Grundy Ave Newsletter
~ November 2017 ~
happy autumn!
Grundy families and students are in the spirit of giving! Our 1st Breast Cancer Awareness Walk was a great success. We had great weather and a sea of pink strolled around the back of the school to support Breast Cancer Awareness. Grundy raised over $1100.00 for this cause! Special thanks to 3rd grader Bret Auricchio for suggesting we do this. See the video below.
We also just started our Thanksgiving Food Drive. A letter was emailed home with suggestions for food items to be donated. Donation boxes are in the lobby by the gym. These food baskets will directly help Grundy families during the holidays. More information can be found here . The generosity of our community is always outstanding! Thank you in advance one and all!
We have many activities happening during the month of November. The PTA will hold a meting on 11/2 at 7:00 pm; all are encouraged to attend and support this worthy organization. Our honorable Veteran's Day parade will be on 11/9. Wear your Support the Troops shirt or red, white and blue to honor those who served. The PTA will be having the fall Book Fair on 11/15 and 11/16. Family Connect Night is 11/8 so no homework! For some suggestions on fun family STEAM activities look here . We love to share what our Grundy families are doing so send us your photos of your family having fun. Spirit Day is 11/22 and we will wear mismatched items. The kindergarten Thanksgiving Day Parade will be 11/22. More information about all of these activities and more will be emailed to all of you or posted on our webpage. If anyone does not wish to receive an email, please call the office to let us know.
Below you will find some photos and information about each of our grade levels and support staff as well as many of the activities that occurred during the month of October. Happy Fall!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Amato
Kindergarten news
Kindergarten has been very busy this month! We started off by learning about fire prevention and what to do in case of a fire. The Holbrook Fire Department was very informative and discussed an escape plan to have in case of a fire and to check your fire alarms regularly. Our friend the Singing School Bus Driver came to visit and we sang songs and danced about being safe on the bus. Our next adventure was going to see a play called “A Spooky Kooky Halloween”. FYI… it was not spooky but really cute. The kindergartners really enjoyed it. The students learned about being kind to others.
For Halloween, the kindergarten classes did a day of fall centers. We did math projects, sequencing and following directions. Thanks to the parents who volunteered and helped out. The kindergarten classes also enjoyed picking out a pumpkin at our very own Grundy pumpkin patch. The students also participated in our first annual Grundy breast cancer walk. The whole school walked outside to raise money for breast cancer. And last but not least we end with our annual Grundy Halloween parade. What a sight to see all the students dressed in their costumes from cute to scary, it was a perfect way to end the month of October!
First Grade News
First grade had an outstanding October! We are learning and having so much fun each day! As readers, we have been working on identifying story elements. We are identifying the characters, setting, beginning, middle, end of a story. We are also learning to identify digraphs within our words and use them in our writing. In math, we worked on adding, subtracting and using a ten frame as a mathematics learning tool. Our first graders loved learning about fire safety this month. We had a fantastic visit from Firefighter Neil and his firefighter friends. They told us how to be safe and he showed us their gear and their fire truck. We had a great time! We look forward to more learning and fun in November!
Second grade news
third grade news
The third grade has been hard at work creating STEAM projects. In creating these projects, the students are learning to take thoughtful risks, accept partner work, problem solve, work “through” the learning process, and experience learning! From floating boats TO marshmallow structures AND Penny Bridges TO Place Value Robots, these kids are having a blast! Our classes also had the opportunity to work with Mrs. Claudia Camassa during Lock Box sessions. The students worked in groups and had to figure out clues in order to solve the complex letter, shape, and number combinations! Working together has never been so much fun or rewarding!
fourth grade news
October has been a very busy month in fourth grade. The students have been participating in many fun and exciting STEAM lessons. On Halloween, the students worked collaboratively in small groups to create a spider web. The goal was to create a web that would hold the most plastic spiders. Their creativity and imagination was spectacular and fun was had by all! We have completed our study of New York’s geography and are excited to start our first Science unit on Weather. The students will be learning about the water cycle and earth’s atmosphere. We will also begin our Fiction unit of study in Reading and Writing. In Math, we will be focusing on Multiplication concepts. Be on the look-out for information regarding our Thanksgiving celebration. We will be looking for parent volunteers to help us on this day.
fifth grade news
The fifth graders have been working hard this month! In Social Studies we have been reviewing maps and globes and are moving onto the migration of people into North America. Check out some of our great projects - a compass rose craft and autobiographical maps.
In science we have been studying the Earth, volcanoes and earthquakes. Mrs. Armstrong’s class did a great STEAM project on earthquakes. They had a great time becoming engineers and learned a lot!
We have been inspired by our memoir mentor texts and have been working hard to generate our own ideas for our memoirs. We have enjoyed listening to the stories and have collected many great ideas to select our own memoir to publish - stay tuned for the final publication of them!
news from the nurse
Seasonal Flu
The flu is not just a really bad cold. The flu is a contagious illness that affects the nose, throat, lungs and other parts of the body. It can spread quickly from one person to another and can cause mild to severe illness.
The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu shot.
Here are answers to some commonly asked questions.
Is the flu more serious for kids?
Infants and young children are at greater risk for getting seriously ill from the flu, that’s why the New York State Department of Health recommends that all children 6 months and older get the flu vaccine.
Flu vaccine may save your child’s life.
Most people with the flu are sick for about a week, and then they feel better. But, some people, especially young children, pregnant women, older people, and people with chronic health problems can get very sick. Some can even die. An annual vaccine is the best way to protect your child from the flu. The vaccine is recommended for everyone 6 months and older every year.
What is the flu? The flu, or influenza, is an infection of the nose, throat, and lungs. The flu can spread from person to person.
Who needs the flu shot?
• Flu shots can be given to children 6 months and older.
• Children younger than 9 years old who get a vaccine for the first time need two doses.
How else can I protect my child?
• Get the flu vaccine for yourself.
• Encourage your child’s close contacts to get the flu vaccine, too. This is very important if your child is younger than 5, or if he or she has a chronic health problem such as asthma (breathing disease) or diabetes (high blood sugar levels). Because children under 6 months can’t be vaccinated, they rely on those around them to get an annual flu vaccine.
• Wash your hands often and cover your coughs and sneezes. It’s best to use a tissue and quickly throw it away. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands. This will prevent the spread of germs.
• Tell your children to:
• Stay away from people who are sick;
• Clean their hands often;
• Keep their hands away from their face; and
• Cover coughs and sneezes to protect others.
What are signs of the flu?
The flu comes on suddenly. Most people with the flu feel very tired and have a high fever, headache, dry cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, and sore muscles. Some people, especially children, may also have stomach problems and diarrhea. The cough can last two or more weeks.
Unity Day at Grundy
Working together, Grundy can make a difference to stop bullying in our school!
remind 101 text....
News from the Reading room
We are excited to share that the Remedial Reading department is utilizing a reading program called i-Ready for grades 2-5. Log-in information has been sent home for your child to access the program at home.
What is i-Ready?
i-Ready is an online program that will help us assess your child’s individual needs and monitor their progress throughout the school year.
The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive test that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s performance. Its purpose is not to give your child a score or grade but instead to determine where they need the most support.
i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual skill level and needs, so your child can learn at a pace that is just right for them. These lessons are fun and interactive, with games and characters to keep your child engaged.
How will i-Ready help my child?
i-Ready will help us determine how we can best support your child in meeting their learning goals and will provide lessons that fit their individual needs. Past data shows that students who used i-Ready for more than 45 minutes per week grew 44% more in Reading than the average student.
Little Free Library....
As a reminder, Grundy now has a Little Free Library! It is a small box located in the front of the school. It has books that you may take for free. It's motto is take a Book, Return a Book. Please feel free to visit after school or on the weekend. We encourage all of our families to check it out.
If you have any books at home that are in good or gently used condition, you may drop them off at the main office. Hope you visit soon!
News from the library
Here are some of the happenings from the library: in the month of October, the students in every grade shared different stories as part of the Global Read Aloud. It really opened a conversation about other communities and cultures. Our Mo Willems unit has taken off in Kindergarten and they just love the pigeon! First graders have been learning about folktales and story elements. We continue around the world with Caldecott books in second. Ask your student about the daredevil who walked between the twin towers! They still can’t believe it happened! Is the book or the movie better? That is the question my third graders are asking during our Chris Van Allsburg unit and the reading of Jumanji. Fourth graders are working on making memes that show us a funny side of our goals this year. Have them practice logging into google! It helps! Fifth grade is already working hard on their biographical google slide presentation. It is great to see how well they work in partnerships. Some great things are ahead!
Breast Cancer Walk 2017
News from the math room...
Some Thanksgiving Math Activities as you prepare for the holiday!
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and as you are making preparations for the big day…maybe you can try and squeeze in a little math!
Here are 5 math activities that will keep your child’s minds sharp this Thanksgiving season:
Have your kids figure out how long the turkey needs to cook. For a more complicated problem, have them plan out when everything needs to go in the over in order to come out done to perfections!
Include your kids in the preparations in the kitchen. Have them double recipes for guests and measure out ingredients.
A Thanksgiving Day is not complete without football. If you can’t beat them, join them!!! Have your kids figure out how many yards the offense has to go to get a touchdown>
Chart the family. Think of any theme—for example, what type of dessert did everyone have? Ask questions about the chart such as, “What was the most popular dish served at this year’s dinner?”
Cut out an ad for the groceries that includes lots of Thanksgiving food. Sit and create some word problems with your child that go along with the ads.
News from the Resource Room
Ms. Turner’s Resource Room students have been enjoying weekly STEAM activities!
STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. STEAM lessons brings benefits to all students, at all levels of ability, creating a truly inclusive and effective educational opportunity!Grundy Ave School
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Email: lamato@sachem.edu
Website: http://www.sachem.edu/schools/grundy
Location: 950 Grundy Avenue, Holbrook, NY, United States
Phone: 631-471-1820
Facebook: facebook.com/GrundyAvenueElementarySchool
Twitter: @GrundyAve