MKES Newsletter
November 2019
From the Principal's Pen
THANK YOU
Sincerest thanks to all the parent-guardian volunteers who help make MKES amazing! We have had an incredibly successful two months of school. We thank all of you for participating in the Parent-Teacher discussions and feel fortunate to have the opportunity to build the school-home relationship. Thank you for organizing our Back-to-School Social, Book Fair, 5th grade Car Wash, Boosterthon, Spiritwear Sales, Picture Day, Teacher Appreciation Luncheon, Garden Parent Volunteers for 1st and 3rd grade Enrichment, Picture Day, Pancake Breakfast and more! We are so incredibly fortunate to have MKESA parents as a resource for our school and appreciate all the volunteer efforts that go into making us better.
Thank you, MKES faculty and staff for your dedication to students and families. You have attended evening and weekend events to support our school community, volunteered your help or given donations. The children, families and myself appreciate your generosity and really enjoy seeing and connecting with you outside of the school day.
MINDFUL BREATHING AT MKES
Your children and I have been practicing a daily mindful breathing exercise after our morning greeting. We sit up straight and place our hands flat on our lap with our eyes open, looking downward or closed. We have practiced “matching breaths” with and without retention. It’s called matching breaths because the number of seconds we breathe in matches the number of seconds we breathe out. Retention is when we hold our breath for the same number of seconds. Shoulder rolls are also part of our practice. We are practicing breathing everyday because we believe that this will help us optimize our focus, learn better and relieve any stress we need to eliminate. Please try this at home when you can put everything else aside and share how it’s working for you.
Lastly, as we embrace November, and cooler weather, please remember to check the weather with your child in the morning to help him/her make the best choice for what to wear when playing outside during PhysEd or recess.
Please don't forget to review our Code of Conduct.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful and more grateful with each day for our partnership. I wish you all a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends and feasts.
With Kindness,
Inas
Important Dates for November
Friday, November 1st
Pajama Day
3rd Grade Garden Classes- During School Hours
Saturday, November 2nd
Pancake Breakfast: 8- 11 am MKES Cafeteria
Monday, November 4th
MKESA After School Class (Field Hockey) - 3:15 - 4:15 pm
Wednesday, November 6th
1st Grade Garden Class - During School Hours
MKESA After School Classes (Garden and Curiologists) - 3:15 - 4:15 pm
Parent University - Healthy Nutrition Workshop (in Spanish): 5:15 – 6:45 pm MKES
Thursday, November 7th
Principal's Coffee- 9:15 am MKES Cafeteria
3rd Grade Garden Class - During School Hours
4th Grade Field Trip to Math Museum- During school hours
MKESA After School Classes (Basketball and Roaring Dancers)- 3:15 – 4:15 pm
Parent Open House For Kindergarten- 7 pm
Monday, November 11th
Veterans Day- No School
Tuesday, November 12th
1st Grade Parent Open House - 10:30 - 11:30 am
5th Grade Lego Enrichment (Beriguete and Condon-Kim)- During School Hours
MKESA Meeting- 7:30 pm MKES
Wednesday, November 13th
1st Grade Garden Classes- During School Hours
Cafecitos Monthly Parent Meeting 9 - 10:30 am
2nd Grade Parent Open House 1:30 - 2:15 pm
MKESA After School Classes (Garden and Curiologists) - 3:15 - 4:15 pm
Parent University - Healthy Nutrition Workshop (in spanish) - 5:15 - 6:45 MKES
Thursday, November 14th
3rd Grade Parent Open House 9:30 - 10:30 am
MKESA After School Classes (Basketball and Roaring Dancers) - 3:15 – 4:15 pm
Friday, November 15th
3rd Grade Garden Class - During School Hours
4th Grade Parent Open House - 1 - 2 pm
Kids Night Out - 6 - 9 pm MKES
Monday, November 18th
5th Grade Parent Open House - 10:45 –11:45 am
MKESA After School Class (Field Hockey) - 3:15 – 4:15 pm
Tuesday, November 19th
5th Grade Lego Enrichment (Nigro and Ortiz)- During School Hours
Wednesday, November 20th
5th Grade Field Trip to Jacob Burns Center- During School Hours
MKESA After School Class (Curiologists) - 3:15 - 4:15 pm
Parent University - Healthy Nutrition Workshop (in Spanish) - 5:15 - 6:45 pm
Thursday, November 21st
MKESA After School Classes (Basketball and Roaring Dancers) - 3:15 - 4:15 pm
DLBE Grade 1-5 Math Parent Evening - 7 - 8 pm
Monday, November 25th
MKESA After School Class (Field Hockey) - 3:15 - 4:15 pm
Wednesday, November 27th
Kindergarten Thanksgiving Celebration - 9:30 - 10:45 am
Early Dismissal for students - 11:30 am
Thursday, November 28th
Thanksgiving Recess- School Closed
Friday, November 29th
Thanksgiving Recess- School Closed
Learning and Fun in Kindergarten!
We have had a wonderful October in Kindergarten filled with lots of learning and fun! In phonics, we are continuing to learn the alphabet and the sound each letter makes. We have been practicing how to properly form letters such as b, t, f and n. In literacy, we have been focusing on looking closely at the pictures in our books. This helps us understand what our books are about. We have also been re-reading many stories. Each time we re-read a book, we are able to find something new that we might have not seen in the first read! We are adding many labels to our writing and trying to listen to the first and last sound we hear in words. We are then making sure we write these sounds down on our paper. In science, we have been learning all about weather and temperature. We have learned that the sun gives off heat. We also learned that a change in temperature can cause a material to turn from a solid (ice) to a liquid (water).
First Grade is Gardening
First graders are so excited to be exploring our MKES garden during the fall season. Students have been visiting weekly and will continue to do so through November and then again in the spring. Weekly explorations have allowed our students to investigate kale, tomatoes, sunflowers and peppers. They have transplanted kale, and weeded and mulched, too! The garden now has crops of carrots, peas, banana peppers, kale and spinach that are thriving in our garden beds. The students are mesmerized by the garden’s many wonders like the flowers, a praying mantis, butterflies, and bees on top of the beautiful sunflowers.
Second Graders’ Exercise Mind & Matter
The second graders are off and running! They have been studying the world around them and are being thoughtful with their words and actions.
Through science, the kids have learned that matter is all around us in various forms. The next time you go for a walk, point out the solids, liquids, and gases that make up our world.
We have been practicing mindfulness and being thoughtful of those around us. Throughout the day, the teachers are modeling ways to infuse mindfulness, being kind and considerate of everyone and everything, so the kids can put the practice to use in their everyday life. Share the message at home that being kind and considerate are important qualities to bring into daily life!
Important Homework Reminders: Please remind your child that the reading log is due every Friday. Also, please encourage your child to practice basic math facts up to 20. Thank you for your help!
Third Graders Take Virtual Reality Field Trip -- Google Expeditions
How do you travel to Arizona, South Dakota, Washington DC and New York all in the same day? Virtually- that is how. Recently third graders experienced landmarks around the United States. We visited The Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, The Lincoln Memorial and the Statue of Liberty. Students used special goggles and technology to view these landmarks in 3-D. As we continue our studies of geography and culture this fall, we will use the Google Expeditions to help us explore and view our world.
Fourth Graders are Scientists
The fourth grade classes have been working in small groups to conduct science experiments!
Following the scientific method helps them organize themselves and work independently. Students had a chance to make predictions based on background knowledge, gather materials, follow procedures, and record observations. The observation process includes drawing scientific sketches of what they see. Students had a chance to work on cooperating and respecting others as they discussed their findings. All experiments end with looking back at their predictions and drawing conclusions about what they have discovered. Students also made suggestions about what they could do differently next time.
Looking forward to the upcoming weeks, students will focus on Geography as they study New York State. Students will study the history of how our state began and what it looks like today. If your family is traveling around New York on the weekends, please point out some landmarks in our great state!
What’s New in 5th Grade
October has been a busy month in fifth grade. We’ve continued to build community with class meetings where we discussed kindness, good choices, and positive behaviors. In Math, the fifth graders learned long division this month and tackled some challenging word problems using a variety of strategies including bar modeling. Please be aware that the fifth graders will be having a cumulative math assessment in early November, so they should be reviewing their class notes nightly in preparation. Students can also practice skills on IXL.com.
In English literacy, the fifth graders explored important themes as they analyzed some of Eve Bunting’s powerful picture books. The fifth graders also launched book clubs and began discussing the books they are reading with their peers. In Spanish literacy, the fifth graders learned about Hispanic heritage month and studied influential Latin American figures ranging from the first female Latin American astronaut to migrant worker activists.
By the end of October, the fifth graders completed their bilingual state projects and hosted a wonderful State Fair Celebration sharing their outstanding research and creativity with family members in the fifth grade wing. Their unit of study culminated with a fifty state challenge, where the fifth graders attempted to locate and label as many states as possible on a blank map. And guess what? A lot of the fifth graders located all fifty states!
We have some exciting events scheduled for November including a trip to Manhattanville College on Thursday, November 7th and a trip to Jacob Burns Film Center on November 20th. To our parents - we thoroughly enjoyed the meaningful conversations with all of you during the recent parent teacher conferences and we thank you for your continued support.
Coming Soon
Wednesday & Friday, November 6 & 8 - Math District Assessment
Thursday, November 7 - trip to Manhattanville College
Wednesday, November 20 - trip to Jacob Burns Film Center
Thursday, November 21 - DLBE 1-5 Math Parent Evening (7 - 8pm)
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
What’s Gardening!
Good news!
We have a new garden “teacher assistant”, his name is Karanja Elliot. Karanja is a MKES grad who works at the Boys and Girls Club. Many children know him and he’s really skilled with clear garden communication. Having a second teacher enables smaller groups and more meaningful garden based experience.
3rd graders helped to put many of the beds to bed for the winter. We removed old and dying plants and put them into the compost bin. We put down winter cover crop seeds (oats, peas and mustards) along with some straw mulch to keep the birds from eating the seeds. Karanja helped 3rd graders plant more kale plants so we should definitely have enough for our kale-based event on November 13th and 14th.
SuRu
www.drsusanrubin.com
Band with Ms. Di Grandi
The 5th grade band has been working hard to prepare the winter concert music. Please make sure 5th grade band students attend every Monday rehearsal! The Winter Concert is Monday, December 9th at 7PM in the gym.
4th grade band members have been busy learning new notes and rhythms like whole, half, and quarter notes. It is important to practice note and rhythm reading at home so that we may continue to move forward as developing musicians.
4th and 5th grade band members:
It is essential to practice at home! Your child should be practicing at least 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes at a time. Learning an instrument is a fun and exciting experience. Just like learning how to do anything else, it requires attention, effort, and hard work. The only way to succeed on an instrument is through consistent practice to reinforce what is learned in lessons!
Here are a few warm up exercises your child can do at home at the start of their practice:
1. Play long tones on each note you have learned- take a deep breath and play the note for as long as you can.
- Playing long tones strengthen the muscles in the mouth to remember how to play the note (very important for trumpet and low brass students!)
2. Play each note that you have learned as whole notes, then half notes, then quarter notes.
3. Review the fingering for each note that you have learned and practice moving your fingers to the different notes.
Here are a few practice strategies your child can use
at home if they find something difficult in the music:
- Set a small goal- practice two measures at a time before playing an entire section.
- Sing the letter names while moving your fingers on the instrument to the correct note.
- Clap the rhythm.
- Repeat, repeat, repeat!! Consistent repetition is one of the best ways you can practice.
Thank you!
Starting With Line!
By: Ms. Sheri Brown, Art Teacher
The most basic element of almost all art is LINE. The kindergartners started their art experience in the art room exploring the element of line by painting lines, cutting lines, shaping lines, comparing lines, observing lines, and stamping lines! Our next exploration will be shape! Stay tuned.
Sports Section
By John DelFavero, Craig Henley, and Melissa Ponzio
It’s been a great fall season for our students in Physical Education. We’ve been taking advantage of the nice fall weather and having many of classes outside.
Our Kindergarten, First, and Second Graders have learned about and participated in the following:
- Locomotor movements
- Exercise of the Month
- Soccer skills
- Rolling and Throwing Activities
- Halloween themed activities
- Boosterthon Fun Run
Our Third, Fourth, and Fifth Graders have learned about and participated in the following:
- Exercise of the Month
- Throwing and Catching Activities
- Football Skills and lead up games
- Soccer skills and lead up games
- Lacrosse skills
- Halloween themed activities
- Boosterthon Fun Run
What did you do in school today?
By ESOL/Bilingual Team MKES
‘What did you do in school today?’ This is the question on many parents' lips when their children come home from school. “Nothing!” is the usual refrain. “I don’t remember!” is also a very popular answer. Another similar question is, “How was school today?” The non-answers often heard in response, include “Good”, “Fine”, and “OK”.
As a parent, you want to connect with your child, to discover what he or she has been enjoying and learning during the school day. However, sometimes the questions turn into conversation stoppers instead of conversation starters! How can you get your child to open up and talk about the day? What does it take?
Here are a couple of questions that might solicit longer and more detailed answers;
- Tell me about one thing you did in class/school today that made you laugh? Why?
- What was the most interesting thing you learned in _______ today? (name a specific class, such as, literacy, math, social studies, PE, music, library) Why?
I wondered whether or not the questions would really work and decided to try them out. Here are some of the students’ answers.
First, I tried the question, “Tell me about one thing you did in class today that made you laugh?” The responses were not what I had hoped, and included blank stares, “Nothing,” and “My friend at lunch.”
So I tried, “What was the most interesting thing you did in _____ today?” (place the name of any of their daily classes: literacy, math, social studies, PE, music, library in the blank space) The fourth and fifth grade students I asked had much longer and more detailed responses to this question.
“I liked talking with my partner about word meanings in literacy class. I like to talk when I am in a small group or with a partner,” said one 5th grader.
“I started a new independent reading book. I bought it at the book fair because it is the next one in a series and I can’t wait to read it” was a 4th grade student’s response. So far so good!
“Math rounding. I’ve never done it before….I wanted to learn to estimate the quotient.” Not bad! What’s a quotient again? Just kidding! You could ask them to explain it!
“I liked making a map of New York. I have the main parts of a map and I am coloring it.”
This question was the winner! If you try it, I’ll bet you will have an informative and fun conversation about something that caught your child’s attention at school.
Good Luck!
How Do We Get Our Kids to Talk?
Submitted by L. Calandra, M. Gilbert, B. Leslie, J. Smith, L. Viviano, Learning Specialists
Soon the beautiful colors of the season will change, and so begins the cozy evenings with warm cups of hot chocolate. It’s November! A time to gather around, give thanks for little or big events. With that in mind, how do we get our kids to talk? We suggest you set aside a few minutes, every night before bedtime, as a time to talk – time to listen to your child’s feelings and share ideas. You can begin by talking about your day, possibly a funny or even a frustrating experience. Ask about something that they are looking forward to, or uneasy about. Ask about classmates in school. Give them time to think and respond. Your children might soon look forward to this new before bedtime routine.
Here is a list of ideas for conversation starters or extenders:
- What was your favorite part of your day?
- What else can you tell me about?
- Did anything funny happen today?
- Really! Tell me more.
- Were you in English or Spanish zone today?
- Did you have art, gym, or music?
- What is your biggest worry?
- So, what are you planning to do?
- How did you feel about that?
Concepts with Candy
By: Tara Caglione and Donna Furphy (Speech/Language Therapists)
There is so much that can be done with Halloween goodies to reinforce or teach language based concepts. You can count by ones, twos, fives, or tens. You can also discuss most/least, more than, less than and the list continues. Sorting the treats into different categories can be fun and educational at the same time. Some categories include: healthy/unhealthy, like/dislike, round/rectangular, sweet/sour, chocolate/fruity… You can make up so many categories. For a challenge, create a Venn Diagram with your goodies. This will help to reinforce the concept of compare and contrast. You can also play a guessing game by describing your candy and seeing if your partner can guess the candy from your description. We hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween full of fun and lots of language!
The Festive Fall Holiday season has arrived!!
By Nurse Maureen Ronan
A reminder that all of our students will enjoy classroom celebrations and food is often a celebratory part of any occasion! Classrooms who have a Food Allergy received a letter to parents requesting allergy free snacks for the classroom. MKES wants all of our students to enjoy the fun. Below are suggestions for Nut Free snacks.
Suggested Peanut and Nut Free Snacks for Classroom Celebrations:
(ALWAYS check the label on the package to be sure it is free of Peanuts/Tree Nuts, this list is only a resource. It is subject to manufacturer recall and mislabeling. Do not purchase items with the allergy ingredient or “Manufactured in plant with Peanut or Tree Nuts”, “May contain Peanut or Tree Nuts” or “Processed on shared equipment with Peanuts or Tree Nuts”.)
Dairy: yogurt (some toppings are not nut free) or yogurt drinks, string/cubed cheese (Sargento, Kraft, or Meijer)
Fruit, Vegetable: fruit cups, applesauce, raisins, craisins, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables
Salty Snacks: Pringles, Ruffles, Cape Cod Chips, Tings, Frito Lay Rold Gold Pretzels, Bachman Pretzels Rods, Sun Chips, Boston Lite Popcorn, Pop Secret, Pirate Booty
Crackers: Wheat Thins, Saltines (wheat or plain), Ritz, Nabisco Teddy Grahams, Keebler Town House Original Club, Nabisco graham crackers, Goldfish (original or cheddar), Barnum’s animal crackers
Cereals: Cheerios (plain), Kix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Sweet Snacks: Original Oreo’s, Pepperidge Farm Milano’s, Nabisco Newton cookies (fig, strawberry and raspberry) Nabisco vanilla wafers, Chips Ahoy original chocolate chip cookies, Snackwell cookies (plain and crème), Keebler Scooby Doo graham cracker sticks, Kelloggs Rice Krispies Treats, Kelloggs Nutri Grain Bars, Fruit Snacks (Betty Crocker, Target, Annies Organic)
Candy: Skittles, Starburst, Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, Twizzlers, Life Saver gummies, Dum Dums, Laffy Taffy, Kraft Marshmallow, Air Heads, Mike and Ike
Cold Treats: Popsicles, ice cups, Icee-Squeeze up tubes, Jell-O Gelatin
Look At The Newest MKES Library Nook
Parent University
Boosterthon
The Boosterthon was a very successful program at MKES! Our students learned about the importance of physical fitness and character and at the same time raised money to support our school. The character words that our kids learned about over the past few weeks were honesty, gratitude, generosity, humility, and kindness.
We ended the program with a culminating Fun Run event around the field. Our Kisco kids got terrific exercise and had a blast!
We would like to thank our students, staff, and families for all of their support with the Boosterthon.