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School Visits
copyright ©Teaching K-8
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On the Streets Where We Live
by Katherine Romano, Associate Editor
Knowledge can be found down every avenue and on every street corner for kids of the
Anna Silver School for Art and Technology - thanks to their annual Learning Fair.
As we round the corner of Essex Street, strains of George
Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" fill the air. Here the streets are paved
in brick and, on the opposite corner, the Essex Street Market is
swarming with activity. The constant bustle seems to be scored to
clatter from the horse-drawn taxis and the sing-song shouts from
pushcart peddlers who sell everything from roast corn and hot dogs
to clothing and pots and pans. Across the way, on Suffolk Street,
there's a myriad of clotheslines strung between tenements where
gangs of cats surround trash cans that line the narrow alleyways.
Okay. So, it's fair to say you might be thinking we've suffered a
not-so-momentary lapse from reality.
Even better - today we're visiting The Anna Silver School for Art
and Technology, P.S. 20 in New York City, where we're attending
the school's 14th annual Learning Fair. This is an event that the
school's 1,000 students and 80 staff members do not take lightly.
In fact, this is such a prodigious affair that the teachers begin
preparing for the upcoming year's Learning Fair in June. Today
there's a giddy anticipation in the hallways of Anna Silver and the
excitement that both the teachers and students feel toward their
projects is palpable.
"So, what do you think of our humble little place?" the school's
principal of 26 years, Dr. Leonard Golubchick, called from across the
auditorium.
Where do we even begin?
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There's learning to be found on every
street corner for students at the Anna
Silver School for Arts and Technology.
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Perfect harmony. For the past two Learning Fairs, thanks to a
grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, students at
Anna Silver have taken "A Walk Through the Lower East Side" and
explored their neighborhood's fascinating history. Teachers have
woven this theme across the curriculum to include lessons in
language, literature and history as well as forays into the culture
and heritage of New York City as a city founded by immigrants.
The various scenes and landmarks on display at this year's Learning
Fair are plucked from different times in the Lower East Side's
motley past and exist next to each other in perfect harmony, much
like Anna Silver's extremely diverse student body. Seven of its
classrooms are either Spanish, Chinese or Bengali bilingual and
about 96% of the kids come from homes where English is not
spoken. However, given the school's massive number of students
who come from all walks of life, not once did we see a kid out of
line or in conflict with another student. Each of these children were
on-task and focused and best of all, deeply committed to their
projects and to each other.
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"Our goal is to have our children achieve
levels above the standard." says Anna
Silver principal, Dr. Leonard Golubchick.
"We are teaching them to be thinkers,
dooers and risk takers."
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