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Windsor School
Dear Parents:
It is always
a pleasure for me to read our Progress Reports, the third of which was
mailed to you in April. They always provide confirmation of just how hard
our students are working. I am sure that you discuss your child’s Progress
Report with them just as we also discuss their progress. As always, feel
free to contact any of your child’s teachers or specialists to discuss the
contents of their individual reports.
Students at
Windsor, along with seventh and eighth graders across the state, were
administered the NJ ASK in April. As state testing is standards based, our
curriculum is aligned to the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards.
What this means then, is that all instruction that takes place during the
school year is designed to enable our students to perform at their very best
on the tests. I am pleased with the effort put forth by our students and
look forward to receiving the results.
We were
treated to a very entertaining assembly in April when we hosted the Frisbee
Dogs. The dogs have entertained groups in schools throughout the area and
have appeared at major sporting venues. We enjoyed watching their routines
and marveled at how well they have been trained. This was an assembly that
was certainly appreciated by everyone in the audience.
We are all looking forward to the rematch of
our two recent Student-Staff Basketball Extravaganzas. It is always an
event enjoyed by both spectators and participants alike. Similarly, it is
always a pleasure hosting our friends from the Windsor Learning Center.
The success
of our students is made possible by your continued support of their
program. They will continue to progress as we work together in their best
interests.
Sincerely,
Robert Piereth
Principal
Ms. Cantor
April Showers will hopefully bring May
flowers. We are getting into the nice weather, and before we know it summer
will be here. Our Math students worked really hard last month preparing for
the NJ ASK state testing. I hope everyone had a nice Spring Break. We only
have a little while longer until school is out for the summer, so I hope all
the math students continue to work hard. Keep up the hard work!!!
We want to congratulate our Student of the
Month. This student has done a wonderful job this month completing his class
work and homework. He received excellent grades on his math tests. We are
very proud of you, so keep up all of your hard work!
Ms. Murphy
During the month of April,
students in Ms. Murphy’s class explored how to dissect and answer an open
ended question. The most important step is to analyze the words in the
question. Words like describe, compare, and contrast should tip off the
writer as to how to organize the composition. The second step should be to
develop some sort of chart, putting your ideas into categories. When you
begin writing, remember to use many descriptive words, as well as
transitional words and phrases such as “first of all,” “next,” and
“finally.” This helps your reader follow your thought process. Use your
own original ideas to express yourself. Each of us has an important voice,
and many thoughts to share. Good writing conveys those thoughts to others
clearly.
Congratulations to our Student
of the Month. In recent weeks, she has had an exciting breakthrough
academically, which has affected every area of her schooling. After months
and months of grueling hard work, she arrived at the magical place of golden
understanding. This is an achievement many strive for, but few achieve! In
the past several weeks, she has earned 200 points many times! She has
become an exciting example of what can be achieved by never giving up.
Mr. Arata
Writing a persuasive piece is
like building a block tower. If you choose the biggest, sturdiest blocks,
your tower will be tall and strong. The same thing is true for persuasive
writing. If you build your argument using only the “sturdiest” persuasive
techniques, your argument will be solid and strong. Some of the techniques
that the students have practiced are: Stating a clear opinion, using facts
to support your opinion, choosing words that appeal to readers’ emotions,
and using tone to persuade.
Our class would like to
congratulate our Student of the Month. He is creative, perceptive,
and a young man full of potential. He has worked hard on completing each of
his reading journals and his book report. He takes pride in learning new
concepts and is creative and insightful with his responses. He has a great
sense of humor and enjoys sharing his jokes with the class. We are very
proud of him! Keep up the good work!
Ms. Baterdouk
Do you ever wonder why there are so
many worms on the ground after a heavy rain? Well, down in the ground where
worms live there is air in tiny spaces between bits of soil. When it rains
heavily, the rain fills out the spaces and the air is pushed out, then the
worms crawl up to the surface so that they won’t drown!
Inside the classroom where it’s warm and
dry, our Earth Science class continued to explore our planet Earth. During
this month they learned about what causes earthquakes and the different
types of seismic waves that earthquakes generate. They also learned about
an instrument that is used worldwide to detect earthquakes, the seismograph,
by observing a model that was constructed by one of our students.
Our eighth grade students were involved in
learning about the organ systems in the human body. The study of the
respiratory system, circulatory system and digestive system made them
realize how these systems work interdependently to provide an optimum
performance for our bodies. They also learned about a concept called
“Homeostasis” which is the process of maintaining a stable internal
environment in the human body despite other changes. They concluded their
study by watching a very interesting video about the human body.
As for our seventh graders,
the topic of the month was about moving cellular materials in the cell. We
learned that cellular materials move through passive and active transport.
Diffusion and osmosis are passive types of transport that do not require
energy. To illustrate the concepts of osmosis, the students enjoyed our
activities of soaking carrots and celery in water and monitoring the
movement of water in and out of the vegetables over periods of time.
Finally, I would like to congratulate our
Student of the Month! This student has been a model student since the
beginning of the year. He has consistently earned his points and exhibited
respect in his attitude towards his teachers and peers.
Mr. Holgerson
Our classes have worked very
hard through the month of April. We have been working on many different
aspects of history. From the Multi-Cultural Fair to The Great Depression to
The Renaissance to The War of 1812, we have covered many different time
periods of history.
The 9th grade World History
classes have been working on their Multi-Cultural projects. Ms. Hester’s
class is working on Great Britain and Ms. Rivera’s class has been working on
Panama. Each class just finished a lesson on the Middle Ages and learned a
lot about how education began to change the way Europe looked at itself. We
are now into the Renaissance and really starting to see how education and
vernacular writing helped to shape a more “global” Europe.
The 8th grade just finished up
sections on the Great Depression. It was interesting to see how the
Depression affected people in different parts of the country. We also
viewed “The Grapes of Wrath,” which allowed us to see how the farmers in
Oklahoma were affected by a great drought. We continued on our
Multi-Cultural Fair topics, which allowed us to learn about different
nations and cultures. Ms. Baterdouk’s class is researching the Navajo
Nation, Mr. Arata’s class is researching Germany, and Mr. Holgerson’s class
is researching Israel.
The 7th grades continued their
work on Westward Expansion. They learned more about the war of 1812, as
well as events such as the Gold Rush in California. We saw how these events
helped to move people west. The 7th grades also continued their
work on the Multi-Cultural Fair, which finds Ms. Murphy’s class working hard
in understanding France and Cantor’s class working on Greece.
As you can see, our classes continue to
work hard and it is certainly a time of year, as the weather warms, that
student focus will wander. I am very proud of all our students and I ask
that you continue to encourage your son or daughter to stay diligent in all
they do.
Congratulations to our Student of the
Month. He has been working hard on keeping his behavior consistent, as well
as becoming more conscientious with his homework. He is a hard worker and
we hope that he continues his diligence throughout the rest of the school
year.
Ms. Hester
We are all very pleased to have the warm
weather of May and summer is on its way. Now that we are back from our
spring break, the English and Language Arts classes will begin to read the
play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. We will also be
writing an essay comparing the play and the movie. Hope everyone keeps up
the hard work!!
Congratulations to our Student
of the Month. She works very hard and completes all of her classwork and
homework. She is wonderful to have in our homeroom and she gets along with
her peers. We are very proud of you, keep up the great work!!!
Ms. Rivera
Wow, can you believe it’s already May?
This year is really flying by! Although we have finished the NJ ASK
testing, our students are still very busy in math class. Our Algebra
students have completed factoring and FOILing and have entered the world of
quadratics. From graphing to solving, describing to simplifying, we have
really been working diligently. In Pre-Algebra, our students have begun
working with triangles and geometric applications of their algebraic
knowledge. The Pythagorean Theorem is truly a favorite! Lastly, our
General Math students continue to work with solidifying basic operations,
fractions, decimals, percents, and geometry.
Congratulations to our Student of the
Month. Although she has only been with us for a short time, she has truly
shined. She is often quiet, yet she is very outgoing and a great friend to
both her teachers and peers. Extremely motivated, she always completes her
class work and homework.
FROM THE NURSE’S OFFICE
Ms. Kelly
Internet Safety: Safe Surfing Tips for Teens
An excellent site for
children’s health is
www.kidshealth.org. Information is available for both parents and
children on this site. The following is information taken from one of their
many topics for teens.
The internet allows us to do
many things; so many, that we wonder how we ever did without it. We can
find homework support, do research, find out the latest news, or just stay
in touch with friends. It is important to remember that it can be easy to
get into trouble in the cyber world. The key is always to protect yourself
while online.
SMART SURFING
First rule of smart surfing?
Remain as anonymous as possible. That means keeping all private information
private. Here are some examples of private information that you should
never give out on the Internet:
- full name
- home address
- phone number
- Social Security number
- passwords
- names of family members
- credit card numbers
Most credible people and
companies will never ask for this type of information online. So if someone
does, it’s a red flag that they may be up to no good.
In chat rooms, use a nickname
that’s different from your screen name. That way, if you ever find yourself
in a conversation that makes you uncomfortable, you can exit without having
to worry that someone knows your screen name and can track you down via
e-mail.
Experts recommend that people
keep online friends in the virtual world. Meeting on-line friends face to
face carries more risk than other types of friendships, because it’s so easy
for people to pretend to be something they’re not when you can’t see them or
talk in person.
If you ever get involved in a chat room
conversation that makes you feel uncomfortable or in danger for any reason,
exit and tell a parent or other adult right away so they can report the
incident. The Internet is a valuable tool but you need to exercise common
sense and caution.
Art
Ms. Rusiniak
Students continued to design wonderful and
unique artwork during these past several weeks. A lesson on positive and
negative space was introduced to each class. Students traced a lined
picture on scratchboard paper and then scratched away all material around
their lines. When complete, the design resembled a stained glass window.
Students learned that negative shapes can become positive designs.
Individuals also continued to work on their ongoing papier mache masks.
Many were painted to resemble people in their lives while others were
transformed into aliens, clowns, animals and super heroes. Yarn was added
for hair and beards while wire was used for glasses and hair pieces. Each
project was unique and well planned masterpiece.
Computers
Mr. Roth
This month the students
started working with Microsoft PowerPoint. PowerPoint is a program that
allows you create a presentation on the computer. The students were asked
to think of a topic that was of interest to them. (sports, music pets, video
games etc.). The students were shown how to set up a PowerPoint slide. The
first slide of their presentation is the title slide. They were shown how
to add a variety of backgrounds to each slide. Backgrounds, such as one
color, two colors, textures and even photos, can be part of the background.
Once they chose their background color, they started to gather information
for their presentations. The students were also shown how to add text to
their slides, change the color of the text and the size and style of the
fonts. They will have to create 15 slides for their presentations. The
presentations will be presented to their class the first week of June. The
students have been doing a fine job. I look forward to some great
presentations.
From the files of the
Internet: What’s the most visited national park in the U.S.? The
answer will be in next month’s newsletter. The answer to lasts month’s
question. “What are storm chasers” Storm chasers are people who
chase tornadoes! Not that they want to catch them, you understand. They
just want to record information about them and study them. Meteorologists,
college professors, students and curious citizens can all be a storm
chaser. Training is strongly encouraged, and you can find out how to get it
at http://www.gilbertzone.com/beginner/beginner.html
Music
Mr. Gentile
We like to mix it up with the
music we listen to here at the Windsor School, and April was no exception.
After studying the music of John Williams last month, we explored an
influence of Mr. Williams, Igor Stravinsky. It was easy to hear the
resemblance of the opening of the Firebird, with the low, subdued
strings found in Jaws. A new segment in class is the spotlight on
classic television themes. Everyone recognized the great themes from
Bonanza, The Adam’s Family, I Love Lucy and others. We
enjoyed listening to the popular theme from Mission Impossible, while
becoming familiar with composer Lalo Schifrin’s other works, for example,
the theme from Mannix.
Additionally, we began our
study of the blues. We started with an overview of blues artists Lightin’
Hopkins and Muddy Waters. We learned more about the lives of featured
artists John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. We were able to easily hear the
influences of the blues in the music found in the popular games Guitar
Hero and Rock Band.
Music baseball and music
dictation exercises, along with performing these exercises on the piano,
have really advanced our studies in note reading. I’m very pleased and
proud of how well all the classes have been doing with reading music. We’re
almost ready to score our first film. Till next month, onward and upward.
Speech
Ms. Gonzales
It’s that time of year,
flowers blooming, more sunshine and spring fever. In speech/language, we
are putting all of our hard work together, adding a focus on the
articulation of all English speech sounds. This is the icing on the cake.
New words and word relationships have attained a permanent place in our
vocabularies and memories. We are not only familiar with multi- or double
meanings, we are putting them to use in our everyday conversations. We are
quicker to get a joke and just as quick to make one. These are the higher
order language skills that make our language use so rich and meaningful. As
we enhance our pronunciation of each sound when we produce these advanced
utterances, we are even more clearly understood. What a great
accomplishment!! Happy spring!!!!!
Spanish
Mr. Salazar
Time passes by so fast as we
are approaching the end of another school year. The ninth graders have
learned about different foods, such as vegetables, meat, poultry, fruit, and
how to order them in Spanish when they go out to eat at Spanish restaurants.
We are once again approaching
Mother’s Day, and that’s when we recognize the greatness of women, who work
and sacrifice everything for their children. In these humble words, I would
like to greet my mother Victoria, with all my love for her, and for all
mothers at our school and all over the world, Happy Mother’s Day.
Counseling Corner
Ms. Malafronte/Mr. Gebbia
For the month of May, Ms. Malafronte’s
groups will continue their discussions on the topic of bullying. By now,
the student have already identified and defined the various aspects of
bullying including physical, verbal, emotional, cyber, and harassment. They
will now begin to discuss and brainstorm different ways of handling these
situations and decide what are appropriate versus inappropriate approaches.
The students will have the opportunity to share some of their own
experiences in regards to bullying with the class, whether as the bully, as
a victim of bullying, or as a bystander. This is a complicated problem that
affects everyone to some degree. This will also be a topic that will be
revisited time and time again.
Hurray for Spring! As we head
into a new season, Mr. Gebbia’s groups will begin a multi-session program
designed to address conflict resolution. This conflict resolution program
will work off of the building blocks that we’ve set up in prior months, and
tackle such concepts as; defining conflict, cooperation, communication,
teambuilding, respect for others, and collaboration, to name a few. The
program uses a story and discussion model to help students gain insight,
while worksheets and role-plays round out these strategies.
In the small group setting,
many of our eight graders have already begun to discuss the big changes that
they will be facing . . . GRADUATION! For many of the students, this is a
time of mixed emotions. Happy to be moving on to bigger things and the next
chapter of their lives; sad to be leaving behind their friends, adults that
they trust, and the comfort of the familiar. This can be a difficult time,
and we will continue to support and explore the mixed emotions that we are
having.
Health
Ms. Ruggero
This month in Health we discussed the five
body systems; the nervous system, the digestive system, the respiratory
system, circulatory system and the skeletal and muscular system. We learned
that the nervous system is the control center for all the systems and its
function is to send and receive messages. The circulatory system brings
food and oxygen to cells. The respiratory system carries oxygen to the
blood. Your digestive system breaks down food for energy. The function of
the skeletal and muscular system is to support and move the body. These
body systems work together and depend on one another to keep the body
functioning properly.
Physical Education
Mr. Karczewski
April was a short month for all of us at
the Windsor School because of the spring break. I hope that everyone
enjoyed themselves and played safe. I would like to welcome the new
additions to our Windsor family. I look forward to seeing their fitness and
skills in Physical Education grow. Now it is time to congratulate our
Physical Education Student of the Month. This student has been
consistent in completing his exercises and showing good sportsmanship
throughout the month of April. And everyone else, strive to be the next
P.E. student of the month. |
