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Don't Forget!
May 31 Dress-Down Day (Staff & Students) May 31 Reception (6pm-9pm) at 410 Goodbuddy Gallery (grades 3-8 exhibiting) May 31 WEDJ Presidential Elections and Speeches June 1 New family registration Assessment (grades 3-8) 8am - 10am A-L register 10am - 12noon M-Z register 1pm - 3pm June 3 Parent Interviews June 3 Science/Inquiry Fair June 4 Grade 8 Basketball Camp (9am - 12noon) June 5 Dental Clinic June 5 Grade 8 CookOut (10am - 2pm) June 6 Piano/Vocal Workshop (Grades 3-5) June 6 Grades 6-8 attend Carmina Burana June 11 Music Concert 2pm June 13 Grade 8 Graduation (am) June 14 Dress-down Day (Staff & Students) June 17 Kindergarten Moving-Up Ceremony 1pm June 18 SPED Trip to Six Flags June 19 WEDJ Awards Assemblies -- 8:30 am - Grade1 -- 9:30 am - Grade 2 -- 10:30 am - Grade 3 -- 11:30 am - Grade 4 -- 1:30 pm - Grade 5 -- 2:30 pm - Grades 6&7 June 20 Last Day of Class. Formal reports and 2013-2014 class placement distributed. July 1 Camp Imagination (Summer School) Begins August 2 Camp Imagination (Summer School) Ends August 22 WEDJ Orientation and Curriculum Night (6pm - 8pm) August 26 First day of school |
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THE LATEST NEWS FROM
WEDJ PCS FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
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WEDJ Students Finish the Year with a Flourish of Performances and WorkshopsWEDJ students have been bringing down the house in end-of-year performances. On May 15, the 1st and 2nd graders performed The WEDJ Wiz, adapted from the Broadway play The Wiz. The cast included mice along with the Scarecrow and Dorothy.   Students in grades 6 and 8 performed Shakespeare's Macbeth on May 24.
A number of musical activities are scheduled for June. String, band, and piano students in grades three through five will play their final recital of the year on June 11 at 2 pm. Parents are welcome to attend!
On June 6, piano and vocal students in grades three through five will take part in a workshop led by Leon Williams and Jeffrey Watson. Williams and Watson will treat music students in grades six through eight to a performance of works from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana that same day. The trumpet students will participate in a June workshop with Chris Gekker, principal trumpet of National Philharmonic.
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Dean Harris Outlines Innovations in WEDJ Approach to Arts Instruction
for 2013-2014
Dean of Fine Arts Brian Harris reflected on this year's arts program and shared his vision for the 2013-14 school year:
At WEDJ we teach our students to see themselves as experts. We want our math students to think like mathematicians, our dance students like dancers. Known as the Inquiry Model, our approach places a premium on students learning through exploration rather than by rote. We are focused on building the whole child through the arts. We want our students to do well personally as well as academically.
Unlike other schools that teach a piece and then have students perform it by rote, we teach our students deeper skills. With those skills in place, if someone forgets something, or makes a error, they can improvise and respond constructively. They learn to solve problems in the arts.
Next year, we are taking our approach even deeper as we work to more closely align our arts pedagogy with our targeted student outcomes for academic subjects. We will be using the ENACT approach, which stands for explore, navigate, analyze, create, and teach. As they learn, our students will also analyze (pull out key skills and concepts that went into a piece), create their own pieces based on their learning, and teach younger students to strengthen their own learning.
ENACT deepens our conservatory approach by adding teaching as well as performing to the high-level learning model. Teaching is the way a student learns what he or she actually knows. And that's what we want for our students--to become experts at their grade level. I see the arts as helping the child find his or her own voice, understand his or her own creativity, and develop critical thinking skills.
About Dean Harris
Harris grew up as a dancer, often the only boy in class, he notes. From age 13 he studied ballet, modern, jazz, and West African dance.
He went on to get a degree in journalism, which gave him research and investigative skills that he still uses in his work today. Then he completed a master's degree in divinity, which, he says, "reflects my interest in developing the whole child."
He loves his work at WEDJ, noting that he especially enjoys leading the Sons of Freedom dance company. "I can provide the opportunity for boys to not only dance but also learn life skills and character development. I will start an Ed.D. in education this fall, focused on how the arts enhances boys' learning and cognitive development."
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Visual Arts Students Show Their Work at Several Venues in DC and NYC
Visual arts students enjoyed several opportunities to exhibit their work here in DC and in New York City during May.
Students in grades six through eight took part in the Frieze Art Fair, and exhibited their work at gallery onetwentyeight. The Frieze Art Fair was part of New York's Art Fair Week May 10 through 13. Student friezes were hung throughout the fair among works by artists from around the world. In DC, third through eighth grade art students are exhibiting their work at 410 Goodbuddy Gallery on 410 Florida Ave., NW. Students and their families can attend a reception at the gallery May 31 from 6 to 9. The gallery is two blocks from the
Shaw Metro stop on the green line.
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Four 7th Graders Learn the Art of Campaigning as They Run for Office
Seventh graders Faith Boyd, JaQuay Bynum, Zayreon Delvalle, and Jeremiah Flack are campaigning for the office of eighth grade president, using posters and other campaign strategies to persuade their classmates that they are right for the job. The elections will be held Friday, May 31. All of the students deserve congratulations for their willingness to take on the office!
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Pre-K Students Will Soon Be on Their Way to Sesame Place
 Supported by fundraising efforts, students will be heading to Sesame Place for a fun-packed day on June 7. From learning activities to amusement park rides and the chance to meet characters like Big Bird and Elmo, the little ones will have a blast.
Thank you to the entire PreK team for all your hard work and dedication! And thanks to all those who helped the students by raising funds for the trip!
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English Language Arts Middle School Students Put Words to Work in End-of-Year Assignments
 In English Language Arts, Mrs. Exum reports that students are using the end of the year to sharpen their writing skills.
Eighth graders are busy writing reflections on their year and penning advice and messages for next year's eighth grade class.
The seventh grade class is working on speeches and posters for the upcoming student council president elections.
In sixth grade, students are creating story novel outlines, including character and setting descriptions, maps, and graphic organizers. Next year, they will write the first draft of the stories, completing them in eighth grade.
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Teacher Feature:
Teaching Assistant Lenora JohnsonLenora Johnson works at WEDJ as a teaching assistant for PreK through third grade classes. Her job as an assistant is to ensure that each student in the class gets personal attention, enhance the classroom atmosphere, and create an environment for learning. This is what she had to say about her job. 
I love children and I love what I do. Working with children has been a natural career for me. When I was a child, our house was the one where the neighborhood kids all came to play. Before coming to WEDJ five years ago, I had my own child care center, Southeast Academy. I've worked in many other child-oriented educational settings as well.
I just love this age group. When the students learn something, you can see the glow in their eyes and the wheels turn as they advance in understanding. Our children are performers and comedians, too. When we finish reading a story, they have started saying, all together, "That
was so precious." We teach foundational skills, including writing their names and the days of the week, for example. We also teach them how to be good people and respect their classmates, their teachers, and themselves.
We have a good group. They pay attention and they go right to sleep when it is nap time. We have 16 in each classroom so every child can get personal attention.
I am a singer in the group Queen Aisha so I bring that into the classroom by adding singing to our exercise program. |
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Spaces Still Available for Summer Camp Imagination at WEDJ
There is still time to register for our summer program, Camp Imagination. It runs for five weeks from July 1 to August 2, opening daily at 8 am and ending at 4 pm. Mornings will focus on academics, including reading, writing, math, and the character program.
After lunch, students will have fun with sports (basketball, baseball, and flag football), as well as theater, arts and crafts, music, dance, and modeling.
Camp Imagination is open to any DC resident with a student ID. The registration fee is $80. To enroll your child, download the application.
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PARENTS: Did you know....
We post hundreds of pictures of our students in albums on our Facebook page. Browse through them to find your child and get a taste of what school life is like.
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