Fletcher Maynard Academy

Don’t Forget! 2pm Dismissal Every Wednesday

Gazette

• Friday, April 8 - Leadership Team Meeting, 8:30am

• Saturday, April 9 - Qualls Academy, 9am-12pm • Wednesday, April 13 - Parent/Teacher

Conferences • Mon-Fri, April 18-22 - School Vacation • Monday, April 25, PTO Meeting, 8:15 • Tues-Thur, April 26-28, PARCC Assessment

Testing, Grades 3-5

FMA April HappeningsIn keeping with the Fletcher Maynard Academy tradition of international travel open to all students, friends, and faculty we travelled to Mumbai, Goa and Delhi in India during February vacation week in 2016. Meeting FMA parents Jonathan and Ulka Anjaria, who are on sabbatical in Mumbai with their twins, 3rd grade boys, Rahaan and Naseem at the airport was a treat. The third-graders who travelled with us were thrilled to be back in the company of the Anjaria boys.

Mumbai has some very old buildings, and also many modern buildings along the shoreline. During our time in Mumbai we learned the word “slum” doesn’t always have a negative connotation. We visited the Dharavi slum, which is one of the largest slums in the world. Dharavi has an active informal economy and community that exports goods such as leather, pottery, and textiles all over the world. The people of Dharavi, a multi-religious, multi-ethnic diverse settlement, have pride in being part of generations that have lived there. A little like the pride of the “Area 4/Port” residents of Cambridge.

After three wonderful and hectic days in Mumbai, we had three relaxing days at the shore in Goa, and another three days in New Delhi and Old Delhi. continued on pg. 2

FMA Visits India —Principal Harris

Fletcher Maynard Academy

India has two leaders, a Prime Minister and a President. While visiting New Delhi we had the opportunity to visit the residence of President Rashtrapati Nilayam. We even got a glimpse of the president from afar. During our tour, he returned home at the same time we were visiting his home library. What a delight!

Our visit to India gave us a first hand opportunity to delve into the wide range of religious communities. We visited temples, shrines, and churches linked to Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Christianity. We also got to experience a Sikh, soup kitchen.

Among other events, we visited Mahi Bhavan, the house where Mahatma Ghandi stayed when he lived in Mumbai, and learned all about his life and history at the museum. Gandhi was the primary leader of Indiaís independence movement and like Martin Luther King, Jr organized a non-violent civil disobedience movement that helped to influence the world.

One of the highlights of the trip (although there were many) was a trip to the Sahakari Spice Farm, where we learned about the variety of spices grown in India. We now know a bit more about: cardamom, pepper, turmeric and cinnamon. While at the farm we rode elephants and were able to help give them refreshing baths in the river!

By all accounts from students, parents, and community members that traveled with the school, the trip to India was fantastic! Next year we are off to Spain.

FMA Visits India Ctd.

FMA March Students of the Month

Room Student

212 Javier Gonzalez 301 Jadah Depina 303 Leah Berhanu 304 Michael Burke 305 Roodjina Lorena 306 Brandon Moran 307 Raul Cruz 310 Kaylah Andre 311 Giovani Perez Music Joshua Rodriguez Art Zevian Pina Technology Wasika Taufiq Library Nick Robles

Boston Celtics Tickets! —FMA PTO

Join the FMA PTO for a night at Fenway as the Red Sox take on the Blue Jays Next Friday, April 15 @ 7:10pm Tickets: $20 each; 3 for $50; 4 for $65. Contact Shani at president@fmapto.org

Fletcher Maynard AcademyOn March 23rd, students in Second Grade gathered in Room 307 to read their poetry out loud to an eager audience of parents, teachers, and peers. The well-attended Poetry Open Mic was a culmination of the second grade poetry unit, in which second graders learned to apply many poetry techniques to their own poems. During the event, each student read his or her poem aloud (with a MICROPHONE!) while it was projected behind them with a correlating illustration composed by the poet.

Students in Rooms 307 and 310 showed their understanding of similes and metaphors by using it in their poetry to compare unlike objects and people. They also learned how to use personification to give nonhuman things human qualities, as well as how to create rhythm and rhyme in their poems. Students loved experimenting with onomatopoeia in poetry and learned how to revise their poetry by creating purposeful line breaks. Room 310 students even tried writing odes to people, animals, or things that were very important to them! These poetry skills have already carried over into student personal narrative writing as scholars become more descriptive with their newly acquired figurative language.

The Poetry Open Mic was a great chance for students to read their own work aloud with expression - they did a fantastic job! Thanks to all who attended!

Second Grade Open Mic—Ms. Sullivan

The Preschool Scholars in room 104 have opened up a Flower Shop! They are busy playing the roles of “florist” and “customer.” As a florist they are responsible for working the cash register (everyone’s favorite job), spraying the plants with water, wrapping up the flowers, arranging flower vases and taking care of their customers. The customers are busy getting dressed up for shopping, talking on their phones, taking “selfies” and purchasing flowers with dollar bills and “debit cards.” They are working their fine motor skills, math, language, literacy, dramatic play, social skills and more! Please stop by and shop if you have a free moment between 9:40-10:30 everyday.

Flower Shop! Ms. Kempton

Fletcher Maynard Academy

Greek Revival Scavenger Hunt— Ms. LincolnAttention all students and families! If you spot a Greek Revival house in Cambridge or Boston you can win a prize! Here's what you do if you spot a Greek Revival house: IT’S SIMPLE!

Write on a piece of paper: • Your Name • Street and street number of Greek Revival house

(Please do not share the address with other students) Give to Ms. Lincoln, Allow for 24 hour authentication period, Collect 1 piece of candy for every house you find!!! The contest runs for the entire month of April P.S. there are hundreds of Greek Revival houses in our community. And that's a lot of prizes!

Meet the FMA Maker Lab! —Mr. McGonegal

Tucked into the northwest corner of the FMA's lower level, we have an exciting new space where FMA Students and Teachers come to discover, create, code and connect! The new FMA MakerLab contains 25 iMac computers, a Brightlink Interactive Whiteboard, and enough work tables and floor space to make it a dynamic place for meeting, making, and learning! Ms. Lincoln and the Art Club have nearly finished their inspiring murals which will motivate and inspire our students in the years to come!

Here are just some of the ways the dynamic new space is being used: • Mr McGonegal's weekly classes for grades 2-5: These classes cover subjects such as robotics, coding, keyboarding, digital literacy,

productivity tools, media production (co-taught by Ms. Aishah, our Library Media Specialist) and more! • Mr. Hebard's Robotics Club and the "Innovators for a Purpose" program: The "IFP" program brings together a student community of

"creative doers" that apply STEAM skills to actively seek solutions to problems in the community. Check out their • website and blog to learn more about their awesome work: http://innovatorsforpurpose.org • JK-1 and other "Drop-in" use: With guidance and assistance from our Instructional Technology Specialist, teachers grades JK-1 bring their

scholars down often for skills-building software and other tech-infused lessons. • Community Schools and Afterschool: These FMA programs make wonderful use of the space during the late afternoon hours, allowing

time for tech-infused homework, and using various educational web sites to leverage classroom learning. • Building-wide and District-wide professional development: Meetings and trainings have been working wonderfully in this dynamic space!

The FMA recently hosted two 10-hour courses for Cambridge teachers on integrating Interactive Whiteboards into their teaching, and more and more building-based professional development is happening here all the time. We'll be hosting a special event in June where the community can come learn more about the FMA MakerLab and how they can extend their students' learning through the summer months using our web-based resources.

Watch this space for more information about this event! In the meantime, you can find more info about our web-based resources here: More info on those here: https://goo.gl/Vj1jI

More From India —Ms. Coulson

Fletcher Maynard Academy

Bhuleshwar Market, Mumbai

Bhuleshwar is a busy market area in the historic Hindu part of the city. There were lanes full of small shops selling everything from food, flowers, to jewelry and fabric. Even the cows were enjoying a day at the market!

Taj Mahal, Agra

The photos do not do justice to our experience, especially at the Taj Mahal, It is breathtaking in real life. There is so much detail in the building’s design. Each of those flowers you see was hand carved in the marble. Also, colored gems had to cut and shaped to fit in each of those inlays. No wonder it took 20 years to build!

Sahakari Spice Farm, Goa

The spice farm is a working farm, which grows all sorts of amazing spices. We took a tour of the farm and learned how all the spices we eat like pepper, cinnamon and vanilla are grown. The neatest thing to learn was that a cashew grow on a small fruit with only one cashew per fruit! So they pick the cashew off and then the fruit to make cashew juice. Now I know why a can of cashews are so expensive!

Cavalossim, Goa

We made our way up and down the Sal River on a private boat tour. We saw local fisherman out working, wildlife and the beautiful countryside. The crew prepared and freshly caught fish and shrimp lunch for us and on of the crew members sang us traditional Goan folk songs.

Fletcher Maynard Academy

Somaiya School, Mumbai

Our last day in Mumbai we visited the Somaiya School, where Naseem and Rehaan have being going to school this year. Their class welcomed us with a couple traditional songs in their language. After that the students from FMA told them a little bit about going to school in Cambridge and they told us about going to school in Mumbai. We learned they study four languages; Hindi, Sanskrit, English and French, Also, they have 30 students in their class, and not only do they wear uniforms, but they also have the same backpacks! One of the specialist classes they take is gymnastics, so most of them can do splits!

Transportation, India

Vans, rickshaws and camels oh my! We rode in a tourist van for most of our trip but we had opportunities to ride motorized rickshaws in Goa, bicycle rickshaws in Old Delhi and camels on our way to the Taj Mahal in Agra. Some of us even braved a taxi ride in Mumbai!

Babulnath Mandir, Mumbai

This is one of the oldest Hindu temples in the city and was being renovated when we where there. Shiva, in the form of the Lord of the Babul tree, is the main deity in this temple. We bought beautiful baskets of flowers to place in the temple as an offering and receiver blessings.

Haji Ali, Mumbai

Haji Ali is both a mosque and a tomb and is also known as a drag. People of all religious backgrounds come here to pray. It was built in 1431 and is situated in the middle of the ocean. Therefore, it is only accessible to during low tide from a narrow, 500 yard walkway. Out of respect and tradition, everyone had to cover the head while inside.