Superintendent's Weekly Updates

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🎉 Scroll to read information and news from the school district, our individual schools, and information from our community partners! 🎉

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• District Updates
• Athletic Department Updates
• Extended Learning Updates
• Early Learning Center Updates
• Berkowitz School Updates
• Hooks School Updates
• Kelly School Updates
• Sokolowski School Updates
• Morris H. Seigal Clark Ave. Updates
• Wright Science & Technology Academy Updates
• Chelsea High School Updates
• Chelsea Virtual Learning Academy Updates
• Messages from Community Partners

This week, State Senator Sal DiDomenico and State Representative Judith Garcia joined Chelsea Public Schools and City of Chelsea staff for a presentation at 26 County Road, showcasing the future home of Chelsea Opportunity Academy and the Intergenerational Literacy Program.

Sen. DiDomenico also visited Chelsea High School where he met with classes and toured areas of the building including the redesigned cafeteria, production studio and more. Representative Garcia also spent part of her day at the Sokolowski School, where she participated in an author visit (more on this in the Sokolowski School's section!)

We are thankful for the support of our legislative partners in knowing our students by name, strength and story.

Beginning on Monday, January 27, Chelsea Public Schools will be accepting registrations for the district's upcoming pre-school lottery. A limited number of seats are available at the ELC for the upcoming school year (2025-2026) in the following programs:

• Half-day morning program
• Half-day afternoon program
• Extended day program

Students must be ages 3 (for the extended day program only) and 4 by August 31, 2025 to participate in these programs.

See the images below and click here to visit our website for more information. Make sure to follow the Chelsea Parent Information Center on Instagram for information about student registration like this!

The annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration event in Chelsea will be on Monday starting with a continental breakfast at 9:00am at the Morris H. Seigal Clark Avenue Middle School. The event begins at 10:00 am. The entire Chelsea community is invited to attend. The event program will celebrate the life and legacy of MLK and will include recognitions for our students who participated in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay, Poetry and Art Contest.

A number of CPS art students are receiving awards at the ceremony, which includes:

• Camila Mendoza Amador, 2nd grade at the Sokolowski, taught by L'erin Cross
• Staphanie Alas Zapata, 5th grade, and Amparo Barillas, 6th grade at the Browne, taught by Ariel DiOrio
• Ashley Castro, 6th grade at the CAMS, taught by Kara Litchfield
• Jose Erazo Padilla, 9th grade Digital Art student at CHS, taught by Chris Jorge

More information is below!

This is a reminder to our community that there is no school this Monday, January 20, in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Students will return to school on Tuesday, January 21.

Wishing the best of luck to our elementary school students who will sing in the Boston Children's Chorus 22nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tribute Concert on Monday at Symphony Hall!

This will be the third straight year that a cohort of students representing our elementary schools will sing in the MLK Tribute Concert. We are so excited to see them take the Symphony Hall stage!

Students in Ms. Scott & Mr. Cardona’s class visited the new Makerspace at the ELC!

The Berkowitz School has its family STEAM night this week. Students and their families participated in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math activities.

This week at the Hooks School, Read to a Child mentor Lenny Young was recognized after his selection as a "Difference Maker of the Week" by the New England Patriots and the New England Patriots Foundation! Hooks School Principal Dr. Kim Crowley and Assistant Principal Randy Grajal accompanied Lenny and Read to a Child staff members to commemorate the occasion.

Lenny has read to students at the Hooks School for 20 years as a volunteer with Read to a Child! He has been a positive influence on multiple elementary school students over the years at the Hooks.

Families gathered on Thursday morning to enjoy a cup of coffee and learn about the Phonics curriculum in order to better support our students at home! They took home some great activities to make learning fun and engaging!

Students in 306 are working on building and writing paragraphs! We used our notes to find a topic sentence and details in response to the book we are reading, then built a paragraph together and wrote our topic sentences in our notes.

In Read to Grow, third graders have started practicing syllable division as a strategy for reading longer words. They are crushing it and having (maybe too much) fun!

In science class, students explore electromagnetic energy and electric charge.

In science class, 5th grade students began their new unit on Human Impact on the Environment by exploring the efficiency of various methods for cleaning up an 'oil spill.'

The Sokolowski School welcomed children's author Lowey Bundy Sichol to speak to third and fourth grade students on Tuesday! Lowey’s books teach how a single idea can lead to amazing things, focusing on entrepreneurs and businesses. She spoke to our Sokolowski Sharks about what makes a great idea as inspired by the stories of companies like Disney, Lego and more!

Each student also was gifted a copy of her book, "From an Idea to Lego"! Thank you to all involved in organizing this event for our students, including PLS Finance Services and the Harvard Book Store. It was an immersive experience for our students to think about how they can become entrepreneurs!

Students in Mr. F's third grade class learned a lot about Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and words this week. First, we read a biography of his life called Martin's Big Words. This got us curious about his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, so then we watched a video to hear more. After watching the video, we were inspired to make our own class poem about the dreams we have for making the world a better place. Please enjoy this beautiful collection of dreams we have for justice, peace, and love in our world!

All students are invited to submit a design for the CAMS Library bookmark contest. The theme is “Winter is a Wonderful Time To Read.” Deadline is January 27th. Students are invited to 5 optional after-school digital design workshops to learn basics of using Slides, Google Drawing, or Canva to build design skills.

Winners will have their bookmarks printed for everyone in the library to use.

WSTA - During history class in 6th grade, students were learning about how and why mummification took place.

On Thursday, the CHS School Counseling Department hosted Salem State University for an on the spot admissions event and had 37 students attend! We are extremely proud of the turnout and our partnership with SSU.

On Monday, Alecia Augspurg's Studio Art II classes held a fashion show. These CHS students created hats that were inspired by the work of famous artists, including such greats as Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and many more. In order to produce these works, students had to creatively overcome engineering challenges while being authentic to the artist they chose. After creating their artwork, students showcased them by "strutting" down the red carpet, presenting their pieces, describing their creative process, and answering questions.

The 5th and 6th period Reading Workshop A classes at CHS are writing letters to famous people in politics as a follow-up to a reading unit on Theodore Roosevelt. They are writing to the presidents of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Venezuela; Kamala Harris, Barack and Michelle Obama, and Amanda Gorman, our poet lauret. Students selected their famous individuals on their own. They are excited to see who responds!

See the images below and visit our website for important details about upcoming events to support students and families with completing the FAFSA and MASFA!

Support our young parenting/expecting students by donating either to their diaper/essentials drive.

Please see the link below for the most recent edition of the CHS Family Newsletter:

• CHS Family/Community Newsletter

CVLA has had a fantastic start to the new year as we continue to prepare our seniors for life after graduation, recently exploring local colleges and universities, including a visit to North Shore Community College in Danvers, where we discovered exciting programs including those in animal care, floral arranging, mortuary services, and even aviation science, where students can learn to fly planes!

We also visited Bottom Line in Jamaica Plain.The Bottom Line in Jamaica Plain is a nonprofit organization that helps underrepresented students from low-income backgrounds succeed in college by providing advising, resources, and mentorship throughout their college journey.

Chelsea Public Schools is a gateway school system that welcomes and educates ALL students.

Email: superintendent@chelseaschools.com