1st Place - Hawaii - Leanette Pichardo, Adrian Jimeno and Diego Marroquin

2nd Place - Alabama - Vic'Kaysha Rivera and Freddy Pena

3rd Place - Oregon - Jilliany German, Maryelin Severino and Elisha Rodriguez

Congratulations to all our students and our 4th grade teachers for a job well done! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped judge or set up for the State Fair.

Lawrence Family Development Charter School's Academy for Early Academic Preparation held its last of three ELL Family Math Nights Tuesday, April 3, 2018 for our K-1 families with twenty two out of forty seven famlies attending,  K-2 held their Math Night on March 6  and Grade 1 held their Math night on February 13.

The Family Math Nights included sessions on addition, graphing, patterns and place value. In these evening workshops, parents worked with teachers and their children to build language and math skills. Parents are provided special assistance and take home materials to reduce students’ performance gaps. This program is aligned to both WIDA and Common Core standards and led by RTI/ ELL Coordinator, Hali Castleman and the Head of School for the Academy for Early Academic Preparation, Erica Crescenzo. Prior to hosting these evenings for families, ESL teachers work in professional development sessions with regular education teachers to design activities that include Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) techniques. Our first grade and K-2 teams developed enrichment activities that created a vocabulary-rich learning environment and reinforced academic skills and language development.

Lawrence Family Development Charter School received a grant for this program from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for $20,887 for use with English language learners (ELLs) who are in the school’s K-1, K-2 and Grade 1 programs. These funds include resources for beyond- the-school-day programming which will take place in the summer of 2018 as well as Family Math Nights which are held during winter and spring of the school year. This grant allows ELL students and parents to attend family math nights based on the students’ grade level and learn math skills which can be reinforced at home.

The mission of the Lawrence Family Development Charter School is rooted in parent engagement. The dual-language program and beyond-the-school-day programs for ELLs, highlight the emphasis LFDCS puts on strengthening both academic and language skills for the school’s diverse students. These ESL Family Math Nights are a testament to the hard work of the school’s parent liaison, Yulissa Rodriguez, and the rest of the LFDCS staff who work to cultivate parent relationships and support for the school. It also highlighted the commitment LFDCS families have to their children’s success in school and beyond.

Below are pictures from the K-1 Math Night held on April 6:

The Lawrence Family Development Charter School (LFDCS) recently received Title IV funding from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. With these funds, LFDCS is adding new after-school enrichment offerings for its 740 students. Offered during the 2017-18 school year will be: Glee Club, Art Club, Poetry Cub and The Art of Coding for Girls.

According to Sacha Lu, the new LFDCS After School Enrichment Coordinator, “Engaging LFDCS students in art, poetry, music and technology education provide connections to the world and is a unique way of perceiving and communicating. “Seventy-five students in grades 2-8 will be given the opportunity for participation in these new programs which are held once a week for 90 minutes. The sessions include a healthy snack, a literacy component and a hands-on and/or physical activity. Each program culminates in a special session, performance, or demonstration, which develops students’ skills with demonstrating interests and knowledge.”

For the Glee Club, which is currently operating, students in grades 5-8 learn the art of singing as being part of a group. The group also works together to create music. Learning how their voices sound, what tone and strength their voices make, and how their voices contribute to a whole sound is exciting for the students. The Glee Club culminates with a concert, planned and implemented with student input, for students’ classmates and parents.

Poetry Club is designed for students in grade 8 and provides the opportunity for participants to read and write poetry in order to build self-confidence and expressive communication. Various forms of poetry are explored including Hispanic, classic and local poets’ works which are read and discussed, then used as mentor texts for students’ own writing. April is National Poetry Month, so as students complete their work, they are planning a celebration to bring poetry to their school, home and community.

Complementing LFDCS’ focus on STEM growth, The Art of Coding for Girls is being conducted now for girls in grades 6-8. Participants learn that coding is an art and a science in this basic introduction to programming. Design and engineering results on tools for interests or businesses. Students will follow an acclaimed curriculum that includes art/design, literacy, engineering and technical knowledge. The sessions culminate with a demonstration of their work for classmates and parents.

Lastly, scheduled for a late spring start, Art Club students in grades 2-4 will learn theory and techniques of drawing and painting. Each session will result in the creation of a piece of art. Students will also learn and practice how to present art to an audience. Matting and/or framing, deciding on perspective, and offering and accepting constructive feedback will be included. The Art Club will culminate their course by presenting an art show for their classmates and parents.