Enrichment, Academics, and Sports. Enrichment options including Dance, Music, Theatre/Drama, Language (e.g., Spanish/Japanese), Home Economics, Art, Sailing, Chess, and more. Sports programs and outdoor recreation will include Flag Football, Basketball, Soccer, Tennis and more. Academic support will include assigned homework time for students, teaching of skills to organize homework, essential habits of learning, and individual support for students including for those in advanced programs.

We will partner within our community offering special programs for students of CASP to explore including a Science exploration program for middle school students offered by Tufts University.

All students will be provided with a healthy snack.

A typical day for our students

  • Students are escorted from their classrooms to designated meeting points within the building where they are met by program staff and filed to their afterschool classroom.
  • A wholesome snack consisting of fruit juice and a variety of crackers, yogurt, cheese sticks, and fruit cups are delivered to the classrooms.  Children are allowed time to consume their snack and socialize appropriately before the homework segment of the program begins.
  • There is at least 45 minutes dedicated to homework each day.  During this time, students may seek assistance from their peers and their after school instructor.  They have direct access to all of the necessary learning tools including Smart TALK tools.  This is a program of the Harvard Achievement Support Initiative (HASI) that engages students with skills that can be taught in after-school programs that offer a structured homework program and games and resources that extend learning beyond homework time.  Strategies of Smart TALK help to reduce problem behaviors, increase concentration, engage and motivate children to finish homework, increase confidence and excitement about learning, lower frustration with homework, help staff understand what children are learning in the classroom, and increases staff confidence in their ability to provide homework support.
  • K2 – Grade 1 students complete their homework easily and may engage in a special activity.
  • After the homework session has passed, students are moved into structured classes.  Classes for activities and enrichment are offered on different days so students may participate in more than one activity.
  • Students will participate in a performance at the end of each semester in order to showcase what they have learned.

Our Activities Menu

Dance
Each student in K2 – Grade 5 participates in 45 minutes of dance instruction each day, Monday thru Thursday.  Movement Education is an integral part of students learning.  Students participate in dance, games, and gymnastics while learning about other subjects, as it is an integrated curriculum.  The children learn through the kinesthetic domain.  They will learn to appreciate physical activity as they build self-esteem by working in an atmosphere of mutual respect.  Movement Education will provide opportunities for all children to succeed as they learn about themselves and other students as movers, and become more versatile and skillful dancers.

Curley School Band
Each student in Grades 4–5 participates in 45 minutes of band per week.  Students may select their instrument of choice to play with approval from parents.  Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will be able to participate in CASP with structured guidance from the music instructor.

Community
Each student in Grades 2-3 and Grades 4-5 participate in 45 minutes of community per week.  Community includes providing community service within the Curley School.  Students have participated in preparing the Curley Newspaper and emptying recycling bins in the lower school kindergarten classrooms.

Recreational Activities
Each student in K2-Grade 1, and Grades 2-3 participate for 45 minutes in recreational activities each day with our own elementary school gym teacher.  Each student will demonstrate an understanding of fair play, following rules and teamwork during game play and skill activities.  The November/December theme is hand/eye coordination through bean bag games, throwing/catching/kicking, tee ball, badminton, bowling, softball, and free play.

Theatre Games
Students will perform in Theatre games that are not based on talent but are based on solving a problem.  These games are designed to have teachers and students meet as fellow players, involved with one another, ready to connect, to communicate, to experience, to respond, and to experiment and discover.  The games may possibly lead to creating an original play.

Computer
Students will have access to computers and will engage in reading and writing through educational software.

Coaches of America
Coaches of America is an organization that we have collaborated with who has provided us a grant to coach students in sports games.  CASP students in Grades 4-5 will participate and compete in sports teams throughout the school year.  Two Coaches will participate with students 12.5 hours per week for a total of 450 hours for the year.  CASP will include students in grades 6, 7, and 8 with specific guidance from the Coaches.  Coaches will pursue those students who enjoy sports but would not normally have the opportunity to engage on a team in middle school or high school.  Coaches are from our own Curley student support team who currently work with these students at the Curley.

Special Activity
Each student in K2-Grade 1, Grades 2-3, and Grades 4-5 participate 45 minutes in a special activity.  Students themselves choose from a list of activities called CASP themes.  The activity of choice will be the theme for each particular week.  Choices include healthy eating, hygiene, legos, favorite books, movies, arts & crafts, drawing, writing and reading poetry, science experiments, fundraising, cooking, etiquette/learning good manners, fishing, banking, educational games (chess), weather, voting, take it apart and fix it, crocheting/knitting, gimp, sewing, and paper dolls.

Media Arts (Spontaneous Celebrations)
Each student in Grades 2-3, and Grades 4-5 participate in 45 minutes of media arts.  This class includes Eye 2 Eye overview and video production.  Four topics are highlighted including why I am me? Where am I from? Who am I? What I like and when I grow up.  Each topic will provide opportunities for students to use critical thinking skills and self-exploration.  At the end of the year students will walk away with basic design and/or video production skills and will have several items, including a DVD that will showcase their work.

Festival Arts (Spontaneous Celebrations)
Each student in K2-Grade 1, Grades 2-3, and Grades 4-5 participate in 45 minutes for 2 days a week in Festival Arts.

Festival/Circus Arts
This program has four basic Festival Art components that are taught in the first semester (Sept. – Dec.), stilt walking, drumming, dancing, and visual arts (costumes, masks, banners and puppets). The preferred dynamic is to expose all students to each discipline at the beginning of the semester and then choose a focus to perform in the First Night Parade Dec. 31st.  The second semester builds on the Festival Arts foundation adding the Circus Art elements of juggling, hula-hoops, and clowning/acting/puppetry.  The goal is for students to perform their skill(s) at the Tropical Fiesta in late February, and the Wake Up The Earth Festival and Parade the first weekend in May.

Stilt Walking
The average 8-11 year old student can learn to walk on their own, without spotters, after 3 classes (some can do it after 1 class).  The goal is to participate in a parade of performance.  The 5-7 year olds can vary greatly in ability and can take up to 10 classes to get to the point of walking without a spotter.

Painting Project
Boys in K2-Grade 1, Grades 2-3 will design and paint a canvas approx. 4’x5’.  Students will be guided along the steps of designing preparing canvas and painting of canvas of which image will reflect youth education and recreation.  Artist, Thomas Burns will be painting and providing instruction.

Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts
Girls in K2–Grade1, Grades 2-3, and Grades 4-5 will participate in 45 minutes of Girl Scouts.  The “Fab” Factor, works with girls of all ages and abilities in community based settings.  The “Fab” Factor curriculum is designed around four learning modules that include Leadership, Science, Health and Fitness, Financial Literacy and Career Development.  Each session will last for 1 hour and is designed to be flexible and adaptable to serve girls of all abilities.

Learning thru Music
Each student in K2- Grade1 and Grades 2-3 participate in learning thru music.  Students are exposed to all instruments and learn the fundamentals of music as it relates to math and literacy.

Music with Keyboards
Each student will learn the fundamentals of playing the keyboard.  Students will be able to play a song by learning the keyboard notes.

Community Building Leadership Initiatives (Spontaneous Celebrations)
Each student in Grades 4-5 participate 45 minutes in the Choices Program In Partners Schools.  The curriculum focuses on teambuilding and explores the criteria of working together (cooperation) and how they affect our progress in everything we do.  It assists students in developing the skills that are crucial to group success and social progress such as: leadership, communication, compassion, cooperation, perseverance, planning, and debriefing.  The overall goal is to help students understand their role in being a responsible citizen and student, to awaken students to their power of choice, to help students make a connection between their choices and the natural consequences they experience as a direct result of those choices, and to discuss the importance of values and the role of values in their decision making process.

Project Alerta
Project Alerta is coming to CASP at the Curley.  It is an enrichment program for talented and motivated Latino students and English Language Learners in grades 3 thru 5 in the Boston Public Schools.  ALERTA helps students improve their academic skills and develop leadership and problem-solving skills that will prepare them for success in a college-preparatory high school and in College.  Project Alerta is a free program servicing up to 30 selected students chosen by our teachers which runs from September/October to May/June in classrooms in the participating schools for 3 hours after school each week for a total of 30 weeks (90 hours) during the school year.  Teachers within the Curley will be chosen to teach this group of students and will be compensated through UMass Boston.  Students will be part of CASP on Mondays and Wednesdays for 1½ hours totaling three hours per week of curriculum instruction and 45 minutes of dance enrichment.

Project Alerta just recently received the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House on Wednesday, October 20, 2010.

Dance Class
The Curley After School Program, CASP is bringing a “Dance Class” for the Curley community including Teachers, Paraprofessionals, Administrative Staff, and Parents.  If you can move you can dance!  With guidance and technique, structure and discipline, movement can become Art.  The first class will begin November 18th, and run through December 23rd and will continue into the New Year 2011.  Classes will be offered every Tuesday and Thursday at 2:45pm–3:30pm in Ms. Taylor Knight’s Dance Studio.  The program is designed to give members the tools and education they need to explore different styles of dance techniques.  Let’s begin the New Year at the Curley feeling invigorated and ready to continue our success as a whole community for 2011.

Tufts University Study
The Curley After School Program, CASP is hosting 60 students by Nuestro Futuro Saludable; The Jamaica Plain Partnership for Healthy Caribbean Latino Youth Project Summary.  A study is being conducted addressing the causes of health issues among Caribbean Latino children and youth early in life.  By addressing the causes of health issues among Caribbean Latino youth early in life, it is possible to provide children with living environments and social conditions conducive to good health.  A community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework is being developed to pilot, evaluate and disseminate an intervention targeted at Caribbean Latino youth in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

10 Boys Initiative
The Curley After School Program, CASP is hosting The 10 Boys Initiative to serve as an adaptive leadership and action research activity.  We will employ strategies, programs and practices in four areas: academic, social/emotional, leadership, and parent engagement.  Our goal is to improve the academic performance, 10 boys at a time.

Structured Play
All students will be allowed to play on the playground based on flexibility of activities within the program.

Pick – a – Flick
Students will watch a movie and can share in bringing in a movie to watch with their classmates.

Our activity menu is subject to change based on seasons and availability of instructors and students selected choices of activities provided.

Our Academic and Business Partners

  • Dance (Movers Group)
  • Spontaneous Celebrations
  • Coaches of America
  • Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts
  • Project Alerta
  • SMARTTALK (HASI)
  • Courageous Sailing
  • Nuestro Futoro Saludable – The Jamaica Plain Partnership for Healthy Caribbean Latino Youth
  • Community Music Center of Boston
  • Arts/Mural Painting
  • Child Care Center of Boston
  • Tufts University

About our Staff

Torri Canada (Program Director of CASP)
Ms. Canada was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in Randolph. She has a B.S. in Accounting from Northeastern University. She is a natural entrepreneur and a community leader, with a passion for children, education, music, arts and community organization. In her career Ms. Canada has worked in large corporations including Digital Equipment Corp. as a Financial Analyst and later Relocation Finance Manager.  Ms. Canada was the owner of a family Business/Corporate officer for the M&M Jazz club, Inc. in Dorchester, providing a safe and fun environment for the community to come listen to music and provided a venue for musicians to showcase their talent.  She currently works during the day at the Curley K-8 School with special needs students and parents helping them to achieve their educational goals in society.

Maria Navarro (Paraprofessional)
Mrs. Navarro is a native of Puerto Rico now living in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been working for Boston Public Schools for 14 years. She worked at the Washington Irving Middle School as a behavior specialist, the Young Achievers Science and Math Pilot K-8 working with pre-school children, and is presently working at the Curley K-8 School as a paraprofessional in the Autistic Program.  Mrs. Navarro speaks Spanish fluently and continues to use her translating skills assisting Spanish families when necessary.

Arleta Faulkner (Paraprofessional)
Mrs. Faulkner is a native of Cape Cod now living in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been working for Boston Public Schools for 8 years. She has worked at Hyde Park High as a one to one paraprofessional for a wheelchair bound student within a multi-handicapped program.  Mrs. Faulkner also worked at the David A. Ellis, and Murphy Middle School K-8. She supervised a work program for disabled high school students in Quincy at the Work Inc. Program.  She is presently working at the Curley K -8 School as a paraprofessional in the Autistic Program.  Mrs. Faulkner currently holds the position as Union Bldg. Rep. at the Curley for the Boston Teachers Union.

Blanca Pereira (Paraprofessional)
Mrs. Pereira is a native of Honduras now living in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been working for the Boston Public Schools for 12 years. She has worked at the Washington Irving Middle School, and is presently working as at the Curley K-8 as a paraprofessional in the Autistic Program.  Mrs. Pereira speaks Spanish fluently and continues to use her translating skills assisting Spanish families when necessary.

Monica Cawley (Paraprofessional)
Ms. Cawley is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. She has been working for Boston Public Schools for 16 years. She has worked at the John Marshall, William Taft, Martin Luther King, McKinley, and is presently working at the Curley K-8 as a paraprofessional in the Autistic Program.

Hope Kennedy (One to One paraprofessional)
Ms. Kennedy is a native of Boston, MA. She has a B.A. in Sociology from Framingham State College. She has worked for a non-profit organization as an aid to incarcerated mothers, working with women that have criminal records in the hopes of reunification with their children and families. She has been working in the Boston Public Schools for 10 years and has worked as a substitute teacher within the special needs department. She currently is a paraprofessional for a one to one student with autism. She has worked at the Joseph Lee School, the Curley K-8 School and is currently working at the McKinley School.