Saturday, March 26, 2011

Welcome to MuseumMagnetMissives by Hope Salas, Museum Magnet Specialist at PS 191, soon to be the Museum Magnet School for Inquiry, Innovation & Imagination.  This blog has been created solely for issues pertaining to museum magnet news and updates.  I welcome questions and comments to any posts, and am interested in finding out the information you need and/or want that may not be noted in a particular posting. Your feedback will be most appreciated and will help to focus my bi-monthly newsletter to you.
Now that the spring season is upon us (as of March 20, 2011) and the MSAP Compliance document is behind me (at least for now), I would like to update you on some museum magnet happenings:
Although the MSAP Compliance document is quite detailed and somewhat complex, it is a document that has helped me better understand the scope of my position at this school and some of the initial steps that must be taken, in addition to some of the longer-term goals that will define our school as its name implies.
  • Grade level and Subject meetings with each grade are now regularly scheduled. Although I have met with Pre-K, 1st and 2nd grade already, the meetings with all other grades will commence post Quality Review. *Please note: Schedule will be distributed at the April 1st Professional Development Workshop.
  • We are registered with and now utilizing Material for the Arts, which provides a plethora of useful materials for school projects.  Visit their website at http://www.mfta.org. Contact me should you need materials for your classroom projects and if you'd like to visit MFTA.
  • We are now registered with Cool Culture http://www.coolculture.org. This organization, founded in 1999 celebrates families and cultures and helps 50,000 income-eligible families access and enjoy 90 of NYC's world-class cultural institutions for free, providing children with experiences that improve literacy and learning. This program is specifically for grades Pre-K & K. 
  • We will tentatively be working with the New York Historical Society as part of their Enrichment Program during the 2011-2012 school year.  I will be meeting with the Director of Education post Quality Review.  I will provide you with details about the resources and benefits we will be afforded by partnering with this venerable institution.
  • Parsons School of Design met with our school on March 18, 2011 to present to us their ideas for our school logo.  The Parsons School of Design representatives and the designers (and 2 pre-college students part of the S P A C E Program) are currently refining the initial logo ideas based on the feedback given from teachers, administrators, students and parents (Focus Group). Detailed updates will follow; however I do have the initial plans in my "office" (the library), which are readily available for anyone interested in perusing what has recently been presented to us.
  • At our next Professional Development Workshop on April 1st, Stacey Guadalupe and I will devote a portion of that meeting time to discussing the major tenets of the museum-themed magnet grant and the objectives and activities outlined for us to follow with regard to Systemic Reforms, Magnet Theme Instruction & Collaborative Planning Time.  
  • We have identified Shawn Mitchell as our new Technology Specialist.  Updates about his official start date for Shawn are not yet solidified.  However, Shawn and I will partner with you to provide the necessary technology needed to enhance museum-themed interdisciplinary education tools, methodologies and technology based activities for your classroom. 
  • I have reached out to the New York Historical Society, The Hall of Science, The Transit Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Whitney Museum, The Rubin Museum, The Guggenheim, The Jewish Museum, and other institutions to discuss the resources available for us, which I believe will assist us in sculpting museum-themed focus lessons and activities for the coming year.  As we meet and discuss curricula for the coming school year, I will outline how these museums might augment your units of study, and will schedule art and science museum visits as appropriate.
  • The following museum visits have been scheduled for Ms. Higeura and Ms. Giglio in April & May:    
April 13 - South Street Seaport Tour of 19th Century Artifacts        
April 28th - American Museum of Natural History - Guided tour by Ms. Salas with 2nd & 3rd  graders, exploring the Central America & Mexico galleries. 
May 11, 2011 - Ms. Higeura's 2nd grade class will be touring the "Across the Bridges" exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York.

One last thing, I have secured a private donor to provide materials from Pearl Paint that Mr. Rafael Piccorelli and Susannah Blum were not able to obtain at Material for the Arts for the Spring Impressions theatre performance in April. 
    I look forward to working with all of you in the future.  I thank you for your patience and understanding if you have not yet met with me, or if I have not been available to talk with you one on one or with your teams yet.  I promise to get to you.  Until then, I wish you all peace.

    Hope Salas
    Museum Magnet Specialist