Goshen Center School
February 8, 2018
BELOW IS CHART FOR GIFT CARD DONATIONS
Author Visit
On Tuesday, author Sara Videtto visited our school to read her new book :
Turtle’s First Winter: A Read and Find Storybook!
Students are still able to purchase her book through a link on her website, and she will be available to sign these copies!
Victorious GCS Penny Wars!
By Cheryl Martinelli
The annual Goshen Center School Penny Wars have come to a close. WOW, did these wars get competitive! Four jars, four worthy organizations, over four-hundred dollars raised by all of the staff and students. The GCS Student Council organized this campaign. CCMC, St. Jude, Make-A-Wish Connecticut Foundation, and the Heifer International were the four organizations chosen to support. All students collaborated. The pre-k worked with the 6th graders, the kindergarteners worked with the 5th graders, 1st and 3rd graders worked together, and the 2nd and 4th graders worked together. The kindergarten and 5th-grade jar won the Penny Wars, but the real winners are the wonderful organizations:
- CCMC received $100.
- St. Jude Research Hospital received $135.
- Make-A-Wish Connecticut Foundation received $110.
- Heifer International Project received $130.
90% of all of this money collected was from pennies, nickels, and dimes - that’s a lot of change! Litchfield Bancorp was a tremendous help in counting all of the change.
Congratulations to Goshen Center School for a successful fundraiser for these four worthy organizations!
“Doing good for others is not a duty, it is a joy, for it increases our own health and happiness.” -author unknown
Free Pizza today!
Dates to Remember
Feb 9.- Spirit Day-Beach Day
Feb 9 - Fun Night Out (FNO) 7 - 9 p.m. - JMS for 5th & 6th graders
Feb 12- Last Day for Eye glass Collections.
Feb 12.- PTO Meeting @ 4:00pm
Feb 12 - BOE and Budget Meeting 6:00 p.m. - District Office
Feb 15.- NBC Snow Monster Visit @ 12:45pm
Feb 16.- 8:00am-8:55am-Student Council Meeting
Feb 19 - President's Day - No School
Feb 20 - No School for students - Professional Development Day for Teachers
Feb 23- 6:00pm-Father/Special Guy/Daughter Dance
Our eyeglass collection is soon coming to an end, so I just wanted to remind you to drop your no longer being used eyeglasses, sunglasses, and usable cases in the donation box in the lobby. Please ask friends, family, and neighbors! The deadline is the twelfth of February. Thank you to all of those who have donated this year and in the previous year. Let's change the world one pair at a time!
Sincerely,
Kaleigh Lynch
Winter Weather is Upon Us
Winter weather is underway and with that comes inevitable delays and cancellations. Please be sure that your contact information is up to date, so that the alert system, School Messenger, can notify you of delays and cancellations in a timely manner. If you need to update your telephone number or email address, contact Mrs. Contadini @ scontadini@rsd6.org or call 860-491-6020.
Also, please make sure your child has warm winter outerwear because we will try to go out for recess unless it is bitter cold.
Thank you.
JUMP ROPE FOR HEART
Tech Talk
Click here for Family Tech Tips for the Holiday.
Teaching for Artistic Behaviors (TAB). What is TAB? By Laurie Sweet
Greetings from the art world!
My initiative for teaching a new philosophy and different methodology, Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB), was inspired originally by attending the National Arts Education Conference in New York City (March 2017). I attended a presentation about Samantha Varain’s MA thesis, Choosing Creatively: Choice-Based Art Education in an Inclusive Classroom. Ms. Varain’s research showed 100% engagement by students in a choice-based learning environment. When I attended the Northwest Arts Council workshop at EdAdvance (Spring 2017), the TAB model, which was originally founded in Massachusetts over 35 years ago and is a “nationally recognized education approach in teaching,” was also a top topic of discussion.
Through TAB, students experience authentic exploration and learning practices that are interest based. Centers may vary but often include: Drawing, Painting, Collage, Fiber Arts, Clay/Ceramics, Sculpture, and Printmaking. In the Region 6 elementary art classroom, an additional center may include Mixed Media, in which more than one material is used in the artmaking process. TAB aligns with the workshop model that promotes student-centered choice-based learning through centers in the art room. Choice-based art experiences support multiple intelligences and learning modalities, which in turn generate student engagement.
All elementary students are now on the journey of art center-based learning. Primary grades have more modeling and introduction to skills for the success of experimenting with various tools and materials, while the upper grades have more independence in designing and implementing an Art Project Plan. There is an openness and willingness to make mistakes and to be reflective of self and peers during the process and the final product. While one objective is to strive to develop Craft (quality work with use of materials), other objectives include: Engage and Persist, Envision, Express, Observe, Stretch and Explore, Understand the Art World, and Reflect. These Studio Habits of Mind objectives are credited to The Art of Education, which link directly to the TAB mindset.
Students have been unpacking centers by experimenting with tools and materials and generating artwork that does not necessarily look the same as everyone else’s. There may be times that students create a similar project to learn a new skill, but more often than not, the art experiences may be messy as a means of revising. The TAB journey allows for mistakes, revisions, and abandonment of a project (at times) to allow for authentic and real-world experiences.
As past practice, most 2D art projects will come home, as a collection, in a portfolio in early June. The portfolio allows for work to come home undamaged and to house a body of work throughout the academic year for displays, art shows, and assessment. Students will keep sketchbook journals to include drawings and reflections of their process.
There will be projects and/or practices in the trying out of tools and materials that come home from time to time, but the real journey will be in student exploration of projects of interest. Please do not hesitate to volunteer in the art room or reach out to me at lsweet@rsd6.org. Thank you so much.
Of note: Donations of materials such as magazines, newspapers, cardboard, egg cartons, etc. are always welcome.