Weather to cooking — Macomber's youngest try new things
May 4, 2006
The corridors of the school building were quiet but behind each door there was a buzz of activity.
Youngsters were sitting in a circle listening to a story read by Susan Welsh in their pre-kindergarten class, drawing pictures to accompany their book about weather in Melissa Parker's kindergarten class, playing a math game to practice math concepts with kindergarten teacher Inge DeFusco, or practicing singing and sign language skills from pre-Kindergarten assistants Mrs. Cardozo and Lucy Cordeiro.
Photo: Melissa Parker explains different types of weather so her kindergarteners can complete their weather book.
The kindergarteners in Jane Lavenda's class were enthusiastically decorating ginger bread cookies. They'd recently read and compared three variations of the same tale, The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Boy, and The Gingerbread Baby, with Integrated Arts teacher Jane Dufault. The project was an endeavor that Ms. Dufault and Ms. Lavenda cooked up to help their students remember the three stories.
These were some of the activities visitors would have witnessed on April 6 as the Macomber School joined the April 2 - 8 national celebration of the Week of the Young Child.
The Week of the Young Child is an annual event sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the celebration is to recognize the needs of young children and thank teachers and other adults who work to build better futures for all children. The NAEYC established the Week of the Young Child in 1971 to promote its core belief "recognizing that the early childhood years (birth to age 8) lay the foundation for children's success in school and later life."
"The focus of the week is to show how we are providing a good educational program for our children," Macomber principal Paula Sullivan said.
"Our affiliation with the NAEYC lets families know that we focus on the quality of education and developmental services for all children. Accreditation also helps support grant initiatives that allow us to acquire competitive grant money from the Department of Education that help us support our programs." Mrs. Sullivan has overseen the event in each of the 12 years she's been principal at the school.
Lees Market, which donated the gingerbread cookies, is a long-time "business partner" of the school. After lunch period, two women from Lees were happily encouraging two long tables of creative five year olds.
Teachers aren't the only ones in line for special recognition this week.
"This is a family friendly school. Not a day goes by in which parents aren't involved in some capacity here," Mrs. Sullivan said. The parent-teacher collaboration involving the 225 Pre K and Kindergarteners at the Macomber School seems to confirm the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child."
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