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Kindergarten News100th Day of School!

Count to 100 and imagine what fun we had on February 15th—the day the Kindergarten classes celebrated the 100th Day of School.  All the kindergarten children were excited as they entered the kindergarten all-purpose room ready to participate in a wide scope of

activities centered on the number 100.  These activities included:  making our 100th Day Crown; weighing bags of 100 items; stamping 100 stamps; coloring 100 objects; building with 100 cubes or planks; and rolling dice to travel a path to 100.   The kindergarten teachers greatly

appreciate all the parents who volunteered to be a part of this milestone day.  With their help, the day was a smashing success!

Searingtown SchoolHerricks UFSD

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February was a fantastic, fun-filled month in first grade! The month was full of holidays and celebrations. Some of the holidays we celebrated were Chinese New Year, Groundhog’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

February 16th was the best day of all…the 100th Day of School! We spent the day doing lots of fun “100 Day” things- counting to 100 different ways, looking for 100 words, reading poems with 100 words, and making necklaces from 100 pieces of cereal. All that counting was hard work, but a lot of fun!

During the month of February, we also began studying our Mentor Author- Kevin Henkes. We read lots of Kevin Henkes books and began to look at Author’s Craft-all the great things Kevin Henkes does as a writer in his books. We learned that Kevin Henkes uses a lot of dialogue, ellipses, bold words, and “show don’t tell” language. We can’t wait to try out some of these craft techniques in our own writing! February sure was a busy month!

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LEFT: First graders enjoy the tastes of China .

RIGHT: The 100th Day of School was filled with fun activities!

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Third GradeAlthough February is the shortest month, we have accomplished so much!  The third graders have had their first instrumental concert.  Everyone practiced, worked hard at learning their parts and it was a great success.  Everyone was excited and pleased that it went so well. 

In our academics, third graders have been learning all about buoyancy and the water cycle. We have also been learning about the mystery genre.  As we read our

mysteries, we are discovering the similar components that most mysteries have in common.  We are looking for clues, criminals, suspects, and evidence as we read through the chapters. 

In other activities, we have jumped rope for heart to support the American Heart Association, we have passed our 100th day of third grade, and we have enjoyed Mrs. Corgan’s class in the Lion Dance coming through the halls of Searingtown spreading the joy of Chinese New Year.  What a busy month it has been!

Second  Grade

February  may  have  the  fewest  days,  but  Searingtown’s  second  graders  had  the  most  fun  this  month.  To  enhance  our  Social  Studies  unit  on  community  helpers,  Police  Officer  Nicholas  Mosesso  from  the  3rd  precinct,  visited  each  second  grade  class.  Some  of  the  holidays,  activities,  and  celebrations  that  the  children  enjoyed  were:  Groundhog’s  Day,  Valentine's  Day,  Presidents’  Day,  the  Chinese/Korean  New  Year,  Black  History  Month,  and  the  100th  Day  of  School.

In  Science,  we  have  been  busy  learning  how  to  measure  objects  in  centimeters  and  meters.  We  used  rulers  and  yardsticks  to  determine  the  length,  width,  and  height  of  objects  in  inches,  feet,  and  yards.  We  even  discovered  how  long  a  blue  whale  is!  Mastering  our  addition  and  subtraction  facts  by  taking  one  minute  math  tests  every  day  and  learning  how  to  add  and  subtract  two-­‐digit  numbers  with  and  without  regrouping  has  been  very  mathematical.  Our  writing  workshop  focus  shifted  from  creating  realistic  fiction  stories  to  researching  and  writing  nonfiction  reports  like  anthropologists.  Our  

decoding  and  encoding  skills  increased  each  day  during  our  daily  D  syllable  type  vowel  teams  Fundations  lessons.

The  fun  and  excitement  reached  its  peak  on  February  18th  when  we  had  an  incredibly  successful  Heritage  Celebration.  Sharing  our  family  treasures,  heritage  dolls,  country  research  tri-­‐folds,  and  “All  About  Me”  books  was  remarkable.  The  second  graders  proudly  sang  songs  about  the  continents,  oceans,  places  in  the  world,  love,  peace,  and  being  American.  

Afterwards  the  students,  parents,  and  guests  were  treated  to  a  huge  International  Buffet.

Our  gratitude  also  goes  to  Searingtown’s  awesome  PTA  for  bringing  the  Theatreworks  USA’s  extremely  entertaining  musical  production  of  "Click,  Clack,  Moo"  to  our  large  gym.  The  PTA’s  Valentine’s  Day  bake  sale  fundraiser  was  a  sweet  treat  too.  What  a  busy  month  February  was!

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“Sharing our family treasures, heritage dolls, country research tri-folds, and “All About Me” books was remarkable. The second graders proudly sang songs about the continents, oceans, places in the world, love, peace, and being American.”

Lion DanceEveryone enjoyed seeing Mrs. Corgan’s students spreading the joy of Chinese New Year!

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Searingtown fourth graders had a fantastic February!  Students are wrapping up their realistic fiction writing pieces, and they were excited to see how interesting our stories had become.  In Science, fourth grade scientists explored the Solar System.  Looking through both the pages of history and our own pretend telescopes, we navigated the sky above learning more about the planets and other heavenly bodies around us.

Fun has been the product of our math exploration of multiplication.  Students worked on strengthening their mental math skills and use these as resources for problem-solving.

e fourth grade also participated in Jump Rope For Heart to benefit the American Heart Association.  Our thanks go to Ms. Pasatieri and Mr.

Lavey for putting this together.  It was a great time for an even greater cause.

In Social Studies, students are learning about the early people of New York State.  ey are comparing and contrasting the lives of Native Americans to their own lives.  It was also interesting to look at the roles of Native American boys and girls and see how closely they resembled their own lives (or perhaps not at all!)   Bring on the spring!

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Jump Rope For Heart

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This February, 5th graders at Searingtown saw the light!  During our most recent science unit, students were asked to ponder the question, “What is light?”  They tackled challenging experiments in order to develop their

understanding of concepts such as reflection, refraction, and dispersion.  They played with shadows, experimented with combining and separating white light, and began to understand the science behind optical illusions. 

Fifth Grade

What is light?

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The Third Graders had their Debut Recital on Thursday, February 17, 2011.  It was their first performance. They demonstrated to the audience the learning process that took place from September until now.

Music

ESLThe ESL department has been exploring the various winter holidays. It has been fascinating to learn about how we came to celebrate Groundhog Day and the legend behind Punxsutawney Phil and his shadow. According to this

legend, spring will be coming early this year! While we enjoyed our winter recess, we have also been learning about our country’s presidents in honor of President’s Day.

Other units of study including the Arctic and Egypt have been ongoing in support of our grade level

curriculum. We have enjoyed investigating the ways other people from around the world live from day to day. Our newcomers have been focusing more on language development, such as school and household vocabulary.

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LibraryDuring  the  month  of  February,  all  

students  visited  the  library  to  learn  about  our  2011  visiting  author,  Doreen  Rappaport.  Students  learned  about  the  Civil  Rights  Movement  while  listening  to  “Martin’s  Big  Words;”  the  story  of  the  young  women  who  won  the  World  Baseball  championship  with  “Dirt  on  Their  Skirts;”  the  life  and  struggles  of  Abraham  Lincoln  with  “Abe’s  Honest  Words;”  and  about  the  interesting  life  of  musician  and  activist,  John  Lennon,  with  “John’s  Secret  Dreams.”

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We are looking forward to meeting Doreen Rappaport on Monday, March 7th!

SEARINGTOWN SCHOOLVisit us on the web at

http://www.herricks.org/searingtown.cfm