East HS: East High Guidance Chair Kim Gary came up with a unique way to engage the staff — "Fun Friday." She thought the staff/faculty could use some fun time for about 10-20 minutes on Friday mornings. "Fun Friday" consists of a dance routine that everyone can dance to...in essence, a line dance. The staff has been enjoying this time together for about a month now and the numbers of staff/faculty and students are growing!! The activity started with about 6-8 people and now it has grown to about 60!

Richard Scott, minority services coordinator, serves as the "dance Coordinator" and has received several positive comments about the "Fun Friday" idea. East's Black Student Alliance student group, in collaboration with the Gui-"dance" department, uses this time to just have fun via student/staff interaction! Not to mention this is a wonderful way of getting in some health/wellness time. Who knows, maybe other schools might want to try it? It really is FUN!!

---

Sennett MS: In October four administrators and department heads visited Sennett from EastbrookSchoolin Whitfield, Georgia. They were interested in the school's model as they plan for a similar restructuring of their own middle school in the next couple years. The guests enthusiastically attended Core and Encore classrooms, filled with questions for our staff. At lunch time they were treated to a meal created by some of the 8th graders and had the opportunity to ask questions about multi-aging to students as well. The visiting principal commented that Sennett staff and students were obviously proud of their school and our city — and all they both have to offer! (Pictured: Sennett staff include Lori Hillyer - rear left; Shawn Schroedl - front far left; Deborah Ptak - front far right in picture with Whitfield staff.)

---

Quilt made by Hawthorne students permanently installed at the International Museum of Children's Art in Oslo Norway

As an extension of a history unit about slavery in the U.S., second grade and 2/3 grade students at Hawthorne Elementary, under the direction of art teacher Julie Olsen, made two quilts during spring of 2006: "Follow the Drinking Gourd by Day" and "Follow the Drinking Gourd by Night." The latter quilt (pictured above as displayed in the museum) has become part of the permanent collection at the International Children's Art Museum in Oslo, Norway. Follow the Drinking Gourd by Day quilt has been installed in the Hawthorne Public Library. (pictured below)

The titles of the quilts refer to the song and story, "Follow the Drinking Gourd", highlighted in Jeanette Winter's book of the same title. The song was a coded song, the lyrics like a secret map which told of the route to freedom in the north and Canada, known as the Underground Railroad. The drinking gourd refers to the constellation, The Big Dipper (Ursa Major). Runaway slaves could easily see The Drinking Gourd in the sky and would follow the stars in the dipper which pointed to Polaris, the North Star.

---

Memorial HS: Memorial hosted a visit from illustrator/author, Susan Roth (pictured at right) and her special guest author Cheryl Chapman (pictured at left) on October 11. Susan Roth has published 38 children books. Ms. Roth shared the process of publishing a book with Memorial students. She also shared what inspires her as an artist. Cheryl Chapman shared a story that she and Ms. Roth published together, "Pass the Fritters, Critters." Thank you to Melissa Winker and Joseph Frontier, art teachers, for hosting the event. Another special thank you to John Warren Stewig, Director at the Carthage College Center for Children's Literature for his help in bringing Ms. Roth to Wisconsin. Ms. Roth has a special exhibition of her illustrations at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI.

---

Falk ES: In September 2007, Falk Elementary students spent the first couple of weeks of school learning about Vietnam in music class. The students utilized district traveling materials about Vietnam and learned a song in Vietnamese in preparation for an outreach visit sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Theater. This visit occurred on September 14th with Ms. Thanh, a singer from Vietnam. The Falk students Vietnamese song they had prepared for Ms. Thanh. They were pleased to hear her sing a slightly different version - one she had learned as a child. Ms. Thanh presented songs, dances, and hand signals during the visit at Falk Elementary School. Ms. Thanh was in Madison for the Wisconsin Union Theater's World Music Festival. A special thank you to the Wisconsin Union Theater for sponsoring this outreach opportunity.

---

MMSD Fine Arts and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art co-sponsored a staff session for secondary art staff with watercolor artist Helen Klebesadel on September 25th. The session "Finding your Voice as An Artist: Mixed Media & Collage" provided ideas for art staff to inspire the artist in all of us. It also investigated additional media use for art with students. Ms. Klebesadel is an artist, author, and educator that works in many styles of media. Her work is on exhibit at the Grace Chosy Gallery and can also be viewed online at http://personalpages.tds.net/~klebesadel/gallery.html. Pictured standing is Ms. Klebesadel during the professional development session with secondary art staff.

---

MSCR SREC

This summer, MSCR Summer Recreation Enrichment Center (SREC) served 1,511 children (Pre-K - 8th grade) at Gompers, Hawthorne, Leopold, Schenk and Thoreau schools. The program provides afternoon recreation and enrichment activities to children enrolled in MMSD Summer Extended Learning. SREC is a six week program that operates Monday through Friday, 12 - 4 pm. Children enjoy activities including arts & crafts, indoor/outdoor games, enrichment and field trips.

Seventy-five percent of all children, who were enrolled in MMSD Summer Extended Learning, participated in SREC. SREC includes 260 Pre-K children who also benefited through the participation in MSCR's SafetyTown. SafetyTown, a partnership between MSCR, Madison Fire Department and Safe Communities, Inc. is a half-day program that teaches preschoolers how to be safe in their community.

SREC contributes to the success of the MMSD Summer Extended Learning program due to the continuation of services during afternoon hours needed by working families, along with the quality of programming.

---

Six MMSD schools and an independent bookstore benefit from Harry Potter release

This summer's release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Gallows was a big happening both locally and globally. A number of MMSD schools benefited directly from the excitement.

A Room of One's Own Bookstore partnered with local parent-teacher organizations to raise over $1000 for public school libraries from the sales of the seventh and last Harry Potter book.

Six schools participated in the pre-sale program. Emerson, Franklin, Lapham, O'Keeffe, Marquette and Randall School students and parents were given the opportunity to pre-order their copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Gallows book through A Room of One's Own Bookstore.

For every book each school ordered, a portion of the sale price was given to the libraries for book purchases. Over 200 books were sold, and the libraries have split over $1000 worth of book donations.