Buenas noches tigres,

We hope this finds you getting ready for a lovely, warm weekend ahead, and for our families who celebrate the close of Ramadan, Eid Mubarak! More than ever, we join you wholeheartedly in wishes for peace around the world.

This week's Guarida celebrates our team's work on campus and beyond. First off, we want to offer a warm congratulations to Ms. Bogues-Willis, Ms. Drulinger, Ms.Alvarado, and Ms. Hanson for organizing this week's family workshop on understanding the difference between developmentally appropriate conflict and bullying. We invited Mr. Shepard from the Mayor's Office of Human Rights to share DC's Bullying Prevention protocol and appeals process. This space provided our families with clear and practical tools to support our children. A very special recognition to Ms. Bogues-Willis for her leadership, organization, and, above all, for demonstrating active listening and a thoughtful, intentional response to our community’s needs. For the slides from that session, see this link.

Next, I want to offer commendation to our teachers for opening their doors to more than 15 different schools since January who have come to learn with our Dual Language teachers. Most recently Adams Teachers hosted instructional leaders from LAMB (Latin American Montessori Bilingual School). Given our recent focus on bilingual discourse and oracy, LAMB came with the goal of observing those practices in action in Spanish-speaking classrooms. This is what they saw:

• The rigor in the use of vocabulary and the intentional bridge between the two humanities classrooms in Sra. Delgado's space.
• The clear ownership of the Socratic seminar and the high level of student engagement in Ms. Suárez’s class
• The excellent balance between independence and collaboration as students prepared drafts of a Taíno diary with Mr. Camacho
• The precision in synthesis and the differentiation of materials in Ms. Pérez’s lesson;and the effective scaffolds prepared by Ms. Palacios, which strengthened access to the content.

But what stood out most was that, in every classroom observed, students were heard demonstrating genuine and meaningful use of academic and colloquial Spanish.Thank you teachers for the intentional, high-quality work you do every day in support of our students!

Finally, we commend our incredible Performing Arts Crew at OA for their work. The 3rd Grade Choir delivered an outstanding performance at Duke Ellington, lighting up the stage with Alicia Keys and my perennial favorite, Un Verano en Washington (best remix of nuevayol ever). Their joy, identity, confidence, and musicianship were on full display, and we couldn’t be prouder of them. A heartfelt thank‑you to Sr. Salvador for his passion for the Arts and we’re already looking forward to the debut of his Drum Line next year at Adams, which promises to be another vibrant addition to our Arts program...

Finally, do not miss the much anticipated OA Musical at Adams this coming weekend! Come see the brilliant stage artistry, vocal talents, and dedication of our Adams students on stage! For more info, see their posting in the Enrichment section.