Helping foreign-born parents with Parent & Teacher Conferences

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Do you know a foreign-born neighbor that has a child in elementary school?

Maybe their child goes to school with your child. In their culture, they may

not have parent teacher conferences. Here are some tips that you may help

another parent prepare for the upcoming conferences:

The Conference Format

The typical conference with your child’s

homeroom teacher takes about 15-20 minutes

and provides you with a valuable opportunity:

• To see examples of your child’s work

in reading and mathematics.

• To review grade-level expectations and

your child’s progress.

• To ask questions about specific

concerns or get additional information.

• To find out how you can reinforce

classroom learning at home.

Before the Conference . . .

Review your child’s report card:

• Do you understand the grading system?

• Is your child below, on or above grade

level in reading and mathematics?

• Are there any learning behaviors that

need improvement?

Talk with your child:

• How does your child feel about school?

• How does your child think he/she is

doing in school?

• Is there anything that your child wants

you to ask or tell the teacher?

Do you have particular concerns about

your child:

• How does he/she get along with other

children?

• Is your child working up to his/her

potential?

Have there been any major changes at home

or school that might have an impact on your

child’s school work:

• Health concerns?

• Family issues?

• New teacher?

• Separation from friends?

During the Conference . . .

Be an active listener and take notes.

To make the best use of limited conference

time, focus your attention on the areas most

important to your child.

Consider the following topics as possibilities

for discussion with the teacher:

• In which area(s) is your child doing well?

• In which area(s) does he/she need to

improve?

• Has your child adjusted well to the

class and the teacher?

• What are some of your child’s special

interests or concerns?

• How can you help your child at home?

• What other resources are available to

help your child?

And yes! You can read to your child if you do not speak English!

Take a picture walk and talk about the pictures!  Make personal

connections...to you and your child's home language! :-)

~ “If you teach the parents, it helps teach their children.”

                                Laurel Conran WASHPOST 7/2011

What is Halloween?

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What is Halloween?

Halloween is a holiday combining many different traditional harvest festival celebrations with customs more specific to the occasion such as costume wearing, trick-or-treating, pranks, and decorations based on imagery of death and the supernatural (David Emery, About.com Guide). It is celebrated on October 31.

Halloween is watching the Great Pumpkin Patch!

It has been primarily a children's holiday, however, in more recent years Halloween activities such as mask wearing, costume parties, themed decorations, and even trick-or-treating have grown quite popular with adults as well, making Halloween an all-ages celebration.

 What does the name 'Halloween' mean?

The name Halloween (originally spelled Hallowe'en) is a contraction of All Hallows Even, meaning the day before All Hallows Day (better known as All Saints Day), a Catholic holiday commemorating Christian saints and martyrs observed since the early Middle Ages on November 1.

How and when did Halloween originate?

Apparently, the origins of Halloween can be traced back to ancient Ireland and Scotland around the time of Christ. On Oct. 31st, the Celts celebrated the end of summer. This was important because it was when animal herders would move their animals into barns and pens and prepare to ride out the winter. This was also the time of the crop harvests. This annual change of season and lifestyle was marked by a festival called Samhain -- pronounced 'sow-ane' and means 'end of summer.' Sow rhymes with cow.

Around the 5th century, as the Catholic Church developed and moved into the area, instead of adding a new day to celebrate, it took over the Samhain celebration. Nov. 1st became "All Hallows Eve" where all the saints of the Catholic church were honored. A later custom developed where people would go door-to-door on Nov. 2, requesting small cakes in exchange for the promise of saying prayers for some of the dead relatives of each house. This arose out of the religious belief that the dead were in a state of limbo before they went to heaven or hell and that the prayers of the living could influence the outcome.

Pumpkin History

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was nasalized by the French into "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion. American colonists changed "pumpion" into "pumpkin." The "pumpkin" is referred to in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater and Cinderella.

Pumpkin crafts.

The Jack-O-Lantern (or pumpkin)  apparently comes from Irish folklore about a man named Jack who tricked the devil into climbing a tree. Once the devil was in the tree, Jack carved a cross on the trunk, preventing the devil from coming down. The devil then made a deal with Jack not to allow Jack into hell after Jack died if only Jack would remove the cross from the tree. After Jack died, he couldn't go to hell, and he couldn't go to heaven. He was forced to wander around the earth with a single candle to light his way. The candle was placed in a turnip to keep it burning longer. When the Irish came to America in the 1800's, they adopted the pumpkin instead of the turnip. Along with these traditions, they brought the idea that the black cat was considered by some to be reincarnated spirits who had prophetic abilities.

American Family Traditions

Celebrating our daughter's sweet birthday!

Each family adopts their own family tradition. As for my family we look at this time of year as Harvest Time! We enjoy the harvest of the end of summer. Now we enjoy the fall of apples and pumpkins! We warm up our home with the sweet smells of applesauce, apple and pumpkin pies, candies, breads and hot spiced apple cider! We enjoy taking the pumpkins and gourds to make crafts.  In addition, we give tribute to the saints that sacrificed their lives so we can have a better life today!

Community Partnerships

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Community Partnerships

It Takes a Community to Teach our Children

Bridging Cultures, Building Community

In August 2007, our school saw an increase of ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) students from 30 to 70.  This large increase presented both opportunities and challenges.  Namely, how could we quickly recruit community resources and build integrate and/or expand programs could help our students significantly achieve.  I have delineated below our school and ESOL Team’s approach to this challenge. In summary, it was a coordinated team (Community, Families, Teachers, and Programs) effort to help both our old and new students achieve.

Planning and action immediately commenced when it was identified that a statistically significant increased amount of refugee children would be attending our school. The entire community, International Referral Network (FIRN), library, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Baltimore County Community College (BCCC), Howard Community College (HCC) and the interpreters with the new families attended a meeting to receive information concerning refugee status.  This helped us to identify the diverse academic needs of our students.

Learning how to use a fork and spoon.

Shortly thereafter, new students arrived with their parents and interpreters, which required the ESOL Team to update rosters and to take them to their new teachers, helping them order lunches, pairing them up with partners, showing them the bathrooms, finding picture dictionaries, and changing daily schedules to meet the needs of our new incomers.

During our first days, I was paged to the principal’s office.  Fortunately, our principal was meeting with the president of FIRN (Foreign-born Information-Referral Network).  We took this opportunity to help us better focus resources to the task at hand.  Further, we discussed many strategies and tactics as to how we could provide enrichment activities to build oral language skills since the 30 plus students had interrupted schooling and some students had little to no schooling.

The ESOL Team also met with FIRN, county school personal, ESOL counselor, IRC, interpreters and the case manager to learn about the interrupted schooling to begin the planning for the Learning English After School Program (L.E.A.P.). The ESOL team began planning reading and math activities to enrich oral language development.

More specifically, we began with the HCPSS ESOL English Language Proficiency Standards MDK-12 to direct our planning: “With one word-responses or short phrases, and sentences, students will be able to apply critical thinking skills and academic language functions to define math, reading and content vocabulary,” by using phonics and math board games and reading material. And to “Use simple present, and present progressive forms of common. (i.e., to be, to have, and to walk and simple past tense of regular verbs) Use appropriate word order.  (i.e., subject- verb-object when speaking in short sentences and in memorized patterns).”

Additionally, we met with the school’s reading, math support and classroom teachers to learn of new and additional resources. We received math and grammar board and card games, math and picture cards, art supplies, manipulatives, and picture books with props.  Since the 3^rd-5^th graders were not in school for the 2^nd grade curriculum objective “My Community,” we took the 2^nd grade curriculum to help fill in the learning gap for the students to learn how to use geographic concepts and processes to understand location and its relationship in their community. This helped prepare the 4^th and 5^th graders with interrupted schooling about geographic concepts, locations and physical features of Maryland as they were learning about Colonial America. We utilized the book, “From Here to There,” by Margery Cuyler, and each week the students added to their hand-crafted illustrated books and learned about their names, streets, town, city, state of Maryland and it’s physical features, country, continent and their universe. 

ESOL Team welcomes new Chin family into the community.

In addition to FIRN training their volunteers, we invited the FIRN volunteers to come to our school before the program began, to review the objectives, the materials and the syllabus, and to ask/answer any questions they may have.  The first day of the program, ESOL held a small orientation for the children with the tutors and administration to explain the objectives of the program and to go over the rules and the consequences if they chose not to follow the rules.

The program ran in two-eight week sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. Session one (1) before the Winter break and Session two (2) beginning the first week in February. The 1.5 hour sessions were divided into 3 parts. The first 30 minutes was focused on completing homework, and the last hour was devoted to reading then math activities. The students were divided by grade levels with 5-8 students per two tutors. The PTA (Parent and Teacher Association) provided snacks and it was left up to the tutors when snack was provided and interpreters called parents to arrange rides home.

At the end of each session, school surveys were given to the tutors in order to determine how to better the program for the following session and FIRN surveys were also given to the parents. When the parents met as a group, the interpreter read the questionnaire as the parents answered the questions.  Items learned from these sessions were integrated into L.E.A.P. to enhance it as it progressed forward.

How and what did our team and students accomplish?  In June, the students were tested.  Scores measurably increased on their monthly reading benchmarks and the reading and math quarterly assessments and their LAS (Language Assessment Systems) assessments. 

In summary, our community team collaborated together to ensure that the academic needs of our new students were met in order to improve their scores and integration into our community.  As evidenced by their scores and feedback by their families and teachers, we believe that their first steps into the community were successfully started.  

Celebrating the Chin New Year!

To better understand some of FIRN’s community programs, we have provided expanded information on each of their outreaches:

In 2003, FIRN and the HCPSS entered into a formal educational partnership wherein both parties collaborated to pilot an innovative after-school program targeted at ELL students in the County known as Club L.E.A.P. (Learning English After-school Program).

Expecting continued dramatic increases in ESOL student enrollment, FIRN and HCPSS undertook this program to help these students, many of whom are among Howard County’s academically-at-risk student population because of their language barriers.  It was started in 3 schools with a half a dozen or so volunteers.  Over the past 4 years, this partnership has evolved in both its breadth and depth of service.  Each summer, FIRN, with the help of the members of the HCPSS Partnership Committee, meet with school administrators and other stakeholders to plan that year’s Club L.E.A.P. The HCPSS Partnership Committee is the oversight entity for this partnership.  The members of this committee include HCPSS Offices of International Student, Family International, Student, Family and Community Services., ESOL and World Languages, Hispanic Achievement Liaisons and 21^st Century Bridges Community Learning Center. Through the dedication and commitment and recognizing the need to help this under-served ESOL population, this program has seen tremendous growth.  This 2008-2009 academic year, the program is implemented in 11 schools with 52 volunteer tutors, serving 100 ESOL students.

The county clothing drive.

Working with HCPSS, FIRN provides trained, culturally competent volunteer tutors in Club LEAP, offering the ELLs a variety of enrichment activities in a safe school environment to support the goals and objectives of the school system.  Many of FIRN’s volunteers are retired teachers, professionals, multi-cultural and multi-lingual high school and college students, international students and others in the community who feel a special connection to the international community in which we live. 

It takes a community to teach our children!

FIRN is a nonprofit organization in Howard County, Maryland that empowers immigrants, refugees, asylees and other foreign-born individuals by helping them to access community resources and opportunities. Read more:

http://www.firnonline.org/?page_id=27

Community Partnership with a local company and school:

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v297k9p5Aoo

What Do You Make?

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The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"…He said to another guest: "You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make?"

"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best."

"You want to know what I make?"

"I make kids wonder."

"I make them question."

"I make them criticize."

"I make them apologize and mean it."

"I make them write."

"I make them read, read, read."

"I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English."

"I elevate them to experience music and art and the joy in performance, so their lives are rich, full of kindness and culture, and they take pride in themselves and their accomplishments."

"I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart…and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay them no attention."

"You want to know what I make? I make a difference."

"By the way, what do you make?"

~Taylor Mali

Legami d'Amicizia e Amore ...Ties of Friendship and Love (Italiano e English)

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My sister-in-law and dear friend!

Donna and I met through AFS.

Da un punto di vista soggettivo, insieme all' amore , l'amicizia è un atteggiamento nei confronti degli altri, caratterizzato da una rilevante carica emotiva e fondante la vita sociale del singolo.

From a subjective point of view, together with the ' love , friendship is an attitude towards others, characterized by a significant emotional and fundamental social life of the individual.

In quasi tutte le culture, l'amicizia viene intesa e percepita come un rapporto alla pari, basato sul rispetto, la stima, e la disponibilità reciproca.

My teacher friends that I work with!

In almost all cultures, friendship and understanding is perceived as an equal relationship based on respect, esteem and mutual availability.

My dear friend from Matera, Italy.

Di tutti quei beni che la saggezza procura per la completa felicità della vita, il più grande di tutti è l'acquisto dell'amicizia.

"Of all those goods that wisdom attorney for the complete happiness of life, the greatest of all is the purchase of friendship"

 

History:

The friendship has been considered at all times one of the fundamental human experiences, and has been sanctified by all religions .

Ad esempio i Greci portavano come esempio di amicizia portata alle estreme conseguenze quella fra Oreste e Pilade .

For example, the Greeks as an example of friendship taken to extremes that between Orestes and Pylades .


Aristotle distinguishes three types of friendship:

* amicizia basata sul piacere; friendship based on pleasure;
* amicizia basata sull'interesse; friendship based on the interest;
* amicizia basata sulla bontà. friendship based on goodness.

"Un amico è una persona con cui posso essere sincero: in sua presenza posso pensare ad alta voce."

"A friend is someone that I can be sincere in his presence I think aloud."

As we said a group of friends consists of two or more persons to be rewarded with feelings of camaraderie , exclusivity and mutual interest.

Ci sono varie "gradazioni" e "sfumature" nei modi di intendere questo sentimento, tanto che, nelle varie culture, ci sono da sempre stati diversi modi di intendere e manifestare l'amicizia.

There are several "grades" and "nuances" in ways to understand this feeling, so that, in different cultures, there have always been different ways of understanding and expressions of friendship.

Russia

In Russia it is customary to give a few people the status of friend, but what is lost in quantity is more than recovered in intensity.

Solo fra amici ci si chiama per nome (o col diminutivo) mentre fra semplici "conoscenti" ci si chiama usando il nome completo, a cui si aggiunge anche il patronimico.

Only among friends called us by name (or with the diminutive) between straightforward as "friends" call you using your full name, to which is added the patronymic.

Gli amici possono essere colleghi di lavoro da lungo tempo, vicini con cui si scambiano visite o inviti a pranzo , ecc.

Friends may be colleagues working for a long time, neighbors with whom they exchange visits or invitations to lunch , etc..

Il contatto fisico fra amici è considerato cosa del tutto normale anche fra persone dello stesso sesso, che si abbracciano, si baciano e camminano in pubblico a braccetto o mano nella mano, senza il minimo imbarazzo o connotazione di tipo sessuale .

Physical contact between friends is considered completely normal thing even among the same sex, that they embraced and kissed in public and walk arm in arm or hand in hand, without the slightest embarrassment or connotation sex .

Asia

Anche in Medio Oriente ed Asia centrale l'amicizia fra maschi, sebbene meno stretta che in Russia , tende ad essere particolarmente intima, e si accompagna con una grande quantità di effusioni fisiche di natura non sessuale, tenersi per mano, ecc.

Also in Middle East and Central Asia friendship between males, although less strict than in Russia tends to be very intimate, and is accompanied with a large amount of natural effusions of non-sexual nature, holding hands, etc..

Western

In Occidente i contatti fisici intimi hanno assunto nell'ultimo secolo una connotazione decisamente "sessuale", e praticarli fra amici è considerato un tabù , soprattutto fra maschi .

In the West, intimate physical contact took last century connotations very "sexual", and practice them with friends is considered a taboo , especially among males .

Tuttavia un modo appena accennato, quasi "rituale", di abbracciarsi e baciarsi può essere accettato, anche se solo in determinati contesti.

However, a way just mentioned, almost "ritual" of hugging and kissing is acceptable, though only in certain contexts.

Fanno eccezione i bambini, la cui amicizia può tradursi in manifestazioni di stretta intimità, che vengono soppresse successivamente per uniformarsi alle convenzioni sociali.

Exceptions are children, whose friendship may lead to demonstrations of close intimacy, which are subsequently removed to conform to social conventions.

A friend is so by Laura Pausini:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_CuvXbq0Ac

Amico by Renato Zero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsLEZkhvsD4&feature=fvw

Don’t Judge a Restaurant by its Cover

To celebrate our anniversary we took a plane to Portland Maine. We rented a Ford Escape and drove through the coastline of Maine. The Burch and Pine trees led us to the Acadia National Park to start our adventures or shall I say tasting our way through the rocky coast of Maine and back down to Portland!

Part lll

Don’t Judge a Restaurant by its Cover!

We got off the plane and we were starved. We heard that Maine’s nightlife ends about 9 PM. We got our rental car, plugged in our gps and looked for a restaurant before the sun went down. It was 8:30 and we drove for miles. Our gps informed us that Schutty’s Restaurant was within a mile. We drove around in circles and we heard, “You have arrived!” We almost didn't stop because it just wasn't what we expected.

  

The little food trailer that we pulled up to was located to one side of a parking lot that was shared with a kayaking business and a church. 

It was a very neat, clean, inviting place, with seating at picnic tables with umbrellas. It was obvious that the owners took great care in the overall appearance of Schutty’s, as it was adorned with pretty flowering plants, as well as several tomato plants. There was plenty to choose from on the menu,

and we chose our first Lobster Roll. 

The rolls were grilled with butter and really enhanced the flavor of the lobster meat. The seafood was fresh caught and delivered the same day. Staff was extremely friendly, accommodating and service was prompt.

Later we learned that Schutty's Seafood was featured on WGME 13's "Road Trippin" with Dave Eid. 

Check out the sneak peek! It was awarded 5 stars by TripAdvisor...and do not judge a restaurant by its cover!

Copy and paste into your browser:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=270181176456833&set=vb.265355176939433&type=2&theater

Tasting our way through the Rocky Coast of Maine - Part II

To celebrate our anniversary we took a plane to Portland Maine. We rented a Ford Escape and drove through the coastline of Maine. The Burch and Pine trees led us to the Acadia National Park to start our adventures or shall I say tasting our way through the rocky coast of Maine and back down to Portland! We met some wonderful local people and they made some recommendations where and what to eat to “wet our palates!”

Part II

The vibe at this prominent Maine bistro was simultaneously rustic and refined. The bistro encircled the exposed-brick walls and lustrous mahogany wood furniture.

Once we were seated, our server reviewed the menu and explained the three to five course meals. The larger course meals had smaller portions to sample more foods. Surprisingly for Maine, there was not a large amount of seafood on the menu, but the food was all locally grown – Farm to Table. We marveled over the choices and pondered the menu.  We were intrigued by the novel ingredients: Roasted squash soup with piccalilli, lemon and a marshmallow on top; truffle lobster “mac & cheese” with butter-poached Maine lobster with a cheese blend and shaved black truffle; bangs island mussels with cherry peppers and chive butter; artisanal cheese course with seasonal fruit compote, crostini and candied nuts; chilled cucumber soup with crème fraiche and lobster; roasted squab with broccoli, shallots and fole gras; etc… We opted to try the 5-course meal to sample the creative art forms from chef Corry who received many accolades such as "food and wine's" best new chef of 2007, and chef of the year (2011) from the Maine Restaurant Association.

 

First, the chef brought out one of his samples. It was delicious! Thank you hubby for saving one for me! The cravings began!

With great anticipation the food was evenly paced coming to the table:

Roasted Squash Soup

Mussels with cherry peppers and chive butter

 

Beet and goat cheese salad with a variety of pureed beets

Roasted crisp chicken with gnocchi and tomatoes

Artisanal cheese course

Chocolate and cherries

Steve and Michelle Corry, the proprietors of five fifty-five, arrived in Portland with a passionate vision and a wide-spread of experience in the restaurant industry.

Steve began his culinary career as a brew master at several breweries in Northern California. He attended the New England Culinary Institute in Burlington Vermont. When he graduated in 2001, he returned to California to work at Domaine Chandon in Napa Valley. Before he opened 555, he served as the sous chef at Grissini's Restaurant (part of white barn inn corporation).

Michelle is a graduate of Boston University with a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant administration. She has worked at numerous prestigious establishments, including the French Laundry in Napa, Arrows in Ogunquit, and the White Barn Inn in Kennebunk, Maine.

This scruptious meal alone was worth the trip to Portland ME!