Celebrating the Life & Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

CONCERT & POTLUCK:
Thursday, January 19 | 6-8PM

Featuring...
––World Of Chibuzo
Chibuzo = On God's Path, in the Nigerian language of Igbo
––Akili Jamal Haynes & A Slice of P.A.I. (pronounced pie) 
Akili Jamal Haynes & A Slice of P.A.I. will perform an instrumental exploration into the blended sounds of both the ancient, and the modern musical inventions of Africans in America, the Caribbean, and the Motherland. Akili Jamal Haynes is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who began his career at age 15 as a trombonist under the mentorship of Wynton Marsalis. Three years later, he was touring with Illinois Jacquet’s Big Band. He currently performs with several ensembles and has participated on several recordings as a trombonist, composer, trumpeter, keyboardist, vocalist, tenor saxophonist, alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and acoustic bassist. Akili has been a faculty member of the New England Conservatory of Music for more than 14 years, and is also a guest percussion faculty at Berklee College of Music, Boston.
––The Kuumba Singers
The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College is the oldest Black organization on Harvard's campus. Kuumba‚(pronounced koo-oom-ba), is a Swahili word which means “to create”. Kuumba was founded in 1970 during a time when black students on campus were still reeling from the assassination of Dr. King as well as the heightened racial tensions that swiftly followed. Today, The Kuumba Singers of Harvard College includes 70+ singers, instrumental musicians, dancers and artists. And the group not only continues to create and provide a safe harbor for students on Harvard’s campus, regardless of their background, it remains committed to showcasing the power and beauty of black creativity and spirituality in each and every one of its performances.

Potluck
The concert will be followed by an International Pot Luck! Share the food of your culture. Please be sure to label your dish with the country of origin and its ingredients.

ALL SCHOOL ASSEMBLY:
Friday, January 20 | 8:30AM

Starring...
The amazing, talented King students! In the King auditorium.

Glitter Bottles
What an inspiring way to start this New Year! It has been gratifying to hear our students describe their creative uses for their glitter bottles. They have been using them diligently at home and have discovered useful and creative ways that the bottles can benefit them in different situations. In addition, the students are demonstrating compassion and generosity by sharing their bottles with other family members to help them find comfort and calm down as well. Thank you! Please look forward to receiving more information soon.

Additional thanks to the many families who contributed multiple water bottles so that we could make one for every single student at MLK and a special thanks to the parents: Sara, Pam, Katie and Maria who generously contributed materials and their time to make this possible. Thank you to Ms Bailey, who embraced this vision and has allowed us to use the art room participating with this learning process. Thanks to all the staff: teachers, custodial, administrators and Mrs. Green School Psychologist who helped with the many steps involved and the delivering of the bottles to every student, we couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you!

Millie Schlapnik, Occupational Therapist

Library News
Here's an update about what's been happening in the library:
–Kindergarteners have been learning about checking out books, and have just started choosing their own books to take out. The books will stay in their classrooms for the week.
–1st graders have been learning about parts of a book and about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr -- he once was a kid just like us!
–2nd graders have been learning how to search the library catalog and how to find books using call numbers, and have been helping Ms. Varney create a display of Newbery and Caldecott award winning books.
–3rd graders are just wrapping up a mini-research project on the Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the Mayflower Compact.
–4th graders have celebrated Hour of Code and are just starting a mini-research project on immigration to the United States from 1880-1920.
–5th graders have been working with Instructional Technologist Heather French and are beginning a unit on how to evaluate information they find on the Internet.

The library is looking for donations of gently used stuffed animals, board games and puzzles, and Legos. If you are doing any winter cleaning and have any of these items that you are no longer using, please consider donating them to the library to be used by King students there. Thank you!

Looking for Meaningful Ways to Spend Your Time?
Check out the Center for Families! With everything that happens this time of year, we wanted to send a reminder of some of the great things for Cambridge families we have coming up in January/February! Find out more in our latest newsletter: www.cambridgema.gov/dhsp/ files/CenterNews.                                
A Free and Exciting Learning Opportunity
The Puzzle School and Pivotal Labs is starting up the next session of our "Learn To Code" program on February 6th. The program runs on Monday nights (see details below) and is for students age 10 and up (although we have had a few younger students). You can read more about the pilot program and watch a short video on it here.

For this next program we're hoping to open it up to more families, bring in more volunteer software developers who work in the Kendall area, and continue to flesh out the curriculum, including expanding the "Drawing In Code" program we piloted at the end of the last session. It provides a series of challenge pathways for students to learn how to draw pictures and create animations, simulations, and games in HTML5 and Javascript. We were only able to do it for one week last session, but the students really loved it so we're going to be expanding on it going forward. We're still finalizing the schedule for this session, but we're currently thinking it will be every Monday for 6 weeks starting February 6th. It goes from 6pm - 8pm at Pivotal Labs (145 Broadway near the Kendall T Stop). The program is free and Pivotal is providing pizza, drinks, and snacks. Students need to provide their own laptop, but if that is a problem please let us know. We are actively trying to find a way to provide computers for students to use when needed.

If you're interested in joining us for this session please fill out the information form or email [email protected].

Singers Wanted!
WHO: Adults and children 6 and older.  No experience needed! 
WHAT: A collection of songs about weather and climate titled Singin' of the Rain to be performed as part of the Cambridge Science Festival.
WHEN:
Rehearsals: Wednesdays 6:15-7:30 starting January 25
Performances: April 15, 3pm, Peabody School; April 22, 3pm, Broad Institute; April 23, 4pm, Museum of Science
WHERE: Rehearsals are at the Peabody School, 70 Rindge Ave, Cambridge
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.familyopera.org or email [email protected] Come to one of the first two rehearsals and give it a try!

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