September 2014
Searingtown Happenings
Welcome to Our September 2014 Issue of Searingtown Happenings!
Searingtown Observes International Peace Day
On Monday, September 22nd, students at Searingtown School wore white in honor of International Peace Day. International Day of Peace (“Peace Day”) is observed around the world each year in September. Established in 1981, the United Nations General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. Over the course of the week, students and teachers participated in activities that celebrated peace.
Searingtown Kindergarten:
Lead by Mrs. Jodie Robertson, Kindergarteners from Ms. Recinos and Ms. Chiarulli's class celebrated peace this week singing the song "Peace in my Fingers" Check out their video here.
All of the Kindergarten classes convened one afternoon to listen to the story Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz and then discuss what "peace" means.
Searingtown Grade 1:
Ms. Morgan and her first graders in Room 6 kept busy by reading books with the theme of peace. They especially enjoyed The Peace Book by Todd Parr and learned that peace is being different, feeling good about yourself and helping others. They wrote their personal message of peace and "brick by brick" built a Peace Wall to share their messages. Some of their peaceful thoughts included:
- Peace is being quiet.
- Peace is giving food to people that do not have any.
- Peace is when your help someone that is hurt.
- Peace is helping your neighbors who are sad.
- Peace is helping someone in your family.
Mrs. Hess’ class read Todd Parr's The Peace Book and talked about how we can all be "peaceful people".
Mrs. Justvig’s children helped celebrate Peace by reading the bookNo David by David Shannon. They created a chart labeled Peacemakers and Peacebreakers and came up with examples for each. Then each of student came up with one way they could be a peacemaker, created their own "David" craft, and wrote about being a peacemaker!
Mrs. Nizich’s students read books with peace themes including The Land of Many Colors by Klamath County YMCA Family Preschool and What Does Peace Feel Like by Vladimir Radunsky. During writers workshop they listened to peaceful music as they wrote their own version of What Does Peace Feel Like.
Searingtown Grade 2
Mrs. Nielsen’s Grade 2 incorporated the September’s Searingtown reads, What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada with their peace project. After reading the book, they brainstormed ideas and how to make them happen (goal setting). In addition to their personal or academic goals, they developed “peaceful goals “. Mrs. Nielsen’s second graders designed their own peace sign with their peace goals in mind.
Ms. Bambrick’s class sang songs about peaceand learned the American Sign Language sign for peace in celebration of the day.
Mrs. Fegan’s class wore white and took a peaceful photo.
Searingtown Grade 3
Third graders read the picture book, Peace by Wendy Anderson Halperin and the students illustrated what peace means to them. Each third grader made handprint murals and wrote down a "peace promise" to be displayed with their handprint.
Some classes also watched a short, but touching Youtube video on peace.
Searingtown Grade 4
Fourth Grade classrooms held discussions about working with others and respecting each others' differences and cultures.
Ms. Smythe’s class also had a discussion on what peace means to them. They talked about what peace looks, sounds and feels like. They then drew pictures and created paragraphs that went along with their drawings. Their final products are displayed in the fourth grade hallway.
Searingtown Grade 5
PEACE-- Searingtown fifth graders took a moment to reflect on what this word really means to them. By reading Stand Up! by Lisa Roth and Karen Sirus, fifth graders took a moment to think about what it means to be an “upstander” as opposed to a “bystander”. They brainstormed a variety of ways that, as citizens of Searingtown School and Herricks, they can make recess and free time more “Peaceful.” They considered ways that they could individually and collectively make decisions to get everyone involved and leave no one feeling left out or alone. They culminated their discussions by completing a Peace Acrostic poem and making a promise to be an “Upstander.”
Ms. Granfors, Searingtown School Psychologist, encouraged the celebration of Peace Week by engaging students in various activities outside during their recess time. On Tuesday, Kindergarten and 1st grade students used sidewalk chalk to draw images/messages of peace around our courtyard. On Wednesday the 2nd through 5th grade students also had the opportunity to create "Peace with Chalk” during recess. Additionally, they made "Peace Pins” that conveyed messages about peace.
Mrs. Kliegman, Librararian, tied the idea of Peace Week with International Dot Day. 4th and 5th grade students skyped with different classes from different parts of the country and collaborated on an online Padlet in which they wrote about how they could make the world a better place.
Kindergarten
To end this terrific first month of school, all four of the Kindergarten classes joined together in the Primary All-Purpose Room to discuss what “peace” means to them and the importance of promoting peace. They then listened to the story, Can You Say Peace? by Karen Katz, which states that, “No matter how we say it, we all want peace.”
What a great start to a fun-filled and peaceful school year!
First Grade
Second Grade
The 2014-15 school year started with smiling faces and excitement in second grade! Over the first few weeks, students and teachers got to know each other, and their new classmates, while beginning meaningful learning experiences.
All classes began their reading and writing workshops by picking up where the children left off at the end of first grade. They were able to get right into their routines, remembering what they had done last year. Children worked on writing narrative small moment stories, and read all genres of books, while establishing positive reading routines.
In math, students worked on their facts that add to ten, and facts that add 1 or 2. Students learned games in the classroom to practice these facts. Students also explored ways to solve problems, a skill that will be addressed throughout all of second grade. We also celebrated our first Pocket Day. Every tenth day of school, classes will count how many pockets they are collectively wearing. We have a healthy competition from class to class, to see which class wears the most pockets.
We also participated, along with all of Searingtown, in International Peace Day. We wore white, which created a peaceful feeling! Finally, second graders were treated by our wonderful PTA, to a theatrical production of Curious George.
Second graders had a fantastic start to our year!
Third Grade
The Third Grade is off and running. We have settled into our routines of new teachers, new expectations, new friends, and new curriculum! The children have completed a unit in math on place value, and we are deep into character studies in reading – “Growing Big Ideas About Characters” – which will allow us to master even more grown up reading skills like synthesis and inference. We are writing stories from our lives in our personal narrative unit and learning how the really beef up our writing by adding details and dialogue. We are hoping to create the movie in our readers’ minds by storytelling our small moments. And in social studies we are learning about directions, maps, hemispheres all while using what we already know about the continents and oceans. Wow! Watch us go!
Our September Searingtown Reads read aloud was a book called What Would You Do With an Idea. This got us all thinking that we can all make a difference with just one great idea! We also celebrated Peace Week with poetry, videos and discussions on what we can all do to make the world a more peaceful place. It was really awe inspiring! The Third Grade did a culminating activity by making a painted handprint mural with their own peace promises. Ask your child what they promised…it might make things more peaceful around your house.
Finally, thank you to Vinnie and our amazing custodial staff who worked tirelessly to have the building ready so that we could come in as soon as possible to get our rooms ready to greet our students! And thank you to the parents for sending in all of the supplies your children will need and for coming out to Meet the Teacher night! It was a pleasure to see all of you!
We are looking forward to an amazing year working with both you and your children!
Fourth Grade
Fourth grade students began the school year with excitement and rigor. We dove right into learning, but also had a bit of fun. We all got to know each other through our “I “MUSTACHE” You a Question” activity. The kids had a blast wearing their mustaches to pose for the camera!
We are well into our first novel, Because of Winn-Dixie. Our work has been focused on predicting. Children have done this in the past, but this year we are looking to “up the ante.” A fourth grade prediction needs to rely on what we know from the text, and what we know to be true and reasonable from our own life experiences. In addition, readers have to step into the shoes of the character in order to predict their next steps. As you can see, this dovetails nicely with the work we have been doing on developing our theories about characters. Readers also need to remember that as we advance, a prediction has to include not only what will happen, but how it will happen. This type of thinking encourages the students to envision- make a movie in their head and imagine the next scene.
In writing, we have been collecting many ideas for our fiction stories. We have talked about the work fiction writers do to plan out their stories. Often, a fiction story can be plotted using a “story arc”. This graphic helps the students see that writers have to identify the main problem or turning point in their story and the plan for how the events will lead up to this pivotal moment, and how the story will be resolved.
We also started our study into New York State’s geography and how geography shapes not only culture but history as well. This will weave through our future units about the Native Americans and early colonists.
In math, our focus has been on place value. Students have been using their knowledge of our base-ten system to round numbers, add and subtract numbers, and identify a digit’s value given its place value location in a number. This is extremely valuable work that will facilitate future learning in other math units.
We are all looking forward to an exciting and productive year in fourth grade!
Fifth Grade
Scientists are investigating matter by taking on the roles of forensic scientists. What is that white mystery matter that was found on the kitchen floor at a crime scene? Examining the physical properties of matter with pocket scopes and testing various matter substances’ chemical properties by doing the water, acid, BTB and iodine tests our scientists will determine the white mysterious substance at the crime scene. Good luck, scientists!
Our mathematicians are working hard at adding deeper meaning to place value as they explore place value in decimals. Learning various mathematical properties will help support their ease in adding and subtracting decimals with compensation and compatible numbers. In social studies, students have researched rules on the internet of other schools in order to brainstorm rules for their own classrooms. They will have conventions so that the rules they picked will have practices to ensure the success of their rules within the classroom. In addition, the students rated their rules, and had an election to vote for class representatives. These procedures mimicked our forefathers; students’ next chapter will include the making of our United States government.
ESL
We welcome back our current ESL students and are delighted to meet some new ESL friends too!
Kindergarteners are learning about their names. We had fun comparing the letters in our names. First graders got to know each other by completing “All About Me” books. Second graders will be studying American holidays throughout the school year. We started keeping personal calendars and reading poems which will help reinforce what we learn. Finally, the intermediate grade students are enjoying a non-fiction unit of study from our monthly classroom magazine.
We look forward to learning so much more in ESL this school year.
Library Technology Learning Commons
Our Strive students participated in Dot Day by listening to the Press Here story and then playing the Press Here iPad game.
Speech
September Tip: How to Get Your Child to Speak at Home!
How many times have you asked your child, “What did you do in school today?” only to have them reply, "nothing" or “stuff”. Often the problem is that the question is too general or not being asked at the right time. Here are some pointers to help facilitate these important conversations:
- First, it may be important to give your child a little break before you start a detailed exchange. School days are long and exhausting for many children and their day does not end at 3:00. Afterschool activities often keep children occupied until early evening or beyond. Try not to ask them questions as soon as they get in the car at dismissal or cross the threshold home after a long day. Let them unwind a little and give them time to let the days events settle in before peppering them with questions.
- Make sure you are ready to really listen and give your child your full attention. Provide a good listening model for your child by maintaining appropriate eye contact and asking relevant follow-up questions. Remember that your children will model your behaviors more readily than simply following your instructions.
- When you are both ready for a conversation try asking something specific like, "What was the best/worst/funniest thing that happened to you today?" Take turns answering each part of that question, and involve everyone who is present (e.g. mom, dad, other siblings, friends or extended family members). Your child is sharing and so can you. It gives your child a different perspective and provides a great language model.
Sharing experiences is a bonding activity and can be a great way to build language skills and to keep and the lines of communication open with your children.
Music
Searingtown School ~ Herricks UFSD
Published by K. Kliegman, School Librarian