Notes from Principal Patty

Last Tuesday, Feb 27th, US Congressman Jim McGovern read a letter on the floor of the House of Representatives that was written to him by a group of ARMS students. He inserted the letter into the Congressional record. We watched McGovern's speech live on C-SPAN during 8th grade lunch. Here is a segment of the video:

The Road to Freedom: Portraits of People with Disabilities is a photo-text exhibit now on view from Family Diversity Projects in our ARMS Lobby-Gallery. This exhibit is the centerpiece of our school-wide curriculum on disability rights which was kicked off on February 16th when we all wen to see the movie, Wonder. Last year, ARMS hosted two other exhibits, and this opportunity continues a our explicit honor of the dignity and worth of each human being while cultivating empathy and solidarity.   Each ARMS Advisory Group will be engaged in the curriculum which includes guided interactive visits to the exhibit. See more about it at: https://familydiv.org/exhibits/the-road-to-freedom/ 

Reminder this Friday, March 9th is a Curriculum day for all teachers, so students will not have school. ARMS teachers will be attending workshops on topics of Equity and Diversity in the morning and working in their collaborative Research Inquiry Groups in the afternoon.

We launched a unit on learning about water treatment in science class! A grant funded by Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Drinking Water Program written by UMass Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, John Tobiason, provides these collaborative activities with the Hitchcock Center, UMASS and ARMS. Brittany Gutermuth was hired through the Hitchcock Center to co-teach lessons with each of the 7th and 8th grade science teachers, and to organize the field trips for the 8th graders. Science teacher, Jennifer Welborn worked with Dr. John Tobiason and Colleen Kelley at the Hitchcock Center to plan these lessons and field trips. Many thanks for the partnership from Department of Environmental Protection Drinking Water Program, UMass Dept of Engineering and Hitchcock Center for the Environment!