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Lower School Newsletter Archive

Winter 2005

Hello, All!

I hope the beginning of 2005 has been an enjoyable time for you and your family. It’s always a pleasure to welcome the children back after a long vacation. They returned to school rested and genuinely happy to see their classmates and teachers. This mid-winter period is a most industrious time of year. Classroom routines are firmly established, curriculum plans are clear and teachers know the students quite well by now. The stage is set for thoughtful, deliberate work and assessment to continue at a steady pace that helps students develop important skills and concepts. It’s an exciting time and I’m happy to report that children and teachers are directing their considerable energy in very productive ways.

Teachers are working on mid-year progress reports, which 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 a summary of the curriculum from September through December, goal statements and narrative commentary from each classroom teacher. Most specialists use a checklist format with accompanying remarks, and the art teacher helps each child create a representative portfolio of the year’s work to be sent home in June. We hope by reporting at least four times a year?twice during parent/teacher conferences and twice with written statements? 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 explorations and projects are under way in every classroom. Here is a sample of what the children are currently investigating:

Pre-K Each of the children in the pre-k has begun work on a Family Book that includes writing and illustrations about his/her family. Upon completion, they will share the books with classmates and their 5-6 buddies. Visits from third and fourth grade reading buddies are a highlight of each week. Recently the older and younger students have been acting out favorite stories together. January will end with some laughs and cuddles as the pre-k class plans a Pajama Day toward the end of the month.

K The kindergarten class is currently working on a math investigation that includes data collection and matching numerals to quantity. Each child will create an original version of a counting book based on Anno’s Counting Book, by Anno Mitsumasa. As part of their social studies work they will be taking a closer look at similarities and differences among themselves and others: the first project was completing self-portraits with their 5–6 buddies. Stop by the kindergarten hallway to see an interesting cast of characters. As follow-up projects, they will move onto full body tracings and will also create partner puppets for use in the classroom.

1–2 Both classes are busy studying the weather here and on top of the Shawangunk Ridge. Logs are being kept to compare trends in the weather in Poughkeepsie and at the weather center at the Mohonk Preserve. Students have planted “Three Sister” gardens in their models of the ridge. They measure the growth of the plants each week and have made predictions about which types of plant will grow better: the mountain plants or the valley plants. Mid-winter is traditionally a time for PDS students to study the lives of peacemakers: children in the 1-2s will learn about Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Sojourner Truth.

3–4 Third and fourth graders are expanding their understanding of African geography by making a three dimensional map of Africa. The project crosses several disciplines: mathematical thinking helps them convert the scale of the map (they create the 3-D model by reading a 2-D map); science and social studies converge as they learn about African ecosystems and build the landforms on the map; reading, writing and comprehension skills are put to use as students research the regions represented on the map and carefully label them to make the map a highly useable tool in their yearlong study. Students also write poetry about light and shadows to complement a geometric exploration of angles, intersecting lines and the shapes they create.

Faculty News
Nan Moran (pre-k) will travel to New York City on two consecutive weekends in February to attend a course at Bank Street College, Supporting Emergent Literacy in the Pre-K Classroom.

Mandy Redman (pre-k) is enrolled in a semester-long course of study of children’s literature at SUNY New Paltz. Mandy is very close to completing the requirements for her M.A.degree in early childhood education.

Check the bulletin board across from Anita’s desk to see a copy of Stephen Currie’s latest article “Mathtubs Are Coming!” published in the January edition of Teaching K–8. It highlights the project he developed in the lower school at PDS and includes photos of some of our very own students.

Co-teachers Bill Fiore and Rebecca Santner will be meeting with fellow grantees in the Teaching the Hudson Valley Initiative, to discuss their year’s thematic work studying the Shawangunk Ridge.

Lenae Madonna (1–2) and literacy support specialist Adrianne Houk-Maley will travel to Rutgers University to attend the 37th Annual Conference on Reading and Writing. Adrienne will also go to a local seminar for k-6 teachers, Strengthening the Reading Achievement of Students with Learning Disabilities: Strategies that Work.

The PDS faculty continues to learn more about how to identify a student’s individual learning patterns in order to help strengthen abilities and either bypass or help overcome weaknesses. As you know, ten members of the faculty are participants in Schools Attuned, a program run by the All Kinds of Minds Institute, founded by Dr. Mel Levine. During her sabbatical, Gretchen Lytle has been organizing material from last summer and fall’s work sessions to share with the entire faculty. PDS recently purchased a Schools Attuned video library that helps explain the eight constructs that Levine believes are integral to learning. During our faculty workday in early January, Gretchen led the group in a discussion and workshop focused on attention, one of the neurodevelopmental control systems central to Levine’s theory and practice. The video helped launch productive conversations aimed at identifying effective teaching methods at various age levels. Our work as a faculty will continue throughout the course of the school year.

From the Nurse’s Office

Please remember to notify the school nurse, Linda Studler, when your child is absent due to illness. Various illnesses must be reported weekly to the Health Department and your input will help insure accuracy and timeliness. Should you child require medication during school hours please help us follow standard guidelines and laws:

1. All medication must be brought to school by the parent/guardian.

2. All medication must be in the original container. Baggies, Tupperware or foil wrapped medication will not be accepted or administered.

3. All medication must be accompanied by a doctor’s orders (not the same as the prescription bottle). This includes child’s name, medication, dosage, mode of delivery, frequency and duration.

Please be mindful of how your child is feeling in the morning. If he/she hasn’t slept well, has a frequent cough or runny nose, complains of a sore throat and/or has a fever, please keep him/her at home. Thank you for your cooperation. If you have questions, please direct them to Linda at 462-7600 ext. 221.

Looking Ahead

Two veteran teachers will be on sabbatical next year. Shirley Rinaldi (3–4 team this year, usually 5–6), will be off pursuing other interests next year, along with her colleague Bill Fiore (1–2). We will miss them very much but look forward to hearing about their adventures when they return in the 2006–07 school year. Gretchen Lytle will be back in the 3–4 in the fall, and a thorough search for Bill’s leave replacement will begin soon.

Please congratulate Kate Johnson (Spanish) and her husband Matthew on their big news: they are eagerly anticipating the birth of their first child, due at the end of April. Kate will be with us until April 15. We’ll be sad to see her leave but look forward to helping them welcome the baby.

We are gearing up for the second edition of Writer’s Choice. The student deadline for submitting new material for our publication is February 4. We hope to print and distribute the next collection of student work before the February vacation.

Transition Meeting

Our annual Transition Meeting for parents of current fourth graders will be held on Wednesday, February 9, 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 middle school faculty about curriculum, schedule, expectations and new experiences children can look forward to as they move into middle school.

On Saturday, March 5, the admissions office will host two screening sessions for applicants to grades pre-k through first grade. Groups of teachers will work with the students while Mary Jane Yurchak, Jill Lundquist and I answer parents’ questions about PDS. If are applying for your child, contact the Admissions Office to schedule an appointment, and please spread the word to your friends who may be considering PDS for their children.

Friendly Reminders

Thanks

· For driving on field trips

· For setting up play dates

· For lugging sleds to school

· 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. I can be reached by phone at extension 220 or via e-mail at mkenny@poughkeepsieday.org

Best to all,

Mary Ellen Kenny

Lower School Head