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Laurel School Helps Spread Holiday Cheer Across the Ocean Along with a hearty batch of letters responding to the letters sent by pen-pals from the Kisumu School in Kenya, Laurel students and their families sent small personal gifts and raised money for improvements in the daily life of their Kenyan friends. Books, journals, hair clips, stuffed animals, stationery, pens and pencils and clothing crossed the ocean and made it along with the letters in time for the holiday. Laurel students have been in contact through letters with Kisumu students for over a year now, and the friendships continue to grow and flourish. Some of the Kenyan students have begun to study Rhode Island, so their letters are filled with information about what they've learned about our small state so far, and questions about what they would still like to know. They share stories about their lives in Kenya. In all, a great deal of love and affection is the hallmark of these most precious correspondences. For more information about the Kisumu School, visit www.projectkenya.com, a web site dedicated to the connection that began at the Laurel School. Laurel Student Wins Honorable Mention in Writng Contest Cassandra Hradil, a fifth-grade student at The Laurel School, received an honorable mention in a reading-writing contest sponsored by Rhode Island Center for the Book. To enter, students were required to write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. Cassandra's winning letter to Erin Hunter of the Warrior Series is below: Dear Ms. Hunter, Although I find your books of the Warrior series captivating and your plot cunning, six years ago I might have felt differently. That was before a tragic accident changed my life and view of the outside world. Six years ago, I lost a kitten, Squeak, to civilization. When I saw her lying on the road like that, my entire outlook changed. I saw cars as you described them. Cruel, heartless, monsters. I have always felt more feline than human, perhaps that's why the loss hit me so hard. I saw the world through what I thought was a cat's perception. However, I was actually seeing sorrow, and your books helped me to really figure out that some cats belong outside. Unfortunately, Squeak was among them. I can't help but think that if she had lived among Thunder-clan, she could have lived a stronger, happier outdoor Life. However, your books made it possible to believe she hunts with Starclan now. Now I know that there is a desirable fate beyond the road for cats brave enough to reach out for it. Squeak failed, but somewhere, someone must have been successful. Thank you so much for bringing me hope. Best possible regards, Cassandra Hradil P.S. Can't wait to read the 8th book! Laurel School Awarded Classic Books Program The Laurel School is proud to announce that we are a recipient of the We the People Bookshelf, a classic books program for grades K-12 on the theme of becoming American, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in collaboration with the American Library Association. The We the People Bookshelf is part of the Endowment's initiative to support projects that strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. According to Endowment Chairman, Bruce Cole, “These classics provide a powerful lesson: that there are traits and values shared by all those who, by birth or choice, become American.” Titles on the this year’s Bookshelf include Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman, The People Could Fly: African Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton, Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin edited by Louis P. Masur, Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza and Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie by Ole Edvart Rolvaag. The Laurel School will use these classic books as an educational tool for students and as a means for developing an interactive presentation that will be shared with a community group in Providence. Laurel School Participates in Letter-Exchange Project with African Students In October, 2005 a collaboration began between Laurel School and Kisumu Day High School, located in the western part of Kenya near Lake Victoria. What started as the simple exchange of pen-pal letters has grown into an enthusiastic and compassionate bond between two groups of eager students and teachers. Kisumu Day High School has an enrollment of about 900 students and has a reputation as a top-ranking school. Unfortunately, the city of Kisumu has one of the highest number of orphaned and homeless children in Africa, due to the death of parents from AIDS. Approximately 260 of the students are orphans. Peter Amunga, a teacher at Kisumu Day High School, is a driving force behind making his school successful and instilling in his students a determination to learn. He has reached out beyond his own school to teach his students about other places, to give them hope, dreams, and the opportunity to acquire a good education depite their sex, socio-economic background, or HIV status. The Laurel School has created a bond with a very delightful, optimistic African school that we can all learn from. In exchange for their friendship and letters, we try to bring a smile to the children who are faced with so much and have so little, by sending them supplies and small gifts. In an effort to strengthen the relationship between Laurel and Kisumu Day High School, a Brown University student who recently left for Kisumu to finish her research in Anthropology, will act as an ambassador between our two schools. Students of Kisumu Day High School, Kenya Laurel School to Remain at Present Location A recent article in the Providence Journal has caused some confusion as to where the Laurel School will be located for the 2006/2007 academic year. A teacher at the French-American School was quoted in the article as saying that their new middle school classrooms “will be in basement space that is currently being used by the Laurel School.” This has led some people to question whether or not Laurel will have a “home” next year. We would like to assure potential families that the Laurel School will in fact continue to rent space in the French-American building next year, as we have done for the past four years. The teacher in the article was misquoted and consequently a clarification was printed by the Providence Journal in the Metro Section on February 9, 2006. We apologize for any confusion and invite you to call us at 401-301-1308 should you have additional questions or concerns. Winter Raffle a Success The Laurel School would like to thank all who participated in making our first annual winter raffle a success. With the money raised, we will be buying additional computers for the school. The Laurel School Middle School Opens in 2006-07 The Laurel School is aware that parents seek to choose their child’s middle school with great care. Every child is different, and has interests, strengths and needs that are met in different ways. Laurel Middle School will continue to offer what the Laurel School already does best: small classes, an integrative curriculum, individualized learning for the core subjects and skills, group long-term projects, and the opportunity for parents to be involved in their children's education. At this time, we are accepting applications for the academic year 2006-2007. For more information, please see the curriculum page on this website, which contains an overview of the middle school philosophy, strategies for learning, and curriculum. Laurel School Students Earn Money for Heifer International The Laurel School is pleased to report that our students earned enough money from their participation in Heifer International’s Read to Feed program to purchase a goat and a trio of rabbits. As Heifer International explains, the gift of a dairy goat is a lasting, meaningful way to help a struggling family on the other side of the world. Goats can thrive in extreme climates and on poor, dry land by eating grass and leaves. A dairy goat can supply a family with up to several quarts of milk a day -- a ton of milk a year! Extra milk can be sold or used to make cheese, butter or yogurt. Families use goat manure to fertilize gardens. And because goats often have two or three kids a year, Heifer partners can start small dairies that pay for food, health care and education. A gift of rabbits to a family with little land and few resources yields remarkable results too. So long as they are warm and dry, rabbits thrive, and they love to eat leftover vegetables. In turn, families get nitrogen-rich manure to use on gardens or to sell as fertilizers. And since rabbits have up to 40 offspring a year, they provide families with steady sources of protein and income. The Laurel Students thank their sponsors for helping them meet their goals! For more information about the program, visit www.readtofeed.org or www.heifer.org. We’re proud of our students for helping to change the world! Laurel Students Win Third Places in Children's Art Contest The Laurel School is pleased to announce that two of its students have won third place in their grades in the Rhode Island for Community and Justice's Building Bridges Children's Art Contest. The theme for 2005 was to show a world free of prejudice and hate. Jonah Parker, grade 4, and Cassandra Hradil, grade 5, entered their work, paintings in acrylic, oil and water colors. They participated in an awards ceremony, attended by many prominent members of the community, including the Governor and Mayor of Providence, on November 1 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Congratulations to both! To learn more about Rhode Island for Community and Justice, their web site is www.ricj.org. The Laurel School Plants Butterfly Pond You are cordially invited to join us on Saturday, May 21st, (rain date Sunday, May 22nd) from 9:30 - 12:30, to plant a butterfly garden at York Pond (Blackstone Boulevard to Irving Avenue to River Road). There will be lemonade and refreshments to keep energy levels high, and materials describing butterflies and explaining the issues involved. This project is being done in conjunction with our Windows with Wings project, which is funded in part by a grant from the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots organization. Both activities are being undertaken in response to declining butterfly populations in Rhode Island, and each combines educational information and active solutions. It is our hope that together we will make a difference and help butterfly numbers increase. Koko enjoys book written by Laurel student The Laurel School students began the school year by learning about Koko and the Gorilla Foundation. Click here to see Koko reading a book written for her by a Laurel student. The Laurel School Fundraiser for Tsunami Relief On January 22, 2005, the Laurel School held a Student Art Sale as part of our Open House. All proceeds from this sale were donated to Plan USA, an international child sponsorship organization with headquarters in Warwick, Rhode Island, to help fund tsunami relief efforts. The Laurel School requested that the money raised go directly toward purchasing school supplies in the Hambantota District of Sri Lanka. This area was one of the hardest hit by the tsunamis. As many as 4,500 people were killed and at least 30,000 lost everything and are now living in temporary shelters. Over 20,000 sets of exercise books, pens, pencils and other supplies are needed to enable children who lost these in the floods to go back to school when they re-open. The Laurel School children are proud to have raised $220 to help the school reopen. On behalf of the Laurel School and Plan USA we thank everyone who supported this important fundraising effort. *The Laurel School Wins Grant for Windows With Wings* Project** The Laurel School has been awarded a mini-grant from New England Roots & Shoots, part of the Jane Goodall Institute, for a butterfly conservation project entitled Windows With Wings. In order to better understand the reasons for the declining butterfly population in Rhode Island, students will learn to identify butterfly species, study butterfly migration patterns and determine the kinds of habitats butterflies need to thrive. Students will then write and illustrate books about their findings as well as create window box planters filled with flowers and plants important to butterfly survival. Books and planters will be shared with schools and community groups in an effort to educate people about this important environmental concern and inspire them to take action. It is the hope of the students at the Laurel School that one day there will be “windows with wings” all over Rhode Island. The Laurel School wins 2004-2005 Goff Teacher Grant The curriculum development proposal, entitled, "The History of Jewelry Making in Rhode Island," was awarded a grant from the Goff Institute to implement this four month multidisciplinary course of study. During the past ten years, the Rhode Island Historical Society's Newell D. Goff Institute for Ingenuity and Enterprise Studies has awarded more than 50 teacher grants for projects exploring creative ways to teach Rhode Island history. The project will allow students to learn about the intersection of history, architecture, entrepreneurship, technology, commerce, chemistry, design and social studies. Students will electroplate copper and gold, visit Providence's jewelry district, recreate the history of the first jewelry makers to set up shop on North Main Street, learn how Rhode Island became the nation's leading manufacturer of jewelry, and design a piece of costume jewelry. They will work with an architect, electroplater and jewelry designer. The Laurel School on the Radio In June 2004, Deb Becker, the host of WRNI, Rhode Island's Public Radio station, visited the Laurel School as part of her series called "Innovation in Education," a report on unique approaches to education in Rhode Island. Ms. Becker sat in on a yoga class, and interviewed the school's co-presidents. To listen to the interview, visit the station's Focus Rhode Island page. The date the interview aired is June 18, 2004.

News

Fiction Writer Kelly Easton Visits Laurel

On February 9, 2007, Laurel School’s Creative Writing Program was proud to welcome award-winning fiction writer Kelly Easton. During her visit, Kelly spoke with us about the writing process, sharing her expertise in and experience with everything from generating ideas and moving a plot along, to negotiating royalty payments and cover art with publishers. She read excerpts from Canaries and Criminals, one of her books for middle readers, and from Aftershock, the recently published young adult novel that has already garnered enthusiastic reviews. Kelly gave Laurel writers a lot to think about, and some new tricks for combatting writer’s block as well! Visit her web site at www.kellyeaston.com.

Laurel School Helps Spread Holiday Cheer Across the Ocean

Along with a hearty batch of letters responding to the letters sent by pen-pals from the Kisumu School in Kenya, Laurel students and their families sent small personal gifts and raised money for improvements in the daily life of their Kenyan friends. Books, journals, hair clips, stuffed animals, stationery, pens and pencils and clothing crossed the ocean and made it along with the letters in time for the holiday. Laurel students have been in contact through letters with Kisumu students for over a year now, and the friendships continue to grow and flourish.

Some of the Kenyan students have begun to study Rhode Island, so their letters are filled with information about what they've learned about our small state so far, and questions about what they would still like to know. They share stories about their lives in Kenya. In all, a great deal of love and affection is the hallmark of these most precious correspondences.

For more information about the Kisumu School, visit www.projectkenya.com, a web site dedicated to the connection that began at the Laurel School.

Laurel Student Wins Honorable Mention in Writng Contest

Cassandra Hradil, a fifth-grade student at The Laurel School, received an honorable mention in a reading-writing contest sponsored by Rhode Island Center for the Book. To enter, students were required to write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-- fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic, explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. Cassandra's winning letter to Erin Hunter of the Warrior Series is below:

Dear Ms. Hunter,

Although I find your books of the Warrior series captivating and your plot cunning, six years ago I might have felt differently. That was before a tragic accident changed my life and view of the outside world. Six years ago, I lost a kitten, Squeak, to civilization. When I saw her lying on the road like that, my entire outlook changed. I saw cars as you described them. Cruel, heartless, monsters. I have always felt more feline than human, perhaps that's why the loss hit me so hard. I saw the world through what I thought was a cat's perception.

However, I was actually seeing sorrow, and your books helped me to really figure out that some cats belong outside. Unfortunately, Squeak was among them. I can't help but think that if she had lived among Thunder-clan, she could have lived a stronger, happier outdoor Life. However, your books made it possible to believe she hunts with Starclan now. Now I know that there is a desirable fate beyond the road for cats brave enough to reach out for it. Squeak failed, but somewhere, someone must have been successful. Thank you so much for bringing me hope.

Best possible regards,
Cassandra Hradil

P.S. Can't wait to read the 8th book!

Laurel School Awarded Classic Books Program

The Laurel School is proud to announce that we are a recipient of the We the People Bookshelf, a classic books program for grades K-12 on the theme of becoming American, awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in collaboration with the American Library Association. The We the People Bookshelf is part of the Endowment's initiative to support projects that strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture. According to Endowment Chairman, Bruce Cole, “These classics provide a powerful lesson: that there are traits and values shared by all those who, by birth or choice, become American.”

Titles on the this year’s Bookshelf include Immigrant Kids by Russell Freedman, The People Could Fly: African Black Folktales by Virginia Hamilton, Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin edited by Louis P. Masur, Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza and Giants in the Earth: A Saga of the Prairie by Ole Edvart Rolvaag.

The Laurel School will use these classic books as an educational tool for students and as a means for developing an interactive presentation that will be shared with a community group in Providence.

Laurel School Participates in Letter-Exchange Project with African Students

In October, 2005 a collaboration began between Laurel School and Kisumu Day High School, located in the western part of Kenya near Lake Victoria. What started as the simple exchange of pen-pal letters has grown into an enthusiastic and compassionate bond between two groups of eager students and teachers.

Kisumu Day High School has an enrollment of about 900 students and has a reputation as a top-ranking school. Unfortunately, the city of Kisumu has one of the highest number of orphaned and homeless children in Africa, due to the death of parents from AIDS. Approximately 260 of the students are orphans.

Peter Amunga, a teacher at Kisumu Day High School, is a driving force behind making his school successful and instilling in his students a determination to learn. He has reached out beyond his own school to teach his students about other places, to give them hope, dreams, and the opportunity to acquire a good education depite their sex, socio-economic background, or HIV status.

The Laurel School has created a bond with a very delightful, optimistic African school that we can all learn from. In exchange for their friendship and letters, we try to bring a smile to the children who are faced with so much and have so little, by sending them supplies and small gifts. In an effort to strengthen the relationship between Laurel and Kisumu Day High School, a Brown University student who recently left for Kisumu to finish her research in Anthropology, will act as an ambassador between our two schools.

Students of Kisumu Day High School, Kenya

Laurel School to Remain at Present Location

A recent article in the Providence Journal has caused some confusion as to where the Laurel School will be located for the 2006/2007 academic year. A teacher at the French-American School was quoted in the article as saying that their new middle school classrooms “will be in basement space that is currently being used by the Laurel School.” This has led some people to question whether or not Laurel will have a “home” next year.

We would like to assure potential families that the Laurel School will in fact continue to rent space in the French-American building next year, as we have done for the past four years. The teacher in the article was misquoted and consequently a clarification was printed by the Providence Journal in the Metro Section on February 9, 2006.

We apologize for any confusion and invite you to call us at 401-301-1308 should you have additional questions or concerns.

Winter Raffle a Success

The Laurel School would like to thank all who participated in making our first annual winter raffle a success. With the money raised, we will be buying additional computers for the school.

The Laurel School Middle School Opens in 2006-07

The Laurel School is aware that parents seek to choose their child’s middle school with great care. Every child is different, and has interests, strengths and needs that are met in different ways. Laurel Middle School will continue to offer what the Laurel School already does best: small classes, an integrative curriculum, individualized learning for the core subjects and skills, group long-term projects, and the opportunity for parents to be involved in their children's education.

At this time, we are accepting applications for the academic year 2006-2007. For more information, please see the curriculum page on this website, which contains an overview of the middle school philosophy, strategies for learning, and curriculum.

Laurel School Students Earn Money for Heifer International

The Laurel School is pleased to report that our students earned enough money from their participation in Heifer International’s Read to Feed program to purchase a goat and a trio of rabbits. As Heifer International explains, the gift of a dairy goat is a lasting, meaningful way to help a struggling family on the other side of the world. Goats can thrive in extreme climates and on poor, dry land by eating grass and leaves. A dairy goat can supply a family with up to several quarts of milk a day -- a ton of milk a year! Extra milk can be sold or used to make cheese, butter or yogurt. Families use goat manure to fertilize gardens. And because goats often have two or three kids a year, Heifer partners can start small dairies that pay for food, health care and education.

A gift of rabbits to a family with little land and few resources yields remarkable results too. So long as they are warm and dry, rabbits thrive, and they love to eat leftover vegetables. In turn, families get nitrogen-rich manure to use on gardens or to sell as fertilizers. And since rabbits have up to 40 offspring a year, they provide families with steady sources of protein and income. The Laurel Students thank their sponsors for helping them meet their goals! For more information about the program, visit www.readtofeed.org or www.heifer.org. We’re proud of our students for helping to change the world!

Laurel Students Win Third Places in Children's Art Contest

The Laurel School is pleased to announce that two of its students have won third place in their grades in the Rhode Island for Community and Justice's Building Bridges Children's Art Contest. The theme for 2005 was to show a world free of prejudice and hate. Jonah Parker, grade 4, and Cassandra Hradil, grade 5, entered their work, paintings in acrylic, oil and water colors. They participated in an awards ceremony, attended by many prominent members of the community, including the Governor and Mayor of Providence, on November 1 at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Congratulations to both! To learn more about Rhode Island for Community and Justice, their web site is www.ricj.org.

The Laurel School Plants Butterfly Pond

You are cordially invited to join us on Saturday, May 21st, (rain date Sunday, May 22nd) from 9:30 - 12:30, to plant a butterfly garden at York Pond (Blackstone Boulevard to Irving Avenue to River Road). There will be lemonade and refreshments to keep energy levels high, and materials describing butterflies and explaining the issues involved. This project is being done in conjunction with our Windows with Wings project, which is funded in part by a grant from the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots organization. Both activities are being undertaken in response to declining butterfly populations in Rhode Island, and each combines educational information and active solutions. It is our hope that together we will make a difference and help butterfly numbers increase.

Koko enjoys book written by Laurel student

The Laurel School students began the school year by learning about Koko and the Gorilla Foundation. Click here to see Koko reading a book written for her by a Laurel student.

The Laurel School Fundraiser for Tsunami Relief

On January 22, 2005, the Laurel School held a Student Art Sale as part of our Open House. All proceeds from this sale were donated to Plan USA, an international child sponsorship organization with headquarters in Warwick, Rhode Island, to help fund tsunami relief efforts.

The Laurel School requested that the money raised go directly toward purchasing school supplies in the Hambantota District of Sri Lanka. This area was one of the hardest hit by the tsunamis. As many as 4,500 people were killed and at least 30,000 lost everything and are now living in temporary shelters. Over 20,000 sets of exercise books, pens, pencils and other supplies are needed to enable children who lost these in the floods to go back to school when they re-open.

The Laurel School children are proud to have raised $220 to help the school reopen. On behalf of the Laurel School and Plan USA we thank everyone who supported this important fundraising effort.

The Laurel School Wins Grant for Windows With Wings Project

The Laurel School has been awarded a mini-grant from New England Roots & Shoots, part of the Jane Goodall Institute, for a butterfly conservation project entitled Windows With Wings. In order to better understand the reasons for the declining butterfly population in Rhode Island, students will learn to identify butterfly species, study butterfly migration patterns and determine the kinds of habitats butterflies need to thrive. Students will then write and illustrate books about their findings as well as create window box planters filled with flowers and plants important to butterfly survival.

Books and planters will be shared with schools and community groups in an effort to educate people about this important environmental concern and inspire them to take action. It is the hope of the students at the Laurel School that one day there will be “windows with wings” all over Rhode Island.

The Laurel School wins 2004-2005 Goff Teacher Grant

The curriculum development proposal, entitled, "The History of Jewelry Making in Rhode Island," was awarded a grant from the Goff Institute to implement this four month multidisciplinary course of study.

During the past ten years, the Rhode Island Historical Society's Newell D. Goff Institute for Ingenuity and Enterprise Studies has awarded more than 50 teacher grants for projects exploring creative ways to teach Rhode Island history.

The project will allow students to learn about the intersection of history, architecture, entrepreneurship, technology, commerce, chemistry, design and social studies. Students will electroplate copper and gold, visit Providence's jewelry district, recreate the history of the first jewelry makers to set up shop on North Main Street, learn how Rhode Island became the nation's leading manufacturer of jewelry, and design a piece of costume jewelry. They will work with an architect, electroplater and jewelry designer.

The Laurel School on the Radio

In June 2004, Deb Becker, the host of WRNI, Rhode Island's Public Radio station, visited the Laurel School as part of her series called "Innovation in Education," a report on unique approaches to education in Rhode Island. Ms. Becker sat in on a yoga class, and interviewed the school's co-presidents. To listen to the interview, visit the station's Focus Rhode Island page. The date the interview aired is June 18, 2004.