from the principal - readington township public · pdf filespecific city. the following titles...

FROM THE PRINCIPAL . . .

WHITEHOUSE NEWS

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Volume 1, Issue 3

March 2016

Dear WHS Families,

Many thanks to those of you who joined us for our school-wide DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) time on March 2. If you were not able to attend, you can still support us as we promote reading and literacy this month with the culmination of our latest thematic unit…Madeline!

The initial Madeline series was written by Ludwig Bemelmans, beginning in 1939 with his first book, simply entitled, Madeline. Since then, Ludwig’s grandson, John Bemelmans Marciano, kept up his grandfather’s tradition and wrote more Madeline books. Did you also know that he grew up in Readington Township in Three Bridges? We thought this fact was such a unique connection for us, owing its discovery to our very well-read librarian, Mrs. Zanardi!

I wrote about our plans in my letter to the students during the summer. Then, in October, we officially launched our unit when a professional theatre troupe visited WHS to perform Madeline and the Bad Hat. This assembly was made possible through Home School Association funding and we are very grateful for their generosity.

Since that time, a representative group of teachers have met with Mrs. Zanardi and me on a weekly basis in an effort to plan instructional activities and the display backgrounds on which to showcase those projects. In the next few weeks, we will decorate the hallways so you will soon get a glimpse of the work that the children have been producing as we studied Madeline, her fellow characters, and details about some of the locations that she has visited in her travels.

Each grade level read the initial book and one other selection, which took place in a specific city. The following titles were assigned and subsequently became the focus of the research or geographical investigations at that respective grade level:

Kindergarten Madeline at the White House

Grade 1 Madeline in London

Grade 2 Madeline and the Old House in Paris

Grade 3 Madeline and the Cats of Rome

It is my hope that we continue to inspire children to read and link their learning!

Warmly,

Ann T. DeRosa, Ed.D.

Nurse’s News It’s Spring, the season for the sneezing!

The warmer weather brings allergy season. How can you tell the difference between a cold and a suspected allergy? These are allergy symptoms:

Repeated or chronic cold-like symptoms that last for more than 2 weeks

Symptoms that develop at the same time every year

Runny nose, nasal stuffiness, sneezing, throat clearing, nose rubbing, sniffling, snorting, itchy eyes, runny eyes

Itchy throat or tingling in the throat & mouth is a classic indicator of an allergen

Recurrent red, itchy, dry skin

Dark circles under the eyes caused by nasal congestion

You can help to control reactions to allergens. Avoidance of the suspected allergen is the best way to prevent a reaction. Other recommendations for minimizing exposure to environmental allergy causing substances include:

Keep pets out of certain rooms, like your child’s room

Remove carpets or rugs

Remove heavy drapes and other dust collecting items

Clean frequently

Keep windows closed when pollen is at its peak

Change clothing and wash face and hands after having been outdoors

Mow the lawn when children are inside or away from the home

Keep exhaust fans in working order in mold prone bathrooms

Keep bathrooms clean and dry

Wash face and hands after coming inside, leave outer jackets in garage turned inside out to prevent pollen entering the home

If your child requires an antihistamine or other allergy medication while at school please send in the permission to dispense medication form signed by your child’s physician available on my webpage with the medication.

NURSES NOTES This past month students in Kindergarten and Grade 3 had a special science lesson with the nurse. Students practiced brushing, flossing and learned about how to keep teeth healthy at age appropriate levels. Important basics of brushing 2 times daily for 2 minutes and flossing once a day were covered. Students enjoyed a game and hands on experience. Kindergarten learned how very long 2 minutes can be with a fun dental song video. Below is the link to the dental song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51troJkekSc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51troJkekSc

Riding the school bus is an extension of our school day. The bus ride should be a time to relax and converse with friends. Dr. DeRosa and I recently held “Respect Assemblies” to remind our students of the rules of riding the bus: Get on and off the bus carefully. Buckle your seatbelt. Stay seated. Use inside voices on the bus. Follow the bus rules. Respect the bus driver and other students. Use Kelso’s Choice to make good bus decisions.

Each bus rider at Whitehouse School signed a bus safety contract at the beginning of the school year. These contracts are proudly displayed in the main hallway of our school. Each week students have an opportunity to advance their yellow school bus on a chart in the cafetorium. At the end of each marking period, ribbons are rewarded for following these rules.

Speech and Language

Counselor’s Corner

Fact: 85% of what we know, we have learned by listening. (Robinson)

When we help our children learn to listen effectively, we are providing the foundation for successful communication.

Suggestions to Increase Listening Success at Home

1. Give your child a quiet area in which to do homework or read.

2. Eliminate distractions as much as possible. Turn off the television or radio during homework or conversation.

3. Establish eye contact when initiating a conversation. Try not to hold a conversation from separate rooms.

4. Give simple, concise directions or instructions. Give one to two step directions first. (“Go to your room and bring me your dirty clothes.”)

5. Have your child repeat directions back to you to check for comprehension.

6. Rephrase or restate directions a second time. Keep rate of speaking slow and clear.

7. Designate certain listening times in which conversations might be limited to one person speaking at a time without interruption. (Dinnertime and bedtime for example.)

8. Reading books to your children promotes good listening. While you read, have your child answer questions or comment on the story.

9. Listen to your children in the way you would like them to listen to you. Hearing what your child has to say makes them feel important while they’re talking to you. Children are more apt to listen to you when you listen to them.

Reward your child occasionally when they display good listening habits!

Marie Potenta

Speech/Language Specialist

Spring is right around the corner and the kindergarten childrens’ skills in literacy are in full bloom. Their confidence has developed and they are writing words and sentences in their daily writing. As the year continues, the children will fine-tune their skills with spacing and using as many lowercase letters as they can.

Phonemic awareness skill development will continue to flourish with their newly learned skills in phonics. They are excitedly reading decodable books with sight words and short vowel blending of three letter words. In addition, they are beginning to blend two letters together such as "dr" or "sn" to figure out those tricky words like drive and snowman. In our sharing literature activities, children will be working on reading comprehension, concepts of print, story sequencing, characters, and retelling. The children will continue to bloom with their new literacy skill development over the next couple of months.

After completing the wood portion of our science unit on “Wood and Paper”, the children will see that the upcoming paper investigations will be just as exciting and informative. Looking ahead to April, the boys and girls will be celebrating Earth Day with a paper recycling activity where they will actually make their own paper. Then, it will be on to our new science unit about animals! Lots of interesting creatures will be entering our classrooms!

Kindergartners have been skip counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, and creating number stories. The children will continue to review and build on their understanding of addition and subtraction stories. This month, the boys and girls will focus on visualizing teen numbers as a ten and extra ones. They will also continue partner work for number two through six. Yes, we will be busy little bees this spring!

W HI TE HOUSE NEWS

Kindergarten

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 3

February found our first grade authors writing up a storm as they continued to strengthen their writing skills. Some of our first graders were hard at work learning how to write nonfiction texts as they authored their own All About Books. These topics ranged from cats, dogs, trains, and horses to skiing, American Symbols, and gymnastics. Many other first grade authors could be found writing a series of realistic fiction stories as they created fictional characters, settings, problems, and story solutions. This month our first grade writers are tackling Opinion Writing. They will be learning how to write persuasive reviews about topics and texts that interest them. This unit teaches students that writing can give them an effective avenue in which to make and defend important decisions and ideas.

What strong, voracious readers our first graders have become! February found many of our readers immersed in nonfiction texts as they learned what makes nonfiction reading special and unique. They closely investigated the different ways that real authors present fact and information in both fun and serious ways. They noticed and learned why nonfiction books include different kinds of information, such as an index, glossary, labels, table of contents, and more. Other first grade readers were introduced to various realistic fiction book series such as Cynthia Rylant’s Henry and Mudge and Mr. Putter and Tabby. They also read fictional series such as the Poppleton and Zelda and Ivy book series. We will begin March by celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday on March 2nd and sharing in the fun of reading his many delightful books. Our first graders will be focusing on further developing their word solving strategies and comprehension skills while studying story elements throughout March.

In math, we are now working in Unit 5 of our Math Expressions curriculum. This unit of study will find our first graders building upon the skills that they have developed in the first half of the school year. They will be working on counting, reading, and writing numerals to one hundred twenty. Students will learn and use strategies to add and subtract within twenty and understand place value for 2-digit numbers. Our students will be working on addition within 20 to solve story problems and problems with three addends. Within 100, they will be adding and subtracting multiples of 10 and will be learning to find 10 more or 10 less than a given 2-digit number.

We are finishing up our science unit, Balls and Ramps. We had a tremendously enjoyable trip to the Oakwood Bowling Lanes and even saw some of our students score some amazing numbers. What a fun day was had by all! Thank you to our first grade parent volunteers who joined us on our trip.

Our new Social Studies unit will focus on the idea that people live in many different locations and where people live affects the way that they live. Our school-wide study of the fictional character, Madeline, will help our first graders learn about living in London when we read, Madeline in London, by Ludwig Bemelmans. Look for the wonderful work of our first graders displayed in our main hallway.

First Grade

Spring greetings from Second Grade! Second graders have been working very hard and we are so proud to share their learning experiences. Our readers and writers wrapped up a fascinating study of nonfiction texts. Readers learned to identify the different features of nonfiction texts and worked on strengthening comprehension skills. Writers were able to create informational (all-about) books and became teachers by writing about topics that were researched and studied. We are excited to begin writing “edge of your seat stories,” which will help us practice many skills, including how to develop fictional characters; build tension; create a chronological account in a narrative format; and utilize dialogue, setting and juicy details. There are so many creative stories that we are excited to read and share!

In Reader’s Workshop, we are busy reading series books in our book clubs. Series books are a great way for children to make predictions, study character development and problem/solution plot lines. Book clubs help students discuss thoughts and make comparisons with other club members. We are having a blast in our book club discussions and continue to practice our decoding, fluency and comprehension skills. Keep reading at home!

Mathematicians are learning about the different methods and strategies for solving two-digit subtraction problems. In this unit, we also will be learning how to subtract from 100 and 200 and revisiting word problems. In our next unit, we will be tackling time and learning about graphing. Keep practicing with Reflexmath.com and IXL.com to maintain skills and fact fluency.

Social studies lessons continue with a focus on map skills, landforms, and climate. We are looking forward to the warmer weather when we can return to our exploration of the garden. We will also begin our study of insects, as well, and students will become expert entomologists!

Keep up the good work!

W HI TE HOUSE NEWS

Second Grade


Third graders have been enjoying this snowy weather, but I think we are all ready for spring at this point! In science, our new unit called “Structures of Life” is set to start soon. This unit will provide us with the opportunity to observe and explore fascinating creatures! Students will be amazed by the Bess beetles and crayfish that will take up residence in our 3rd Grade S.T.E.M. Lab and classrooms. Classes will also be getting ready to head outdoors to view the variety of plants sprouting in our school garden. We will track and observe the structures of the fruit and vegetable plants as they develop and grow.

Writer’s Workshop continues as students showcase their expertise during

our informational writing unit of study. Our third grade writers are becoming more confident in their ability to inform others about a topic of their choosing. As they write, students will incorporate nonfiction text features as studied in class. Teachers continue to focus on the importance of revision as a critical stage in the writing process. This helps students make decisions about organization and word choice. With each unit of study, our writers are developing their ability to edit their own work by adding punctuation or fix spelling errors that they identify independently.

Our current theme in reading revolves around nonfiction text. Students will be reading various examples of nonfiction text, including magazine articles, content area books, biographies/autobiographies, and more! Teachers are focusing on the text structure of nonfiction pieces, and students are learning to compare and contrast this with familiar fiction novels. Students are working to locate and provide evidence from the text in both written and oral responses. They are also learning to infer meanings of unfamiliar words by using clues in the text and prior knowledge.

In math classes, the entire third grade is excited to begin learning all the interesting parts about our unit on fractions. The teachers are equally enthused! Also, as we mentioned in previous newsletters, multiplication and division facts should be reviewed nightly. Students have made tremendous progress so far! Remember to encourage practice using the websites IXL and Reflex Math!

Third Grade

Winter is almost over, which means we won’t be creating snowmen in the art room anymore! As our budding artists at WHS embark upon our school-wide theme of Madeline, we will be creating interesting artwork depicting some of the places Madeline has traveled. She’s been to Washington D.C., London, Paris, Rome, and more. Kindergartners are learning about Washington D.C. and created portraits of Abraham Lincoln. They’re fascinated with the White House and who has lived there. We have been drawing our 16th president Abraham Lincoln using oil pastels. This portrait is topped off with a black hat and a red bow tie, each made of cut construction paper and then glued down. Kindergartners have also started to learn about Leo the Chameleon. His changing colors make an awesomely cute painted reptile. First graders have been learning about London, England and made the British flag using liquid watercolor paints. After a few finishing touches, they will be ready to create some interesting paper weavings. Our second graders traveled to Paris, France, or at least that’s what it felt like after seeing their gorgeous charcoal drawings of the Eiffel Tower. We will turn these drawings into “stamps” by measuring and cutting out our own stamp-like frames. Next, they will be writing their “compliments” and finishing their brightly colored complementary zebra paintings. Third graders will be working in collaboration with one another to make life-sized cutouts of Madeline and Pepito. Art and Spanish have teamed up to create smaller portraits of the main characters, which students will color and then have to describe in Spanish. Once our Madeline unit is complete, the third graders will jump back onto their Rainforest birds. They are looking so fantastic...I can’t wait for you to see them! Artfully Yours, Mrs. Dana Pierro

W HI TE HOUSE NEWS

ART


Kindergartners continue to make amazing progress in the computer lab. They are logging onto the computers and into Google Classroom! Students were introduced to our new robotic friends, The Bee Bots. Students learned simple programming skills to navigate the Bee Bots to letters in the alphabet. The Bee Bots allow students to learn sequential programming by pressing forward/reverse/left/right buttons in order to make the Bee Bots go from one place to another.

First graders also learned how to program the Bee Bots to navigate to different letters. They continue to log into the computers and Google Classroom with little support. Students are navigating through different websites, creating new Google Docs and Google Slides. They are learning how to insert pictures, borders and type stories in Microsoft Word and Google Documents.

Second graders are continuing to use Google Classroom for all of their in class projects. Students surveyed the class and input data into a Google Spreadsheet. They have also created a graph displaying the data collected. Second graders have created a Google slideshow inserting facts, pictures and transitions.

Third grade students have applied their foundation in computer skills to larger projects. All third grade projects are completed through Google Classroom. Students conducted a survey and created a graph through Google Sheets and a Google Slideshow about Martin Luther King Jr. Students continue to master the skills of inserting pictures, transitions, background color and text. Third grade students are also practicing testing strategies by learning how to use evidence to answer open ended questions about different online articles and videos.

~ Mrs. Yukniewicz

Comput- Computers


Did you know that March is National Music in Our Schools Month? This year’s theme is “Music Inspires” and we strive to bring that spirit to life each and every day here at Whitehouse School. We hope your children are inspired to share with you details about what they learn each week in Music class. Given their young ages, it can sometimes be difficult for them to explain with specificity what happened several hours earlier in the day! Some “leading questions” you might consider asking are:

Did you sing a song today? Can you sing some of the words to me? (Without visual and auditory clues from the teacher and their peers, they may not independently remember all the words.) Did you play an instrument in Music today? What was it called? Can you pretend like you are holding the instrument and show me how to play it? I see you have this paper from Music class in your backpack. Tell me about it! (Use the worksheet or project as a visual prompt. Point to symbols and words and ask your child to explain what it means or demonstrate how it sounds). In the weeks ahead, you will be able to prompt your child to share parts of their Spring Concert songs. We hope you will be able to join us on May 26 for your child’s performance. These “inspirational” performances will last approximately 30 minutes.

Kindergarten @ 2:15 PM Grade 1 @ 9:00 AM Grade 2 @ 1:15 PM

Grade 3 @ 10:15 AM

Please feel free to reach out to your child’s Music teacher with any questions you may have!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Laurie Levesque (Wednesday and Thursday classes)

[email protected]

Mrs. Elissa Bowen (Tuesday and Friday classes) [email protected]

Music

mailto:[email protected]


Never a dull moment in Physical Education…

MOVE, MOVE, MOVE, that’s what we continue to do in Physical Education. During the month of January, students played Pillow Polo Hockey. This high excitement game features plenty of scoring and goal defense. Each student had the opportunity to play the action packed position of the goalie.

During the month of February students played a variety of cooperative games and challenges such as Pirate’s Gold, Save our Ship, Shake A Tail Feather, and Hide-Out. Students enjoyed learning volleyball skills and techniques, which enabled students to have success performing a set, forearm pass, and a serve over the net.

Students played games from around the world to go along with our thematic unit of Madeline. Third graders played a game called 1,2,3,Stella, from Rome. Second played a game called Bilboquet, which originated in Paris, France. First graders played the game “Queenie, Queenie,” from London, England. Kindergarteners played a popular game called Seven-up from the United States.

Students can look forward to Pinky’s return, Rescue the Dinosaur and the Penguin Activity. These are activities that the students really love, which help to promote team spirit and cooperation.

~ Mrs. Kozal & Mr. Gormly

W HI TE HOUSE NEWS

Gym


Dear Parents,

During this winter, your children have made great progress with their Spanish. They have increased their

vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and knowledge in Spanish by engaging in written and oral exercises as well as

reading, conversations, interactive games, songs and special projects.

Kindergarten students have been showing a great interest in learning Spanish. They have been practicing

questions about their name, age and how they are doing. Kindergartners had an awesome time singing Spanish songs,

learning the colors, counting up to 20 and participating in a variety of activities and games.

First grade has reviewed previous vocabulary and questions and increased weather and numbers vocabulary.

The students can count up to 50! First graders have been continuing to learn the vocabulary for clothing. They had a

wonderful time working on the “Mun eco de Nieve Project” (snowman project) in which students picked and labeled the

clothing for a snowman.

In addition, first grade has been learning about animals. They have implemented new vocabulary which has

given them the opportunity to communicate using longer and complete sentences. Besides identifying farm animals, first

graders are now able to describe the color, size and body parts of animals (Ex: The rabbit is white, and has big ears.) First

grade enjoyed playing the game “¿Quie n Soy?” (Who Am I?) In this game, children guess the animal based on the sound

that they hear. The students are thrilled to now be working on the project “Mi Granja” (My Farm), where they are

creating their very own farm.

Second grade has been focusing on the meal times, food, and drinks. Students demonstrated their Spanish

abilities by describing whether or not they like certain foods or drinks. This unit allowed them to practice the verbs “to

have,” “to like,” “to eat” and “to drink” as well as using the first and second person when asking or responding to a

question. They had an awesome time making a poster with their favorite food for a specific meal and writing a

description of it.

They also enjoyed practicing short conversations about food and they have become familiar with the different

meal times and foods that the Spanish speaking countries have. They are able to explain the similarities and differences

between the U.S. and Spanish speaking countries’ meal times and cuisine.

Third grade has focused on describing oneself, and people’s appearances, as well as personality traits. Moreover,

third graders have done an amazing job on learning a large variety of adjectives, verbs “to be” and “to have”, using the

first and second person when asking or responding and third person when describing, identifying pronouns and the gen-

der of words and using it properly.

Third graders have practiced new knowledge by doing interviews with their classmates, writing descriptions

based on the answers that they have collected, presenting descriptions written by them, drawing pictures of people and

guessing some classmates based on oral descriptions. They have been excited to demonstrate their skills with descriptive

adjectives by describing the main characters in the books of our thematic unit, Madeline.

To increase students’ retention of the lessons learned and to continue to foster their excitement about Spanish, I

suggest practicing the vocabulary at home. You can find the theme vocabularies and websites on the WHS World

Language website.

Saludos,

Sen ora de los Santos

[email protected]

Spanish
