

First Marking Period Newsletter
Thomas G Connors Elementary School

THE KOALA QUARTERLY
2nd Marking Period Newsletter, Winter 2023-2024 Edition
A Message from Principal Addi
I am very excited to share with you the 2nd Marking Period edition of the THE KOALA QUARTERLY. In our latest issue, I am pleased to highlight the celebrations, events and learning activities that took place during this marking period. I cannot express enough how proud I am of our staff, students, PTO, and Connors families.
In your child's backpack is a letter on how to access your child's 2nd Marking Period Report Card on OnCourse as well as their Winter 2024 Linkit Scores. I am linking the letter here as well. Linkit and Report Card Letter K-5
Lastly, for students in grades K-2, there are hardcopies of your child's individual DRA-3 scores. I am also linking the general DRA Family Letter our DRA3 Correlation Chart and DRA 3 Level Descriptors Google Site here as well. Please be sure to check your child's backpack for the hard copies of these letters with your child's individual DRA level information.
I am looking forward to you reading about all of our learning activities throughout the 2nd Marking Period. As always, if you ever need anything, please don't hesitate to contact me as your partnership is golden.
All the best,
Principal Addi
2nd Marking Period Monthly and Weekly Celebrations and Themes
Hoboken Tree Lighting
Connors Choir students and the talented Mr. Azzarto brought so much delight to the Hoboken Tree Lighting event! Our students sang “Frosty the Snowman” and “Jingle Bell Rock”. Simply put, the crowd loved it! #Connorsrocks
Rockin' Holiday Fun with Mr. Azzarto
We were super excited about the Connors Rockin Holiday Fun and Sing-Along! K-5th grade sang holiday songs and after the songs, they played the Build a Snowman Game. K-5 students wrapped up some of our teacher volunteers with toilet paper, put a hat and scarf on the teachers and turned them into a snowman. So much holiday festive fun!
District Winter Concert
Grades 3-5 District Elementary School Winter Concert fell during the second marking period. Connors students had so much fun practicing their winter wonderland tunes and performing in front of so many people district wide! Thank you so much to Mr. Azzarto who brings so much musical joy to this holiday season! You are so incredibly talented and bring the love of music to all of our students! You make Connors ROCK! If you missed it, here is a Winter Concert Video Montage with Performances
Spelling Bee
This marking period we had our annual spelling bee where every classroom from grades 2-5 held a spelling bee and the winners of each room then competed to with each other to have the opportunity to become the Connors spelling bee champion and go one to the Hudson County spelling bee. We are so proud of everyone And the winner of the Connors Spelling Bee Championships is...Sohum Dixit! And our spelling bee champion runner up is...Nicholas Pickeral! Congratulations to all of our homeroom champions. It was a close race and we are so proud of all who participated!
Adam Chan-204
Eknoor Kohli-206
Niyantri Rathore-208
Sohum Dixit-210
Michelle Gallagher-212
Sydnee Margolis-307
Oliver Kondili-308
Anika Konde-309
Lynje Murray-303
Nicholas Pickeral-305
Romy Ron-Kushnick 306
Pizza with the Principal
The students were so excited for "Pizza with the Principal" this marking period! This program provides an opportunity for me to connect with our students on a more personal level and build strong relationships with each and every one of them. During Pizza with the Principal, we gathered together and enjoyed delicious pizza or lunches from home, read captivating stories, and engaged in fun games and activities. It was heartwarming to witness the enthusiasm and joy radiating from the students as we bonded and created lasting memories together!
Hannukkah Celebrations
We had a blast learning about Hanukkah Traditions and playing dreidel. A special thank you to our parents for teaching our students about Hanukkah!
Gurpurab Celebration
Eknoor's mom came in to teach a lesson to room 206 about Gurpurab. The class enjoyed it so much!
Connors Pop Up Library
This marking period we continued to partner with the Hoboken Public Library so that students could browsed through many exciting book choices and checked out a book from the pop-up library. Each of our students found a book that was perfect for them. We hope everyone enjoys reading their library books at home.
Great Kindness Challenge Week
During the Great Kindness Challenge students worked on understanding why it's important to be kind, how to be kind to others, and how to be kind to themselves! The children had a Kindness Challenge Checklist. They were encouraged to complete as many acts of kindness as they could.
Assemblies and Presentations
Prismatic Magic Laser Show Assembly
For Great Kindness Challenge Week we had Prismatic Magic come in with their newest laser show "Kindness Quest". The newest Prismatic Magic school assembly is all about promoting caring and kindness. They delve into social emotional learning initiatives and the significance of positive behavioral intervention and supports. Exploring these crucial concepts empowers children with the practical skills for social awareness, cooperation, and responsible decision making. As they progress, Max Bravado and the audience discover that these tools are vital to healthy human growth and social development.
2nd and 3rd Grade Theatre Showcase🎭
We are so proud of our 2nd and 3rd graders who performed in their musical moments showcase that highlighted songs that audience members love from favorite musicals including Annie, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, the Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and Marry Poppins. Students over the course of the marking period learned dialogue and how to sing and dance to a song. This enhanced their performance skills and allowed them to grow into more confident public speakers.
CONNOS PTO
Holiday Cheer Spirit Week
In December the Connors PTO spread some extra holiday cheer to staff and students alike with their themed Holiday Cheer Week!
Monday: Candy canes for all staff and students
Tuesday: Hot Cocoa Cart for the staff with all the fixins' along with yummy baked treats
Wednesday: Holiday-themed scratch-off lottery tickets for all staff
Thursday: Coffee and breakfast in the staff lounges
Friday: Hot cocoa for the students + prizes for each classroom
Hot Cocoa Stand
What a FUN AND MEMORABLE third annual Hot Cocoa Stand & Bake Sale, and special thanks to Sasha Nizgoda for hosting the event! This event is always a great success and this year was no exception. We crushed our fundraising goals and raised $2,125 (which is even more than last year)! Check out the highlight video and click here for some great photos from the event!
Monthly Teacher Treats
The TREAT TROLLY from our Connors PTO has been a lovely monthly treat for our staff! Our Faculty are so incredibly THANKFUL to our Connors PTO for providing all of these fun and delicious treats!
Student of the Month!
Congratulations to our Students of the Month for December and January! The students who have been awarded Student of the Month have been nominated by their teacher and grade level team. Students have been nominated for this award because they are excelling acadmically and/or have had tremendous academic growth. Awardees exhibit the KOALITIES of a Connors Koala in trustworthiness, respect, resonsibility, kindness, care and good citizenship. Congratulations to all of our Connors Koalas who have earned this award!
December Student of the Month
Below are all our December Student of the Month for grades K-5!
Madison Chan
Kindergarten
Eleanor Townes
1st Grade
Mila O'Reilly
2nd Grade
Sienna Page
3rd Grade
Janyvah Hernandez
4th Grade
Harper Appell
District Student of the Month!
5th Grade
January Student of the Month
Below are all our January Student of the Month for grades K-5!
Leo DePersia
Kindergarten
Charlie Billiet
1st Grade
James Bufano
2nd Grade
Aayan Patel
3rd Grade
Maya Nizgoda
4th Grade
Kiran Cross
District Student of the Month!
5th Grade
Grade Level News
Kindergarten
ELA: The Kindergarten students had a successful marking period focusing on different essential questions and letters. They honed their reading skills through various stories, identified story elements, and participated in learning centers. These centers included guided reading, sight word focus, phonics, handwriting, and sentence structure. In ELA, the students learned about neighbors, the letter Dd, and the sight word "do". They were also able to review previous letters and sight words, read stories, and identify their elements. The class explored living things and their growth and practiced identifying topics and details from stories. Phonics, guided reading, and dictation were also covered. The class did an amazing job and are encouraged to keep up the good work!
Math: During the second marking period, our Kindergarteners were fully engaged in the world of shapes. They learned to identify shapes in their surroundings and created shape pictures using various materials to exhibit their skills. They progressed to the next stage of their math unit 3, Investigation 2 – where they explored the making and combination of 2D shapes. They Built shape murals, filled pattern block puzzles, and played exciting games such as "fill a hexagon". In addition, they completed monthly ECR, math fact fluency assessments, and a holiday-themed shape book. Lastly, they were focused on Unit 4, which is all about counting, collecting, and measuring. During the first investigation, the students learned to measure shoes with cubes and organize cube towers by size. In Investigation 2, they discovered new games like "racing bears" and "one more one less", which helped them learn about changing quantities. Furthermore, they started delving into the world of story problems and will continue exploring this topic in the next marking period.
Social Studies: In kindergarten, students were exposed to various sections in their "Young Citizens" books, such as titles, vocabulary words, pictures, and captions. They also learned about time, including the days of the week and different periods of the day. Additionally, they learn about winter holidays worldwide, such as St. Nicholas Day, St. Lucia Day, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, Christmas, and Hanukkah, and create crafts. As part of their personal growth, students establish New Year's resolutions and studied Martin Luther King Jr., creating their own 'I Have a Dream' clouds and discussing the significance of kindness and friendship. They also learn about their community, focusing on the neighborhood around their school and comparing it to Maplewood from their Young Citizens book.
Dual Language: In our dual language kindergarten class, students have been fully engaged in all of the same English lessons as their kindergarten counterparts, with a bit of Spanish twist. During our Social Studies block, students also learned how to introduce themselves, how to describe their emotions, family members, colors names, describing various objects by color, vehicles names, and places around the community, all in Spanish.
In our Spanish portion of math, students have worked on counting in Spanish to 100 by 1s, 5s and 10s. We also worked on counting by 2s to 20. They have learned the days of the week, months of the year and how to state the date in Spanish. We also learned Spanish math vocabulary which we incorporate into mathematical conversations. See below for a list of a few of these words.
hoy- today
ayer- yesterday
mañana- tomorrow
más- more
menos- less
uno mas- one more
uno menos- one less
figuras- shapes
sumar- add
restar - subtract
In our Spanish Language Arts block, students have learned all of the letter names in the Spanish alphabet, many letters sounds, and Spanish sight words. They have also learned how to decode and read Spanish words with the sounds they have already learned, using similar activities to the IMSE 3-part-drill that is used to read and decode English words. Our dual language students are doing such an amazing job using the language acquired during our lessons to read sentences in Spanish. I cannot be more proud of our kiddos!
First Grade
ELA: In the second marking period students engaged in various reading, writing, and grammar activities. They learned new spelling and grammar rules and practiced reading and writing skills. Students worked on graphic organizers and comprehension strategies to better understand the texts they read. The focus of the writing unit was on fantasy stories, and students brainstormed characters, settings, and events and began writing their own introductions. The first essential question was about transportation, and students learned about maps, digraphs, and irregular plural nouns. They also worked on writing fantasy stories. The second essential question was about measuring time, and students learned about long a_e and verbs. They worked on retelling stories and using commas in a series. The third essential question was about plant growth, and students learned about long i_e, drama/play genre, and plurals with CVCe words. The first graders practiced predicting and retelling stories. Students learned about folktale story elements and identifying the moral of a story. They also learned about cause and effect events, soft c and g sounds in phonics, and inflectional endings. Students will focus on expository/informative writing. They picked a topic to focus on and will begin writing All About Books with an introduction that includes a hook, topic name, and three subtopics. They also compared and contrasted life long ago and today, practiced rereading, and learned when to use verbs correctly. Red words for the week were also introduced.
Math: The first graders had a great time learning how to add three addends to find the sum and complete fact family equations. To make it more fun, they created snowmen with a missing addend and used pictures, ten frames, or a number line to find the missing number. The students were also taught how to sort equations as true or false and correct the false ones by changing a number or math symbol. The fluency assessments showed excellent growth in skip counting and missing numbers. They continued working on Unit 3 Investigations during math workshop. As they entered Unit Four of Investigations, they learned to measure objects using their hands and strings and were introduced to the concept of time, telling time on analog and digital clocks. The students also took the mid-year winter Link IT assessment, learning about comparing lengths by telling how much longer or shorter one object is than another. They wrapped up Unit 4 and are looking forward to continuing learning more about problem-solving strategies and showing their work in Unit 5.
Social Studies: In Social Studies, first graders learned about their state's past and how to study history through various sources. They also discussed the Zones of Regulation, Hanukkah traditions, and people who help their school. They learned to be good listeners and speakers through fun activities like drawing pictures while listening. In Social Studies, students learned about school rules and pledges, as well as how to be respectful and responsible. They discussed wants and needs and reflected on Martin Luther King Jr.'s dreams. After finishing the school chapter students began a new chapter on neighborhoods, where they defined the term "neighborhood" and listed the resources available in their community. First graders completed a Kindness Challenge and created cards for loved ones. They also studied a map of their town and practiced using the compass rose. They discussed the importance of jobs in their communities and began learning about Black History Month. Each class is decorating their door to represent the life and contributions of a visionary figure, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Toni Morrison, and Ida B. Wells.
Second Grade
ELA: The second graders started the second marking period by exploring different types of poetry and phonics skills. In addition, they conducted research on animals and celebrated the work of authors. Students learned about narrative nonfiction, author's purpose, and reading strategies, like asking and answering questions. They also studied point of view, sequencing, and vocabulary skills. Writing activities included setting goals for the upcoming year. Students read a variety of texts, including both fiction and non-fiction, while focusing on different skills such as sequencing, identifying central ideas and relevant details, and understanding idioms. They also learned about phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. Throughout the week, they took part in various activities like assessments, craftivities, and writing their own realistic fiction stories.
Math: In math class, students continued their studies in Unit 2, which covers polygons and rectangles. They began Investigation 3, where they learned to sort polygons by sides, vertices, and types of angles. They were able to draw rectangles and create their own using square tiles. In addition, they began learning about fractions and practiced describing fractional parts of a whole. Moving on to Unit 3, students worked with Sticker Station to understand place value and the base-10 number system. They determined the total number of stickers and found possible ways to represent a 2-digit number with strips of stickers and pennies. For second-graders, they played games such as Roll-a-Square and Close to 20, and also learned about standard notation to solve story problems involving addition and subtraction. Finally, they reviewed coin values, equivalencies, and telling time.
Social Studies: In social studies students learned about school rules and their enforcement in Chapter 2 of Young Citizens, Lesson 2. Students also focused on social action and wrote opinion essays on a problem they identified in their school community. They present their essays to the class and vote on which problem to address as a class. They read a mini fact sheet about Martin Luther King Jr. and practiced answering questions in complete sentences based on the text evidence. Then created and put together our "I have a dream" cloud project. Second graders were able to write down a dream they had for themselves, a dream for their community, and a dream for the world. Everyone had such wonderful dreams for themselves and others!
Third Grade
ELA: In their third-grade classes, students finished reading and analyzing the novel "Real Stories from my Time: The Underground Railroad" by Bonnie Bader. They began to focus on a new writing task, Literary Analysis Essays, by identifying the components of the prompt and rubric, evaluating student examples, and writing their own LAT essays about various fiction texts. Third graders enjoyed holiday-themed activities, including literary analysis, creative writing, and crafts. They began a new core novel, “Who Was Coretta Scott King?” and learned about biographies, context clues, and annotation strategies. As the students continued reading the chapters, they identified cause-and-effect relationships, analyzed character feelings and traits, and worked collaboratively to create a timeline of Coretta’s life. Additionally, they practiced literary skills such as identifying main ideas and text structures. They also worked on writing their final literary analysis essays and began learning about research simulation essays. The students celebrated all their amazing writing growth by participating in their second Writer's Cafe and providing each other with feedback.
Math: In math students learned new strategies for multiplication, including skip counting, drawing equal groups and the "break apart method". They also began learning division and were given three strategies to solve division problems. In Unit 4, students learned about perimeter, area, and polygons, and practiced using a ruler to measure objects. The students explored polygons and quadrilaterals and how to identify each of them correctly. They began Unit 5, which involves cube patterns, arrays, and multiples of 10. They worked with multiples of 2-6 to enhance their multiplication and division fluency and learned about the distributive property and fact families. They also learned about the concept of parenthesis and how to use them in multiplication and division equations. The class looks forward to continuing to improve their fluency in the next marking period!
Social Studies: Third graders began a new unit studying New Jersey's state government, comparing it to the federal government, understanding the branches of state government, and the important role that citizens play in the government. They also learned about rights and responsibilities of citizens, emphasizing the importance of democracy, elections, and voting. Third graders also explored the process of change, identifying problems within their local and state communities, prioritizing the problems, and brainstorming solutions to create positive change. Third graders completed their Unit 2 Performance Task, creating proposals for Governor Murphy that addressed these local and state issues, and presented them. They then transitioned into their third unit, focusing on a case study of the Lenni Lenape. This unit explores how the Lenni Lenape used natural resources to meet their needs, and how they are connected to New Jersey's history and indigenous people.
Fourth Grade
ELA: Phenomenal 4th Graders focused on reading skills like identifying central ideas and analyzing character traits. They also learned about narrative writing and revised their stories to include sensory details and dialogue. The students also wrote a literary analysis essay comparing themes in short stories. Fourth-grade students engaged in holiday-themed activities during their English Language Arts classes, including brainstorming special winter/holiday traditions and writing descriptive personal essays. They also worked on developing their narrative writing skills through changing the narrator's point of view and analyzing important themes in short stories. Additionally, they completed their Link It mid-year benchmark, applying skills and strategies learned throughout the year. Fourth-grade students completed an assessment on Unit 2, which covered dramas, expository text, central idea, theme, similes and metaphors, and prefixes. They also finished their group projects, wrote a final narrative piece, and are now starting their next core text, "What Would She Do?" Students are practicing weekly literary analysis and beginning a new writing unit. They started Unit 3 in reading, which includes identifying the narrator's point of view, inferring character's perspective, defining new vocabulary words, and analyzing the purpose of a flashback.
Math: 4th grade mathematicians focused on addition and subtraction problems, including the U.S. standard algorithm for subtraction. They worked on word problems, identifying them as removal, missing part, or comparison problems, as well as multi-step problems involving rounding and large numbers. Students collaborated well to solve the problems. Students prepared for the unit on fractions by reviewing previous skills and taking part in IXL group jams. They also worked on Link-It testing for unit 6 on Fraction Cards and Decimal Grids. In Unit 6 of Investigations, 4th Grade Mathematicians learned about fractions and decimals by identifying fractional parts of rectangles and tenths and hundredths. They also compared fractions and decimals, ordered fractions on a number line, and made equivalent fractions. Working collaboratively, they demonstrated growth in problem-solving skills and understanding of the subject.
Social Studies: The 4th-grade explorers learned about the relationships between countries and the reasons for coming to the Americas, as well as growing their map skills. They also studied the new colonies, natural resources, and relationships between people before the colonists. They learned vocabulary terms and discussed perspectives. They studied more about Jamestown and why Europeans crossed the ocean, discussing imported and exported goods and different experiences of people back then. In the first week of 2024, 4th graders learned about New Year's resolutions and traditions from different cultures. They also studied the colonies in early America, triangular trade, and Martin Luther King Jr. to understand the impact of historical events. Fourth-grade students learned about the experience of enslaved Africans, studied map reading, and started the Great Kindness Challenge. They also learned about colonial New England and the Middle Colonies, including their government and education systems, discussing the differences between then and now.
Fifth Grade
ELA: In the second marking period the fifth graders finished reading Coraline and completed related activities and a literary analysis task. They then watched the movie and completed holiday-related activities. Students started reading Hoot and worked on text structure and a district writing assignment that required using characters' first-person points of view to write an essay about how their views of an event or situation changed. While reading Hoot they also worked on determining main ideas and key details of nonfiction texts. They also began planning and writing a research simulation task essay. They read exciting chapters of the novel and answered questions, including RACES and opinion-based ones.
Math: Students in different grade levels worked on fractions. They compared and ordered fractions, solved problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions using different representations, and played games such as "Fraction Tracks" and "Addition Compare". They worked independently, in pairs, and in small groups to improve their understanding of fractions. Students focused on addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They solved problems involving fractions, mixed numbers, and large numbers and reviewed various strategies for solving multiplication and division problems. They also practiced clear and concise notation and refining their division strategies. To add some excitement, they completed a booklet on multiplication and played a game to compete with each other. At the end of the section, they worked on activities to practice and refine their skills. The fifth graders also practiced computation skills in all operations, solving real-world problems using information from multiple charts. They focused on division using field day activities as context, and transferred those skills to larger multiplication and division problems. To review before a unit test, students worked on multiplication and division skills using a task card carousel.
Social Studies: In the Industrial Revolution unit, students read a theater piece and learned vocabulary words like manufacturing and assembly line. They also watched a clip featuring Lucille Ball and discussed the pressure she must have felt. The fifth grade students learned about holidays around the world, including Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas. They also studied how the Philippines and Spain celebrate Christmas. In another project, students chose an invention from the Industrial Revolution and created a Shark Tank-style presentation to convince their teacher to invest in their product. They then presented their pitches to their peers and answered questions. Students learned about advancements during the Industrial Revolution, including inventions like the steam engine and their benefits, as well as child labor and its associated dangers in textile mills, coal mines, farms, sweatshops, and streets. They also learned about reforms that allowed them to attend school and listened to a survivor's viewpoint and read-aloud about the Holocaust.
Science 🔬
Kindergarten: This marking period our Connors Koalas completed a lab on speed and distance, measuring ball travel distance on ramps. They started learning about weather, using thermometers daily. Kindergartners focused on extreme weather like blizzards, creating polar bear dens to withstand the elements using the engineering design process. While learning about extreme weather conditions students played educational games, created weather journals, and completed weather-related activities like sorting and using weather tools to determine temperatures. They also engaged in Move This World activities to recognize emotions throughout the school day.
1st Grade: During this marking period, first-grade students have been actively engaged in our PLTW unit titled "Animated Storytelling." Their journey began with the interactive story, Sharing Stories, to grasp the concept of crafting and animating digital stories. Following this, they participated in Rosie’s Runtime, a life-size board game where they used code cards to program Rosie the Robotic Dog through a maze, overcoming challenges like jumping over mud puddles and collecting bones before reaching the doghouse. Through this activity, students discovered that programs of varying lengths can achieve the same results. Students delved into Scratch Jr, a block-based programming language, to create their projects. During this exploration, they practiced pair programming, taking on the roles of driver and navigator, while interacting with sample projects to understand how programming blocks operate. The first graders are thoroughly enjoying their computer programming unit!
2nd Grade: Second graders wrapped up their Earth's Surface unit with a project called "Explore Ocean Water." They collaborated in groups to brainstorm why ocean water doesn't freeze entirely, tested their hypotheses, documented their findings, and shared and discussed them in class.
3rd Grade: Third graders completed a lab creating gliders for supply delivery. They worked in groups, tested their gliders, and submitted lab reports. In a new unit, Programming Patterns, students worked on a Story Factory activity to understand how programmers solve problems. They also coded Rosie the robotic dog through challenges on a life-sized game board, demonstrating different coding techniques successfully. They finished a coding unit, creating a snowman off their Chromebooks. They also studied the plant life cycle, pollination, and inherited traits, creating projects like a plant flip book and a hand-held pollinator. Additionally, they determined monster traits using a coin in a lab activity.
4th Grade: During this marking period students explored energy manifestations using objects like marbles and cups. They learned about computing systems' input and output processes, relating them to human body systems. Through a block-based coding language, they created programs for a digital game project aimed at keeping children engaged while waiting.
CTY (Center For Talented Youth) - ILP
Individualized Learning Pathway - Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
During the Individualized Learning Pathway (ILP) period, students who have qualified to participate in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) programming engage in a wide array of verbal course offerings that address their specific strengths and interests. Johns Hopkins CTY believes in researching and advancing ways to identify and nurture academically talented learners. CTY furthers research, guides educators and families and inspires students from diverse communities and backgrounds to pursue their intellectual passions and create the world of tomorrow.
Johns Hopkins CTY Portfolio Presentations
Huge congratulations to all of our students, who were enrolled in the CTY Young Readers Series, Building Blocks, and Grammar Fundamentals courses, on successfully completing their Fall semester! It has been amazing to see the growth that our students have shown from the beginning of their courses to now in not only their writing skills, but in their skills to communicate with peers around the country in an online discussion forum. To showcase all of their wonderful, hard work, students are creating digital portfolios highlighting their favorite assignments, some of the most constructive feedback they received on their writing, and describing their experience with the course in which they were enrolled this semester. Fantastic job, CTY friends - we are so proud of you!
A HUGE shoutout to our 2nd-5th grade CTY verbal course students for presenting their final portfolio presentations! Your work all semester was amazing, and we are so proud of you for compiling these wonderful presentations to share with your families! Thank you so much to the parents who attended the presentations!
CTY Young Readers Series: Robot Encounters
How much is too much technology? What would the world be like if it were run by artificial intelligence? In this CTY course, students will read three novels set in worlds where artificial intelligence and robots are involved in every detail of the characters’ lives. They will analyze how these robots mimic—and sometimes interfere with—the lives of the people they serve, and evaluate what makes a robot useful, safe, and beneficial for humans. Students will summarize, compare, and draw inferences between the texts, and practice writing creatively, academically, and persuasively. Our CTY students will apply what they’ve learned about robots’ purposes, structures, and capabilities while designing their own robot helper. Ultimately, students will come to their own conclusions about how technology can and should be a part of our everyday lives.
CTY Young Readers Series: Mystery Stories
Become an investigator and search for clues within each story, then try to solve the puzzle! In this CTY course, our student detectives will journey to 19th century London with Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, solve puzzles with a young savant, and join a ragtag group of students on a quest to preserve the history of the Harlem Renaissance, all while reading stories of danger, fantasy, and suspense. Sifting through these enthralling stories on the hunt for answers, our CTY student investigators will analyze and draw inferences from clues they find in the setting, plot, and characters, craft creative writing and discussion forum posts, and sharpen their critical thinking skills along the way. This CTY course will give students practice with being curious, aware, and reflective as they try to solve each mystery!
Response to Intervention (RTI)
Response to Intervention (RTI) will continue to take place during the third marking period. RTI will take place to improve students' academic achievement in the area of Language Arts. This year, RTI is fluid where students may need reading interventions for one marking period but may not qualify for the next marking period. Students who receive RTI work with the certified Reading Specialist (Ms. Kelly Cofrancesco) in a small group setting in order to better facilitate your child’s academic needs. This extra support is referred to as an intervention. A certified Reading Specialist will provide the intervention using the Institute of Multi-Sensory’s Orton Gillingham approach to teaching reading. This intervention is in addition to the classroom instruction/differentiation already in place by your child’s homeroom teacher during the English Language Arts 90-minute block. Students in kindergarten through second grade will be identified for marking period 3 RTI from their marking period 2 DRA3 scores and students in grades three through fifth will be identified from their Winter LinkIt! Form B Language Arts scores. For Grades K-2, RTI services are delivered during the same days and use the same structure as that for the ILP Period on Mondays-Fridays. For Grades 3 - 5, RTI services are delivered during the same days and use the same structure as that for the ILP Period on Mondays - Wednesdays. This does not exclude Grades 3 - 5 students from Problem-Based Learning Modules (PBL) on Thursdays and Fridays. Please note that during the PBL Modules, the Reading Specialist will continue to place emphasis on the development of literacy skills.
Music 🎶
K-2
Kindergarten students learn about notes on lines and spaces in music class. Ms. Bartolotti's class explores note placement on the music clef, while Ms. Sheridan's class reviews note values. Students begin learning about reading music notes on the treble clef, using phrases to remember notes. Students show progress with notes and beat values through classwork. They learned about the bass clef and placed notes on the clef. Students also colored a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. using notes as a guide, resulting in impressive drawings. In Ms. Garcia’s class, Ellie performed with her guitar, inspiring classmates to sing along. In kindergarten, students warm up using the Solfege method, singing the major scale with the "Do, Re, Mi" song. As a music educator, facilitating improvisation and empowering students to express themselves is crucial. At Connors, we promote this by organizing student-led warm-ups, encouraging sing-alongs led by students, and inviting them to showcase their musical talents in front of their peers.
3-5
Our 3rd-5th graders students at Connors School spent their second marking period preparing for the Winter Concert by practicing two songs with the band. 4th graders play "Jingle Bells" on woodwind instruments and percussion. Students also learn about note placement, drumstick techniques, and rudiments in music classes. During a rainy week, music students learned new notes and songs. Fourth graders in band class progressed from a few notes to playing five notes in songs. Third graders in recorder class mastered essential techniques and began playing B, A, and G notes. Fourth grade clarinet players tackled playing notes with sharps and flats, showing dedication and skill.
Mandarin🌎
In Mandarin, students learned about their daily schedules, asking and giving directions, and describing their feelings in the School Days Unit. They also learned about different parts of their home and community with Home Sweet Home. Through games like Bingo, they practiced listening comprehension. Through Battleship and Go Fish, they practiced speaking. They also learned how to write the new vocabulary in Chinese characters. The Chinese New Year lesson commenced, introducing the zodiac animals. Students delved into writing the zodiac animals and explored their character traits through the story of the Great Race. To prepare for Chinese New Year, they crafted dragon puppets and lucky envelopes and tried their hand at the traditional art of paper cutting, known as 剪纸 (jiǎnzhǐ).
Art 🎨
Collaboration was a big theme in art class this second marking period. All grade levels worked together to create a Winter Wonderland display, and a bunch of Kindness Chains that are hanging in the art room! 5th grade students worked with the Barat Foundation to create the Koala Animodule that is sitting in the main hallway! They brainstormed a design from every 5th grader’s sketch for the sculpture. The Koala was housed in the art room while it was work in progress, therefore ALL students were introduced to large drawing boards - channeling their inner professional artist. Kindergarten and 1st grade friends created Patterned Snow Birds on painted paper using oil pastels. They were challenged to see and trace their drawings with such a colorful and distracting background. 2nd and 3rd grade friends learned about Vincent Van Gogh and why his sunflowers are so important. They were able to arrange their own composition and utilize “crayon resist” with watercolor. 4th and 5th grade students were introduced to the American painter, Wayne Thiebaud. His dessert themed paintings inspired their dessert theme artworks. Students created a dessert table painting from a new point of view, using lines, patterns, local color, and perspective. Comment end
Physical Education 🏀
During this marking period in PE students focused on their soccer skills. K-1 students worked on partner passing and played Dribbling Treasure Hunt. Grades 2-5 learned soccer strategy through crab soccer, emphasizing offense and defense. In the bowling unit, students practiced rolling and competed to achieve the highest score before winter break. This MP in PE, students learned lacrosse skills such as throwing, catching, and shooting. K-1 students focused on basic skills like throwing and catching, while grades 2-5 practiced with lacrosse scoops and sticks. Students improved throughout the week, culminating in shooting practice with targets and a goalie.