Rosanna Paribello, Director
Main Office, 167 Holland St. Rm 132- Somerville, MA Adriana Guereque, Assistant Director
Phone: 617 625-6600 x 6970 Fax 617 629-5512 Gina Miranda, Student Services Coordinator Dana Gordon, Clinical Coordinator
Election Days
Registrations coming soon, ask your Site Director.
Parent Resources
Use this link to access the Parent Information Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1A-8IXov-vrimaWSVQTOjLTcSQDGEoyRh?usp=sharing
You can pay your child’s afterschool tuition online at: https://www.ezchildtrack.com/parent2/ParentLogin.aspx?c=esp&FromTab=Y
You can also pay by check to the afterschool Site Director or through your online bank.
In our commitment to making our program as available as possible, we continue providing financial assistance for families. If you need information, please contact
Adriana Guereque at aguereque@k12.somerville.ma.us You can also contact the Site Director in your student school. Thank you for all your support to Community Schools – being with your children makes us all happy!
Counselor’s Corner
I hope everyone has had a nice start to the school year! We are happy to have your kiddos with us in afterschool and are excited to start a new year of connection, fun, and learning. Our goal at each of our Community School sites is to create safe and emotionally supportive environments where your students can learn, engage with friends, and enjoy themselves. We believe your children will thrive during the time they spend being with us and will continue to strengthen their social-emotional learning and growth. Please reach out to your teachers and site directors if you have any questions or concerns and we will be glad to help you. We look forward to a great year watching your students grow!
Dana Gordon
Albert F. Argenziano
Site Director; Elizabeth Bell
Assistant Site Director; Brianna Arevalo
Provisional Assistant Director: Yesenia Real
Sresha Pradhan, Ileana Perlera, Etta Resnick, Ana Cortez, Sana Kazemi, Gianna Bottiglio, Lauren Quinn, Jennalyse Charles, Brandy Ellis, Shruti Sood
Welcome back, Friends and Families! Community Schools is excited to share another amazing school year with you. As we step into this new year together, we look forward to the opportunity to enhance your child’s after-school experience. At our program, our top priority is to provide a safe and thriving environment for your child. In afterschool children are divided into groups based on age. This year we have Group 1 - Pre-K/K - Ms. Shruti, Group 2 - K/1st - Ms. Etta, Group 3 - 1st/2nd - Ms. Lauren and Ms. Sana, Group 4 - 3rd/4th - Ms. Ana, and Group 5 - 3rd/4th/5th - Ms. Ileana. To learn more about our teachers please see our staff bio document!
Thus far this year we’ve been enjoying the nice weather outside, making crafts, and playing games! We’re looking forward to starting clubs on September 16th including some new clubs like Buildwave and Cinemakidz: Monsters and Mythology. Stay tuned for updates and announcements! If you need to communicate anything to Ms. Elizabeth during programming hours, please use the Remind app. Also, please make sure you label all your child’s belongings.
We are thrilled to be able to join forces with you and for the chance to get to know you and your family. Let’s make it another year to remember!
Arthur D. Healey School
Site Director: Amanda Oppman
Provisional Site Director: Alexander Walters
Provisional Assistant Director: Maria Henriquez
Nicholas Triant, Suri Gonzalez, Christopher Thompson, Samuel Macmillan, Delmis Aviles, Rafael Santos,
Virgilio Garcia, Jaqueline Medrano, Johana Maldonado, Ludwing Perez, Maria Lima Da SIlva,
At dismissal time, the PreK students were collected from their class and I took them upstairs where they had their school lunch and/or snack from home. Once everyone was fed and took a trip to the bathroom, we started our afterschool day. We had circle time where we would introduce ourselves to everyone and learn each other's names. This has gone very smoothly since there is only one PreK class at the Healey and all the students in our small group already knew each other from day school. I would then read them a new book each day, and after reading we discussed the story, the characters, and what happened and why. After this came playtime where students were able to use the vast collections of costumes and toys that afterschool has available. We worked on playing together, sharing toys and materials, and solving any disputes through calmly working through the situation. After this we would take a break and have school snack, followed by either a fun arts and crafts activity relating to being kind and friendship. We have been blessed to have perfect weather for the past two weeks, so after this we would head out to our private playground (where the big kids don't get in our way) and enjoy free time outside at the tot lot playground with each other. We have been happy to receive two fifth and sixth grade girls, Ember and Raysiel, who are in the peer mentor program and were thrilled to volunteer to spend time playing during free time with our PreK students. We could have not gotten better peer mentor students - they are both super nice and helpful and enjoy spending time with PreK students, often asking if they can come early or stay later to spend time with them! I am happy to report that this year is going very well so far, and besides the usual missing parents feeling that 4 year olds who are starting school can get at this time, this is all progressing smoothly and improving for all students! We look forward to diving into some more curriculum activities in the coming weeks, including some basic alphabet letters arts and crafts activities and playing some basic math games!
K-2
Hello, my name is Ms. Maria Lima Da Silva and I am the lead K-2 teacher along with our assistant teacher Mr. Chris and high school helper Ms. Jacquelin. The K-2 group has been having a blast at Healey Afterschool.
Students line up in the first and second grade hallway at dismissal to come to afterschool. After taking attendance, we head upstairs to the main afterschool room where we have snack time. We have been working on making new friends by sitting with different people for snack, and making sure we clean up our messes. Once we finish snack, we have our classroom stations activity time. We have enjoyed playing the pokemon card game, which is a totally underrated card game which teaches kids reading and math skills while they are having fun "battling" pokemon against each other. Our big costume collection has also been a hit, which encourages students to use their imagination and to work together to play different roles. Our huge collection of board games and activities have also been popular. After play time in the classroom, we headed down to the gym to play gym games and build structures with the giant foam blocks, or outside for free time on the new backlot playground in the beautiful fall weather. We have been lucky to have no rainy days so far and are trying to get time outside everyday before it gets cold and dark in the next couple months! We look forward to starting our afterschool enrichment clubs soon and being able to attend a fun hour of a specific activity each day! These clubs include exciting selections like Parkour, Arts and Crafts, Soccer, Yoga, Gym Class Heroes, Spanish is Fun, Storytelling, Farrington Nature, Lego Builders, and KidStock.
3-6
Hello, my name is Mr. Nick Triant and I am the lead 3-6 teacher along with our assistant teacher Mr. Rafael and high school helper Virgilio. The 3-6 group has been having a great time together at Healey Afterschool and the group has enjoyed being with each other!
Students meet in the cafeteria at school dismissal for snack time. After snack, we have been going into the gym for fun gym games. Our favorite gym game has been dodgeball - we got a bunch of brand new dodgeballs this year and have really been letting off some steam by pelting each other with them during every version of dodgeball you can think of. Classic dodgeball, castle ball, and scramble, a free-for-all version of dodgeball have been our favorite gym games. After gym time, we have either headed outside to enjoy the fall weather by playing soccer on the turf field and games on the backlot playground, or have gone upstairs to the school art room where we have done a variety of arts and crafts activities. In addition, we are slowly introducing homework time which 3-6th grade students will use to work on their homework each day, with help and encouragement from their teachers. The students are excited to begin our enrichment clubs soon, which include Parkour, World Travellers, Game Show, Soccer, Basketball, Spanish is Fun, Beast Mode, Farrington Nature, The Gaming Zone, and KidStock.
Benjamin G. Brown School
Site Director: Kelsey Kent
Assistant Site Director: Tamica Connor
Ashley Marks, Marie Cheney, Grace Barton,
El Ark, Ryleigh Martell, Emma Daly, Kelliann Marks, Karen Oppman, Sandy Mattson
Welcome back Brown School families to another year of after-school! We’re off to a great start this September. The kiddos have picked their clubs and are eager to get started! This year we have a new team member! Teacher “El” has joined the Brown School after-school team as our Fourth Grade Lead! Whoohoo! He will be teaching a bunch of fun clubs this fall such as: Karate Club and Dungeons & Dragons! Give him a big after-school welcome when you see them on the blacktop.
The weather has been super stellar as we begin to explore our community spaces. We’ve had lots of park days already, including our first “waterplay” day of the year! We’ve been anticipating and enjoying the fall weather creep up! Our teachers are excited to execute all their fall-themed activities! Every month we light to highlight the special clubs or activities that take place at the Benjamin G. Brown afterschool program. This gives insight to what we like to do but also, some of the creative outcomes. Take a look at some of the clubs that are offered to our Brown School students this session!
Grades K-2 Clubs that we would like to highlight for our September Newsletter are Arts of Nature, Makerspace, and Village Music School! In Arts of Nature, K-2 students find inspiration from the world around them. They collect items of nature and make open-ended art with what they find! Makerspace is a STEM based club where students get involved in hand-ons projects such as hoop gliders, creating a rocket ship, building a robot and cup stacking. This week, they soared to new heights by constructing their very own hoop flyers with beautiful designs and even gave them a test flight on our blacktop! Village Music School is an outside provider that comes in and nurtures the joy of learning music!
Grades 3-5 Clubs that we would like to highlight this month are Metro Rock, Adventure Club, Karate Club and Fall Active. Mrs. Phillips accompanies a group of students to Metro Rock which is a local rock climbing gym. On our first outing, the students were eager to begin and displayed true determination and bravery to reach the top of each summit! Take a look at some of our action shots! Adventure Club is a D&D style club where players create characters and participate in an imaginary adventure in a magical world. The core of this club is about storytelling. Students essentially tell a collective story, guiding heroes through dangerous quests to search for treasure, battle foes, and even carry out daring rescues! Fall Active is our club that takes students out to our local parks and nature paths. Because we have only a blacktop, we really utilize the community spaces near us! Students and teachers are excited for the Autumn weather! Lastly, Karate Club! In this club, students are learning the foundations of Karate. It’s fun to see the students learn new moves, but it’s the self-awareness and confidence that is the most exciting to watch!
Those are all our highlights for this month! Be sure to say hello to our new after-school teacher El!
East Somerville Community School
Site Director: Yolanda Andrade
Assistant Site Director: Diana Posada
Raymond Corsini Joanne Simon, Sonia Barahona, Mario Quiroz, Daniel Louis, Ashley Castro, Michael Chiaravalloti, Mia Rivera, Kate Simmons, Sarah McClelland, Tailyn Smith,
David Gutierrez, Devin Andrade, Bryan Rodriguez, Jaime Albayeros, Sharon Castellon, Olivia Oliveira, Luzmila Magana, Bryan Rodriguez
Welcome back to School and to the East Somerville Afterschool Program!
We’re excited to see both familiar and new faces as everyone returns from summer vacation. The beginning of a new school year brings the opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make new ones, and we’re looking forward to a fun-filled year ahead!
September has been an exciting month for students and teachers alike! Over the past couple of weeks, children and teachers have been settling into their new classrooms and routines here at ESCS Afterschool. Our Preschool and Kindergarten students are busy learning new routines, while our older students are perfecting the routines we worked hard to build last year.
As we were waiting the start of clubs, students were exploring a variety of activities varying from Art, Science, sports, painting, and trivia. We're kicking off the year with themes centered around autumn and friendship! With fall weather upon us, we are celebrating the season with activities featuring apples, pumpkins, and outdoor fun. We're also focusing on building friendships and understanding what it means to be a "good friend," along with exploring the many different emotions we all experience.
In addition to our regular clubs, we’re excited to announce that Strong Women, Strong Girls will begin on Monday, October 7th! Our 3rd-7th grade students are eager to meet their college mentors in a program designed to develop self-esteem, teamwork, and empowerment. We’re thrilled to partner with an organization that works hard to promote strength and community among our young girls.
Reminders:
Please join our ESCS Afterschool class on Remind for important updates: https://www.remind.com/join/24-25sy. It’s the fastest way to get in touch with us during programming hours and other updates.
Be sure to check your balances on EZChildTrack: https://www.ezchildtrack.com/parentportal/?c=CSAfterschool.
As always, feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
Michael E. Capuano Early Childhood Center
Site Director: Micheal Horowitz
Assistant Site Director: Sarthak Khamal
Bryan Convey, Ana Treska, Neelam Sehil, Mei Idri, Joao Detoledo, Ana Taveira, MamataChalise, Latifa Mortady, Devin Baxter, Gita, Khanal, Jose Lopez, Shiarrah Murray, Julia Leandro
At the Capuano School, afterschool is starting off a brand-new year with joy, happiness, and welcoming thoughts! We are welcoming all the new Pre-School students. We are welcoming back all the Kindergarten students. We would also like to say, “Welcome!” to all of the parents.
All of the teachers here at the Capuano are veterans. We have four classrooms this year. The three Pre-K classrooms are 108, 133, and 202. The Kindergarten classroom is room 218. The teachers in room 108 are Ms. Latifa, Ms. Mamata, and Ms. Devin. The teachers in room 202 are Mr. Sar and Mr. Brian. The teachers in room 133 are Ms. Mei, Ms. Gita, and Ms. Ana. The teachers in room 218 are Ms. Taveira, Ms. Neelam and Ms. Siarrah.
The beginning of both Pre-School and Kindergarten are times of a lot of change. There is a lot to learn. In Pre-K, we are learning to line up, wash our hands, be good friends, and share toys and we are learning to have some independence. In Kindergarten, the schoolwork really kicks in. There’s much less play and it can be a bit of a shock for children.
We are settling into our new routines and finding our footing. The daily schedule in each classroom includes center-based play and activities, recess in the gym or outdoors, and snacks. All the kiddos are having fun doing art, social-emotional activities, moving their bodies, and playing!
The themes for activities have been Welcome, All About Me, and Friendship. Teachers have read books like Hands Are Not For Hitting, and Feet Are Not For Kicking. We also use books in connection with activities. For example, a teacher read My New Friend Is So Fun! and then children made friendship hand prints. Another class read I Like Me, and then the children used a template to draw themselves. Drawing self-portraits focuses children’s attention on their appearance, informs us about how they perceive themselves and tells us about their level of awareness in general. The intention behind the themes and activities is to help children build self-awareness, foster awareness of the world around them, help children build relationships, and to help us better understand the children.
John F. Kennedy Elementary School
Site Director: Allison Pelletier
Assistant Site Director: Emmaline Lipka
Kelly Lopez, Nicole Tolbert, Savannah Paul, Maureen Nichols,
Emma Oppman, Mary Lou Hodgdon, Laura Modhal, Silvana Dinka, Jolene Charles
Hi Everyone!
We are off to a great start in After School here at the Kennedy. We enjoyed a lot of outside time the first couple weeks of the school year and now we are embarking on our new session of clubs! Session 1 has begun and our students are enjoying the variety of clubs our teachers and outside providers are offering.
Ms. Laura’s Clubs
We are kicking off an exciting year in Laura’s clubs! Kids had fun making kawaii creatures. Others got painted tattoos and made henna designs! Some created beautiful book covers for magical and scientific observations. Kids made pull-string art and talked about 3D shapes, while others made inventive eco-friendly card games!
Pre-K Class
Hi everyone! We have been having a great start to the school year in pre-k. Learning all about the new school we are in. We have enjoyed making new friends and playing with new toys/doing new activities. We have been focusing a lot on all things apples as well as “all about me”. We are looking forward to learning more and engaging in fun and exciting activities.
Ms. Emmaline’s clubs
Ms. Emmaline’s clubs are off to a great start, craft and chat started the year discussing different fiber mediums they would learn in this session. For our first activity we made our own pom-poms with yarn, it was a fun way to kick off the session! Ms. Emmaline also has taken over Magic the Gathering club, Mr. Ethan left some big shoes to fill but the students are eager to teach Ms. Emmaline how to play!
Ms. Emmaline’s clubs
Ms. Emmaline’s clubs are off to a great start, craft and chat started the year discussing different fiber mediums they would learn in this session. For our first activity we made our own pom-poms with yarn, it was a fun way to kick off the session! Ms. Emmaline also has taken over Magic the Gathering club, Mr. Ethan left some big shoes to fill but the students are eager to teach Ms. Emmaline how to play!
Ms.Silvana’s Clubs
As we start this new school year and are introduced to new clubs, we are excited to see the interest of the students in participating and investing their talents, time and energy learning about Whales and the magic they create. At the first week we talked and shared ideas of what we already know about whales 🐳 Students were aware that : The whale Watch program in Boston offers these possibilities. Living in the Boston area gives options and opportunities that everyone will envy.
Little hands big minds club: At the beginning of this club we offered the students the ability to talk about the function of the colors and shapes. We are surrounded by them. On white and black construction paper students mixed and created other colors.We had fun labeling them !
All around the world . The multilingual club students started to talk about ways of communicating. We are proud of the diversity of our area. Students were bringing together in class what other languages they are speaking at home. What they would love to learn and why?! We began with sign language and went through the alphabet. It was interesting. By the end of the class students were trying to join those letters and say their names.
Gym heroes is another club that gives the students the ability to play and improve their physical development . Running playing using coordination skills , basketball,soccer it is the cherry on the cake 🍰 for this group.
Board Games A club that never loses interest because of the competition of the different teams,players and games. Adapting strategies on the chessboard and other developing platforms is really important.
Ms Kelly’s Clubs
On Mondays, students in the movie critic club have been appreciating the film "PONYO." Tuesdays in the Art My Way club involve students sharing their names and pronouns, along with creating art using perler beads. During Wednesday's Healthy Hearts club, we discussed how we will begin our gym classes as a group. On Thursdays, members of the Lego club enjoyed playing outdoors while taking advantage of the pleasant weather. Finally, on Fridays, the debate club focused on getting acquainted with one another’s names and pronouns.
Reminders:
Mrs. Alison is going on maternity leave VERY SOON! Her last day is Friday October 4th. She will be returning in April.
During this time Ms. Emmaline will be in charge and running our program. Please make sure all emails and remind messages are sent to her in regards to all things after school. elipka@k12.somerville.ma.us
Please make sure that you have joined the 24-25 Remind Class. This is where you can message Emmaline and she can also send out quick announcements/ reminders.
Remind.com App
This year we are using Remind to send updates about important after school information and it is also a great way for us to communicate with one another. A form of texting if you will. You can message both Emmaline and Alison as Emmaline is the owner of this class since Alison will be leaving.
To sign up for Kennedy After School 24-25 notifications, please visit
Class Code- gdea94k
Please join this remind class as we won’t be using past classes to communicate so you will need to be signed up to receive messages for Kennedy After School 24-25.
As always, please let us know if you have any questions, etc.
Ms. Emmaline and Ms. Alison
Winter Hill Community Innovation School
Site Director: Deijah Euvrard
Assistant Site Director: Daniela Garcia
Tanty Koita, Nehemie Simon, Mariah Jones, Seline Pierre, Leonardo Fuentes,Rosa Palma, Luz Janampa, Andrew Catallo, Ruolx Dorvilier
Hello Families!
As we start the school year we are ecstatic about the upcoming clubs, activities, events, and holidays! Students and staff of afterschool have taken this time to learn each other's names and build strong, healthy relationships and friendships. Through all the changes the kiddos have continued to adapt and persevere through it all.
Pre-k/ Kindergarten
Welcome To School theme for the beginning of the school year to help students develop a positive self-image and feel confident and comfortable in the classroom by learning to care for books, recognize letter sounds and simple rhymes, trace the letters in their first names,self portrait crown and more fun and learning activities.
1st Grade
Our first grade friends have been working hard on learning their new schedule. We’ve spent lots of time doing kindness/friendship activities and getting used to our new space. The group shared different ways they are good friends while creating puzzle pieces with self portraits and kind words. Since starting clubs they’ve enjoyed various activities in the gym and got to explore the outdoor space.
2nd Grade
Our second graders have been dabbling in the arts of architecture and painting. Channeling inner creativity and expressing feelings through works of watercolors, acrylic paints and markers. Our magnettile and hidden message challenges through our kiddos for a loop but they were quickly able to think outside of the box and put their minds together to figure out how to build certain structures and how to find hidden messages. Our second graders are constantly growing, learning and staying curious for adventure and activity.
3rd-6th Grade
Kiddos have been rowdy and ready for clubs and activities. Our 3rd-6th graders are developing their after school routine and doing more activities that involve problem-solving and critical thinking. Along with this, children are encouraged to build strong relationships with teachers and other students. This year our 3-6th graders will be leading by example and working on becoming the best versions of themselves.
Reminder
This is a perfect opportunity to double-check if you have the Remind App! Again, this is the best way to get in contact with us for many things, especially with what's going on at the moment. Link to Join: https://www.remind.com/join/whcis23-24
Please label your child's clothing, backpack, etc. as items are often lost or left behind. Lost or forgotten items can be found at the school lost and found.
West Somerville Neighborhood School
Site Director: Joshua Leibovitz
Assistant Site Director: Seana Read
Jane Fabiano, Darly Pierre, Gianna Amari, Joseph Amari, Rodrigo Rodriguez, Katherine Yanes, Henry Duarte, Teodor Todorov, Frank Leone, Charles Brewer, Yasmin Almeida., Valerie Perez, Jennifer Posada, Xiomara Gutierrez, Jagdish Kaur
Hello Families!
Welcome to the 2024-2025 School Year!
Hello Families & Friends of WSNS, we hope your school year has been off to a fantastic start! It’s been so exciting to see how much everyone has grown over the summer and to meet new faces joining us for the first time this year. Now that the back-to-school dust has settled and we’re back into our routines, we’ve been enjoying our time together and catching up on all of the awesome things happening in every classroom.
And now introducing our new faces, let's hear it for our Pre-K friends! Ms. Jane and Ms. Darly have been working hard to make our youngest friends feel comfortable and safe in their new environment. They start every day at Afterschool with a friendship circle where they sing a song together, read a book (Clifford the Big Red Dog is the top hit so far), share things about themselves and learn about each other, and the rest of their day is filled with fun activities like yoga, play-doh, LEGO, and more!
Our Kindergarteners have been experiencing a big change from last year’s routines with the addition of clubs and reading time! They’re so excited to explore their options and try new things while surrounded by friends, new and old. With Mr. Rodrigo, they’ve sung their favorite songs and learned new ones, and played games together from musical statues to animal charades.
Our 1st graders have been loving yoga to help them relax their minds and bodies. To get ready for the fall season, Ms. Gianna showed our friends how to make their own pumpkins out of construction paper and paper plates, so be prepared for some awesome decorations to make their way home to you! The 2nd graders have stepped up as role models for our younger kiddos and are happy to show them the ropes when it comes to routines, expectations and helping a buddy during reading time.
Our 3rd-6th students are back in the swing of things, and we’ve got some fantastic updates to share as we start off a new school year. Homework time is in full gear, ensuring our students have a quiet and supportive environment to conquer their assignments. But it’s not all about academics–with Mr. Teddy and Mr. Joseph, students have been playing group games and enjoying their free time to play on the playground and take advantage of the wonderful weather. Whether it’s learning about economics through a giant game of Left-Right-Center or combining math with movement for a game of live-action Uno where you have to act out each card you place down, there’s always a new activity to keep everyone engaged. We’re excited to be back and see what the rest of the year has in store for us!
REMINDERS
-Please make sure to join our WSNS Afterschool class on the REMIND APP. Please email Josh or Seana for the code! It is the fastest way to get updates on last-minute changes to our dismissal procedure and timely updates.
-Packing extra clothes for our younger friends in case of an emergency.
Thank you!