Victory School’s Italian Immersion Program report on spring activities The pre-kindergarten class has been learning about, “Going green, keeping our planet clean.” Vocabulary words include: mondo, terra, fiori, vermi, composto, foglie, farfalla, uovo, bruco e pupa. The students are raising Pink Lady Butterflies and soon they will emerge! Before the end of the year, the class will plant sunflower seeds in a flat of prepared potting soil, measure their growth and eat them in a salad. In K5 literacy, students are learning all about “mezzi di trasporto!” The students are making books about transportation and learning to read Italian words such as “macchina” and “autobus.” They are also playing many fun games and learning a new song! In the K5 math, students have just finished up a unit all about money. K5 students are learning how to identify quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. They add money together to pay for books at a pretend bookstore and to buy groceries at the pretend grocery store. They are learning to subtract money to find change, too. It is really exciting for them to learn about money because it is something that is real and tangible. Ms. Zizzo and many of the Italian teachers are either current members or alumni of AmeriCorps and have collaborated on various service learning projects at Victory. The first graders in Ms. Zizzo’s class have been implementing a service-learning project focused on health and nutrition. Students spent time researching different ways to stay healthy and then became advocates for healthy living by creating public service announcements and advertisements that were shared with the school community. A guest speaker from the UW-Extension’s Nutrition Education Program and Victory’s Nurse Hanson visited to share tips on how to stay healthy. Students then chose healthy snacks to prepare for the “Girls on the Run” team and the attendance winners for the month of March. Congratulations to the first graders who worked so hard and are well on their way to being responsible global citizens. April was a “science-tastic” month for the third grade students. The students spent a significant part of the month creating, testing, predicting and observing for the school science fair. Over the course of three weeks, students compared three groups of plants that were fed different amounts of fertilizer. Ultimately, the conclusion most students made was that the food a plant makes for itself through the process of photosynthesis is better than using loads of fertilizer to feed a plant. Students worked in pairs to create science boards that displayed their hypotheses, observations, results and conclusions. Third grade students also hosted an ecosystem gallery walk in order to display and explain their ecosystem posters and reports. Teachers and students from other classrooms were invited to check out student created exhibits, which students set up throughout the room. Visitors from many grade levels came and students had an opportunity to display their presentational and oratory skills. The event helped create a sense of community throughout the classroom.
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Request from ICC for cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses By Susie Christiansen Social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as e-mail and cell phone texting, are currently the most common methods of communicating for people. Using those avenues, we want to develop a way to reach out to our membership to inform you about upcoming events organized by the Italian Community Center, such as Il Grande Carnevale, A Taste of Italy and Festa Italiana. We can even email you a copy of The Italian Times. When the ICC hosts wine tastings, musical events and cooking classes, it would be helpful to everyone involved to be able to send an e-mail blast or a cell phone text blast to ICC members and as many nonmembers as possible. Right now, committee chairs and event planners here don’t always know what advertising options are available to them and how to reach out to you. Without spending a ton of money, we just aren’t sure how to let the people out there know about upcoming events at the ICC. ICC members can be placed on an e-mail list and a
cell phone list when they sign up for or renew their membership. Our application includes a place for your e-mail address and cell phone number. Our membership contact list is extremely private, and we will continue to keep it that way. We do not distribute our address, phone or e-mail lists to anyone. Rest assured your contact information will be retained by the ICC and only the ICC, and you will only be sent messages on a limited basis. We simply want to inform you. We want to tell you about the fantastic events, activities and ethnic experiences that the Italian Community Center has to offer. These are the other options available for submitting your cell phone number and e-mail address: 1. Our website: www.iccmilwaukee.com – use the Contact Us Form (the last tab on the site). 2. By e-mail: susie@iccmilwaukee.com. 3. Call Constance Palmer at the ICC – 414-2232808.
THE ITALIAN TIMES