COLLINGTON
SQUARE — Elementary School #97
Baltimore, Maryland
February – March
2001
Status Report
Program
Management
-
Approximately
150 members of The American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
visited Collington Square Elementary in February 2001 to
learn more about Direct Instruction (DI) and the 21st
Century After School Program.
Ms. Webber met with its members and described the
Program, its importance to the children and the positive
effect that it has had.
As a result of this meeting, the American
Federation of Teachers published an article on our Program
in American Teacher Magazine, a nationally published
periodical. Our
Program is featured along with after school programs in
Harlem and Los Angeles.
The After School Program article glosses the cover
of American Teacher in its April 2001 edition.
-
Ms.
Lynch, the school Parent Liaison and Ms. Webber hosted
STRIVE, an African-American owned organization that
conducted a workshop on job training, employment, and
African-American family preservation.
Parents from Collington Square, Elmer A. Henderson
and Dr. Rayner Browne were encouraged and invited to
attend. Approximately
45 parents attended the session.
-
The
Reading Recovery Program is coming along.
This Program is helping our children to not only
learn new vocabulary, but to comprehend word usage through
sentences and discussion about the words through personal
experiences. We have found that as a result of this Program that our
children are opening up about their home/family life,
which has resulted in placing some of them in counseling
through an established partnership with our on-site Child
Psychologist of the Johns Hopkins Mental Health Office.
-
Mrs.
Scroggs, Mrs. Kwaw and Mrs. Hollinger are gearing up for
MSPAP preparation.
They
will be conducting workshops for our parents to give them
an understanding of the importance of their role in MSPAP.
Parents will be given practice exercises that they
can work on with their children at home.
-
Letters
were sent home to the children’s parents and teachers
asking them to contact us about any special needs
(academic and personal) that their children may need.
Several teachers and parents contacted us and many
stressed the need for additional help with multiplication
and division. While
we were able to help most of the children, this posed a
slight problem because two of the schools are DI, while
one is not. Math
is very tricky to teach because some children only know
math through DI, while some know it the traditional way.
Mrs. Kwaw and Ms. Hollinger provided training to
some of the Morgan Staff so they could work more
efficiently with the children.
-
We
have found that some of our children are now entering
puberty sooner than expected, so as part of the Rites of
Passage for boys and girls, we will be conducting a series
of workshops. We
have requested personal hygiene products for boys and
girls and we will be preparing starter packets for all of
the children and take them through a series of workshops
on the importance of oral/personal hygiene (not sex
education). Letters
have been sent home to parents and to the Principals of
the schools. Those
children who have returned parent consent letters will be
able to participate in the workshops.
Field
Trips/Cultural Enrichment
The After School
Program celebrated Black History Month.
Several parents and teachers from Collington Square,
Elmer A. Henderson and Dr. Rayner Browne attended.
The following clubs celebrated this important day
through the following activities:
-
Reading
Circle spelled out the words Black History with each
letter representing the importance of family and race.
-
Dance
Club performed African dancing in traditional African
attire to a Bob Marley song.
-
Spanish
Club wrote their own ‘I Have a Dream’ speeches.
Some addressed the same issues that Dr. King spoke
of and others talked about ridding their communities of
drugs and alcohol.
-
Arts
Club made, decorated and wore African masks and
presented them.
-
Recreation
Club wrote a mini (very mini) play about Mother (Rosa)
Parks and they acted out two of the scenes.
-
Media
Club educated us on the many scientific contributions
of African Americans, i.e., the helicopter, the traffic
light, the refrigerator, etc.
Several field trips
have been taken:
-
Benjamin
Banneker Museum
-
Patterson
Park Ice Skating
-
Seidel’s
Bowling Lanes
-
Boys
& Girls Rites of Passage
-
Girl
Scouts camping at the Maryland Science Center
PHOTOS
Students from Morgan State
that volunteer their
time to work with the
elementary school students. |
Retired Superior Court
Judge Arthur Burnet with students from Collington
Square. |
Ms. Allegra F. McCullough,
office of the governor, state of Virginia, addresses the students.
|
Collington
Square Plan |