A Letter from the Principal Inside this issue:

Letter from the Principal

1

Parent-Teacher Conferences

1

Library Corner 2

Great Websites 2

Fresh Start & Fabulous Finish

3

Calendar of Events

3

Grade Level News

4

Tribes 5

Marbletown Elementary School

November 22, 2010

Volume 1, Issue 3

Parent-Teacher Conferences

MES News Page 2

Library Corner

Great Websites

Fresh Start & Fabulous Finish News

Volume 1, Issue 3 Page 3

Congratulations to our unicycle riders for achieving the following levels! Level 1: Beginner Riders Owen Davis Kaz Nyzio Ava Stokes Roman Hrab Josh O’Sullivan Levi Ticknor Elsa McBride Stella Raponi Andrew Yu Sophia McCarthy Ryen Roosa Tianna Yu Logan Naile SamSerrano Level 2: Intermediate Riders Isabella Cristian-Fernandez Avi Ram Josh Dorney Hannah Carroll Savanna Ellsworth Caroline Fiala Level 3: Advanced Riders Sasha Beckerman Zack Murphy Chris Dorney Riley Stevens Level 4: Master Riders Dallas Romaguera Congratulations to:

Ari Cagan for breaking the school record for speed stacking! His time for the 3-6-3 cycle is 4.02 seconds and 12.32 seconds for the full cycle! Great job, Ari!

Calendar of Events

Grade Level News In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the K, K/1, and 1st grade students are collecting food for the local food pantries that directly help the families in our area. The children are not just bringing in the food, but earning the food by doing a small chore at home or being kind to another. The children are excited about helping out. They are bringing in food everyday and sharing what they did at home to earn the food. Thank you to all the parents that are helping to make this food drive a success. We will collect food until Tuesday, November 23rd.

Kindergarten/First Grade: Mrs. Shaw's class just celebrated Thanksgiving with their annual Thanksgiving feast. After learning about what this holiday means, the children wrote what they are thankful for, shared their writing with friends and family and then sang “Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant. While eating a Thanksgiving dinner together, parents and friends went around the room to share what they are thankful for as well. The entire event celebrated our strength as a learning community and illustrated our attitudes of gratitude. We are so lucky we have so much to be thankful for! Happy Thanksgiving from Mrs. Shaw's class!

First Grade: Mrs. Loughlin’s class will be making bread to share and retelling the story of the First Thanksgiving with our friends and families. Mrs. Sweeney’s class has also been learning about the First Thanksgiving and will be performing a retelling of the story for their family members and friends. Afterward, everyone will enjoy sharing some pumpkin pie!

Second Grade: This year all second grade classes in Marbletown Elementary School are participating in the Harvey Project. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 9th and 10th, all classes went to the Middle School to participate in Harvey activities that were prepared for us by staff and students. It was a fabulous morning! Our second graders are looking forward to the Harvey Museum which will take place on November 30th. Thanks to Kelley Iacobaccio for organizing this wonderful event!

Third Grade: Ms. Moone's and Mrs. Bullock's classes are reading long and strong! During writing, the students are in the process of writing a realistic fiction piece that incorporates four literary elements: setting, character, conflict, and resolution. Look for the stories to be published and displayed in the hall! Also, the Third Grade After-School Book Club is meeting and reading Dear Mr. Henshaw. Mrs. Brown’s class is working on learning card tricks to practice math facts. Not only is it fun, but they’ve increased their speed as well!

Fourth Grade: We are studying the path, sections, and perils of the Mayflower. Mrs. Flick's fourth grade will be attending a webcast/virtual field trip to Plimoth on November 16th. If anyone would like to join in on the fun via computer link, the information and presentations are found at http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/ . Also, we are using the website http://www.activitytv.com/ to help us draw and recreate the Native Americans, Pilgrims, and the ships they used to travel across the ocean so long ago.

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ME

Volume 1, Issue 3

Tribes

Let Peace and Non-Bullying Begin with Me as a Parent! Often as parents we have a tendency to first tell kids what to do, come up with suggestions next, and then maybe ask for solutions third. But the child learns most from the parent’s asking and suggesting, not telling. When children become bullies they often feel bullied themselves and don’t know how to resolve their differences, nor can they tolerate others easily. Here is a sample of peaceful, non-bullying parents in action: Instead of saying… Try saying… What it teaches…

“Did Sarah hit you?” “Can you tell me what If each person is allowed to tell his/her happened?” story he/she will be listened to with attention. (Bullies need attention.)

Instead of saying… Try saying… What it teaches… “Why are you always “Hands are for helping not Don’t blame, threat physical pushing your brother? for hurting. You must be force, or aggression. Instead, I’ll show you how it feels angry about something. have a dialog and talk. next time you do that.” Do you want to talk about it?”

Instead of saying… Try saying… What it teaches… “If you’re not good, “We won’t go out It doesn’t help to use threats or label we won’t go out.” until we can agree.” others as “good” or “bad.” It’s better to seek solutions based on active listening and cooperation.

Instead of saying… Try saying… What it teaches… “Wipe that smile off “I can see that you Non-bullies acknowledge the other person’s your face right now.” feel embarrassed.” feelings rather than using inflammatory words. From the counseling office of Ms. Pattison

kpattison@rondout.k12.ny.us

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