Snapshots from the Superintendent’s School Travels- January 2025
Visiting Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) over the past few weeks, Superintendent Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt took great pride in seeing first-hand the accomplishments of our students. Those moments are captured in this month’s “Snapshots from the Superintendent’s School Travels”:
Jan. 14, 2025 - The Tiny Titans at Minnie Howard-Early Childhood Programs (MH-ECP) celebrated the end of their clothing study unit with a fabulous Tiny Titans fashion show event. Students “walked the runway” modeling their favorite clothing to include cultural dress, work uniforms and sports team jerseys. One child donned a beautiful lavender suit modeling as a future Madame President.
Throughout the entire seven weeks of their project-based learning experience, children explored different aspects of clothing, including different types of garments, materials and functions through hands-on learning supporting language, literacy, math, social and motor skills. Children worked collaboratively to investigate and find answers to their keen curiosities such as, “What do people wear for special occasions?,” “How are clothes made?” or “Which soap makes the best bubbles?” Children learned math skills by sorting and matching socks, buttons and textured fabrics. They enhanced their fine motor skills by learning to zip, button, snap and even thread and sew. In dramatic play, children were encouraged to use their imagination as they tried out costumes and role-playing scenarios and learned about types of clothing to wear for different occasions. Academic vocabulary was embedded throughout the day in read-alouds, play and games and children shared their learning using vocabulary words such as flannel, tapestry, weave, loom, sketch, tailor and fashion designer.
Families left the culminating event at MH-ECP filled with amazement and pride, saying their children had such a great experience and displayed such confidence walking the red carpet.
Director of Citywide Early Childhood Programs Jane Richardson explained that ECP’s job is to give children the guidance they need, so they can discover the answers to their questions in a fun and exploratory way. Project-based learning (PBL) experiences like this allow children to take ownership of their own learning, paving the way for self-confident, successful and deeply engaged learners.
Jan. 14, 2025 - The ACPS Office of Specialized Education held a water safety event at the Alexandria City High School (ACHS)-Minnie Howard Campus pool for students with disabilities as part of its expansion of aquatics programs. Secondary city-wide students were brought to the pool for a field trip which serves as an introduction to the water and water safety, as well as an opportunity to practice various water skills and swimming methods under the watchful eye of trained swimming instructors and lifeguards.
Elementary city-wide students are provided a similar opportunity through SPLASH when they are in fourth grade. SPLASH (Students Physically Learning about Swimming & Health) is one week of swimming instruction for ACPS’ fourth grade students at the ACHS-Minnie Howard Campus pool.
Jan. 15, 2025 - The 52nd Anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Program was presented at the George Washington Masonic Memorial. The celebration of the late civil rights leader was entitled, “Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice and Democracy.”
Jan. 16-17, 2025 - Visits were made to various schools by Alexandria City School Board members and the superintendent. School Board member Dr. Ashley Simpson Baird accompanied Dr. Kay-Wyatt during visits to Patrick Henry K-8 School and George Mason Elementary School. School Board member Ryan Reyna and the superintendent visited Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy and George Washington Middle School. School Board Member Dr. Donna Kenley and the superintendent visited Francis C. Hammond Middle School and Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School.
Jan. 29, 2025 - The Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council - made up of a broad mix of high school students and giving a voice to students from across the high school campuses - met with the superintendent over a pizza lunch. A wide array of topics were discussed.
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