Calendar 2008=9 - The School District of Philadelphia

FebruaryCelebrating DiversityAt The School District of Philadelphia, diversity isn’t just anotherword; it’s our culture. The School District serves more than 167,000children, many of whose first language is not English. Our studentbody is made up of children from countries around the globe.For some of our students and their families, their first formalexperience with the School District may be through the specialImmigrant Registration Process held during the summer months,where staff is available to assist the registrants in their first languages.The School District, through its Parent Support and CustomerService Center, provides telephonic translation services to parents,students and other callers who communicate more comfortably inlanguages other than English.Parents who speak the languages listed below may call theappropriate number indicated. Parents will receive a return callfrom someone who speaks his/her language by the nextbusiness day.Albanian ....................................... 215-400-8480Arabic ........................................... 215-400-8481Chinese ........................................ 215-400-8482French .......................................... 215-400-8483Khmer ........................................... 215-400-8484Russian ........................................ 215-400-8485Spanish ........................................ 215-400-8489Vietnamese................................... 215-400-8487BOOK OF THE MONTH for FebruaryElementary (K-2): Lion’s Whiskers: An Ethiopian Folktale byNancy Day Raines.In this tale from the Amhara people of Ethiopia, a patient andloving stepmother wants to have a relationship with her angrystepson. A wise man tells her she needs to get the whisker of alion to do this. She then learns to approach her stepsoncarefully, lovingly and with patience. Grifalconi uses brightcolors and textures in the collage illustrations to create a varietyof moods for the different settings of the story.Elementary (3-5): Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt byDeborah Hopkinson.Twelve-year-old Clara, a slave in the Big House, has two dreams– being with her mother once again and being free. Carefullistening and learning about the Underground Railroadconvinces Clara that she can piece a quilt that can actually beused as a map of the Underground Railroad’s route to freedom.Clara escapes but leaves the quilt as a map to guide otherslaves to the Underground Railroad.Middle School (6-8): From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. BasilE. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.Claudia decides to run away to teach her parents a lesson in“Claudia appreciation.” She takes her brother along and,together, they hide and live for a week in New York’s MetropolitanMuseum of Art. While there, Claudia discovers a statue sobeautiful that she must find out the identity of the artist. Herquest leads her to the statue’s former owner, Mrs. Basil E.Frankweiler.High School (9-12): Master Harold and the Boys by AtholFugard.In South Africa in 1950, a young white boy, Master Harold, is leftwith two black servants. He is still in high school while “theboys” are forty-five. He is growing out of his innocentacceptance of them as human beings but nonetheless asinferiors. The story of their relationship is an exploration ofapartheid and the development of children’s attitudes in such anenvironment.16James Snyder, Masterman School, 2005