MARCH 2010

Letter from the Principal | RANDY COLLINS

Dear Hunter Family,

As you know HCCS is a maverick in the world of gifted education. As in any field of educational expertise, there are hallmark best practices that set the foundation for enriched learning for students. In this is-sue of HawkTales, I would like to share with you some of the history and current conceptions. Gifted identification stems all the way back to ancient China, where the Emper-or created a written test to find the “best and the brightest” to help him lead. We saw the resurgence of this approach dur-ing the time of Sputnik and the Cold War, when IQ tests were implemented to find those best “suited” to lead the direction of the nation. However, in gifted education, as well as general education and special education, tests are not always the most accurate indicators of potential in a per-son, particularly a child. Giftedness is not pre-packaged, and in-deed the term “gifted” itself poses concerns. Gifts are free - from birthday presents to a mid-winter snow day. However, key at-tributes of giftedness are rooted in the work – diligence, persistence, taking on a challenge. Gifted students are also not all “wired” in the same way. That is, a student may be gifted in math, but struggle with

reading. As well, gifted students may also be identified with a specific disability, such as dyslexia. The term for this dual diagno-sis is “twice exceptional.” So how does the gifted teacher address the different talents that the children exhibit, as well as the range of personal challenges that students may be experi-encing? *Pre-assessment: Students are given a short assessment (verbal, written, visual, auditory, etc.) that measures their prior knowledge of the content area to be taught. Based on results, students who have al-ready mastered the information have the opportunity to dig deeper - through re-search, project based work, or curriculum integration. For example, a student who has a strong understanding of the Revo-lutionary War and enjoys math may take on a project analyzing battle patterns, or creating a thematic chess game to portray what happened in a particular battle. *Curriculum Compacting: Curricu-lum compacting implies that the student has some prior knowledge and ability to work independently. The student, moni-tored by the teacher, works at a faster pace that allows him/her to focus on areas of specific interest. *Differentiation: The bottom line of differentiation is providing a student with

News from the Hunter College Elementary School PTA

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SPRING EVENTS March 26 - April 30Reading Tree Contest

March 29 - April 6Spring Break, school closed

Sun | April 11HCES Day at Citi Field, 1:10p

Thurs | April 15Half day, noon dismissal

Mon | April 19PTA meeting, 8:30a

Fri | April 23Gala Verde Auction!Bridgewater’s, 7-11p

Sun | April 25Hunter Chess Tournament

Tues | May 18PTA meeting, 6:30p

Fri | May 28Half day, noon dismissal

Mon | May 31Memorial Day, school closed

Sat | June 5HCES Spring Carnival!

Thurs | June 10Half day, noon dismissal

Thurs | June 17PTA meeting, 8:30a

Fri | June 25Last day of school

Half day, noon dismissal

www.hcespta.org

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Second graders Andrew F. and Reed Y. rock out at the Talent Show.

MARCH 2010

A Letter from thePTA PresidentLISA FELLER

What a busy month it’s been. We saw another successful talent show come and go, we had Maureen Yusuf-Morales visit the parents and teachers, and our kids raised a lot of money for Haiti. Krysta Johnson, who assists Mr. Kubat in phys ed, told a recent PTA meeting how impressed she was with their ef-forts in the Run for Haiti. In the end, more than $12,000 was collected!

Running proved easier than ice skat-ing, unfortunately. Spring finally ar-rived and the weather was so glorious we had to cancel the skating party. Maybe they could have turned Lasker Rink into Lasker Pool and had a swim party. But two snow days (unheard of in one school year) were enough. I hope we won’t have to bundle up anymore, and the kids will be spending more time out-side. Let’s hope for gorgeous weather on April 11 when we’ll be supporting my favorite baseball team at Citi Field for the Mets/Nationals game. I have a good feeling about the Mets this year! I also want to let you know about a couple of ways the PTA is trying to open up. We’re thinking of changing the format of our meetings to allow more discussion by par-ents on topics or questions they submit, perhaps through an anonymous e-mail box. We may also try to add two members to the board to spread out the work. If anyone has questions or comments about either of these ideas, I would love to hear them -Lisa

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PTA PTA POST

AUCTION ART: Parent and professional photographer Juliana Sohn shot the entire

student body as a fundraiser for the auction. Stay tuned for more information

on viewing and ordering your photos.

A note from the boardre: Principal’s FundHCES strives to create a community where all its members feel welcome at all events. Some events, including the upcoming auction, warrant an admis-sions fee to subsidize their cost. We want to remind all members, however, that there is a Principal’s Fund to assist families – students or parents – with the cost of any school-sponsored event. If you need assistance, just follow the Principal’s Fund link at www.hcespta.org. All requests will be handled confi-dentially -- and only by Mr. Collins.

We look forward to seeing you at the many fun-filled events this year, espe-cially at the auction on April 23! Please note, too, that (as always) the cost of purchasing this year’s Auction Project is a suggested donation. We hope every-one takes advantage of the terrific sil-houettes by parent Juliana Sohn (1-K-oon), who has graciously donated her time and energy to create these one-of-a-kind photographs.

Tickets now on salefor Gala Verde!The 2010 HCES Auction: Gala Verde is coming up on Friday, April 23, from 7-11p.m. at Bridgewater’s in South Street Seaport! Get ready for a won-derful night of food, drinks, amazing auction items, and a chance to socialize and do good for our school! Registration is now online. Go to www.hcespta.org to purchase a ticket, or one of our two sponsor-level tickets, which offer such incentives as valet checkout, reserved live auction seating, and a gift bag! Sponsor-a-teacher tickets and live auc-tion raffle tickets are also available.

With the auction just a month away, we’re still in need of more donations! We’ve cracked the 500-donation mark, but last year we had 676 donations, and the year before that, 771! So let’s keep up the great work, and make sure we have lots of fabulous items and experi-ences to sell to raise money for HCES. Donations are accepted until the day of the auction. Feel free to use the on-line donation form (available via www.hcespta.org), email a donation form to HCESAuction@gmail.com, or drop off your donation with Ms. Chong at the HCES office. (See donations chart on page 5.)

Another way you can help is by pur-chasing an ad in the catalog. Promote your business, thank your child’s teach-er, or tell your child how much you love them. Ads and boosters are available at various price levels, starting at just $25! We’re also accepting special “love notes” from grandparents for a special section of the catalog. Ads can be pur-chased online up until March 26. Get the order forms at www.hcespta.org.

Thanks to everyone for their support and we look forward to a fun and suc-cessful fundraiser on April 23!

the instruction, materials, creative oppor-tunities, time, reflection, challenges and support that he or she needs in order to be successful. Differentiation is an overarch-ing concept that sets the stage for teach-ing to be personalized. This is what we do at Hunter, with the collaboration of teachers, parents and stu-dents. The productions, plays, publishing parties, mock trials, National History Day, Colonial Day and curriculum initiatives are all ways we come together to meet the needs of our gifted children. I know it ia an old cliche, but certainly does take the whole village..... Randy

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PTA PTA POST

Healthy Hunter expandsinfluence on food choiceBy Elayna Nacci Ziemer

Wellness Café on March 3: Chef Telepan does it again. Chef Bill Telepan created another fabulous lunch as part of our collaboration with Wellness in the Schools (WITS). Chef Telepan, the French Culinary Insti-tute (FCI) graduate interns, and the Hunter kitchen staff served 380 stu-dents barbecue chicken, coleslaw and oven-roasted potatoes. There were also fresh salad bar offerings and vegetar-ian wraps. The kindergartners made adorable papier-mâché chickens for table centerpieces. The recipes Chef Telepan has developed for Hunter join our weekly menu rotation and are rec-reated by our FCI interns. Check the PTA website for the latest monthly menu.

Farm-to-table partnership brings fresh produce to Hunter. Hunter has formed a farm-to-table partnership with the Queens County Farm Museum. We will have four fresh farm-to-table days, with food selected and prepared by our wonderful FCI volunteers. Our first farm-to-table day will be on Tuesday, March 23, led by freelance chef and intern Olivia Bono-mi Todorov.

Olivia was born in Italy and has lived in the United States, Central Africa and Southeast Asia. She has worked in some of the most prestigious kitchens in New York, including Jean-Georges, Acquavit and Abigail Kirsch. Olivia believes that everyone should have access to healthy and nutritious food, and is very proud to be a member of Wellness in the Schools. She is a lovely person, and we are lucky to have her as part of our team at Hunter.

Our food-vendor search continues. Over the past several months, our search committee has researched po-tential food vendors for the 2010-11 school year. We have also surveyed Hunter students, parents, and teach-ers about the food offerings at our school. We presented our findings and recommendations to Principal Collins

Spring Carnival seeksdonations for marketsThe annual Hunter Spring Carnival will take place on Saturday, June 5. Please start stockpiling your books and flea market donations for collection closer to the date.

If you have questions or want to help,contact Sara Edlin at saramclanahanedlin@me.com

Mosaic plans talkon what makes a familyA forum on socioeconomic status hosted by Mosaic on March 11 drew a very good turnout. The discussions, led by Mau-reen Yusuf-Morales, program director for Breakthrough New York, produced unexpected areas of consensus and disagreement, and inspired a range of reactions. (A survey of participants’ re-sponses is still being tabulated.)

Mosaic plans to organize a discussion for families, including children, tied to a screening of clips from “That’s a Family,” a documentary that reframes definitions of what makes a family. Ms. Yusuf-Morales, who has used the film in workshops with children and adults, will help with discussion afterwards. A date for the event will be announced this spring. Mosaic also seeks ideas for future ses-sions that revolve around questions of difference that need to be reconciled with HCES’s unity theme. Are there particular topics that should be ad-dressed? Any suggestions on how to stimulate discussion and communica-tion? Would it be helpful to recruit more facilitators for such sessions or should we to try other approaches? Please e-mail Jennifer or Andy with your ideas. Mosaic will again operate a booth at the school fair. We are open to suggestions on what type of a booth to have and we welcome volunteers to man it. Also this spring, we will facilitate meetings be-tween Kyla Kupferstein Torres and out-reach contacts in Washington Heights and the Lower East Side in hopes of broadening next year’s applicant pool for the elementary school. If you have friends and associates who work with young children from backgrounds that are under-represented in HCES, please ask them for ideas on how to encourage the brightest kids in their communities to apply to Hunter and other schools for gifted children. Andy McCord amccord@verizon.net Jennifer Manly jjm71@columbia.edu

in January. He is now interviewing po-tential vendors to determine which one may be a good fit for Hunter’s needs.

A ‘step’ up. A Hunter grandfather who lives in Woodstock has kindly made us a wood-en step for our salad bar. The step is painted Hunter purple and is very sturdy. Now our smaller scholars can help themselves to veggies.

A new Cuisinart for the kitchen. The school’s Cuisinart burned out its little engine from making pesto and is being replaced with an industrial model. Thanks to our PTA board for making this happen.

Looking into filtered drinking water.We have researched ways to provide cold, filtered drinking water in the caf-eteria, and it may be a viable option for the 2010-11 school year.

Rooftop environmental science center. We are in the early stages of research-ing the possibility of creating a rooftop science center at Hunter. We have met with architects and engineering firms to assess the requirements for this ex-citing initiative.

If you have any questions or would like to work with us, please contact Carol Blanco (msmodoc@gmail.com).

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Reading Tree Conteststarts this Friday!Get set, get ready! Spring has arrived and that means the annual Reading Tree Contest, which runs March 26-April 30. Students will be reading up a storm to see which class reads the most books. Scroll to the end of HawkTales to print out Reading Tree forms.

For a little over a month, students have an opportunity to see how many books they can read. They will keep track of all the titles that they read and sub-mit their lists to Ms. Shostal, which will earn them their name on leaves, flowers, fruits and even some amaz-ing butterflies that will be displayed on the Reading Tree at the front lobby entrance. The class that reads the most number of books will earn a pizza party and books for their classroom collection. Audio books, graphic novels and books read aloud by grown-ups, fiction, non-fiction, also count. Remember, only new books read during the contest time pe-riod can be listed and read at your own level. It’s anyone’s guess who will win this year — kindergarten, sixth grade, third, first, second, or fourth grade? Good luck and happy reading!

This has also been an amazing year for author visits. It’s inspirational to meet great authors and illustrators. We’ve had the award winners Jerry Pinkney and Rebecca Stead, Carin Berger, Sean Qualls and Sally Cook. And on April 23, another award-winning author, Gail Carson Levine, will visit with the third-sixth graders. Gail Carson Levine is well known for her debut fantasy book, “Ella Enchanted,” which won her a Newbery, “Dave at Night,” a histori-cal fiction work based on her father’s experience growing up during the Har-lem Renaissance, and “The Princess Tales,” a rollicking group of fractured fairy tales, all of which are just a few examples of her books.

Principal Collins aidsinquiring mindsBy Lauren LiptonHave a general question, comment or complaint about Hunter? Send it to AskRandyHCES@gmail.com, or leave it for us in the Ask Randy box in the office. Each month, HawkTales will choose a few questions and discuss them anony-mously with Randy. (Sorry, due to space and time limitations, we can’t answer every query or respond individually.)

You asked: Why does Hunter have so many days off?

You aren’t imagining things. Though the number of full days off hasn’t changed, “There have been more half days this year,” says Randy. He says Hunter’s administration and teachers are using the four extra afternoons to plan and discuss Hunter’s accreditation process. (This process is nicknamed “Middle States” after the Middle States Commission, the body that grants the accreditation.)

What you can do: Hawk’s Nest is available for half-day child care. If enough parents request it, the school might add a Hawk’s Nest program on full days off. (You’d still be on your own for holidays, snow days and vacations.) Contact Israel Gripka at igripka@hccs.hunter.cuny.edu if you’re interested.

You asked: Why didn’t I get a parent-teacher conference this semester?

Again, it’s all about this year’s unusu-al scheduling, Randy says. Typically there’s a full day off for parent-teacher conferences. This year, the two half days helped ensure students are in school for the required 175 days. The teachers and administration decided it would be tough on many parents to come in dur-ing these limited afternoon time slots and opted to do conferences on an as-needed basis instead.

What you can do: This unusual sched-uling probably won’t happen next year. If you didn’t get a conference and wish you had, contact your child’s teacher.

You asked: How does Hunter deal with bullies?

“We’re a small enough community that if there is a relationship problem in a class, usually the teachers, kids and parents all know,” Randy says. Still, it’s crucial to formally report any bul-lying to Dawn Roy. As soon as she is notified, she’ll address the bully and victim separately. She may also bring both children together for a resolution. If bullying is affecting an entire class, the school may take additional steps.

“Last year we brought in outside agen-cies that deal with character-education issues,” Randy says.

What you can do: Remind your child not to keep bullying to him- or herself and to not be afraid to talk to Ms. Roy. Watch for cyberbullying, which the school might not be aware of: The el-ementary school hasn’t had many prob-lems with online harassment but does deal with such problems immediately when they’re reported.

ASK RANDY

CHECK IT OUT BARBARA SHOSTAL

First day of schoolfor 2010-11

MondaySeptember 13

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CHESS CHAT ANDREW KATZ

Last Hunter tourneyscheduled for April 25The month of February had two snow days, but not a single HCES Chess Tour-nament. March 7, however, snapped the streak.

Notable results by HCES students were as follows:

Future Masters—Tyler K. 5th Place (2 points)

Championship—Lauren P. 5th Place (3) and Sophia Z. 6th Place (3)

Reserve—Christopher C. 3rd Place (3)

Booster—Riya B. 3rd Place (3), Rachel B. 4th Place (2.5) and Sean S. 5th Place (2.5)

Primary—Corwin C. 4th Place (3) and Inko B. 7th Place (3)

Novice 2-3—Sam S. 1st Place (4) and Hannah G. 2nd Place (3)

Novice K-1—Jared B. 5th Place (3)

Hunter students, of course, also play in other chess tournaments. And Feb-ruary, though a short month, held two large and prestigious ones. The New York State Scholastic Chess Tourna-ment was held on February 27-28 in Saratoga Springs. The intrepid trekkers from Hunter were fourth grader Tyler K. and third grader Bryce D. From this reporter’s vantage point (online), it ap-pears both players performed well in this challenging six-round tournament, with Bryce finishing in 5th place in his section.

On February 13-15, the 2010 World Am-ateur Team and U.S. Team East Chess Tournament was held in Parsippany, N.J. A total of 271 four-player teams entered the competition. Chess players of all ages, experience and skill levels -- from first-time tournament players to grandmasters -- all played in one, single, six game tournament. As in past years, Hunter students organized themselves into teams. Fifth grader Matthew Z. and sixth grader Spencer G-S. paired up with two non-Hunter students to

form “The Pin is Mightier Than the Sword.” Not only did this team have a better finish than its pre-tournament posting (based on the average rating of the members of the team), but its moni-ker was among the approximately 15 finalists for best team name.

Sixth graders Chris L., Sophia F., Ben K. and Robert B., who played together last year as the “Knightmares,” re-turned to the tournament as the “Re-occurring Knightmares.” With strong performances by all the players, this team far bettered its pre-tournament posting and finished as Top Elementary School team. Each of the “Reoccurring Knightmares” received a digital chess clock with commemorative sticker. Also spotted and playing at the tournament were Hunter chess teachers and coach-es Sunil Weeramantry, Jeremy Schein-bach, Anatoly Trubman and Chris Cha-nin. For more information about the

tournament — and to learn more about the very successful HCHS student teams (yes; chess players do continue competing after graduating from the el-ementary school) — go to the following U.S. Chess Federation link: http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10167/581/. Just past mid-way down the article there is a small section titled “Hunter Talent.”

The next and final HCES Chess Tour-nament of the school year is scheduled for April 25. Tournament registration forms are available at the school office or can be downloaded from the HCES PTA website or the National Scholas-tic Chess Foundation website at www.nscfchess.org. It is best to register prior to the tournament. Completed forms (with checks) can be dropped off in the chess mailbox in the school of-fice or mailed to the address noted on the form.

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CLASSROOM NEWS

LAU / ROGERS | KL

New Year and 100 Daysmarked by Lau’s classBy Dale LeonardThe past month was a busy one for Ms. Lau’s Kindergarten class. The big high-light was the Talent Show on Feb. 27. Naia, Natalie, Peri, Daisy, Leora, Cindy, Jessica, Tiffani, Gabbi, Isha and Arian-na sang a beautiful rendition of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.” Cindy also per-formed an adorable rendition of “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” from Disney’s “Lion King,” in full lion costume.

Ms. Kilbane and Ms. Lau’s class cel-ebrated Chinese New Year on Feb. 12. The celebration included a lion dance where the children paraded around the entire first floor in traditional lion cos-tumes. They made dumplings, quince tree blossoms, and tiger puppets to cel-ebrate the Year of the Tiger.

The children also had their 100 day celebration. They each made a special art project to commemorate their 100th day at Hunter. The class also celebrated with a pizza party with their fourth-grade buddies.

On Feb. 23, Nicholas Weber, who is the head of the Joseph Albers Founda-

KILBANE / MALONEY | KK

Kindergartners travelfrom Nile to New YorkBy Mary MouleIn the most recent round of field trips to Central Park, Ms. Kilbane and Ms. Maloney’s class visited the Reservoir during their study of water and learned about buoyancy and water density. Sci-ence connects with social studies, as the children study the Nile River and its flood cycles and the types of boats ancient Egyp-tians used. Next up: animal studies, in which each child will research an animal native to New York State.

They won’t have to go far to find worms. The field trip to the Queens Botanical Garden included a program called As the Worm Turns, where the children learned how to care for red wigglers and acquired their very own compost-ing system for the classroom, complete with 2,000 tiny red worms. Now, the children shred newspaper for bedding and add food scraps from snack and lunch to the worm bin.

Morning Math includes daily double- and triple-digit numbers. Students break them into hundreds, tens, and ones and represent each place with straws, Egyptian symbols, Arabic nu-merals, and coins. Then there are the daily double-digit and triple-digit addition problems, reviewing basic math facts, and now an introduction to fractions. The kids’ favorite: “The Math Minute,” a game in which names are pulled out of a hat and the children see how many math problems they can complete in one minute. The top score so far is 9!

Individual sharing projects have in-cluded Corwin’s demonstration on elec-tricity and Dean’s poster presentation of Dinosaur prints from a riverbed in Texas. India went to Australia during the holiday break and shared about koalas, kookaburras and kangaroos.

Lastly, here’s a reminder that some learning activities take longer to see the results. The tulips planted last au-tumn have started poking through the ground in the sidewalk planters around the school. What else will spring bring?

tion, spoke to the kindergartners about the legendary artists Josef Albers and Balthus, the architect Le Corbusier, and Weber’s recently published book on Bauhaus. Special thanks to Vivian Kuan and Loli Wu for arranging this!

On March 11, Ms. Lau’s class went on a field trip to the Queens Botanical Garden, where they saw “As the Worm Turns.” They also learned about earth-worms and composting. Special thanks go out to Gillian and Matthew Dunn for arranging this for us!

In science, the class has been study-ing water. They are learning about the properties of water, the water cycle, riv-ers and other bodies of water.

In math, Ms. Lau’s class has been in-corporating Singapore Math strategies. The children are also learning about odd and even numbers. They now know that adding two even numbers makes an even number, adding two odd num-bers makes an even number, and that adding an odd and even number makes an odd number.

In language arts, the class has contin-ued their weekly spelling bee.

Lastly, in art, the children all created bean mosaics. The subjects included snakes, lions, tigers, dogs, insects and many more!

Kindergartners from Ms. Lau’s class belt out a tune at the Talent Show.

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CLASSROOM NEWS

SECOND GRADE

Second graders sharethoughts on math. . . Edited by Mary Kathleen FlynnThe second graders continue to share their adventures directly with you. Every month in HawkTales, three students from Ms. Glasser’s class and three students from Ms. Lau’s class talk about what they’re working on. In this issue, the sec-ond graders share what they like about math.

I learned about the four operations — multiplication, division, subtraction, and addition. I really like column math, but it can be pretty frustrating if you forget the different steps. My favorite part of math is using the arrays for multiplication. I like it because it is hard, and it pushes the kids to do hard work, but not too much. If you do your work messy, you can make a mis-take so you have to keep your work neat. – Jonah D.

I learned about breaking numbers up with multiplication and then we learned division. I like math both in the classroom and in Math Lab. Mr. Shields encourages me a lot. I have fun with it. I enjoy doing three different ways for multiplication. My favorite ways to do it are the matrix and the vertical way. I like the multiplication stories. We get to show how we solved our problems. I think math is really important and if you want a good job you have to

KOON / OSTERER | 1Kn

First graders team upwith third for ‘Wizard’By Jill Caryl WeinerFriendships and buddies have been one of the many wonderful themes in Ms. Koon and Ms. Osterer’s class this year. Third grade buddies have worked together with their younger charges on writing and cooking and they’ve even taken a field trip together. Now the first-grade classes are working hard to help their third-grade mentors and buddies with their big musical production of “The Wizard of Oz” at the auditorium. The third graders run the show. The first graders’ roles are small but in-fuse another layer of cuteness and ex-citement to the production. Kids from K-110 contribute in supporting roles during Act II. They’re flying monkeys, Ozians, and Winkies (the Wicked Witch’s guards). To get into character and understand their motivation as well as experience the music, these budding thespians have watched scenes from the original “Wizard of Oz” as well as enjoyed some scenes from “The Wiz.” They’ve com-pared and contrasted the styles of each film as well as analyzed certain characters – like they’d analyze characters in a book -- discussing the good and the bad. Practice is held on assorted afternoons. Mr. Leander is helping with the musi-cal numbers including “The Merry Old Land of Oz” (to be performed by the Ozians) and the chant “Oh way, oh” (to be performed by the Winkies). A third-grade parent choreographer is teaching the kids their movements including marching or, as some kids describe it, running around in circles. “Some children have a fear of being up on stage,” Ms. Koon said. “Working with their friends and their buddies helps them ease into it. Performing in front of their peers and adults are great for the kids. It pro-motes the skills and confidence that helps them with public speaking.” Friday, March 26th, 8:45 a.m.; Act II at approximately 9:30 a.m.

know math and we have a lot of fun with math in school. -- Sophia Z.

This year we learned lots of multiplication. I like when we did multiplication three ways; it was fun. You could use a grid; you could add the numbers up; and you could use base ten blocks. I like the vertical the way the best because it is easier and fun. Math is really fun because I like to think about numbers. I think about what the answer would be. I like the 5’s and 11’s multiplication facts. Kids trying to learn their facts shouldn’t give up: Just keep trying. -- Maddie R.

In math, we’ve been learning multiplica-tion and division. Multiplication is about working with arrays and groups of things. We also did elapsed time; that’s the time that’s passed between one time and the next. I really liked doing the elapsed time worksheets. I also liked the other math homework. -- Jonah K.

I really like math, especially doing math puzzles that are challenging. I’d like to do more of those. It’s really fun when we do multiplication because I like to figure out the answer. I also like regrouping in addi-tion. The most fun thing that we’ve done so far is learning about the different time zones. I like time zones. Depending on the area you’re in, the time can be totally dif-ferent somewhere else in the world. An ex-ample is that, it’s a different time in Cali-fornia right now! We played a fun telling time game on the computer called Bang on Time. It was fun because it was chal-lenging. It was so hard when you made the speed go up to 15. -- Ben S.

We have been learning multiplication strategies, division and telling time. I learned that things can be arranged in ar-rays and groups in multiplication. It was so fun when we did the Multiplication Scavenger Hunt, because I found so many arrays on the first floor of Hunter. I like it when we do math, because it means that we get to use the Smart Board, which is a lot of fun. I also like it when we play math games on the computer, like Bang on Time. I’m excited to do division. -- Ailsa C.

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8

CLASSROOM NEWS

ELBA MARRERO | 3M

‘Wizard’ performancescheduled for March 26By Bill HewittYes, the excitement has been building for the theatrical extravaganza that will be “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” on March 26. Beyond the busy rehears-al schedule, though, Mr. Sherman has been coaching the students in creating magical ceramic realms.

The ever-active students in Ms. Mar-rero’s class have been working on any number of other projects as well. The children wrapped up their extensive look at the Newbery Award winner, “The Tale of Despereaux,” by complet-ing their book projects. These ranged from board games to PowerPoint pre-sentations. Their enthusiastic teacher described these as “outstanding.”

They have also now plunged into the ocean of poetry. “Love that Dog,” an in-troduction to the poetic form, is their diving board. Edward Lear, of course, is the focal point for limericks, and they’ll next be looking at William Carlos Wil-liams and writing in his style, as they will be studying other poets’ work and their lives. Not incidentally, the class produced a terrific book of limericks with illustrations.

As described last month here in Hawk-Tales, the students are learning a lot in their technology class to help them with research and presenting their findings as they continue to explore the countries they’ve chosen. Ms. Shos-tal’s library, obviously, is another place where they’ve been expanding the abil-ity to conduct research. Having looked at the flag and a representative artist, they will be doing more work each week in a specific area.

School, it turns out, is not only for the kids. Ms. Marrero conducted a two-part workshop for parents in how to make a book: binding and the other physical elements of putting a book together. An-other workshop’s to follow.

LAU / FORD | 2L

Second graders startcity landmarks projectBy Alan LightThe main event for Ms. Lau’s second graders was the presentation of their publishing projects early in March. Ev-eryone wrote (and illustrated) a persua-sive letter, intended to convince a par-ent or teacher about a deeply felt wish. Many arguments were made in favor of gaming systems and pets — includ-ing a chameleon and a snake! — but powers of persuasion, both intellectual and emotional, were also used for such ideas as a redesign of the school lock-ers and the conversion of the classroom into a maze.

These projects were shown from the ini-tial brainstorming through the refine-ment of the appeal in multiple drafts, demonstrating the ways in which the students truly developed their writing and debating skills. Meanwhile, the posters that the kids had made to pro-mote participation in the census and to “advertise” Chester Cricket, from “A Cricket in Times Square,” were also on display.

With the conclusion of that project, the class immediately dove into its next long-term presentation, which will be a book and a model or diorama of a New York City landmark. Historic locations from Yankee Stadium to Coney Island have been selected, so let the research begin!

This month, the children also took sev-eral field trips. The first stop was just a few blocks north on Fifth Avenue, when they visited the Museum of the City of New York, and spent the day learning about the early days of New Amsterdam. At the end of the month, as the weather got warmer, they were planning for a longer trip, to Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, to study the sci-ence and methods of a real working farm. And what could be a better way to kick off the spring?

PRIYA VOLETI | 4V

Fourth graders playthe market with 100KBy Mia Brameland Alexa Weil This month, the fourth graders are playing a game with the New York City stock market. To play the game, groups are given a virtual $100,000 to invest in the stock market. We were lucky enough to have five parents who are ex-perts on the stock market come and an-swer our questions! It was interesting to hear their different perspectives and they helped us understand the differ-ence between stocks and mutual funds, and when to decide when to sell a stock, among many other things.

Along with learning the nuts and bolts of the stock market, we also learned about the importance in diversifying our stock portfolios. This way, if one in-dustry was doing poorly, we would still have other industries/companies to rely on. Mrs. McCabe came in and taught us how to make a pie graph to represent our stock portfolio, so we could make sure it was diverse.

Rosa thinks the Stock Market Game is really fun. She also thinks it is a good experience for something we might do when we’re older. “It gives us a good sense of different companies,” she said. One company her group chose to invest in was Yum! Brands. “We decided on Yum! because in this economy, people can’t afford fancy food and restaurants, and even though Yum! Brands have un-healthy chain restaurants (Taco Bell, KFC), people eat it because it is quick and cheap.”

Over all, the Stock Market Game has been a great learning experience and we can’t wait to see who turns out to be the top investors!

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9

CLASSROOM NEWS

DENISE ROHAN-JONES | 4R-J

Fourth graders twisttime to visit colonistsBy Jane Bua and Emma SlonimOn Feb. 23, the fourth graders of Mrs. Rohan-Jones’ class went on a trip to historical Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y. Philipsburg Manor is a community of people working together to run a farm. Our fourth grade class learned about civilization in Colonial America. We split up into four different groups: farmers, millers, weavers and cooks. We learned how to perform the job and how it played a part in colonial times.

The farmers learned how to muck the cow manure and how to thresh grains. Will says that farming was one of those “fun, but gross” activities that he en-joyed. Emma Seitz said that it was the grossest job at the manor, but she says that it was the most fun. She says that it played an important part in the com-munity of the manor.

The millers learned how to grind the grains that the farmers gave them. Ra-chel stated that milling was fun, but also a lot of hard work. Justin agreed and added that it was amazing that the flour we use today is the same quality of the flour that was made by the farm’s water-powered wheel and the big and heavy stones in the mill.

The cooks learned how to hand-make a delicious platter of kroeckens, which are fritters made with spices, eggs, cur-rents, sugar and grated bread. Jane was surprised that the ingredients were rare and hard to get. Emma Slonim said the process was difficult, but when we got to eat them, it was worth it. Everybody agreed that they were delicious.

The weavers learned and demonstrat-ed the process of creating yarn out of sheep’s wool. Lucy said that being a weaver was really fun because she got to dye her own piece of wool. Tyler loved being a weaver because he always wanted to learn how to weave -- and he finally did. We definitely learned a lot about life back in colonial days and now we can spread our knowledge.

STEPHANIE ABRAMS | 5A

Human bones, metricsystem on deck in 5thBy Amy EinhornIn math the kids are learning about measurements – the metric system and the customary system. They are con-tinuing their stock market game; the stocks the kids are buying are a secret. They are not allowed to reveal what they’ve bought since there’s a keen competition going on.

In order to raise money for Haiti, the kids ran laps in gym. Sergio M. ran the most laps –147! In studio, the students are building benches. These will be finished in May. In science, the students are studying hu-man bones. They’ve covered the entire body. Everyone measured their entire body. The class was then divided where-by everyone got a partner, they aver-aged up everyone’s measurements and the pairs made a bone out of paper. In reading, the kids finished their liter-ature circles. The class was divided into groups, and each group read a differ-ent book. Each group had specific jobs: Connector, Summarizer, Discussion

Sixth graders and “Reoccurring Knightmares” Chris L., Sophia F., Ben K. and Robert B. at the 2010 World Amateur and U.S. Team East Chess Tournament in New Jersey last month.

Director, Illustrator, and Word Wizard. Some of the books the groups read were “Chains,” “War Comes to Willy Free-man,” and “Numbering the Bones.”

And finally, the kids went last week on a social studies field trip to a musical production about the founding fathers and the Constitution.

Spring CarnivalSaturday, June 5Start collectingfor book and

rummage sales

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10

CLASSROOM NEWS

SASHA DOMNITZ | 5D

Fifth graders profiletheir model citizensBy Jill DavisMs. Domnitz’s fifth grade just finished writing a narrative about a model citizen — for some students it was a mom or a dad, and for others it was a grandparent! One student wrote about her great-grandfather, a history profes-sor who fled from Bangladesh to India during the Indian Partition, and then wrote a seminal history book that’s in the Library of Congress. Another stu-dent wrote about a 17-year-old who organized a sleep-in to raise awareness about Darfur.

In social studies, the class is well into their studies of the writing of the U.S. Constitution. To do that, they are study-ing the different conflicts and compro-mises that occurred during the 1787 convention in Philadelphia.

In literature circles the students are finishing up historical fiction, and the groups are getting ready to design their own book projects. According to class reporter Austin Huang, “One exciting thing is the upcoming book projects. These book projects are special not only because they’re with a group but we get

KELLY MCDOUGALL | 6M

Sixth graders competeat city history eventBy Karen NolanMarch has been a busy month for sixth graders. 6-M was well represented at the New York City History Day com-petition on Sunday March 7. Students from all five boroughs competed. Each entrant (individual or team) was in-terviewed by a panel of two to three judges. Shamsa and Jamie’s exhibit on Anesthesia took third place in the Ju-nior Group Exhibit Category. Congrat-ulations to all and good luck in the next round of judging!This month was also marked by the cel-

Shamsa poses with her winning display at the New York City History Day event.

to make a project up. These book proj-ects involve great creativity. Not only will we have a fun and engaging proj-ect we also need to make the idea in-teresting. Although this is a challenge I think I’ll have a lot of fun doing this book project.” The class is also getting ready to write a piece of historical fic-tion of their own.

And in math, the students are wrap-ping up their study of measuring, with a focus on converting units of measure in both the customary and metric systems.

ebration of an unusually non-sectarian holiday in honor of a mathematical constant: 3.1415926535 etc. otherwise known as Pi or π. March 14 (3-14) is celebrated as Pi Day all over the world. Since Pi Day fell on a weekend this year, it was celebrated at HCES on Monday, March 15. In 6-M, the commemoration was largely confined to the consuming of pies and other round foods: blueberry, apple, strawberry, chocolate pies, cook-ies, macaroni and chocolate cake were just some of the items whose circum-ferences could have been calculated using pi if they had not been eaten so quickly.

The students took a trip across the park to the Museum of Natural His-tory to view the exhibit on the Silk Road, the current social studies topic. In art and studio, the subway project has been completed and installed and new groups have been formed to work on costumes for “Into the Woods.” Ms. McD’s students are also working on the second drafts of their mystery sto-ries. The stories cover a wide range of nefarious themes, from murders to kid-napping.

Meanwhile, the transition to high school has begun. At the informational meet-ing held on March 5, we had our first opportunity to rub elbows with future classmates and their parents. While the parents heard presentations by the department chairs, students were tak-en on a tour of the high school. In ad-dition, the current sixth graders have been sitting in on some eighth-grade classes and have been getting advice on the move from the “little pond” to the “big pond.”

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11

CLASSROOM NEWS

HOWARD FUCHS | 6F

HCES ‘seniors’ tourthe school upstairsBy Marilyn KatzAfter returning from the mid-winter break (and despite two snow days), the last few weeks have been busy for the sixth graders in Mr. Fuchs’ class.

On March 5, the students and their parents participated in “Hunter Day.” At this orientation and tour of the high school, the sixth graders met the other members of the class of 2016. After the students and their families gathered in the auditorium, the children were separated into groups and taken on a high school student-led tour of the school upstairs. The adults remained in the auditorium and learned about life after elementary school from the high school faculty and current high school students. Our elementary school stu-dents are also in the process of attend-ing a couple of high school classes with an eighth grade guide.

The class concluded work on their His-tory Day projects with all of the 6F students participating in the New York City competition phase on March 7. Congratulations to Noah A. who took 1st place in the individual web site cat-egory for his project on the Nuremberg Trials, to Luke M. who took 2nd place in the individual documentary category for his project on the Atomic Bomb, to Anna S., Meredith P., Robert B. and Sandra E. who took 2nd place in the group presentation category for “Slum Clearance.” Jamie S. and Shamsa D. of 6M took 3rd place in the group exhibit category for their project on Anesthesia. All these students will all be moving on to the New York State Finals, which will be held in Cooperstown at the end of April. Good luck to everyone!

So what do Hamlet, the Danish Prince, and Tevye, the dairyman of the shtetl, have in common? The students of 6F have been reading about them in class. The class recently concluded reading and discussing the stories of Sholem Aleichem and has just begun reading the tragedy by William Shakespeare.

HawkTales is emailed every month with news and updates from

the Parent Teacher Association, the principal, specialists,

the after school program and classrooms on all grade levels.

For information, contactPam Frederick, ppf5@columbia.edu

A monthly newsletter for and aboutHunter College Elementary School

Lucas, Aidan and Caleb present their project to a pair of judges at the New York City History Day event.

It’s HCES’s 2010 Day at Citi Field!Sunday, April 11th at 1:10 pm

Come see the New York Mets take on the Washington Nationals! Tickets are $20 per person.

Each ticket includes a Mets keychain and a Shea Stadium commemorative pin.

HCES seat cushions are also available $7 a piece, or two for $12

We have 150 tickets grouped together, which will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

Don’t delay - we have sold out quickly in past years.

Tickets and seat cushions can be purchased through the HCES PTA Website (www.hcespta.org)

and will be available for purchase through Monday, April 5.

Tickets and seat cushions will be distributed via backpack express after Spring Break.

Please contact Lisa Stern (lstern9@nyc.rr.com) if you have any questions about this event.

It’s spring and the Reading Tree will begin to grow at the entrance of HCES.

Help it bloom by reading, and win a pizza party and some books for your classroom.

THE RULES:Read at your own level! Contest runs March 26 - April 30. ONLY new books read during that time can be listed.

GRADES K-2: Six picture books (P) ORThree Easy Chapter Books (Type E-CH)OROne Chapter Book (Type CH) (all may be Read-Aloud)= 1 Leaf / 5 Leaves = 1 Flower or Fruit

GRADES 3- 6: One Chapter Book (Type CH)= 1 Leaf / 5 Leaves = 1 Flower or Fruit / 5 Flowers = 1 Butterfly

Use this entry sheet or a plain piece of paper. Be sure your full name and class are on it and that a grown-up has signed it. Deliver the list(s) to the library and watch for your leaves and flowers to be hung on the tree.

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