We have come to the end of

another school year! June is

a time to reflect, reminisce,

and celebrate the children’s

accomplishments. It was a

wonderful year filled with

many special moments and

it has been amazing to

watch the students grow

and learn. I would like to

take a moment to express

my sincere appreciation to

the faculty, staff, students,

and families of ACS Athens

Elementary School for all

their efforts this year.

Through participation in a

vast array of classroom

academic activities and

noteworthy projects, it is

obvious that our students

have gained awareness and

knowledge. I am certain

that you, the parents, have

also observed the changes

and growth of our student

body that we have noticed. It

is often said that one year’s

achievements is a milestone for

our young learners.

As you will note on the

Activities Agenda on our

website, School Year 2015-

2016 will commence on

September 3 for grades 2 –12.

The first day of school for our

first grade students is based

on their surnames. Students

whose last name begins with

the letters A—M will begin

school on September 3, while

those whose surnames begin

with the letters N—Z will start

school on September 4. Our

Early Childhood Program will

begin on September 10.

School supply lists have been

posted on the school website

www.acs.gr under School

Supplies in the Elementary

school section. Classroom

teachers have distributed Math

Packets for all grades. A

Summer Reading List has

also been recommended and

can be found on the website in

the Elementary school section.

I would like to take the

opportunity to express my sincere

gratitude to you all, for the

ongoing support and

assistance that you offered

us during the year. On

behalf of our faculty and

staff, thank you for the many

hours you have spent in our

school community. You have

helped during shows, field

trips and class activites. For

these, and a million other

things, we are truly grateful.

Our school is unique because

of this significant partnership

which strengthens our

programs and helps our

students develop positive

attitudes towards school and

learning. Your enthusiastic

involvement and support

made your child’s experience

even more essential.

In conclusion, I would like to

wish our fifth graders the

best of luck in Middle School.

We will all miss their energy,

spirit, and leadership. To

those of you leaving the ACS

Athens community to move

to new places, we wish you

all success and happiness in

your venture, you will be

missed.

The summer is an amazing

time for you to share unique

Message from the Principal

Volume 4, Issue 3

June 2015

ACS ATHENS

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

THE MUSE

Zoological Park was a great success, as the children had a wonderful time seeing many of the animals that we have been discussing at school. They truly enjoyed the guided tour, where they had the opportunity to feed the giraffes and pet a snake, porcupine, and giant tortoise! A big thank you to all the parents who helped chaperone our field trip. You helped make it a safe and pleasant experience for all the children.

Your child has been involved in various projects throughout the

Junior Kindergarten News

June has arrived and that means that the end of the school year is near. Our classes have grown so much in so many ways this year!

The children investigated themes under our last unit on “Land and Sea Animals”. They explored various animals and learned about their habitats. Using games, songs, and stories they

found out about sea life, from coral to sharks, as well as farm and zoo animals. Look forward to your child sharing their art projects with you! Be sure to ask them about the different animals and about their characteristics.

Our field trip to Attica

learning opportunities as a

family. Enjoy the extended

summer vacation with your

family and friends. We will

meet again in September full

of energy and passion for yet

another exciting academic

year.

Congratulations to every

child in the Elementary

School on a great year of

learning! It has been an

honor to be the principal of

ACS Athens Elementary School

again this year.

Message from the Principal cocontinued..

I wish everyone a

restful, relaxing, and

enjoyable summer

break!!

Most sincerely,

Cathy Makropoulos,

Elementary School

Principal

year such as their Writing Journals, Self-Portrait Books, and Fine Motor Skills Journals. Please read and discuss the work your child brings home to share with you, and help to encourage continued exploration and “learning curiosity” during the summer months.

We are very proud of all of you and everything you have accomplished this year! Have a wonderful summer!

Sincerely,

Ms. Angela and Ms. Korinna

Kindergarten News

own when writing. The

Kindergarteners love to read

their writing back to us

explaining their stories in

detail.

Kindergarteners continue to

build on their addition skills.

They have also been

introduced to the concept of

subtraction by using our

various manipulatives. Each

student is keeping a Math

Journal in which we discuss,

illustrate, solve, and record

addition and subtraction word

problems.

We visited the Naval Training

Base as a kick-off activity for

our Community Helpers

unit. We were given a special

tour by Naval Officer

M a n i o u d a k i s , o u r

kindergarten parent. On our

tour, we learned so much

about the equipment found on

board the ship and the

different parts of the vessel.

T h a n k y o u O f f i c e r

Manioudakis!

We explored d i f fe rent

community helpers and what

it means to live in a

neighborhood. After reading

The third trimester in

Kindergarten has been a

quick and exciting one. The

students have grown so

much and have become...

first graders! After complet-

ing the alphabet the Kinder-

garteners met their vowel

pals: Mox the Fox, Tin Man,

Peg the Hen, Zac the Rat,

and most recently Gus the

Duck. This long list of new

friends took us on an adven-

ture through our Reading

and Writing Workbooks.

They taught us how to iden-

tify vowel sounds in the mid-

dle position, blend new

words, answer written ques-

tions, write stories and

helped us with our rhyming!

The children read all about

their vowel pals and their

adventures in their new

decodable books.

We have really progressed

beautifully as writers! The

students are now filling in

their writing folders with

stories full of imagination

and excitement. They

continue to use finger

spacers, capital letters and

even punctuation on their

many related books and

h a v i n g a m p l e g r o u p

discussions, the children

wrote about what they dream

they will become one day and

they explored why this is their

dream.

Kindergartners have much to

be proud of as we definitely

are very proud of them!

Ms. Anna & Ms. Eleftheria

basis with your children to teachers gathered at the ECIS conference in Zurich. Captain has built some fabulous bonds and has continued to grow into the wonderful dog that he is thanks to all of your commitment and love for him. I know that the children have missed him since his surgery to further remove his half leg, but Captain's recovery has been remarkable and he was

happy to be a part of our last day of school! Thank you! R e me mb e r t o Th i n k

Pawsitive!

Next year will be another big step for your children. You can do much this summer to make next year a productive and successful learning experience too. Be positive about your child’s placement. Encourage your child to accept responsibility for his learning. Help your child to make decisions and accept

Proud to be First Graders! This has been a productive and rewarding year for all of us in First Grade. We, as teachers, have enjoyed our contribution to your chi ld ’s school experiences. The children’s eagerness and willingness to learn is a reflection of the growth that First Graders have made not only academically but socially, as well. We have applauded the diversity of personalities and interests in

this group. Our reward as teachers has been to see the tremendous growth that your children have made in the past year. Their willingness to read, to write, to add, subtract, to ca l cu la te , d i scove r , t o investigate, to participate, to paint, to sing, to create, to contemplate and to resolve have been but a few of the experiences shared by all of us in First Grade.

We feel that the children’s caring, responsibility and self esteem have blossomed and this could not have happened without your support and guidance as parents. We, as teachers, could not have reached our goal of building self esteem in each child and nurturing in them a true love of learning without your support in so many ways. It almost goes without saying that this year has been another fabulous year with Captain Chip. In this third year with us at ACS Athens he has inspired the most readers to date into the Captain Chip Hall of Fame, he had a wonderful time traveling and presenting all the great things he does on a daily

1st Grade News

results of those decisions. Give your child the gift of organization and strategies to develop it. Share times that are creative, spend a lot of time reading together, encourage inquiry and celebrate independence.

We are very proud of the progress your children have made. We will enjoy watching them reach for challenges in the future. We believe that is what school and life are

about. We hope that your c h i l d ’ s F i r s t G r a d e experiences have added the necessary tools for coping with future challenges. Our best to all of you and enjoy the summer. To those returning to our school community, “See you in the Fall.” For those moving to other schools, “Best wishes to you and don’t forget to drop us a line.” Most sincerely, Ms. Birbil and Ms. Lamprou

Second graders have explored their bodies and learned to be healthy throughout our Health & Nutrition Unit while discovering the Five Food Groups. They have learned to create a balanced meal and understand that eating foods of all kinds in moderation is necessary to keep a healthy body & mind. Our health unit has opened the doors for students to search through an array of non-fiction books d u r i n g t h e i r r e a d i n g

time. Students have been en-couraged to read all about food, where foods grow and much more.

Due to their vast readings, students have been able to reflect on their findings and incorporate Persuasive & Opinion Wri t ings when completing journals about why each food group is important. The use of adjectives, word choice, conventions, complete sentences etc. have continued to be encouraged throughout these writing lessons. Included in this past trimester’s reading unit was the study of poetry. Second grade’s biggest author study was Dr. Seuss;

which parents and other classrooms were invited to our Exhibition of Learning to witness our very own creations of poems, books, posters and more. Students found a new love of rhyming due to the amusing and comical short poems and stories rhyming sets up for them. Students came up with incredibly unique poems of their own playing with rhymes and had created a poetry museum based on

Dr. Seuss’ influence. Poetry has given students the opportunity to learn about writing in a fun way where rhythm and short verses provide readers with enough descriptive text but can still be a pleasurable experience through rhyming! In math, second graders have

2nd Grade News

been vigorously working on perfecting 3-4 digit men-tal math skills and will soon be exposed to a world of shapes and sizes through their Geometry lessons. Their experiences revolve around creating equal shape-parts and even connecting different shapes to make new ones. In addition to this, students will have the opportunity to see how groups of numbers, or shapes, can be added

together to make new groups! This will allow students to dabble with the concept of multiplication, allowing them to understand the basic idea of pairing objects or numbers into groups. Ms. Moros, Ms. Safaris, and Ms. Spiliot

3rd Grade News

The third trimester has been a

very active and stimulating time

for the Third Grade! In math,

both classes have participated

in units covering geometry,

fractions, area and perimeter.

In addition, we continued to

practice solving and creating

multi-step word problems. One

of our exciting fractions lessons

involved sorting M & Ms by

color and figuring out what

fraction each color represented.

Students then needed to graph

their results.

This trimester, many of our

students have reached or closed

in on reaching their Strive for

25 goal of reading 25 books and

creating 25 book reports over

the course of the year. We have

continued to read both fiction

and non-fiction pieces and we

had a unit on poetry. Every

child chose their favorite poem

to read to their parents at

Student Led Conferences.

In writing,

s t u d e n t s

studied the

elements of

f a i r y

tales and

all created

their own

exciting fairy tale from scratch.

In addition, we have learned the

steps involved with writing an

effective persuasive essay while

continuing to practice our

writing mechanics and the

writing process.

In Science, the 3rd Grade has

learned about the amazing

human body. Zooming in on

bones, joints, and muscles, our

students have a better

understanding of how our

body operates. Students

partook in many exciting

experiments, including

dissecting owl pellets to

analyze bones found and

performing tasks with their

thumbs immobilized to

understand how vital the

thumb is to performing

everyday tasks.

As a culminating activity for

the science units this year,

the students visited the

Eugenides Foundation

Interactive Science Center

on Sygrou Avenue. There,

they were able to explore

o v e r 6 0 d i f f e r e n t

experiments on three

separate floors. The third

grade was amazed to

discover the various ways

that we can apply sound in

communication in our daily

lives.

They were also curious to

uncover the way that

human genetics work!

In Social Studies, we learned about peaceful ways to improve our community such as protests, boycotts, an d d e mo n s t r a t i on s . Students learned about influential people in American history that made change through these means. In addition, we studied the basics of economics. Students participated in an activity that showed the basics of supply and demand, selling goods when the supply was high and low. Our final unit was on China, which covered concepts such as the terracotta army, the Great Wal l , Chinese inventions, and Mao Zedong. We finished off the year with a China Day full of food, artifacts, and games.

It has been a fantastic year

with our students and we

wish them the best of luck

in 4th Grade and in all their

future endeavors.

Wishing you a wonderful

summer!

Ms. Stavi, Mr. Maloff, Ms.

Nicole, and Ms. Emily

4th Grade News

The last part of the trimester found the 4th graders learning by doing! In the Science Unit of Electricity and Magnetism, students learned about making complete circuits. Students were fascinated with this unit as they made motors run and lit up light bulbs.

In the Modern Olympics Unit, s t u d e n t s h a v e b e e n r e s e a r c h i n g , m a k i n g PowerPoints, reading, and writing. One of the highlights of the unit is our field trip to the Kalimarmaro Stadium. We played games and competed in Olympic sporting events.

Student Led conferences were a great success! Students were able to demonstrate their 4th grade knowledge and tried to knock their parents’ socks off!!!

During this last month, the 4th graders reinforced their writing skills in a poetry unit and their reading skills as they created a “Bloom’s Ball” based on the critical thinking of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Ms. Vagras, Ms. Mukri, and Ms. Killam loved teaching all of your children and getting to know you this year. We wish you a relaxing, adventurous, and memorable summer vacation. We recommend your children read a least 3 books at their current reading level or above during the summer. Students should continue to practice in all academic areas over the summer for best results in 5th grade. Also, we suggest some websites to reinforce all of the skills that were taught this year.

Language Arts:

James Patterson’s Read Kiddo Read

http://readkiddoread.com

This site is the brainchild of author, James Patterson. His goal is to help parents and educators connect children with books that will turn them into lifelong readers. The site is colorful, easy to navigate, the titles are hand-picked by qualified

professional, and there are links to websites for these people as well.

Grammar Gorillas - http://w w w . f u n b r a i n . c o m /grammar/

Spelling - Online Spelling Program

www.spellingcity.com

Online Spelling Program

offers over 38,000 spelling words and eight spelling games, k-12 spelling lists are offered. One can select lists by age, sounds, Dolch lists, topics, and more. You can customize your own word lists and create games and puzzles.

Woodlands Junior School for Literacy

http://resources.woodlands-

junior.kent.sch.uk/literacy/index.htm

Topmarks for Grammar

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/punctuation

Math:

World of Math Online

http://math.com

World of Math Online by Leap of Faith Financial Services, Inc.: dedicated to providing a variety of ways for students, parents, teachers to learn math. Included are assessments, o n - d e m a n d m o d u l a r courses, 24/7 live online tutoring, lesson plans, links

to worksheets, drill & practice opportunities, expert answers to math questions, and more.

Education Place http://eduplace.com/kids/mhm

Educa t i on P l ace by Houghton Mifflin: a good site to practice ITBS test-taking skills for math. Other nice offerings are strategies and immediate feedback. Plus, it’s fun!

FunBrain

http://www.funbrain.com/numbers.html

Woodlands Junior School for Math

http://resources.woodlands-

junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/fractions/

Topmarks for Math

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/7-11-years/fractions-and-decimals

students researched and collected data on a theme related to Ancient Greece and prepared skits to present their information in an entirely student-created living museum of the Ancient Agora! This exciting event took place in the courtyard outside the theater atrium on the afternoon of June11th, which was filled with stalls and students clad in white ancient style robes. P a r e n t s m e t t r a d e r s , philosophers, warriors, festival goers, and more. As sixth grade approached

during the final trimester, we had several activities planned to help prepare our students. The first step was a meeting with the counselors to pick courses. Then a panel of 6th graders visited each class, shared their insights on life in Middle School, and answered our questions. Finally, our students

plans along with activities

and more games. There is a place on each page to adopt an animal. There is a separate info section on the World Wide Wolf efforts with information

For the past 10 years, 5th graders have cleaned the beach at Aghios Nicholas in Anavissos each spring! We had a beautiful day at the seaside, and, after cleaning the same beach for so long, we can really see that we are having a substantial impact. The purpose of this activity is to teach our students civic responsibility and a care for the environment. Fifth grade also visited the Ancient Agora and Museum in Monastiraki, where we were privi leged to have two

distinguished archaeologists who work at the American School of Archaeology, Mr. and Mrs. Daly (Maggie’s parents) as our guides. They helped us s t a r t t o t h i n k l i k e archaeologists and draw conclusions from the evidence we could see. The information they shared with us was so

and curriculum for teachers to create a unit. This is an excellent site.

Enjoy!

Ms. Vagras, Ms. Mukri and Ms. Killam

interesting. It was exciting to see the information and artifacts we had read about in our text book actually before our very eyes! Students finished their history studies with discussions and research about Ancient Greece. Students learned about the ancient civilizations of Crete, Mycenae, Athens and Sparta. One highlight was writing persuasive essays to convince their readers that either Sparta or Athens was the better place to live!

To supplement this theme, 5th graders read D’Aulaires Greek Mythology. This collection of myths vividly portrays the 12 Olympian Gods. Students learned to analyze the stories and collect traits of each god to create their own collection of trading cards. Finally,

4th Grade News continued..

Animals/Wildlife

National Geographic for Kids Online

*Defenders of Wildlife – Kid’s Planet

www.kidsplanet.org

D e f e n d e r s o f W i l d l i f e , Washington DC: This is an award winning site and one of the “great sites for kids”! Features: description of endangered species and also lists species by continent,

thorough fact sheet on each animal, some animals have photographs and a video clip, great games, stories, excellent teacher’s resource with lesson

5th Grade News

News from the Art Room

Greetings from the Art room!

What an exciting year! We wrapped up many interesting projects in a variety of media. Some highlights include:

Kindergarteners explored with a lot of collage projects including some warm color fish displayed in the cafeteria and pop-out paper collage artworks exploring space and line. Our first graders created flower part collages inspired by their plant science unit. Then we worked on clay vases in tandem with their unit on Ancient Greece.

Second graders made very dynamic, giant, mixed-media fruit and vegetables which hung from the stage ceiling for their Hansel and Gretel Eat Right performance. Our final project related to the sea and summer with wax resist sailboats and cool color seas. Third graders completed beautiful Fauvism portraits and created a school weaving installation using recycled materials on the back railing. Our fourth grade students collaged intricate fabric shapes inspired by images of Turkish rugs. We, then, used pattern and shape to create a series of

We then used pattern and shape to create a series of fans (along with 3rd and 5th grades) to create a school-wide overlapping paper in-stallation. Fifth graders completed their canopic jars with animal heads successfully! We then used art time to plan and create props for the Ancient Agora. We had a wonderful year in the Art room. Enjoy your summer vacation! Don’t forget, third - fifth graders, you have some blank pages in your sketchbooks -- a perfect travel activity! Ms. Karla Stauffer

Optimal Learning News

Became Middle Schoolers for the morning, were given a tour around their new environment, met their future teachers, learned to open a locker and were treated to lunch in the cafeteria. Our students were very excited about this new, important step of growth in their lives. Our culminating event was when we celebrated our 5th grade students’ “graduation” ceremony on June 16th. Parents attended the awards ceremony to honor our students and we all enjoyed a delightful buffet prepared by the organizing committee of parents. We would like to thank all of you who helped make this such a special event for our wonderful students. Ms. Coklas, Ms. Kynigou and Ms. Maratou

Some updates from the OL

room: The MAP testing process

ran very smoothly and I was

pleased by our students’

determination and focus.

The 10th Annual Conference on

Learning Differences was a

success and we’ve received

many positive comments.

The 3rd (and last) Trimester

Progress Report comments

were emailed to parents in mid

-May.

As we wrap-up the year and

start planning our summer

vacations, I would like to

congratulate all students

enrolled in the Elementary

Optimal Learning program.

I believe each and every

student has made substantial

progress, and has persevered

even when tasks were

considerably difficult. It

is such a privilege to know

and work alongside your

children. I am proud of all

of them and I wish them a

fun-filled summer replete

with excitement and

adventure.

Sarah Kaldelli

5th Grade News continued

News from the Music Room

A teacher’s satisfaction is the success and progress of their students. Music entertains, educates, and heals. Music links and encompasses various disciplines and skills.

This third trimester has been for all grades a very busy one but also extremely satisfying and successful.

K i n d e r g a r t e n s t u d e n t s continued with the development of their rhythmic and melodic skills. They expanded on the use of musical elements and on the understanding and use of music notes. Lessons were filled with fun kinesthetic activities. All students participated in playing instruments, learning songs, and discovering new musical sounds.

First, second, third, fourth, and fifth grade students also largely developed their skills. They worked in creating and performing music both on their

own and in groups. They

learned in practice that

music is the result of

various sounds that are put

together in a very sensitive

and harmonized manner.

All students were split into

bands. Some chose to play

instruments that they have

never before experienced

p l a y i n g a n d s o m e ,

instruments that they have

been studying for some

time. The songs they chose

to perform were of their

choice and that made it all

more fun and exciting for all involved. This process taught them a lot of skills that musicians need to possess in order to be successful. All students worked hard and with enthusiasm. Grades 3-5 showcased their work during our open house music band and sessions. The result was outstanding and music in elementary school is now flooded with instruments of various timbres.

Very well done to all!!

News from the Technology Lab

Kindergarten students used

Sammy’s Science House to

learn about the weather includ-

ing temperature, wind and

clouds. They used the website

www.morestarfall .com for

reading and math practice.

Kindergarteners also used

various shapes to create an

image with Tux Paint!

First grade students learned

how to use Microsoft Word to

type up their writings from their

daily journals. They practiced

saving, opening, editing and

inserting a picture into their

document! In addition they

used www.morestarfall.com

for addition skills and read-

ing practice.

Second grade students

used Britannica online to

conduct research on an

African animal. They also

used My Pyramid website

from the USDA to learn

about the different food

groups and what it takes to

be healthy. In addition they

have been practicing their

keyboarding skills with Type

to Learn!

Third grade students

using Scratch programming

to create an animation.

S tuden ts a l s o used

Storybook Weaver to

illustrate and write an

original fairy tale. In

addition, they have been

practicing their keyboarding

skills with Type to Learn.

Fourth grade students used

Scratch to create animations

either using dialogue or

movement. In addition,

students chose a South

American animal to research

Many climbing games and lead

up activities made the wall

climbing experience fun and

educational for all our students.

After three weeks of climbing,

we got outdoors and held tennis

rackets. Mini tennis was the

perfect way to finish our school

year, fundamental skills of

racket control and ball handling

as well as the first steps

towards ground strokes, serves

and volleys. Fun games

improved our coordination

skills and made the hot days at

the tennis courts enjoyable.

The last two weeks of our

school year, 4th and 5th grade

had their final fitness tests in

order to get an idea of how

efficient we were throughout the

year, reflect on our learning,

and come back next year more

eager to work “citius, altius,

fortius”.

Mr. Kourtis

News from P.E.

Colonial America and

had to create a

character whose voice

and looks reflected that

period in time. They then

used the text to speech

option to make their

avatar speak! Fifth grade

students also learned how

to use Google SketchUp

f o r 3 D mo de l i n g .

Students used an online

tutorial to help design

their first house!

It is the end of our school year

and the final stretch for our

students was both fun and

successful.

Everybody loves the water, so

our swimming unit that started

early in the spring season was

full of smiles and lots of

practice. We practiced our

basic strokes (freestyle and

backstroke) as well as the

breaststroke.

As is tradition, our swimming

unit ended with a pool party

as a reward for the hard work

I want to wish everyone a

wonderful summer and thank

you to all parents and teachers

for your support!

all students demonstrated.

Our Kindergarteners at the

same time practiced their

running skills and got

f am i l i a r w i th ne w

movement patterns and

combinations.

Wall climbing was next in

our exploration list:

bouldering for our

students from K till 3rd

grade, and top rope

activities for our 4th and 5th

graders.

News from the Technology continued..

and then created a

PowerPoint presentation

about their animal. They used

Publisher to create a card and

have also been working on their

keyboarding ski l ls wi th

www.typingweb.com.

In connection with the Colonial

America unit, fifth grade

students created a talking

avatar using www.voki.com.

They researched and wrote

about what daily life was like in

It was a wonderful year! Congratulations to you all for your efforts and hard work !

This year’s Student-Led Conferences were amazing! You did a wonderful job with your portfolios!

Enjoy your summer and don’t forget that reading is fun! Take a book on your flight, on the bus, the car, the beach and read, read, read!!!!!

Have a great summer!

Ms. Gaki

News from the ESL cclasses. News from the Arabic Classes

Learning Arabic is fun!

A fun and productive year of learning

Arabic has gone by. I would like to

congratulate all students of the Arabic

classes on carrying out Student Led

conferences successfully. They all took

pride in the hard work they did this

year! I wish all of you a great vacation!

Please remember to read lots of Arabic

books over the summer! You are great to

work with!

Ms. Accari

News from the Greek Classes

“Kalo kalokairi!”

We have reached the end of a wonderful school year

for all the Greek classes of the Elementary School.

It has been a really fulfilling and productive year for

the Greek Language Department!

Congratulations to all students who did a fantastic

job preparing for the Student Led conferences that

took place in May. During the conferences,

students enthusiastically showed their work in

Greek and had a great time working on different

stations in each class!

It was a great pleasure working with such

enthusiastic students! We are really

proud of their academic accomplishments

in Greek. We will joyfully remember the

special moments of OXI Day and the

Greek Independence Day celebration to

name a few.

Have fun, swim, eat summer fruits and

ice cream….and read many Greek books!

Have a great summer!

Καλό καλοκαίρι!

Ms. Rovoli, Ms. Stratoglou, Ms Minoudi

News from the Library

This semester we read a lot of different books related to the topics the students were studying in their classes and in

fourth and fifth grade we did research for student projects. In JK we read fiction and non-fiction stories about animals. One of our favorites was It’s Mine where we were guessing which animal was on the next page based on something special about different animals (e.g. an animal with a long neck). In Kindergarten we talked about what I want to be when I grow up, read about being a nurse and a teacher and got ready for the field trip to the fire station b y r e a d i n g t h e b o o k Firefighters. In first grade we read stories about plants and learned a song about Photosynthesis. Then, we read a number of Greek Myths during the Ancient

Greek unit. We were all particularly interested in how the story of Persephone helped ancient Greeks to understand why we have seasons. In second grade we read many stories about Africa. One of our favorites was the story, Goal. We learned how important a regulation soccer ball can be to

children who may be kicking around a deflated piece of rubber just to play soccer. In third grade we read a number of fairy tales to help us think about writing our own fairy tale and then we read books that looked at China from many different perspectives. We read books about China today, Chinese c a l l i g r ap h y , C h i ne se folktales, the Chinese abacus and our favorite,

Track of the Panda in which we learned about some of things that are being done to save pandas. In fourth grade we found a topic that we were interested in, we then researched the topic to find an article online in one of the school’s databases, read the article, highlighted 4 or 5 important facts, wrote the facts in our own words and did a short presentation about the topic to the class. We also read about the traditions of the Olympics, about an Olympic hero who had polio as a child and then all had a chance to read a Poem for two voices with a partner. In fifth grade we read several books on Colonial America. Our favorite was the poem,

The Midnight ride of Paul Revere. We learned what was actually true in this poem and what was a bit of exaggeration. We had a mini Poetry Break in class where students memorized poems of their choice from a book or a poem they had written and then performed these poems for the whole

class. Finally, the students used the many books we have about Ancient Greece to find information for their re-enactment of the Ancient Greek Agora. We had one more offering of Scholastic Books. I would like to say a special thanks to all of you who have ordered books this school year. As a result the school was able to order around 800 Euros worth of new

books which we will all enjoy. We also held our annual Poetry Break. I want to say thank you to all the students who participated. We have a dedicated group that participate each year and had a large number of new students from Junior Kindergarten through fifth grade this year. Our students gave us the opportunity to listen to many interesting poems that they wrote or chose both in English and in Greek. I hope everyone has a great summer and I look forward to seeing your students next year. But don’t forget to KEEP READING to and with your children all summer. Ms. Anderson

The Wondrous Way of

Unstructured Play this Summer

It is often been said that play is the work of the child. Most parents take it to heart, organizing regular play dates, art groups, exciting summer camps, and other meet-ups with like-aged children so the kids can romp, tumble, climb, explore, create, inter-act, and grow alongside each other.

But it isn’t just the act of play that is healthy for children; it is free and unstructured play that is also key to their development. While we advocate for structure and routine as well as some time to reinforce the skills your children have developed all year, summer is also the perfect time to allow our children to spread their wings and grow in different kinds of ways with time each day that is completely up to them. This kind of play is not only healthy, it is, as the American Academy of Pediatrics states, “essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient.”

In a world where our days are

often filled with cell phones and soccer prac t ice , providing a child the opportunity to just be in the world, with nowhere to go, nothing to do may seem like passive parenting, but in actuality it may be the greatest and most important gift we can give.

So how can you fit free and unstructured play into a busy day? Don’t fret. The ways are many and wondrous:

Bring Awareness to the Cause

First and foremost, the way to fit more unstructured time into our regular routine is for

parents and caregivers to first consciously evaluate and question the claims made by advertisers and the idea that we should somehow be producing super-children. Then step back and bring conscious awareness to each moment when you allow your child to choose how they will spend an afternoon, what materials (if any) they will play with, and where that will all take place. This summer, allow your children to play with a toy the “wrong” way, swirl their fingers around in a pile of flour on the counter, or just sit and daydream the hour away in a special comfy spot. Simply practice saying yes to their idea of a perfect moment, hour, or day.

Offer Models

It is no great secret that children learn by following the examples around them. If a parent or caregiver values unstructured time, so will the child. Allow for times when you can just hang out and delight in having absolutely nothing on your agenda. As well, turn to the printed word for models of kids thinking creatively, getting messy, following their heart, and otherwise exploring in

unstructured ways.

Weave Unstructured Time into Your Plans

Take little bits of time when you are out and about to be without your plan. Find quiet places to sit. Challenge your family to find a special rock, log, tree, brook side, or bench where they can take a quiet moment and listen to the unique sounds of the area, revive themselves, reflect on

the new experiences, or simply experience passersby.

Practice the Art of Strewing

Strewing is the very fine art of placing items in seemingly random locations. It provides the opportunity for creativity by allowing a child to stumble upon materials or books in a n a t u r a l w ay , t h e r e b y encouraging their exploration, without the child feeling watched, expected to perform, or otherwise pressured. On their own timetable, at their own pace, in a completely unstructured kind of way.

U n s t r u c t u r e d p l a y i s unstructured learning. As the research shows us of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs, it leads to people who can think, create, solve problems, are happy, well-adjusted, and have better language and

cognitive skills. Unstructured Play is serious business.

Wishing you a fabulous summer filled with some free exploration!

By Ginger Carlson, Elementary Assistant Principal

Message from the Assistant Principal