Jackson Journal Parent Edition
December/January 2018
This special edition of the Jackson Journal was written by our students! We hope you enjoy learning about Jackson happenings through the eyes of our kids.
Parent/Teacher Conferences will continue this week(12/5 Afternoon, 12/7 Evening). During the evening conferences on December 7th, we will be offering a homework workshop for parents. Two sessions will be offered-one at 7:15 p.m. and another at 7:45 p.m. in the library. The session will offer parents tips and resources on helping children with homework particularly in the area of mathematics. We hope you can stop in and join us.
This holiday season is a perfect time to give thanks, spend time with loved ones and spread messages of love and kindness. Our student council, under the direction of Ms. Gallina, will be starting a new schoolwide kindness campaign. Students will carry out random acts of kindness and post a video on flipgrid to encourage others to do the same. Look for our tweets with video highlights!
Happy holidays and may 2018 bring all of our families happiness, love and peace !
Sincerely,
Dr. Gonzalez
Principal
3rd Grade Dual Language By Vanessa C.
Hey there! Do you want to know what 3rd Grade Dual Language is doing? If you do, then you should read this! My favorite thing to do in my class is to do projects. They are always really fun. We are currently working on telling time in math. Something special that we did is have a writing celebration. We showed our parents the writing we have done since the beginning of the year! I love being in Dual Language because I get to learn two languages: Spanish and English! I love my classmates and my teachers. There are three Dual Language classes: Mrs.Fabiitti, Mrs.Rodriguez, and Mrs.Bang. When someone only speaks Spanish I can understand them because I know English and Spanish! I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you know little more about 3rd grade Dual Language!
4th Grade Dual Language By Jake S.
Dual language is an opportunity in your life to learn a different language like Spanish. Dual Language is so much fun. You get to talk in a different language, you get to learn in a different language AND you write in a different language. In Dual Language you have a six day cycle. So on day six, it is your last day of Spanish for the cycle. After day six you go to the English side until day six. Then you go back to Spanish. You should try Dual Language you might like it.
What’s Happening in Library! By Halo S.
4th Grade Library By Clara L.
In library, we are learning about the OPAC and how to use it. (The OPAC is something on the iPad that helps them locate books on the shelves.)They are also going to go on the databases to learn how to research. We will be doing Genius Hour similar to AGP. Genius Hour is when students pick a topic that interests them. Then they do some research on the topic. And when they finish their research, they will create a presentation on their topics. We have been doing activities and projects that relate to the global read aloud The Wild Robot. I love to read. One of my favorite series is Harry Potter because it is so exciting to read what happens and I can picture what’s happening in my mind. We have also been continuing to learn about Digital Citizenship with Ms. Moreano in library. Dr Gonzalez hosted “Lunch and Learns” with us, too! Our classroom teachers did the lesson “Super Digital Citizen” with us and then we RENEWED our iPad licenses! Please see the following website for more information about Digital Citizenship https://www.commonsense.org/education/connecting-families/share
The SMALLab By Edvin P.
There are a lot of things that we have learned in SMALLab. We play a game that helps practice our Spanish speaking skills. We play a game that is called Memory. You have to make 2 pictures match and you get to go with a partner. You must remember if you saw the picture that matches the other picture. Another example is a game that teaches us how to tell time. Playing games in the SMALLab makes learning fun!
Physical Education By Shayan D/Ryan V.
In physical education, we have recently been working on basketball. We have been playing a game where you try and shoot the ball into the hoop from different places. There is the tail and it is the closest to the hoop and is worth 1 point. There is the space where if you make it in from there you get 2 points. Also there is the dome and it is worth the most points (3) and it is the farthest distance. At the end of each game we count our points and see who has the most out of all the teams. You and the people across from you combine your score.
We’ve also been talking about beef. The b in beef represents bend. Then the 1st e stands for elbow. The 2nd e stands for extend and the f stands for follow-through.
In addition to the above in 4th grade physical education, we played
another basketball game where you have to make 5 shots in the hoop when you’re at a spot and then go to another spot and do the same and repeat that 1 more time. Once you finish that you go to the last spot where you only have to make it in 2 times. It is called the money shot and is the farthest spot. Finally you put your spots in different places and then shoot from there.
English Language Arts (ELA) and Social Studies By Halo S.
In my class for ELA we are working on "compare and contrast". In this unit of ELA, we are seeing differences and similarities between texts. We also created a concept wall where we build different models of the answer of the questions that teachers ask us. We also are writing about theme. I love theme because my teacher showed us many videos of friendships, forgiveness, love and happiness. In social studies we are working on continents and oceans . We are learning these things by going to the SMALLab and playing matching games . We are also doing longitude and latitude. As you can see, we 3rd graders are very busy in ELA and social studies!
Busy 4th Grade ELA/Social Studies Classrooms! By Julianna R.
We’ve been doing some interesting things at Jackson recently. I, personally, think that ELA has been one of the most thriving topics lately. If your kids haven’t been telling you what’s going on and you want to get caught up, you’ve come to the right place! A topic that we spent a lot of time on, and even some of us are still working on, is determining the theme of a story with textual evidence as support. That sounds a little complicated, so let me break it down. Students have been reading stories with their class. Then they will determine the theme of that story; friendship, belief, etc. Once they have done this, they will find at least 2 supporting details from the text to explain why what they have chosen is the theme. Using this information, they will create a paragraph using the RAIFT (Restate, Answer, Inference, For Example, Tie it up) system and therefore have an answer to the question: what is the theme of the story? And supporting details with an inference and a conclusion. Another thing we have been studying is the Haudenosaunee, better known to you as the Iroquois. We have been learning about traditional and modern Iroquois life. We studied important figures in the Iroquois community and answered questions about their culture. We also had a special day where we talked to Indian society experts and went on a “tour of Native American territory.” We sang traditional songs, explored a small version of a longhouse, and watched demonstrations of how to use traditional Iroquois tools. As you can see, Jackson Avenue’s 4th grade classes have been really busy this year!
4th Grade Art By Michaela Q.
In 4th grade art, we are working on several things. My favorite lessons so far are the sunsets, self portraits, and creating our own tree house. I think my absolute favorite is the tree house. This is because we got to illustrate our own tree house and we were able to choose our own details. Details we included are columns, pillars, and things from different eras. Right now we get to ink the branches on the tree. I like art because there is no right or wrong for painting and drawing.
Masterpieces That We Do By Eliana L.
Have you ever wondered what the 3rd graders do in art class? If you have, today I will tell you a few projects that we are working on. Art class is a very fun and cool place to be. One of the things that we are doing is trying to improve our drawing skills of people with artist mannequins. Another project that we are working on is the “Famous World Attractions”; this project is about sketching and coloring very detailed pictures of global landmarks. Another project that we all enjoyed thoroughly is a collage one. It was a very exciting and creative project, because we had to use our imagination. It’s always so much fun when I go to art class. I love that we can do multiple types of drawings and projects, and they always end up as masterpieces.
What’s Up in 3rd Grade Math By Eliana L.
Let’s Sum It Up! By Kieran K.
Hi my name is Kieran and I’m writing about math. My favorite lesson I’ve had so far is the partial products and standard algorithms. Those are my favorite types of ways to do math. Partial products is a challenge and I like challenges. The standard way is easy, but I like having a way to check the answer. My classmates and I are on module 3 lesson 14, so we just started to work on division. I learned about dividends, divisors, and quotients. The dividend is the first number in the equation, the divisor is the second number, the number that you’re dividing by. And the quotient in the answer to the division. We have an app called Mathspace, in this there are topics to choose from which support what we learn in math. For example, in multiplications we would answer a variety of questions based on multiplication. I guess this is the divid - end.
Move Your Body in Spanish! By Sophia P.
In Spanish we are learning about Spanish dance moves. Spanish dances are a good way to move your body. Our Spanish teacher, Ms. Klein, is so kind, lovely and sweet. I learn a lot about Spanish and I think that it’s a good way to communicate especially if you meet someone who doesn’t speak English. People might think learning another language is too hard, but nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it! Learning Spanish is fun! I like trying new things!
Wonder What We’re Doing in 4th Grade Spanish? By Josephine B.
Psst.... you wanna know what we’re doing in 4th grade Spanish? Well, I’ve got you covered. Right now, we are learning jobs that people are doing in Spanish. For example, one job in Spanish is El Actor or La Actriz; in English it means the actor or the actress. Another thing that we are doing in Spanish class is.....PLAYING GAMES IN SPANISH! These games helps us learn more words and many people can speak full sentences! To our parents....we are lucky that you put us in this district so that we can do fun things while we are learning. Learning Spanish in our school is very important!
3rd Grade Chorus By Naya L.
“1..2..3!” In music we are learning new notes like C and D along with seasonal songs on the recorder. In December, we are also preparing and learning holiday songs to sing for the “Holiday Jingle” (sing-along) on December 21, 2017. In January, we are going to review notes C and D and learn more new notes like F and E. We are also going to learn folk music to sing and play on the recorder. We are going to learn about the composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well. We have fun learning music!
The Amazing 4th Grade Singers By Samuel G.
In this paragraph you will learn about 4th grade chorus. So far the 4th graders are learning songs for the holiday concert. Some songs they are learning are the“Kwanzaa Song”, “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” and “The Hanukkah Song". Our teacher is Ms. Napolitano. The way she teaches us some of the songs is by making us skip the hard parts and then when we finish the song, we go back to the hard parts and learn them. Those are some of the facts about 4th grade chorus. I hope you will come to our Winter Concert to hear these songs for yourself on Monday, December 18 at 7:00pm. This will take place at Mineola High School.
3rd Grade Band By Fred K.
The band has lots of interesting instruments like saxophone, trumpet, tuba and French horn. Our band teacher is Ms. Barkan. She is very nice and talented! The most complicated band instruments are the oboe and the French horn. All instruments are challenging to learn, so there is no such thing as an easy instrument in band.The most popular band instruments are the drums and the trumpet. One of my most memorable times was when I went to Ms. Barkan’s room to get my instrument…. the trumpet. That was such an exciting day for me! Ms. Barkin is very busy! She teaches lesson after lesson after lesson. The 3rd grade band doesn’t participate in the Winter concert, but will perform in the Spring concert in May.
Don’t Stop the Music By Matthew L.
4th grade band is working on two whole group songs for the Winter Concert. They are called “First Holiday Concert” and “Au Clair De a Lune”. One clarinet group is working on “O Come All Ye Faithful” in addition to the other songs. “First Holiday Concert” has some hard notes in it, but I think the band can do it. My favorite holiday song is “O Come, All Ye Faithful”. What is yours? Each child in the band has lessons once a week. The group will rehearse during the month of December all together. The winter concert will be on December 18, 2017, at Mineola High School at 7:00 PM. Hope to see you there!
3rd Grade Orchestra By Wiley T.
“Ohhhhhhh” I like that sound, what sound it is?” It is the sound of the whole orchestra. That has a pretty sound with all the string instruments. I would like to share with you what I have been learning in orchestra class. All the string instruments play an important role in the orchestra. Each instrument has to work together to play a good sound which is called teamwork. The first and the most important thing I have been learning is how to hold an instrument.We need to learn to pluck. Plucking is to make a sound with your index finger and the string. Then we need to learn how to hold the bow. After learning how to hold the instruments, we have to learn the time signature and the rhythm. The rhythm will be hard because we need to have the same pace as the string instruments and we have to go really slow to get the same rhythm and to play with the bow. It took me two weeks to master holding the bow, but when I got it! I was really proud! Now I have to master the songs and I will be playing in the 3rd grade orchestra. I am really happy and excited to learn more about orchestra. I hope I will be able to play pretty songs in the orchestra.
Fourth Grade Orchestra By Michaela Q.
I am going to teach you about fourth grade orchestra. In fourth grade orchestra our teacher is Mrs. Ramsingh. She recently had a baby, so we have a sub. His name is Mr. Salzer. In orchestra Mrs. Ramsingh and Mr. Salzer teach violin, viola and the cello. When Mrs. Ramsingh was here she taught my group “The Salamander Samba”. With Mr. Salzer, I learned the song “Ode To Joy”. During lessons we practice different ways to learn notes. For example, on the sheet we have for open notes we have the letter O and on the staff the music note is on the spot it is supposed to be for that letter. The D Note would be before the staff and under the first line. The winter concert will be on December 18, 2017, at Mineola High School at 7:00 PM. Hope to see you there! The band, orchestra and chorus will perform in this concert. In conclusion, I like orchestra because my teachers make learning the challenging notes and songs fun.
3rd Grade Science By Sophia P.
In science we are learning forces like gravity, push, pull, wind, air, friction and we go to different tables and test those forces. Some tables have magnets, some have cars and some are stuffed animals and blocks. Our science teacher, Mrs. Dawber is so nice and sweet. I love her. In science, you do a lot of predicting and testing. Not to mention, having fun. Science is good for kids of all ages because they will learn so much. It is a great experience for kids. When I go to science, I always get so so excited. I just love science and I hope that other people like it, too!
4th Grade Science By Harrison K.
Have you wondered about what fourth grade students are doing in science lab? This newsletter will give you all the answers you need. We are learning about all types of energy. One kind of energy we are learning about is kinetic energy. This is energy that is moving. We used marbles to experiment on how to measure kinetic energy with stopwatches. We also learned about potential energy in this experiment. Potential energy is stored in one place before being released. Mrs. Dawber was pulling back on a lever, activating a spring inside a machine. That was the example of potential energy and the release showed kinetic energy. The next form of energy that we will be studying is alternative energy. Alternative energy is energy that does not harm the earth as much as non renewable energy. For example using wind turbines to harvest energy is less harmful than drilling for oil. We have not done any experiments for alternative energy with Mrs. Dawber yet. I cannot wait to see what she has in store for the upcoming science lab sessions.
AGP By Deirdre S.
In 4th grade AGP, we are working on a Genius Hour question. Genius Hour is when all the students research a question for an hour. What are you passionate about? Dogs? Photography? Anthropology? Fire? Cooking? Coding? Research your interests with Mr. Kandel, our AGP teacher! We will be able to create a presentation to share with students, teachers, and adults. Researching on Jackson Avenue's online databases will help us learn about quoting and parenthetical references.
Library MakerSpace By James C.
The library’s MakerSpace is so much fun and there are lots of options. One of my favorite things to do is to the code the Sphero. Using the Lightening Lab app is challenging, yet awesome. My next favorite is Bloxels. The only limit is your imagination when using this board and the app to create our favorite character or make a new one to put into your own video game. You can build a dog, you can build a tank, you name it. The possibilities are endless. My third favorite thing: the Ozobots. You use markers to create different codes to make your Ozobots go fast or slow, turn left or right, and much more. We also have Legos, Keva planks, Snap Circuits, Osmos, Kinex and coding board games. Recently, we had a few kids go to Hampton Street School to showcase our library MakerSpace for other schools from Long Island. This was really fun!