Curriculum & Instruction Newsletter

Dear Fair Haven Families,

I am very excited to be sharing our first newsletter with you! We've had a blast over these past three months and are so very fortunate to be able to share so many wonderful pictures and lessons with you.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter and I wish you a happy and healthy holiday season.

Sincerely,

Cheryl Romano

Director of Curriculum & Instruction

“Remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it..” – Henry Ford

In our elementary classrooms, morning meeting is an interactive time of day where students and teachers work together to build a classroom community. Morning meeting helps students to succeed both socially and academically.

Check out some of the fun that students have in Mrs. Conover's and Mrs. Peck's 5th grade morning meeting.

We love starting our day in a positive and engaging way. Students gather every morning to build a meaningful classroom community, which also sets the tone for the rest of the day.

This year, we are so excited that Mrs. Prince has joined our Knollwood team! She is working as our Media Specialist and teaches Media Literacy classes to our 4th and 5th grade students. Click the button below to check out Mrs. Prince's newsletter and get a glimpse into what she is working on with our students.

Fourth and fifth grade students worked on research projects. Fourth graders collaborated with classmates to create an infographic (or slide show) on their favorite animals. There was even one creative team who researched King Kong! Fifth graders studied about the history of food trucks and created a digital food truck of their own in Google Slides.

Students help Mrs. Prince checkout and put back some of our books.

Part of creating a successful classroom environment is working collaboratively as a team. In Mrs. Harvey's 5th grade class, students participated in a team building STEAM challenge. Students were separated into groups using multi-colored friendship bracelets. They were give time to talk to each other to find out as much as they could about their classmates. When time was up, they used index cards to write down as many things as they could remember that everyone in their group had in common. The STEAM part came in with students using the index cards to build the tallest tower they could build. The more commonalities a team had, the more index cards they could use to build their towers.

Did you know that teachers work on team building too? During our first days of professional development, teachers in grades 3, 4, and 5 also took part in this exact team building STEAM challenge. While their commonalities were a little different than the students', it was a fun time getting to learn about one another.

In Mrs. O'Grady's 6th grade Literacy class, students have been learning about common and proper (and compound) nouns. They have been using different templates as ways to categorize or sort these nouns: Sometimes they categorize merely into common and proper nouns. Other times, they subcategorize: Where exactly do these common nouns fall? Are they ideas? Things? People? Places? Are there crossover categories? Then, finally, they tried their hand at equivalencies: Can I list a common noun and come up with a proper noun equivalent?

What you see in the pictures below are students with four different templates. They (wisely) noted that they still had categories that were scarce.

Here are a few pictures from 7th grade French class. Students in Madame Amabile's class were playing a brand new game that she's named Le Crayon Fou (The Crazy Pencil). Players roll a die hoping to roll a 6. Once they do, they turn their worksheets over and begin working. They have until the next player rolls a 6, at which time they flip their papers back over and hand over the pencil (the crazy pencil!) to them. The first player to complete the worksheet with no errors gets extra credit on the next assessment. To add to the frenzy (!), Madam Amabile plays the Can Can song while they work!

In this experiment, students in Mr. DiPalma's and Mrs. Hutchinson’s 7th grade science class created an ice-salt-water mixture to be used to freeze a sample of pure water inside of a test tube. Students recorded the change in temperature over the course of 15-18 minutes and graphed the resulting data.

Students were able to understand that salt lowers the freezing point of water to around -10℃. This is why salt is put on the roads during snowstorms and why a salt/ice mixture is used to chill the ingredients to make ice cream. Students will be able to make these connections during any snow fall this upcoming winter!

Ms. Ferry's 4th grade class has been busy over the last few months. Check out some photos from their mystery reader visit, their realistic fiction writing celebration, their hands-on work in science, and them taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather by reading outside.

Mrs. Romaglino's and Ms. Dalm's first grade class is immersed in science! As they were studying the topic Air and Weather, they looked at the properties of air by making parachutes and blowing up rubber balloons. They took the study one step further and incorporated it into their cultural study of Thanksgiving traditions, such as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Each student designed and created their own balloon, and then had to reflect on how air plays an important part in making the balloons come alive (ie; air takes up space, compressed air has pressure that allows the balloon to inflate, etc.). Finally, based on the book "Balloons Over Broadway", they created a mural with each child acting as balloon holders in the parade on Broadway in New York City.

In math, fifth grade students in Mrs. Harvey's class worked on a Thanksgiving Menu Budget Project. With this Thanksgiving math activity, students practiced solving multi-step problems in a real-life scenario. Students were required to add, subtract, and multiply with both whole numbers and decimals. Students were given a budget of $150 for their immediate family. They were in charge of planning out their menu. Students had a great time comparing prices on different supermarket circulars. It was hilarious to hear some of the students' comments when budgeting!

Our 5th grade classes invite parents/family members into their classrooms to share information about their careers. We were so lucky to have a visit from Mrs. Peralta and Mr. Parsell. Mrs. Harvey's class loved hearing all about their careers. Mrs. Peralta taught them all about computer software sales. Mr. Parsell shared his career at Terumo Medical and students learned all about medical devices. Students were so engaged and asked thought provoking questions.

Miss Cavalluzzi's first grade class had a virtual author visit with Grace Lin and learned about the legends that inspired her new book, Chinese Menu.

Mrs. Cannon shared the story of the puppeteer and inventor, Tony Sarg, who created the very first Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. Ms. Fitzpatrick visited the class and showed the students the balloons for this year’s parade on the Macy’s Parade Day website. Students were inspired to create their own balloon designs, just like Tony Sarg.

Under the guidance of Mrs. Ganley, Teacher of Gifted and Talented, the second graders embarked on a creative journey that had them thinking like true engineers. The pages of Balloons Over Broadway introduced our budding innovators to the captivating story of Tony Sarg, the visionary behind the iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons.

Our second graders eagerly embraced the challenge of becoming engineers. With the guidance and support from the second grade classroom teachers, the design process unfolded with enthusiasm. Students delved into the intricacies of drafting blueprints for their very own parade-worthy balloons. Paper, markers, and a generous dose of creativity were the tools of their trade, and the results were nothing short of spectacular.

The grand finale, the First Sickles Thanksgiving Day Parade, filled the hallways with book characters, animals, and movie characters. This extraordinary experience was made possible by the generous support of the Fair Haven PTO through their TCSP Grant.

At Knollwood School, the 6th and 8th grade literacy teachers collabroated with Mrs. Ganley to bridge the gap between literature and real-world experiences. In 6th grade, students reading Pictures of Hollis Woods had a unique opportunity for a text-to-real-world connection when Student Initiatives Officers from Covenant House shared insights into the experiences of unhoused youth. Meanwhile, 8th grade students, delving into Just Mercy, had the privilege of connecting with real-life narratives through the efforts of Mrs. Ganley, who worked with the Innocence Project to bring exoneree Fernando Bermudez as a speaker, offering a profound link between the novel and his personal journey. These initiatives enrich students' learning by grounding literature in the realities of the world around them.

Sixth grade wind musicians who signed up for the newest music elective have been coming to class with Sara Marino and Mel Chayette every B day this semester. They've been engaging in skill building, pursuing individual musical interests with "sidequests," and studying music according to themes: 1) classical music, 2) movie music, and 3) classic rock music. First marking period, the musicians each prepared two duet performances and one classical solo performance. Second marking period, they invited some friends who play piano, bass, and drums to visit once a week, during which time they have been putting together small rock bands. They just recorded their first performance, "Another One Bites the Dust," as recorded by Queen. Later this marking period, the wind players will perform movie themes from a variety of films. The students in this class should be very proud of how they're growing as individual musicians, building their ensemble skills, and collaborating with fellow musicians. They will each leave with a portfolio of recorded performances, and great musical memories!