Kathy London, an instructional specialist for the Arts with the NYC Department of Education District 75, gives an outstanding orientation to prepare our volunteers to observe and later read to several classes. BookPALS volunteers pictured are Didi Charney, Nancy Oda, Heather Stevens, Amy Wolf, and Jon Mindell.
As you walk into PS 811 you see many art projects. A perfect example is the “Portraits and Patterns” tile project created by the students at this school. Please look closely and you will see the portrait of Kathy London as created by her students. She was a former art teacher at PS 811.
This school is extraordinary as it houses an antique, functional, and c1940 diner in the basement of the school. The classroom houses a Culinary Arts Program for the students that is multi-disciplinary incorporating Science, Social Studies, Math, Literacy, and Art. During our visit, several students were cooking lunch that the teachers had ordered that day. NY BookPALS has plans to place readers in this unique setting in the fall to help further the Literacy component of this program.
Kathy London is shown sitting in the unique diner at PS 811M. The ambiance feels like a diner of the 1940’s as music is always playing from the antique jukebox.
We want to thank Kathy London of the NYC Department of Education District 75 for her guidance and for helping to make this unique pilot project possible.