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School Year 24-25
School Year 24-25
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Ellis alum, Cornell Coley
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Ellis alum, Cornell Coley
June 5th, 2025
On Thursday, June 5th, Ms. Howard's 1st Grade class had an awesome field trip to the Egleston Library to engage in a drum & dance performance by *Ellis Alum* Cornell Coley!
We got to experience his "Fascinating Rhythms" show where we learned about different East and West African instruments, played some of them, and even got to learn some dances!
Ms. Di Rienzo's Class Book Published!
Ms. Di Rienzo's Class Book Published!
June 5th, 2025
Shoutout to Ms. Di Rienzo's K2 class for publishing their very own class book! This was Ms. Carr's first time experimenting with this program with a class, so hopefully we will be able to do it with more classes in the future! But as her students about their book "My Perfect Home," inspired by their construction unit where they envisioned, designed, & described their own perfect homes they'd like to live in. It's my favorite new library book to grace our shelves this year! :) Shoutout to Ms. Adams for letting me know about this Studentreasures program (you can do it, too!).
Discovering Justice - Mock Appeal Spring 2025
Discovering Justice - Mock Appeal Spring 2025
Once a week for 10 weeks in the spring, Ms. Carr worked with 8-10 Ellis 6th graders in an after school mock appeal program provided by Discovering Justice. We partner with a law firm - this time it was Mintz - whose lawyers teach our student attorneys how to develop arguments in defense of students' rights in schools. Our culminating event was at Moakley Courthouse in the Seaport, where students conducted a mock appeal in front of a federal judge and jury panel.
BPS Spotlight on the Ellis School Library for National School Library Month!
BPS Spotlight on the Ellis School Library for National School Library Month!
April 2025
Visit from Ellis alumna, Hazel Agyemang
Visit from Ellis alumna, Hazel Agyemang
March 28th, 2025
Welcome back to the Ellis, Ms. Hazel!
On Thursday, March 28th, Hazel Agyemang, a retired Roxbury resident and former Ellis student, visited with 1st graders from Ms. Perkins class in the Ellis School Library.
Ms. Hazel came to share her poem about the incredible Elma Lewis, who not only founded the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, but also founded our campus neighbor, the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists. Students were super engaged in Ms. Hazel's interactive poem and their faces lit up upon seeing the images of Lewis's life that Ms. Hazel brought to share with us, including a photo of the building so familiar to them right next door!
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Bilingual Storytelling
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Bilingual Storytelling
March 18th, 2025
IMG_2655.MOVOn Tuesday, March 18th, 1st graders from Ms. Scarlett's class and K1 students from Ms. Arroyo's class traveled to the Egleston Library for a bilingual storytelling workshop!
Facilitated by the awesome Spanish Fun Program and Egleston Children's Librarian Claire, we learned the story of the Chilean national flower, the copihue, drew some pictures depicting the story, did some dancing, and learned a Chilean national chant! Chi chi chi chi! Le le le le!
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Janet Costa Bates
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Janet Costa Bates
March 17th, 2025
On Monday, March 17th, the 4th graders from Ms. Petto's and Ms. DellaRocco's classes traveled to the Egleston Library for a visit with author Janet Costa Bates (thanks again to Egleston Children's Librarian Claire for making this possible!). This group of students actually met with Janet Costa Bates as 2nd graders when she came to visit our Ellis Library two years before, so it was super special to be reunited with her again! Janet Costa Bates is a local Cape Verdean author who has published the Rica Baptista series, which we've been reading together in 4th grade library time.
For this visit, we engaged in a character development workshop where students got to learn about the author's process and create their own fictional characters! Janet promised she would sign the students' work if they promised to keep on writing :)
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Valerie Stephens
Field Trip to the Egleston Library for Valerie Stephens
February 3rd, 2025
IMG_1872.MOVIn this video, our Ellis 2nd graders are learning the West African Welcome Song "Funga Alafia" with local artist and storyteller Valerie Stephens on a field trip to our local Egleston Branch of the Boston Public Library.
Thanks to the hard work of the Egleston Children’s Librarian, Claire, we were able to attend this visit free of charge. Students were super engaged in Valerie's work and impressed her so much with their definitions of culture (and other philosophical wonderings!) that she offered to come to the Ellis on March 10th, 2025 to read some more stories with their class for free! Amazing work, Ellis 2nd graders!
Author Visit with Lowey Bundy Sichol
Author Visit with Lowey Bundy Sichol
January 14th, 2025
Students from Ms. Ward's, Ms. Scarlett's, and Ms. Peeler's classes pose for a picture with author, Lowey Sichol, and the team from PLS Financial who sponsored our free visit & books!
Students in 1st-3rd grade also received a free signed copy of Cookie Queen to take home forever :)
On Tuesday, January 14th, 2025, our 2nd grade students got to meet the author Lowey Bundy Sichol during an author's visit to the Ellis Library! Karla spoke to our students about entrepreneurship and what it means to start your own business. She read aloud her picture book, Cookie Queen, about the founder of Tate's Bake Shop who started her cookie business when she was only 11 years old!
Scholastic Book Fair 2024
Scholastic Book Fair 2024
December 16th - December 20th, 2024
The Ellis Library hosted the annual Scholastic Book Fair for the week before Winter Break. We were able to raise over $4,400 in funds so that EVERY Ellis student could go home with a free book of their choice. So much book joy!
Discovering Justice - Mock Trial Fall 2024
Discovering Justice - Mock Trial Fall 2024
Once a week for 10 weeks in the fall, Ms. Carr worked with 8-10 Ellis 6th graders in an after school mock trial program provided by Discovering Justice. We partner with a law firm - this time it was DLA Piper - whose lawyers teach our student attorneys how to develop arguments in defense of students' rights in schools. Our culminating event was at Moakley Courthouse in the Seaport, where students conducted a mock trial in front of a federal judge and jury panel.
Shout out to Ms. McNulty, Ms. Allen, Ms. Howard, and Ms. Chew for serving as jurors for our case!
Exciting news - announced at the end of last school year (23-24), our Ellis School Library is this year's sole winner of the Shelf Help Prize from the Boston Book Festival!
This is a big honor as we were up against all school libraries in the Boston area! This means we will be receiving 50 brand new books and a free author's visit in October through Wondermore (which includes free signed copies of the author's book for all students at the visit).
Our Boston Book Festival-run donation page is now live if you'd like to share it with your networks - the more that gets donated, the more books we can get (so maybe more than 50!).
Author Visit with Karla Valenti
Author Visit with Karla Valenti
October 28th, 2024
Ms. Shelburne's, Ms. Harris's, and Mr. Kahn's 5th grade classes all gathered in the Ellis Library to meet Karla!
Thanks to the Shelf Help Prize and Wondermore, every student was able to receive a signed copy of Karla's latest book, Lola!
On Monday, October 28th, 2024, our 5th grade students got to meet the author Karla Valenti during an author's visit to the Ellis Library! Karla spoke to our students about her childhood growing up in Mexico City, the role of magic in her life, and how she approaches storytelling.
An extra special shout out to Mr Kahn's 5th Grade SBA students who came super prepared with lists of questions for Karla, were incredibly thoughtful listeners, and asked insightful questions! Woohoo!
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