Our 4th graders at Green wrote a book!

Last Tuesday Samuel J. Green Charter School held the Big Class Publishing event. The event was a release party for a book penned by our very own 4^th grade Green Charter scholars. During the event all our 4^th grade scholars read their favorite excerpt from different stories in the book.

The book, titled “This is How it All Began: Animal Origin Stories,” tells imaginative stories of how different animals came to existence. Our scholars were excited and animated while reading the different excerpts. All the wonderful parents and guardians in attendance were delighted to hear the creative stories their scholars wrote. Our 4^th graders were very happy with their work and beamed with pride following their readings.

FirstLine would like to give a big shout-out to Big Class for publishing the wonderful stories our Green Charter scholars wrote. We would like to give a shout-out to all our Green Charter scholars for writing such creative and fun stories. We would also like to give a shout-out to all the awesome parents and guardians that came out to show their support for their scholars. We always enjoy the opportunity to expose our scholars to new experiences and celebrate their successes. We look forward to the next batch of great stories!

To get a copy of “This is How it All Began: Animal Origin Stories” please visit: http://bigclass.org/our-publications/this-is-how-it-all-began

For more information about FirstLine Schools visit www.firstlineschools.org

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Surgeon General Visits Green Charter

Our Green Charter scholars got a great surprise last Tuesday when the Acting Surgeon General of the United States, Boris D. Lushniak M.D., stopped by to give a presentation. Dr. Lushniak spoke to our eighth grade classes about the importance of active living, healthy diet, refraining from smoking and being leaders in their communities.

Dr. Lushniak’s talk was followed by a question and answer session with our eighth grade class. The students asked thoughtful questions about how Dr. Lushniak got to his position, obstacles he faced and what he was doing to stop the spread of disease. Dr. Lushniak was insightful, energetic and inspiring while answering the scholar’s questions.

After his visit with the eighth grade class, Dr. Lushniak took a tour through Green’s edible schoolyard and stopped in on a gardening class. He took time to speak with the scholars in the gardening class and answer questions. Moving from the gardening class, Dr. Lushniak also stopped in on one of our cooking classes to take in the unique program offered by FirstLine Schools.

We would like to send a big shout-out to our Green Charter scholars and staff for being gracious hosts for our guest. We would also like to send a big shout-out to Dr. Lashniak for taking the time out of his busy schedule to visit with our scholars and provide words of encouragement to our staff for all their wonderful work.

Edible Schoolyard New Orleans (ESYNOLA) is a signature program of FirstLine Schools, to learn more about ESYNOLA and FirstLine Schools please visit www.firstlineschools.org, follow us on twitter and instagram: @firstlineNOLA and like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/firstlinenola  

Jesse Short is a Louisiana Delta Service Corps member serving at FirstLine Schools as the Technology and Social Media Coordinator.

FIRST Lego League!

The FIRST Lego League has come to #GreenCharter! Earlier this month, Green Charter Scholars participated in the inaugural FIRST Lego League meeting. The team consists of six scholars in grades 6-8. The team meets twice a week to work together on building robots from lego kits and will eventually program the robots to perform different tasks for participation in a regional competition. The competition, which is a few weeks away, will showcase the team’s robot building and programming abilities. In addition to other factors, the team will be judged based on a research topic and presentation. Scoring is also determined by judging the technical aptitude, teamwork and sportsmanship of the group.

FIRST Lego League is one of many enrichment opportunities that FirstLine Schools offers to our students. The funding for Green’s team comes from our partnership with Friends of FIRST. At FirstLine, we understand that learning outside the classroom can be just as impactful as learning inside the classroom. Getting our scholars excited about learning is always rewarding. We look forward to future updates on the FIRST Lego League team’s success, and hope to add teams at all of our FirstLine Schools!

To learn more about FirstLine Schools and our variety of enrichment programs please visit www.firstlineschools.org/new-orleans-outreach.html
Be sure to follow us on twitter and instagram as well: @FirstLineNOLA and "like" us on Facebook www.facebook.com/firstlinenola

Jesse Short is a Louisiana Delta Service Corps member serving at FirstLine Schools as the Technology and Social Media Coordinator.

Hat Day for Kay!

On Friday October 24, 2014, two FirstLine schools: John Dibert Community School at Phillis Wheatley and Samuel J. Green Charter School, participated in “Hat Day for Kay.” Kay is a 3rd grader at Dibert at Wheatley who was diagnosed with leukemia last fall. Since her diagnosis, Kay has been undergoing treatment for leukemia and has been in and out of the hospital.In honor of Kay and in support of her family, The Dibert at Wheatley team organized "Hat Day for Kay". Scholars, teachers and other supporters, donated money in exchange for wearing crazy hats. Over $2K was raised! This was the second event held to support Kay. Last school year's fundraiser, Orange Day, was a huge success as well.

FirstLine Schools would like to send a shout out to The Dibert at Wheatley scholars and staff, as well as our Green Charter Scholars and staff, for rallying around Kay. We would also like to send a shout out to everyone who donated money toward the event. Finally, we want to send a HUGE shout out to Kay, for inspiring us and reminding us of the incredible strength of the human spirit! We look forward to seeing you back in class, Kay!

 To get involved and learn more about Kay please visit www.gofundme.com/9gocto

For more information about FirstLine Schools visit our website www.firstlineschools.org, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @firstlineNOLA and “like” us on Facebook www.facebook.com/firstlinenola

Jesse Short is a Louisiana Delta Service Corps member serving at FirstLine Schools as the Technology and Social Media Coordinator.

Welcome To Wheatley Open House!

Need something fun to do this Saturday (October 18^th) that is family-friendly and open to the whole community? Look no further than the John Dibert Community School at Phillis Wheatley’s Welcome to Wheatley Community Open House! The event is taking place at the beautifully renovated Wheatley campus, located at 2300 Dumaine from 2 to 5 p.m. 

The event will feature a second line, food trucks, as well as presentations and information about our great community partners. We would like to encourage all community members to come out, bring their families and friends and enjoy all the fun activities.

This is the first year Wheatley has been open since the renovations began. Wheatley has a long-standing tradition of being open and active in the community. We at FirstLine are honored to continue this rich tradition and look forward to seeing families and scholars from all of our schools and communities. Community, food, family and fun, can’t beat it!

For more information about FirstLine Schools and other upcoming events please visit www.FirstLineSchools.org and follow us on twitter @FirstLineNola 

  Jesse Short is a Louisiana Delta Service Corps member serving at FirstLine Schools as the Technology and Social Media Coordinator.

Meet Isaac and Jesse

FirstLine Schools would like to formally introduce two of the newest team members Isaac Henry and Jesse Short. Isaac and Jesse are both Louisiana Delta Service Corps members serving at FirstLine. Isaac and Jesse began their service at FirstLine in September and will complete their service at the end of July.

                   (Left: Isaac Henry. Right: Jesse Short)

Isaac is coming to FirstLine from Shelbourne Falls, Massachusetts. Isaac attended, and graduated from, the University of Vermont in Burlington where he studied political science. Upon graduating, Isaac served for one year as a City Year member in Baton Rouge. He came to FirstLine to serve as the Volunteer Coordinator. Isaac will be helping with the on-boarding of new volunteers and participating with volunteer recruitment.    

Jesse is coming to FirstLine from Omaha, Nebraska. Jesse attended, and graduated from, the University of Nebraska Omaha where he studied public relations and advertising. Jesse will be serving as the Technology and Social media coordinator for FirstLine. He will be working on different projects that involve social media and other internal and external communications projects.

We at FirstLine would like to welcome Isaac and Jesse to the team and look forward to having a productive year!

Jesse Short is a Louisiana Delta Service Corps member serving at FirstLine Schools as the Technology and Social Media Coordinator.

The Golden Tennis Racquet

On Wednesday morning, Arthur Ashe Charter scholars in grades kindergarten through 3rd, gathered in the school's gymnasium to find out who would be awarded the coveted golden tennis racquet. The golden tennis racquet is awarded to the class with the best attendance (at least 97 percent) for the week. It is a point of pride for our #AsheChater scholars and they are always excited to see who the winner will be.

The tradition of the golden tennis racquet is inspired by the school’s namesake, Arthur Ashe. Not only was Ashe a world-class athlete and champion, he was the embodiment of good sportsmanship and class. Ashe showed tenacity, humility and graciousness when competing. These are some of the qualities we strive to instill in our scholars every day. Traditions, like the golden tennis racquet, allow us to show respect for those who inspire us, as we set out to inspire others.




Jesse Short is a Louisiana Delta Service Corps member serving at FirstLine Schools as the Technology and Social Media Coordinator.