From the
Parent Council Excecutive Committee
SA families Bensonhurst
February 2016 Newsletter
What’s Inside 1 Opening Letter 2 How to Love Reading
Not to be Negative, But Don’t Say That
3 Engineering Fun
Cool Recess
Split in Half
4 Calendar of Upcoming Events at School and Around Town sa-bh PCEC Polina Bulman President
Madeline Vega Vice President
Lana Dziouba Secretary
sabh.pcec@gmail.com Thank you Illona Bobritsky and Elena Gorohovsky! Send pictures or calendar events anytime to contribute_sabh@yahoo.com
Just before it was time to go to the juggler’s performance, Mr. Dant announced everyone—scholars and staff—should drop everything and read. photo by Madeline Vega
Warming up to reading Drop Everything and Read is a fun way to reinforce that reading should be a priority. Author Beverly Cleary described D.E.A.R. in her book Ramona Quimby, Age 8, so D.E.A.R. programs usually celebrate on Ms. Cleary’s birthday April 12. (Beverly will turn 100 this April!) SA-BH families should feel free to drop everything and read every day. February is a great time to grab a blanket and snuggle up. Nightly reading with scholars is an amazing excuse to share more of the things you love with your scholar. You want them to know they can master physics? Read How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog. You want to brainwash them into loving the Yankees? Read Birth of a Dynasty. You want them to be more conscientious? Read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You don’t like any of those suggestions? There are books about everything—and magazines and blogs and even the captions on Pinterest! There are words all around us all the time. Once scholars have cracked the code, anything is possible. Sometimes, though, it can be intimidating for scholars to read to adults. In that case, grab more blankets and build a fort. Now if your scholar makes a mistake, no one will know. (Let’s pretend.) Maybe your scholar needs to work on using inflection and different voices? Stuffed animals can be a great audience inside that fort. Comfortable readers become confident readers.
How to Love Reading The real magic of any book is its ability to transport the reader some place else. You are no longer in that classroom or on the subway or waiting for an appointment—you are taming wild animals, meeting royalty, driving a mega machine. Books can take you anywhere as long as you are willing to give them your attention. Do I have to read to my scholar? Children learn to read fluently by hearing someone else read fluently. They learn to love books by listening to the adults they love sound like they love books.
There is no such thing as a child who hates to read... only children who have not found the right book. —Frank Serafini
What if my scholar doesn’t want to sit and listen? There are times when you will read and you will be the only one listening. If you are trying to model that reading is important, keep reading. Make sure you are entertaining yourself, and you will probably entertain your scholar. Are you reading in a comfortable place with few distractions? Carve out a space that feels special and cozy. It only has to be big enough for you, your scholar, and some books. Find more suggestions at issuu.com/ sharpenmagazine
not to be negative, but don’t say that On the PBS site for parents (pbs.org/parents), there are dozens of articles and hundreds of tips for how to help your scholar at home. There is even a list of “What Not to Say to Emerging Readers.”
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Emerging readers need to feel comfortable in order to be confident. Building a fort to hide in or reading to a stuffed animal instead of real people are part of creating a safe, non-judgmental space.
One pair shares their efficient strategy. “Teamwork makes the dream work.”
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Engineering Fun
Cool Recess
In December, before Ms. Yadoo’s coding club used pair programming to master Cargo-Bot, they discussed the examples of programming they had observed over Thanksgiving Break: washing machines, chocolate factory computers, and Python graphics. Coding is in all of the step by step directions. Pair programming is when two scholars work together to help each other find new solutions. On this day, each pair shared one iPad so they could write lines of instructions for Cargo-Bot together. Their goal was to create an efficient code to solve each puzzle. The club had previously realized that you have to try each line of code after you write it. And even when the code works, it can always be better. The coding club hopes to create its own game, according to scholars.
Mr. Graves helps out scholars who chose to play in the snow. photo Courtesy SA-BH
Math gives us the hope that there is a solution to any problem
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Split in Half A peak at Kindergarten’s Number Stories routine
Dressed in pJs the MOnday after the blizzard, one half of Muhlenberg works on number stories with Mr. POirier while one half goes to the blocks room with Ms. Phillips. All together, It looks like the whole class is comfy. photos by Madeline Vega
February 2016 SA-BH PCEC Newsletter 3
Calendar of Upcoming Events sun 31
mon 1
tues
wed 3
2
thurs
fri
4
5
Muhlenberg visits Tastebuds
100th Day of School Paper Bag Players
Black History Month
Ground Hog Day
PC meeting 7:15 a.m.
8
9
10
GWU visits Tastebuds
Lunar New Year 11 a.m. auditorium
Lunar New Year
Shrove Tuesday
Ash Wednesday
14
15
16
17
Lunar New Year Parade
No School
No School
7 Thunderbird American Indian Dancers
Frederick Douglass’s birthday
21
18
6 Winter Carnival
Soul on Ice XIX Winter Skating Party
12
13 Central Park Ice Festival
Abe Lincoln’s birthday
Prospect Park Ice Skating Play-date
19
20
American Museum of Natural History
Presidents Day
24
22
23
Intro to Jazz assembly
Reading Night 3:30 p.m.
25
26
27
King Salim Assembly
Children’s Film Festival
Black History Month event
George Washington’s birthday
28
11
sat
2
29
1
Leap Day
Super Tuesday
3
4
5
Fun Things to Add to Your Calendar A selection of events in and around Brooklyn to check out with your scholar Winter Carnival Feb. 5 - 6 Includes winter sports, ping pong, skating, a brew house, and a silent disco dance at Bryant Park. Free (unless you rent skates). Thunderbird American Indian Dancers Feb. 5 - 7 and Feb. 12 - 14 Traditional music, elaborate dress, and storytelling before the audience joins the Round Dance. http://theaterforthenewcity.net/ thunderbirds2016.html Soul on Ice XIX Winter Skating Party Feb. 6 - 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Ice skating demonstrations, food, and soul music at Lasker Rink in Central Park. $15 includes skates. Central Park Ice Festival Feb. 13 - 3 to 7 p.m. See carvers make romantic statues with chisels and chain saws. At 5 p.m. trade ID for headphones and dance outdoors at a “silent disco” with DJs and colored lights during Ice Festival at Naumburg Bandshell. Free. Ice Skating Play-date Feb. 13 - 1 p.m. At Prospect Park for families who reserved spots.
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Lunar New Year Parade Feb. 14 - 1 p.m. See colorful floats, marching bands, lion and dragon dancers, antique cars, beauty queens, and performers at Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade & Festival. Free. New York International Children’s Film Festival Feb. 26 - March 20 New, inspiring, and thoughtprovoking films about youth from around the world, suitable for families. http://nyicff.org/