Way to Go, Ms. Correa!

Parents University has been a program sponsored by the Boston Public School since 2009.  It gives Boston parents an opportunity to sharpen their own skills so they can help their children learn and grow.  This month, Parent's U. honored someone who has worked very, very hard to make it a successful program...our own Ms. Correa!

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Here is Ms. Correa, holding her award.  This photo gives us the added advantage of seeing Mr. Craig Martin, who will become Perkins' new principal next September.

What did Ms. Correa do to earn this award?  Here is what the presenter said when she called Ms. Correa up to receive it: 

Evelyn has really embraced the concept of Parent University and parent learning for
academic success.  Evelyn has worked to have Parent U sessions at her school and in the South Boston community. She has committed to support the office work of Parent University in ways that go above and beyond her call of  duty, including changing her family vacation plans to staff a learning session. She has staffed Parent University events, learned and co-taught math classes, led her own Spanish math sessions and co-facilitated the Mind Matters: Families Make the Difference sessions for parents.

Way to go, Ms. Correa.  We are lucky to have her.

Mr. Brawer's Contest is Here!

Sometime at the end of this year or the beginning of next, Old Colony's new Community Center will open its doors and turn on its lights for all of us. By then, you will be able to look at its roof and see something else to celebrate. There will be solar panels to help provide the building with safe, renewable energy. These solar panels will use photovoltaic cells to change sunlight into electricity that will help power the building.

So here's the question for this first round of Mr. Brawer's Contest:

HOW DO PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS WORK TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY?

Mr. Brawer is CONVINCED that if we really try, we can understand how this 21st technology works. Let's prove him right. After all, we have a whole school of people who know what Evacuation Day is, even though most people in Boston don't!

So let's tackle this problem and learn some important high school science. Another thing our kids know is that the way you learn is to wonder and guess, ask questions and look for information to answer them.

Here's a good starting question for you: What comes out of sunlight? Mr. Brawer mentioned something about photons. Also, that we have Albert Einstein to thank for figuring out how they work. We can't ask Mr. Einstein. Unfortunately he died in 1955.

But if you have any ideas about this, send them in to: mr.brawerscontest@gmail.com. By the way, ANYBODY can help us work on this problem--kids, parents, construction workers on the site, our readers from around the world, anyone. If you know the answer--GREAT! Even a guess or a partial explanation is fine. We can work together and build bits of information together until we get the answer!


Remember the email address is mr.brawerscontest@gmail.com. He's waiting for you!

Congratulations, Graduates!

Kids aren't the only people in the Perkins community who are going to school. Last Friday, six parents from the Perkins family graduated from the courses they took from Parent University, a program that helps parents and caregivers help their kids grow and learn.


We had six graduates, but also many others, sometimes up to 20 parents, who met at the Perkins during the ten weeks of the Parents Math Class held there.



Research has found that when parents are involved in their children's education, the kids do better. And that's true no matter what a parent's level of education may be.








Lots of parents also find it hard to help their kids with their homework because they learned it a different way--way back when. To help explain it the "new" way, they need a refresher course.








So some parents took on the challenge. "I have learned so much in this class!," said Kim Mulligan. "It is sad to see come to an end. I have learned so much that I can sit down with my girls and help them with their homework. I did not know that "fractions" were my thing!!!





Erin Mayes is planning ahead. "Even though my son is in K2," she said, "I have learned many things that will help me help him in the future."



Parent University doesn't just run in the academic year of 2010-2011. Parents who are interested next fall, can call 617-635-1638.








As parents from the Dever school said at the graduation: "Esta clase a sido muy buena. Aprendi muchisimo y espero poder cojer mas clases en el futuro." (A translation: This class has been very good. We have learned a lot and we hope that we can take more classes in the future.)

We hope so too.