Gatelot Gazette. From Mrs Kleinman s desk

Transcription

1 Gatelot Gazette From Mrs Kleinman s desk Winter 2016 Dear Gatelot Families, As many of you are painfully aware, the Board Of Education voted to close three schools for the school year. Sadly, Gatelot has been chosen as a school to close. While I vehemently disagree with this decision, it is a final decision and now need to move into planning mode. Our fabulous PTA is presently working to develop some fun activities to help Gatelot go out with a BANG! Keep June 23 rd open as we are in the very preliminary stages of planning a fabulous Gatelot Family Dance Party! Details to follow! The District Office is in the process of finalizing the boundary lines to see which schools the children will attend in September. I am told that you will be finding out specifics after the break. Once class sections are finalized, we can begin the task of assigning the fabulous Gatelot staff to their new buildings! Hopefully the Gatelot students will have an opportunity to have some familiar faces in their new homes. I want to thank you for your kind words and support during this very difficult time. Your understanding and generosity of heart towards the wonderful Gatelot staff are appreciated so much more than you will ever know! I am confident that parents, students and staff, the entire Gatelot community, will all bloom where we are planted! Fondly, Denise Kleinman Proud Gatelot Principal

2 Kindergarten News It's a wonderful time to be in kindergarten! So many of the students are beginning to read and write expressively! We had to say goodbye to the wonderful Mrs. Coope and welcome back to our beloved teacher (and new mommy) Mrs. Donato. Over the last month we have studied a famous author, Donald Crews in our writer's workshop! We learned about the science of motion and magnets, African American history, and comparing numbers and subtraction. We celebrated our 100th day of school and Valentine's Day! We are looking forward to seeing a play next month on our field trip to the Patchogue playhouse. There is much to do before we wrap up our year at Gatelot so stay tuned to the upcoming kindergarten happenings... First Grade Happenings First grade has been super busy learning new things. In ELA we continue to read many wonderful pieces of literature and we are making connections to what we have read. We continue to explore our creativity when writing. The first graders have been learning about tens/ones, adding on and taking away 10 from a number, and skip counting by 2 s, 5 s and 10 s. In social studies we have learned about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. The children are really enjoying learning about the Earth s landforms in science. The first grade teachers arranged for a visit from the Stony Brook Physician s Assistant Intern Program. The children had a great time and learned all about exercise, eating healthy, germs and dental health through many hands on experiences. We were so happy that they came this year and the children learned so much. Finally the Gatelot first graders celebrated Valentines and the 100 th Day of School with their friends. Second Grade News Our Second graders have become quite the weather experts this semester!!! They are very excited to begin exploring and discovering earth s Landforms. February also begins our studies about communities and cultural diversity. Second grade is also looking forward to furthering their understanding of the Chinese culture and the importance of the Chinese New year which will culminate in enjoying Chinese cuisine. The Second grade recently completed their non-fiction writing unit and can hardly wait to move on to Narrative writing. They have also been challenging themselves to read more and help strengthen their reading comprehension skills this semester. February will also bring a well-deserved winter break!

3 Third Grade Happenings Third grade has been working very hard this school year! We have been learning in Reader s workshop how to be better non-fiction readers. We have learned numerous text features that enable us to locate information much easier. In Math, we have all been working very hard to master all of our multiplication facts. We will be celebrating with an Ice Cream Sundae party! In Science, we are learning about matter and its forms and properties. We will be studying the scientific method so the students are well prepared for the Science Fair. Third grade is also looking forward to our next field trip to the Long Island Children s Museum. We are looking forward to the hands on Science experience. We are proud of our third graders and are looking forward to our upcoming events! Fourth Grade News The fourth graders have been keeping warm this winter by getting cozy with fiction books. The students have been learning about the elements of fiction stories and applying strategies learned in Reading Workshop in order to gain deeper meaning when reading their independent books. In math, the students learned how to use long division and are now learning about fraction concepts. They learned a great deal of information about the Iroquois Indians in Social Studies and are excited for the Journeys program to come to Gatelot for a presentation about the Native American tribes that they learned about in class! The students are being guided on how to use the scientific method in order to develop an inquiry based project for the science fair. Please remember that all fourth graders are required to complete a science fair project and you can find the information for the science fair on Gatelot s webpage. The students had a wonderful time at the Brookhaven Lab where they learned about static electricity and spectroscopy. The fourth grade teachers are so proud of all the hard work the students have been doing so far this year! Fifth Grade Happenings The new year has 5th grade braving the winter cold and ice. We had our annual spelling bee where 25 of our top spellers spelled it out to become Gatelot's top speller. When we don't have a snow day we are doing lots of writing. The 5th graders created posters in which they started a company that sells Industrial Revolution inventions such as the telegraph, the steam engine, or the cotton gin. This week we celebrated Valentines Day with ice-cream sundaes. Some students decorated heart-shaped cakes and others enjoyed a chocolate fountain. In Science, the 5th graders switch classrooms to learn about Earth, Life, and Physical Science. In social studies we are expanding westward and going to Wagons West at the Carriage Museum in Stony Brook. We will soon be learning about the Civil War. We can't wait for spring to come!

4 Art Class All of the students are about to begin a new unit of study in the art room. Every student, kindergarten through fifth grade will learn what a portfolio is. A portfolio is a place for an artist to keep all of their artwork. Then, each student will create their own portfolio. During the next two months the students will create a variety of projects. All of these projects will be stored in their portfolio. In the beginning of May each student will choose one piece of art to go into our art show. The students will be able to choose their favorite piece of art that they have created. Each piece of art will then be placed into a frame and will be professionally presented in an art show on the night of Tuesday, May 17 th I am so excited for the students to be part of the process of creating a wonderful end of the year art show. Band and Orchestra The Gatelot Band & Orchestra program is having a busy year! On February 4, our 4 th grade band and orchestra students had their first full rehearsals in preparation for their Beginner s concert on Tuesday, May 17 th. The 5 th graders in Band and Orchestra are continuing their hard work in preparation for their Spring Concert on May 5 th. 7 of our Gatelot 5 th Grade Band students and 3 of our Gatelot 5 th Grade Orchestra students have been selected to perform in the 2016 Sachem Elementary Music Festival (EMF). The EMF Band and Orchestra, consisting of students from all 12 elementary schools in the district, will have three rehearsals and perform in an EMF concert at Sachem East on Tuesday, March 1 st. As always, parents and students are encouraged to visit the band website at and the orchestra website at for practice tips, lesson schedules, documents, games and other important information, and to contact Mrs. Fischer or Ms. Krug with any questions. Practice, practice, practice!

5 Gym Class The physical education department would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We hope everyone has had a good start to their New Year. Health and fitness always seems to be on the top of people s New Year s resolutions and we hope as a family you are all able to incorporate these two important topics into your daily lives. Our student s started the New Year off with participating in a miniature golf unit. Although miniature golf is usually played during the warm summer months, the students had a great time participating in our course that was set up in the gym. Students tried their best to get a hole in one, but knew it was ok if it took them a few strokes. We think all of our classes enjoyed themselves and we hope the students will visit a miniature golf course over the summer. The Heart Challenge Obstacle Course was back! Kindergarten through fifth grade got to jump, hop, balance, climb, and crawl their way through our heart obstacle course. As students made their way through, they were learning about the different parts of the heart. Students learned about the atriums, ventricles, valves, red and white blood cells, veins, arteries, aorta and lungs. They even got to view some funny video clips on our Smart Board that explains the circulation system and how it works. After going through our heart obstacle course many times and learning about our heart, students got to use their hearts as we started our Jump Rope unit. The third through fifth graders love this unit as they try to make their way from the red club card to the gold club card. The tricks get harder as they progress through the cards and it is wonderful to see how their jump roping talents progress over the years. We want to thank everyone who came out to supper our Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser. It is always so nice to see how our Gatelot community is so willing to give back to others. We hope the children enjoyed themselves as much as we did. Thank you to the PTA for supplying the bagels and water for our breakfast and for everyone who volunteered. Library In kindergarten we have been learning about illustrators and the Caldecott Award. First grade just finished an author/illustrator study and soon we will be focusing on non-fiction. Second grade is completing a project on predictions and third grade will be wrapping up their unit on Internet Safety. Fourth grade has started working on a government unit and fifth grade has recently finished creating a Voki clip about plagiarism. It has been an exciting winter in the library!

6 Music Class The last couple of months have been very busy for the students of Gatelot. They have accomplished a great deal in music class. The kindergarten children have been working on learning new songs and adding movement. They even learned a square dance! They continue to focus on identifying and performing dynamics (loud and soft) and fast and slow. The first grade students have been working on using Kodaly hand signals with solfege while singing. (This increases their accuracy with pitch.) They also have been studying the instruments and their families. The second grade students have been learning about the names of the lines and spaces of the treble clef. They, too, are going to be studying the instruments of the orchestra and the work Peter and the Wolf. The third grade students are finishing their unit on learning how to play the recorder. They are a very talented group and will be ready to take on a band or orchestra instrument next fall. They soon will begin learning and practicing the songs for their show at the end of the year. This year s show is entitled Through the Years. The fourth graders have been learning about the instruments and orchestra formation. They are identifying instruments by sound as well as sight. Fifth graders are also continuing their study of the instruments of the orchestra. They are memorizing the sound of each instrument. They are being asked to identify each one by sound. Sometimes that can be tricky, but they are doing well with the task. They are also continuing their study of famous composers. Chorus The chorus preparation for our final Gatelot concert is well under way. The students are sounding fabulous singing Ain t No Mountain High Enough and Alexander s Ragtime Band. They are also singing an original song which has never been heard before or ever performed. They are doing a great job with the piece. We look forward to a wonderful concert in May.