RH Highlights - Oct/Nov 2017

Rolling Hills Primary School Rolling Hills Highlights October/November 2017

Vol. 15 Issue 2

Principal’s Message Dear Rolling Hills Family: This fall, we are planning many initiatives in classrooms, as a building community and with our families. The PTA Fall Festival and Autism Walk are scheduled on Saturday, October 14 and we are looking forward to wearing our favorite costumes at the Halloween parade on Tuesday, October 31. We also plan to collect coins for UNICEF and participate in a food drive from Monday, November 6 through Friday, November 17 to benefit a local agency. We always appreciate your generosity.

We hope that you join us at the Principal/Parent Chat on Friday, October 20 and at Rhingo on Friday, November 17.

We have scheduled one of our reading initiatives, “Rolling Hills is Fit to Read,” at our Gathering on November 22 to support our commitment to literacy and wellness. We plan to celebrate our STARS at the Gathering and then exercise together with Mr. Seifert. We’ll end our program with our students and staff members reading a favorite book.

Best wishes to you and to your family for a delicious Thanksgiving celebration!

With warm regards,

Janet Studley

Kindergarten

September is always a busy and exciting month! Learning new routines, making new friends and adjusting to a new school are just a few of the milestones that we have encountered.

Your children are becoming quite independent and responsible citizens. They are unpacking and packing up their backpacks independently, learning patience when raising their hands quietly, participating in class discussions and fun math activities and listening to new and exciting pieces of literature. They love to play outside and enjoy any opportunity to share their work and ideas with their new classmates and teachers.

Throughout October, we will be exploring the signs of fall and preparing for Halloween. All families are invited to the Halloween parade on Tuesday, October 31st at 2:30pm. The children are always interested in learning about Christopher Columbus and his voyage and fire safety and prevention. Another great day in October is the Rolling Hills Fall Festival (October 14th). The children and parents always have such a fun time at this special PTA event.

The fun continues through November as we study about the lives of the Native Americans and Pilgrims and different Thanksgiving traditions. We will be thinking about all we are thankful for and talking about the importance of family and friends.

We look forward to many months filled with wonderful opportunities to learn and grow together.

First Grade

Fall is a wonderful season! We love reading and writing about this refreshing time of year!

As the first graders adjusted to the procedures and routines of the classroom, we discussed classroom rules and manners. This relates to our social studies curriculum about Citizenship and Government. The youngsters learned how they can be good classroom citizens and use those special magic words to be polite.

Our literacy program is underway! We’ve been busy during Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. We Book Shop for “Just Right” books that we put in our Book Baggies. It’s so important that we practice reading

each night. We also participate in shared reading (close reading), partner reading, independent reading, and small group guided reading during the day. During these times we focus on phonics and decoding skills, as well as comprehension strategies. We love learning about, and actually doing, what good readers do!

As writers, we are trying to remember that every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark. We also have begun to be Personal Narrative authors. We write about actual events that took place in our lives and write them in a story format with a beginning, middle, and end.

Math, math math! We are enjoying using cubes and counters to model “ways to make 10”, to compare, and to find number patterns. Number bonds also help us figure out the parts that make a whole. Learning math facts will help us later with more difficult concepts. We can’t wait to get to the bigger numbers!

Second-Grade

Second graders have enjoyed “FALL”ing into a new year! New friends have been made; and classrooms are bursting with fun and learning! We have been busy reading and writing personal narratives. Many students have recalled events such as vacations, holidays, trips and play dates to write about. We even had the opportunity to share our favorite piece with friends!

Learning about being a good citizen helped each class to understand why it is so important to have and follow rules as well as how each of us can contribute to our community to make it a better place to live, work and play. We are also learning about different communities around the world.

Second graders have been engaged in many science lessons about the states of matter. Many experiments and activities have taken place to discover the characteristics of solids, liquids and gases.

In the next few months we are looking forward to Halloween, and of course Thanksgiving! We will be learning about our past and we will be going back in time when we visit the One Room Schoolhouse. This trip allows us to dress up and experience what it was like to be a student back in the 1870’s!

Reading

Tools to Support Your Child’s Literacy Development At Home

By Jen Lombardo and Angela Boyle The relationship between the school and home is an important aspect of education. Mothers, fathers, guardians, and extended family play important roles in the development of young children’s positive attitudes toward learning. Specifically, through experiences in their homes and communities, children learn that print carries meaning and that reading and writing are used for a variety of purposes.

At school, teachers demonstrate the functions of the written language and provide opportunities for students to experiment with reading and writing. At home, children can strengthen their literacy development by engaging in activities that demonstrate authentic models of reading and writing.

A wonderful way for a child to learn is to interact with someone who is reading aloud. Many adults, when reading aloud, instinctively draw children into the story by asking them questions that help children connect to the narrative with their own experiences. Reading aloud to children helps to model appropriate language patterns, exposes them to vocabulary and grammar, improves listening comprehension, and helps to expand their attention span. Moreover, reading aloud to your child helps to enhance critical thinking skills and strengthens a nurturing bond between parent and child. Picture books that contain repetition, sequence, and rhyme provide developmentally appropriate models for primary age children.

Young children learn through active involvement with literacy materials by constructing their understanding of reading and writing. As a result, it is important to model these behaviors in your home.

Allow your child to sit within close proximity of you as you pay bills, make shopping lists, and write notes. With our dependence on cell phones and computers, children are losing exposure to the art of writing. As a result, take time to keep writing materials such a paper, pencils, markers, and pens in your home. Simply allowing your children to experiment with these materials promotes language development.

Moreover, it is always fun to leave messages for your child or label items in your home to allow your child to see a variety of purposes for reading and writing.

Students participate in many types of conversations during the school day. Whether it be talking to a buddy or having a large group conversation, oral language is an important aspect to literacy development. As a result, it It is important to talk to your children by making an effort to understand what they are trying to do and concentrate on what they see as important. Children are naturally inquisitive. Take time to engage your child in natural conversations about the events of his or her day, books he or she is reading, and activities he or she is involved in. Children learn valuable lessons about the roles of speakers and listeners as well as learning to present information and develop techniques to ask and clarify questions.

Another outlet to enhance oral language is through the use of dramatic play. By making puppets with your children with an old pair of socks or a paper bag, you can create dialogue with your child to promote storytelling.

By using props and telling a story, children learn that stories have a beginning, middle, and end with characters that follow a plot. In addition, children are exposed to critical thinking skills as they identify problems and solutions in stories.

Finally, by modeling and providing daily routines for reading and writing in your home, children learn to make stronger connections for their purposes when they get to school. These connections and experiences help to support your child’s literacy development.

To our new staff members: Danielle Gardner Mary Jo Tumminello Brian Bonin JoAnna Judge Melissa Read Stephanie Buckley

2nd Grade Teacher Art Teacher MITA Teacher MITA Teacher MITA Teacher ENL Teacher

Lost and Found

If your child has misplaced an article of clothing, please stop by the Main Office to check the Lost and Found Box.

Home School Connection Family Reading    

Suggestions for parents to keep in mind when reading to children: Read slowly enough for the children to build mental pictures of what they just heard you read.

Preview the book by reading it to yourself ahead of time. Such advance reading allows you to spot material you may wish to shorten, eliminate or elaborate.

Lead by example. Make sure your children see you reading for pleasure. Share with them your enthusiasm for whatever you are reading.

Arrange for time for children to read by themselves, even if “reading” means turning pages and looking at pictures.

Adapted from The Read-Aloud Handbook

By Jim Trelease Late Arrival and Early Departures Late arrivals and early departures compromise your child’s instructional time, and consequently disrupt classroom routines. Please schedule appointments after 3:30 p.m. For unavoidable emergencies, please send a note to your child’s teacher to facilitate a safe, organized dismissal. Please remember, according to District policy, all early departures will be recorded for students who are picked up before 3:15 p.m.

Weather Procedures and Information

Early Dismissal – Early closing procedures will be put into effect when it appears to be the safest way to get students home. The Superintendent of Schools makes this decision usually by noon. Each student will go to the home that you indicated on the Early Dismissal Card. Please contact your child’s teacher immediately if there is a change in the information you provided at the beginning of the school year.

Delayed Opening – A delayed opening procedure will be put into effect when it appears that school can open safely one or two hours later than the regularly scheduled time. Please note that on a day that we delay our opening, the lunch program and the dismissal time follow the usual schedule.

School Closings – School closings or delayed openings will be posted on the Commack Website, http://www.commack.k12.ny.us. The District will endeavor to place an automated telephone call to each household with school aged children but cannot guarantee that all households will be reached.

Please remind your children to wear their warm hats and gloves or mittens to school. We enjoy outdoor recreation as the weather allows.

School Bus Safety .

During our bus drills, we discuss safety guidelines with our students. Please review the following bus safety rules with your child:  Arrive at the bus stop a few minutes before schedule.  Keep arms and head inside the bus.  Wait at the curb until the bus comes to a complete stop before boarding.  Sit in the bus seat and refrain from shouting and making loud noises to assure that the bus driver is able to drive the bus safely.  When exiting the bus, move directly to the curb.  No eating or drinking is permitted on the bus.

To Your Good Health Relax and enjoy the holiday season – Take a walk and observe the changes in the scenery.

Bring nature inside with green plants and herbs.

Moderate your portions and eat a variety of proteins, fruits and vegetables.

Exercise regularly and get a full night’s sleep.

Enjoy visiting with family and friends!

- Adapted from the Top Health newsletter

A heartfelt thank you to: Our Arts-in-Education committee for scheduling the Bus Safety program with Joe Guida, Our Birthday Bulletin Board Committee for posting our birthday information in such a creative manner.

Our Picture Day Committee for planning a day filled with smiles.

Our School Spirit Wear Committee for distributing a Rolling Hills shirt to all our kindergarten and new students and for ordering a wonderful selection of spirit wear.

Our Fund Raising Committee for providing an extensive selection of wrapping paper for families to order and a fun family evening at Ralph’s Ices.

Our Fall Festival Committee for organizing the walk to benefit the Nassau/Suffolk Autism Society and for planning a wonderful afternoon of fun for our families at the Fall Festival.

Our Box Top Committee monitoring our box top donations and creating a festive bulletin board.

School-Based Management Team Members 2017 - 2018 Louis Cardinale Support Staff Lori Gary Teacher Representative Jodie Hawkins Parent Representative Nancy Lopes Teacher Representative Jen Neri Teacher Representative Laurie O’Grady Parent Representative Jill Piazza Parent Representative Jane Roman Teacher Representative Jen Ryan Teacher Representative Janet Studley Principal

Looking Ahead 10/4 10/9 10/10 10/11 10/12 10/13 10/14 10/17 10/19 10/20 10/23

10/27 10/28 10/30 10/31 11/1 11/2 11/6 11/7 11/9 11/10 11/13 11/14 11/16 11/17

RH Gathering “Wear your Rolling Hills Spirit wear!”

Columbus Day – School Closed SEPTA “Meet the Staff” meeting @ NR 7:00pm RH Gathering “Wear your Rolling Hills Spirit wear!”

PTA fundraiser (through 10/19) RH Picture Day District Arts in Education meeting @ RH 9:30am RH Autism Walk/PTA Fall Festival 12noon-2:30pm RH SBMT meeting 8:40am Conference Room RH PTA meeting 7:30pm BOE Meeting at CHS RH Principal/Parent Chat 10:00am RED RIBBON WEEK RH PTA Book Fair 10/23-10/26 SEPTA Support Group 10:00am CHS Halloween Happening Commack Coalition of Caring 5K Run @CHS 9am Kid Walk 8:30am SUPPORT YOUR TROOPS WEEK 10/30-11/4 RH Halloween Parade 2:30pm RH Gathering “Wear your Rolling Hills Spirit wear!”

Senior Citizens Drama Matinee 1:00pm Rolling Hills Food Drive 11/6-11/17 Election Day-School Closed/Staff Conference Day 8:00am-3:00pm BOE Meeting @ Hubbs Veterans Day-School Closed RH Picture Re-Take Day RH PTA Meeting 9:30am District-Wide Blood Drive @ BIS 1:00pm-7:00pm SEPTA Holiday Boutique @ CHS 6:00pm K-5 End 1st Trimester Arts in Education Meeting @ RH 9:30am RH Rhingo 6:30pm

11/22

11/23-24 11/27 11/29 11/30

RH Gathering “Wear your Rolling Hills Spirit wear!”

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DRILL Students Dismissed 15 minutes early Thanksgiving Break – School Closed School Re-Opens RH Toy Drive 11/27-12/8 RH Gathering “Wear your Rolling Hills Spirit wear!”

Half-Day K-5 Parent/Teacher Conferences (Day and Evening)

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Rolling Hills Primary School Mission Statement We are dedicated to universal and continual education. Therefore, our mission is: To provide an optimum learning environment for all members of the school community in general, and our students, in particular.

We believe that interest, risk-taking, involvement and mutual respect are necessary components of the learning process.