Grundy Ave. Newsletter
~ March 2017 ~
Dear Grundy Ave Learning Community;
Is it spring yet? The weather has put a damper on some things this winter including two recent school closings for Snow Days. Please have a plan in place with your children in case of an early dismissal. Kindergarten registration is currently ongoing. If you have a child eligible for Kindergarten, please bring them to the Central Registration Office. Currently, the Board of Education is in the process of developing the 2017-2018 School Budget. Please come out to the Board of Education meetings to stay informed about this process.
The NYS testing for English Language Arts for students in grades 3-8 will be held in March this year. The Math assessments will be held in May. The shift in these tests will again align to the Common Core Learning Standards. The dates of the testing will be March 28-30th for ELA and May 2-4th for Math. As Dr. Cohen mentioned in a letter sent home to families and posted on the sachem.edu website, if you plan to 'opt-out' your child from these exams, please send a letter indicating so to your child's teacher. If your child is planning on taking these exams, please make every effort to have students in school and on time for these important days. More information will be sent home as the dates become closer.
Grundy is about to host a Readers Are Leaders Day event. Leaders of our community will come to share some information about themselves, their careers, read a book to each class and the students will have the opportunity to ask the guest reader some questions. This will take place on March 2nd, the birthday of the great Dr. Seuss! Please ask your child about this special day.
The second trimester ends on March 17th and the Elementary Report Cards will be available on the Parent Portal on March 31st after 3:00 PM. If you have any questions or concerns, you can always request a conference with any staff member.
The PTA has many exciting activities happening! McTeacher Night will be held on March 1st at the McDonald's on Portion Road. This will take place from 5:00-7:00 with a portion of the proceeds going to the PTA. WINGO Night will be on March 10th, Spring Pictures will be on March 23rd and the Mother/Son Paint Night will be on March 31st. More information on these events can be found on the Grundy webpage. Come out and support Grundy at these fun family events!
It’s a busy time at Grudy School! I look forward to seeing you at our next school event or the PTA events! If you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached at 631-471-1820.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Laura Amato
Sport's Night
Kindergarten News
Kindergarten has been full of fun activities! We learned about what Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges did to help unity our country. We spread our love for each other through acts of kindness and creating warm Valentine's for our families and friends. We celebrated the 100th day of school with fun centers such as counting by tens to 100, and creating ten groups of ten! We even had some fun writing about what we would do if we had $100!
First Grade News
February was a fantastic month in first grade. We had so much to celebrate! The month began with making predictions about whether or not our Groundhog was going to see his shadow. Most first graders accurately predicted that our Groundhog was going to see his shadow. These students were happy because they love winter and want more snow to play in! J Then, we celebrated friendship on Valentine’s Day. Our first graders loved sharing the cards that they made with their friends. We spoke about how to be a good friend to others. Next, we celebrated World Read Aloud Day by sharing numerous read-aloud stories throughout the day. The students discussed the favorite books that they like to read and encouraged their friends to read them too! The 100th Day of school was our next celebration! Students celebrated that they are 100 days smarter in first grade by completing 100th day centers and activities. We even enjoyed 100th day snacks! Last, we celebrated President’s Day. We learned about President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln. We also learned about other symbols of the United States like the Bald Eagle, The Liberty Bell and the White House. February was a busy and exciting month! We look forward to more learning and fun in March!
Second Grade News
The second graders have had so much fun last month! We thank the PTA for the Star Lab. Students learned many interesting facts and were so excited to be in a small planetarium in our own school! We had a wonderful time dressing up each day for Spirit Week! Students were so creative with all of their outfits! Pep Rally was so much fun! The students came in first against the teachers. This week we are looking forward to our Readers as Leaders Day! We already started celebrating Dr. Seuss's Birthday with fun projects to make our hallway look amazing! We love reading all his different books and enjoy practicing reading his tricky rhyming words. In Math, we have been learning to write numbers in expanded form and order three digit numbers from least to greatest. We are enjoying reading nonfiction and loved writing and illustrating our personal narratives! We are looking forward to having many lucky days in March!
Third Grade News
Third graders are continuing to work hard in all academic areas. In math, we are continuing with our multiplication and division facts. We are also working on fractions as part of a whole and parts of a set. Our next math unit will be telling time. We have been working on our nonfiction units, but we continue to review fiction as we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. We are reading many of his books, studying him as an author and doing projects too. We are very excited for our Readers are Leaders day. We are looking forward to having our special guest readers and finding out about their roles in the community. Our social studies unit focuses on China. We will learn about the ways in which China and the United States are both similar and different. We will continue to work on strategies for becoming better readers and writers to help prepare for the upcoming New York State ELA exam at the end of the month.
Fourth Grade News
The fourth-grade students had a blast reading and writing stories for World Read Aloud Day! Each group received a story starter and had to work together to complete a writing piece to share with the class. As you can imagine, these stories were very creative!!
The fourth-grade students also showed one another how AWESOME being kind is! The students wrote wonderful things about one another and gave little tokens of appreciation to their peers. What a beautiful way to start new friendships, build upon old ones, and make their peers feel really great about themselves. J
Way to go, Fourth Graders!
Fifth Grade News
Many exciting things have been happening in 5th grade! We were invited to Seneca’s performance of The Lion King, Jr. and can’t wait to see the middle school Drama Club sing their hearts out! Hakuna Matata, everyone! 5th grade also had the opportunity to practice our leadership skills during Readers Are Leaders Day. We were honored to host our guest readers who did an amazing job reading to us and discussing the importance of their role as a leader in our community. 5th grade students prepared excellent questions for our guest readers and some even had the opportunity to be greeters for our guests at the main lobby. Overall, Readers Are Leaders Day was a HUGE success and grade 5 was so glad to be a part of it! Nonfiction reading and writing has been our focus for literacy in 5th grade. We’ve been learning how to read about, research and take notes while we prepare for writing biographies about famous people who inspire us. We can’t wait to share our biographies with you when we dress up as our role models for the 5th Grade Wax Museum in May. We can’t believe it’s March already. Only 4 more months until Moving Up! We’re making every moment count and creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Family Connect Night
News from the Reading Room
How Rhyming Predicts Future Reading Success
If you grew up reading the Dr. Seuss book The Cat in the Hat, you probably remember having fun with rhyming. You may have thought it was a funny little book, but actually Dr. Seuss was right on track with helping you improve your reading skills.
When your child rhymes words, his/her brain develops the ability to do the following:
1. Break words down into smaller words.
In reading, the ability for break words down into smaller words makes it possible for him/her to tackle new words. This is called phonemic awareness. Children who aren’t doing well in reading are often unable to do this.
2. Learn the rhythm of the written and spoken word.
Rhyming sounds cool to kids and makes them happy. They want to read rhyming books because they are fun and give them the opportunity to develop inflection in their voices. They can also hear the differences in the sounds, which furthers their reading development.
3. Learn word families such as den, ben, ten, men, and pen.
Word families are the basis of language. When children realize that similar sounds are found in words they have heard before, they build a library of sounds in their brain for language. If the letter e in the word ben sounds like eh, it may also sound like eh in the word tenfold.
4. Increases ability to spell new words.
Once a child learns word families, spelling comes easier too. When a new word is spoken, it becomes easier for a child to spell the word because the sounds within the word have already been learned.
Spirit Days at Grundy!
Grundy recently participated in several Spirit Days! On February 16th we celebrated World Read Aloud Day where every class spent some portion of their day reading or listening to great books! We also had a fun Decades Day! Our primary students celebrated the 100th day of school and of course we shared the love on Valentine's Day. The students and staff did a great job and looked terrific! On February 17th we participated in Random Acts of Kindness Day.
The first week of March will be Literacy Week that coincides with our Readers Are Leader's Day event. On 2/27 we had Fox in Socks, where we wore crazy socks. On 2/28 we had dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss Character. On 3/1 it will be Green Eggs and Ham Day, wear green and 3/2 is wear a shirt you can read day. and finally on 3/3 it will be Cat in the Hat Day, wear a crazy hat to school. Fun times at Grundy Ave!
Random Acts of Kindness Day
100th Day of School
Valentine's Day
News from the Resource Room
Students in Ms. Turner’s classroom have been putting their heart into their writing. All grade levels were creatively writing what they love about school. During the writing process students worked hard using their strategies. Some of the strategies used were; strategies for revising and editing texts and strategies for planning, writing and revising. Other strategies used were goal setting. Together students created writing goals when beginning their writing piece. Students were excited to meet their writing goals and enjoyed putting their hearts into writing!
News from the Nurse's office
Dear Parents,
Grundy Avenue Elementary School is taking part in a One Day Event for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Pennies for Patients Program. On Wednesday March 22nd we will be sponsoring a student and staff Pajama Day. Donations of $5 can be sent in on that day and would go to support the LLS’s mission to find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients. Please put donations in an envelope with 'Pennies For Patients' on the outside and have the children give the envelope to the teacher. We can truly make a difference in patients’ lives as well as teaching the children how rewarding it is to help those in need.
Thank you in advance for helping LLS to create a world without blood cancers!
Sincerely,
Joann Bruno
School Nurse
Outdoor safety...
Spring is almost here! Along with the nicer weather comes spending more time outdoors. Here are a few reminders to make our students outdoor time safe and enjoyable.
Recess Safety
Students should have the proper footwear to safely play recess. Sneakers are preferred. Flip Flops, wedge heels and sandals without ankle straps are not allowed.
If Lacrosse is being played please send in a tennis ball. Lacrosse balls are not allowed.
Please send your child in with a water bottle so they can stay well hydrated.
Apply sunscreen before school.
If your child suffers from seasonal allergies please see the tips below.
“Must Dos” For Kids With Seasonal Allergies
Hay fever, or seasonal allergies, is very common — and can be really uncomfortable. While it’s not always easy to tell a cold from allergies, it’s more likely to be allergies if there’s no fever, if eyes are itchy, if there’s lots of sneezing…and if it lasts longer than a few days.
Here are some simple things that you can do to make your child feel better.
1. Close the windows. After a long winter it’s tempting to open them, but don’t — because that lovely fresh air brings pollen in with it. If you have an air conditioner, run it.
2. Wash up and change when you get home. Allergy sufferers should definitely change clothes, wash their hands and face when coming in. It’s also not a bad idea for everyone to do the same, as anyone could be pollen-carriers. Try to keep your house as pollen-free as possible.
3. Be thoughtful about outside time. It is important to be outside and active. Sunshine helps our bodies make vitamin D. But allergy sufferers need to be mindful about outdoor activities. Dry and windy days are the worst, and places with a lot of plantings are tough. Many weather sites and apps have local pollen counts; check them as you make your outdoor plans. But since you can’t keep your child in a bubble until allergy season is over, you may need to use medication.
4. Use medication the correct way — and talk to your doctor if it’s not working. When it comes to taking a medication to relieve symptoms, like the itchy eyes or sneezing of allergies, we tend to think that we should take it when we have the symptoms, and not take it when we don’t. But it turns out that allergy medications work best when you take them consistently. Speak to your family physician to see what he or she recommends.
News from the Math Room
Counting is so important for number sense. Have your child practice counting by 10s—but start at a number that doesn’t end in zero. For the younger children start at 2 and count by 10’s to 92 (2, 12, 22) For the older students, begin at 787 and count by 10s to 1,000 (787, 797, 807).
Math Vocabulary is something that is often overlooked. Using flashcards will help your child remember the word and how it is used in math. For example, Addend is a number that is added in an addition problem. The word Addend can be put on one side of the card, and the definition on the other side. Keep the cards in a Ziplock bag where your child can pick them up and study them each day. As your child learns the vocabulary word the card can be put in an “I know these words” pile for future reference. This will help build his or her confidence and math vocabulary.
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, read The Cat in Numberland (Ivar Ekeland) for a clever introduction to infinity. Children of all ages will enjoy it!
News from the Library
There is much activity going on in the library this month! Kindergarteners are creating fact and fiction spiders using the fiction/non-fiction pair of books from bookflix. They already know so much! First graders are going to be learning about dragons, the ones we know from fairy tales as well as some real ones (they always are fascinated by komodo dragons). This is a great way for them to learn about endangered species and how special all animals truly are, even the large scaly ones! Second graders will be "traveling" to Africa shortly as our Caldecott journey continues. We have just started a unit on Chris Van Allsburg in third grade, and Jumanji will be our first read aloud. That one is always a huge hit (must be that made into a movie thing!) Fourth graders are continuing to learn about government, and in small groups are creating their own "states" as we study what our local government does and how we look at resolve issues on many levels. Now that fifth grade has wrapped up their google slide presentations, they will be headed "back to the future...." (wink wink)
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Grundy Ave Elementary School
Email: lamato@sachem.edu
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/grundyavenueelementaryschool/
Location: 950 Grundy Avenue, Holbrook, NY, United States
Phone: 631-471-1820
Facebook: facebook.com/GrundyAvenueElementarySchool
Twitter: @GrundyAve