September 20, 2012 pdf edition - Quaboag Current

PAGE 8 A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, September 20, 2012
– education –
Full S.T.E.A.M. ahead
WBES students engage in engineering
activities as part of Innovation School status
By Jennifer Robert
Turley Publications Reporter
WEST BROOKFIELD - As part of
the new Innovation School program, students
at the West Brookfi eld Elementary
School are receiving instruction that has
a strong focus on S.T.E.A.M.; science,
technology, engineering, art and math
are core curriculum subjects. As part of
this innovative series of lesson plans, students
are able to take part in some unique
opportunities for study that are interesting
and actively engaging.
On Fridays, the Kindergarten and
grade six classes will be pairing up to
participate in engineering projects. The
older children will be peer models and
facilitators for the younger ones, and the
time they spend will be devoted to using
an engineering design for problem
solving. This past Friday, the two grade
levels combined for the fi rst time in a
very successful morning. Kindergarten
teacher Deborah Provencher and grade
six teacher Billie Moberg combined their
two classrooms, and gathered all the students
together to brainstorm problems
from the book, “Make Way For Ducklings,”
by Robert McCloskey. After the
students asked questions and found
problems they could solve, they were
broken up into groups that had a 1:1 ratio
of Kindergarten student to grade six
student. They then planned out the solution,
created the solution, and in the end
presented it to the rest of the class to explain
what they did and why, and looked
for possible ways to improve upon it if
necessary.
Moberg said that she was extremely
pleased with how the engineering session
went. “This was the fi rst time we tried
this, and you look to see what could have
been better, what we could change for
next time, but we were both so pleased
with this. It went great,” she remarked.
The students seem to be extremely excited
about this as well. Broken up into
groups around the room, at every station
older children could be heard providing
encouraging words to the younger ones,
and talking them through the steps with
language that the younger kids could understand.
Some of the solutions were quite
elaborate. One group, solving the problem
of how to keep duck eggs and newly
hatched ducklings safe from predators
and the environment, created a detailed
fortress and incubator. Kindergartener
Isacc presented it to the group, and explained
all the parts of their creation.
“This is the part that keeps them warm,
and this is the swing for after they hatch,
this is the button to turn it on, this is the
code to get in, this is the ladder for the
people to get to the code,” he explained,
pointing to each part of their well thought
out design.
Grades Kindergarten and six were
not the only ones with their engineer
caps on that day. The grade 3 students
in Sharon Shepardson’s class were also
hard at work solving a problem. Armed
with 20 sticks of spaghetti, some masking
tape and a big marshmallow, their
task was to create a freestanding structure
that would support the weight of the
marshmallow on it’s top. Colleen Mucha,
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS PHOTOS BY JENNIFER ROBERT
While creating solutions for the problems that they have brainstormed, students explore the contents of the creation
station, a large tub of repurposed materials.
Principal of WBES, explained that she
had the teachers engage in this activity
on the fi rst day, and that it is much more
diffi cult than it sounds. “It was interesting
also, I was doing some research on
it online and found some videos of other
people doing this activity. The people that
do best with this, overall, are Kindergarteners;
the people who do the worst are
business professionals with advanced degrees.
One video showed the facilitator
who offered a reward, a prize, for anyone
that could build this to certain specifi cations.
You know, no one could. Once you
attach a reward to it, no one can seem
to do it,” she said. Shepardson told the
students this was certainly a challenging
project. When she herself did this, “some
North Brookfi eld schools expand preschool offerings
Editor’s note: This article is the second in an ongoing fall series
about improvements to the North Brookfi eld School District.
-NORTH BROOKFIELD-
By Jennifer Grybowski
Turley Publications Reporter
In the North Brookfi eld Public School District, learning
can’t begin too early.
When Superintendent Dr. John A. Provost came
to the district last year, he made an appraisal of the district
and developed a mission moving forward. One way Provost
plans to improve the district is by increasing enrollment
from 565 to 695 students over the next fi ve years.
Provost plans to increase enrollment through a series of
initiatives – including expanded preschool offerings.
The preschool program in general is new to North
Brookfi eld. Previously, students requiring support services
came to the school for services, but the services
were given by private providers contracted out by the
school district, not by North Brookfi eld Public Schools
staff members.
“There was adequate support for those students, but
not the level we’d like to see,” said Carla Chioda, director
of pupil services. “There was no district support for
other students. That was a major challenge.”
In addition, Choida said parents had been asking
about a preschool program for some time.
So in January 2011, the district set up a pilot program,
integrating those students needing special services
with general education students. The program was
fully funded with grants. It ran half-day, for three days
a week and served 15 students.
However, Chioda said, there were still a number of
students on the waiting list for preschool. These students
were either going to private preschool, or no preschool
at all.
“That is a real limitation,” Choida said. “There are
real challenges to having no preschool. Not all students
have the opportunity for social interaction, exposure to
letters, sounds, colors and numbers to prepare for academic
readiness.”
Because of the success of the program, and the high
number of waitlisted students, the program was expanded
last year to now include 30 students, about one-third
of them receiving special services. There are no more
students on the waitlist. Some staffi ng adjustments were
made in the staff to accommodate the new schedule.
“Being able to provide that in district builds support
and capacity within the district,” Chioda said.
The expansion in the program added about $65,000
in operating costs, according to Provost. Grants and
other state aid helped to fund the program, but general
education students are now required to pay an affordable
tuition.
“We wanted to make it accessible for students and
families and wanted to make preschool as available as
possible in this economy,” Choida said. “We want to
make sure parents have value for their money and that
students have as much instruction as we can reasonably
fi t into the session.”
Chioda said preschool is important for students because
it helps to accommodate them to the expectations
of group instruction: Circle time; sharing; making decisions
about what activity to participate in and being
able to persevere through that activity; social-emotional
development; social play opportunities; and more.
“A preschool education gives students a head start to
success in school,” Provost said.
Preschool teacher Eileen Kirwin agrees.
“What preschool does is begin to lay the groundwork
for skills kids are going to use later as elementary students,”
Kirwin said. “Children get the opportunity to
come in and become part of the building and learn something
about the joys of learning and peer relationships.”
Kirwin said the expanded program is also benefi cial
for students needing services that would have attended
anyway.
“Preschool provides them with the opportunity to
practice the skills they are learning in therapy with the
support of teachers who understand what those skills
are,” she said.
Chioda said preschool breeds a comfort level to the
school and helps to develop a love for learning.
“They are all positives to take them through,” Chioda
said. “The sooner we can develop and enhance a love of
learning, the more successful they will be.”
Kirwin agreed.
“The more students in the community are able to participate,
the better,” she said. “They can come in and be a
part of North Brookfi eld Elementary School from age 3.”
Choida said there is a hope to expand the program if
the need is there, but currently, the goal is simply to meet
the needs of students.
stood, some fell. The team that I was on...
crash! It’s not an easy project”
Two of the grade 3 groups were able
to make freestanding towers that could
support the marshmallows. One measures
19 inches in height, the other nine.
When asked what they learned through
this project, the students remarked that
“a marshmallow defi nitely weighs more
than a noodle! (Luke)”, “If you tie it to
the desk it will stay better (Arwen)” and
“a strong structure on the bottom, using
more than one noodle, is better (Jacob).”
WBES is excited about getting their
students to think link engineers, and has
an exciting year of new programming
that ties in with their Innovation school
status.
TEACHER OF THE WEEK
Meet Melissa Fijal
WEST BROOKFIELD
- Melissa began her career
by obtaining her
Bachelor’s in Elementary
Education from
Elms College. During
the time she
spent in the classroom
during observation,
she fell
in love with Special
Education, and returned
to Elms to get
her Master’s Degree in
Special Education. She
just passed her MTEL
exam, and is currently
back in the classroom herself,
working towards her
Education Specialist Degree
and certifi cation as a
Reading Specialist at Bay Path College.
PHOTO BY JENNIFER ROBERT
5th and 6th Grade Special Education
Teacher at West Brookfi
eld Elementary School.
The 2012-2013 school year is Melissa’s third year
in the District, the fi rst spent in Warren before coming
to West Brookfi eld during the 2011-2012 school
year. She previously spent one year at a private Catholic
school.
Melissa’s favorite part of her job is having the collaboration
with other team members. “Working with
kids is kind of like a puzzle, you have to fi gure out
what each student needs to succeed, fi nd a way to get
it to them, and then the pay out is when you get the
opportunity to see them become independent in that
skill,” she said. The collaboration of the many teachers
involved in each student’s goal setting allows her a
look at the situation through many sets of eyes.
On that same note, Melissa fi nds that the most
challenging part of her job is also centered around
the teamwork involved in meeting the needs of each
student. With the busy schedules of all the teachers,
keeping the communication fl owing and things happening
in the time frame they are supposed to requires
everyone to be very dedicated, which Melissa says she
has been fortunate to fi nd to be the case at WBES.
See TEACHER I PAGE 15