Monday, November 24, 2014

Faces of Franklin: Meet Elaine Harold

Franklin’s new Interim Principal Elaine Harold’s favorite memory of elementary school was when she had a chance to act as the teacher in third grade.  Ms. Masero is who inspired her to become an educator.  Born and raised in Massachusetts, Elaine grew up in Somerville and attended UMass Amherst after graduating from Somerville High School.  She obtained her master’s degree from Lesley College.  Elaine raised her three children in Melrose and is now the proud grandma of four grandbabies – Sadie, Baylor, Hunter and Reagan.

She began her teaching career in Melrose with first graders and then went on to teach fourth and fifth grade in Woburn.  For twenty years, Elaine served as an elementary school principal – three years in Beverly and seventeen years in Wellesley.  While she has enjoyed her entire career, her proudest achievement professionally is to see that the programs she implemented in Wellesley have lived on beyond her retirement and are now institutionalized.

At the Franklin, her overarching goals are to support everyone and to continue the good work put in place by former principal Amy Kelly.  Elaine brings a great wealth of experience and knowledge to the Franklin.  Her biggest strengths are her ability to remain calm and not overreact, to actively listen, to be very supportive, and her sense of humor.

When Elaine is not at school, she is an avid reader and belongs to a book club.  Her most recent reads are A Constellation of Vital Phenomena – a difficult read about the atrocities of war – and The Lost Wife.  She intersperses her more serious, challenging reads with her favorite author, Jodi Picoult.  She also loves to decorate cookies and cakes.

Elaine considers herself to be incredibly fortunate.  She has professionally had the opportunity to work in many schools and she now is loving her life as a grandma.

Fun facts:
·         If you could sing one song on American Idol what would it be? “Say Something” by A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera.
·         If you were on an island and could only bring three things what would they be?  My family, books, a solar oven to cook with and a sewing machine to make everyone’s clothes.
·         You’re a new addition to the crayon box.  What color would you be and why?  Yellow because it’s cheerful, bright and optimistic.
·         If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you and why?  Meryl Streep would, because of her skilled versatility. She would be able to portray all the facets of my life: the joyfulness, the challenges and the quirkiness.

Welcome to the Franklin, Elaine! We are looking forward to getting to know you.

November is Literacy Month!

If you haven’t met Annie Connors yet, you should introduce yourself to Franklin’s literacy specialist. Or better yet, visit her in her cozy office surrounded by books!  I sat down recently with Annie to better understand what we can be doing to support our kids and why early literacy is so important.

·         Reading with your child is incredibly valuable.
·         Reading proficiency by third grade is an important predictor of later successes in school.
·         Reading to your child helps expand their vocabularies and word awareness, and helps them to develop language.

For children ages Kindergarten – 2nd Grade, one of the most valuable things you can do is read together at home.  When a child listens to an adult read to them, they are learning what it sounds like to be a good reader, such as fluency, expression and pacing.  If your child is a reader, you can also share a book together by taking turns reading every other page.  Even just ten minutes of listening comprehension is valuable for children so don’t worry if you don’t have 20-30 minutes on any given night.  As you read, there is also an opportunity to talk through the new vocabulary words as you discover them.

In this age of technology and increasingly busy families, it can be easy to default to screen time for kids while running errands or driving to visit grandma.  Annie recommended a few fun, easy games to help build phonemic awareness which is the ability to hear and manipulate separate sounds in words.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when hearing jargon like “phonemic awareness” and “phonological awareness”.  Annie has the ability to explain this in laymen’s terms and make you feel prepared to help your child(ren) continue to build these skills outside of school.  If you’re curious, phonological awareness is the ability to listen to and manipulate all different parts of words, such as syllables or rhymes. Try one of these games:

·         “I’m thinking of a word the ends in ‘N’ and starts with ‘B’.”
·         Segmenting words – “Say ‘cupcake’ without saying ‘cake’.”
·         Rhyming games
·         Make up funny songs to help learn how to spell sight words
·         “I’m thinking of a word that starts with /b/.  Can you think of a word that starts with /b/?
·         “/b/ /a/ /t/”– what word is this?

For children ages 2nd-5th Grade, carving out 20-30 minutes three times a week for reading is essential.  You could go to the library and find a book to read together or to help your child select books that they are personally interested in.  If your child prefers to read to themselves, you could read your own book or magazine in the same room.  Asking questions about what they are reading is a great way to help them to develop their reading comprehension:
·         Who is the main character?
·         What happened?
·         What kind of person do you think the character is? How do you know?
·         Why did the author organize the book this way?
·         If you were the author, what would you have done differently?
·         What’s the most interesting thing that you learned?
At this age, it becomes increasingly more important to be able to write about what you have read.  By having a conversation with your child discussing what they are reading, you are helping them to synthesize the information.

While you should encourage your child to read anything that they are interested in, try to help expand your child(ren)’s interest in other genres such as graphic novels, poetry or non-fiction.  Not sure where to start?  Ask a librarian!  They have tons of great age-appropriate recommendations.

Other recommendations to support your child(ren):
·         Help them build knowledge in an area that they are interested in by taking out several books on that subject form the library.
·         Get audio books for long drives, pause the story and ask questions
·         Check out the teacher’s website for your child’s classroom for age appropriate resources: http://franklin.newton.k12.ma.us/classrooms-staff
·         Check out the Franklin’s library page: http://elemlibraries.newton.k12.ma.us/franklin
·         Check in with your child’s teacher on the sight words they are learning and try to be echo what is happening in their classroom
·         Celebrate small successes – start a list of the books you’ve read and keep it on the fridge

Finally, attend the school-wide writing celebration on Tuesday, November 25th from 8:25-9:20 am!  

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Superintendent Fleishman Introduces Interim Principal Harold

Elaine Harold, Amy Kelly and David Fleishman
Superintendent David Fleishman kicked off our third Principal coffee by acknowledging Amy Kelly’s commitment to the Franklin community and the social and emotional growth of her students.  He also recognized the room full of sixty parents and spoke of how the level of engagement at the school has grown tremendously under Amy’s direction.

Interim Principal Elaine Harold was introduced.  Elaine has served as an Interim Principal for the past two years in the Newton Public Schools.  This experience combined with seventeen years as the Principal of the Fiske School in Wellesley will ensure a successful year.  In addition, Elaine is familiar with the curriculum, knows the other elementary school principals and can also take care of building challenges.  Elaine is very excited to join the Franklin community and is extremely impressed by the level of engagement among the families.  Her goal for this year is to keep the Franklin on a steady course but not to allow anything to stagnate.  She will push forward where needed but will avoid unnecessary changes as it increases the anxiety among students, teachers, and parents.  She will also be instrumental in setting up the next principal for success. 

Elaine is very well respected by her former staff and peers.  She is a terrific mentor for new teachers and will continue the work that current Principal Amy Kelly has done help our teachers develop in their roles.  Elaine is looking forward to getting to know the students and parents at the Franklin.  If any questions or concerns arise, she asks that parents go first to their child’s teacher with an issue and then bring it to her attention if it is not resolved satisfactorily.  Parents are welcome to setup appointments with Debbie Mastroianni to meet with Elaine but she also has an open door policy and is happy to check-in any time she is available.  As part of the Franklin community, we can help Elaine with our support, an open and honest dialogue, providing new ideas, and by sharing feedback to better understand Elaine’s reasoning.

Next steps for the Interim Principal transition and the search for a new principal:
·         Elaine Harold will serve as the interim principal through the remainder of the 2014-15 school year.
·         A meeting will be scheduled in December to meet with Franklin parents and form a large focus group.  The heart of the discussion will be to ascertain what is working well at the Franklin, what are the areas that need more focus, and are what the qualities that we want in a new principal.  A similar meeting will be held with the faculty.
·         Interviews of potential candidates will begin in January.  Candidates will be interviewed by a committee made up of teachers, parents, another Newton elementary principal and administrators from the central office.
·         Candidates that make it to the second round will visit another elementary school in Newton where they will be evaluated on how they engage with students, handle problems and observe teaching and learning in classrooms.
·         The final round of interviews will be a large group meeting that will include parents.  There will be an opportunity to ask questions of the candidates and see how they respond on the fly.
·         Interim Principal Elaine Harold will also meet with finalists one-on-one.
·         Finally, reference and background checks will be completed.

Superintendent David Fleishman is confident that we will have a named principal for the 2015-16 school year by the upcoming February break.  We are starting to look very early in the process and we are going to be the first to get the best candidates.  The Franklin is a very desirable school given the engagement of the families and the diversity of the students. 

David has been through seven or eight Principal searches in the five years he has served as superintendent.  He gauges their interpersonal skills by their ability to give clear, concise, answers; how well they can think on their feet; and how people not listed on their reference list describe them.  His specific criteria for a highly qualified principal include:
·         Ability to read a room
·         A careful listener
·         Able to understand the culture of the school
·         Knowing how to pace positive changes
·         Ability to manage conflict
·         How to respectfully disagree
·         How to manage a building
·         Someone who is thoughtful, fair and firm
·         Loves children and parents
·         Sees parents as allies
·         Works well in teams
·         Effective with new and seasoned teachers

Questions from parents:
·         Will the responsive classroom continue? Yes, this is a very high priority.  Beginning in October, Newton Public Schools received a $2 million grant to implement a multi-tiered approach to social and emotional learning in elementary schools throughout the district.  Amy Kelly’s new role will be working with all of the Newton schools leading a multitude of professional development opportunities.  
·         How will you recruit?  Some people will apply through finding the job posting, and we will proactively reach out to certain individuals who we hope will apply such as current principals, assistant principals and coordinators who are capable of leadership at a large scale.
·         Would we reach back out to people that weren’t hired in other searches?  Unlikely as it has been a couple of years since we did a search.
·         What if we don’t find anyone?  Highly unlikely as it is a very desirable job.  
·         Why isn’t Elaine part of the hiring process?  Typically the person being replaced isn’t part of the process.  For example, the search committee may be specifically looking for traits the interim principal did not possess.
·         What will the transition look like for the incoming principal?  The incoming principal will be named in late February and will start in July.  Where possible they will attend end of the year events and will overlap with Elaine for several days.  In addition, Elaine will remain available for conference calls and questions.
·         What if the named principal changes his/her mind? Highly unlikely as it is a very public process.  The finalists are announced, therefore colleagues of the finalists will know that they are potentially leaving their current roles.
·         Will there be additional support for the Franklin principal in the future? At this time, the Newton Public School are hiring part-time assistant principals for schools with over 450 students.  However, the Angier, Zervas and Cabot schools are being expanded to avoid overcrowding of the elementary school classrooms.  In addition, NPS has been added more teachers and literacy specialists to schools for the past several years.

Behind the Scenes: Target Practice

Targets
Franklin physical education teacher, Sharon Foster, invited me to join the fifth graders for some target practice.  When I arrived the setup in the gym was awesome!  Targets of different heights, distances and complexity were spread throughout half of the gym.

Sharon went through the steps with the students for throwing with correct form.  The fifth graders responded to her questions, clearly having mastered the concept.  Then they stood and mimicked the movements several times as she praised and gave students pointers.

Plenty for everyone
Finally, several students were chosen to upend the ball containers and everyone was given the go ahead to start throwing at the targets.  The students fired at will with great enthusiasm and good form!  Sharon shared her philosophy of creating activities for the students where there are opportunities for everyone to participate.  "When I was in school, I hated PE.  There was a single ball for the entire class and it was monopolized by the athletic students", she said.  "One of my PE teachers used to divide us by boys and girls telling us that the girls were not as good at sports as the boys."

Practicing throwing
As if on cue, I overheard a young girl say to another "you throw like a girl."  Sharon spoke with students and asked what they thought that meant stating that "there are only two kinds of throwing: throwing with correct form and learning to throw with correct form."  Many hands went up and the discussion was incredibly sophisticated for ten year olds!  A girl raised her hand and said, "I am the one that said that and I meant it is as a compliment.  You throw like Mo'ne Davis."  

Times certainly have changed,  We should all be so lucky as to throw a 70 MPH fastball "like a girl"!



Fire away!

Determination

Possibly the next Mo'ne?

Focused fun

The aftermath


Saturday, November 1, 2014

Journey into Jazz

As part of a Newton-wide Concert Series, Franklin students and staff enjoyed a highly entertaining performance by Semenya McCord and her 3 piece band for a "Journey into Jazz”.

Semenya was an excellent story teller and successfully kept over 200 students engaged for nearly an hour as she took the audience on a musical journey through American history, highlighting various types of music that have evolved from the day-to-day experiences of African slaves and their descendants in the United States of America. 

She introduced work songs, spirituals, an original blues song about what frustrates students at the Franklin, swing and jazz.  She talked about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and everyone sang a beautiful version of This Little Light of Mine together. Semenya also enlisted an octet of our own Franklin scat singers.  She led the students in one final song and they left humming Day-O, remembering they still had to get back to work in the classroom!

Semenya engaging with students

She asked lots of questions and moved throughout the room

Students were engrossed in her storytelling

Semenya McCord and her 3 piece band

Lots of enthusiastic participation

Students singing scat lyrics

The Franklin octet scat troupe!

No one could resist snapping...

swaying....

and clapping along with the rhythm!

Bugworks!

Wondering why your first grader is suddenly an expert on praying mantises from Asia, beetles from Brazil, and cockroaches from Madagascar? Chances are the information came out of the Bugworks program! During the hour-long classroom workshop, students met bugs from around the world. They learned how bugs grow, where they live, what they do in nature, and, most importantly, new ways to observe and appreciate the world of arthropods.

So . . . find out what your kids thought of the program! And please feel free to email their (and your) comments or questions to the PTO’s Creative Arts and Sciences Committee at gjpinto@verizon.net.












School Appreciation Day

by Bob Zuckernik, School Appreciation Chair

On Saturday, October 18th, more than 25 parents spent a portion of the day at Franklin to complete projects at the school in appreciation of the Franklin teachers and staff.  As the Franklin School Appreciation Committee chair, I would like to sincerely thank all the parents who so kindly offered their time (and considerable skill) to help with more than 40 projects throughout the school. We had architects, HVAC professionals, attorneys, software developers and an MIT professor to spotlight just a few of the talented professionals who took the time to volunteer.  With their effort, we:
  • painted the stairs near the kindergarten wing
  • painted the new teachers' room and adjoining room
  • installed doors on cabinets
  • repaired screens
  • installed bulletin boards
  • painted bookcases, a filing cabinet, doors and more
  • leveled books, made copies and hung posters
  • and much more!

The teachers say it best…

“… And the school looks great overall! Painted stairs, doors, my room has such a nice blue filing cabinet, other rooms are painted. You all did an amazing job!!!”

“Thank you so much for the white board doors! They look great!!”

“Thank you so very much! I do appreciate all that you do! Many Thanks!”

"YOU and all the other volunteers (especially the ones that volunteer year after year) deserve all the credit. Everything that was done looks great! I'm sure the faculty appreciates it.  I know I do." 

"...I wanted to send along a quick thank you for all of the work you and the volunteers put into School Appreciation Day.  It was so great to see the teachers' excitement on Monday.  Everything looks AMAZING!"

“Thank you for your time and efforts on Saturday.  I really appreciate all of the help.  I am always amazed at the generosity of the Franklin parents and community.  Thank you!”

I would especially like to thank Moe Zuniga who has, for the second year in a row, generously donated painters from his S&C Painting Company who did a wonderful job painting the new teachers' room. I would also like to thank Newton Athletes Serving the Community (high school volunteers) for spending the morning with us and doing a great job with projects all around the school. Swartz Ace Hardware in Nonantum offered us a 10% discount on the many supplies and paint we purchased there. Johnson Paint Company in Waltham generously donated paint to our cause. I would also like to thank Dan Kaplan, Erik Boyer and Holly Caldwell for their herculean efforts this year. Also, Rick Dinjian for his incredible dedication to the school grounds and kindergarten courtyard as well as expertise on painting stair treads. I would like to bestow “rookie of the year” to several especially enthusiastic parents: David Campbell, Devin Evangelines, Darren Franco, Dimiter Kostov, Josh Roy and Devon Welles. The rookies carried an unusually heavy load this year and contributed substantially to completing much of the work. I will look forward to seeing them again next year. Lastly, a hearty thank you to those of you who supported the effort with food for the hungry volunteers.

And the Franklin Community would like to thank Bob Zuckernik for his considerable efforts to ensure the success of School Appreciation Day.  This is the fourth year that Bob has coordinated requests from the teachers, procured supplies, managed volunteers and worked with Bill Pepicelli to ensure that the work being done is of great benefit to the Franklin School.