Another Way to Give Thanks

The Perkins kids left for the long Thanksgiving weekend thinking of turkey, stuffing (and, of course, a mini-vacation). Now, however the kids also knew that other Americans had  different fall harvest holidays to celebrate.

Ms. Jannette Vanderhoop is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah / Gay Head on Martha’s Vineyard.  She came to talk to the Perkin kids about what it means to be a member of a Native American tribe – in the present 21st century and at the time the Pilgrims arrived in North America in the 17th century.

Her book Cranberry Day explains the major thanksgiving festival the Wampanoag Tribe celebrated long before the Pilgrims came to their land. In the old days, the celebration of the cranberry harvest was three days long.  Nowadays it is just one, but it is still lots of fun.  Kids don't go to school.  Elders of the tribe share stories of the past with them and everyone eats a feast--including cranberries, of course.

Ms. Vanderhoop also brought some of the cloths and traditional jewelry her people used to wear.

After she left, the kids had their own celebration; many classes turned much of what they learned into beautiful bulletin board displays.

Ms. Leverett-King's class demonstrated that the cranberry can be used for another purpose besides food and a good way to get enough vitamin C.

It can also be used for painting!

Another Trip Around the World with Ms. Meadow's Class

If you remember, there's a big geography project going on in (and right outside) Ms. Meadow's room. Since people from all around the world are taking an interest in us by visiting our blog, these third graders are returning the favor. They are researching the countries that have shown up on our visitors list and writing down an amazing fact about each one.
Amazing facts about the world keep coming in...







Have you ever seen one? This is what it looks like:























Have you ever seen hieroglyphics? They look like this:


















Moving on to Europe, Mecca wrote about the view from a famous Paris monument.

There are lots of views, of course, but this one includes another famous monument, the Eiffel Tower.






We don't have an illustration of this last fact. Perhaps that's all for the best!

A New School for a Day

Once a month for much of the school year, the seventh graders from the Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton came to the Michael J. Perkins School in South Boston. They came to work with our first and second graders on things like reading and writing. A lot of other things were learned in the bargain--for both groups.

At the end of the year, it was our turn to pay the Schechter kids a visit.

It was a busy day. Our kids saw some things they had never seen before, for example, signs in Hebrew letters. What did they say!?!




Perkins kids paired up with their yearlong partners to create a book about their days. Some of the things they wrote and illustrated were perfect examples of their similarities and differences.















Look at this page, for example, where the kids are writing about how they start their days at school. The Schechter kid, who attends a private school devoted to religious and academic studies, says that he begins his school day with prayer.

The Perkins kid says that they go get the breakfast crates, eat in their classrooms, then get to work. Schechter kids eat breakfast at home.


While they are chatting, the boys also learn that they both like to play basketball.


Meanwhile, another pair is busy working on filling in how their education has made them want to have a particular job when they grow up. Or, at least the Perkins kid is because she has lots of ideas. "I want to be a doctor, no, a nurse...wait I have more ideas...a scientist..."

She is writing as fast as she can.

"I wouldn't mind being a teacher at the Schecter School," she adds.










"I like the fact that they seem so mature for their age," says a Schechter kid about his Perkins acquaintances.

"I think this school is cool because it's so big and they have a room just for music," says a Perkin kid.

What is another thing that all the kids like about the visit?











When the Perkins kids come to the Schechter, there is always pizza for lunch!

Evacuation Day Reflections #4

Our school play, Evacuation Day, the Musical, is long over, but it is not forgotten. Furthermore, its effects can last for a very long time. Being in a play, trying hard, working in a group--these actions have reap rewards that might be even more important than the applause. Here is our last in the series of interviews with kids about how they felt being involved in the production.

This time we hear from Sophia, a wonderfully enthusiastic performer.


I’m glad that I was in the play because it was fun. It was like acting. I like acting because you can move around. Sometimes it was hard to remember the lines. I was a little bit scared, but then my parents said, “Good job.” Now the first graders will know the play when they are second graders next year.

Art and Poems--A Great Combo!

Perhaps you remember that just about every kid at the Perkins School painted a tile to help decorate the new Tierney Community Center in the New Old Colony. If you don't, you can find out the backstory by clicking here and here.

Our tiles have been up for a while. Now they have company.



















Another community project had people in our neighborhood make tiles too. They sound like poems, don't they?
























These are only a few examples. We'll post more later, including some in foreign languages. We have people who all over the world living in our community and visitors from all over the world who our blog (from over 60 countries). So maybe someone will be able to read and enjoy them.