Friday Night Hype
Friday, May 19th, 6pm-9pm
Frisoli Youth Center

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Raising Children With Black Joy
5 session parent series
Tuesday evenings, May 2nd-30th, 6pm-8pm
Fletcher Maynard Academy
Spots are limited

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The 6th-8th grader slideshows are being shown in schools as part of our classroom visits to CPS Upper Schools, to give young people an exciting peek into their options for summer. They also fill out a form at the end about what they are interested in - which kicks off our individual follow-up effort, where we help young people and families connect to programs and make summer dreams a reality. 

Do you know a family who is looking for summer programs and needs assistance? Have them fill out the form (on the last slide of each slideshow) and we can follow up with them!

Click here for the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade slideshow.

The Elementary School slideshow features summer programs and activities for JK-5th graders. ​

​The Nature program provides an in-person nature program with field trips to many different natural areas around us. Daily field trips and program partners include Northeastern University's Marine Center, the Blue Hills Reservation, and a visit with Navigation Games. The program will run from April 17th-21st, 9am-2:30pm, and costs $50 for the full week. Learn more here! ​

Get to the Chopper! is Cambridge Camping's STEAM-centered drone flight program to take place over the April Massachusetts school vacation week.  This program introduces children to the science and engineering of drone flight, develops their interests in science and technology, builds friendships with fellow participants, and have a lot of fun along the way. Learn more here! ​

​Click here to view the slides from the workshop or watch the recording!

​​Be sure to check out our recently created ESON and MSN February Break Fun OST slideshow. ​Make sure your program is included and accurate. This slideshow will be shared with families, CPS Family Liaisons, and shown in schools.

Have you signed up for your Programs Table for the event? If not, you can do so below.

​Hello Summer Program Providers!

The Village, CPS, Agenda for Children OST, CFCC, & DHSP are hosting the 2023 Rollin’ N Summer Resources. This resource fair is being set up to help Cambridge families get ready for summer and will take place on Saturday, March 4th, from 1-4:30pm, at the CSUS/King Open Building, located at 850 Cambridge Street.  We invite you to come and set up a table to have families hear about and/or complete applications for your summer programs.

This fun event for K-8 families will also include roller skating run by Party Vision. We’ll provide snacks and some entertainment for younger children (provided by community partners) so that caregivers can get applications and check out the summer program options for their children.

Click 2023 Rollin' N Summer Resources: Provider Sign-up to reserve a table for this event. ​

​Please contact me at salincoln@cambridgepublichealth.org if you have any questions or if you're interested in learning more about this work.

Claudia Ferrara: Join us for a Math Talk Play Session! 
MathTalk is currently inviting families to play sessions! The goal of the play sessions is for kids to have fun and for us to collect feedback about how to make our math products better for families. See flyer for details!

​Cambridge Camping: February School Vacation Camp-Cooking with STEAM!  Kitchen science and cooking program for grades 6-8, Feb 20-24, 9-2:30PM, $50/child, hosted at The Foundry.  Visit website for more information: cambridgecamping.org/cooking
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Hello OST Community!

​Below we’ve added a brief recap of the November Network meeting, resources, and community announcements, along with upcoming Network dates to remember. Here is a copy of our November 2nd meeting slideshow and Newsletter. ​

​Opportunities and Announcements for You:

The majority of our meeting we spent talking about the ways that we try to get to know young people at the start of the year in our programs. In doing this, we navigate multiple tensions that can’t be totally avoided (see slide below). For example, young people need to feel psychological safety and know that you won’t put them on the spot to answer deep and meaningful questions before they are comfortable; however, you also want to communicate that you care about more than just surface level information on the way to building a deeper relationship. ​

Lastly, I shared two resources (see slides). 
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• 4 Developmental Needs of Middle Schoolers (and worksheet): The first, which Melinda Maxwell previewed already, is the 4 needs of middle schoolers, which can be used in staff training, in planning lessons, and in talking about what we want to know and build on with young people.

 

• “Along” App: I’ve heard about this from folks using it in schools, as a new way to nurture individual relationships with students. It uses a format they are quite familiar with - text, video or audio on their cell phones - to give a safer, 1 to 1 opportunity to answer questions posed by a teacher or youth worker in the app. Not a new idea - but maybe a new application and mode for reaching young people who aren’t as verbal in person, who fly under the radar, or who really want that individual relationship with you as an adult but don’t know how to build it on their own. ​

iReady to Try Something New? 
This year, Cambridge Public Schools is rolling out the use of iReady Personalized Instruction, an online learning platform and tool that can be used by families (and OST programs) to provide additional learning time in math and literacy beyond the school day. The district is excited by the prospect of collaborating with OST programs and partners to support students this way! 
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How is this different from other online-based tools that CPS students use for learning? 

• The platform provides targeted lessons based on student’s individual skills (it’s linked to an assessment called iReady that all 3-8th graders take in schools)
• Lessons are designed to be culturally responsive, engaging, and connected to real-world scenarios (age-appropriate graphics, music, sound effects, activities beyond multiple choice questions, relevant and diverse texts)
• Young people grades 3-8 can follow their own pathway on the site, or teachers/educators can assign specific lessons to whole classes or individual students 
• The program includes quality content at all levels, from below grade level all the way to above grade level

When/How is this happening?

• Onboarding sessions for teachers is happening on Nov 8th (this is the no school PD day). OST providers are also invited to attend, although we assume many providers will be caring for young people that day! Additional training geared towards caregivers and for OST programs will be offered as well. The iReady program for the 2022-23 school year will be ready for young people to use by mid-November. 
• CPS Teachers CAN use the platform to assign and monitor student progress, but it is not required, especially this year, as all users gain confidence in the platform and what it can do. 
• With CPS, the Agenda team is planning a training session just for OST Providers (likely a morning in Oct/Nov) to orient themselves to the platform and figure out how they can use it in their spaces.

What does this mean for me as an Out-of-School-Time (OST) Program?

• You have the option of using the program at your site 
• CPS and the Agenda for Children will be offering training for OST Programs on how it works and how you can use it in your spaces
• iReady Personalized Instruction could be used during Homework Time, either as homework (if teachers assign it as such) or as a ‘after your homework is done but it’s not time to play yet’ tool.
• The program can help your after school staff communicate with schools/teachers, be more connected to work happening in the classroom, and be part of helping young people close learning gaps or get what they need in terms of academics.

More info is coming soon - for now check out this 2 page infographic about the timeline and how it will be used! 

On a recent, sunny late August afternoon, more than one hundred nervous 9th graders (all working their hardest not to show it) found their way down to the Lecture Hall at the Cambridge Public LIbrary, and checked in for the first day of Bridge to CRLS. This new 9th grade orientation, hosted Aug 23-25th, came together through a collaboration between Cambridge Public Schools and Cambridge community partners, spearheaded by the Agenda for Children OST’s Middle School Network. Over the next three days, 260 incoming 9th graders traveled between the Library and CRLS for student-led tours, scavenger hunts, and workshops led by community partners and CPS staff, culminating in a Community BBQ on Thursday, August 25th,  with a celebratory meal and send off for the 9th graders to their freshman year. ​

This year ESON and MSN will meet on the same day for all Network convenings. There will be opportunities for folks to break out into respective groups (ESON & MSN) during our time together. 
We are planning to do our first and last meetings of the year as in-person meetings at community locations - and then use Zoom for the bulk of the meetings in between, as we have heard from folks that the convenience and ability to sign in from anywhere allows more folks to attend and contribute. 

Please join us for as much or little time as you can for our upcoming IN-PERSON Kick-Off event on Wednesday, September 14th, from 10:00 am- 12:00 p.m at Starlight in Central Sq, 84 Bishop Allen Dr. 

See all calendar dates on our Events Calendar page 0r All Joint Network meetings on Sched (where you can RSVP!) 

Hello folks! If you missed our Feb 2nd meeting, read below to check out the community announcements, get the slides and see what you missed. Here is the link to the slide deck, where you can see visuals and get a sense of the conversations that aren't covered in the recap.  Thanks for checking in! 

This meeting was focused on two things: appreciating the contributions of our long time MSN staff member, Medjine Lucien, and on starting the summer planning process. Medjine, who has just moved on to work for Waltham Partnerships for Youth, worked in multiple capacities on our MSN team over the past 4 years, so we did a little retrospective of all her contributions and heard appreciations from Nicole Rodriguez, her past supervisor at Moses Youth Center, in addition to multiple others in the community who have worked with and appreciated Medjine's quiet but steady leadership over those years. Good luck Medjine - we have a feeling Cambridge will call you back at some point soon, but we are glad Waltham young people have you in their corner now as well! 

Next we talked about summer - where folks were in summer planning and how it felt to them. There were some great themes across the board, particularly wanting young people to make friends, feel belonging and have fun (and the adults to have fun alongside them). We also took some time to learn and test out the "annotate" version in Zoom, so folks could put a stamp on whichever thought bubble they felt represented their feelings on each question. Check it out: 

We had short breakout groups on a few of the topics mentioned here, particularly the social emotional skills and experiences we want young people to have, and cross-city partnerships and field trips. We asked folks before closing what was helpful to them, and what they want to have more time in MSN meetings to talk about before the summer: check out some great ideas and responses that we plan to build into meeting going forward!

• options for young people to meet up with other programs, or places across the city and do fun new things together (Ayesha Wilson, Work Force/School Committee)
• Social emotional tools for families (Mia Richardson, MSN/CCSC)
• Partnerships/meet ups/cross site activities/ 8th grade opportunities (Melinda Rosado, Gately Youth Center)
• I want to learn about East end House more. I want to discuss about more educational summer programs (Tagesech Wabeto, Community Engagement Team)
• Most helpful: programs are very interested in finding places to bring groups this summer (Emily Meyer, CPL)
• Knowing that the needs of special needs/disabled students are being discussed at program sites and not just in these meetings (Maya Gonzalez, SEPAC)
• I would like to learn/brainstorm more about what youth need for the summer (Puja Kranz Howe, GOLD/GEY)
• 1. Knowing there are people I can reach out to for help. 2. Hearing others experiences. I am coming from School Age to a leadership role in Middle School and there are things I don't know because I have spent all my time in School Age. (Marse Romero, East End House)
• It’s helpful to connect and hear more about opportunities and your experiences, great to meet you all! (Jonathon Leiner, Amigos K-8)
• Learned about Recess program and hoping to check it out this summer. (Nelita Depina, Russell Youth Center)