The PRES Press
Principal's Monthly Newsletter, June 2019
A Message from Principal Amy Fishkin
Please enjoy our last edition of The PRES Press for the 2018-2019 school year. Wishing you all a restful, relaxing and enjoyable summer. Hope you find a chance to try something new, make a new friend, spend time outdoors, read a good book, and write a letter to someone you love! We look forward to welcoming you back to school in September 2019!
Courtyard Dedication Ceremony - Wednesday, June 19th!
We are so grateful to the Pound Ridge Car Show, The Market at Pound Ridge Square, the Pound Ridge PBA, Billy Fortin and Mike Armistead for their generous donation to the PRES PTA, and to the Pound Ridge Partnership, who chose the PRES courtyard as one of their beautification projects for PRIDE Day this year. The new courtyard is already being used by our PRES classes as an outdoor classroom where reading, science observations, and writing inspirations are taking place!
Congratulations to our Retirees!
Sue Novak - School Nurse
Kathleen Crohn - General Education Teacher
Susanne Cusato - Learning Specialist
Thank you for your dedication and years of service to the students and families of PRES and the larger Bedford Central School District. We are so grateful for your hard work and commitment to teaching and learning.
Additional Staffing Updates:
- Our art teacher, Allison Belolan, will need to take a medical leave of absence, during the Fall 2019, in order to attend to necessary wrist surgery. We expect Allison will make a full recovery and return to PRES in January 2020. We are in the process of hiring a leave replacement for this position. I will share more information once we have a final candidate.
- Our search for a new school nurse is underway and we expect to complete the rigorous search process by September 2019. I will share more information once we have a final candidate.
Successful First Annual Love 4 Lucas Fest
Love4Lucas Photos taken by John Morgan
More Love4Lucas Photos taken by Sue Novak
Field Day Brings Fun and Fitness to PRES
Click on the link below to see photos from Field Day:
PRES Participates in Memorial Day Parade
For the first time in many years, the Pound Ridge Elementary School participated in the Pound Ridge Memorial Day parade. Students and families created “floats” to honor PRES’ 80th birthday, and marched along Westchester Avenue among many other community organizations. Three PRES fifth graders were selected to read their Memorial Day essays explaining "what Memorial Day means to me." Congratulations to Peyton Hewitt, Natalie Deforges, and Natalie Labov for having their essays selected and read at the parade!
Pound Ridge Conservation Board Partners with PRES to Promote Plastic Bag Ban
The Pound Ridge Conservation Board invited PRES students to offer art work and hashtag suggestions for the plastic bag ban coming to Pound Ridge in September 2019. The Pound Ridge Conservation Board announced the PRES winners of the “Plastic Bag Ban” campaign contest at Pride Day on Sunday, June 2nd in Scott's Corners. The town will be spending the next several months promoting the new law in Pound Ridge banning single-use plastic bags from stores starting on September 1, 2019. We had 24 PRES students share their creative entries, many of them featuring both art and hashtags. The judging was difficult but in the end three students were selected as winners based on their creativity and delivery of the specific challenge. Their entries will be featured in the town's campaign this summer. All students who participated won a free ice cream at Blind Charlies! Congratulations to Lucan Cleary, Clare Dur, and Emily Fishkin for their winning art work and hashtag!
Avoid Summer Slide - Write to Mrs. Fishkin about your Summer Reading!
Summer slide is the phrase used to describe the backwards slide or loss of skills students experience if they do not keep up their reading and math skills over the summer. It is possible for students to regress 2-3 months over the summer if they do not practice their reading and math skills. Reading for as little as 20 minutes per day will help to prevent the summer slide and may even help your child make reading progress and return to school in September in good shape!
Have Your Child Write to Mrs. Fishkin about Summer Reading!
To promote summer reading, we are inviting students to write a postcard to Mrs. Fishkin, telling her about their favorite book and their favorite reading spot over the summer! We will display the postcards we receive on a bulletin board at the start of school! Thank you to Sarah Hiatt and the PTA for creating the summer reading postcards that will be sent home to students at the end of June.
Your child has worked very hard to get to where he/she is in reading today. Let’s not let the summer break get in the way of all that progress. To foster growth over the summer here are some strategies for your child to practice with your support.
Tricky Word Strategies:
- Does that word make sense in the sentence? Try to re-read and think about it.
- What word would make sense in this sentence?
- Get your mouth ready… What letter do you see at the beginning? What sound does it make?
- What word would make sense that begins with that letter/sound?
- Is there anything in the picture that might help you with this word?
- Read the sentence again to see if that make sense.
- Try skipping the word. See if the sentence will help you figure it out. Then go back and reread.
Fluency and Expression:
- Model fluent reading by reading aloud to your child
- Read together with your child – You read a page, your child reads a page.
- Repeated reading of a familiar text supports fluency and confidence
- Echo Reading (leader reads a section and group or child repeats the same section)
- Read poems and sing songs
- Match your voice to a character’s personality or feelings
Reading Comprehension Strategies:
- What do you think is going to happen next?
- How do you think your character feels?
- Why do you think the character…?
- What kind of person do you think the character is and why?
Here is a great article from the International Literacy Association with tips for reducing the summer reading slide: Ten Tips For Reducing The Summer Slide
Senior Walk is Coming to PRES!
Upcoming Events at PRES
June 19 = Courtyard Dedication Ceremony @ 3:30 PM
June 19 = BOE Meeting (honoring retirees) @ 7:00 PM (FLMS)
June 24, 25, 26 = 11:30 AM Early Dismissal
June 24 = Grade 5 Moving Up Ceremony @ 9:30 AM
June 25 = FLHS Senior Walk @ PRES
June 25 = Grade 5 Kickball Game
June 26 = All School Moving Up Assembly (Last Day of School)