For the Love of Literacy!

Hats Off to Literacy Day!

On Friday we will be celebrating Dr. Suess' birthday in style! We have "celebrity readers", classroom doors will be decorated, and we will host our second annual Hat Parade at Community Meeting.

We are encouraging ALL members of the community to design a hat that reflects their favorite: character, book, author, genre, scene... Anything is possible! We look forward to a colorful, creative parade on Friday!

Pages From Patrick

Two years ago the Muraco Community led a literacy initiative called Pages From Patrick to honor Patrick Gill, a former Muraco student who died in September 2014.  The summer before he died, Patrick had volunteered in a program called Encounter, where teens from St. Mary’s in Winchester spend one week of the summer in the Washington, DC area in various settings.  

Patrick worked at the Freedom School, which is a literacy program that fosters positive literate experiences for underprivileged families.  In his short visit Patrick made a strong connection to one little boy and came home with the intention of continuing to help his new friend.  It was that friendship that inspired Patrick’s mother, Susan, to reach out to the little boy.

Susan’s act of kindness inspired the Muraco community, and with that Pages From Patrick was born. Because of the generosity of the Winchester community, Susan and Melissa Testa were able to deliver over 30 boxes of books and school supplies to the Freedom School (over 1200 books!) Their visit included some time spent with the staff and children of the Freedom School Program.  They saw first hand how powerful the program was and how helpful these supplies were.  

Other Winchester teens have continued work at the Freedom School.  Last summer, during the Encounter week, the teen on site at the Freedom School shared her connection to Pages From Patrick with the staff.  She learned that the books and supplies delivered in 2015 lasted almost an entire year at the Freedom School!  The staff was sincerely grateful and touched by the generosity of the Winchester Community.

Pages From Patrick is based on a foundation of friendship and a love of literacy.  Both of these values are true to the Muraco Community each and every day. In that spirit, the Muraco Community will once again participate in Pages From Patrick.  There will be several collections from now until the close of school.  The first will be in conjunction with our celebration of literacy on Friday, March 3rd.  This Friday, we are encouraging all members of our community to bring a NEW book to school to kick off this service project.  The Freedom School is in need of NEW books from preschool to young adult.

We appreciate your consideration and are eager to share our love of literacy!

Muraco Students Love to Read!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Day...

For many of our students recess and lunch are the highlights of the day.  It is a time for our students to socialize and participate in activities of their choice.  This is also the time of day with the least amount of structure making it difficult to navigate for many of our students. In an effort to make recess and lunch enjoyable for ALL, students and staff are looking at what is working and what needs to be improved.

Steps taken to reach our goal:

• Use Community Meeting, PE classes, classroom meetings, and Student Council meetings to address issues and to clarify expectations.
• Maintain a sufficient amount of recess equipment.
• Clearly define expectations for play.
• Review best practices for supervising students on the playground and in the lunchroom.
• Ensure that students have their allotted time for play and lunch.
• Begin a staff member led Game of the Day for students who could benefit from a more structured form or play.  We are bringing back the classics!
• Celebrate students who are models of expected behavior.

How can you help?  Please be sure that your children:

• Have the appropriate clothing.  We go out when the temperatures are above 20 degrees.
• When there is snow on the ground, students must have boots and snow pants to access the entire playing area.  If they do not have boots and snow pants, students are limited to playing on the hardtop.
• Leave their sports equipment at home.  We will provide ALL equipment to ensure that all students are safe.
• Remember that recess is all about having FUN, including others, and good sportsmanship.  

As always, we thank you for your partnership!

One of the Snow Days at the Kirby's!

Trashing Negative Thoughts and Words!

Teamwork!  Human Merry-Go-Round

First Grade Scientists!

So Much to Celebrate!

The Patriots' win is not the only reason to celebrate!

Thank you for your many contributions! Our students have participated in many enrichment activities thanks to your generous donations to the Annual Appeal.  All of our students were thoroughly entertained by Li Liu, a most amazing acrobat.  Our kindergarten students loved the puppet show that incorporated song and rhymes; our first grade students had their hands in the clouds (shaving cream) with a visiting scientist; and a scientist from the Discovery Museum made the States of Matter come alive for our second grade students!

Professional Development Day:  Last Thursday teachers had the opportunity to participate in workshops and to collaborate with their colleagues to design lessons.  Some of the topics that were discussed and further explored were: Differentiating Instruction, Executive Functioning, AdHD, Analyzing Data, Integration of Technology, and Best Practices in Literacy and Math.  There is so much talent in Winchester, and we cherish the time that we have to collaborate.

Grades 3-5 Winter Concert: The students delighted their audience with a night of song and dance. Mr. Saraydarian brought out the musicians in all of our students. Next up...Kindergarten - Grade 2 who will be performing on Wednesday, March 8th, at 6:00, in the Lincoln School auditorium. More details will follow.

Young Scientists are learning about States of Matter

K Students Enjoying a Puppet Show

Bingo was Great Fun!

Third Grade Performers getting in the Zone!

Wow!