August '22 Newsletter

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VIEW THIS EMAIL IN YOUR BROWSER Happy First Week of School! May School welcomed students back to our learning community on Monday, August 22.  We were excited to share several new campus additions, including the new Early Childhood gazebo, a new classroom, a new teacher’s lounge, and updates to the basement hallway and art room!   Pictured: (Left): May Center faculty during Teacher Inservice (Right): Class is back in session! New Teachers and Staff We are excited to welcome our new and returning May Center teachers!  Connie Rose, a Montessori-trained teacher and reading specialist, has recently relocated from Houston to join our Intermediate teaching team.  Lisa Cat joins our staff as an Elementary Montessori teacher after decades of Montessori teaching experience.  Larkin Lujan brings her expertise in Executive Function to our staff as a skills teacher and Executive Functioning coach.  And we are happy to welcome back Linda Archibald, Lynda Schmidt, and Alice Dunn as skills teachers!   We are also excited to welcome Hayden Cuffman, May Center’s first Director of Enrollment and Advancement, to the May Center community!  Hayden joins our team after spending the last six years in political organizing in New Mexico.   Finally, May Center is fortunate to have Erin Brown joining our team as a Literacy Coach for our May Way Model Schools project.  Erin brings her expertise in dyslexia therapy and in mentoring teachers of reading to support public school teachers in growing their literacy practices.   Pictured (top left): Lisa Cat, (top right): Hayden Cuffman, (bottom left): Larkin Lujan, (bottom right): Connie Rose  Outdoor Education: We look forward to May School’s Outdoor Education program this school year.  In partnership with Marc Reynolds of Tierra Field School, May School Intermediate students will have the opportunity to engage in experiential field learning throughout the school year.  With a focus on the water cycle, physics, and agriculture, students in Connie’s, Gabriella’s, and Corrie’s classes will regularly visit Reunity Resources Outdoor Learning Lab and Santa Fe Botanical Garden.  A highlight of the program will be two camping expeditions during the school year.   Students in Trudy’s and Jennifer’s classes will be engaged in year-long experiential learning focused on the Santa Fe River in partnership with Riversource.  The river project allows for deep learning about the ecology of the river system and the importance of the river for our ecosystem in Northern New Mexico. By integrating experiences in nature grounded in individual interaction with the environment, May School’s Outdoor Education model fosters a connection with a sense of self in relationship to the environment, an understanding of strong community and collaboration, and a deeper relationship with the natural world.  Pictured: May School students hiking last school year Summer LEAP:  Albuquerque and Santa Fe  May Center’s Summer LEAP programs served more students than ever before this summer.  Summer LEAP at Albuquerque Academy served 34 students in grades 1-8.  Students in that program demonstrate an average of 1 grade level of growth in their reading skills during the six week session.  Our four week Santa Fe LEAP program was attended by 28 students in grades 1-7.  We also welcomed 6 students in our Early Childhood summer program.   Pictured: Summer fun for students attending LEAP at Albuquerque Academy We are proud to be launching our May Way (™) Literacy Model this fall.  The May Way(™) model explicitly articulates the essential success indicators of May Center’s programming and utilizes intensive coaching to support educators in implementing this model in their classrooms and schools.  This school year, May Center is partnering with Pablo Roybal Elementary School in Pojoaque, Rio Grande School, and Turquoise Trail Charter School in this work.  We are grateful to the New Mexico Literacy Institute, Mittler Family Foundation, and the Daniels Fund for their generous support of this work.   In addition, we are proud to partner with CES LEAP Alternative Licensure program to offer a Dyslexia Specialist concentration for teacher preparation candidates.  This school year, 11 teachers from across the state of New Mexico, including the Navajo Nation, will be enrolled in this intensive coursework and practicum.   We are grateful to the New Mexico Public Education for inviting May Center Executive Director Amy Miller to give a keynote address at the New Mexico Literacy Convening in June.  Amy’s talk, “The Lasting Impact of Inequities in Early Literacy Experiences” focused on the importance of equal access to early identification and intervention for all students in New Mexico who are struggling to learn to read and write.  Amy was joined by Desirey Archuleta, an Occupational Therapist in Albuquerque and former May Center teacher, who shared her personal experiences as a student with dyslexia  in New Mexico public schools.   Pictured: Amy Miller giving the keynote address at the New Mexico Literacy Convening  Become a Dyslexia Specialist/Certified Academic Language Practitioner Would you like to become a nationally certified Dyslexia Specialist?  Registration for our Winter 2023 Dyslexia Specialist cohort is now open.  May Center’s Dyslexia Specialist program is accredited through the International Dyslexia Association.  In partnership with Shelton School of Dallas, May Center Dyslexia Specialist candidates are eligible for national certification through the Academic Language Teaching Association.   Learn More & Register! 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