The Curley K-8 School is located in Jamaica Plain. Once two separate schools, it consists of a large brick building on Centre Street for 2nd-8th grade classes (built in 1931) attached to a smaller, more modern building housing K0-1 classes with an entrance around the corner. The school currently serves around 900 students, and both entrances are still in use. In recent years, there are usually at least two teachers in every classroom and a group of “inclusion paras” who support specialists.
Science teacher Jennifer Frazier leads an active lesson with K0/K1 children making and testing “wrecking balls” that they swing from table edges to knock down wooden blocks. With guidance from Theater Arts teacher Kim Taylor-Knight, pre-K students are acting out emotions for their classmates. Having taught his K2 class about Bomba music from Puerto Rico, Jason Cammarata dances around the room encouraging them to keep the beat with drums and shakers.
Second graders are learning library skills with CasSandra Samuel and reviewing the names of various polygons based on Greek prefixes in Christina Burke’s class next door. Joanne Mylett is teaching a small group of third and fourth graders how to use a number line. Grade 4 classes are working on the relationship between multiplication and division. On the desks in Room 102 are bright orange cards with questions to prompt math conversations among students — a good idea, I think!
Inspired by their studies of the Harlem Renaissance in ELA, sixth graders in Erin Doherty’s Dance Elective are practicing the Charleston, which they will be performing at a Black History show the following week. Theresa Brophy’s ELA class is reading and analyzing Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Miracle of Morning”, while Katie Connolly is reviewing ancient Egyptian burial customs with her students. In Corey Edmiston’s 7/8 ABA class the focus is on learning the anatomy of a variety of animals. They’re also learning life skills by running a daily coffee shop for adults in the school, taking and preparing orders and handling payments.
At the Curley K-8 School all classes are paired across grade levels for “Big/Little Buddy” activities, in classrooms and for monthly “Curley Shares” assemblies, where classes take turns sharing what they’ve been learning and students are given awards for caring about themselves, one another, or the school community. I wish more K-8 schools found ways to create these kinds of cross-grade bonds that give middle school students a sense of connection and responsibility to others.
Happy Spring!
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D. amika45@gmail.com
We’re making numbers in math with connecting cubes. We are learning how to add numbers and how to read.
~ Jaliyah Ocasio & Clark Sauvé, K2
I was swinging a cup with things [to make it heavy enough] to knock over the blocks under the table. Ms. Frazier was helping me; she said we were trying to make the strongest wrecking ball. I am also learning words and letters and numbers this year!
~ Nabil Jama, K0/K1 (with help from his friend Anna)
In this picture we’re listening to Ms. D in our Dance Elective class; she’s giving us feedback on how we can improve. We are learning how to do the Charleston, a dance inspired by the Harlem Renaissance, which we’re studying in ELA. We’ve learned lots of different dances this year, and how to work as a group. We’ve learned not to be embarrassed, even if we’re not very good, and to smile even when it’s hard!
~ Erin Doherty’s Dance Elective students, Grade 6
We were playing the drums to Bomba music from Puerto Rico. In Mr. J’s music class, we are learning how to play different instruments and how to keep the beat!
~ Sibley Ruffing, Oscar Dodge, Naeem Hassan & Hollis Coyne-Glavin, K2
Ms. Reynolds is helping me solve multiplication and division problems with math slides. In ELA we’re learning about animals of our own choice; mine is the arctic fox. I’ve been reading books and writing about what I learn, like they’re hard to see because they camouflage themselves in the snow.
~ Yismeuri Mateo Layba, Grade 4
Estamos practicando los sonidos de las letras y escribiendo palabras en inglés con Ms. Shara.
Este año aprendimos que una comunidad es donde vivimos, trabajamos juntos, y nos ayudamos unos a otros.
We are practicing our sounds and writing words in English with Ms. Shara. This year we’ve learned a community is where we live, work together, and help one another.
~ Nayeli RA, Yohangel MA, & Chanya PN, SLIFE Grades 3-5
I was reading my favorite book, in the Wings of Fire series. This year in science I’ve found it interesting to learn about how our digestive system works.
~ Marcel Scott, Grade 7
In this picture, we were drawing our animals and studying their anatomy with Mr. Josiah. We’ve learned what they eat and where they live. We are also learning English and Math and how to be baristas in our class coffee shop, The Daily Grind.
~ Malia Santiago & Bishop Yu, ABA Grades 7-8 (with help from Josiah Jackson)