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John Paulding 2008-2009 School News As part of the School Districts Cultural Arts Program, the Children of John Paulding participated in a Dance Residency Program. Facilitated by Ms. Anne Church, this five-week curriculum took place from Monday, April 13, 2009 to Friday, May 22, 2009. The children participated in the program once a week during a regularly scheduled Physical Education class. This year, the children learned many interesting facts about and dances from the countries of Bolivia, China, Africa, Brazil and United States of America. Upon conclusion of the program, the classes performed the various dances they had learned in a Dance Demonstration Show. As a special treat, Ms. Church and her partner performed a Swing Dance for everyone’s entertainment. This program was made possible with funds provided through the District Elementary Arts Plan, which is funded by the school district, the Foundation for the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns and the EPTA. The residency reinforced the school’s academic curriculum through movement. Since every child learns differently, education through movement touches some students very deeply, driving home creative and academic concepts. Also, this dance residency was fun, physically challenging and a great creative outlet for the children. The students had the opportunity to explore movement and develop their confidence by participating in a positively structured experience. In addition, this residency taught students about the arts, how to view dance and how to behave as an audience of the arts. The children had a magnificent experience and this highly productive program was an enormous success. (Posted 6/22/09) John Paulding Students Visit Morse  On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, the students of John Paulding visited Morse, their future second grade school. The first graders were filled with a nervous excitement and curiosity as they climbed the steps up to the main entrance. Then, the students were greeted by the principal of Morse School, Mrs. Fitzgerald. As the students arrived, Mrs. Fitzgerald had them gather in the auditorium where she gave an overview of the school and what the school day would be like for next year. Then, each class was dismissed and traveled with a tour guide to different places around the school. The students got to visit various rooms such as the cafeteria, the gym, the art room, the music room, the computer lab, the library, the main office, the principal’s office, the “Castle” and different second grade classrooms. As the students explored their future school, they shared comments with one another such as, “There are LOTS of stairs!” “Look at all the lockers!” “The teachers are nice, just like the teachers at John Paulding.” As they left Morse and traveled back to John Paulding it was obvious that they felt more at ease and excited for the upcoming year! (Posted 6/10/09)
Baseball Book Bonanza Reading Challenge! On Wednesday, May 27th the students and staff of John Paulding School gathered to kick off the official start of Baseball Book Bonanza, a reading challenge program for first graders. Dressed in the shirts and hats of their favorite teams, everyone cheered and sang Take Me Out to the Baseball as Mr. Suarez threw the first pitch of the season. The All-Purpose Room was decorated with pennants each class created for their own classroom team. A cardboard stadium that will have the likeness of Mr. Perugini running the bases as Mrs. Mercado-Belvin pitches nothing but heat will keep track of the number of books read each night. . Each day, a paper Mr. Perguini will advance around the bases hoping to reach home base when the goal of 2000 books is met by June 12, Fun Day. (Posted 6/4/09) Illustrator & Children’s Author Lizzy Rockwell Visits JP!
Lizzy visited each classroom, where she presented a power point presentation. She showed the student’s pictures of her studio, her family, her pet dog and drawings she did when she was in elementary school. She shared with the students how she creates a book, the research that goes into creating a book and the steps necessary. The students had the opportunity to ask Lizzy about the types of paints she uses and how she picks her colors. Lizzy asked four students to reach into a bag and pull out a picture. The class was then asked to brainstorm ideas to create a story using all four of the pictures. The students were in awe as the picture story took shape. The students gave suggestions and commented as Ms. Rockwell drew the picture. When the picture was completed, Ms. Rockwell autographed it and encouraged the students to create a story of their own using the picture they had created together. Lizzy Rockwell studied art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is the daughter of Anne Rockwell, a celebrated children’s author, with whom she has collaborated as an illustrator. Ms. Rockwell has illustrated over 20 children’s books. One notable author is Maya Angelou for whom she illustrated “Angelina of Italy.” Her work can also be seen in magazines, games and other children’s products. You may visit her website to find out more about her, to obtain a listing of her books and to play a fun game. www.lizzyrockwell.com (Posted 6/3/09)
This learning experience started with a trip to Teatown Lake Preservation in Ossining. Each class received about 7 eggs from Tea Town. The eggs were put into incubators and the children waited patiently for the eggs to hatch. As they waited, they candled the eggs to see if they could see a baby chick developing. On May 19th, the chicks from Mrs. Salazar and Mrs. Rivera’s class began to hatch. On May 21st, chicks began to hatch in Mrs. Buckley’s class. The children were very excited to see their new found feathered friends. The children have been taking care of the chicks by providing a home, food, water and warmth for our fine feathered friends. As of this posting, we have 9 chicks and wonder how many we will have in total! Click here to view a video clip of the hatching (3MB WMV movie) Trip Around the World 2009 The children entered the John Paulding International Airport on the morning of Friday April 24, 2009 and immediately proceeded to security check points. Luggage was quickly tagged and x-rayed. The children then received their passports and were ready for take off to six glorious countries. Thanks to new and innovative technologies, JP’s new control tower easily coordinated the numerous flights taking off that morning. The children visited Korea, where they learned Tae Kwon Do and other traditional Korean games. On their visit to India they engaged in Bollywood dancing. Lively meringue dancing was enjoyed in the Dominican Republic. Germany featured a day in the life of a German first grader and Arnis marital arts was showcased in the Philippines. Finally in Italy the children learned their names in Italian and danced the tarantella. In addition the children were able to view beautiful exhibits with artifacts from each country. During a short stop- over the children were escorted to the JP International Café, where they sampled delicious delicacies from the countries they had visited. The great success of the program was made possible through the help of co-chairperson Angel Rafter, our dedicated parents, faculty, secretaries, and custodial staff, all under the guidance of our principal Mrs. Mercado-Belvin. (Posted 5/3/09)
There was truly an excitement in the air as the students eagerly opened their mailboxes in hopes of receiving their expected mail. The official school mailbox located by the main office was where all the letters went into. Each class was designated a time to be the central post office. Students collected, stamped and delivered the school mail. The students seemed to enjoy learning how to use the central postal system. It was a great pleasure to see our first graders get hand written letters written to them from classmates and teachers in this age of instant messaging and emailing. (Posted 4/11/09) John Paulding Celebrates Read Across America
This year’s event was celebrated at John Paulding School on March 3rd by a reading of Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax” given by Mrs. Daley, one of our first grade teachers. The children waved their popsicle stick puppets in the air as they heard their characters mentioned throughout the reading. The all-purpose-room was transformed into Smogulous Smog (Ms. Fonseca’s class), Truffala Trees (Mrs. Buckley’s class), Shloppity Shlop (Ms. Salazar’s’s class), Thneeds (Mrs. Groven’s ), Brown Barbaloots, (Mrs. Knudsen’s), Swamee-Swams (Mrs. Daley’s class), Humming Fish (Mrs. Chulla’s class), Gluppity Glup (Ms. Rivera’s and Mrs. Ferrari’s classes) and the Lorax (Mrs. Meehan’s class). “The Lorax” provides a very timely message of how we must take very good care of our fragile planet. We at John Paulding School have gone green and the children were asked how we could translate Dr. Seuss’ message into a green tip of the week. The response was “save a tree!” Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel) would have been proud. When he set out to write “The Cat in the Hat”, he wanted to write a story that used simple mostly monosyllabic words that readers could readily comprehend. His use of the patterned, rhyming text has become the foundation for many texts for young readers. Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating successful, lifelong readers. Read Across America is the biggest one-day literacy celebration in the United States. There are now reading events in all 50 states. Dr. Seuss epitomized a love of children and learning. When we celebrate Dr. Seuss and reading, we send a clear message to America’s children that reading is fun and important. (Posted 3/5/09)
Jump Rope For Heart
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During
the month of April, our 1st graders have had the experience
of learning about the life cycle of a chicken. The life cycle of a
chicken egg takes approximately 21 days to hatch. 
On
March 3rd, the WEE Deliver program began at John Paulding.
Our goal for the WEE Deliver program was to teach the children the
components of a letter and how to address an envelope. As part of the
letter-writing unit, students learn to write a few sentences about
themselves in the letter and then ask the person to whom they are
writing some questions. Each student wrote a total of five letters
within the duration of the program: one letter to a friend in their
class, one letter to a buddy class, one letter to an adult and two
responses. Each class and all the adults in the school building had a
mailbox outside their room to which their mail was delivered. 
Started
in 1997 as a way to get kids excited about reading, NEA’s Read Across
America has become the nation’s largest reading event. The year-round
program culminates each year on or near Dr. Seuss’s birthday, March 2nd.
The Twelfth Annual Read Across America Day, sponsored by the National
Education Association, is an annual reading motivation program that
calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on Dr.
Seuss’ birthday. More than 45 million readers were in the company of a
good book on that day. Across the country, thousands of schools,
libraries, and community centers participated by bringing together kids
and books, and we did too!
John
Paulding School’s first graders spent the early winter months working on
autobiographical watercolor paintings. Each student was asked to
develop a watercolor likeness that reveals something about the artist’s
life. The paintings are the result of a many step process which
included: drawing a pencil self-portrait through direct
observation/gazing into a mirror, developing a two-dimensional
composition, creating a narrative background, mixing all colors
including personal skin tones, and layering paint in order to represent
texture/light/shadow. The students depicted favorite activities,
significant memories, and familiar surroundings. All of the children
were asked to develop their compositions so that spatial problems would
be solved in a visually appealing manner—it is obvious that the children
used an entire two-dimensional surface to make their painted
statements. The lesson, in synch with the John Paulding core
curriculum, was a consideration of all that makes each of us unique.
Early in the year, the students wrote about their own lives. This
project, an important theme in the world of visual art, was an
exploration of the same concerns that compel a writer to write and
express himself/herself. The children learned that hard work pays off.
Working and reworking or fixing pictorial problems, the children
realized that great work takes time to create. The children are proud
of their accomplishments. Click | Copyright © Union Free School District of the Tarrytowns, 2008. All Rights Reserved. | ||||||||
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