Curriculum & Instruction Newsletter
Fair Haven Public Schools
June 2022 - Volume 4, Issue 4
As our current school year comes to a close, I look back upon how far we've come since September. We have remarkable families, students, and staff who have joined together to make this a great year! From newly formed traditions to those we've come to love from year's past, I have enjoyed every minute of being a part of this amazing community! To have to opportunity to see students learn and grow, to see their resilience and hope, and to witness the joy and happiness in each school, every day, my heart is full. I can go into the summer with fond memories and look forward to a new year, where I will continue to fill my mental scrapbook with new pictures of what's to come.
Have a safe, fun, and relaxing summer, Fair Haven!
Sincerely,
Cheryl Romano
Director of Curriculum & Instruction
Twitter: @FHCurriculum
"One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.” Jeannette Walls
Shakespeare Brought to Life
In Mrs. Illiano’s and Ms. Dalmedo’s 8th grade literacy classes, students look at literature through a variety of lenses. Here, they take the lead role in acting out Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Bugs on the Go!
During the presentation, students learned that bugs are Arthropods, they have legs and an exoskeleton. They also learned about characteristics of insects, which included that they have 6 legs, 3 body parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and they have 2 antennae. Students got to meet a live insect, a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach named Spike. Spike loves dog food and he also hisses to stay safe.
The next insect that students learned about is called a myriapod. Pepper, the Giant African Black Millipede, was ready to meet the students as she walked across Taylor's hands and arms, her legs moving in an awesome wavelike pattern. Pepper currently has 256, but is not full grown yet. As she grows, she will get more body segments, increasing her number of legs. Each body segment has 4 legs. Pepper is a detritivore because she likes to eat rotten things, like dead wood. To stay safe, she curls up into a ball.
Students then learned about a classification of insects called Arachnids. Arachnids are carnivorous bugs that eat meat. They have 8 legs and no antennae. Tarantulas and scorpions are considered Arachnids, as well as ticks and dust mites.
The first Arachnid that students met was an Emperor Scorpion named Julius. Since Julius has big claws, his sting isn't very potent. This is true of all scorpions, the bigger the claws, the less powerful the sting. The reverse is also true, the smaller the claws, the more powerful the sting. Students learned many interesting facts about scorpions, for example, they glow under a black light and have been on earth since the dinosaurs. They haven’t changed much at all, but their size has changed. 30 million years ago, scorpions were 3 feet long! Now they’re about 6 inches long.
The last Arachnid that students met was a Chilean Rose Haired Tarantula named Rosie. Tarantulas spin webs in the ground to create a den and spend most of their life there. They inject bugs with venom. To stay safe, tarantulas have urticating hairs that they can flick off their abdomen using their back legs. These hairs make other predators itchy or can even blind them. Rosie has a bite as strong as a bee sting, so her venom is relatively weak. Since she doesn't see well, even with 8 eyes, the hairs on her body pick up vibrations and that is how she gets around. Rosie was very sweet and our students had an opportunity to touch one of her legs, which was as soft as a kitten!
Ellis Island
Stock Market Club
Congratulations to our 4th grade students, Kevin Griffin and Soren de Bruijn, for placing 2nd in the New Jersey South 2022 Spring Competitive Session! Mrs. Dougherty heads up the Stock Market Club for students and works with them to understand how to build their portfolios. We are so proud of Kevin and Soren! They worked really hard to have one of the top portfolios in our region of NJ. These students and their families were invited to “attend” the National Stock Market Game Virtual Awards Ceremony in May.
Kindergarten Orientation
Transition Day
The students then got in gear to ride their bikes down 3rd Street, with Mrs. Schwartz and Mr. McNeil at the helm! What a heartwarming sight! At Knollwood, students got to hear from their soon to be teachers and enjoyed an afternoon learning about the specials they get to take part in. I love this day!
Black Out Poetry
As part of their study of Dystopian Literature, students in Mrs. Schiano's and Mrs. Bielska's 6th grade literacy classes read The Giver. The Giver is a dystopian novel by Lois Lowry that explores themes such as diversity of thought and freedom of expression. Blackout poems use a text written by another author. The “new writer” takes a writing implement, commonly a black marker, and blacks out sections of the text, leaving only a few remaining words. Students used pages out of The Giver to make their own blackout poems.
Fair Haven Field Days
Taking Advantage of the Great Weather
Postal Service Pals
Throughout the year, students in 3rd and 4th grade wrote friendly letters to each other using Google Docs, our "Knights Postal Service." In order to ease the transition from Sickles to Knollwood and ensure that each current 3rd grader has a built-in buddy, this postal service was created. Our 3rd graders had the opportunity to ask 4th graders questions about Knollwood and started to become acquainted with the building before even stepping a foot in their 4th grade classrooms.
To make this connection more personal this year, Ms. Cheryl Romano, with the help of many others, put together the Pen Pal Meet Up. Students from Sickles walked to Knollwood to meet their pen pal, enjoyed a snack together, and saw how much they really knew about their pen pal based on the letters they shared over the course of the year. Then each class participated in a variety of fun, team building activities. From a blindfolded obstacle course, to a "Titanic Challenge'," students had to work together to accomplish all of the stations.
Our Pen Pal Meet Up was a great day of fun and friendship! I look forward to our Knights Postal Service and Pen Pal Meet Ups in the coming years.
Sleeping Out to Support Homeless Teens
In this new school year, students still had the same passion for this organization and wanted to take it to the next level. This year, students in our Gifted Education Program, along with some of their friends, joined Dr. Sara Marino, Ms. Cheryl Romano, and Mrs. Lauren Ganley for a sleep out at school. On Friday, June 10th, 15 students slept at Knollwood School. Students participating in the sleep out raised funds again, this time amounting over $5,000!! They participated in onsite activities with AJ, a representative from The Covenant House, where students learned about causes of youth homelessness, the supports that The Covenant House provides, and how to spread the word about this amazing organization. Students engaged in activities, asked thoughtful questions, and learned how to empathize with those who may be experiencing homelessness. We are so proud of our students and their passion to learn about and support a great cause!
Kindergarten WOW Experiences
Mrs. Jordan Trautman, mother to one of our kindergarten students, is the current Monmouth University Head Women’s Lacrosse Coach, and she came to show all of our students how to play lacrosse. She even brought her team with her to work each class! How lucky are we to have so many opportunities for our students?