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Free Book Summer Reading Give-Away!
by Ann Hampson, Title 1 Coordinator



On Thursday June 10th Paul Cuffee Lower School hosted a free book give-away and summer assignment distribution event in the cafeteria. It was a busy night! 167 Lower School students and their families came to choose their one new book from five tables piled high with wonderful titles, and also to select 5 gently used books to add to their home libraries. Every new book was book plated with the name of its proud young owner.

The First Book Organization defines its mission as: giving children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Thanks to First Book’s generous grant of $626 the Paul Cuffee School was able to purchase highly discounted books through the First Book Marketplace and do just that.

The local First Book Advisory Board, based at the University of Rhode Island organized book collections all year. Their student leadership, energy and commitment provided us with over 800 gently used books to give away!

Our students also received summer assignments intended to keep their brains active over the summer. Studies show that low-income students typically lose academic skills over the summer while their more affluent peers generally do not. One contributing factor may be the lack of summer reading opportunities for urban students. Our book give-away and summer assignment distribution is one way we at Paul Cuffee School are addressing this issue. Students who were unable to attend were given their assignments and a new book for their home library the next day. We are very proud that our book distribution placed great summer reads into the eager hands of our youngest students!



Meet our New Head of School,
Michael Obel-Omia


If you see this smiling man in our hallways in the coming weeks, please introduce yourself to our Head of School, Michael Obel-Omia! The Paul Cuffee School Board unanimously approved Michael’s appointment at its spring meeting. He will assume his duties at Paul Cuffee in July, following the retirement of Founding Head of School David Bourns.

We are grateful for the inspirational and sustaining leadership David has provided to Paul Cuffee School for the past 10 years, and look forward to our students’ continued success under Michael’s direction. We are confident of his embrace of, and support for, Paul Cuffee’s community, mission and culture.

We look forward to introducing you to Michael after he has a chance to settle in. In the meantime, please join us in giving a warm welcome and sending best wishes to Michael and his family!
Learn more about Michael Obel-Omia



Welcome our New High School Principal,
Becky Coustan


Becky Coustan, former RIDE District Visit Fellow and an award-winning high school educator, has been hired to lead Paul Cuffee School’s new high school program.

The secondary division of the school’s K-12 charter is scheduled to open in the fall with 60 ninth grade Providence students, most of whom will be continuing from Cuffee’s K-8 program.

Welcome Becky to the Paul Cuffee team!
Learn more about Becky Coustan
 



Mr. Chen, Tosin, Diego, and Sabina with
John Lewis, leader of SNCC and keynote speaker at
the March on Washington (1963)


8th Graders Meet Civil Rights leader John Lewis
8th grade Humanities is learning about the Civil Rights Movement. They are learning about important figures, including John Lewis, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the last surviving speaker at the March on Washington in 1963. Mr. Lewis spoke at Brown University on Monday, May 10th and Mr. Chen and a few of his students were able to meet him!


Smooth sailing at our 5th Grade Boat Design Event

Since January, our 5th grade students have been studying the geometry and physics of sail boats and boat design. On April 1, they concluded their unit by testing each fifth grade design team's sailboat models in water tanks with fans providing the wind power. To demonstrate the success of their design solutions and assess each group's knowledge of marine-related concepts like buoyancy, drag, stability, volume and mass, eighteen groups of students presented their team's projects and discussed their design process with judges who came specifically for this occasion.
 


Cuffee fifth graders presenting their project to our judges


This year's judges included America's Cup racers, collegiate sailing coaches, naval architects, boat builders and riggers,  community boating directors, maritime museum directors and historians, educators, marine biologists, armchair sailors, recreational boaters, and sailmakers. Bringing community members into the school for this annual culmination event gives our students the opportunity to see that their learning applies to multiple careers and recreational opportunities in the world beyond their classrooms!


Click here to view pictures of this year's boat design unit.

 

Paul Cuffee students give back to Haiti!
Initiated and coordinated by Ms. Guzmán-Polanco's fifth grade class, our school raised over $1,400 for the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund!



Paul Cuffee students Jump Rope for Hearts!

Our elementary students participated in Jump Rope for Hearts (JRFH), an annual event sponsored by the American Heart Association to help raise funds for children who have hearts that don't work exactly right. This year, our students raised over $3,000 for this special cause!
JRFH is a valuable program that promotes physical activity, heart healthy living, and community service to children. 

 

Archives

Paul Cuffee lower school students participate in the Guinness World Records Day for Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day
Our K-5 students joined many other school all over the nation for a day of Sports Stacking! Sport-Stacking, implemented by Coach Mussington, helps train the brain for sports and other activities where the use of the left and right of the brain and body is important. Sport-Stacking has unbelievable benefits - it promotes athleticism, polishes fine motor skills, improves hand-eye coordination/accuracy, trains concentration and sharpness of the brain, promotes team building, and much more!




 

Ms. Berrios' 5th Grade Class Wins the Shape Up
RI Challenge!

"After a 6-week competition as a part of a pilot program for Shape Up RI Kids...our class won! We competed against a 5th grade class from Veterans Memorial Public School (Central Falls) and combined classes at St. Andrews (Barrington). The students wore a pedometer for 6-weeks and logged their steps nightly. It was a lot of fun. They encouraged each other and even some family members to walk with them. Thanks to all of those who kept encouraging the students to keep moving!" Ms. Berrios

Total average Steps = 446,995!

Read more


Captain Paul Cuffee is Honored in Westport, Mass
On June 20th, several of our students and staff members attended and participated in the 250th Anniversary Celebration in honor of Captain Paul Cuffee, our namesake. Click here to read more.


Library Media Center
Our new online Library Media Center is up and running. Click Here to view available resources.


Hooked on Books
To put current books and media resources into the hands of our students, we have launched Hooked on Books, an ambitious library campaign for Paul Cuffee School. Help us support a librarian position, pay for new books, circulation software to track collections, official library cards for all students and more! Call 401-453-2626 x118 for more information.


PCS Emergency Fund
The PCS Emergency Fund was created to be able to respond to our families in crisis situations. We will continue to grow this Emergency Fund to ensure an adequate base of support. Please feel free to make donations at any time.


Congratulations Class of 2009!



Click here to view graduation pictures online



Cuffee Students Appear on WBUR
Alexandra Davila and Henry Arnaut, both seventh grade students, and Nell Sears, our middle school Academic Head, were featured on an episode of WBUR's "Here and Now" with Robin Young. They discussed presidential politics and young people. Their interview follows an interview with a teacher and 12th grade student from Memphis, TN. Click here to listen to the broadcast.




Paul Cuffee was selected as one of the top 53 charter schools in America from among 3,940 nationwide! Click the above image for more details.
 
 

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