pennell in print...each month, pennell focuses on a core value/essential that we hope students will...
TRANSCRIPT
What’s coming up in
January?
2nd
8th
School Resumes
PTL Meeting 6:30 pm / Library
10th Pen’s Den
17th
18th
3rd Grade Field Trip to the Arden Theatre
11:15 Dismissal BINGO NIGHT 7 PM at NMS
21st Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
NO SCHOOL – OFFICES AND SCHOOLS CLOSED
23rd School Board
Meeting 7:30 pm / PDSD Service Center
24th Elementary Progress Reports mailed home
PENNELL IN PRINT
JANUARY 2013
PENNELL ELEMENTARY
3300 RICHARD ROAD * ASTON, PA 19014 * 610.497.6300 x 7500
PENNELL ELEMENTARY NEWSLETTER
Happy NEW YEAR and WELCOME BACK!
I hope that everyone enjoyed a relaxing and safe holiday break! We welcomed back our students today…some a bit melancholy that their break was over…some excited to be back to school…but overall…a little more sleepy than usual.
A few students delivering their classroom attendance folder to the office stopped for a quick HAPPY NEW YEAR picture.
With the holiday season behind us, we are gearing up for the second half of the school year. We have many exciting things ahead of us, including: assemblies, Field Day, and our Reading Counts celebration just to name a few. Our reading goal for the year is 113 million words, and currently our students have read about 50 million words. We need our students to make a strong effort to reach our goal! Please continue to encourage your child to take their school work and studying very seriously. As we approach our PSSA state testing window in March and April, we will be working very hard to prepare our students for the assessment. Your assistance and support is greatly needed and very much appreciated.
January also brings colder weather conditions and complications with our outdoor recess. Please be sure your child is sent to school with a winter coat, and a hat and gloves for the recess yard. Also, our dress code policy precludes students from wearing shoes without a backing (flip flops, slippers, etc.). Please be sure your child is wearing shoes to school that are suitable for recess play and general exercise.
As always, thank you for your support!
Mr. Shawn Dutkiewicz, Pennell Principal
CONGRATULATIONS TO DECEMBER’S CORE
ESSENTIAL OF THE MONTH RECIPIENTS!
The following students were recognized for showing the core value of COMPASSION.
KINDERGARTEN - 1ST GRADE RECIPIENTS
Annabella Lancellotti
103AM
Joey Diamond 103PM
Christian Durkee 101
Justin Celentino 101
Nicky Krouse 101
Logan Reilley 101
Lauren Luongo 108
Matthew Dill 108
Niko Tozzi 109
Michael Maddox 109
Liam Polsky 107
Tyler Sanders 107
Megan Sarosy 107
Vincent Hanobeck 107
2ND GRADE RECIPIENTS
Hailey Chyneski 210
Alex Kenvin 210
Julia Lancelotti 210
Ryan Davis 211
Kyle Ott 212
Samantha Greisiger 212
Stephen Herre 211
Catherine Diamond 211
3RD GRADE RECIPIENTS
Tyler Koenig 206
Gianna McFarland 206
Hannah McGroary 206
Noah Migatz 208
Gianna Ellis 208
Andrew Tkacz 208
Danielle Gavlishin 209
Holden Dubach 209
4TH GRADE RECIPIENTS
Tyler Davidson 203
Nick Deckman 203
Kailyn Moran 203
Abigail Fisher 204
Niko Omiridis 204
Erin McGugan 205
Tyler Smith 205
Ava Fenner 205
5TH GRADE RECIPIENTS
Emma Robinson 200
Amber Kester 200
Dominic Marano 201
Marissa Calvecchio 201
Bryant Budiono 202
Abigail Erickson 202
Andrew Hill 202
Jacqueline Oldham 201
WHAT’S ON THE FRIDGE THIS MONTH?
PTL Event coming
soon…Bingo Night –
January 18th at 7 pm
@ Northley Middle
School
Please “LIKE” the
Pennell Elementary
and PDSD Facebook
pages!
Our Winter Concert was a fantastic success! Mr. Heimbecker, Instrumental Music Director, and Mrs. O’Kane,
Chorus Director, did an amazing job preparing their students to perform. The students did an extraordinary job
and the music and singing was enjoyed by all!
THE PENNELL WINTER CONCERT: CHORUS
Chorus Selections:
Rock n’ Roll Snowman………………………………..T. Jennings
Hanukkah’s Child…………………….………..........A. Synder
The Candlelight Canon................................A. Synder
Wranglin’ Reindeer……………………………………C. Miller
What I Like the Most About Christmas……….M. Vinson
Must Be Santa…..........................................Moore & Fredricks
4th Grade Chorus
Brandon Cairy
Daniel Cairy
Olivia Carr
Nick Colonna
Bailey Dantonio
Nick Deckman
Lydia Dinsmore
Abigail Fisher
Sarah Gartland
Kristine Guenther
Daria Grzybacz
Aaron Hanavin
Stephen Jones
Rachel June
Kierstyn Kirk
Carli Komorowski
Savannah Lewis
Julia McGehean
Erin McGugan
Kailyn Moran
Sydney Parkinson
Grace Pena
Hope Rice
Madison Schaefer
Angelina Stevens
Rachel Walker
Teagan Williams
5th Grade Chorus
Victoria Albanese
Sophia Belgiorno
Kayla Boyd
Kiley Boyd
Shalane Buck
Lavar Butler
Marissa Calvecchio
Makaila Carter
Sara Chodak
Dominique DelGiorno
Abigail Erickson
Tara France
Jessica Hastings
Chelsea Hendrix
Jaimee Higgins
Hunter Howe
Breanna Kalb
Amber Kester
Kassidy Lambert
Dominic Marano
Tyler McAllister
Caitlin McShane
Olivia Nickerson
Caitlin O’Brien Rachael
Patterson
Chris Piccioni
Riley Price
Shannon Purfield
Emma Robinson
Ava Ruggieri
Anthony Schellin
Nicholas Siekierski
Jalyn Slaughter
Zachary Smith
Amanda Tiger
Hannah Vickers
Jack Wendling
Our Winter Concert was a fantastic success! Mr. Heimbecker, Instrumental
Music Director, and Mrs. O’Kane, Chorus Director, did an amazing job preparing
their students to perform. The students did an extraordinary job and the music
and singing was enjoyed by all!
THE PENNELL WINTER CONCERT: BAND
Pennell “A” and “B” Band Members:
Flute Baritone /
Saxophone
Clarinet Percussion Trumpet
Sophia Belgiorno
Sarah Gartland
Michael Simons
Abigail Erickson
Jared Kosierowski
Kassidy Lambert
Rachael Patterson
Emma Polsky
Riley Price
Luke Rice
Devin Widmaier
Abigail Fisheer
Patrick Gill
Steven Lawson
Anthony Fisher
Victoria Albanese
Marissa Calvecchio
Dominique DelGiorno
Jaimee Higgins
Zachary Seddon
Jalyn Slaughter
Hannah Vickers
Hannah Brong
Olivia Carr
Christian Crawford
Ava Fenner
Daria Grzybacz
George Hearn
Kierstyn Kirk
Ria Megagam
Mia Sarceni
Colin Bradley
Joseph Coble
Jenna Ford
Ben Gordon
Nick Maiale
Tyler McAllister
Caitlin O’Brien
Anthony Schellin
Carli Komorowski
Dylan Marantino
Ryan Nearey
Scott Novak
Chase Segool
Angelina Stevens
Tyler Thornton
Shannon Purfield
Nicholas Siekierski
Zachary Smith
Danny Cairy
Katie Fallon
Stephen Jones
Alec Sarnocinski
Keyboards Trombone
Shalane Buck
LaVar Butler
MaKaila Carter
Sara Chodak
Chelsea Hendrix
Bailey Dantonio
Nicholas DiDonato
Rachel June
Paul Malatesta
Kailyn Moran
Hope Rice
Bajah Stevens
Teagan Williams
Nicholas Colonna
Lydia Dinsmore
Julia McGehean
Ryan Ott
Band Selections:
Carol of the Bells………………….M. Leontovych, arr. Heimbecker
Winter Wonderland……………...Bernard & Smith, arr. Heimbecker
Somewhere in My Memory……..J. Williams, arr. Heimbecker
Jingle Bell Rock…….………………arr. M Sweeney
Each month, Pennell focuses on a core value/essential that we hope students will practice and apply in their daily lives. We recognize students who exemplify our core essentials by giving them “team tickets”. Team tickets are awarded to students and then displayed in our lobby. At the end of the month, students who received a team ticket are chosen randomly to have lunch with the Principal, Mr. Dutkiewicz.
JANUARY’S MONTHLY VALUE: DETERMINATION
Determination—deciding it’s worth it to finish what you started
Car Time – Song: "Finish What I Start" – MOVE that is easily
downloadable in the Core Essentials store at
http://www.coreessentials.org/store.html for $1.39 a song!
Open Wide – JUST FOR FUN: Can you guess how tall the world’s
highest mountain is?
DISCUSSION STARTER: Mount Everest is the world’s highest
mountain. The summit is 29,029 feet—that’s almost five and a half
miles straight up! Climbing Mt. Everest is incredibly dangerous.
In fact, no one had ever done it until Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top in 1953. The crazy thing is that two men
almost reached the top only three days before him, but they turned around only 300 feet from the top because
they were too exhausted!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Why do you think it would be hard to climb a mountain like Mt. Everest? What is the payoff for all the hard work that climbers of Mt. Everest have to do?
What are some tasks you have to complete—at home, at school, or with your friends? Why is it sometimes hard to finish these tasks?
What good might come from our determination to keep doing those things?
REST –
K-2: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by: Mordicai Gerstein; In 1974, French aerialist Philippe
Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking,
dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky.
3-5: The Incredible Journey by: Shelia Burnford; Instinct told them that the way home laid to the west.
And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set
out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three
house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they
love.
EXPERIENCE – We all know that overwhelming feeling of being at the beginning of a huge project—homework,
room cleaning, or home renovations to name a few. It can be discouraging. But when you get to the end and see
your accomplishments, it’s totally worth it! Learn this great lesson together as a family this month by setting up a
complicated looking jigsaw puzzle. Work on it throughout the month, as a family and don’t give up until it’s
finished!
CORE ESSENTIALS: VALUE OF THE MONTH
With Scholastic Reading Counts your child participates in an independent reading
program that tracks their success on the books they read, in and out of school. This
technology-based program creates a personalized and engaging learning environment
that ensures independent reading accountability.
This year, our school-wide Reading Counts goal is 113,000,000!
As of December 21st 2012: Congrats to the students who have read at least 450,000 words!
Students Total Words Read
Jalyn Slaughter 2,289,524
Colin Bradley 1,873,693
Darren Panusky 1,520,505
Chelsea Hendrix 1,486,940
Devin Widmaier 1,392,248
Christian Hansen 1,205,373
Kelsey Celestino 1,123,325
Sara Chodak 1,090,234
Nicole Buscaglia 1,027,541
Shannon Purfield 880,208
Abigail Otsyina 814,427
Zachary Seddon 704,606
Ryley Marker 698,319
Emmanuel Otsyina 677,911
Jenna Ford 663,634
Justin Hassel 637,370
Jacqueline Oldham 616,995
Shalane Buck 616,356
Nick Maiale 552,566
Tyler Smith 550,886
Sophia Pantuliano 533,756
Luke Rice 530,603
Gabrielle Lobb 520,058
Brenden Purfield 511,749
Erin Kelly 510,051
Xavier Slaughter 478,567
Tara France 476,716
Nina McClennen 452,707
READING COUNTS
Technology…Transforming Teaching and
Learning Writing ~ Making Meaning on the Page
By Anne Dudley and Rosemary Fowler, Curriculum Supervisors
Writing is a craft that requires the student to use specific words, in a specific order to create specific effects.
Students write in countless ways to communicate, express, question, persuade, synthesize, and teach. It takes
years to gain mastery over written language. The technology which is available today offers opportunities to
both teacher and student to be better able to develop this craft.
The document camera, also known as a visualizer, is a real-time image capture
device. The teacher or student places the document under the camera and it can be
projected to a large audience. When a teacher wants to show students the style of a
particular author, he can put the page under the camera and share with the class.
The students can see and hear the selection. A teacher can put a blank piece of paper
under the camera and write for all the students to see. Students can also project
their pieces of writing and work on peer revising together as a community of writers.
The writer needs to follow a process when writing a new piece. The computer provides the “paper” for the
initial draft, followed by a more efficient means of revising and editing. The final stage in the writing process is
publication. The computer provides the student with the opportunity to give his piece of writing a professional
look. He can design a brochure, add tables and diagrams as well as graphics. Reference tools are available for
the writer. While working on an informative piece, the internet is handy to check on facts and figures.
My Big Campus, an on-line social learning platform, gives students an
opportunity to collaborate and discuss their writing. More than ever, our
students are writing across the curriculum. The technology which is
available to them provides an invaluable resource.
Home/School Connection~
Link to recommended apps:
http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101/writing/literacyapps_writing
Evernote - Free app available to use on various devices. Great resource when you want to keep track of
your ideas and begin writing.
Story Builder - a multi-purpose app designed to teach story structure. In the process, students learn
sentence structure, sequencing, and making inferences.
SPOTLIGHT ON CURRICULUM
Building Your Child’s Language
through Story Time
Pennell is excited to announce that we will be offering a program to parents of pre-K to second grade students
to learn new techniques for reading and building vocabulary with their child. We would like to invite you to an
evening to explore new ways to build your child’s future academic success.
Building Your Child’s Language through Story Time will introduce you to strategies and techniques to maximize
the benefits associated with reading aloud with your child. After a brief introduction reviewing the facts, you
will be taught ways to help your child grow his or her communication as well as build a foundation for
becoming a successful reader.
Come to learn, enjoy some refreshments and leave with a gift of a book to share with your child at home. This
is an adult training, so parents, grandparents, and guardians are invited to attend. If you have any questions,
please contact Mary Beth Mytych, Speech and Language Therapist, at [email protected] or Karen Wells,
Reading Specialist, at [email protected].
When: Tuesday January 15, 2013
Time: 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: Pennell Elementary School Library
Please complete the RSVP below if you plan to attend and return by Wednesday, January, 9th, 2013.
Thank you!
Pennell Elementary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUILDING LANGUAGE THROUGH STORY TIME – PARENT TRAINING AT PENNELL ELEMENTARY
Parent Name(s) ________________________________________________________________________
YES, I will attend the parent training on January 15th.
Number of adults attending the training: _________