Famous Ladies Vol. I-III by Alexandra Beguez

Charming illustrations and excellent production make this series a perfect fit for incarcerated and detained youth, and school librarians may wish to order several sets to share with students.  

Each volume is printed on a single sheet of 11 x 17 lightweight cardstock and features fine-lined portraits of six historical female figures, some long since dead and some contemporary heroines.  The only text between the covers is  the names of the women, making the content fun to browse and giving the developing reader plenty of space.  The back covers feature three to four lines of handwritten text summarizing each woman’s accomplishments.

Younger readers may be confused as the descriptions are written in the present tense, however the educator can use this possible confusion to spark an inquiry project.  Highly recommended.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

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Tags: art, women’s history, zines

Disappeared by Francisco X. Stork

Sara and her brother Emiliano must make a run for the border. Sara fears for her life after discovering a dark truth connected to the disappearance of her best friend. Emiliano chooses to leave everything behind, including a new job offer that could change his life, in order to see his sister to safety. Disappeared is a great read for those that can withstand the slow-paced beginning of the book where Stork takes his time developing the characters and setting the plot. However once the pieces are in place, the book becomes a page turner as Emiliano and Sara must rely on each other to cross the deadly terrain and make it to the Mexican-American border. Students interested in underground crime syndicates and conspiracies will enjoy the overall plot and the plot twist reveals that this book delivers.--Claudio Leon

Stork, Francisco X. Disappeared. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2017. Print.

One Punch Man by Yuske Murata

What if there was no opponent in the world that could withstand a single punch from you? What if you defeated every opponent you encountered with a single strike? This is what life for Saitama is like. After being attacked for protecting a young man and nearly dying, he vowed to become the strongest hero in the world. But now that he is the world’s strongest superhero and there is no one strong enough to challenge him, life seems to have lost its meaning. Until he encounters Genos, who asks to become his apprentice. Could training Genos lead Saitama to a life of fulfillment? Or will he eventually find someone strong enough to challenge the One Punch Man? Students that have finished Dragon Ball Z and are looking for more hand to hand action should pick this one up.--Claudio Leon

Murata, Yuske. One Punch Man. San Francisco: VIZ Media LLC, 2015. Print.

Guest Post: Blackout Poetry

Student creates an original blackout poem after reading selections from Kleon's Newspaper Blackout.  Photo credit: Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Student receives scaffolded support from Special Education teacher Ms. Nadel.  Photo credit: Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Student works alongside YC Ms. Sigourney and ELA teacher Mr. Villaronga to generate original blackout poetry.  Photo credit: Jessica Fenster-Sparber

On Thursday April 11 in celebration of National Poetry Month, the boys and girls of SCO high school class at Belmont participated in a Blackout Poetry activity. 

Beginning  with activating schema that got them thinking about how to make a remix, the students then watched a short video explaining the process of making blackout poems. 

Finally, using Scholastic Readers and markers,  the students created their own blackout poetry.  Then they pasted their blackout poems on construction paper and all are now displayed in their ELA classroom.--Erica Nadel

PD Notes: Wellness at Work!

Photo credit: Rebecca Krieger

Today a bunch of us adults at Belmont came together for a second workshop in a pilot self-care lunchtime series provided by several members of the mental health team in collaboration with the library.  Mindful coloring, led by Mr. Morgan, helped us destress, re-focus, and connect in the middle of the workday.  Refreshing! --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Guest Post: Zine Project in ELA Class

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Photo credit: Ms. Ernyey

Photo credit: Ms. Ernyey

This month ELA students in NSD at Belmont embarked on a zine project.  This project was a creative way for students to express themselves through expository, narrative, informative, and persuasive writing using descriptive language.  Students sharpened their writing skills by moving through the writing process (drafting, editing, revising, and publishing.)  The final products were single-sheet zines comprised of appropriate content the author felt a personal connection to.  The writing was assessed on criteria outlined in a rubric.—Jessica Ernyey, ELA Teacher

Programming Spotlight: Knitting It Together!

On Monday, February 11th, School Outreach Librarian Leigh Hurwitz brought a little bit of the Brooklyn Public Library to Passages Academy's Belmont site through a knitting program for our placement girls groups.  Leigh described all that BPL has to offer including programs for teens.   They distributed needles and yarn for the girls to keep and instructed them in the craft of knitting.

Said one student participant (T., age 17) who had just received a new library card from Leigh: “I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t go to the library before on the outside.  But now I’m gonna go to keep myself from getting in trouble. Honestly, I like to read.”

Thank you to Leigh and BPL for initiating the program, and to LIT for the funding to ensure all participants left with knitting needles and yarn!--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Passages' BIG (little) READ 2019

Today is our Big (little) Read!  We're all devouring the webcomic She Dared to be Herself: Shirley Chisholm's Legacy by Whit Taylor and Shannon Wright published by The Nib.  Won't you join us?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Programming Spotlight: Patricia McCormick Returns to Belmont in the Dead of Winter

Since the start of the new year colleagues Mr. Villaronga and Ms. Nadel have been teaching Cut by Patricia McCormick to two groups of ELA students. On January 17th and January 30th students in those classes were graced with a chance to meet the author herself!  Rounding out the instructional efforts were myself, Mr. Morgan, Social Worker and Transition Specialist, and Ms. Bernard, Reading Specialist.  Mr. Morgan helped students prepare for the potentially challenging subject matter with a mini-lesson on triggers and coping, and a discussion of self-harm.  

Students were moved by the author's candid replies to the questions they had prepared and are writing thank you notes we will send out this weekend.  All participating students left the program with a short stack of McCormick's most popular titles which the author autographed to each young person. We are so grateful to the author for sharing so much of her genuine warmth and piles of cozy reading during these freezing weeks.  Special thanks to Literacy for Incarcerated Teens for the funding to host the event and provide the volumes.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Preparations Underway

Today we are excited to get students ready for our Big (little) Read which will take place on Monday, February 4th.  Teachers at all of Passages' sites are preparing students by introducing vocabulary words through the ever-popular word search activity.  We've prepared three levels of word searches at increasing levels of difficulty, and Ms. Latham has created a nifty anticipation guide to gauge students' perceptions and inspire deeper explorations in discussion.--The Shirley Chisholm Mini-Interdisciplinary Co-planning Team

College Awareness Day 2019

In our libraries today we are celebrating College Awareness Day 2019 by highlighting our print college resources.  We have several copies of the College Board's College Handbook which can be a challenge for students to navigate.  I find it's best to work 1:1 with interested students, teaching them how to utilize the book and listening to their college-bound hopes and dreams.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Happy New Year!

On Thursday, December 20th, some of us teachers at Belmont (pictured above: Mr. Bent, Ms. Bernard, Ms. Leibusor, Ms. Chau and Ms. Ikawa) chaperoned two groups of detention students to the New Victory Theater to behold the spectacle of Circus Abyssinia.  We're back at work, and I, for one, am refreshed and looking forward to all of the reading, wondering, learning, collaborating and programming ahead in 2019. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: New Victory Pre-theater Workshops

The stupendous Janet Onyenucheya and marvelous Chad Beckim, teaching artists with the New Victory Theater, visited with all detention classes yesterday to conduct pre-theater workshops.  Students experimented with various circus arts, learned a few eskista dance moves, and reviewed theater etiquette.  Participants seemed energized and enthusiastic about looking forward to the upcoming school trip to see Circus Abyssinia. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Programming Spotlight: Velocity

Last month students in St. John's advisory had the pleasure of attending a performance of Velocity at the New Victory theater.  Prior to the trip, teaching artists Chad Beckim and Taylor Britt joined us inside Belmont's library to prepare students with some tap dancing lessons, pictured above.  So much fun! --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Zine Release: How To Be Humble

Excitingly, Norman Adams' "How to be Humble" zine was published today, just in time for the zombie invasion of our school library at Belmont.  The Walking Dead comic-turned-cultural-phenomenon was celebrated all weekend at comic book stores across America and it's so nice to be included.--Jessica Fenster-Sparber