|
Grace Lin Visit The King School
 On November 5th, Grace Lin came to visit the MLK School! The Caldecott Honor winning author/illustrator spent several hours signing books and presenting to students. Kindergarteners learned about her book The Ugly Vegetables, learned the names of some Chinese vegetables, and learned how to draw a dog for the year of the Dog. 1st and 2nd graders learned about the publishing process. Did you know it takes a whole year for a book to be published? They also read The Ugly Vegetables and learned how to draw the rabbit in the moon. 3rd-5th graders learned what is real and what is fictional in Lin's autobiographical novel, The Year of the Dog. Then everyone drew a Chinese dragon together! We learned that Chinese dragons do not have wings, and that you can change the number of whiskers on your dragon depending on which lucky number you choose.
Ms. Lin's visit was a great day enjoyed by everyone. Special thanks to the MLK Friends for sponsoring this event, and for donating many of Grace Lin's books to the library!
In the CitySprouts Garden
 October is always one of the best months to be outside in a garden space! We had a lot of exciting projects undertaken by classes at the MLK garden to mark and celebrate the harvest season. And of course, we had the return of the perennially popular apple cider pressing. 16 classes were able to come out to the garden to press through 4 boxes of apples to make several gallons of cider for all. The verdict by near consensus was that the cider was delicious.
Throughout the month we also enjoyed vegetable tastings and harvesting. The menu included purple beans, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, eggplants, ground cherries, radishes, watermelons, and okra - all grown fresh in our garden. After numerous votes, watermelons and ground cherries emerged as the crowd favorites.
 Other small projects were carried out through the fall. Kindergarteners helped out with digging up tomatoes and turning over soil. First graders helped with cool-weather seed planting. Second graders tried a few methods to save kale plants from an aphid infestation. And Fourth graders helped set up a hoop house to prolong our growing season into the winter!
We're looking forward to continuing working in the garden through the end of the year as we put it to bed for the winter!
Computer Science Education Week
The first week of December is Computer Science (CS) Education Week, but the MLK School will be taking the whole month of December to explore Computer Science in every classroom. Sarah Rosenberg, our Instructional Technology Specialist has put together a list of whole school objectives for the month. View the Objectives >>
Sarah is interested in working with any parent who has a background in CS and would like to teach a lesson, conduct a workshop, or give a lecture.
Parents (with or without CS experience) can also assist in classrooms:
- We will be doing mostly unplugged CS activities in JK/K classrooms
- Bee bots (robots) in 1st and 2nd grade
- Scratch Jr. (on Chromebooks) in 2nd and 3rd grade
- We definitely need help in 4th and 5th to teach HTML, Java, or another “real” coding language. Do you know a coding language?
View the schedule >>
Who's Who at the King?
 Alexandra Grant has joined the King staff this year as the Kindergarten, English Classroom teacher, in Chinese Immersion.
She comes to us from the Cambridgeport School, where she was a looping, 1st/2nd grade classroom teacher, for three years.
Ms. Grant went into teaching because she wanted a challenging occupation and when she reflected on her own educational experiences, she realized that there were many gaps in her preparation for life. Once she got into the teaching profession, she realized just how difficult teaching could be. What keeps Ms. Grant in the classroom is the “sophistication of young learners and getting the chance to partner with them and their families.” Her mainstay for teaching is fun. Her motto is “learning playfully.”
Ms. Grant speaks fluent Mandarin. She began to study the language in high school and it quickly became her favorite language. She describes Mandarin as “beautiful, nuanced and logical.”
Looking ahead, Ms. Grant plans to get to know as many people as she can and to build meaningful connections within the MLK community.
Changes to the Parent-Run MLK Community Listserv
This group is open to parents and caregivers of currently enrolled MLK students, as well as MLK teachers and staff. The goal is to provide a forum to share information across the MLK school community, facilitate dialogue about policies that impact our children’s social, emotional, and academic growth, and encourage the community to engage with MLK Friends, the school’s parent group. Parents established this listserv to be a community-building resource, so we ask all in our community to follow these guidelines.
We ask that all posts be related to the MLK Community, such as school events, school news, and calls for volunteers at school activities. MLK Friends will post meeting dates and times, meeting minutes, news that affects our school, initiatives such as the annual appeal, and school events. Requests to discuss new ideas and events, extracurricular activities that may interest the MLK community, and issues that may affect your child (and impact other children as well) are also encouraged. View forum guidelines and learn more about the listserv >>
Fundraising Update
MLK Friends, the parent volunteer group at our school, is currently holding its 2019 Annual Appeal (fundraising). Our goal is to raise $25,000, to provide enrichment programs for our students and support for our hard-working teachers/staff. This is the ONLY time MLK Friends asks families to give money! Donate online or by check to main office by Nov 27. Three incredibly generous Anonymous donors have offered to MATCH EVERY DOLLAR we raise from now until Nov 27! (up to $4,000). Which means if you give NOW, your gift will be DOUBLED.
Apple Cider Pressing
 All month long, CitySprouts has been at every elementary and middle school in Cambridge, pressing apple cider with students. Not only is making apple cider a fun, hands-on and delicious autumn activity, but it also is an opportunity for hands-on learning. Read on >>
|