Grundy Ave Newsletter
~ December 2017 ~
Happy Holidays!
I want to thank the community for your generosity in Grundy’s recent giving events. We collected plenty of food for the Thanksgiving baskets and many families in need benefitted from your generosity. Thank you!
The first trimester for elementary students ended on November 22nd. The Report Cards will be posted on the parent portal on eSchool after 3:00 on December 7th. If you need directions for logging on to eSchool, they can be found on Grundy's home page. There will be two half days for students on December 11th and 19th. School will end at 12:15 so teachers can have conferences in the afternoons. Please make plans for your children as there will be no aftercare on those days.
The weather has begun to turn colder as we approach the winter months but it is imperative that your children know an emergency plan in case of inclement weather and last minute changes, like if an early dismissal is called for. Please speak to your child(ren) and make a plan. If you have any questions, please give the office a call.
Our Winter Concert will be held on December 13th at North HS. It begins at 7:00. We look forward to hearing the wonderful sounds of the holidays with our band, chorus and orchestra. They sound great during rehearsals. Hope to see you there!
If you have not signed up for our email list for important information from the district, PTA and Grundy, please call the school and do so. Grundy is now “Green” and no hard copies of any notices will be sent home. All information can also be found on our website by going here and clicking on the schools tab and then finding Grundy. We are also on Twitter at @GrundyAve and FaceBook at Grundy Avenue Elementary School for daily posts about all the great happenings at Grundy.
The PTA always has many exciting activities happening! The first PTA Holiday Vendor Fair is scheduled for Saturday December 2nd. The Holiday Fair for our students will be Dec 7-8. Volunteers are always needed!
It’s a busy time at Grundy School! I look forward to seeing you at our holiday concert, our next school event or at the PTA meetings. If you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached at 471-1810. Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Amato
Kindergarten News...
We have been very busy in Kindergarten! We began the month off by learning about Election Day and Veteran's Day. We enjoyed singing in the Veteran's Day parade to honor our Veterans. We were also very busy getting ready for our Thanksgiving parade and show. We spent many hours practicing our poems and songs so we could perform for all the families. Unfortunately, our parade was rained out but we still loved performing in our Thanksgiving show! We ended our day with a pizza party in honor of Albuquerque Turkey! We look forward to the many special activities planned for December!
First Grade News...
First grade had a great November! We are learning and having so much fun each day! We were very excited to have begun adding STEAM activities into our ELA learning this month. These activities have really helped to bring the text to life for the students. In math, we are practicing our addition and subtraction facts with a special concentration on the use of doubles. One of the most memorable activities from November for our first graders was participating in the Veteran’s Day program that was held at Grundy. Students were happy to honor the Veterans of our community. On behalf of the students and teachers of the first grade, we would like to thank all Veterans for serving our country. We look forward to more learning and fun in December!
Second Grade News...
We have had a fun month in Second Grade! Reading Grace for President helped us understand why we have Election Day and how it is so important to vote. Reading Violet the Pilot was a great inspiration for us to be creative and learn to be our own leaders. We really enjoyed working on our STEAM projects and loved creating our projects based on the books/folktales we read about. Working as a group helped us learn so much when it came to creating and building. In Math, we had lots of fun with arrays. We played games and some of us even went on a scavenger hunt through the hallways of our school! A big thanks to all of our second grade parents who helped make our Thanksgiving parties a success. We are all very thankful for our parents and our Veterans and hope they enjoyed the cards/projects we made for them. We loved watching the program The Me I Wanna Be and learning the importance of speaking up if someone is being bullied. It was a fantastic month of November and we can’t wait for our Snowball Blitz reading contest to start!
Third Grade News...
Third graders are hitting another milestone…learning their MULTIPLICATION facts! The students have been making arrays and using other creative means to understand the concept. In Readers Workshop, the children are learning how to infer a theme and how mood and tone affect a story. In Science, the students have been learning about Earth’s features and the changes that it endures. While discussing the Thanksgiving holiday, we all took time to express how thankful we are for the special people in our lives. We are all looking forward to our next Lock Box experience and creating gingerbread people at the end of the month! Check back with us in January to see our beautiful creations!
Fourth Grade News...
This month we will be taking our first field trip to the Vanderbilt Planetarium to watch a show about the Earth, Sun and Moon. This trip will take place on Friday, December 22nd. Please look for the permission slip in the beginning of December and check off if you would like to volunteer to help chaperone this trip. Also, please send lunch from home on this day.
In Reader’s Workshop, we are continuing our fiction unit of study and the students are excited to read about Greek Mythology. If your child would like to read more about the gods and goddesses, we recommend the Mythology series by Mary Pope Osborne.
We really encourage families to take a trip to the Sachem Public Library to access all of their programs, as well as their maker space and large selection of high interest books.
Wishing all of the Grundy families a very happy and healthy holiday season!
Fifth Grade News...
The fifth graders have had another busy, fun filled month. This month we have had the opportunity to enjoy many in school programs and special activities. We started the month by honoring our veterans at our annual parade. Following the parade, we had a question and answer session with the veterans and learned so many interesting facts about the lives of these brave individuals. Grundy thanks you for your service!
We were also fortunate to practice yoga and cardio this month during a program called Yogardio. Each of our classes had 60 minutes with an instructor to practice different movements, stretching, and breathing exercises. Namaste!
In addition, we also learned about the importance of cyberbullying during the program entitled Cybersmartz. Please ask your 5th grader what he or she learned at the program and check all of the settings on your programs at home. Finally, we attended the “Me I Wanna Be” program. The program reinforced the importance of staying true to yourself, no matter what people may say.
In our classrooms, we have started a unit on Early America and we have begun to explore some of the first civilizations here in America. Ask your children about the Mound Builders, Anasazi, and Inuit! In Math, we have been dividing, dividing, and dividing! Lots of practice is proving to help with this challenging task! We are almost ready to publish our personal narratives for our Memoir Unit. The children have worked extremely hard to revise, edit and share their memories. It has been a great experience to share with one another and to get to know one another even better!
Grundy honors Veteran's
The patriotic students, dressed in red, white and blue, cheered as the veterans marched down the road. They then joined the students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as part of a flag raising ceremony. Students then performed two songs for the veterans, thanking them for their extraordinary sacrifice for our country.
Following the parade, students in grades 3-5 had the opportunity to ask the veterans questions about their experiences as members of the military. The panel of veterans fielded questions about each branch of the armed services, their individual terms of service and what influenced them to become a member of the military.
To conclude the celebration, the students served the honorees cake and coffee and invited them to continue to share their past memories.
Spirit Week at Grundy
News from the Nurse
December is Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Hospital emergency rooms across the country recently treated an estimated total of 251,700 toy-related injuries in one year. 72% were to people less than 15 years of age.
When it comes to toys and gifts, the excitement and desire to get your children their favorite toys may cause you to forget about safety factors associated with them. Before you make these purchases, remember to consider the safety and age range of the toys.
This holiday season (and beyond), please consider the following guidelines for choosing safe toys for all ages:
Inspect all toys before purchasing. Avoid those that shoot or include parts that fly off. The toy should have no sharp edges or points and should be sturdy enough to withstand impact without breaking, being crushed, or being pulled apart easily.
When purchasing toys for children with special needs try to: Choose toys that may appeal to different senses such as sound, movement, and texture; consider interactive toys to allow the child to play with others.
Be diligent about inspecting toys your child has received. Check them for age, skill level, and developmental appropriateness before allowing them to be played with.
Look for labels that assure you the toys have passed a safety inspection – “ATSM” means the toy has met the American Society for Testing and Materials standards.
Gifts of sports equipment should always be accompanied by protective gear (give a helmet with the skateboard)
Do NOT give toys with small parts (including magnets and “button” batteries which can cause serious injury or death if ingested) to young children as they tend to put things in their mouths, increasing the risk of choking. If the piece can fit inside a toilet paper roll, it is not appropriate for kids under age three.
Do NOT give toys with ropes and cords or heating elements
Do NOT give crayons and markers unless they are labeled “nontoxic”.
Happy Holidays
News from the Math Room....
If you are looking for a book for your child this Holiday Season, keep in mind there are many wonderful books that involve math in fun, creative ways!
Children enjoy books that explore the world around them. A great book for K – 3 students is “The Greedy Triangle” by Marilyn Burns. It tells the story of a triangle that is tired of its shape. The triangle visits the Shapeshifter and becomes a different shape. This story will spark interest in children as they see the Triangle change into polygons they can identify with in their everyday life.
A book that can be enjoyed by older students is “Little Numbers and Pictures That Show Just How Little They Are!” by Edward Packard. This book explores decimal numbers and shows in illustrations how a dinosaur shrinks from his normal size to being small enough to fit through the doggie door, and back to normal dinosaur size.
And don’t forget about playing games in the car while you are travelling during the holidays to visit the relatives such as the License Plate games. You can encourage your child can add the digits up on a license plate, or for older students, they can multiply or round the number to the nearest 10 or 100! The children can put the digits in order from least to greatest, they can count what numbers would come between, they can make as many different numbers as possible using those three digits, ex 375, 357, 573, 537, 735, 753. Let them think of a game they could play using the numbers from license plates. The idea is to keep them thinking and using their Math skills while having fun. Enjoy the Holiday Season!
Hour of Code...
Musical Notes....
The 5th grade band, 5th grade orchestra and 4th and 5th grade chorus will have their winter concert on December 13th at Sachem North High School. The concert starts at 7:00pm, but please be sure to arrive by 6:30pm. Concert dress is black (or dark navy) pants/skirts/dresses and white shirts. Please no jeans or sweat pants. Our Grundy musicians have been working very hard and can’t wait to perform for you!
To see our webpage, look here . Happy Holidays!
News from Resource Room....
We are Thankful in Resource Room!
Thanksgiving is the perfect time of year for students to step back and reflect on what they are truly thankful for. Students have been working hard on the writing process. This “Thankful Thanksgiving” writing helps students organize their writing in a thoughtful way!
News from the Art Room...
The art room has been abuzz with lessons about the elements of art!
First, second and third graders learned about all different styles of lines, and the directions lines can go in. The first grade created an overlapping line design, coloring it with texture. The second grade created a pumpkin drawing, adding all different line patterns. The third grade is finishing up a project where they created a name design, filling their paper with line and color patterns.
The fourth and fifth grade is getting their creative juices flowing. The fourth graders just completed a lesson based on Picasso’s “Three Musicians”. The students created a Cubism style collage of their own musicians. The fifth graders are currently printmaking a line and shape design. The students drew their own balanced design, and created a stamp from their design. This week they are printing their stamp several times fitting their design together to build a larger design from their smaller one.
The kindergarten has been working hard on building their fine motor skills. Tracing and cutting are great ways to build the muscles in their hands. This practice helps the students to gain control over their muscles. I’m sure you’ve seen their adorable scarecrow and turkey projects that were sent home. This week the students did their first painting in the art room. Each student painted their own snowman that they will decorate. Stay tuned to Grundy’s hallways to see their awesome work!
News from the Library....
Coming up in the weeks of December 4th and 11th all of our students here at Grundy will be participating in the Hour of Code. This worldwide event exposes students of all ages to get involved with coding during Computer Science Week. There are so many wonderful resources out there for coders of all types. If you want to check out some of the activities that we will be learning and creating from, check out https://code.org/ and see what we are up to! There is also a link on the Grundy Avenue Home Page.
News from the gym...
The week Before and after Thanksgiving all grades competed in our annual Turkey Bowl!!!!!!!!!
In grades 3 thru 5 students completed the pacer, sit and reach, and the push-up test. These tests were used to measure cardiorespiratory endurance, flexibility, and muscular strength. All students will be reevaluated in the spring.
Grades K thru 2 began a unit on Directions and Pathways. The directions and pathways covered included; straight, through, zig zag, over, around, right/left, under, up and down and across. The please see the Phys. Ed website for more details!
News from the Reading Room...
Give the Gift of Literacy this Holiday Season!
It is no secret that literacy can unlock opportunity for all children. By fostering a literacy-rich environment at home and in school enhances academic achievement and the likelihood for future success.
Creating opportunities for reading is a great way to nurture the joy of reading. Here are some tips on supporting literacy at home during the holiday season:
- Make holiday or winter reading a tradition. Revisit a favorite book, or give a new holiday book each year.
- Make homemade holiday cards with your children and have them write personalized messages in each card. Have your children read holiday cards aloud.
- If you enjoy making holiday treats, then have your children read the recipes while you bake together.
- Create winter books with your children or have them record special memories in a journal.
News from the Speech Room
This month in Speech and Language we read, “There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Turkey” by Lucille Colandro. The students learned how to use memory strategies (visualization and repetition) to recall important information and details from the story. Students then had the opportunity to “feed” the old lady themselves while targeting speech sounds and sequencing events!
Grundy Ave Elementary School
Email: lamato@sachem.edu
Website: http://www.sachem.edu/schools/grundy
Location: 950 Grundy Avenue, Holbrook, NY, United States
Phone: 631-471-1820
Facebook: facebook.com/GrundyAvenueElementarySchool
Twitter: @GrundyAve