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Welcome from the Family Liaison
As February sets in we’re all looking ahead hopefully to spring! At KLO we’re busy planning the expansion of in-person learning to 4th and 5th grades. Our focus is on safety and health, as well as providing quality learning for both remote and in-person learning. In addition, February is Black History Month so all grades will be keeping a special focus on the lives of African Americans and the work of the Black Lives Matter at School movement.
We are all acutely aware of the fact that many families are still struggling due to the economic and social challenges that COVID has brought to us. If your family needs assistance with necessities/food/housing or social emotional support, please reach out to me at [email protected] or 857.529.0346. I will help you out however I can!
I hope you enjoy checking out what’s happening at KLO and in the school community.
Nancy Wyse, Family Liaison
2nd Grade People and Places
Second graders in Ms. Branz and Ms. B's class just completed their big People and Places project and had a great time doing it! Through the project the students learned about people and places all over the world while working on their non-fiction reading, geography, and science skills. We read stories from countries across all seven continents and took virtual field trips to learn about different customs and traditions while also sharing and writing about our own families and what makes us each unique!
Black Lives Matter at School
 Due to the many racially charged events of late, we at KLO are looking at Black History Month with a different len this year. Instead of just focusing on important historical events and figures, we are using the work of “Black of Matter at School” to explore and dismantle some of the racial bias that is inherent in our culture. According to the National Education Association, “The goal of Black Lives Matter at School is to spark an ongoing movement of critical reflection and honest conversation in school communities for people of all ages to engage with issues of racial justice.”
To start February we will be examining these 13 Guiding Principles of Black Lives Matter in School. We are using Talking to young children about the 13 Guiding principals by Laleña Garcia to help break down these concepts into language that makes sense for children of all ages. Here are the Principles:
- Restorative Justice
- Empathy
- Loving Engagement
- Diversity
- Globalism
- Transgender Affirming
- Queer Affirming
- Collective Value
- Intergenerational
- Black Families
- Black Women
- Black Villages
- Unapologetically Black
If you would like more information about the work of this movement, please check out their website: blacklivesmatteratschool.com
ABAR Update
This
month, we are introducing Unit two of the Anti-Bias/Anti-Racist
curriculum - Diversity. Understanding diversity allows us to learn from
one another, share our strengths, talents, and develop a greater
understanding of perspectives that are different than our own. It allows
us to be creative, to become better problem solvers, and to develop our
understanding of different cultures. The lesson will continue to build
on the identity unit that classrooms have been working on.
The unit consists of eight units:
Lesson 1: What is diversity
Lesson 2: Exploring diversity on television
Lesson 3: Exploring diversity through music and dance
Lesson 4: Diversity in Magazine and print
Lesson5: Immigration
Lesson 6: Diversity in Languages
Lesson 7: Gender expression/Stereotypes
Lesson 8: Discrimination
KLO KeyPals has launched virtual for the 27th year!
By Kathy Malone, KLO Instructional Technology Specialist
The KeyPal program is a partnership between fifth-grade students and adult volunteers from three local businesses; Draper Laboratory, IBM, and M.I.T that has been a KLO tradition for twenty-seven years! This year-long program exposes students to a vast majority of occupations through positive interactions in virtual meetings and email exchanges. Adult KeyPals will act as a responsive audience for writing assignments that align with the grade 5 curriculum. thereby helping students to focus on task completion, content, and the mechanics of writing.
The first virtual KeyPal site visit was held on January 20, 2020, kicking off the 27th year by opening doors for KLO students to learn about these institutions that make up part of the community where they live and go to school. Students are learning that both MIT and Draper are making remarkable contributions to the world and are short walks away from the Kennedy-Longfellow building. This was a unique experience as all students and KeyPal volunteers were able to meet together virtually with teachers and site coordinators. This allowed all attendees to learn more about Draper and MIT.
After a welcome and overview of the program given by Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Malone, students and adults were introduced to MIT site coordinators, Ms. Bear and Mr. Kundargi, who then presented two short, informative and interesting videos. One highlighted the diversity of activities at MIT called This is MIT. The other showed the work students do with “cheetah” robots called Home of the Cheetahs.
Ms. Bear next introduced three mentors who spoke of their work:
Catherine Gamon, Sloan Business School, spoke of employment opportunities of MIT graduates; Roger Schwarzschild, professor of linguistics and philosophy, spoke of how sounds are made and how languages are learned; and Junardy Jean-Charles, Job Connector by MIT, spoke of helping Cambridge residents find jobs and careers in the innovation economy.
The next segment of the program was shared by Ms. Vezhavendan and Ms. Bovard, who then explained that many employees of Draper studied STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) in school and that they work on many projects that include space, biomedical, autonomy, guidance and navigation, materials and solves problems by bringing people together. They then shared four short, informative and interesting videos that highlight this work:
Students then began to participate in an online trivia poll to share their knowledge.
Mrs. Burke then began the last segment of the virtual visit that included the “Who are you?” activity that was modeled by Mrs. English and Ms. Kalen. She then reminded participants that they could scaffold their conversations with the “Fullest Name Activity”. Students and KeyPals moved into breakout groups to share their knowledge.
It is hoped that these visits are opening students' eyes to the amazing backgrounds and careers of their KeyPals, and the global impact that our community partners have through work taking place in our very own neighborhood. The fifth grade students will continue to participate and share work through email exchanges with their mentors and are scheduled for another KeyPal site visit in March with visits in May and June to follow!
Kennedy-Longfellow’s 2020 HOUR OF CODE!
For the seventh year our JK-5 students participated in the KLO Hour of Code during the month of December. This was in conjunction with the Computer Science in Education Celebration that takes place every December. This has become an annual event that Kennedy-Longfellow students look forward to participating in. While this year the event was introduced virtually, students were still able to actively participate, share and explore resources.
During library time, Hour of Code activities that were planned and co-taught by Susan Moynihan, KLO Library Media Specialist and Kathy Malone, KLO Instructional Technology Specialist. Students had the opportunity to watch videos to learn more about what the Hour of Code celebration is. Students then made connections to how many of their peers currently code by giving examples of how they use code in their lives. Ms. Moynihan and Mrs. Malone also introduced students to the FIRST Cambridge Public School’s CSEweek Website and contest. This unique site included coding resources and an opportunity for CPS students to enter a district contest.
Contest entries, for the CSEweek, were due the first week of January. The winners were chosen randomly. We are proud to highlight that KLO’s own Kaelyn Yu has a featured submission posted on the district website. ~Congratulations Kaelyn! We are very proud of you!~ For more information and to see Kaelyn’s submission, please take a moment to read: CPS Computer Science Student Contest Winners.
As a KLO specific activity, students were asked to take some time to look over these books. Titles include great stories that tie into coding. We hoped that they would inspire students to be more interested in learning to code.
Students then were encouraged to continue to explore the district website, KLo resources, and suggested books. Students could then share their coding thoughts and inspiration with us on KLO Codes Flipgrid by clicking here.
This is the list of coding books students could explore. Many can be found online on Sora, Destiny or at your public library.
   
Click on the video for Mrs. Malone’s message.
Take some time to explore our online resources here.
We hope that students continue to learn about coding and HAVE FUN!
~Mrs. Moynihan and Mrs. Malone
ICTS Help Desk
Having problems with your child’s Chromebook? The ICTS Helpdesk can help! Just bring it by the walk-up office during the times listed below. In most cases they will fix it on the spot.
ICTS Operational Hours
Time:
Monday-Friday: 8AM - 4PM
Saturday: 8AM - 2PM
Location:
Help Desk window is on the side CRLS (high school) building on Felton St. Felton is a one-way street that runs from Cambridge street to Broadway (see image below for reference).
 Healthy Snack of the Week
Here's Cambridge in Motion's Healthy Snack of the Week!
Honeydew melon with cottage cheese! Slice or cube these melon into bite sized pieces!
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