| March 2010
News from the Head of School
The school has been humming with activity and excitement these past few weeks. This is a great time of year because the classes really have their “groove” and much of the learning is fast paced and exciting. Congratulations to Mrs. Hotaling’s Odyssey of the Mind group for their OMER award for being well mannered, courteous and for showing excellent sportsperson-like conduct.
As you all know, we are at the end of re-enrollment season and contracts and deposits for next year are due by March 15th. 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 from the Academic Director
Dear Families,
I am pleased to announce that the Summer Enrichment Program offered at the Taylor School is “under new management.” This summer the enrichment camp will be staffed and organized by a team of people from the Taylor School. Mrs. Haggerty, Taylor School teachers, staff members, and I will join together to provide a top-notch summer program for children ages 3 – 8 (entering third grade). The program will begin the week after Transition Camp (6/14 – 6/18) and end the week of 8/9-8/13. Each week will be full of themed activities, art, music, swimming, and outdoor play! The cost per week is $210 (includes snack). The program will be Monday through Friday 8:30 am – 4:00 pm. Aftercare will be available each day from 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm for a $6 fee. We only plan to take 30 children each week, which means the camp will fill up fast. We are very excited to offer this wonderful program to our families and the community! Registration forms will be emailed soon. Here is a brief description of the weekly themes:
6/21- 6/25 Celebrate Summer! – Slip on your sunglasses and enjoy a week of summer fun! We’ll celebrate the arrival of summer with activities like barefoot painting, going fishing (in our backyard “pond”) making ice cream, singing campfire songs, and having a carnival. The carefree days of summer have finally arrived!
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News from Preschool
The month of March starts off with the magic of Dr. Seuss. We’ll be sharing some of  his classic stories and there could be quite a few Cats in Hats making mischief at our end of the hall. And of course, green eggs and ham will be on the snack menu. It will be a silly, fun way to start the month and celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday as well. During March we’ll also complete our exploration of pets that began during the final week of February. There are so many great pet animal stories to share, and we’ll also enjoy a guest appearance from Rosie, Pre-K’s pet guinea pig.
March is conference time, and I look forward to discussing your child’s progress over the past months. To me, they seem so grown-up and competent, I was especially proud of the songs they shared and their behavior at our Parent Party before vacation.
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News from Pre-K
March is certainly coming in like a lion…or should I say ‘dragon’? Our culmination to  our Chinese New year study is happening this week. The lanterns are hung, lucky money envelopes stuffed with shiny pennies, yin-yangs created, lion masks made, and our large dragon head is decorated. We will have our lantern parade and dragon dance early this week. The interesting traditions and colorful customs surrounding this holiday are quite spectacular. Gung hay fat choy! Welcome to the year of the tiger.
We signed and sent out the letter about Daffodil Days, a community service project we participate in every year to support the American Cancer Society. The children helped compile and deliver the order forms, decorate the collection envelopes, put up the posters around the school, and thank our first supporter (Mrs. McNamee). We eagerly anticipate March 16th, when we will spend the day using our math and literacy skills to help us deliver the cheerful daffodils.
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News from Kindergarten
This month we celebrated the 100th day of school! The Kindergarten has been  waiting for this day since the very first day of school. To commemorate the 100th day of school students throughout the day participated in many activities based around the number 100. The students challenged themselves to see if they could build a structure using 100 cups. Later in the 100th day celebration students made pictures using 100 objects.
The Kindergarten class enjoys interacting with the older students in the Taylor School. One of our most memorable experiences this past month was working with the 1/2 class on a cooperative art project. The students were given the opportunity to explore their artistic side while working side by side with the 1/2 class in creating murals. The murals are hanging in both the classrooms and the students enjoy pointing out their contribution to the “masterpieces!”
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News from the 1-2 Class
February has been an exciting month! The class performed the play “Vacation to Mars” at the Capital Region Art Center. The students did an outstanding job both singing and acting. For Valentine’s Day, students in the entire school created their own paper heart with their name on it. Students were taught the value of kind words, and “filled each other’s buckets” with positive thinking. We also practiced our cooperative skills in a community art project with the kindergarten students. The two classes joined forces to paint four large pieces of paper with beautiful images of love.
This past month also featured the 100th Day of School. This school-based holiday is  looked upon with anticipation from the start of school! The students worked on a series of projects. The first project was a sculpture made at home using 100 of the same items. The second was a “100th Day Handprint” activity in which students had to fit 100 handprints on a 12x 18 piece of paper. To meet this challenge, students had to use cooperative group interactions, patterning strategies and mathematical strategies. Finally the kindergarten through second grade students celebrated together in a series of events that called for the application of mathematical thinking. This day was full of math fun. Students enjoyed a 100 cup stacking challenge, a partner stamping project that required students to see how many stamps they could make in 100 seconds, playing the game “Race to 100” and counting to 100 (with the help of some movement). The 100th Day at Taylor School was a wonderful day to reflect on our learning and apply our new patterning and math thinking.
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News from the 3-4 Class
This month we will continue our in depth study of the Human Body. I would like to  give a special thanks to Tim Harrigan, Reagan’s dad, for teaching the kids about the brain and the nervous system and for bringing in a real “live” brain for all of us to hold and observe in detail. We have teamed up with Mrs. Crane to create biological cellular art. We will be using compound microscopes to look a various cells. We will be learning about the parts of a cell and the differences between plant and animal cells. The students will also be making “Incredible Edible Cells” to further learn about the organelles inside of a cell.
Each student has chosen a system of the body they would like to further research and will be writing an expository essay based on the facts they have learned. We have already begun the process as the students have developed questions associated with their body system and have sorted them according to sub-topics to later form paragraphs in their non-fiction essays. It is going to be an eventful month and we are all very excited!
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News from the 5-6 Class
Will March come in like a lion and go out like a lamb? From the weather reports we  have been given it seems this pattern will hold true. Let’s hope the snow will come to an end, and spring will make its appearance soon!
During the month of February the 5/6 students were busy preparing for our living Wax Museum. Each student read a biography on a famous individual of their choice. They prepared speeches, timelines and informational displays. All their hard work and dedication made our living Wax Museum a huge success! In February the students also concluded a social studies unit on immigration. They studied the years of 1890-1954 when millions of people immigrated to the United States through the famous immigration station, Ellis Island. The children researched their ancestors’ origins, and created family trees on the information they gathered. The students completed a DBQ, Document-Based Question, where they interpreted historical records and expressed their understanding of the history of immigration to America through a well-written essay.
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Parent Page
- Thank you to all who participated in the 3rd annual St. Jude Math-A-Thon. Our grand total was $1,577.32
- Congratulations to our Odyssey of the Mind students. Our OM students received the most prestigious award last week at their competition - the OMER award. The OMER award is for being the courteous, having good sportsmanship, and showing good manners. For Mrs. Hotaling, the coach, this was the proudest achievement of the competition!
- Bus forms for next year are being sent home later this week. If you want your child to take the bus next year to or from school, you must return the transportation form to your school district by April 1st.
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