Surrounded by two-family houses, the Roger Clap Elementary School is located in a northeast corner of Dorchester called the “Polish Triangle”. Built in 1896, it is one of the oldest schools in the city and serves 130 students in grades K0-6 this year.
On either side of the arched entrance to the school are raised beds of vegetables planted by students in Dean Martin’s science classes. Potted plants, a display of student artwork and a colorful welcome banner overhead greet visitors in the front hallway. In the K2 classroom, Ulana Ainsworth is helping students become familiar with the lined lapboards that will be used for writing letters and words.
The Clap is a “single-strand” school and was in the first cohort of full-inclusion schools. Four years ago principal Emma Fialka-Feldman used Esser funds to help make sure that each classroom had the support of 2-3 educators. In the first grade classroom, for example, children are learning to tap out letters and put them together to make words, working in three small groups led by teacher Peyton Costa, paraprofessional Gabby Boyd, and learning specialist Farah Wong.
When fifth graders come into their classroom from specialists with a recurring interpersonal issue, Jennifer Texeira checks in with her colleagues before directing everyone to join her on the rug for an “RJ” circle to process the conflict. Using a stuffed “wild thing” as a talking piece, each student has an opportunity to share their feelings and what they thought would “repair the harm” done.
Art teacher (and school historian) Connie Cummings introduces her third graders to “organic” and “inorganic” shapes before having them create collages inspired by Henri Matisse. When asked what others might learn from the Clap, she said community partnerships provide exceptional support and told me about a Parent Mentor Program offered by St. Stephen’s Church, which trains and pays parents to work 1:1 or in small groups with students in several classrooms.
What resources are available in YOUR school’s community?
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D
amika45@gmail.com.
Ms. Costa is helping us tap out letters to make words. In math we are learning about numbers and data. Yesterday we did a survey to decide which movie we want to watch and what kind of snack we want.
~ Grade 1 Students
We are looking at the patterns we made by pressing a pencil into foil to create a raised design and then coloring it with crayon. This is in Art class and we just started learning about photorealism, using light and shadow to make an object look realistic – Angel Lugo & Lamar Francis, Grade 6
In this picture Cornelius and I are putting sentences from a book we read in order. Ms. Lezama is helping us. We’ve learned to raise our hand if we need help and to look at the person who’s talking without interrupting.
~ Jarianaliz Baez, Grade 3
We are practicing writing our names. This year we are learning how to read and write and count!
~ Adriel Soto Arias & Ethan Hiciano, K2
I was working on a page in our math book, matching fractions with their pictures. We’re learning to compare fractions using the symbols for “greater than” (>) and “less than” (<). We also use pictures to show the difference.
~ Ava Owens, Grade 4
We are Turn & Talk partners talking about what the word JUDGE means, like in “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” We are learning sight words and words with closed syllables that have two consonants and one vowel in the middle. We also learned that a digraph has two letters — like TH — that make one sound when put together.
~ Ayson Jeremiah & Issac Torres, Grade 2
We were highlighting the most important words in a poem by Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, and a prose version of it. We are learning about different kinds of poetry and how poets can be inspired by other writers.
– Dreame Corbin & Collin Allen-Hullum, Grade 4
We were having an RJ [Restorative Justice] Circle. We’ve learned that personal space is really important to some people and that a talking piece helps people feel calm. In ELA we’re reading Esperanza Rising and learning about the challenges faced by immigrants.
-Grade 5 students