African Road Elementary

March 2014 OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL Volume 5 my desk. The words are a From Mr. McMullin constant reminder of the dignity that children Children Will Listen deserve, and the dignity and responsibility of the Careful the things you say, wonderful profession of Tips for reading at home Children will listen. teaching. Careful the things you do, with your child: Children will see. 1. Allow your child to And learn. select most of the Children may not obey, books that he/she But children will listen. will read based on Children will look to you his/her interests and For which way to turn, preferences. To learn what to be. 2. If your child is doing the reading, Careful before you say, PTO Teacher encourage him/her “Listen to me.” Representative and to read books at Children will listen. Reading Specialist : his/her “just right” level. This means Careful the wish you make, African Road Elementary books that he/she Wishes are children. will be celebrating Dr. can read fairly Careful the path they take Seuss’s birthday and our accurately, with — love of reading throughout good expression and Wishes come true the month of March. The understanding. Not free. Building Planning Team (Reader should have Careful the spell you cast, and PTO have planned at least 90% Not just on children. many exciting school-wide mastery of the text). Sometimes the spell may events including a Book 3. Continue the last Fair and a Reading Contest. practice of reading Past what you can see This is a great opportunity to your child even And turn against you… for children and parents (or when he/she can other family members) to read independently. Careful the tale you tell, spend some extra time This gives your child That is the spell. reading together! Here are an opportunity to Children will listen. some suggestions to help experience books make this a fun, that may be too --Stephen Sondheim meaningful experience for challenging to read everyone. on his/her own as I read the poem “Children well as offering Will Listen” often. It is on quality bonding time a bulletin board right near for you and your considering such factors assignment prior to the child. as: opening of school. 4. Talk with your child  Balancing We look forward to a about the story or classroom successful 2014-15 school information personalities year at African Road presented to Elementary School. and needs encourage interest Mr. McMullin in the book and  Balancing Interim ARE Principal deepen his/her boys and girls understanding of the text. Remember to  Clustering make it a youngsters conversation rather than a for effective question/answer development drill. Some and support examples include: “What do you think  Heterogeneo FROM THE SCHOOL will happen next?” us grouping COUNSELOR: or “What part of the book did you like  Separating Things are getting really best?” personality busy around here! We have come so far this year 5. Try reading books conflicts. from a variety of and experienced many genres: realistic The principal will finalize great things and I know fiction, fantasy, all class lists. there are many more to mystery, science This is a complex come fiction, folktales, process; therefore we are For Kindergarten : I am poetry, biography, unable to accept requests continuing to do lessons in informational texts for a specific teacher. If the classroom to help etc. You and your there are extenuating promote solving conflicts, child may discover circumstances that would friendship and social skills. new interests you be necessary to know in Some books we have read can pursue together. placing your child, please and done lessons with are submit this information in Have You Filled A Bucket Happy Reading! writing to me by May 1st. Today? The Recess Queen, Mrs. Eames Written information will be The Crayon Box that Talked and Personal Space Camp. reviewed and shared with REQUESTS FOR relevant staff members We are now moving into STUDENT PLACEMENT: during the placement being able to tell the process. difference between small I appreciate your Classroom assignments problems and big problems awareness of and will be mailed home in mid- and learning how Kelso the cooperation with our August. Please understand Frog would solve these practices in Vestal that factors such as an problems. You can visit regarding requests for enrollment shift in the Kelsoschoices.com to see summer or staff changes more of this curriculum. student placement. st Teachers establish class could result in a change in 1 Grade: I am just listings for next year your child’s class finishing up doing lessons on Kelso’s Choices. If you some important upcoming Month. We all eat snacks go kelsoschoices.com you dates for our 5th graders from time to time and that can see what the program are: can be a good thing. is all about and it has some May 6th—a tour of Nutritious snacks can curb fun ideas and lessons to do the middle school during hunger as well as provide in the “bug out” section. I the school day energy and important have read the classes May 28th—Fifth nutrients. Consider these books that go along with Grade Parent Night and ideas for healthy snacking. conflict resolution, including Student Night at 6pm . Go nuts A handful Sweet and Sour Secrets, A.I.M. Classrooms of raw or dry When Sophie Gets Angry- (Grades 4 and 5): We roasted nuts Really, Really Angry… and have been working very provides fiber and Rainbow Fish. I hope that hard on getting along with protein as well as the 1st graders are using others, friendship and heart healthy fats. some of Kelso’s Choices at looking at positive things Or try soy nuts home and reporting big about ourselves. We will instead. problems to adults! be starting to do some . Experiment Try 2 nd Grade: Five lessons social skills lessons where fruits and vegetables were completed in the we will learn things like you don't normally classrooms about making listening, making purchase such as friends and how to solve conversation, learning to pineapples, problems using Kelso’s take a compliment. mangoes, tangelos Choices. I will be back in A.I.M. Classrooms and orange or yellow the 2nd grade classrooms (Grades 1, 2 and 3): We peppers. You might later in the school year for have started working on find a new favorite. safety lessons. social skills in this room! . Mix and match 3 rd Grade: I just started The kids have been Serve raw lesson in the 3rd grade wonderful in learning how vegetables with class. We are reviewing to greet one another, how hummus or fat free Kelso’s Choices, using “I” to share information and salad dressing. Dip messages when talking lots of listening skills have graham crackers or things out with friends and been taking place! We will fresh fruit in fat free will be talking about be working on conversation yogurt. Spread rumors, friendship and how starting and keeping peanut butter on to be nice to others even if conversations going soon! fresh fruit such as we think they aren’t so nice applies and bananas to us. Some books we will or vegetables such read that go along with as celery. these lessons are Mr. Sweeten it up To satisfy a Peabody’s Apples, sweet tooth, offer frozen Spaghetti on a Hot Dog fruit bars or mix up some Bun and Enemy Pie. pudding with fat free milk. 5 th Grade: It’s that time Try a smoothie made with to start thinking about the fat free milk and yogurt transition to 6th grade! along with fresh or frozen March 12th is the deadline fruit. for the course selection FROM THE OFFICE OF . Junk Food Your sheets to come back to THE SCHOOL NURSE: child won't eat your child’s teacher! Also, cookies, chips and candy if it isn't and teaches the value of We made predictions about available. Set a good practice. Keep in mind, not Groundhog's Day and had example by eating all children will like fun delivering kind notes to healthy snacks organized sports, but it is our classmates on yourself. important that all children Valentine’s Day. We have . Have fun and get find some way to be been talking about taking creative Challenge physically active. care of our bodies by yourself to think up Encourage your child to try exercising and eating fun ways with a variety of activities healthy foods. We also snacks. Try fruit including team and learned about what we can kabobs, make funny individual sports and do to keep our teeth faces with fruit, use activities. Some websites to healthy. We even had a cookie cutter to check out: dental students from BCC make shapes out of www.parents.com and come in to our classrooms whole grain bread or www.kidshealth.org. to discuss dental health. low fat cheese slices. Enjoy March- spring is Mrs. Lenga and Mrs. Also this month, our nearly here! Morningstar Kindergarten classes th Mrs. Schmidt RN celebrated the 100 day of School Nurse school by focusing on fun learning activities. We made 100th day hats, wrote about 100, and counted by tens and ones to 100. FROM THE PHYSICAL We would also like to EDUCATION OFFICE: thank all our room coordinators and volunteers February was cold MUSIC NEWS: for organizing and month outside, but things contributing to our were definitely heating up The 3rd grade class has Valentine's Day parties. in the gym! We completed been learning to play the our basketball and recorder! The past couple Mrs. Fridrich and Mrs. Ligas volleyball units, as well as months they've worked spent two classes doing very hard and have learned Olympic Stations in honor many songs. Not only are GRADE ONE NEWS: of the Olympics. We had they learning to play the ski jumping, speed skating, recorder, they're also As winter leaves us, we cross-country skiing, reading music! Come and start to see signs of spring. hockey, bobsled and see the recorder concert in One sign of spring is curling; ask you child which the ARE cafeteria right poetry! In March, we do one was their favorite! In before Open House! The our unit on poetry, which March we plan on doing concert will start around includes looking at/reading our dance and cooperative 6:40 pm. poems and analyzing them. games units. Remember The students will be physical activity not only KINDERGARTEN NEWS: immersed in various types provides the means to a of poetry and write many healthier body, but also During the month of different types of poems- promotes teamwork, February we have been couplets, shape poems, cooperation, goal setting very busy in Kindergarten. story poems, list poems, acrostic poems, and haikus. map skills. The students continue to compare and They will also be observing are learning how they fit contrast our community to and recording in science. into many different parts of other communities around How do magnets interact the world; like their street, the world. with one another and what town, state, country, In science, we have types of objects do they continent, and planet. The completed our unit studies attract or repel? Which kids enjoyed looking at on the movements of the objects sink and float? We Google Earth to see all the Earth, and are on to the can’t wait to see you this different parts of their interactions of plants and month at open house so world! Coming up, we will animals. There are more you can see all of the be learning the names of fun science laboratory wonderful things we have the 7 continents and 5 activities to come! done and learned in first oceans and where they are In ELA we have grade! located on the globe. ‘polished’ and saved our Second graders also poems. We are prepared GRADE TWO NEWS: had fun completing our for our upcoming ‘Children yearly Valentine project. and the Poetry Day at BU. The month of Each child in the class had In centers, we have February has just flown by to write a kind adjective focused on Main Idea and for 2nd graders! We have about every classmate. Inference skills. The kids been busy soaking up new Then we made large enjoy digging deeply into knowledge and skills in all Valentine hearts full of the the text and reading of our subjects! 2nd graders kind things that our ‘closely’ for more insight are responding well to the classmates and teachers into the text. new core math curriculum. think about us. The kids The students are The students have been always enjoy writing nice most excited to be working hard to master things about their friends embarking on a new adding and subtracting 3 and they love reading nice module. They are learning digit numbers. They are things about themselves! all about fractions. This experts when it comes to We look forward to module involves drawing, knowing whether we need seeing everybody at Open cutting, equal parts and to bundle and unbundle House in March. might even involve a little 10s and 1s! We’ve also sampling of food. What been working on improving fun! our problem solving skills. GRADE THREE NEWS: Parents, read with Through careful analysis of your children every day and a word problem, the It is hard to believe check to see that they are children are doing well that spring is almost here! logging in to Reflex Math determining what they The third grade students daily. We notice a big need to figure out in the took their ‘trip to China’, difference when a child is problem, drawing a picture and they never came back! logging in and practicing to represent their work, We hosted a guest teacher daily. Don’t forget to send writing a statement and a from BU and a Chinese your child in with a box of number sentence. Miss teacher from VHS. We tissues and a pack of Bigney and Miss Jones are sampled Chinese foods, pencils. Supplies are very proud of their 2nd listened to music learned running low. We look grade mathematicians! about the culture, holidays, forward to showing off our In social studies 2nd celebrations, Chinese projects at the open house! graders are learning about schools and more! We -Mrs. Bogart and Mrs. Lanz project coming your child’s fun experimenting with way. We hope to see you mixtures and solutions. In at Open House this month. social studies we are The children will enjoy learning about the taking you on a tour of governments of the United their day. States and Canada. We are trying to stay GRADE FIVE NEWS: warm, but are happy to see spring on the horizon! February flew by in fifth GRADE FOUR NEWS: grade. We are continuing to work with fractions. We Thank goodness Spring have been working with is in sight! We are looking multiplying whole numbers forward to warmer and fractions as well as temperatures and sunnier problem solving. We are skies. As usual fourth focusing on using diagrams graders have been very to help understand and busy. In math we solve math problems. The completed a unit in students are working hard multiplication and division to learn these difficult . March 5 – PTO and moved on to geometry. procedures and concepts. Meeting – 7:00 P.M. Students are learning all Thank you for all your help . March 14 – Early about angles, triangles, and with homework. If your Dismissal – 11:50 quadrilaterals. They know child becomes frustrated AM how to measure angles and with homework please let . March 19th – Open that their measure is based us know so we can work House – 6:45 – Gr. 3 on a 360° circle. We will with him or her. Recorder Concert soon be learning about In ELA we have 7:00-8:00 – fractions. In science the enjoyed daily presentations classroom visits children have enjoyed based on the research the . March 25 – Spring discussing different forms kids did while reading an Pictures of energy and Eyewitness book. The experimenting with presentations have been electricity. In ELA we have very well done. The been reading and students have finished responding to myths. The writing their own picture children really seem to books. We are looking enjoy finding the theme of forward to sharing our the myths we read as well books with younger as the plot structure and students at ARE as well as characters we encounter. sharing them with you at We will continue to focus Open House. Our new ELA our reading and writing unit will be poetry. Be sure instruction with these to looks for poems hanging myths, short stories and in the hall! poetry in the coming In science we are month. Also, look for an continuing our unit in exciting historical biography chemistry. We are having