Celebrating Central High School Girls' Softball: Division III State Champions!!!

Kudos to Providence's Central High School's girls' softball team for winning the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division III Championship! The undefeated Knights beat the Central Falls High School Warriors in a best of three series on Sunday, June 5 at Rhode Island College. The ProJo's coverage is here. 

Except for the standings listed on the Rhode Island Interscholastic League's site, that ProJo story is the only coverage that I can find anywhere. Not for the first time do I wish that there were a blog or other site that covered high school sports in Providence.  Calling aspiring sports journalists . . .

Providence Public Schools - one hour delay today, June 9, 2011

PPSD has a one hour delay today, June 9, 2011.

I missed the Parent Link cal that came in at 6:13 (must remember to return the cordless phone to its charger in my bedroom - it always wanders off) that conveyed the news that PPSD has a one hour delay due to damage from last night's storm, which until I learned it caused damage that had this sort of impact I thought was awesomely mesmerizing. Found out when I went to PPSD's website to check a fact for another blog post (yay Central High School girl's softball!) and saw the one hour delay news on the home page.

Update: Fortes Elementary, Lima Elementary, Fortes/Lima Annex and Webster Elementary School are all closed today due to last night's storm damage.

So what's up with Providence's libraries?

Yesterday, in the context of a post about Providence Public Schools' summer reading lists and the Providence Community Libraries' summer programming, I mentioned a conflict that's threatening our libraries.

For those who want to know more, WPRI's Ted Nesi ran through the facilities dispute between Providence Community Library and Providence Public Library that's triggered PCL to send layoff notices to all of its employees and may imperil community use of the library starting July 1.  It's the clearest presentation that I have read of the conflict, its origins, and what Mayor Taveras, District 4 State Representative Gordon Fox, and City Council members are doing to find resolution to keep our libraries open this summer so that kids and adults can access the world of ideas.

Providence Schools' 2011 Summer Reading Lists - the actual lists

These are the Providence Schools' 2011 summer reading lists for grades K-8 that I referred to in the previous post; original in PDF form is here on the Providence Community Libraries site. 

Grades K & 1
Anansi books / various authors

Jamela's Dress and other Jamela books / Nikki Daly

Moon Rope and other titles / Lois Ehlert

Koala Lou and other titles / Mem Fox

One Afternoon / Yumi Heo

A Cool Drink of Water and other titles / Barbara Kerley

The Owl and the Pussycat / Edward Lear

One Leaf Rides the Wind / Celeste Mannis

Please Malese / Amy McDonald

Uno Dos Tres / Pat Mora

Just a Minute and Just in Case / Yuyi Morales

Bikes for Rent / Isaac Olaleye

A is for Africa and other titles / Ifeoma Onyefulu

Bee-Bim-Bop / Linda Sue Park

Mice and Beans / Pam Munoz Ryan

All the World / Elizabeth Garton Scanlon

Madlenka and other Madlenka books / Peter Sis

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and other Miss Bindergarten books / Joseph Slate

Jack and the Box / Art Speigelman and other TOON books

Apples, Apples, Apples and other titles / Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Bunnies on the Go / Rick Walton

Yoko and My Kindergarten / Rosemary Wells

We Are in a Book and other Elephant and Piggie books / Mo Willems

Seven Blind Mice / Ed Young


K-1 Spanish/Bilingual

The Party for Papa Luis = La Fiesta para Papa Luis / Diane Gonzales Bertrand

Oh, Crumps! = Ay, Caramba! / Lee Bock

Magda's Tortillas = Las Tortillas de Magda / Becky Chavarria-Chairez

Freight Train = Tren de Carga / Donald Crews

Dia de mercado y los otros / Lois Ehlert

La primera luna llena de gatita / Kevin Henkes

Uno Dos Tres / Pat Mora

Arroz con frijoles-- y unos amables ratones / Pam Munoz Ryan

Donde viven los monstruos / Maurice Sendak

Leale a su conjito / Rosemary Wells


Grades 2 & 3
Juan Bobo folktales / various authors

My Painted House or Kofi and His Magic / Maya Angelou

Frantastic Voyage and other Franny K. Stein books / Jim Benton

Going, Going, Gone! with the Pain and the Great One and other “the Pain and the Great One” books / Judy Blume

The Intrepid Canadian Expedition and other Flat Stanley books / Jeff Brown

Runaway Rice Cake / Ying Chang Compestine

Bink and Gollie / Kate DiCamillo

Around the World: Who's Been Here and other "Whose been here" books / Lindsay Barrett George

Never Smile at a Monkey and other books / Steve Jenkins

We’re Sailing Down the Nile / Laurie Kreb

Pop / Meghan McCarthy

Adele and Simon / Barbara McClintock

Bad News for Outlaws / Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

On the Road and other "Down Girl and Sit"books / Lucy Nolan

Pictures from Our Vacation / Lynn Rae Perkins

Mirror, Mirror / Marilyn Singer

The Karate Mouse and other titles / Geronimo or Thea Stilton

Chato Goes Cruising and other Chato books / Gary Soto

Lulu and the Brontosaurus / Judith Viorst

Coming to America: A Muslim Family’s Story and other titles / Bernard Wolf


2-3 Spanish/Bilingual

The Princess and the Pea = La Princesa y el Guisante / Francesc Boada

Rene Has Two Last Names = Rene tiene dos apellidos / Rene Colato Lainez

Family Pictures = Cuadros de Familia / Carmen Lomas Garza

The Bossy Gallito = El gallo de bodas / Lucia M. Gonzalez

I Wish I Had Freckles Like Abby = Quisiera tener pecas como Abby y los otros / Kathryn
Heling y Deborah Hembrook

Frederick / Leo Lionni

La verdadera historia de los tres cerditos / Jon Scieszka

Chato y su cena / Gary Soto

Carlos and the Cornfield = Carlos y la milpa de maiz / Jan Romero Stevens

Sonia Sotomayor: a Judge in the Bronx = la juez que cresio en el Bronx / Jonah Winter


Grades 4 & 5
From the Bellybutton of the Moon and other titles / Francisco X. Alarcon

How Tia Lola Came to Visit Stay and other Tia Lola books / Julia Alvarez

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and other titles / Lynn Curlee

Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School / Candace Fleming

Nory Ryan’s Song or Maggie’s Door / Patricia Reilly Giff

Turtle in Paradise / Jennifer L. Holm

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon / Grace Lin

Touch Blue / Cynthia Lord

Emily’s Fortune / Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Boys of Steel: the Creators of Superman / Marc Tyler Nobleman

Come with Me: Poems for a Journey and other titles / Naomi Shihab Nye

Masters of Disaster / Gary Paulsen

Junkyard Wonders / Patricia Polacco

Green / Laura Peyton Roberts

Erika-San and other titles / Allen Say

How I Learned Geography / Uri Shulevitz

Dancing Pancake / Eileen Spinelli

What Happened on Fox Street / Tricia Springstubb

Gator on the Loose / Susan Stauffacher

My Life as a Book / Janet Tashjian


Grades 6-8
Chains or Forge / Laurie Halse Anderson

Strange Case of Origami Yoda / Tom Angleberger

Anything but Typical / Nora Raleigh Baskin

Warriors Don't Cry : a Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High / Melba Pattillo Beals

Chasing Vermeer/ Blue Balliett

Colibri / Ann Cameron

Breadwinner / Deborah Ellis

The Graveyard Book / Neil Gaiman

Letters from Rifka / Karen Hesse

Scat / Carl Hiassen

Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf : A Year Told through Stuff / Jennifer L. Holm

Across Five Aprils / Irene Hunt

Color of My Words / Lynn Joseph

The Merchant of Death and other Pendragon books / D.J. MacHale

A Dream of Freedom : the Civil Rights Movement from 1954 to 1968 / Diane McWhorter

A Single Shard / Linda Sue Park

Voyage of the Frog / Gary Paulsen

True Meaning of Smekday / Adam Rex

The River Between Us / Richard Peck

Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi

Keeping Corner / Kashmira Sheth

When You Reach Me / Rebecca Stead

One Crazy Summer / Rita Garcia Williams

American Born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang

Providence Schools' 2011 Summer Reading Lists

Via Kidoinfo, I found info on the Providence Community Libraries' "Un Mundo, Muchas Historias/One World, Many Stories" summer reading program and the Providence Schools' 2011 summer reading lists for kindergarteners through eighth graders (FYI, that link opens a PDF - here's the summer reading list in quickly converted text form). The list offers lots of interesting titles that the Providence Community Libraries will have on hand. I don't know how the Providence Schools' list was developed nor how individual schools may plan to use it; I'll ask around to try to find answers to both of those unknowns.

A few are our family favorites; I know that Rosemary Wells' My Kindergarten will be in heavy rotation among Henry's nightly books as he gets ready for kindergarten in the fall. Many are new to me, and I suspect new to my kids, who, in addition to the rising kindergarteners, are heading into third and sixth grades.

Our incoming sixth grader is already fired up for lots of reading time this summer; he already has plans to get busy with The Hobbit, an interest sparked by what he's learning in library during school, which offers the perfect chance to say yay and thank you, school librarians! I'm interested to see titles from the list catch his eye.

Our incoming third grader was breezing through the Harry Potter books for  a few months with great delight but he's slowed down. At home, he isn't reading as much as he used to, and I'm not sure why. I've been looking forward to unrushed trips to the library with him and have been eager to figure out what will capture his interest.

And as Mr. Incoming Kindergartener would tell you, he can't read yet. But he's getting very very close! He loves books passionately and doesn't let his place on the far side of the reading line slow him down. I am eager to keep him swimming in a sea of books all summer; there's nowhere he'd rather be (except maybe in a sea of Legos) and there's no better way to get him ready to learn in the fall.

Assuming (hoping desperately) that the current dispute between the Providence Community Libraries and the Providence Public Library will be resolved, we'll see you at the library this summer!

Update: Here's a bit more about Providence's library dispute.

Achievement First Mayoral Academies hearing in Providence, June 9, 6pm, Alvarez High School

For those who may be following the progress of the Achievement First Mayor Academies proposal to open a charter school to serve Cranston and Providence students, please note that there will be a hearing in Providence on the matter on June 9 at 6 p.m. at Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School, located at 375 Adelaide Ave. in Providence.

For those who would like learn more about the Achievement First Mayor Academies charter school proposal:

• Here's the latest ProJo article on the Achievement First Mayor Academies charter school proposal.
• Here's a list of concerns about the proposal compiled by local blogger Tom Hoffman (and here's the link to his blog post that originally presented that list, if you prefer your PDF links in their native habitat).
• Here's a Cranston Herald op ed by RI-CAN head Maryellen Butke that clarifies the way the Achievement First Mayor Academies would be funded.
• Here's where you can find the proposal itself on RIDE's website

Providence people, please try to attend the hearing next week on Thursday, June 9, 6 p.m. at Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School, 375 Adelaide Ave. I am exceedingly frustrated that I cannot go; I have a the final meeting of the PPSD Parents Advisory Council group, of which I am an active member. This hearing is an opportunity to express whatever views you may have about possible impact this proposed charter school, which would serve up to 900 students from Providence.

PPSD middle school placement letter has arrived

On Saturday, we received notification from PPSD that Elias had a spot at Nathan Bishop Middle School. He'll start there in the fall with many friends from MLK Elementary School and elsewhere--preschool, soccer, baseball, religious school, camp, the playground. Bishop is our neighborhood school, both in terms of PPSD's definition (neighborhood = kid lives within a mile and a half of the school) and in the very real everyday sense, because we live across the street (no, we don't live in the Brown Stadium).

I've written a bit about our process of identifying which middle school option would suit him best, and I think that he and his friends will have a great experience at Bishop. Mostly, I am relieved to have certain word that he'll be there in the fall.

Patiently waiting is not in my natural skill set, so I didn't enjoy this extended process of waiting to hear about middle school placement. For sure, I am not the only person who felt that way. And for sure, not everyone is as satisfied with the outcome. One of Elias' classmates who lives on the other side of the city desperately wanted a seat at Bishop. She well below spot #50 on the wait list, and she is crushed not to be heading onto middle school with her friends. I don't know how far beyond her spot Bishop's wait list extends, but I suspect there are many more.

I hope that the families who wanted to attend or remain at soon the be closed Bridgham Middle School are happy with their children's assignments. And of course I hope that all families across the city will send their newly minted middle schoolers to schools that will help their kids be their best selves as they get ready for high school and the next steps in their lives.

It will take a whole lot more than hope, of course. For those families who did not get a seat at the middle school of your choice, I hope you get involved with your kid's school and direct your passion and energy toward making it the high quality school it needs to be for your kid and all kids.

I will be right there with you; I'll be representing Bishop next year on the district's Parent Advisory Committee (PAC), which meets monthly for collaborative school improvement work and problem-solving, and I am eager to connect with representatives from the other middle schools across the city. If your kid attends or will attend Greene, DelSesto, Roger Williams, Gilbert Stuart, or Esek Hopkins, please join us at the PAC so we can work together with school staff to create the best places for our kids to learn and grow. I'll be posting next year's PAC dates here, and if you have any questions or want to talk, post a comment here or email me at jill.davidson (at) gmail (dot) com.