The West Zone Early Learning Center is tucked into a corner of the Hennigan K-8 building on Heath Street in Jamaica Plain and provides “Surround Care” for children from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM every day. With only seven classrooms, it serves 107 K0 > Grade 1 students this year. The atmosphere is warm and welcoming — a bulletin board at the entrance invites adults to thank a colleague for support and everyone on the staff appreciates the “family feeling” of working in a small school.
Dance teacher Kerry Glennon teaches ELC-West students during and after school, currently preparing for an end-of-year tap dancing performance. In the Hennigan gym with Scott Chamberlain, K0 students practice throwing and catching balloons.
In K1 classes, children are exploring light and shadow at various activity centers — using mirrors, making collages with “shiny things” and shining flashlights on plastic animals to watch their shadows change size. With a bit of coaching from their teacher, Margaret Anne Mikita, students come up with the word REFLECTION to describe how light “bounces off” mirrors and other shiny materials.
A bit later in the day, science teacher Maria Pires brings in a variety of seeds for examination and reviews the parts of a flowering plant. On a hallway wall outside the classroom, drawings accompany expressions of appreciation for family members as “Women in Our History” — Arthenie writes, “My sister is special because she plays with me.”
Sarah Amaral‘s K2 students are drawing and writing about “good dirt” while, in Tiffany Young‘s K2 classroom next door, children are learning how to write the letter Z — making the shape in the air, with their fingers, and then on paper. These children tell me they’re also learning about architects who plan buildings and the construction workers who pour foundations!
Several classes are studying animals and there is a hallway display on camouflage. Mirabelle writes: “Predator and prey animals use camouflage so they don’t attract too much attention.” In first grade, students have each selected an animal to study and are working diligently on writing about them. Animal habitat dioramas top a shelf at the entrance to Erika Barros‘ room. When asked what he’d like to share with teachers throughout the district, her colleague Thomas Foster says using the movement and hands-on activities of the Orton-Gillingham approach has been a “game-changer” for his first graders: “The kids are now really wanting to read!”
What’s working in YOUR school?
Amika Kemmler-Ernst, Ed.D
amika45@gmail.com.
We were using our fingers to make the letter Z in the air. We are learning our letters and lots of other things this year. We’ve learned that architects make plans and construction workers dig to make a foundation for buildings. We’re learning about animals like wolves and frogs and salmon and owls, too!
~ K2 students in Tiffany Young’s classroom
We were drawing pictures of dirt. We learned that dirt is good for growing food and other plants. We also learned that worms and bugs live in the dirt.
~ Arya Coote & Maliya Holley, K2
We are making collages with shiny stuff. We learned that light bounces off things that are shiny and that’s called REFLECTION!
~ Hadasha Muñoz Castillo, B Smith, & Jeliselle Tolentino, K1
I wrote my name and was holding my paper up to the mirror. Ms. Downing was helping me. My name looked different in the mirror — the capital A was at the end of it instead of the beginning! I learned that light bounces off a mirror.
~ Armani Negron DeJesus, K1
I was working on my animal book and Mr. Foster was helping me with my writing. One interesting thing I learned about dolphins is that their calfs can swim as soon as they are born. I really like animals!
~ Manit Gupta, Grade 1
We are playing catch with a purple balloon. We are making friends in gym class.
~ Amelia Qin & Emily Sun, K0, with help from Surround Care Paraprofessional, Cora McNeil
We are working on our animal projects. Ms. Parker is helping us. King is writing about how a seahorse can change colors when an enemy gets near, and Kendrick has learned that pigs like to roll in the mud to keep their skin cool. We have also learned that the “Magic E” at the end of a word jumps over one consonant and makes the vowel in front long.
~ Kendrik Harrison & King Baker McCoy, Grade 1
We are looking at different seeds that our science teacher, Ms. Pires, brought in. The big seed was from an avocado. We have learned that all kinds of plants — even trees — make seeds. They have leaves and they make food with light from the sun. This is called photosynthesis!
~ K1 students in Margaret Anne Mikita’s classroom