The Warren-Prescott School sits atop a steep hill in Charlestown, not far from Bunker Hill Community College. It serves 600 students in grades K-8.
Kindergarteners were listening to stories, finding sight words, playing letter-identification games, and looking at books with classmates. Cayla Gandolfo was helping her K1 students identify initial consonant sounds, while Denise Story‘s first graders were doing a “Turn & Talk” activity and then sharing what their partner said.
Melissa Melerba‘s second graders were adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. In the third grade Teresa Cameron‘s students were finding the perimeter of various complex two-dimensional shapes they had created, while Lauren Johnson‘s class was reading about Wampanoag life in their social studies text. One of Tara Trayers‘ third graders kept their life-sized stuffed black lab nearby for comfort during a guided reading lesson.
Fourth graders in Tina Champagne‘s science class were examining African dwarf frogs. In Tracey Lavin‘s class, students had completed research on different animals and were creating informational posters about what they’d learned. In Kristen Spadafora‘s fifth-grade classroom, a large bulletin board featured a map of the world and photos of a variety of famous places – one way to help children become geographically literate!
Gym teacher Vincente Vallejo was hosting Boston Community Rowing coaches, who were helping middle school students practice on rowing machines set up at one end of the cafeteria.
Every available space is being used at the Warren-Prescott; retired teacher Rick Gosselin works with a small group of children in a hallway nook under the staircase! An additional building across the street houses middle school and science classes, where “A-Team” teachers of children with autism were helping their students learn how to respond to unwelcome attention from strangers. While she timed them, science teacher Stephanie Forte‘s sixth graders stood in a large circle and passed small foil balls from one person’s cup to another to simulate the way neurons move to the brain and back.
The turtle has been the mascot of the Warren-Prescott for over 20 years, its “Persist and Prevail” motto inspired by Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare. As you continue to help your students reach their goals in difficult times, this seems like a worthy reminder.
Happy Spring!
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D.
amika45@gmail.com