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March 2009
News from the Head of School
Someone reminded me today that Daylight Savings starts this Sunday. I can’t believe that we are at this point in the year! The children have been inside more than usual this year due to the ice and cold temperatures. We are all looking forward to being able to get outside more and benefit from some sunshine.
As you all know, we are at the end of re-enrollment season and contracts and deposits for next year are due by March 11th. This year many of our classes will be full with our returning students. We also have many potential new students who are anxiously waiting to see if we have room for them. While it is very important to us that we retain our current students and their families, it is also critical that we fill our classes as much as possible to build revenue and maintain quality programs.
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News for the Academic Director
Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dear Families,
The above quote is on the front of one of the brochures we give to families who are interested in the Taylor School. By definition enthusiasm means “strong warmth of feeling or keen interest.” Emerson believes that strong positive feelings or a high level of interest are motivators when one is seeking to accomplish something. This sentiment is an essential part of the Taylor School. Our students and faculty regularly set goals and we believe those goals are best achieved when positive feelings and keen interest are an integral part of achieving those goals. This enthusiasm is also the foundation for the caring environment that is a hallmark of the school – strong warm feelings and a genuine interest naturally lead to a sense of caring.
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News from Pre-School
It seems so long ago that we celebrated Valentine’s Day together.
What a great job our little ones did hosting their parents and their brief singing performance was a delight to see. They did a great job standing up and performing  and were clearly as proud of themselves as we all were! Thank you again for joining us for this special event.
As we head into March we’ve got lots planned. We’ll start the month with lots of mischief, celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Keep your eyes out for traces of that famous cat and don’t be surprised if you hear we’re eating green eggs and ham! Then during the middle of the month, the mischievous leprechauns may sneak into our classroom. We’ll also be hoping for warmer weather and looking for signs of spring. Finally, sometime later in March, the dinosaurs will arrive in our classroom and transform our space. This is always an exciting theme unit and it always amazes me how much the children learn about these prehistoric creatures.
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News from Pre-K
It is hard to believe that spring officially begins this month…hurray! We are quickly tiring of the icy snow on the playground and long to run around unencumbered by  heavy boots and sopping wet snow pants. We look forward to welcoming spring by participating in Daffodil Days, a community service project done in collaboration with the American Cancer Society. The official day of daffodil delivery is March 18th. We thank all of you who could help support our students as they learn to reach out to others in their community as well as provide us the opportunity to use language and math in meaningful ways. What is more cheerful than yellow daffodils and what better way to put our math and reading skills to use?
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News from Kindergarten
The Kindergarten is in full swing busily learning and working hard! This past month  we have enjoyed a unit in math on measuring. We have measured the length and width of many objects. We have learned to compare sizes and find objects that are greater than, lesser than and equal in size to other objects. Estimation has been a new skill we have been learning as well. We are getting good at making reasonable estimates that are close to the actual amounts. Graphing is also a skill we continue to work on. We are now able to identify variables and label the increments that need to be used on our graphs.
February was also all about dental health. We read many books and discussed how we keep our teeth clean. We played some neat “tooth” games and made our very own brushing charts to keep up all of our good brushing habits. We visited Dr. Cooney’s dental office and had fun sitting in the exam chairs for our “check-ups”.
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News from the 1-2 Class
The month of February has flown by as we have been wrapping up our study of  Ancient Egypt! The students experienced a wonderful trip to the Albany Institute of History & Art to see their exhibit on Ancient Egypt. Our favorite parts were seeing the two mummies they have on display, making our very own shabtis, and learning about Ancient Egypt from a native Egyptian and Egyptologist. We received such wonderful compliments about our thought-provoking questions and enthusiasm; it was a wonderful trip for all who went! The students have been busy creating their own sarcophaguses, based on the many examples we have learned about. These beautiful pieces of artwork will be on display in the school after they are completed!
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News from the 3-4 Class
The 3-4 and 5-6 classes are busy preparing for our play. We will be presenting and performing The Universe and Other Stuff in late spring. This musical is a hip-hop happenin’ history lesson presenting a fresh perspective as to who, what, where, when and how this crazy planet and its people came to be. From dinosaur extinction  to Columbus, from the wheel to space exploration, they’re all rediscovered in this clever, chaotic, comical cataclysm of creativity.
We will begin preparing for science fair this week. As a class, we will be using the scientific method to answer a question, form a hypothesis, and we will be testing our hypothesis through experimentation. The students will be testing a variety of sweet, sour, bitter and salty substances to find out where on their tongues they can taste these substances the best. Going through the process as a class will help better prepare the students for independently performing their own science fair projects. The students have already developed a list of interesting topics they would like to research further
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News from the 5-6 Class
February may have been a short month, but the 5/6 students worked extra hard throughout our days together as they were actively engaged in a novel study on Dealing with Dragons, a poetry unit, and a theme study on ancient China. 
In February, as the students continued their study of ancient China, they learned about the historical background of the Silk Road to set the scene for traveling this famous trade route. The students discovered the Silk Road’s four major geographic features, and displayed their knowledge through a 3-D geography activity. They learned about many products that came to the west from China, and were able to test their advertising talents through their efforts to “sell” Chinese products by designing a billboard.
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