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February 2009
News from the Head of School
Happy February! It has been a challenge but we have continued to get the children outside whenever possible. It makes such a difference in everyone’s moods and coping skills. Please make sure that the children have the clothing they need to enjoy the outdoors fully. The days are getting longer as we count down (49 days) to spring!
I hope that all of you have enjoyed our new weekly e-letters that began in November. Our goal is to send a consistent, succinct message to our friends and families that is easy to read and makes your lives just a little bit easier. We also want you to know about all of the fabulous activities that are happening at the Taylor School every week. The weekly notes will not replace the monthly newsletter but will bring up to date information to your desktop. If you know of anyone else who might like to receive this weekly newsletter, please make sure that Mrs. Haggerty has their email address. Any feedback you may have on this and other school communication is welcome.
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News for the Academic Director
Dear Families,
This year we expanded our after school enrichment offerings. The response from our community has been very positive! This year students have been able to participate  in Olympics of the Visual Arts, Odyssey of the Mind, Ski Club, Legorobotics, Taylor School Singers, 4H, Art Club and music lessons. These activities give our students an opportunity to expand their minds and skill sets in new and challenging contexts. Next year, we hope to add additional choices to this list.
We are monitoring the participation level of our younger children in the after school programs. We’d like to find out how they manage a directed activity at the end of a busy school day. We offered Art Club and 4H to our kindergarten and first/second grade students. Taylor School Singers and Legorobotics were also offered to our first/second graders. All after school activities were offered to our third through sixth graders. (Preschool and prekindergarten children can look forward to participating in after school enrichment when they get a bit older.)
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News from Pre-School
Things are moving right along and we are busy, busy, busy! The children are  enjoying our new themes and learning so much so quickly. It is exciting to see the progress they have made in the first half of the year and to anticipate further growth and development from now until June. This group plays so well together, listening to them negotiate and support each other makes each day such a joy.
February will begin with a study of pets. We’ll compare and contrast their needs with the wild animals we’ve recently been learning about. Then our focus will switch to Valentine’s Day and we’ll set up a Post Office for dramatic play in our classroom. Our Parent Party is scheduled for Wednesday, February 11 (remember, this is still a secret from the children!). Invitations will come home soon, and we look forward to sharing some of our daily fun with you.
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News from Pre-K
 Learning about Chinese New Year last week certainly helped keep the winter blahs away. The interesting traditions and colorful customs surrounding the holiday are quite spectacular. Our culminating lantern festival on Friday, complete with dragon dance, was joyous and raucous, as intended!
In February Pre-K will be learning about pets, dental health, the postal service, Valentine’s Day and nursery rhymes. Details about Valentine’s Day preparations specific to our classroom will be coming home in folders shortly. Please keep in mind the school’s ‘no candy’ policy as you shop for classroom cards.
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News from Kindergarten
Kindergarten is in full swing these days! We seem to have many budding readers and writers that are blooming! This month we will begin our first official weekly homework assignment! The children will begin reading/writing response journals.  It’s always so much fun to watch the children’s excitement this time of year when they experience reading a book cover to cover all on their own! The excitement and joy is contagious.
We have introduced many new centers to our “work job” time that are quick becoming fan favorites! We are building words in our letter egg center and learning to read and write numbers in our hole punch center. The children must master using hole punchers and salad tongs to navigate their way through these centers. Our fine motor skills are improving daily. The “take apart” center is by far our favorite though. In this center the children have to learn to use real tools to take apart small appliances. Thank you to all the parents who have donated items to this center. The children are learning to problem solve while developing fine motor skills. What fun we are having!
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News from the 1-2 Class
The 1/2 class has been very busy travelling to the fascinating world of Ancient  Egypt! We began our journey by learning all about the geography of Ancient Egypt, the importance of the Nile River, and pyramids. The students are now engrossed in the mummification process, and are mummifying their own apples in a similar way to Ancient Egyptians. As we make our way into February, we will be learning about the social structure of Ancient Egypt, important foods, important pharaohs and rulers of Ancient Egypt, as well as taking a field trip to the Albany Institute of History & Art to view some real live mummies! To end our unit, the students will be creating their own mummy cases to showcase their knowledge of hieroglyphics, Egyptian symbols and artwork, and awareness of mummification and sarcophagus creation techniques.
The month of January also brought about several historic milestones for our country. We were fortunate to watch the inauguration of our first African American president, Barack Obama! The students read stories about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and created their own dreams for the world, so being able to see some of his dreams become a reality was very powerful for them!
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News from the 3-4 Class
In the 3-4 class, we are learning about community building. We’ve discussed various strategies on how to make new friends including: how to use a question as a starting point to a conversation, how to sustain a conversation after the initial question is asked and the proper body language to use when conversing with others. The students have been practicing this work during lunch by “mixing it up.”  During lunch, the class has been divided into 3 groups with each group sitting at their own table. The students then share their successes and challenges with the entire group.
We are having a blast learning about electricity! We started our unit learning about simple circuits such as series circuits and parallel circuits. The most interesting part was learning about atoms and the flow of electrons. In our next scientific lab, we will be testing a variety of items to find out if they are conductors or resistors. We will then be experimenting with thick and thin wires to learn more about resistance. Bigger is not always better. As a culmination to our unit, the students will each be creating their own quiz boards that will be wired to light up when the correct answer is chosen. We can’t wait for our Electricity Game Show Day!
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News from the 5-6 Class
The New Year is moving along very rapidly! Winter is in full swing, and we are busy learning lots of new and exciting things.
 Our study of the novel Dealing with Dragons has been progressing beautifully. The students have been very insightful during our group discussions, and in the completion of their comprehensive reviews. Once we have finished reading the novel, we will be involved in an exciting culminating activity to celebrate the conclusion of this wonderful story. I would like to remind and encourage all the students to read on in The Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Dealing with Dragons is only the first book in this fantasy series.
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