Baby chicks began hatching in an incubator in Jill Macolini s second-grade classroom on April 1. If you pet a chick softly with one hand, it ll calm them down, said Acadia Alves. Her favorite was a black-feathered baby chick who she named Chocolate.
The entire second grade, a total of 107 students, recently learned of a frog s life cycle and Macolini spoke of incubating baby chicks in previous years classes. One of her students, Wyatt Anderson, spoke up about his family s experience with incubating chicks. After asking his family if they wouldn t mind donating some eggs and using their incubator, Macolini brought back the project from the past, and now the students have the chance to see the life cycle happen before their eyes.
NEW BEDFORD After Gov. Charlie Baker announced new methods of COVID-19 testing in schools, Greater New Bedford districts have decided to decline the offer.
At the Jan. 12 school committee meeting, New Bedford Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Anderson said the district will not move forward with Abbott BinaxNOW testing as our resources must concentrate on managing the positive COVID-19 cases including navigating the contact tracing process as it impacts our students and staff.
Fairhaven Public Schools has also chosen not to pursue the initiative. Acushnet Public Schools, which only includes Acushnet Elementary and Ford Middle School, have also decided not to participate but will continue to have weekly testing available to faculty and staff.
NEW BEDFORD The days of walking into a classroom, seeing a substitute teacher and expecting a movie day are long gone due to COVID-19.
While teachers are highly valued, even considered by some to be superheroes amid the pandemic, they aren t immune to viruses, and replacements must be in place in case they cannot be present in the classroom. That s where substitute teachers have played a key role this year in keeping students on track with their academic lessons.
Pre-pandemic, each school district had a pool of substitute teachers who were paid on an hourly or daily basis and were called into schools if available. Currently, New Bedford, Fairhaven and Acushnet have employed building-based substitutes whoreport to the school each day and fill in for a teacher if need be. This reduces the chance of spreading the virus bouncing between schools through contact tracing. Dartmouth is currently experiencing a substitute shortage and typically has around 100 substitutes that rotate