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November 2009
News from the Head of School
Congratulations to the PTO for organizing a wonderful, fun filled fall festival last Saturday! Everyone seemed to be having a great time with plenty of good food, fun activities and outside play. It was a perfect combination that led to happy kids and relaxed parents. Thank you again for organizing the event and I hope we can make this a Taylor School tradition.
Unfortunately, much of my time month has been tracking student illnesses and reinforcing systems in the school for illness prevention. We seem to be holding up better than a lot of schools and I applaud our parents for cooperating and keeping their children home when they are sick. I also appreciate our faculty and staff who have worked hard to supervise the children and build good hygiene practices into the school day.
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News from the Academic Director
Dear Families,
A special part of the Taylor School is the interaction of the children across the  grades. On Monday afternoons, “reading buddies” in prekindergarten through sixth grade read together. At Morning Meeting each week, the children sing together and share their learning with each other. We also join together once a month for a school-wide project. This month the children celebrated Halloween and reading with a special project – “Literary  Pumpkins.” On the first day of the project, each child was paired with a multi-age partner. Together, they chose a book, read it, and planned how to make an ordinary pumpkin look like a character from their book. On another day, the children painted and decorated the pumpkins, bringing their pumpkin characters to life. The collaborative process of designing, planning, and sharing artistic talents to create something is a valuable experience for children of all ages. Important problem-solving and interpersonal communication skills were being developed as the children worked through the process of completing their project. The pumpkins are on display in the front hall. We hope you get a chance to stop by and enjoy them!
Kelly
News from Preschool
Wow! The school year is zooming by, and November is sure to be another busy  month. After a few days of squirrels and owls, we will begin a unit on self-concept. The children will explore similarities, celebrate uniqueness, and learn about basic needs of humankind. The concept of ‘family’ will be introduced, and will expand a bit to community. This all sets the stage for learning about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. This is an opportune time to focus on what we need, and have, versus what we want. We are so fortunate for all the simple gifts we receive each day!
A study of Native Americans will also occur later in the month. Thematic play will provide many opportunities for children to begin learning what life was like in a native village long ago. Children will internalize many concepts as they engage in play with peers in this popular center.
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News from Pre-K
November will be a month to investigate how animals adapt for the cold winter  months. Which animals migrate? Hibernate? Grow a thicker coat of fur? Make food caches? Our woolly bear caterpillars are already snug in our small refrigerator hibernating until we take them out next spring! We do enjoy taking them out and watching them in their deep sleep, though; they are so chubby and cute.
We will also learn about wild turkeys this month; many of the children have been spotting turkeys in their own yards and are very curious about these large birds. Our ‘turkey museum’ is sure to delight you later on this month. Learning to use a ‘turkey call’ is a very popular yearly ritual. Come on in and try it for yourself, it takes practice!
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News from Kindergarten
The month of October was a busy month in the Kindergarten classroom. We have  been learning a lot about pumpkins with the arrival of “Herman” the giant pumpkin! Herman was grown at home by one of our very own kindergarteners and his father. We learned about all the hard work it takes to grow a large pumpkin of Herman’s size. Something interesting we found out was that the best way to assure the pumpkin grows to a large size is to hand pollinate the pumpkin flower.
The Kindergarten class made predictions about the weight of the giant pumpkin and the number of seeds they thought would be inside. We wanted to get everyone involved with predicting Herman’s weight! After gathering predictions from students at the Taylor School we revealed that Herman weighs 158 pounds! We were excited to learn that some Kindergarteners came close to guessing the exact weight.
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News from the 1- 2 Class
The time is flying by! We’ve been busy creating our own planets, sculpting aliens,  and learning all about the Solar System. A few days ago, the class took a planetary walk to demonstrate the distance between the planets. As a culminating activity, the class will have the unique opportunity to travel to RPI’s Hirsch Observatory for a night of observing the stars, planets and more!
The class is wrapping up a study of the solar system, and will soon be starting their study of the Native People of New York. Within this study, the children will be exploring the lives and creations of the Native Americans who have inhabited the area for hundreds of years. This unit will include hands-on projects, such as Winter Counts, and plenty of great stories.
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News from the 3-4 Class
“Who dun it?” We have started a new genre, “Mysteries!” The students will be  completing a WebQuest where they will learn about the elements of a mystery and solve a variety of mysteries. The WebQuest contains mini-mysteries that they will read and try to solve. I will assign the super-sleuths to a team of four investigators that will each have the job of reader, recorder, reporter or checker. These activities will help provide the students with the knowledge and skills necessary for writing their very own mysteries.
Our next thematic unit is “Colonization and Westward Expansion.” The students will be taking a ride on The Oregon Trail in the 1840’s experiencing the life of the pioneers. The students will be immersing themselves in the emigration experience by constructing a wagon, packing provisions, choosing a route, and dealing with critical events: a cholera epidemic, a wrecked wagon, and an encounter with indigenous people. There are many other events that might develop during our journey such as getting lost, encountering a snowstorm, and disagreements among wagon train members. Our journey develops and may be altered as we go along. Ultimately, our journey ends when the wagon train reaches its destination. The families will come together to celebrate their arrival and create keepsakes to commemorate their journey. It’s going to be quite a fun experience!
Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving holiday.
Have a great month –
Lara
News from the 5-6 Class
It is hard to believe we have completed two months of school and November is here which means Thanksgiving is near!
During the month of October the 5/6 class was very busy as they completed many units of study. The students finished their first genre study on realistic fiction, concluded a comprehension unit on The Great Gilly Hopkins, published their first personal narrative, completed a unit on land, air, water and noise pollution and went on two field trips! The 5/6 students had the opportunity to visit the Darrow School’s Samson Environmental Center. The Darrow School’s facilities include 22 National Historic Landmark buildings and it provided us with a chance to see an environmentally conscious approach to sustainability. Using a natural ecosystem as a model, the “Living Machine” provided a unique hands-on learning opportunity to gain a broad perspective of sustainability in our world today. The students also went to the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy to take part in a community art activity. The 5/6 students worked in leaf-making production lines to help create 10,000 leaves for the artist Fischer’s, Electrical Forest: Made in Troy, exhibit. We were very fortunate to go on these two amazing field trips.
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Parent Page
- Please remember to change your child’s clothing in their cubby. Winter is here and parents should change the clothing from shorts to pants and please provide extra socks for those wet feet after recess!
We go outside every day for recess unless it is too cold. Please be sure your child has a hat, mittens and coat every day!
- Our school nurse will be doing vision and hearing screenings on all students K-6th grade in early December.
- Harvest Feast will be for all families on Tuesday, November 24th. This is a wonderful chance for families to come and share thanks with one another. All classes prepare their own food for the gathering. Please plan on joining us. We will need volunteers for setting up and cleaning up. If you’d like to volunteer, please let Rachel (PTO), Kelly or Mariann know!
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