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The Bryan BulldogDecember 1997/January 1998 |
Kindergarten Happenings
The Kindergarten classrooms are beginning to look festive for the holidays. K-1 has been busy decorating the windows. Our windows are so beautiful that they belong on Fifth Avenue!
K-2 read "The Gingerbread Man" and had so much fun acting out the story. You should see our homemade gingerbread men with real candy decorations!
K-3 has their homemade stockings hung by the chimney. Parents will receive our homemade gifts on December 23rd.
The kindergarten carolers sing to you with cheer: "We wish everyone a happy holiday and a healthy new year!"
Grade One
First graders have been very busy. They are enjoying learning about spiders and the seasons. We are progressing nicely in our reading and math skills. Come in and see how beautifully our rooms are decorated. Our first graders have many artistic talents. All first graders and their teachers wish everyone a happy holiday season. We send special greetings to Sam M., who is home recovering from his accident.
Grade Two
The students in the second grades had fun learning through hands-on experiences with their new FOSS science kit. By constructing toys such as mobiles, tops, zoomer, and twirlers, they explored the concepts of balance and motion.
With the holidays upon us, the children wrote and shared reports on family customs and traditions. Everyone learned so much about different celebrations around the world. The children's reports were imaginative and creative. Did you know that Dailey is celebrated in India? Do you know about a celebration called Sulnal? And do you know Sinterklass? Dun Che Lao Ren? Pere Noel?
The second grade classes and their teachers wish you a joyous holiday season and a healthy, happy new year!
Grade Three
Mrs. McMahon's class is studying daily life during pioneer times. They are also involved in researching earthquakes and volcanoes. In math, they are learning about time and three digit regrouping.
Mrs. Kress's class created individual community maps of Cresskill. They also learning about using symbols on a key and on a map. Earth science is truly a hands-on experience as the children learn to identify different minerals. In addition, the class is studying time, temperature, measuring capacity and mass. Furthermore, through research, the class is learning about the state of Oregon. They are creating a travel brochure about Oregon, since that is the home of Ramna Quimby, a story character.
Mr. Miller's class completed reading the novel "Next Spring An Oriole," a story of hope and hardship as it related to pioneer life. They are studying the solar system by earning about the planets, the moon, and the sun. In Math, the students are learning about time and temperature.
All three classes are learning about life choices. Our school nurse, Mrs. Waddell, is conducting the weekly sessions
Grade Four
Fourth graders are becoming WordMasters! They're preparing for Friday's national competition. In reading, each child has set a personal goal for independent reading for the month of December. All are off to a great start. We're scaling the heights in Social Studies, mastering all the major landforms. Water, water, everywhere in Science. These wet activities help us to investigate water's properties.
We wish everyone a happy, healthy holiday season!
Grade Five
By Thomas G., Chris M., Matt R.
In room 207, we are reenacting the three branches of government. Half of the class is the Senate, and the other part is the House of Representatives. Mr. Malcolm is the Supreme Court, and Mrs. Bellina is the President.
In room 209, the fifth graders are taught by the sixth grade teacher, Mr. Brancato. They are learning about the effects and studies of weather, while Ms. Jusinski teaches the sixth graders. The children are enjoying learning about weather. We're sure Mr. Brancato is having fun teaching the fifth graders, too.
In room 212, Mrs. Looram is teaching the fifth graders reading, writing, and all types of poetry. First, we write a rough draft, and they we key the rough draft on the computer. We then peer edit and teacher edit each piece before it is ready to publish. After we have typed all of our stories and poetry pieces, we mount them and put them in our portfolios. When we are not doing poetry, we are reading an assigned book and keeping journals as if we are the main characters. We are also doing group slide shows of our best work.
This year in grade 5 we are learning new and interesting things in every subject.
Grade 5 Science
The past few months have been a very busy time for the fifth graders in Science. The students have completed two of their major units of study: Models and Designs and Rendezvous with Comet Halley. The Models and Designs unit offered the students a fun and exciting way to assume the role of an engineer! The students were involved in hands-on activities that required them to solve problems using the process of designing, building, and investigating. Some of the most interesting projects were building Hum-Dingers and Go-Carts! The students had a terrific time building the different designes that they created, and had even more fun testing them out to see if they would work!
During the month of November, the students worked long and hard training for their field trip to the Buehler Challenger and Science Center in Paramus. The Challenger Center provides students with an opportunity to participate in a true-to-life space simulation, complete with both a mission control and space station. The mission for the fifth graders was to rendezvous with Comet Halley. The only way that their mission could be a success would be for each member of the class to have a specified job assignment and to complete pre-mission training activities. All the students did a fine job at the Challenger Center and are happy to report that their mission was accomplished! Their rendezvous with Comet Halley was a success!
Finally, the fifth graders are currently learning about meteorology with Mr. Brancato while Ms. Jusinski teaches the sixth graders satellite imagery and weather forecasting. The students will gain a better understanding of weather concepts to better prepare them for further study when they use weather satellites in sixth grade
Grade Six
POES: NOSE. GOES: FAR AWAY. Ask any sixth grader and they will be able to explain to you what those two phrases mean! POES and Goes refer to the two types of weather satellites that the sixth graders will be learning about during the next few weeks with Ms. Jusinski. The students will learn how to interpret surface weather maps and live-satellite images so that they can forecast future weather. In addition to using the satellites, the students will be involved in using Internet resources to assist them in their forecasting accuracy. They will utilize web sites that will help them construct current weather maps and to retrieve achieved weather information. After the sixth graders become official weather forecasters, they will study a special weather event, El Nino. Again, they will use the Internet to help them research this weather occurrence and learn about the far-reaching effects that this event has on our climate.
Reading classes have been busy learning about the gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters of Greek myths. With imaginations primed by Mrs. Roberts, the students made up their own myths to explain the origin of the earth, the creation of natural phenomena, and the origin of the universe. Under the direction of Dr. Witkoskie, Hyperstudio was the technology utilized by groups of talented writers and graphic designers to give a new look to the ancient tales of Zeus, Hera, Athena, Poseidon, and the other Olympians. Stop by Room 211, and we'll share our presentations with you.
Recent science expeditions to Mount Shasta were a tremendous success. Mr. Brancato's fearless students ventured along until they found the mystery locations described to them by others. Armed with models, aerial photos, and topographic maps, they took tedious virtual hikes across the Grand Canyon and then, in blistering heat, descended into Death Valley. The purpose of the expeditions was to study the features of a real mountain without the cost of going there. Everyone enjoyed the hands-on experience of mixing earth materials to create land form models in order to study erosion and deposition. They are all erosion experts now!
Students in Mr. Famularo's Social Studies classes will be hosting "Good Morning Greece," an early morning talk-show. Featured guest celebrities will include the philosopher, Socrates, and the conqueror, Alexander the Great. After researching and becoming experts on these and other famous Greek personalities, the students will ask and answer questions in traditional talk-show format.
Basic Skills Reading
Mrs. Jacobs's first graders are getting ready to learn a brand new letter! Hint: this letter makes a sound like a jack hammer. Do you know what this letter is?
Second grade reading class is learning how to answer questions by using part of the questions in their answer. They are also learning about dinosaurs.
Third grade reading group is reading a book entitled "Class Clown." They have made literary journals and will be discussing the characters, setting, and plot.
Fourth graders are reading "The Trumpet of the Swan" by E.B. White. They are learning about trumpeter swans. Did you know that it takes approximately 35 days for trumpeter swan eggs to hatch?
English As A Second Language
First graders in Mrs. Kramon's E.S.L. classes are putting bears to bed for the winter after reading "Happy Birthday, Moon and Bear Shadow" by Frank Asch. They are moving on to monkeys and will be reading "Monkey See, Monkey Do" and "Curious George."
Sixth grade E.S.L. students are also focusing on monkeys or, to be more precise, one 26 year old gorilla named Koko. They have been reading "Koko's Story" and "Koko's Kitten" and learning that gorillas are not the fierce animals they thought they were. They are intelligent, loving beings capable of communicating through sign language. Any doubts the students had were dispelled when they watched Koko and her surrogate mother, Dr. Penny Patterson, interacting on video. They will soon be writing to Koko and sending her pictures of her favorite animals, gorillas and kittens.
The fifth graders have been learning what it was like to be an immigrant in America during the last century. They have accompanied a 12 year old Swedish boy, Carl Erik, and his family as they emigrated from Sweden in "The Long Way to a New Land" and are now traveling with him in "The Long Way Westward." They all agree that coming to America was very different 100 years ago.
Music
The sixth grade general music classes have begun a unit tracing the development of popular music through the 20th Century. Each decade's lesson highlights historical events, inventions, and music from that era. Can you identify the decade when Benny Goodman's "It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing" was a hit song (Answer-1930's)?
Art
Students have been busy creating many different art projects for the winter season. Grade 6 students made snowman sculptures using styrofoam; grade 5 completed felt banners for the holidays; grade 4 designed their own paper stained glass windows. Students in grade 3 created snow scenes using chalk and construction paper; grade 2 created snowflake people using paper and glitter; grade 1 designed doves of peace and kindergarten students created snowmen using construction paper.
Nurse's Notes
Parents, please remember to have your children dress warmly (gloves, hats, slacks, boots, etc.) for the cold winter weather. Students are expected to go out for recess, weather permitting.
It is also advisable to keep your children at home if they show the following symptoms: temperature of 100 degrees or higher (without Tylenol or Advil), nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constant nasal discharge and/or constant cough, red and itchy eyes with or without discharge, sore throat, or body rash.
Please notify the school office, in writing, prior to vacations and planned absences. Students coming back to school after illness should have a note explaining the nature of their illness.
If you have any questions, please call Mrs. Waddell at 569-1191.
Library Media Center
Mr. Orfini would like to thank all of the Bryan School families who so graciously donated books to the library media center during our annual Book Fair. About three dozen books in total were donated. Special kudos to Dr. Frank for organizing and running the "Donate a Book to the Library" project.
The Library Media Center is open for additional research time every Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday from 3:00 to 3:45 PM until the end of the school year.
