Thursday, May 17th, 2012

• Attachments!

  Please take a moment to look over some important attachments in the right-hand column of this page. Thank you!

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• From Tawana Clarrett, Principal

  Thanks from the Faculty and Staff!

  Last week during Teacher Appreciation Week, we celebrated the commitment of the staff at Stevens who work so hard to make a difference in our students' lives. A special thanks goes to our Board members, who kicked off the week by providing breakfast on Monday morning. Then, on Wednesday, we received an assortment of fresh baked cookies. The week ended with lunch and a gift from the Board. Many thanks!

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• From Jan Abernathy, Chair, Board of Trustees

  As I shopped with Noe for her graduation dress last weekend, I was thinking about how this will be my very last year with two children at Stevens, and her last year in the only school she has ever known. The day before I had been at the Dalton School, which she will attend in the fall, and I was with parents who were in similar circumstances as I am with children graduating from their K-8 schools. We talked about how happy we were to have one place that they could call home, where they could go from being the very youngest student to the very oldest student.

  I reflected upon all of these things as I starting thinking about our Staff Appreciation Week which has just passed, and Elsa McMullen’s retirement party (which is coming up on Friday and which I hope you attend). Both of my children had Elsa in the 3s and got their start in a classroom fully steeped in the tenets of a progressive education. To watch a master teacher such as Elsa was to see not only a supreme wrangler of small children (no small feat in itself) but also a person with a keen mind and heart that put children and their thoughts and actions at the very center of her practice.

  Through the years, my children have experienced the very best of what progressive education has to offer, and at the heart of that has been our wonderful faculty and staff. A wise man once said, “If you want to buy a man’s loyalty for life, do something good for his child.” Because of what my children have been given at Stevens, I believe that they can face down any challenge. They will know how to lead…but also how to follow. They are kind and compassionate individuals who are finely attuned to the emotional well-being of their peers, because that is the culture of our school. So as the school year draws to a close, I want to thank all of our staff for what you do for our children – and for the impact it will have for the rest of their lives.

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• From Joyce Doyle, Director of Development

  The extended forecast predicts a beautiful day for the 2^nd Annual Swing Fore the Schools on Friday, June 1^st. Partly Sunny and 74 degrees may be the backdrop for a wonderful day spent outside, all for the benefit of six local schools and over 1,400 children. Registration is limited, so don’t miss a spot on the greens in the sun. Click here: Swing Fore the Schools!

  I have been baking, baking, baking away for our wonderful families who are submitting their gifts to the Annual Fund this month. 37 new gifts were received in just two weeks! We are up to 65% participation in the fund with only 96 more gifts to go! Congratulations are due to the families of our 8^th grade class who were the first to reach 100% participation in the Fund. Not far behind was Brian’s 7^th grade class who also reached 100% this week. Take a look at the attachment (in the right-hand column of this page) to see which classes are close behind! If you have not yet given, please take a moment to do so here, or feel free to stop in my office with questions about the Fund. You really DO make a difference.

Classroom News

• E-Cycle Project a Success!

  The 7th and 8th grade leadership council successfully partnered with Computers For Kids (C4K) for two days in May. We worked really hard on planning this event and had to contact many people. After weeks of work we completed the electronics drive. We collected a lot of old and broken electronics and we want to thank everyone for their donations. In total we collected 165 individual items and eight miscellaneous boxes. These items will benefit communities in need or alternatively, they will be disposed of properly and responsibly.

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• 3s, Elsa and Gail

  The 3s have been very busy. Jian's mom, Jahayra, has begun making drums with both classes. It will be fun playing them when they are finished. In both classes, we did marble painting. The pictures are very colorful, and we enjoyed watching the marbles move through the paint. The morning class has a new art specialist, Jackie, Charlotte's mom from the 4s. She has been doing nature themed projects. She collected bark, leaves, nature photos, and crepe paper which the children used to make a collage. Our ceramic hands came back from the kiln and went home with a poem about growing up. The afternoon class began making paper with Elsa. What a fun experience! Arnav came to school wearing a traditional Indian outfit call a kurta. His sitter, Rajini, wore a beautiful, colorful sari, and we enjoyed relating what we noticed about it. We are looking forward to a visit to Andrea's class to see the baby chicks.

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• 4s, Akane and Emma

  The 4s have been exploring more about space! Max's mom, dad, and grandmother came in and we learned about the planets. We now have beach ball planets hanging from our ceiling. The sun is the biggest. Come check it out! Max's family also brought in a cardboard space shuttle and the class assembled it. Then we painted the space shuttle and we work with it now. We have also begun making our own paper mâché planets. Once we finish, we will decorate them.

  For Mother's Day, we each brought home a card that we made (with an origami flower) and a cup with a growing plant to our mothers. We also have peas and basil growing outside our classroom. Last Friday we cooked corn bread for snack and made Jell-O for an afternoon snack! Last week, Dallas's mom, LeNora, came and made Texas chili with us. We made both a vegetarian and meat chili and we topped it with cheese. It was delicious! We are continuing learning about letters and sounds, especially the beginning letter in our names.

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• Kindergarten D, Deana and Elizabeth

  Kindergarten D has been having a great time studying the Hudson River. We recently watched a video filmed by Kindergarten B's class, in which the class had the chance to interview a local fisherman. We learned a lot about the types of fish that live in the Hudson River, and we had the chance to do our own research as well!

  We are also working very hard on our final presentation, and we can't wait to see you there on May 29th at 9am. Also, don't forget that Wrap Up Night is June 4th at 6:30pm. We are looking forward to it!

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• 3rd/4th Grade J, Jaime and Ashley

  We are starting our final project, a remake of Jeopardy!! We are working on putting the project together and look forward to sharing it with our parents on Tuesday, June 5th. In Writers' Workshop, we are gathering a second round of research on the subjects of our biographies. We have been conferencing with teachers and writing introductions, conclusions, bibliographies and timelines. We are getting close to beginning to write our final drafts. In reading, we have begun our final literature circles, which we are doing with partners and a teacher advisor. In math, third graders have been studying measurement and fourth graders are working on geometry. Our latest field trip was to the Science Barge in Yonkers, NY. The barge is in the Hudson River and is an urban farm. Some of the things we learned are that if you take a ten minute shower, it uses about 100 gallons of water and that there is only three percent of fresh water in the world!! Even less than that is useable. We were encouraged to take shorter showers and reduce, reuse and recycle. We also each got to plant a basil seed and take it home. We had a great trip!!!

  Reported by Kathryn and Olivia

• 3rd/4th Grade R, Regina and Michele

  Since we last wrote, a lot has happened! We had two simulations, one that took us sailing to the New World and had us choose our land for our colony, and the other where we had to trade with the Native Americans and other colonies. We also started our biographies on people that were important to the start of America.

  Our final project has also begun. We are trying to do something unique and fun but we also need to show what we learned. We won't spoil the surprise but it's going to be GREAT!

  We went to the Science Barge in Yonkers last week. They had a lot of plants and grew fruit. They are trying to grow fruits and vegetables near the city, so they decided to try it on a barge in the Hudson River without using any soil! In science, we did an experiment where we were trying to find out what happens when you mix saltwater and freshwater. We were doing this because we wanted to see what happens when the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

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• 3rd/4th Grade S, Sarah and Candace

  In math, the fourth graders are learning polygons, angles and line segments. For activities we use power polygons. Also we did a scavenger hunt for right angles, where we went around the room looking for right angles. The 3rd graders are playing the product game in math and practicing their multiplication facts.

  In social studies, we are starting to get ready to present our final project. Our final project will be on June 7th, 2012 at 9am. See you there!

  In science we are making Rube Goldberg Machines. Daniel and Rachel Hubbard are showing how to move a ball. Justin and Aryana are making a mouse trap. Don’t think it is easy, because it isn’t! We are still working on our invention research reports. Many of us have finished taking notes and have started drafting.

  Now for a couple reminders! The Spring Concert is on Thursday night, students must be there at 6 and the concert begins at 6:30! Fun and Fitness Day is Friday, please remember to pack a healthy disposable lunch!

  Reported by Daniel and Justin

• 5th Grade J, Jay

  We have been making tombs in social studies and we are finishing up a few details before we show them to other classes. We have had a lot of fun making these tombs and we are looking forward to completing our final project once we decide exactly what it will be. In math we are learning all about measurement and conversions, and in science we are beginning our study of minerals. In Spanish, we have been practicing Spanish songs and doing lightning rounds of pronunciation. Also, in music we are trying to decide what to sing for Journey!

  Reported by Sosie, Sydney and Xandros

• 6th Grade T, Tom

  Hi, Parents. The 6th Graders truly apologize if we sent your son or daughter home a Red Sox Fan. You may have heard that on our super amazing trip to Boston we went to Fenway Park and watched the Boston Red Sox play against the Cleveland Indians. Even though some of us did not understand a thing happening, (since we don’t follow baseball), the experience was fun altogether. Sitting in the stand, cheering, snacking, laughing and sharing this great time with friends was probably the best part of the game. Of course all of those things happened throughout the entire game, so all of the game was fun! Not only did we watch the baseball game, but also we got a tour of Fenway Park before lunch. It was cool to learn about the Green Monster (tall, green bleachers with a perfect view of the game), about the famous red seat where a famous fan was knocked unconscious with a ball, and about the history of the team. Even if it was a Red Sox field, we must thank David Gavant (Maya’s dad) for setting us up for that great tour. Also, congratulations to Genevieve Kelly who caught one of the baseballs hit in our direction during the tour! (Just in time for her birthday, May 11th.)

  Of course, we did not just travel to Boston for three days just to watch baseball, we also went to visit Harvard’s Natural History Museum which included a collection of insects, fossils, glass flowers and crystals. We visited these small exhibits and were very interested in each one. We also saw an art museum, and I think a handful of us enjoyed the contemporary art the most. We also visited a “maporium”, which was a circular room made of stained glass, we watched a slide show about areas in the world. Since echoes could be heard from all over the room, I heard a lot of whispers such as, “This is Tim’s heaven!” and Tim, being known for his interest in Geography, enjoyed it very much. We all did, because of how they clearly pointed out each place on the map by shining lights from behind the stain glass and telling us about each area.

  The last day of the exciting trip we got to walk through the gorgeous Boston Commons, eat in a food court, and find the grave of Paul Revere, John Hancock and Mother Goose!

  The train ride back was as fun as the one there. We all had a lot of fun in Boston and I think we all came back as a much closer class, and proved that our 6th grade classes are like a second family. I think that my Stevens family is definitely the people I want to share amazing memories like these with.

  Reported by Kalli Jackson

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  The 6th grade recently went to Boston. I speak for everybody when I say we had so much fun. We visited a bunch of cool museums, like the Museum of Fine Arts, the Harvard Natural History Museum and the Mapparium. The Mapparium was the coolest. We went into a room that was circular, shaped like a globe. During the tour there was a light show. During the presentation of the countries, they would like up when they would were spoken about.

  We also went to a Red Sox game, which was a lot of fun, but before the game we went on a tour of the stadium. The tour was set up by David Gavant (Maya's father) who works for baseball companies. During the tour we got to sit on the Green Monster, a set of seats which were built because people used to sit on the roofs of the buildings across from the field, and watch the game for free. The owner of the stadium was mad that this was happening and built the Green Monster seats. When we were sitting on the Green Monster we could see two of the players practicing on the field. One was throwing the ball while the other was hitting it. One of the balls the player hit came up to the Green Monster and it bounced off Nigel's (6th grade Newport student) hand and then bounced of Luke's (6th grade Newport student) hat and hit the floor and I (Genevieve Kelly, 6th Hoboken student) grabbed it.

  Reported by Genevieve Kelly

• 7th Grade K, Katherine

  In the 7th grade, we have been learning a lot. In social studies, we have finished our study if the South African Apartheid, and we have started our study of Ancient Greece. In math, we have started a unit on linear relationships, and we have been making connections to our study of coordinate graphs in the beginning of the year. In computer class, we have been doing a lot of collaborative work to continue building our virtual Parthenon, which is being built on Google SketchUp. In art class, we are continuing to create our Ancient Greek vases. In literature, we are reading The Odyssey by Homer, which also ties in with our study of Ancient Greece, and our current projects in both computers and art class. In science, we are finishing up our study of the cell and are going to move on to a new subject soon.

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• 8th Grade, Greg

  Greetings from the 8th grade! The 8th grade students are very engaged in their work on their graduation projects. Each student has spent the last several months diligently preparing a research paper and audio-visual project which will be presented over the course of the next several weeks. The class is deeply engaged in the study of the civil rights movement. Through film, literature, primary, and secondary sources, the class is analyzing the roles of both the goverrnment and the individual in making the movement possible. In math, the class is deeply involved in a rigorous Algebra II curriculum. Students are reading and discussing the Orwell classic, Animal Farm.