Rolling Hills primary School
A Special Message from Mrs. Santarpia Dear Rolling Hills Families, Winter is slowly coming to an end and Spring is soon upon us! I can not believe that six months of school have flown by! It has been an amazing year so far filled with so much learning and fun! We have enjoyed many special activities and events planned by the PTA. A special thank you goes out to everyone for all of the time and energy they put in to planning these special events. We are looking forward to Family Fitness Night, Jump Rope for Heart and all of the Spring Showcases. These are just a few of the upcoming events here at Rolling Hills. On March 14th and March 15th, our teachers at Rolling Hills are available for Parent Teacher Conferences. They are looking forward to sharing all about the successes of your children with you. Please remember that March 14th is a half fay of school with a 12:00PM dismissal and March 15th there is no school for students. We thank you for all of your support and guidance and look forward to seeing you at our upcoming events and at Parent Conferences. Warmly, Jessica Santarpia Principal
Kindergarten Korner
February has come and gone and we were bursting with love! We created special cards and letters for our family and friends. They enjoyed delivering their valentines in class too! We also made projects for the 100th Day of School. There were so many fun activities involved in these celebrations. Learning to count to 100 and to skip count by two’s, five’s and ten’s was a lot of fun! It was interesting to hear what our students would buy with $100. March is upon us and will be just as exciting! During March, we will explore the importance of good nutrition and keeping our bodies healthy. The children will also participate in activities that will enhance disability awareness. Learning about our differences helps us to be better friends. During March we will anxiously await the coming of Spring and hope for some beautiful weather! Speaking of weather, the K students are in the midst of studying weather in their current Science Unit. We are always having fun and working hard in Kindergarten!
The First Grade Buzz! Spring is right around the corner and the First Graders are busy learning about living things… everything from animals and insects to plants! Animal classification, food chains, and animal adaptations will all be explored. The children will be planting seeds and learning about plant life too. They will even have the opportunity to observe real mealworms in their very own classrooms and learn all about animal adaptations at the Vanderbilt Museum in March! Author! Author! All the first grade authors are learning about nonfiction writing! They have discussed the purposes for reading non-fiction as well as the features of a non-fiction book. The children are excited about all of the wonderful facts they have learned and shared with their teachers and classmates and can’t wait to begin writing their own “How To” and “All About” books! Can somebody say, “Geography”? The first graders will be studying Geography during this unit. Looking at maps and knowing the seven continents helps them understand more about where they live in the world. Students will also learn about natural resources and how we can preserve them. Remember, Earth Day is every day!
The Second Grade Scoop! There are so many wonderful things going on in second grade. We’ve grown so much since the beginning of school and we’re looking forward to the upcoming months. We finished our non-fiction reading and writing unit. We are now experts at gathering information and writing research papers. We have moved on to our next unit; Fairy Tales, Folktales, and Fables and are excited to discover the humor, magic, and adventure found in this genre. In Social Studies we have been studying geography and learning about the continents, oceans, maps, and landforms. It’s so interesting to compare and contrast where we live with other places around the world! We have been learning about the living environment in science. By studying their characteristics and features, we have learned why many animals live in places where they are able to grow and survive, and how some animals have adapted to their environments. We are looking forward to learning about plant life next. As you can see, we’ve been quite busy and our love of learning grows each day!
Let’s Talk: Enhancing Vocabulary
By: Mrs. Bonasia, Speech-Language Pathologist Your child’s vocabulary develops quickly during the primary school years. By the time your child heads to kindergarten, he /she will have between a 2,100 to 2,200 word vocabulary. The 6-year-old child typically has a 2,600 expressive vocabulary and understands approximately 20,000 to 24,000 words. Vocabulary is a crucial link between language and learning. Here are some parent-friendly tips to assist you in encouraging vocabulary development with your child: 1. Read to your child. Expose your child to a wide variety of different books. Ask your child questions
about what you are reading to ensure your child is understanding what is happening in the book and to encourage inferential reasoning skills (i.e., “What problem is the main character having? What do you think might happen next?). 2. Talk to your child about what is going on around him/her. A child’s vocabulary can be greatly enriched by valuable life experiences. Word knowledge stems from our world knowledge, so the more your child explores the world around him, the more language your child is exposed to. 3. Talk to your child about his/her day. Instead of asking, “How was your day?” ask specific questions about lunch, recess, favorite activities, or friends. More specific questions can be great opportunities for having a conversation with your child and provide a model for conversational skills and will often net a more detailed response from your child. 4. Learning word opposites is a great activity that can stimulate vocabulary growth. When you and your child uncover a word that is new to him or her, be sure to reinforce the word with continued usage. It may take 4-14 exposures to a new word before it becomes part of your child’s vocabulary. 5. Play games together. A child can learn many linguistic concepts from board games. There are many spatial concepts inherent in board games such as “advance, go forward, backwards.” At the same time, you are modeling turn-taking skills and expected social communication behaviors.
Music At Rolling Hills Music at Rolling Hills is better than ever. The children are learning several different musical elements such as rhythm, melody, harmony and form. The music teachers approach these elements of music through a variety of experiences. The students do a lot of movement, listening, playing, notating and even play musical games!! Each lesson is taught through different stages of learning. These stages are imitation, exploration, improvisation, and visualization. Our music room is complete with a variety of percussion instruments as well as a smart board. With the smart board, the teachers are able to introduce, reinforce and assess the children’s musical knowledge. The children of Rolling Hills enjoy singing songs that encourage patriotism, friendship, and respect. By working together, they use the instruments to create a holistic musical experience that is as fun as it is educational! March is “Music in our Schools” month. During this month each grade level is preparing for a Spring Showcase, which will take place in April. Our second grade Spring Showcase will be held on April 3 rd. The first grade Showcase will be on April 10th, and the kindergarten Showcase will be on April 17th. The students are very excited to perform for you, and are currently preparing an amazing showcase. The concerts promise to be fun, so be sure to bring your cameras!
Assemblies & Special Rolling Hills Events The students enjoyed Nutrition Mission as we prepared for Nutrition Week! The students enjoyed the Bodacious Book Show during Partners in Reading! We are looking forward to a visit from the Commack High School students. They will be teaching the students about Sign Language. We will also be enjoying the show, “Madeline and the Bad Hat” in April.
A heartfelt thank you to:
Our Birthday Bulletin Board Committee for the beautiful bulletin board displays each month! Our Yearbook Committee for continuing to work diligently on our RH Yearbook! Our Jump Rope for Heart Committee for all of their help organizing the Jump Rope for Heart! We can not wait for these amazing mornings of fun! Our Fitness Night volunteers and teachers for helping to put together Family Fitness Night! We can not wait to have fun!
Character Education
The students at Rolling Hills continue to shine with outstanding character! Our STAR Gatherings have been a huge success and a great way to come together as a family! Here are our upcoming character traits and books: March - Endurance - How to Catch a Star April - Accountability - But It’s Not My Fault
Our Book Fair Committee for bringing back the fair this Spring! We look forward to selecting books! Our Sweetheart Dance Committee for the amazing dance and all the preparations and details!
Mark Your Calendar! 3/4—PTA Council Meeting—7:30PM—HUBBS PTA SEPTA Support Meeting—7:30PM 3/7—RH Family Fitness Night—6:30PM (6:15 Sign In) 3/8—Arts in Education Meeting—9:30AM—WP 3/10—Daylight Savings Time Begins (Clocks Ahead) 3/11—RH Grade 2 Jump Rope for Heart 3/12—RH Grade 1 Jump Rope for Heart RH PTA Meeting—9:30AM—Cafeteria 3/13—RH Kindergarten Jump Rope for Heart 3/14—1/2 Day of School—Parent Conferences Board of Education Meeting—8:00PM—HUBBS 3/15—School Closed—Parent Conferences 3/18—3/22—Disability Awareness Week 3/22—RH PTA Paint Night 3/27—RH Visits to MSIS and BURR for Grade 2 Parent Orientation MSIS/BURR—7:00PM 3/28—Board of Education—Budget Hearing—8:00PM
4/1—PTA Council Meeting—7:30PM—HUBBS 4/3—Grade 2 Spring Showcase—10:00AM 4/9-4/11—Grade 2 Cognitive Ability Test 4/10—Grade 1 Spring Showcase—10:00AM 4/11—Board of Education Mtg.—8:00PM—HUBBS 4/12—Arts in Education Meeting—9:30AM—WP 4/15—Primary “Log Off, Turn Off and Go Night” 4/16—RH PTA Meeting—7:00PM—Cafeteria 4/17—Kindergarten Spring Showcase—10:00AM 4/19—4/26—Spring Recess 4/30—Board of Education Mtg.—8:00AM
Lost and Found
Our lost and found items will be displayed in the breezeway during Parent Conferences. Please stop by!
School Phone #: 631-858-3570 Nurse’s Office # 631-858-3573