March 2004 Newsletter Articles
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Fourth Grade – February 11, 2004

(Submitted by Mrs. Slattery) 

   Phew! We’re glad it’s over! The fourth graders have worked extremely hard to meet the challenge of the Fourth Grade ELA State Test.  We even put in extra time after school with our volunteer tutors and we would like to thank them for generously giving us their valuable time.  We really appreciate all of your help.

   After a short break, we are now in the process of starting to prepare for the Fourth Grade Math State Test, which will be given during the first week of May.

   Science has been interesting for us because we’ve learned about electricity and magnetism.  One night our homework was to try to gather static electricity by rubbing our feet over a carpet and to try to shock an unsuspecting parent or sibling.  Many students successfully completed the assignment.

   Another Science topic we learned about was work and energy.  We know what makes things move, how work and energy are related and how machines use energy to do work.

   We love our new Social Studies book and have learned a great deal about the landforms of New York, how to use an elevation map, New York’s wildlife, weather and climate.  Soon we will learn about the lives of Native Americans and Europeans in New York.

   We have been very busy and will continue to work hard so that we can be successful in all of our fourth grade challenges that lie ahead.

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Technology Education Newsletter

(Submitted by Mr. Burnett) 



   Sixth Grade Technology:  This year we have focused on Introduction to Woodworking.  We started the year by learning and applying the rules of the “ruler” to technology and why measuring is important for the Technology process to take place.  We are very excited to be working with tools and learning many valuable skills about woodworking technologies.

   Eighth Grade Technology:  8^th grade Technology students are very busy and excited to start the building process of their personal projects.  Their personal projects were designed, planned, and estimated by using a Plan of Procedure, which will guide them during the building process of the project.  I am very proud of the 8^th grade Technology students.

   Residential Systems:  The students in Residential Systems have learned many different skills involved in the Construction Process of a structure.  Students have learned how to frame, layout, construct, and assemble many parts of a building.  The residential systems class is excited about the construction of a 6’x8’ storage shed which will be raffled off during the spring to the public. 

   Introduction to Occupations:  I am very proud of all of the Introduction to Occupations students for passing their Regents exam in January.  Congratulations!  The class is now learning about life skills, social skills, and how all of these attributes are part of one’s life.

   Manufacturing Systems:  The manufacturing systems class consists of researching, identifying, designing, building prototypes, and mass production of a specific project.  This year the class decided to mass-produce Camp Chairs.  The students have learned many real-life skills such as effective planning, selling, and designing.  I am impressed with all of these students for the hard work they have applied to this project.

   High School Woods:  The high school Woods class has consisted of applying previous learned skills with new ones to build many amazing wood working projects.  The students are very talented in the Woods class.  Each student has designed, estimated building material, and prepared a Plan of Procedure for a project they will be continuously working on.

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Spanish

 Brother, can you spare a quarter?

   (Submitted by Ms. Swan & Elicia Proietti)  On Tuesday, February 11, 2004 Ms. Swan’s Spanish 3 class held a bake sale to raise funds to help feed poor children in Nicaragua.  The class raised $100.00 for the Children Feeding Children program sponsored by the Plattsburgh-based humanitarian organization, Mission of Hope.  Every twenty-five cent donation to Children Feeding Children buys lunch for a Nicaraguan child.  For many youngsters in this small Central American country, it may be the healthiest, and possibly the only, meal of the day.

   Thanks to the Spanish 3 students and other CPCS students and staff, our support will provide 400 free lunches to hungry kids.  The funds were hand-delivered in Nicaragua by neighboring Westport students who are among the 30 North Country high school students who spent their February break in Nicaragua with Mission of Hope.

   Hopefully, CPCS students will be represented, in person as well as in spirit, on similar future dele-gations.
 

Fly-Way Across the Americas Project

   (Submitted by Ms. Swan)  Thanks to a $500.00 grant from the Consortium for Excellence in Education through Partnerships and the Foundation for Excellent Schools, the Fly-Way Across the Americas Project is taking flight in Ms. Swan’s ninth-grade Spanish class.  Designed by Crown Point’s Charles Harrington and Martha Swan, in concert with Fly-Way partners from Paul Smith’s College and the School of Environmental Science and Forestry, this unique project links the study of Spanish and the natural sciences in high school with college and career choices in the fields of biology, recreation, adventure travel, and eco-tourism.

   CPSC students have already received e-mail reports from a Paul Smith’s group exploring Costa Rica’s world-renowned national parks, bird fly-ways, and exo-tourism industry.  In addition, a Paul Smith’s exchange student from Costa Rica visited Crown Point students in February and talked about Costa Rica’s famed tropical rainforest and active volcanoes.

   As our winged and feathered friends begin returning to the fly-ways on Lake Champlain and their nesting grounds in the Adirondacks, CPCS students will research species of their choice and record their observations of returning birds and butterflies.  They will also visit Paul Smith’s College, participate in bird counts at ESF’s field station in Newcomb and at the Crown Point Fort, and share their findings with the school community – all while learning and communicating Spanish

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Newsletter From the 2^nd Grade

(Submitted by Mrs. Gabler)

   The 2^nd Graders are having a sensational year.  They have just finished writing reports.  Topics ranged from freshwater to Siberian tigers.  To better understand the books we are reading, we are practicing good reader strategies.  A favorite strategy is “activating schema”.  When we activate schema, we make connections between what we are reading and our own lives.  In Math, the 2^nd graders have been busy collecting data, examining arrays and adding two digit numbers.  One of our favorite times of the day is our Morning Meeting.  We enjoy gathering together with the first and third graders to learn more about interesting science and social studies topics.  Presidents, Dr. Seuss and the Solar System will be our next topics to study.

 

The Fifth Grade Classroom

(Submitted by Mr. Andersen) 

   Recently in our fifth grade classroom, we completed a poetry genre study.  In this unit, students looked at different styles of poetry, such as acrostic, rhyming and cinquain poems.  Students found a favorite poem, identified the style and read it to the class.  We then worked on writing poems using the various styles.  As an end of the unit project, students worked in groups on a poetry calendar assignment.  Each group was assigned two months of the year.  Their job was to write a poem that represented a specific month, and do a drawing that would accompany the poem.  When all poems were completed, they were put together and sent to BOCES to be made into calendars.  Each student received a calendar to bring home or to give to a parent as a present.  Students really enjoyed this activity, learning a lot about working in groups and strategies that make group work successful.  The students responded very well to this cooperative learning activity.  This activity addressed standards E3b – (the student participates in group activities), and E5a – (the student responds to non-fiction, fiction, poetry and drama using interpretive, critical and evaluative processes).

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Welcome to the Sixth Grade

(Submitted by Mrs. Huntington)

    Welcome to the sixth grade!  We are happy to tell you a little bit about what life is like for us during a school day. We have a six-day schedule that includes our academic subjects, but also Physical Education with Mr. Spaulding, Art with Mr. Kordziel, Computer with Mrs. Harrington, and Family Consumer Science with Mrs. Mace/Mrs. Pockett.  Mrs. French teaches music and gives lessons to our sixth grade string players.  Three of them participated in All County and four will play for the judges at the upcoming NYSMA meeting.  Technology is new to our sixth graders, but thanks to Mr. Burnett, the students have taken to it like a fish to water.  They have made a clock, a keepsake box, hall passes, and a variety of other items.  Four of our sixth grade students are managers for Crown Point’s basketball teams.  Ten sixth graders participate in the Youth Commission’s Basketball program.

   Our English/Language Arts time finds us working in three separate groups.  Some of us are involved in Cross Age Tutoring and writing a mystery.  Others are making daily entries in our reading journals and source books and writing responses to literature.  Some of us are writing persuasive and literary letters.  We are all reading and marking text, and give book talks on the books we read.  Some of us are involved in author and/or genre studies.

   In Math, we are split into two groups.  Some of us are working on Lattice multiplication, division, fractions and their simplest form and multiplication.  Others are learning about algebra, decimals, exponential notations, and prime factorizations.

   We recently finished a unit on Mars, but liked it so much, that we voted to continue exploring space during our science time.  We also learned about biomes and set up an experiment involving fresh and salt water biomes and their affect on elodea plants.  We visited a wetland at Shelburne Farms in September.

   The rise of civilization was our introduction to Social Studies this year.  We have learned about the Ice Age, Stone Age, Ancient Mesopotamia, a polytheistic society, and the birth of Judaism, the first monotheistic society.  We like Science better than Social Studies.

   Once a month, we have lunch bunch in our classroom to reward good behavior in the cafeteria.  Every time we read five books, we get a certificate worth $5.00 to spend on a book club order.  We won the Elementary Naked Turkey contest before Thanksgiving, and were rewarded with a pizza party.  We have to play a question and answer game called

Boticelli (some of us call it Bowl of Chili), spelling Jeopardy, and some of us have a Friday Game Day.  We ran a Mile-for-Myra, made coasters as Christmasgifts, and are planning to see five short story plays at the Egg in Albany on February 25, 2004.

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English 12

(Submitted by Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Mace)

    The seniors in English 12 have had an interesting and busy first semester.  Mrs. Mace’s class has read the Sweet Hereafter, written by area author Russell Banks.  The students were able to visit the Robert Frost cabin in Ripton, Vermont that was followed by a unit of Robert Frost poetry.  They now are involved in developing a project with the theme of “Let’s Celebrate Crown Point”. 

   The first semester of Senior Seminar was taught by Mrs. Johnson and consisted of college visits and college applications being completed and mailed.  Acceptance letters have started to arrive and the student’s excitement is showing.  Both parents and students are now in the process of filing out financial aid forms.  Ultimately, final decisions will be made on where they will be attending school next fall.  Upcoming for them are sections concentrating on employment, financial, and consumer skills they will need to survive after graduation.  A Senior Survivor Day is also scheduled with other area schools for April 7 in Willsboro.  Topics to be covered range from housekeeping skills to legal issues, all of which are designed to help them prepare for the next steps in their lives.

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Barb Stowell, Teacher’s Aide

(Submitted by Mrs. Stowell)

   My experience this year has been very fulfilling and rewarding.  I work in the Library/Study Hall.  I read to the Elementary students.  The teachers have me read certain books that go with the topic of the month that they are studying about.  Then we have a discussion about the book.  Everyone gets involved, which makes it exciting.  I also sign out books to the students.  I help the students with reference material and computer information.

   High School:  I have Library/Study Hall.  They have computers in the room, which is a challenge for me, as I am learning about computers along with the students.

   There are periods where teachers send students to either sign out books or to use the computers.  I try to be available for the students, and to help the teachers when they need to use the computers for classes.

   I have enjoyed working in the Library/Study Hall this year.  I feel I have been helping the students and teachers a lot more.  I have been learning many new things. I feel I’m contributing to the students and helping the teachers as well. 

Many Kinds of Mentoring

    Mentoring is powerful “stuff”!  Thanks to our three-year affiliation with Foundations For Excellent School, (FES), Crown Point has initiated several types of mentor programs.  These include college mentors, faculty mentors and peer mentors.

   Once a week about 20 Middlebury College students come for one-on-one meetings with high school students.  Sometimes the college students tutor, sometimes they just talk about different things.  Several of our CPCS students have been fortunate to have the same college student for three years.  These students have developed real friendships that have made a huge impact on our students’ lives.

   This year many CPCS high school faculty have taken on a mentor role with 8^th and 9^th graders.  At least monthly, these teachers meet with a small group of students just to check in and to help keep track of the students lives academically and personally.  Students are looking forward to their special time with these teachers and this year we have seen a large drop in the number of ninth graders appearing on the eligibility list.  We believe this new program has a lot to do with that!

   We are continuing the Senior Buddy program where seniors meet with a kindergartner.  The sixth grade and ninth-grade Literacy Ramp Up classes also meet regularly with lower elementary classes to assist with projects and reading strategies.  Several CPCS students also work one on one with younger students in the capacity of a “big brother or big sister” as well as a tutor.

   We believe mentoring programs are a win-win situation for everyone involved.  The spirit of sharing and caring is alive and well at Crown Point Central School and we are all reaping the many benefits.

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Math Regents

(Submitted by Mrs. Pereau) 

The seventeen members of Mrs. Pereau’s Math A/B class took the Math A regents on January 26, 2003.  All seventeen students received local diploma graduation credit for math with their test grades.  Fifteen of these students received regents graduation credit.  Congratulations to these students for their hard work and dedication!

 

Occupational Therapy

(Submitted by Ms. Baker) 

   Crown Point Central School District will be adopting the Zaner Blosner printing program verses the D’Nealian style print for September 2004. 

   Our surrounding districts use the Zaner Blosner print program.  The Zaner Blosner print is modeled in America’s Choice reading, writing and phonics program.

   This change is helpful for all of the students who change districts throughout the school year, for the staff teaching handwriting at BOCES and for the preschools and daycares in the area who may have children from different districts.

   In the past, some teachers have had to find out where a student is going to school in order to teach them how to write their name.  This change will provide our students with more consistency for penmanship regardless of where they attend school.

Speech and Language in Kindergarten

(Submitted by Ms. LaDeau) 

   The Kindergarten class has weekly Oral Motor Exercises that usually correspond with the letter/sound of the week and any sounds they may have difficulty saying.  We rhyme, play guessing games, (for vocabulary development); we segment and blend words and practice production of sounds in different words.  We have a great time and always come up with great ways to remember the letter/sound of the week.  For “P” week, we popped popcorn and listened to the sound it made when it popped, “PPPPP…”. 

   We always begin by practicing sounds in fun ways, by putting out a fire with “sh”, riding a train with “ch”, growling like dogs for “r”, etc.  We are carrying over what we learn in this group into our Writer’s Workshop. 

High School Special Education

(Submitted by Mr. Wayman) 

   High School Special Education continues striving to improve the educational skills of the Special Education Students enrolled at Crown Point Central School.  The Special Education Department has diverse Consultant Teaching duties in a variety of subject areas, including but not limited to English and Math.  In the high school there are also Resource Room Programs.  These programs are designed to give the students further needed attention to their individual special instructional needs.  These programs enable them to better grasp the skills needed to be successful in their efforts toward their High School Graduation.

In Mr. Thelen’s Class

(Submitted by Mr. Thelen)

 Things are going well as we gear up for Regents exams.  The Sophomores are completing a large six-week project.  The Seniors all passed their Government class and are now taking Economics.  A reminder to parents and guardians:  Mr. Thelen sends grade sheet reports home every two weeks.  These sheets need to be signed and returned for a grade.

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