Good Morning,

For those of you who celebrate Easter and/or Passover, happy holidays!  Below is the latest edition of the Pathways Newsletter.  This week, we have the Reading Education Foundation 2015 Grant Recipients, a story about the creative skills needed by our students, and photos and stories about three of our high school students who have received recognition in sportsmanship and photography.

Remember that our annual Arts Fest is coming up April 14 and 15 at Reading Memorial High School.  More on that next week.

Have a great week!

Pathways Newsletter V1N29

The Reading Education Foundation is pleased to announce this year’s awards totaling $40,117.17 and impacting every school in the district. Please join us in congratulating this year’s recipients.

HIGH SCHOOL GRANTS

Rockets Help Desk: Provide hardware and software to expand the reach of this worthwhile student-run technology integration group.  RHD provides support to both students and faculty across the district, solving real world problems in the school setting and creating media to teach the public. Grant proposed by Kerry Gallagher

MIDDLE SCHOOL GRANTS

Reading in the 21st Century: Through the purchase of additional iPads,7th and 8th Grade Coolidge students will have increased access to digital text and beneficial accompanying analysis software. Grant proposed by Laura Warren

Introducing…A Stage You can Actually See: By installing a pair of large-screen LCDs, approximately 200 seats in Parker’s auditorium balcony will now have visual access to the stage. This will afford a dramatically-improved experience during school and community events. This will allow students, parents and community members to actively participate in existing events and include enrichment programs and events that previously could not be held in the space. (Partial Funding) Grant proposed by Connie Quackenbush

Interactive Projector for Coolidge 6th Grade Special Education: Projector provides technology that will improve the learning environment by allowing students to work collaboratively, participate in kinesthetic and tactile learning, and be fully- engaged during lessons. Grant proposed by Margaret Guilbert

Parker on the GO: The use of GoPro Cameras will spark students’ natural curiosity, creativity and sense of fun. The program will promote collaborative learning and support home-school communication.  Grant proposed by Meg Powers

Eating With a Social Conscience: Coolidge 8th grade students will expand their social awareness and develop a better understanding of where and how food makes it to there table through reading and related interdisciplinary projects about the plight of the migrant worker. Grant proposed by Team Polaris, Mary Anne Cuscuna

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL GRANTS

History Alive!:  This extended pilot program of online enrichment resources for grades 3-5 will enhance the social studies experience district-wide.  Through the use of technology, project-based learning, music and the arts (role-play and games), this common-core aligned program with its online interactive components and teacher resources makes learning truly “an experience”.  Grant proposed by Jennifer Emmett-Conrad

Numeracy is the New Literacy: This program will provide professional development with a hands-on workshop for up to 30 math teachers across the district in effective strategies and approaches to instilling meaningful numeracy in young students. Grant proposed by Nancy Bentley

Outside the Classroom Walls: This grant provides initial funding towards a multi-year plan to create an outdoor learning and play space on the Barrows campus. Funding will include providing mobile planter beds that will support first and second grade curriculum areas. Grant proposed by Heather Leonard

We would like to thank the Reading Education Foundation for their continued support of our schools.  This foundation has consistently supported innovative grants over the last several years.  Congratulations to all of the staff who received this year’s awards!

On March 26th, RMHS Social Studies Teacher Kerry Gallagher participated in a panel discussion, titled, Lessons in Personalization from the Edsurge 50 States Initiative.  This discussion highlighted  the top stories from EdSurge’s recently completed The Fifty States Project, an initiative to showcase educators and their stories of supporting learning by using technology. We celebrate the art, knowledge and best practices shared by educators across urban, suburban, and rural communities, wielding technology to make a real difference for kids. The discussion featured educators from all over the country including:

The links to the 2 Part Video are below.  Congratulations to Kerry on this outstanding opportunity!

Edsurge Panel Discussion

Edsurge Panel Discussion-Part 2

The latest edition of the Pathways Newsletter is now below.  This week’s edition features information and photos from several high school events, including the RMHS State Jazz Band Competition, Winter Color Guard and Percussion Competition, Robotics Tournament, and Science Olympiad Tournament.

Have a great week!

Pathways Newsletter V1N28

A.W. Coolidge Middle School Science Olympiad Team Placed First in the Massachusetts State Science Olympiad Competition.

Reading, MA, March 16, 2015 – The A.W. Coolidge Science Olympiad Team won first place in the Massachusetts Middle School Science Olympiad State Competition at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. This is the 22^nd year they have earned the honor of representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the National Science Olympiad Competition, which will take place at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln on May 15-16, 2015.

The Massachusetts Science Olympiad offers middle school students the opportunity to compete with their peers in science and engineering events. This year, 30 middle schools participated in the competition, which consisted of 23 events covering a diverse array of science and engineering content and process skills. Events this year included Elastic Launch Gliders – Construction of a light weight glider propelled by elastic, students launch gliders from floor level and are scored based on consistent timed flight; Meteorology—using scientific process skills to address severe storm topics such as supercell thunderstorms, mesoscale convective complexes, derechos, and dust storms; Anatomy – learning about the integumentary and nervous systems and how aging and specific diseases affect them; and Can’t Judge a Powder – using laboratory chemistry techniques to perform experiments on an unknown powder in preparation for answering questions about the powder.

This year 30 dedicated students comprise the A.W. Coolidge Science Olympiad Team and have united in their love of science. Each team member has contributed to the success of the team and maintained the reputation of hard work and sportsmanship for which the team has become known. Congratulations go out to eighth graders Kieran DeLacy, Lacey Douglass, Yolanda Jarrin, Matthew O’Halloran, Helly Patel, Jahnavi Patel, William Qiu, Barry Richter, Justin Wang, and Kelly Ward; seventh graders Nick Brown, Youngwon Choi, Tyler Gonick, Nick Luikey, Amogh Morje, Sarah Murphy, Jeffrey Pan, Jeremy Rosh, Ben Rotstein, Somil Singh, and Matthew Smith; sixth graders Henry Bresnahan, Katherine Growney, Will Merry, Tara Parsons, Gavin Pu, Michael Rogers, Ava Serrano, Kevin Upton, Brendan Wilcox.  Both the regular and alternate teams won their respective divisions.  Collectively the regular team, made up of eighth and seventh graders, placed in 20 out of 22 events with nine gold medals, four silver, five bronze, and three 5th place finishes in the Massachusetts Olympiad.  The alternate team, made up of seventh and sixth graders, won with thirteen 1st place ribbons, four 2nd place ribbons, and four 3rd place ribbons.

This year’s team is led by Head Coach Karawan Meade, a former team member, with the support of Coolidge science teachers John McCarthy and Jerald Coyne, and a team of volunteer coaches who are parents, teachers, community members, and high school student team alumni.

The Coolidge Science Olympiad Team relies on a variety of events throughout the year as well as donations (http://www.coolidgescienceteam.org/home/donations) to raise funds to cover operating expenditures. Upcoming events include the annual community-wide yard sale, which will be held this year on Saturday May 2 (see flyer) at the A.W. Middle School in Reading, MA, and our direct mail campaign. The A.W. Coolidge Science Olympiad Team gratefully acknowledges the overwhelming support shown by the community throughout the past 22 years.

The Coolidge Science Olympiad Team is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all contributions are tax-deductible. For more information about the team and upcoming team events, or to make a donation, please visit http://www.coolidgescienceteam.org.

2015_donation_flyer front+Back for student distribution

Good Morning,

Below is the latest edition of the Pathways Newsletter.  This week we have stories and photos on the Parker Science Olympiad Team, the RMHS Girls Hockey Team, the Parker Musical, Just So, and curriculum frameworks/PARCC.

Our district has a busy weekend with the RMHS Science Olympiad Team competing in the State Tournament, the RMHS Robotics Team competing in Smithsfield, Rhode Island, the RMHS Color Guard participating in the NESBA tournament, and our RMHS Jazz Band competing in the State Finals.  Good luck to all of those teams!

Pathways Newsletter V1N27

Good Evening,

Posted below are the latest issues of the Pathways Newsletter.  There are several stories this week, including the Reading Robotics Team exciting NE FIRST tournament last weekend and Read Across America at several schools.

Have a great week!

Pathways Newsletter V1N26

Pathways Newsletter V1N25

Congratulations to the Coolidge Middle School Science Olympiad Team who placed first out of thirty teams in the Massachusetts State Science Olympiad Competition that was held at Assumption College today.  Out of 22 events, Coolidge won 8 gold, 4 silver, and 3 bronze medals.

With today’s first place finish, Coolidge will now compete in the National Science Olympiad Competition to be held at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in May.

Congratulations to Head Coach Karawan Meade,  and all of the coaches, parents, and students for their success in today’s competition.