DECEMBER 2004 NEWSLETTER

Meet Our New Educational Aides

by Beth Dewhurst

Carla S. Portocarrero

Born in Nicaragua and educated in the US (BA in Child Development), Carla Portocarrero has traveled extensively, volunteered in Florida museums (children's programs), and has moved recently to DC. She was attracted to the Reggio approach after hearing about it while working at a Jewish Nursery School–so much so that she went to the International Reggio Conference in Italy!

"I respect and want to know more about Reggio," she explained. Reggio’s strong connection between parent, child, and teacher–the community–is particularly important to her.

In her free time, Ms. Carla enjoys learning to paint icons in the Russian tradition and getting outdoors, especially to hike. She loves how nature is pervasive in Ms. Chapman’s room and learning approach.

Angel Agunbiade

Angel Agunbiade (photo, page 1) is a native Washingtonian who joined the Pre-K students and Ms. Susan in Room 9 this year. Her daughter, Zoe, is in Mr. Burst’s class. Angel has two years of early childhood education and 15 years of early childhood experience, 3 years of which were with DCPS Head Start. She comes from a family of teachers, including her parents, aunts, uncles and others.

She first heard about Reggio several years ago and loves how the environment is about the children, how they "come through the spaces–it’s about them." Angel loves the "challenges and pleasures of four year-olds" and likes listening to them daily. Angel’s next goal is to complete her interior design education and one day to design children’s spaces.

Alysia Scofield

After noting her skills with children, Mr. Burst and
Ms. Burke approached SWS parent Alysia Scofield to join the staff: "Mr. Burst told me I was going to be his new assistant" she joked. Her son, Abraham is in Ms. Chapman’s class and her daughter, Nancy, is a first grader at Watkins.

Alysia has a BA in Theatre Management from Michigan State, where she met her husband, Todd, who is a professional actor here in DC (catch him at the Kennedy Center’s Mr. Roberts in March 2005).

Appreciative of the beauty throughout the SWS learning environment, and in the Peabody building, itself, Alysia says she "loves Reggio and how it takes the education of young children seriously–you study it and get better and better at it."

Ivy Carter

A graduate from Eastern High School, Ivy Carter has been a dedicated aide (an aide supporting one special needs student) for four years. Previously, she assisted a visually impaired student. She loves kids and enjoys the group, she particularly working one-on-one. She enjoys working in Mr. Burst’s room and in her free time likes to watch TV, but not scary movies! She has five boys, ages 15, 14, 12, 11, and 5.

Room 10’s Quilt Creation Compiled from Mr. Burst’s material
	With our theme introduced by Ms. McLean of being keepers of the earth, we decided to make a quilt. This idea was supported from the books Joseph Had an Overcoat which discussed making something out of nothing as well as The Patchwork Quilt which told a story about making something new out of something old. Coco Provance brought in her sewing machine and introduced us to the parts and how to thread the threads from the bobbin and spool of thread. The students each picked out four squares of material they wanted to place in the quilt and laid them in a four-piece square. Then they sewed the pieces together using the sewing machine with CoCo’s help. After every student had finished, the class worked together to lay out the quilt and it was sent home with CoCo to sew into our final patchwork quilt top.
(Back Row) Harry, Alex, Sean, Zhen Hua, & Amy; (Front Row) Liana, Sophia, Samantha & Imani with Room 10’s Quilt