Champions for Children
TR Newsletter
Preschool News
In the month of February the preschoolers have been learning all about the community helpers, the groundhog, and Valentine’s Day. The preschoolers also celebrated Valentine’s Day with their friends in class.
The community helpers that the students learned about are Mail Carriers, Doctor, Veterinarians, and the Dentist. They learned what each of these community helpers do for us in our community and where they work. They had the hands on experience of pretending in dramatic play to be each of these community helpers to try doing the different activities that are part of their jobs. The students graphed with groundhogs to predict if the groundhog would see his shadow. We also graphed with wildcats to choose the name of the mascot. The students learned about Valentine’s Day and hearts. We have been exploring different activities with magnets. In Mrs. Litchko’s class they explored the effects of soda on teeth with soda and eggs.
Art projects have included that the students have made included groundhogs, community helpers projects, hearts and valentines. The preschoolers had fun at their Valentine’s Celebration exchanging valentines with their friends s. Our school also had a visit from the Cat in the Hat. We also celebrated Global Day of Play by having an hour of free play.
Second Grade News
The month of February flew by in second grade! We celebrated Black History Month in all classrooms. In Mrs. McGinnis class the students sang the “Black National Anthem” over the loudspeaker to share with all teachers and students. Their projects are displayed in the second grade hall. Students researched influential African Americans is Mrs. Kizee and Ms. Mark’s class using the Chromebooks. They also designed posters and dressed in character to present them for their classmates and families. Using the Swivil device students were able to capture their presentations to share with other classrooms! Mrs. Handzus’ class displayed their President’s Day writing in the hallway complete with cotton balls for hair! They also used music to teach mood with songs by Adele and One Direction! Mrs. Romstead’s class helped create a school-wide superbowl vote that stretched down the second grade hallway! Mrs. Campenella lead the second graders with 100 different exercises during the 100th day of School rotation! It was a blast! Each classroom was filled love during the Valentine's day card exchange.We continue to strive to be a bucketfilling grade as we celebrate love and diversity, not just in February, but all year long!
Please click here to view a video of a student presenting her Black History Month project: https://cloud.swivl.com/library/483805/share/public
Third Grade News
Grade 3 students spent the chilly month of February with the book The Snow Queen by
Hans Christian Andersen and explored the effects the story settings have on the plot. They have also been sharpening their multiplication skills in anticipation of a movie reward.Enrichment News - Art
Art Room News
Welcome to a new year of Art Study with Mrs. Zaleski. TR Art students, like Art students everywhere, are exploring the Art making process through the study of the elements of art: line, color, shape, form, space, texture and value. Our Art curriculum adheres to the parameters established in the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards for the Visual and Performing Art (NJcccsVPA). Our learning , however, exceeds these established standards and we are working hard to implement STEAM!
What is STEAM; beyond one of those trendy new buzzwords being thrown around in the halls of Academia? STEAM stands for the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. What it means is that our Art program seeks to reinforce the greater goals of traditional classroom instruction in preparing our children for 21st century citizenship and employment. It is cross-curricular instruction. Why does Art matter in the education or our children? Art provides people with the opportunity to be visual, innovate, make mistakes and resolve them, express oneself, and connect with others across cultures and time. In terms of education, while lecture style teaching has traditionally been the accepted means for teaching, the opportunity to put learning into action in engaging ways, cements new ideas into our intellect. Case in point: the Art and Spanish teachers work together to further enrich cultural and language instruction goals. Second graders have created posable masks in the style of Paul Klee for learning the Spanish words for the various emotions. Third graders have painted castles in the style of the famous Alhambra Palace in Spain. Culture and Art go hand in hand. Color, shape, space. and line are the language that we use to guide the architectural concepts taught in this lesson. History is also an important component in understanding this fascinating time period; and this incredible culture and its dramatic influences on the Western world.
Please take a moment to visit Artsonia.com and view the fabulous castles created by Mrs. Z’s third grade Artists. Artsonia is a virtual childrens art museum created by the National Art Education Association. It is free. It is safe. Children from all over the world display their work. It is amazing how technology can bring us closer together especially when speaking the universal language of Art! Additionally, through a special program, Apple Computers and Artsonia is lending our Art Department an IPad for photographing our student’s Art projects!
Mathematical concepts, such as shape, form and symmetry; and engineering concepts such as structure and balance are often better understood when applied. Many Art projects involve the use of symmetry and geometric shapes. The comparison between Shape and Form is an essential understanding for the third grade. The cold January weather brought the creation 3D snowmen. Students used the concepts of symmetry and balance to create their snowman. The snowman was required to stand and be viewed from 360 degrees. All 100+ of our snowmen stood and were creatively adorned from all angles! In the coming weeks we look forward to creating Chilean Rain Sticks. Please stay tuned!
Mrs Zaleski