Pictures for Computers

Just a friendly reminder that each child will need 3 pictures of them for a power point presentation they are working on in Ms. Pattison's class.

November Units of Study

Reader’s Workshop will feature a Nonfiction study during which we will use text features to help us read informational texts. Finding main ideas and supporting evidence, making generalizations and determining important information are among the goals of this unit. Students will use simple research skills.
In Writer’s Workshop, we will begin Essays by learning how to write about personal ideas and about themes we find in the stories we read. Our goal is to state a clear thesis and practice ways to support our thinking. We will use a five paragraph essay structure, with emphasis on how to write a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting sentences.
In Word Study/ Grammar,we are looking at the s and f sounds. Also we will continue our spelling work with spelling patterns. We are focusing on the -le and -er endings, and the vowel -consonant patterns from words with long vowel sounds and short vowel sounds. We will also work on identifying adjectives.
In Math, we will begin our work with multiplication facts, and number sentences. We will also work with decimals and place value. As an extension of our work with decimal concepts, children will work with metric measurements. If time permits, we will also review addition and subtraction strategies with decimal values and explore order of operations in number sentences.
In Social Studies, we will finish up our work with the Native Americans of New York, leading to the next unit on the interaction between the Europeans, Africans and Native Americans in Colonial New York.

Thank You, Chaperones

We had a lot of fun bird watching today! Thank You-s go to out to Mr. Herel, Mrs. Klot, Mrs. Tortorelli, Mrs. Tunitsky, Mrs. Wojno and Mr. Carmody (who also helped escort another class from our school). We are so glad you were able to join us!

Swine Flu Vaccination

By now your child should have given you a booklet referring to the free swine flu vaccination clinics being sponsored by the Health Department. Inside the booklet there is a consent form for families to complete and return to the school if you are interested in having your child vaccinated.
Please make sure you have received this booklet. If not, the main office can provide another copy for you.

Friday Activities

We will have our second visit to the Audubon Center this Friday morning. We have six chaperones and we will be leaving the school at 9:30.
The class will return in time for lunch and we'll also have a Halloween Celebration afterwards. You don't need to send any treats but a drink for your child would be good idea.
Ms. Gamboi will give the class their science period at 2:10 since we will be at the Audubon Center during our regular science period.

I will be at an all day Literacy Workshop at Teachers College tomorrow. I've left plans for a substitute teacher and the class is aware of my absence. Have a great day and see you Wednesday!

Math Test Unit 2

Unit 2 is coming to a close this week! On Thursday, we will take the second math test. The focus of this test is on multidigit addition and subtraction. Most children will do well on these skills but might make mistakes when not reading the problems carefully. There will also be a few problem on statistics (mode,mean, median, maximum, minimum and range) and creating a bar graph. Help your child study by going over the definition of those words. There will also be a polygon question.
Your child has received a first study sheet and will recieve two more tomorrow. We will have a review session on Wednesday.

Scholastic Book Fair

The book fair will begin next Thursday Nov.5th. Our class will be attending at 11:40-12:15 on that day. Your child received a book fair order form today so that you can preview the selections and budget your child's book money accordingly. Parents are welcome to help out that day, if you'd like to shop with your child. Please see a representative of the PTA for further details.

Penny Harvest

The annual Penny Harvest was launched today. We are asking families to donate their unwanted pennies so that they can be pooled together and donated to a charitable organization of the students' picking. Please support this worthy cause!

Progress Update

By now the whole class has received a quick progress update on the back of their green homework sheet. Most of the feedback concerns work habits and behavior. We will begin the cycle again next week with children whose last names begins with the the letters A to E.
Thanks for your support!
Have a great weekend.

From Deb Capone

Check this out -- we could win $500 or $200,000!

Care2 and Great Schools are having a contest to determine 'America's Favorite School'. The winning school gets $200,000. They are also doing random drawings each week to give schools $500. PS 8 won $500 already. All we have to do is ask our friends and family to vote for our school using the link below. It takes a few seconds (they do not have to fill in the comment section, just name, email and zip). Hey - it is free money, so worth a shot! (The winning school has just under 6000 votes - if 250 of our parents get 25 people to do this, we can beat that!)

Here is the link:
http://www.care2.com/schoolcontest/3602514?refer=30279.04.1254847332.240007
(Please copy and paste)

So spread the word!!!

Friday's Wardrobe

There will be three events tomorrow that might require special attire:
The class will have their photos taken at 11:40 before lunch.
There will also be a grade level Physical Education class at 2:10 for which your child needs to wear sneakers.
After school, the Boo Bash will start at 5:30. Costumes are encouraged for that time (though not required). Admission is $5.00.

Blog additions

Please note the changes made on the sidebar. The websites listed are now links, so you can click and visit each site. There is also a weekly poll your child might like to answer. The questions are intended for reviewing past lessons. Hope you enjoy these add ons!

Thanks, Chaperones!

It was a whirlwind trip through the Museum of Natural History and thankfully we had eleven chaperones to keep us safe and sound.
Thanks to Mrs. Carmody, Mrs. McClintock, Mrs. Tortorelli, Ms. Decoteau, Mrs. Noda, Mrs. Rao Herel, Mrs. Klot, Mrs. Soriano, Mrs. Castillo, Mrs. McGouran and Mr. Elliot for coming on our Native American exploration with us!

Our next trip is Friday, October 30th. We already have seven chaperones for our return to the Audubon Center.

Power Point Presentations

In computer class, our students are learning to make a power point presentation about themselves. Towards that end, Ms. Pattison (our computer specialist) has asked all students to bring in two to three photos of themselves. If the photos are digital, Ms. Pattison would greatly appreciate it if it were sent to her email address, Pattison154@gmail.com (which would save her the time spent scanning photos). If you are sending it directly to Ms. Pattison, please include your child's name and 4-303 in the email title. Thanks for your help!

Grade Level PE

There will be a grade level Phys. Ed period this Friday. Please make sure your child wears comfortable gym clothes and foot wear on this day as well as every Wednesday.

Natural History Museum Trip

We'll have our first bus trip this Tuesday. If your child is prone to motion sickness, please take the necessary precautions. A light breakfast, a seat near the front of the bus and some sour candies, have always been helpful in these situations. Please be aware that for legal reasons, I cannot administer motion sickness medication to any child, nor can any child take the medication by themself.
Thank you for your cooperation and thank you to the many parents who will be chaperoning this trip.

Thank you, Blog Readers!

Thanks for keeping up with these many posts! The posts below (for October 16) are from a notice that was sent out by our class parent. Many of you have this as an email if you provided your email address on the class directory.

PTA website mailing list

This is a great way to make sure you don't miss a thing...so sign up now! You can sign up via the pta website at http://ps154pta.org/ or email PS154_PTAsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

FYI: Here are some upcoming PTA events!
Friday, Oct. 23rd Boo Bash
Monday, Nov. 2nd Parent's Night Out
Thursday, Nov. 12th PTA Meeting
Friday, Nov. 13th 1st Movie Night of the Season

Executive Board Meetings

All Are Welcome!!
These will be held every 2nd Friday of the month after drop off the MMR and every last Thursday of the month in the evening at a location TBD. If you would like to attend the off site meeting, please email Jennifer(our class parent) or someone on the board for info beforehand.

Lunchtime Volunteers

Orientations to volunteer in the lunchroom will be held every 1st Friday of the month after Parents as Enrichment Partners, 20 minutes before every PTA meeting and every 3rd Friday of the month after drop off. The next orientation is Friday, Oct. 23rd (which is actually the 4th).

Forwards from the School Community

Forwarded from Nicole Bilu (PTA):
Help me make a difference through OneCause! This simple program turns your everyday purchases into much needed contributions for P.S 154. Just shop at your favorite merchants through OneCause and P.S 154 will receive up to a 20% contribution, at no extra cost to you!

Join OneCause today to contribute to P.S 154 or your own favorite cause or
school!

http://www.onecause.com/invite_response/128961/136421



Forwarded from Nicole Bilu:
Hi Everyone,
Our Parents Night is coming up!! The posters and invites will be going up and out next week but I wanted to give you a little more notice. This years theme is "Studio 154". It will be on Monday November 2 at Highbar in NYC from 6 9 again the day before Election Day so no school the next day. There will be open bar , h'ors douevres , raffles, and lots of dancing. It is an adult only event that is open to all friends and family. So dust off your Capezios and jumpsuits and start practicing your Hustle!

AND BOOK THE BABYSITTER NOW!

If you can't make it consider donating to our fund that will provide tickets to
teachers and staff!

Thanks for your support.
See you there,

Nicole Bilu


Forwarded from Deb Capone (the PTA):
Dear Parents,

Please help support the PS 154 Fall Clothing Drive!

On Friday, October 16 from 3 4:30 at the International Food Fair, we will be selling good condition children's clothing, Halloween costumes, and winter wear for 1 to 5dollars. We will also be collecting unsellable clothing and textiles of any sizes to donate to an organization called Wearable Collection(http://wearablecollections.com/). Wearable Collections will help reusable items get to people who need them and shred the rest for insulation and other environmental projects. They will provide the school with a small sum of money for each pound of clothing we collect. Usable adult and children’s sneakers will be sent to our sister schools in Africa.

Here is how you can help:

Drop off your sellable children’s items in the PTA office from Tuesday, October 13th to Thursday, October 15th. It would be great to have the bags sorted and labeled by size.

You can also bring your non sellable adult and other items to school on Friday, October 16th or directly to the International Food Fair. Label and separate your sellable and non sellable items!

Volunteer to help! On Friday, October 16th, we need volunteers to help organize the clothes to sell during the school day, help set up the sale from 2 to 3, run the sale from 3-4:30, and help load up the wearable collections truck and clean up from 4:30 to 5. Please contact Sarah Goodman at saregood1@gmail.com if you are available to help.

Thanks,
Deb

Dismissal

Thank you for your cooperation and patience during dismissal. We will be continuing to dismiss 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at the Sherman Street exit until further notification.

Music class

Recorder classes will begin next week. Our class will have Mr. K at 1st period on Tuesday. If you still have your recorder, please bring it to class.

Math Homework

Your child's homework tonight will include many statistic words such as mode, median and range. They will also be asked to find the average of data on a line plot. You child might not recognize average because they use the word mean. I encouraged them to bring home their Student Reference books for help. Some children will also struggle with the division that is required to find an average so it is okay for them to use a calculator in this case.

Publishing

We are now finished with our first writing unit and your child may have taken his/her piece home to finalize their work. Please make sure your child's narrative is finished ( written neatly on looseleaf with a colorful cover) and in class by Monday. The kids will have a small celebration and get to read each others work. I will provide snacks. The children will share their pieces with parents during November's Parents as Enrichment partners session.

Thank you, Chaperones!

Even a little rain couldn't dampen the fun of our trip to the Audubon Center! Thanks to Mr. Charlie, Mr.Elliot, Mrs. Carmody, Mrs. Spezio, Mrs. Tortorelli; Mrs.and Mr. Chinchilla for sharing in our experience!

Picture Day

Order forms for Picture Day were distributed on Tuesday. Picture Day is on Friday October 23.

Reading logs

It has been great to see how well the children are doing with their reading entries! Most children have been able to move past summaries onto making theories about the main characters in their books. It is especially important that they read the directions and bullet points at the beginning of the week (it mimics the tasks on the ELA test). Please remember to sign it on each weekend. Thanks!

Student Reference Book

In response to your concerns about the Student Reference Books being available for home use, Ms. Capua has now placed an order for an extra set of the SRB. Sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused, especially if you went out and purchased one.

Blog Response

Thanks for the swift response to the blog letter! It looks like an overwhelming majority of the class will ge their updates here. Please be aware that I will post news as it becomes available so there is no set time for checking in. In the past, I've had to post almost daily to keep up with the events of our school and classes. I would recommend that you check in at least once a week while every other day may be optimal. Thanks for participating in this!

International Food Festival

As some of you may know, this year's International Food Fest will be held next Friday, October 16 at 3:00PM in the School Yard (MMR if raining). Last year, a few parents volunteered to create wonderful plates for the event such as Chinese, Australian and Japanese. The organizers need lots more and would love to have as many dishes as possible to sell as small portion tastes. Tickets will be sold the day of the event, and each taste will be either one or two tickets (each ticket will be $1 or 12 tickets for $10). Please email Joelle at joelle.held@gmail.com if you are able to contribute. You can drop off food with Joelle the day of the event, by the PTA desk in the MMR or make other arrangements with Joelle directly. All dishes should be at the school by 2:30PM the day of the event.

Phys. Ed volunteers

Mrs. Ussery, the gym teacher, is looking for volunteers to help her chaperone classes to Prospect Park for some gym sessions. Please contact her at mrsussery@gmail.com if you would like more details or to help out with these excursions

Audubon Center: Bonkers for Birds

Our next trip will be to the Audubon Center at Prospect Park this Friday, October 9th. We will participate in the first of a series of four workshops where we will examine the characteristics of birds. As of this posting, there are only four parent chaperones. Given that this is a walking trip, it would be better if we had a total of five parents. If you are available and would like to join us, please send a note with your child. Thank you!

Lunch Forms

Please send in a lunch form for your child if you have not already done so. If your child has home lunch, write that over the page. Each child has to be accounted for. Thank you for your cooperation.

First Trip

Whew!
Our first trip to the Picnic House at Prospect Park was a success. Thanks Mr. Elliot, Mrs. McClintock, Mrs. Leon, Mr. Klot, Mr. and Mrs. Bosamonte for chaperoning the class. We learned alot about the different types of plants that the Lenape (Algonquin) Indians used. White pine will never look the same to us again :)