Sunday, June 26, 2016

Week of June 27, 2016 Announcements




Summer Reading Assignment/ Supply List
All teachers will post on their blog a Summer Reading Assignment. Students in all grades will be required to read 2 books (one July, one August) and be able to answer questions that the teacher will post on the blog regarding the books assigned.
A test will be administered to students upon their return in September on the books read during the summer.

Mr. Woods will also post the books by grade on the blog next week.
As an example:
Students in the Living Environment Regents class will be reading:
The Serengeti Rules by Sean B. Carroll
and 
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Also the Supply List for September has been posted on the teacher's blog -- this will enable parents to shop around for early back to school discounts.


New Tuition Policy - July 1, 2016 
The Regional Board of Directors has decided that all payments of tuition/candy bars/after school program etc. in school must be done either by money order or check beginning July 1,  2016.
Parents will be assisted by Alan in learning how to navigate Smart Tuition and parents should arrange for automatic deductions using their debit card/checking account/charge card during the summer of 2016.
Also, a tuition committee has been set up for the Regional Schools and their task will be to work with parents regarding tuition. This is so that Mr. Woods and the other principals of the regional schools may concentrate on academic matters rather than monetary matters.

Late fees, bounced checks etc. etc. will now be taken care of by the Regional Tuition Committee

Parents requesting an extension on their tuition will now be directed to call the Regional Tuition Committee.
Alan and Mr. Woods will not be able to have the fees waived on Smart Tuition - parents will directly deal with the Business Manager for the Regional Schools along with The Regional Tuition Committee.

Mr. Woods will explain all these changes at the September opening Parents meeting.


Monday June 27, 2016- Feast of St. Cyril of Alexandria 
Students in full Dress uniform - no gym clothes etc.
10:00 AM in Church 
Ring Day 8th Grade
Awards Ceremony Grades 1-7
Parents Welcome

Tuesday June 28, 2016 - Feast of St. Irenaeus
Students in full dress uniform
End of Year Mass 10:00 AM - Parents Welcome
8th grade Graduation exercises following Mass.

Report Card Distribution 12:30 PM

Dismissal for all students 1:00 PM 
Parents may pick up their child from the classroom beginning at 12:45 PM 

Tuesday July 5, 2016
Title I Summer Program begins 

An excellent article for parents to read and a skill that can be practiced over the summer. 

Mr. Woods' Summer Hours
Mr. Woods will be in the office during the summer.
Parents should call beforehand to make sure when he will arrive/leave or will be attending a meeting.
The office will be closed on Sundays during the summer months.


Why Handwriting Is Still Essential in the Keyboard Age




Photo
CreditAnna Parini
THE CHECKUP
Dr. Perri Klass on family health.
Do children in a keyboard world need to learn old-fashioned handwriting?
There is a tendency to dismiss handwriting as a nonessential skill, even though researchers have warned that learning to write may be the key to, well, learning to write.
And beyond the emotional connection adults may feel to the way we learned to write, there is a growing body of research on what the normally developing brain learns by forming letters on the page, in printed or manuscript format as well as in cursive.
In an article this year in The Journal of Learning Disabilities, researchers looked at how oral and written language related to attention and what are called “executive function” skills (like planning) in children in grades four through nine, both with and without learning disabilities.
Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington and the lead author on the study, told me that evidence from this and other studies suggests that “handwriting — forming letters — engages the mind, and that can help children pay attention to written language.”
Last year in an article in The Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Laura Dinehart, an associate professor of early childhood education at Florida International University, discussed several possible associations between good handwriting and academic achievement: Children with good handwriting may get better grades because their work is more pleasant for teachers to read; children who struggle with writing may find that too much of their attention is consumed by producing the letters, and the content suffers.
But can we actually stimulate children’s brains by helping them form letters with their hands? In a population of low-income children, Dr. Dinehart said, the ones who had good early fine-motor writing skills in prekindergarten did better later on in school. She called for more research on handwriting in the preschool years, and on ways to help young children develop the skills they need for “a complex task” that requires the coordination of cognitive, motor and neuromuscular processes.
“This myth that handwriting is just a motor skill is just plain wrong,” Dr. Berninger said. “We use motor parts of our brain, motor planning, motor control, but what’s very critical is a region of our brain where the visual and language come together, thefusiform gyrus, where visual stimuli actually become letters and written words.” You have to see letters in “the mind’s eye” in order to produce them on the page, she said. Brain imaging shows that the activation of this region is different in children who are having trouble with handwriting.
Functional brain scans of adults show a characteristic brain network that is activated when they read, and it includes areas that relate to motor processes. This suggested to scientists that the cognitive process of reading may be connected to the motor process of forming letters.
Karin James, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Indiana University, did brain scans on children who did not yet know how to print. “Their brains don’t distinguish letters; they respond to letters the same as to a triangle,” she said.
After the children were taught to print, patterns of brain activationin response to letters showed increased activation of that reading network, including the fusiform gyrus, along with the inferior frontal gyrus and posterior parietal regions of the brain, which adults use for processing written language — even though the children were still at a very early level as writers.
“The letters they produce themselves are very messy and variable, and that’s actually good for how children learn things,” Dr. James said. “That seems to be one big benefit of handwriting.”
Handwriting experts have struggled with the question of whether cursive writing confers special skills and benefits, beyond the benefits that print writing might provide. Dr. Berninger cited a 2015study that suggested that starting around fourth grade, cursive skills conferred advantages in both spelling and composing, perhaps because the connecting strokes helped children connect letters into words.
For typically developing young children, typing the letters doesn’t seem to generate the same brain activation. As we grow up, of course, most of us transition to keyboard writing, though like many who teach college students, I have struggled with the question of laptops in class, more because I worry about students’ attention wandering than to promote handwriting. Still, studies on note taking have suggested that “college students who are writing on a keyboard are less likely to remember and do well on the content than if writing it by hand,” Dr. Dinehart said.
Dr. Berninger said the research suggests that children need introductory training in printing, then two years of learning and practicing cursive, starting in grade three, and then some systematic attention to touch-typing.
Using a keyboard, and especially learning the positions of the letters without looking at the keys, she said, might well take advantage of the fibers that cross-communicate in the brain, since unlike with handwriting, children will use both hands to type.
“What we’re advocating is teaching children to be hybrid writers,” said Dr. Berninger, “manuscript first for reading — it transfers to better word recognition — then cursive for spelling and for composing. Then, starting in late elementary school, touch-typing.”
As a pediatrician, I think this may be another case where we should be careful that the lure of the digital world doesn’t take away significant experiences that can have real impacts on children’s rapidly developing brains. Mastering handwriting, messy letters and all, is a way of making written language your own, in some profound ways.
“My overarching research focuses on how learning and interacting with the world with our hands has a really significant effect on our cognition,” Dr. James said, “on how writing by hand changes brain function and can change brain development.”
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Sunday, June 19, 2016

Week of June 20, 2016 Announcements



Tuition and Report Cards
A reminder that tuition must be PAID IN FULL before report card distribution on June 28th.


New Tuition Policy - September 2016
The Regional Board of Directors has decided that all payments of tuition/candy bars/after school program etc. in school must be done either by money order or check beginning September 2016.
Parents will be assisted by Alan in learning how to navigate Smart Tuition and parents should arrange for automatic deductions using their debit card/checking account/charge card during the summer of 2016.
Also, a tuition committee has been set up for the Regional Schools and their task will be to work with parents regarding tuition. This is so that Mr. Woods and the other principals of the regional schools may concentrate on academic matters rather than monetary matters.

Late fees, bounced checks etc. etc. will now be taken care of by the Regional Tuition Committee

Parents requesting an extension on their tuition will now be directed to call the Regional Tuition Committee.
Alan and Mr. Woods will not be able to have the fees waived on Smart Tuition - parents will directly deal with the Business Manager for the Regional Schools along with The Regional Tuition Committee.

Mr. Woods will explain all these changes at the September opening Parents meeting.


Summer Reading Assignment/ Supply List
All teachers will post on their blog a Summer Reading Assignment. Students in all grades will be required to read 2 books (one July, one August) and be able to answer questions that the teacher will post on the blog regarding the books assigned.
A test will be administered to students upon their return in September on the books read during the summer.

Mr. Woods will also post the books by grade on the blog next week.
As an example:
Students in the Living Environment Regents class will be reading:
The Serengeti Rules by Sean B. Carroll
and 
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

Also the Supply List for September will be posted on the teacher's blog by Thursday, June 23rd.  This will enable parents to shop around for early back to school discounts.

Title I Summer Program 
July 5, 2016- August 4, 2016 
8:30 AM -11:30 AM - Breakfast and Lunch served.
Letters were sent home this week indicating if your child was eligible for the program.

Parents will be notified on Thursday, June 23rd if their child will be required to attend Summer School via IRIS alert due to a failing grade in a subject.                                                     Parents will then be able to schedule an appointment with Alba on Friday to meet with their child's teacher(s).


Monday June 20, 2016
PreK Summer Program begins 7:30 AM 
Students will be cleaning out their desks this week.

Tuesday June 21st, 2016 - Feast of St. Aloysius Gonzaga
PreK-3 - Ms. Sanchez's class Moving Up Ceremony 11:00 AM
Students will be cleaning out their desks this week.

Wednesday June 22, 2016 
PreK-4 Moving Up Ceremony 11:00 AM - Ms. McGarry's Class
Students will be cleaning out their desks this week.

Thursday June 23, 2016 - Early Dismissal Day 12:00 Noon
PreK-5 Moving Up 11:00 AM - Mrs. Reyes' class
Reading Summer Assignment will be posted along with the September Supply List
Parents will be notified by an IRIS alert that their child will be required to attend Summer School.


Sunday, June 12, 2016

Week of June 13, 2016

Moving Up Ceremonies

June 14th -11:00 AM - PreK -1 Mrs. Fundora's class
June 15th -11:00 AM - PreK-2 Ms. Rodriquez's class
June 16th - 11:00 AM Kindergarten Ms. Ocasio's class
June 21st - 11:00 AM PreK 3 - Ms. Sanchez's class'
June 22nd - 11:00 AM PreK-4 Ms. McGarry's class
June 23rd - 11:00 AM - PreK-5 Mrs. Reyes' class
June 28th - 10:00 AM 8th grade graduation
Please check with your child's teacher regarding clothing, arrival time etc.

Kindergarten Graduation Gowns

Kindergarten graduation gowns may be picked up in the tuition office if the balance of the tuition is zero and the graduation fee has been paid.                                               Please check your Smart Tuition account.


End of Year Exam Schedule - Grades 1-8

Monday June 13th - Social Studies
Tuesday June 14th - Mathematics
Wednesday June 15th - Reading
Thursday June 16th - Science
Monday June 20th - ELA (English Language Arts)

Title I Summer Program 

July 5, 2016- August 4, 2016 
8:30 AM -11:30 AM - Breakfast and Lunch served.

Monday - June 13th - Feast of St. Anthony of Padua 
Tuition Suspension Day
End of Year Exam in Social Studies Grades 1-8

Tuesday - June 14th - Flag Day
PreK-1 - Mrs. Fundora's Class Moving Up Ceremony - A reminder that all tuition and fees  must be paid for child to participate. Last day of class for students in Mrs. Fundora's class.

End of Year Exam in Mathematics Grades 1-8

Wednesday - June 15th
PreK-2 - Ms. Rodriguez's Class Moving Up Ceremony - A reminder that all tuition and fees must be paid for child to participate. Last day for students in Ms. Rodriguez's class.

End of Year Exam in Reading Grades 1-8

Thursday -June 16th 
Kindergarten Graduation - parents may pick up graduation gowns in tuition office when Smart Tuition balance is zero.

End of Year Exam in Science Grades 1-8 

Officer Matarazzo will speak to students in grades 5-8 regarding sexting.

Friday - June 17th
School Closed 
Mr. Chocolate turns 40! 

Monday June 20th 
PreK Summer Program begins
End of Year Exam - Grades 1-8 in ELA


Saturday, June 4, 2016

Week of June 6, 2016 Announcements

Moving Up Ceremonies
June 14th -11:00 AM - PreK -1 Mrs. Fundora's class
June 15th -11:00 AM - PreK-2 Ms. Rodriquez's class
June 16th - 11:00 AM Kindergarten Ms. Ocasio's class
June 21st - 11:00 AM PreK 3 - Ms. Sanchez's class'
June 22nd - 11:00 AM PreK-4 Ms. McGarry's class
June 23rd - 11:00 AM - PreK-5 Mrs. Reyes' class
June 28th - 10:00 AM 8th grade graduation
Please check with your child's teacher regarding clothing, arrival time etc.

As a reminder all tuition, fees, fund raising (chocolate bars) etc. must be paid in full before a child may participate in moving up/graduation ceremonies. Please check with Alan and Mrs. Resto in the office.

We have noticed that a number of parents took candy bars and never paid Smart Tuition nor the school office.  If you are unsure please check with Mrs. Resto - she will be in the office until 3:00 PM this week to assist parents.


School Uniform Measurement Day
Tuesday 
June 7, 2016
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Forms available from Alba in office.


               Final Exams will be administered to students in                                 grades 1-8 beginning June 13th.

This week:
1. TV OFF
2. Cell phones locked away.
3. Notes organized and studied based on teacher's blog.


Monday, June 6, 2016
CCSS Module IV Week 5
New York State Science Written Test Grades 4 & 8 

Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Exam Material will be posted on each teacher's blog.
Uniform measurements 2:00 PM - 7:00 PM - forms available from Alba in office.

Wednesday June 8, 2016
Anti Bullying curriculum will be covered today.
Tuition Suspension letters will be sent home with students.

Thursday June 9, 2016
New York State on-line field test in ELA for Grade 6.
8th grade class trip

Friday June 10, 2016 -SCHOOL CLOSED

Sunday June 12, 2016
Meetings regarding Tuition with parents 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Monday June 13, 2016
End of Year Exams
Students will not be administered exams where there is an outstanding balance due as per the Manhattan Regional Board of Directors.