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Lower School Newsletter Archive Winter 2003-2004

Greetings! I hope the beginning of 2004 has been a pleasant time for you and your family. It was a pleasure to welcome the children back after a long vacation and especially fun to watch them greet one another and pick up where they left off in December. They seem genuinely glad to be together again. From an educator's point of view, this mid-late winter period is perhaps the most industrious time of year. Classroom routines are firmly established, curriculum plans are clear and teachers know the students quite well by now. All the ingredients are in place for thoughtful, deliberate work and assessment to continue at a steady pace that helps students solidify and develop important skills and concepts. It's an exciting time and I am happy to report that children and teachers are directing their considerable energy in very productive ways.

Mid-year progress reports are underway and will be mailed to you early in February. Our intent is for each report to offer an insightful, accurate reflection of your child's engagement in learning and progress to date. The report includes an overview of the curriculum, goal statements and narrative commentary from each classroom teacher. Most specialists use a checklist format with accompanying remarks and the art department continues to help each child create a representative portfolio of the year's work which will be sent home in June. We hope that by reporting at least four times a year, twice during parent/teacher conferences and twice with written statements, that you gain a clear understanding of your child's stance as a student as well as timely information about his/her progress. As always, if you have particular questions or concerns, please be in touch.

Interesting projects and explorations are happening in every classroom. Here is a sample of what the children are currently investigating:

• Pre-K Our youngest students began the winter season by studying light. Flashlights were used for experiments with shadows and colored cellophane was used to make "stained glass" windows. The children continue to engage in activities that help them learn letters and numbers. Currently, each child is working on an original counting book.
• K Their study of Our Local Community brought both classes to Giacomo's Pizzeria on Spackenkill Road for a tasty adventure. The children watched a pizza making demonstration and interviewed the employees to learn what is involved in running a restaurant. Back in the classroom students are busy making menus and signs and gathering the props needed to run their own restaurant. The children are also involved in a long-term math project involving personal collections. They are sorting, classifying, combining and writing about the contents of their collections.
  A culminating activity will be an organized display of kindergarten collections, open to the whole school.
• 1-2 As part of their year-long study of the Hudson River, first and second graders are studying early modes of transportation along the river. Right now they are concentrating on the boats that sailed, steamed and chugged their way up and downstream. They recently conducted experiments to see how boats float and are currently building boats from original designs. In upcoming weeks, both classes will be heading back to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. Representatives from the Institute of Ecosystem Studies and from the Clearwater will visit the first and second graders soon.
• 3-4 All the 3-4s are finishing up their relief maps of the Maya homeland.
  Some members of the 3-4 will make a presentation to the rest of the lower school at an upcoming assembly. They have also been creating a game called Eco-Bingo, which calls on their knowledge about various ecosystems in the homeland of the Maya.
• Music John reports that the children are learning winter songs and beginning a fairly substantial Orff unit in which they will learn instrumental arrangements of songs including ostinatos and improvisations.

Faculty News

Music teacher John Sullivan is busy rehearsing for an organ recital to be given at St. John's Lutheran Church on Sunday, February 15 at 3:00 pm. The concert includes works by Bach, Buxthude, Albinoni, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Michel, Pachelbel, Bitgood and Willan.

Our team of first and second grade teachers, Bill Fiore, Lynn Fordin, Lenae Madonna and Rebecca Santner, will attend a workshop at Marist College to discuss their work on the Heritage grant. They will work with Sarah Olson, of the National Parks Service, and seven other grantees as well as a grants facilitator. They will report on the progress of the many Hudson River projects underway with 1-2 students at PDS and learn about the work of other local grant recipients.

Jeanne Henry, Nan Moran, Lenae Madonna and I will travel to NYC to attend a conference sponsored by the New York Association of Independent Schools entitled The Science of Reading: Overcoming Dyslexia. The presenters, Drs.Sally and Bennett Shaywitz, will highlight the findings of their recent research on dyslexia, conducted at Yale University.

Later this month Gretchen Lytle will attend the second session of a three- part NYSAIS workshop entitled Brain Based Teaching: Building Excitement for Learning.

Ellen DeLong will spend two consecutive Saturdays in February at Bank Street College attending a math workshop called Building Computational Fluency: Multiplication and Division.

One course at a time, I continue to work toward an M.S. degree in Literacy. This semester I am enrolled in a course called A Workshop in Diagnosing Difficulties in Reading.

As a group, the faculty continues to examine math instruction and assessment in the lower school. Since October, we have spent the majority of our meetings looking closely at a child's engagement with mathematics as he/she moves from pre-k through fourth grade. We are looking at strands in mathematical thinking such as addition, subtraction, measurement, multiplication, division, geometry, data analysis and fractions. The group shares information about methods of instruction and materials used at PDS as well as useful assessment tools. To broaden our view, several teachers attended workshops at Bank Street College, we read numerous articles and we looked at the NCTM standards (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) as a useful resource. In the coming weeks, we intend to meet with our middle school colleagues to compare practices and discuss goal setting for students as they move from one division of the school to the next. Our discussions have been fruitful on many levels and help clarify our shared sense of purpose. We look forward to meeting with you, in the spring, to discuss our work and answer questions you might have about math in the lower school. A date and time will be announced in a few weeks.

Two student teachers from Marist College will be joining us from mid-January through the end of March. Steve Wren will be working with Gretchen Lytle and her 3-4 and Laura Brinkman will join Bill and Rebecca's 1-2. Please welcome them when you have a chance.

Looking Ahead

Two veteran teachers will be on sabbatical next year. Gretchen Lytle (3-4) will do some trans-Atlantic commuting throughout the year as she splits her time between Dublin, where her husband will be teaching, and her home here in Rhinebeck. Lisa McVey (P.E.) will pursue other interests for three fifths of the school year, mostly on this continent! We will miss them both but look forward to hearing about their adventures when they return during the 2005-2006 school year. A thorough search for leave replacement teachers will begin very soon.

We are gearing up for the second edition of Writer's Choice. The student deadline for submitting new material for our publication is January 30. We hope to print and distribute the next collection of student work before the February vacation.

A Transition Meeting for parents of current fourth graders will be held on Wednesday, February 11 at 7:00 pm in the Chapman Room. The purpose of the meeting will be to talk with George Swain, head of the middle school, and some middle school faculty about curriculum, schedule, expectations and some of the new experiences children can look forward to as they move into middle school.

On Saturday, February 28, the admissions office will host two screening sessions for applicants wishing to enter grades pre-k through first. Groups of teachers will work with the students while Mary JaneYurchak, Jill Lundquist and I answer parents' questions about PDS. Please contact the admissions office to schedule an appointment and spread the word to your friends who might be considering PDS for their children.

Friendly Reminders

Extreme weather has caused us to keep the children inside during recess on a few occasions this winter. However, this is a rare occurrence and whenever possible it is our intention to be outdoors, at least briefly, every day. Please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather and in the case of the younger students it might be wise to check their supply of extra, dry clothes.

When picking up students at the end of the day, please enter and exit through the door near the gym. Meet your child in the Chapman Room. We need to keep the front door and main lobby as clear as possible so bus riders can move easily with their backpacks, boots and abundant winter paraphernalia!

Thanks

• For remembering to sign up for the "After" program in advance
• For driving on field trips
• For setting up play dates
• For reading to your child every day
• For asking good questions
• For your continued trust and support

Please don't hesitate to be in touch with questions, concerns and good ideas!

Best to all,

Mary Ellen Kenny
Lower School Head