MKES Bulletin
March 2020
From the Principal's Pen
One Hundred Days
We can’t believe 100 days of school are over. The countdown to spring recess seems surreal; didn’t we just bring in 2020? In the next few weeks leading up to April break, we will be busy growing our learners like plants. You will begin to notice your child thrive and mature even more over the next several months.
Read Across America
I am pleased to share that on Monday, March 2nd, MKES celebrated Read Across America all together in the gym after our morning greeting. Mrs. Linda Cohen, MKES librarian led us in a D.E.A.R (Drop Everything And Read) time for 10 minutes to celebrate the wonder of reading.
PT Conferences
Spring parent-teacher conferences are coming! Teachers are looking forward to meeting with families to share your child's progress and growth. This is also a time for teachers to learn from families how things are going. Now is a great time to ask your child how he/she feels about learning. Assure your child that you and the teachers are meeting to find ways to help make sure he/she is getting the best possible education. Please don’t be afraid to ask your child’s teachers about anything that you may be confused about or don’t understand. Everyone benefits when parents and teachers work together; especially the child.
Bedford Central School District Accessing Elementary Student Report Card -
The report cards will be available for you to view on the Parent Portal on March 11th. You may find directions below on how to access the portal. Please contact your child’s teacher if you have any questions regarding your child’s report card.
- Visit https://parentportal.eschooldata.com and log in with your username and password. If you forgot your password, you can use the Forgot Password? link next to the log in button. This link will only work if you have entered an email address in your Parent Portal account profile. If you cannot log in and the Forgot Password? link does not work, you can contact the school main office or send an email to esdportaladmin@bcsdny.org for assistance.
- Click the ID number of your child under the heading Student(s)
- Click the Custom ERC menu button at the top (this menu option will only be available after the report card is released)
- Choose the marking period from the drop down menu
- Click View Custom ERC
- If you wish to save a copy of the report card to your computer, click the disk icon at the top and follow your computer prompts for saving.
Special Project
I am honored, humbled and grateful to have been invited to participate in a project with the students from the Byram Hills High School Global Scholars Program. Below is a write up from the Chairperson of the Social Studies department. Please enjoy it.
Byram Hills Students Take Action to Mobilize Census Participation
(Armonk, New York, February 12)
Students in the Byram Hills High School Global Scholars Program have been investigating ways to mobilize residents to complete the 2020 Census. Given that only 73% of Westchester residents were counted in the 2010 Census, the students were challenged to increase census participation in Westchester County. Students followed a design thinking process as they interviewed stakeholders, researched evidence, identified a problem area, and designed an action plan to address the problem.
One team of students focused on engaging the Latino community in Mount Kisco and have produced a public service announcement video (in Spanish with English subtitles) that includes trusted members of the community to relay information about the importance of the census. Participants in the video include Fox Lane High School AVID students, administrators from the Bedford Central School District, Mount Kisco’s mayor, The Boys and Girls Club, The Interfaith Food Pantry, Latino U, The Mount Kisco Library, and Neighbors Link. The students of Fox Lane High School’s AVID Program and their teacher, Diane Sarna, further partnered in the effort by conducting their own research, suggesting resources and giving feedback. The video will play at Neighbors Link, the webpages of participating organizations, social media, local cable channels, and events sponsored by local nonprofits.
When residents do not respond to the Census, communities are at risk for lower federal funding and less representation in the House of Representatives. In Westchester, certain geographic areas are identified as “Hard to Count,'' which means that people may be challenging to locate or hesitant to respond to the census due to their housing arrangements or immigration status. Residents in Hard to Count areas who may live in non-traditional housing are often distrustful of government agencies. The students hope to eliminate this stigma and elicit a more accurate count for Mount Kisco. This could stimulate an increase in funding and government representation for communities in need.
A contributor in the video, Mount Kisco Mayor, Gina Picinich, voices her support, "We appreciate these impressive students who are working to engage native Spanish speakers. Their video will help to educate an undercounted population and encourage their participation in the 2020 Census." Rebecca Sussman, Director of Parent Education at Neighbors Link shares, “It is critically important that everyone in our community is counted in Census 2020. Data from the Census makes a significant impact on our local community in terms of funding for our schools, school lunch programs, transportation systems, child care and more.
However, there are tens of thousands of people who won’t be counted if we don’t ease fears among community members, improve accessibility to technology and provide educational outreach. Now more than ever, we must make sure every community member understands their information is completely confidential and every single person in our country deserves to be counted regardless of race, age and immigration status.”
If you would like more information about this topic, please call Jennifer Laden, Social Studies chairperson, Byram Hills School District at 914-273-7233, or email jladen@byramhills.org.
Message from Acting Superintendent of Schools
Earlier this week, Dr. Adelberg sent a message to all families in the District about the coronavirus. Please click here to access his message.
I want to reassure you that we are taking extra precautions about disinfecting surfaces even more regularly than we already do.
The best way for you to help us keep all students safe is to have your child cover his/her cough by coughing into a tissue or his/her elbow, and to wash his/her hands regularly throughout the day, especially before eating and after using the bathroom. Additionally, please keep your child home if they are sick. A child should be fever-free, vomit-free, and diarrhea-free for 24 hours before returning to school.
Thank you in advance for helping keep everyone in our school community safe.
As always, I am honored to join you in this work and appreciate our partnership.
Go MKES!
Inas
Important March Dates
February 24 - April 3
NYS United Teachers Annual Food Drive
March 9
Kindergarten Parent Orientation - 7:00 pm
First Come, First Serve - Registration begins for Elementary Bike Run
March 10
MKESA Meeting - 7:30 pm
March 11
Report Cards Sent Home - 3:00 pm
March 12
Early Dismissal - 11:30 am
Parent-Teacher Conferences - 12:30 pm - 8:00 pm
March 13
No School - Parent-Teacher Conferences - All Day
March 14
Mt. Kisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade - 2:00 pm
March 17
Wear Green for St. Patrick’s Day
March 20
Early Dismissal - 11:30 am
Parent-Teacher Conferences - 12:30 pm - 3:00 pm
5th Grade International Dinner - 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
March 25 & 26
NYS ELA Exam - Grade 3-5
March 27
MKES Dance-A-Thon - 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Kindergarten Celebrations!
Kindergarten loves MKES! Kindergarten celebrated Valentine’s Day by writing down all the things they love about MKES. We read some Valentine’s Day stories and talked about friendship. In our classrooms, we exchanged valentine cards, ate a sweet treat and made a Valentine’s Day themed craft with the help from our class parents! On February 25th, Kindergarten also celebrated the 100th Day of School! Since September, all K classes have been keeping track of the number of school days we have had. We show all the days of school using ten frames. Each day, we added one more dot to a ten frame box to represent one more day of school. We filled up 10 ten frames to make 100! On this day, each student made a fruit loop necklace with 100 pieces of cereal, a 100th Day crown, played a scavenger hunt game with numbers 1-100, and drew a picture of how they would look if they were 100 years old!
First Graders Are Scientists
First graders have been fascinated by the second unit in our new science curriculum. We have been studying sound waves and light waves. Our objective has been to discover how light and sound allow us to see and hear. Students have done experiments where they used string telephones, as well as tuning forks and found objects, to determine how things make sounds. Key vocabulary included the word vibration. Students have also used flashlights and explored new vocabulary including transparent, translucent, and opaque. We have also made connections to our first unit in science on the sun and the moon. One way you can reinforce these concepts at home is to make your own musical instruments using found materials such as cardboard tubes, oatmeal containers, and rice or beans.
Second Graders Demonstrate Hard Work, Determination, and Grit
As we progress further into the school year, naturally the content is ramping up! The second graders have shown great determination and grit when taking on various tasks. At home, please relay the message that hard work, determination, and grit are three traits that the teachers look for every single day!
The second graders have taken on the challenge of reading longer and stronger in fiction books. The kids are learning about inferencing and how to figure out the answer to questions when they are not directly stated in a book. Here are some questions to ask your child about a book:
Before reading -
What do you think this book/chapter is about? Why?
What do you notice about the front/back cover that better helps you understand the book?
What predictions do you have? Why?
During reading -
What is the character, ________, like? How do you know?
How do you think the character, __________, feels? How do you know?
What do you think is going to happen next?
After reading -
What did you learn during this chapter/section/book?
Which character was your favorite? Why?
What lesson(s) did you learn from this story/chapter/section?
These questions will deepen critical thinking skills, which leads to better overall comprehension.
Happy reading!
Jacob Burns Film Center - Third Grade
Ready, Set, Action! In February, third graders visited the Jacob Burns Film Center Media Arts Lab in Pleasantville to participate in the Image, Sound and Story workshop visual literacy program. During the session, students viewed short films, film clips, and production stills. Through discussion, students practiced active reading of visual texts. The students discussed the visual details they observed and interpreted the characters’ feelings and perceptions.
Then the students put on their performing hats. Students worked in teams, creating a scene. Without words, the teams needed to act out the scene while the other teams guessed. Students also used their illustrating skills to imagine how they would film something they love to do.
Dissecting Owl Pellets in Science – Fourth Grade
The fourth grade students recently completed a science unit where they learned about food chains, food webs, and digestion. The highlight of the unit was dissecting owl pellets! We learned all about how owls eat and digest their food. After that, we viewed a “virtual owl pellet dissection” to better understand the process we would follow. Next, we began our own owl pellet dissection where the children discovered bones, feathers, teeth, and fur that the owls could not digest. Finally, we used bone identification charts to identify what types of bones we found in the pellets. This allowed the children to determine what types of birds and rodents the owl had eaten. We followed up by learning about the human digestive system. We had a great time and learned a lot too!
What’s News in Fifth Grade?
- Reading at least 30 minutes each night.
- Reviewing his or her math notebook notes nightly.
- Eating balanced meals and exercising regularly to stay healthy.
- Getting a good night’s sleep the night before the test.
- Trying not to stress about the test - it is only one indicator of a child’s ability.
- Relaxing and trying their best!
Thank you for your support!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Ms. Desiree Beriguete - dberiguete3717@bcsdny.org
Ms. Elizabeth Condon-Kim – econdonkim1772@bcsdny.org
Ms. Michele Nigro – mscarpellinigro1998@bcsdny.org
Ms. Madelyn Ortiz - mortiz1728@bcsdny.org
Main Office – 914-666-2677
Ingredients for an Art Fundraiser
By: Sheri Brown
The student artists from K – 5 worked hard in the art room to create a work of art that has the potential to help MKESA raise money to provide enriching experiences for all our students. The original art works were shipped off to Square 1 Art just before the winter break! Sometime in March the original art will be shipped back to our school and each child will receive free stickers with their art work printed on them and a blank order form that will go home in their backpacks. A poster showing all the different products the original art could be printed on has been on display outside the art room since January. You may have already heard your child(ren) talking about what they would like to buy!
Keep a look out for the order form coming home soon! And remember, not only will every purchase be a lovely keepsake featuring the original art of your son or daughter but will help support the funding for special events for our wonderful students.
Band with Ms. Di Grandi
5th grade band rehearsals are well underway! The band members are working hard on preparing four pieces for the Spring Concert on June 2nd.
8AM (before school) Monday rehearsals are mandatory for all 5th grade band members!
All 5th grade band members who have chosen to do NYSSMA solos should continue to work consistently on preparing the required scales and solo.
4th grade band members are making way in their instrumental studies! The 4th grade concert for all parents will take place on Friday, May 15th at 8:15 AM. You will receive more information in April regarding the concert.
For all band students:
When practicing your music, pick one or two measures to work on at a time and follow these practice strategies. If you follow these steps, you will be on your way to becoming a Master Musician!
- Name the letter names.
- Clap or speak the rhythm.
- Finger and say- Name the letter names as you move your fingers to the correct notes.
- Play the passage slowly at least 3 times.
- Play the passage at normal tempo at least 3 times.
Managing Your Child’s Digital Life
By ESOL/Bilingual Team
The amount of time a child spends in front of a screen is referred to as screen time. Television used to be the main form of screen time, but today a child has many more screens to choose from, such as a cell phone, tablet or computer. The concern of parents and educators remains the same. How much time is too much time in front of any type of screen?
We all know that technology is here to stay. In fact, in order to be successful in school and the workplace, children need to master the use of a variety of technological tools, as well as learn how to take advantage of offline and online content and resources. It is up to us, parents and teachers to guide children through this process and help them become confident and competent users of technology.
The skills for applying responsible behavior and appropriate interactions with others, when using technologies and the internet, is called digital citizenship. Parents can find more information online about how to make sure their child gets the most they can from technology, while still maintaining a healthy balance of other activities and interactions in their lives; one such resource is www.commonsensemedia.org. There, parents can find detailed ratings and reviews for television, movies, apps and video games. In addition, there are parent tip sheets about topics such as, managing screen time, digital footprints, your child and social media and so much more. All the information is available in English and Spanish.
Read Across America
By Lori Calandra, Marie Lou Gilbert, Brianna Leslie, Jackie Smith & Leigh Viviano, Learning Specialists
Welcome to the merry month of March!! On March 2, 2020 our country celebrates “Read Across America Day”. This holiday promotes reading motivation and awareness. We celebrate this holiday in March as it is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Below are some ways you can help nurture and instill the importance and love of reading with your child.
- Visit your local library regularly
- Hang out at a local bookstore on the weekends
- Let your child see you reading for enjoyment
- Subscribe to a children’s magazine
- Carry children’s books and magazines wherever you go
- Encourage your child to bring something interesting they have read to the dinner table for a family discussion
- Visit websites like PBS Kids for reading games, stories and videos to enjoy with your child
As March weather can be unpredictable, find moments to read with your child whether it be on a snowy day under a cozy blanket or in the warmth of an early spring afternoon.
Happy Reading!!
Healthy Bodies Lead to Healthy Minds
February was American Heart Month and a healthy heart begins with healthy NUTRITION, especially in childhood and adolescence!
HEALTHY FOODS TO EAT!
- A variety of fruits and vegetables.
- Whole grains.
- Fat-free and low-fat dairy products.
- A variety of protein foods.
- Eating a healthy breakfast is associated with improved cognitive function (especially memory), reduced absenteeism, and improved mood.
- Good hydration (drinking water) may also improve cognitive function in children and adolescents, which is important for learning.
Choosing healthy foods with important nutrients and daily exercise can help people maintain a healthy body weight, which can REDUCE THE RISK OF:
- High blood pressure.
- Heart disease.
- Type 2 diabetes.
- Iron deficiency.
- Dental cavities.
CHALLENGING FOOD CHOICES OF YOUNG PEOPLE:
- Reaching for a soda or energy drink when we are thirsty can become a habit! But every time we drink a sugary beverage, we are consuming a surprising amount of sugar and empty calories. The good news is, making small changes will add up to a big difference. Drink water!
- A bag of chips or a candy bar are tasty but do not provide us with the energy we need for our busy day. The benefits of eating more fruits, vegetables, lean proteins or whole grains go far beyond helping to maintain a healthy weight.
- Set a good example. Let your kids see you drinking water or low-fat milk instead of sodas. Start your day with a healthy breakfast. Load up on vitamin packed fruits and vegetables to have at home. You may think they are not paying attention, but they are! Kids are more likely to do what we do, not what we say. It’s important to demonstrate that changes are possible and the results are positive!
CREATIVE FOOD & VEGGIE COMBOS!
- Try making smoothies or slushes. Blend ice with fruit and some yogurt or a little low-fat milk, and your kids can “drink their fruit.”
- Put some grapes or bananas in the freezer to make fruit more fun. These cold, healthy treats can be eaten like popsicles!
- Serve raw veggies with ranch dip or salsa to add some flavor. Keep sliced apples or carrots ready for a fast snack. Add veggies or fruit to the baked goods your family already loves. Blueberry pancakes and carrot muffins are always a big hit!
- Serve your soups, stews and sauces with extra veggies. Sneak them in, shredded or cooked, and your family will get a healthy bonus.
Have your children help you prepare their food in the kitchen!
Involve your child in selecting healthy foods for their snacks and meals!
https://www.actionforhealthykids.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Quiz-Whats-the-better-choice_v2.pdf
It is important for our children to know that Healthy Bodies lead to Healthy Minds and a good night’s rest can brighten our days!
Sports Section
By John DelFavero, Craig Henley, and Melissa Ponzio, Physical Education Teachers
It’s been a busy month for MKES Physical Education. All classes participated in the Kids Heart Challenge during their P.E. class time. The Kids Heart Challenge is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. Our students participated in several jump rope challenges. We used long jump ropes and individual jump ropes. We learned several jump rope tricks, introduced Double Dutch, and learned how to use jump bands. As a school we raised just over $1,200 for the American Heart Association. Way to go MKES!
We also recognized National Girls and Women in Sport Day. Students learned about some key female athletes in women’s sports history.
Our Kindergarten, First, and Second Graders have participated in the following activities during the month:
- Individual jump rope skills
- Long jump rope skills
- Basketball lead up skills
- Wellness Center Fitness Activities
Our Third, Fourth, and Fifth Graders have participated in the following activities during the month:
- Individual jump rope skills
- Long jump rope skills
- Basketball skills and strategies
- Yoga in the Wellness Center
Mrs. Ring’s Strings
4th and 5th grade students are continuing to work on their concert music and have started earning ribbons based on their performance and practice of each song. Please check in with your child on what ribbons they have earned and ask your child to play a song that they have mastered as well as a song they still need to earn.
3rd grade students are working on their concert music. Each child may be at a different spot in their concert music with some just beginning and some that are already finished and have moved on to extra music. Check in with your child and have them play what they know from the concert to help them prepare.