February 16, 2017 EPS Celebrates Black History Month The Elizabeth Public Schools professional learning community is one of the most diverse urban school communities in the State of New Jersey. The collective efforts of students and team members from a vast number of races, ethnicities, and cultures help maintain our standard of excellence as we continue to pursue our vision of being one of the highest performing urban school districts in the nation. Among the groups who have made valuable contributions to our school district, our greater Elizabeth community, our state, and our nation are African-Americans who we celebrate during the month of February in recognition of Black History Month. In the pages ahead, you will see how schools throughout our district have promoted awareness during the celebration of Black History Month of the significant accomplishments of African-Americans, past and present, to all facets of American life. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Nicholas S. LaCorte – Peterstown School No. 3 With the theme of the Harlem Renaissance, School No. 3 starts each day with morning announcements including relevant pieces of information that chronicle the various people, places and events of the Harlem Renaissance. An assembly, featuring the life of Langston Hughes, highlights the significance of the Harlem Renaissance to the history and development of the African American culture in the United States and includes the performance of music, dance, and poetry of the era. Various grade levels are focusing on different aspects of Black History, including recounting the events of Ruby Bridges and her impact on education in our country, researching the impact of Freedom Quilts on the Underground Railroad, researching and writing commentaries to be read during for morning announcements, writing biographies about Black Americans who made important contributions to society, and writing essays about the importance of celebrating Black History Month. Joseph Battin School No. 4 School No. 4 third grade students will research famous African Americans and present their research to their parents by creating a wax museum. The wax museums will be created in each of the third grade classrooms. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Mabel G. Holmes School No. 5 The preschool students of Mabel G. Holmes Annex 5B have made posters and quilt pieces based on someone from African American history. The quilt pieces are being put together to make one big quilt for the school. The posters will decorate the gym for School No. 5’s upcoming Black History Show. Each classroom also made inventions that would be displayed in the school gymnasium. School No. 5 will host a program named "Rise Up," in which the preschool students will perform skits, songs, and an African American show and Eighth grade students will be performing two African dances. Toussaint L’Ouverture – Marquis de Lafayette School No. 6 African American History Month is being celebrated at Toussaint L’Ouverture – Marquis De Lafayette School No. 6 through morning announcements which highlight achievement of people of color and a Black History Month Show, in which students will perform songs, poems, dances, and skits to showcase the achievements and culture of African-Americans. iPrep Academy School No. 8 School No. 8 is having a celebration on February 24 for Black History Month, in which students will perform songs, dances and poems. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Jerome Dunn Academy School No. 9 Every morning during African American History Month students are treated to a new African American fact of the day. As the historical fact is shared with the scholars and team members of Jerome Dunn Academy School No. 9, beautiful are played in the background on the violin. Elmora School No. 12 During the month of February, the students at School No. 12 will be celebrating Black History Month by starting every morning with an inspirational quote from an African American that will be read during morning announcements. The sixth and seventh grade LEADS classes will research and write an essay about a famous African American from history who persevered in spite of significant challenges. They will use a wide range of electronic, primary, and secondary resources in order to conduct their research. All students of School No. 12 will view Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s renowned, “I Have a Dream” speech. Class discussions following the viewing of the speech will focus on the importance of respecting others and connecting with the school wide initiative of “Filling each other’s Buckets”. Abraham Lincoln School No. 14 School No. 14 fifth grade classrooms will be turned into wax museums honoring the contributions of African Americans to our society as well as the achievements of African Americans in their respective fields. Students in grades four through six will be a part of creating and viewing the wax museums. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Christopher Columbus School No. 15 Highlighting School No. 15 African American History Month is the yearly African American History Bowl. The school community assembles for a question answer competition of facts. Students are selected to compete in a game show like format as staff and students watch students compete for the gold! Each day for the month of February famous African Americans are highlighted in morning announcements and each student and staff member was given an inspirational chain to commemorate African American History Month. Madison – Monroe School No. 16 In celebration of Black History Month, the hallways of School No. 16 will provide the landscape for students to view the culminating research and reports of prominent African Americans who have made major contributions to society. John Marshall School No. 20 The School No. 20 learning community will celebrate Black History Month by participating in a musical chairs competition involving teachers and middle school students. The competition will include African music and classical jazz that is performed by African American musicians. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Victor Mravlag School No. 21 Student activities for African-American History Month included morning announcements on African Americans who made outstanding contributions to America, posting pictures of prominent African- Americans in cafeteria and gymnasium, creating a large banner for the front of the school announcing African-American History Month, middle school students writing poems modeled on Langston Hughes, students in fourth through eighth grade writing "I Am From...“ poems, students in lower grades completing a variety of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. activities, and art and music students discussing and making posters on the origins of jazz. William F. Halloran School No. 22 Among the highlights of BHM activities were students designing African- American bio-brochures by researching the life of a prominent African-American, including: early life, education, contributions to society, and obstacles. Through research, they reached a conclusion about that person’s legacy to our society. Using technology, students presented their finding in a visually appealing brochure. They also read and analyzed Martin Luther King Jr’s quotes, created a mural with images of Dr. King and their own original messages, created books on famous African Americans, and created bio-cards for a prominent African-American of their choice. Hallway bulletin boards in each classroom will display and reflect all of the wonderful projects and activities being done for BHM. Nicholas Murray Butler Elementary School No. 23 School No. 23 students will put on performances including songs and dances as part of the school’s assembly celebrating Black History Month. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Charles J. Hudson School No. 25 At Charles J. Hudson School No. 25, students celebrated African American History month in many different ways. During the morning announcements, students learned about an event in African American history that occurred on that date. In addition, School No. 25 incorporated African American folk music to its morning Jam a Minute exercise routine. In the student cafeteria, a display of Notable African Americans was created for students to view during lunch. Seventh grade AVID elective students had a special visitor who shared her experiences from attending Lincoln University, a Historically Black University. AVID student representatives visited and invited each homeroom to select a Historically Black College/University to represent. The homeroom doors were then decorated with important facts about the chosen schools. Dr. Orlando Edreira Academy School No. 26 First grade students have been reading stories about famous African Americans and completing activities such as bubble maps to review what was learned. They are also going to be assigned a project to create a small poster describing some basic facts about different African American heroes and will hang them in the hallway in a timeline in the hallway. Students in second through fourth grade recently watched Brain Pop videos and completed an interactive assignment on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As part of a unit on Jazz, third graders will be introduced the to the artwork of African American artists such as Romare Bearden and will discuss the influences on art of musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louie Armstrong, and writers like Langston Hughes. We will be taking the third graders on a field trip to the Newark museum where they will learn more about important African American artists that have made an impact on American culture. Fifth grade students will be researching and reporting on various African American heroes throughout the month during their Language Arts Literacy centers. In addition, they are starting a new International Baccalaureate (IB) unit focusing on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, Civil War, etc. Technology students will have lessons on the Civil Rights, Jim Crow, the Tuskegee Airmen and the Underground Railroad. EPS Celebrates Black History Month (cont.) Juan Pablo Duarte – José Julián Martí School No.