November Newsletter 2010
Transcription
November Newsletter 2010
RUSHWOOD ELEMENTARY JACQUELINE O’CONNOR, PRINCIPAL UP AND COMING November 10 PTA Meeting; 7:00pm, Nordonia Middle School V O L U M E November 11 Veteran’s Day Breakfast and Assembly Parent/Teacher Conferences 5:00-8:00pm Market Day Pick—Up at Rushwood November 12 Delayed Start for Students November 24-29 Thanksgiving Break December 15 Dress Rehearsal Winter Show December 16 Winter Musical Performance 7:00pm December 22-January 4 Winter Break INSIDE STORIES: Physical Education Ski Club, and October Student of the Month 2 Notes from the Music Department 3-5 November Student of the Month 5 Technology Going Green…. 6 PTA Announcement Delayed Start Info. 7 What November’s Levy 8 Failure Means-Right Now Notes from the Clinic Primary Enrichment Library News Rushwood’s Reflections 2 , I S S U E 2 N O V E M B E R , 2 0 1 0 A Message from the Principal Rushwood Families, “Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working”. I’m not familiar with the author of that quote, but it came to my mind in the late evening of November 2, as I sat watching the polls being tabulated by the Summit County Board of Elections. I truly appreciate the support of our parents in the Nordonia Hills City School District. Unfortunately, however, your voices were not heard loud enough. But I am confident, with a grass roots approach from individuals such as all of you, together we will spread the message of how important it’s passage is for our community’s future, your children. While a decision has not been made if we will go on the ballot in February or May, please understand that whatever month it is, we need to pull together— for the sake of your children. As events unfold, I will be in contact with you, to share, and to ask for continued help. Inside this edition you will see a brief synopsis of how busing / parent pick-up and drop-off will work, beginning November 30th. Also inside this edition of Rushwood’s Reflections are notes from our school nurse, a reminder about 2 hour de9-11 lay’s and what that means for 12-13 students, a message from Deb Gennarelli, our Gifted Coordi14 nator, and messages from our Special’s Teachers, which includes a detailed report from our music teacher, Dr. Lineburgh, for upcoming programming, including our 4th grade Winter Musical Performance. If you haven’t been inside Rushwood at the end of the school day, you’re missing out on the enthusiasm from our students. Shining Star Awards are coming in strong from our staff, and it excites me to see how supportive our students are toward one another. Students are “getting caught” doing the right thing everywhere. And, surrounding our student show case you will notice stars filling the wall. This is a visual testament to Rushwood’s children and their development of strong citizenship skills and character. I’m proud of each and every student. Also in our front entrance is our student showcase, displaying our student’s of the month. Inside this edition you will find a picture of our October and November winners. On November 11th we will be hosting a Veteran’s Day breakfast with students and their guest. Following this breakfast, the student body will assemble in our gymnasium with our veteran guests, listening to many of them share their story. Following this presentation, and weather permitting, we will move the student body outside surrounding the flag pole, where we will have a flag raising ceremony led by two veterans, and the singing of the National Anthem. Thursday evening will be the second of two parent/teacher conferences. If you have not scheduled a time to meet with your child’s teacher, please be sure to do so. Also on this evening is Market Day pick up at Rushwood. Due to the failure of the levy, however, beginning in December, pick up will be at Nordonia Middle School. While I understand it is an inconvenience, it is my hope that you will continue to support Rushwood’s PTA and our students. It really is appreciated! I’d like to close with a memory from my grandma, a woman who was raised during the great depression; a woman I counted on because of her wealth of knowledge and wisdom. When I would question myself, and have doubt if I could reach my goals, she always told me, “Jacqui, nobody trips over mountains—they stumble over pebbles in the pathways. Work to pass all the pebbles in your path, and soon you’ll find that you’ve crossed over the mountain”. We’re facing some challenges in our forefront, but I believe that together, as a schoolcommunity, if we begin to clear those pebbles in our paths together, we WILL cross the mountain. I hope that each and everyone of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. Yours for an excellent education, Jacqueline O’Connor Physical Education—Erika Canitano Hopefully you and your family have had a chance to come to the Rushwood Recreation Club events this year. So far we have had jump rope and hula hoop, both of which were a GREAT success. Future events include skiing (Dec.), karate (Jan. 14th), bowling (Feb. 11th), dance party (Mar. 11th), yoga (Apr. 15th) and hiking (May 21st). Provided the levy passes on November 2nd we will be able to continue these activities. If the levy does not pass, unfortunately the events would be cancelled. In physical education class we have completed many units already including soccer, football, underhand throwing and fitness testing. The 3rd & 4th grade students focus on team roles and good sportsmanship. Team roles include coach, athletic trainer, equipment manager, and public relations person. Each person chooses a role and is responsible for fulfilling the role. At the end of the unit, the students vote for the team that demonstrated the best sportsmanship. Those students receive a certificate. Upcoming units include; badminton, overhand throwing, dance and bowling. Thank you to the volunteers who signed up to help with fitness testing, I appreciate it! There will be more PE volunteer opportunities available in the future. “Individual Student Learning and Achievement is our Core Business” Thanks and looking forward to a great and active school year!!! Erika Canitano Physical Education Teacher OLD MAN WINTER IS ON THE WAY, SKI CLUB ARRIVES! Are you ready for some winter fun?! Ski club "try it" night is Monday, December 13th. We will meet at Brandywine Ski Resort at 5:00. Any student who will be 8 years old by Jan. 1, 2011 can participate along with any older family members. The price is only $25 per person! This includes a lift ticket, lesson and rental equipment. Anyone interested in participating should contact Cindy O'Connor at cindy.oconnor@nordoniaschools.org by December 1st. Participants can choose to snowboard or ski. This is a great, fun way for the whole family to stay fit in the winter months! All forms and money need to be turned in by December 3rd. If you want to get your freebie passes to use over winter break, the deadline for joining ski club is Nov. 23rd. Student’s of the Month October Congratulations to the following students who received the prestigious award for Student of the Month in October. As mentioned, students are nominated based on academic performance, positive effort in all classes, consistently following Rushwood’s core rules of Respect, Responsibility, and Always Ready to Learn, and doing something ’Above and Beyond’. October’s students were: Kindergarten: Emily Kellermann Grade 1: Anthony Knotek (not pictured) Grade 2: Jessie Dasher Grade 3: Justin Bowser Grade 4: Carl Schaub Notes from the Music Department... MUSIC In music class our focus is on making and moving to music. The children sing songs and play singing games, move to music and play instruments. At the beginning of the year we focused on patriotic songs and marching to the beat. Our feature songs were “You’re a Grand Old Flag”, “America, the Beautiful” and “The Star Spangled Banner”. A highlight of the fall for the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades was a performance by Dave Henterly, an expert on washboard, limberjacks and spoons. Dave brought many instruments for the children to play and did a command performance for each class. The children were able to practice playing the steady beat and make up their own music (improvisation) during the presentation . Spoons Limberjack Washboard Dave Henterly playing an “adapted” washboard. He uses screws, nuts and bolts to add things such as cow bells, bicycle horns, cymbals to make a kind of “one-man-band” instrument. This was so much fun! The children liked the bicycle horn the best. They laughed and laughed. Here are some notes for each grade: Kindergarten: The first unit in kindergarten focuses on keeping the steady beat and experiencing and identifying fast and slow in chants, songs and recorded music. We have used the song Johnny Works With One Hammer and chants such as Humpty, Dumpty to work on these concepts. Currently, we are acting out the story of The Tortoise and the Hare to practice fast and slow. To connect to the kindergarten curriculum we have been creating a “Musical Instrument Alphabet Book” by playing instruments whose names start with different letters of the alphabet. So far the alphabet book has pages for autoharp, banjo, dulcimer, drum set, egg shaker, fiddle, guitar, harmonica, jaw harp, limberjack, mallets, mandolin, maraca, sandblocks, spoons, tone block, xylophone, violin, washboard, and wood block. The children have played all of these instruments, except the harmonica and the jaw harp. Other connections to the kindergarten curriculum have included working on the days of the week using ”Today Is Monday”, a book by Eric Carle and a recording by Fred Koch (available as an iTunes download). We have also worked on identifying coins by playing the game “Who Has the Penny?” using real money. Rhyming words are in most of the songs and chants we do in music class, but Hush Little Baby has been a weekly request. Another favorite song is Turkey in the Straw which can be found on a CD called Skip to My Lou by Les Gustafson-Zook. PAGE 4 Caption describing picture or graphic. Notes from the Music Department… Dr. Lineburgh 1st Grade: In first grade we are getting ready to read our first rhythms for notes that have one and two sounds on a beat (quarter and eighth notes). We will call these notes “ta” and “ti-ti”. To get ready for rhythm reading we have learned many songs and chants that use ta ti-ti patterns including BRain Go Away; Engine, Engine Number Nine; and Wee Willie Winkie. Besides helping us learn about rhythms, most of the songs and chants we do in music also provide practice with rhyming words and reading. This fall we also learned a square dance and played instruments for the book The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. “Individual Student Learning and Achievement is our Core Business” At the beginning of the year we did a lot of songs from the United including O Susanna and Yankee Doodle. We are now starting a unit on the music of Australia as a part of our tour of the seven continents. For Australia we will hear and move to music played on the didgeridoo and sing the song Kookaburra. Coming up we will work with music for the November-December holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa. In first grade we always dance to music from The Nutcracker and watch part of the DVD choreographed by Balanchine. The DVD is available at most libraries. 2nd Grade: In second grade a lot of excitement is generated around taking home “the bells”. These bells are little glockenspiels the children use to play songs that help them learn to read notes on the staff and practice their do-re-mi’s. The bells go home for one night at a time. So far the children have played Puddin’ Tane; Pizza, Pizza; Snail, Snail; Fuzzy Wuzzy and Trick or Treat. The next time the bells come home, be sure to ask your child to play some songs on their bells. Most recently we learned how beats can be grouped into twos (two meter) and that there is a note that gets two beats (half note). Soon we will be having lessons on an operetta for an edited version of the story Hansel and Gretel by Englebert Humperdink (that’s really his name). After Thanksgiving we will have lessons for the December holidays, including Christmas, Hanukah and Kwanzaa. The biggest event for 2nd grade is the Spring Show that will take place on April 27 at 1:30 for the school and April 28 for families at 7:00pm. The children will sing songs and play instruments for the seven continents as a culmination of the continent study that takes place in 1st and 2nd grade. 3rd Grade: In third grade our big event for the fall is our square dance. The children learned many square dance moves including: forward and back, trade places, circle left and right, star right and left, do-si-do, swing and peel the banana. The square dance held on October 22 was a huge success. A band called “Mud in Yer Eye” played fiddles, guitars, banjos, hammer dulcimers, autoharps, recorder and ukulele. Everyone had fun and the students must be congratulated on their excellent dancing. We want to thank the PTA for their support of this event and for the addition of the picture taking venue. Many students went home with picture-portraits of themselves to remember the night. And, we mustn’t forget to thank Mrs. Glenn for calling the dance and arranging for the band. If you see Mrs. Glenn, be sure to thank her! RUSHWOOD’S REFLECTIO NS VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 PAGE 5 Music, Continued Aside from dancing, the third graders are also working on rhythm and staff reading. We are currently working to learn to read sixteenth notes (tibi-tibi) and high do (they already know low do, re, mi, so and la). Following the square dance we started to learn to play recorder, another big excitement! 4th Grade: We began the year practicing reading books that had interesting sounds, including animal and other goofy sounds. Some of the students read books they chose for buddies in the lower grades using lots of expression to make the books interesting. After that we reviewed all the rhythm and note reading from previous years and are now ready to learn to read a syncopated rhythm using a song from western Africa called Funga Alafia. The students are becoming quite good on recorder and are practicing Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Jingle Bells, Conga Bells, and Chrissimus Day in preparation for our upcoming Winter Show. In the show all students have special parts playing instruments such as xylophones, guitars, conga drums and autoharps. Children who choose, will also have reading parts. The show will be held on Wednesday, December 15 for the school and CHANNEL 9 at 2 PM and on Thursday, December 16 for families 7:00pm Channel 9 traditionally videos the show and then broadcasts it over the winter break. The schedule for airings can be found on their website. Student’s of the Month November Congratulations to the following students who were selected as Student of the Month for November. Please stop in to view our showcase, which highlights each of these students. Kindergarten: Gavin Rosic Grade 1: Kaci Ramlow Grade 2: Jacob Mackniak Grade 3: Valerie DeCaprio Grade 4: Melanie Laviano Technology— Mrs. Alecia Glorioso All classrooms K-4, including the art and music room, are equipped with state of the art technology. Teachers are becoming more and more comfortable using their interactive boards to improve student learning. With SmartBoards and Mimios, students are engaged in new ways each day. Technology has certainly changed the way teachers teach and students learn. Rushwood students enjoy learning new skills that will help them be successful in the 21st century! We encourage you to some visit Rushwood to see our teachers and your children interact in the classroom using technology. NORDONIA GOES GREEN. Working Smart! New Procedure for Distribution of Flyers from Outside Organizations We continue to evaluate and implement procedures that support the on-going district-wide initiative to “Go Green”. New this school year, parents and students can find information about programs, events, clubs, and activities by clicking on the Community Events link, located on the home page or by clicking on the the parents & students drop down link at the top of the page, click on District News, the events and activities link is the top link. If you have information that your organization would like listed on the web site, please forward your flyer in a “PDF” format to Koslo@nordoniaschools.org. Please include the official name of the organization, address, and contact phone number. Flyer submissions must be requested at least five days before approval is needed/granted and posting can occur. If you have any questions or concerns please feel to e-mail or call Patti Koslo at 330-468-1134 or patti.koslo@nordoniaschools.org. What other green friendly process are in place? You may be wondering where did the District newsletters go? The answer is we are not printing as many newsletters as we did in the past. You may be asking why? The answer is simple: to reduce costs and to become a more green friendly school district. So how will the school community find out what is happening in the schools? We encourage you to use the Nordonia Hills City School District Web site. Each school building is posting building newsletters on their individual pages, and new information is continuously being posted on the site. Sign up to receive news from the schools by clicking on “e-communications sign up” on the home page at nordoniaschools.org. PAGE 7 PTA— Special Announcement. Due to the failure of the November levy, PTA meetings will no longer be held at Rushwood Elementary. All meetings, until further notice, will be held at Nordonia Middle School at 7:00pm, in their cafeteria. Most of you are familiar with the Middle School, but for those who are not, this is the school located behind Rosatti s. There is an access door from the paring lot to the cafeteria, so you won t have to wal around the building to get there. The next PTA meeting is scheduled for November 10th. (Please eep in mind that there will not be a December meeting). Two Nordonia students will be providing child care for school aged children only during the meeting. Games, marers, paper, etc will be provided by Mrs. Siewert for children to use during the meeting. Delayed Starts 2010-11 School Year “Individual Student Learning and Achievement is our Core Business” The Nordonia Hills City School is continuously evaluating all aspects of the school organization, striving for continued excellence, and being prudent and fiscally responsible. For the 2010-11 school year the decision was made to establish four (4) planned delayed start days on November 12, 2010, February 22, 2011, March 21, 2011, and May 19, 2011. On these late start days school will start exactly 2 hours later - teachers and staff will use this time for professional development. Your child’s transportation will be altered on these delayed start days. You should expect your child’s bus will run 2 hours behind the regularly scheduled pick up time. For example, if your child is normally picked up at 8:00 a.m., under the 2 hour delayed start your child’s bus pick up time will be 10:00 a.m. No changes will be made to lunch periods; all lunches will be served at their regular times. Pizza will be the main selection on any day, planned or unplanned. For our students, our school day will run from 10:45-3:15. Students may be dropped off starting at 10:30 and class begins promptly at 10:45. If you have any questions or concerns on these late start days - please check with your student's building principal or contact the Board of Education at 330-467-0580. VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 PAGE 8 What November’s Levy Failure Means—Right Now Thank you for your support at the polls this past week. Even though our operating levy did not pass we felt strong support from our families. I am hopeful that when the levy goes on the ballot again (February or May), the end result will be different. I truly believe it‟s passage must be „grass rooted‟ in nature, so please be thinking about ways to help make our next effort even stronger. What does this mean for your children? As previously communicated this means the elimination of bussing for all high school students and all other students who live inside two miles of the schools they attend. This will begin Tuesday, November 30 and affects about 215 students attending Rushwood Elementary School. The last day for our current bus routing will be Tuesday, November 23, 2010. The Transportation Department has begun the process of rerouting for those state mandated students. Information about student drop-off and pick-up will be provided the week of November 15th on our website. In the upcoming days we will be publishing a detailed arrival and dismissal plan for Rushwood. This is the plan in place beginning November 30th: Buses will be using the FRONT ENTRANCE of Rushwood beginning November 30th both in the morning and in the afternoon. NO PARENT PICK UP OR DROP OFF will be permitted in the front of the building during the following times: 8:10– 8:45am and 3:10-3:45. Students may begin to unload from family vehicles to enter the building beginning at 8:25am. Students riding buses will also begin unloading at 8:25am. ALL parent pick-up and drop off’s will be on the side of Rushwood, where the current bus lanes are located. WHY? This is a much larger area for families to pull in and line up, it will be safer for your children, and I believe this will permit for an expedited drop off/pick up process. Parents will be asked to enter Rushwood ONLY from Nesbitt Road during AM/PM dropoff/pick-up times (8:10-8:45am and 3:10-3:45pm.) PLEASE DO NOT USE RUSHWOOD LANE. Only buses and Day Care Transportation will be permitted to use the circle-area. Sagamore Hills Police Department has been contacted and will be helping with the flow of traffic. We are currently making new cards for EVERY family/student at Rushwood. It will contain a letter and a number (families with more than one child will be assigned the same letter/ number). Once you receive this new card, please discard the old one you may currently have. Certainly we will need all families to be flexible and patient as this process unfolds. Our primary goal for this will be to keep our students safe. Another result of this levy failure will be that our K-6 buildings are now closed to activities for outside groups and after-school activities at 3:45 PM. This includes any outside rental groups; PTA sponsored events, meetings, and clubs as well as after-school clubs by teachers or community groups. The only exception will be school sponsored academic programming related to the curriculum. These are not things that an “Excellent with Distinction” school district should have to face. Again, we appreciate your support and your dedication to our school. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. C LINIC NOTES Now that the cold and flu season is happily upon us, the Rushwood Clinic would like to share the folowing information with all parents A WHEN SHOULD YOUR CHILD STAY HOME FROM SCHOOL? SIMPLE GUIDE . . . Children should be kept home if they have diarrhea, vomiting, severe coughs, severe colds, or undetermined rashes. Children should not come to school with a temperature of 100 degrees or above. The temperature should stay below 100 degrees for 24 hours before returning to school. Consultation with your family doctor is essential if there are any questions. Make Provisions for Alternative Care When Your Child is Sick Inform your school secretary if your child is EXPOSED to a contagious disease. Keep your child at home if he/she develops SYMPTOMS of disease that may endanger the health of the other children. School clinic facilities do not have accommodations to keep ill children for long periods of time. Sick children must be picked up by parent(s) or alternative caregivers. Prevention Is the Best Medicine: Encourage . . . HAND WASHING – one of the best ways to prevent communicable disease: Before eating or drinking. After using the toilet. Covering mouth/nose when coughing and sneezing. Eating a balanced diet. Sleeping at least ten hours each night. IF YOU SUSPECT YOUR CHILD IS ILL, KEEP HIM/HER HOME . . . It sounds simple, but teachers are often faced with students who are too sick to learn and they in turn affect the well-being of the entire classroom. VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 A Note from the Clinic you may receive…. PAGE 10 The importance of a healthy breakfast Many people underestimate the value of breakfast. They may only have a glass of juice or a cup of coffee and eat nothing at all. However, research has shown that this type of routine is not the best habit to get into. Eating a substantial meal within the first few hours of waking up is much healthier for you and your child. Breakfast basics Imagine you are a car. After a long night of sleeping, your fuel tank is empty. Breakfast is the fuel that gets you going so you can hit the road. You need to provide enough new energy for your body to get started and to keep you functioning until lunch. For children, a good breakfast is even more important. Children who do not eat a good breakfast become tired in school and have shorter attention spans, especially late in the morning. In one study, test scores of children who did not eat breakfast were generally lower than those who had eaten a well-balanced morning meal. Another good reason to make sure that children have a balanced breakfast is that four out of five children do not get enough vitamins and minerals from lunch and dinner alone. By adding breakfast, children are more likely to get the vitamins and minerals they need. Also, children who don‟t eat a good breakfast tend to eat more junk food during the day -snacks that are high in fat and sugar and low in nutritional value. Breakfast improves academic performance and diet Breakfast helps improve mental performance and concentration during morning activities. Children who skip breakfast will be more sluggish, less attentive, and have less energy to carry out their morning tasks. Teachers observe that children who come to school hungry experience more learning difficulties compared to well-nourished children. Studies show that breakfast eaters perform much better in their school work and show extra energy in sports and other physical activities. Besides assuring optimal development and growth, positive effects on alertness, attention, performance on standardized achievement tests, and other skills important for academic success are enhanced for those who eat breakfast on a daily basis. Taken from: www.aboutkidshealth.com Suggestions: If you are having a last-minute morning, try keeping grab-n-go items such as breakfast bars, cereal in Ziploc baggies, or peanut butter crackers/sandwich that your child can eat on the way to school. The Rushwood cafeteria also serves breakfast beginning at 8:15 (8:10 beginning November 30th), so your child can also stop in the cafeteria for a quick bite after the bus drops him/her off for the day. The cost of a school breakfast is $1.50 and money can be put on your child’s account for those rushed mornings. VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 Primary Enrichment News... PAGE 12 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 Primary Enrichment News... PAGE 13 VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2 Library News… Hello parents! PAGE 14 — Kathi Bonath My name is Kathi Bonath and it is my pleasure to offer your student: The Library Experience at Rushwood. Each class visits me once weekly to exchange old books for new ones. It is very important that they return books on time so they can check out new ones. I send books home in clean, used shopping bags to help protect them and increase their shelf life. Great way to recycle! We have been very busy this year. Every year we participate in the and this year is no exception. Participating in the Buckeye Children's Book Award program is a great way to encourage kids to read their favorite books and to nominate and vote for them here in Ohio. On the website you can find information about current and past winners of the award and the background and criteria for the nomination round of the award. This is a fun way to keep kids interested in reading year round and give them a sense of pride when their favorite book wins. It also teaches them how powerful the election process can be. What a great tool for their future! The Buckeye Children's Book Award program is designed to encourage children in Ohio to read literature critically, to promote teacher and librarian involvement in children's literature programs, and to commend authors of such literature. Visit the web site: http://www.bcbookaward.info/index.htm I have shared the nominated books with all classes and we will be voting for our favorites the first week in November. A good lesson on being an informed voter! I am working closely with teachers on the Accelerated Reader program. Please know that every book in our library that is an AR book is labeled with the reading level. You can find that label in the front of the book on the first page. Students can search our INFOhio online CATalog for books in their level to check out. You can access that site from home! http://sirsi.neonetda.org/opac/NHD/RWLIB/ Enter the CAT or the CAT JR., click on Reading Programs or Reading Level Search, enter your student’s level and find all of the books our library has for them. You can write down the list of titles you want and on library day your search will be that much easier! Pretty cool! Thank you for the opportunity to work with your wonderful children. My goal is to support classroom learning, and to encourage reading for information and for pleasure. I hope the students leave the library with a smile on their face and an adventure in the bag!