Monday, October 27, 2014

October Bustles with Exciting Visits

October is Fire Safety Month
Last week, students in grades K-2 had the opportunity to interact with firefighters from the Fairmount Fire Department. They discussed what to do should there be a fire at their home. They learned:
  • To get out and stay out!  
  • To stop - drop and roll if their clothing catches on fire, 
  • To stay low and crawl to avoid smoke and heat, 
  • And the importance of establishing a meeting place so all members of a family can be accounted for.  

Thank you to Firefighters Mazzoni, Kolar, and Rath for presenting information at the assemblies, Firefighter McDaniels for giving students a tour of Fire Truck #7, and to Mrs. Barbuto for organizing the visit and supplemental materials for teachers.  October is Fire Prevention month, please be diligent about replacing batteries in home fire detectors and reviewing evacuation plans with your children.

Excited students got to tour the fire truck.

Children were captivated as they listened to details about the fire truck.

Dressed in full firefighting gear, firefighter Rath crawled through the cafeteria giving the kids a glimpse of what he would look like if he were at their house during a fire. The object was to teach kids that there is nothings scary about the muffled sounds of firefighters' voices through the oxygen mask, and in the event of a fire, children shouldn't hide.


Orange has Special Meaning 
October is National Bully Prevention month. UNITY DAY took place October 22 when all students, staff, and faculty were encouraged to come together, wear orange and send one large ORANGE message of hope, support, and unity! 

Stonehedge united by creating a long paper chain where each student/adult made their own orange paper link.  Our UNITY chain is displayed in the corridor connecting our buildings. Everyone can make a commitment to bully prevention by signing the digital petition here!  


Students from Mrs. Cunningham's first grade class dressed in orange to support unity day. Here they posed under the paper chain hung throughout the building. 


Halloween
The Stonehedge Halloween Parade will kick off at 10:00a.m. on Friday, October 31 beginning with our kindergarten children. Classes will parade out of the Blue Entrance and follow the sidewalks along the front of the building and to the bus circle. Parents may also view the parade as it tours around the Blue playground in the back of the building. Visitors are sure to have a great view at any point along this route. There is no need to sign into the building to view the Halloween Parade. Look for a letter coming home soon with more detailed information.



As always, student costumes should be appropriate, refraining from costumes that might frighten our younger students. No weapons or inappropriate props will be allowed.

Only parents who signed up to help with the Halloween party and have been contacted by the room parent will be allowed in the classrooms. Teachers will take care to pack up costumes so all will be ready for trick or treating later in the evening. What fun it will be to have Halloween on a Friday night!


Community Helpers Visit First Grade
A police officer, a nurse, and a representative from a dental office came into the first grade classrooms last week to discuss their roles as community helpers. Students asked many questions about how they help in our community. Thank you to all who volunteered.

Officer Dellow speaks to Mrs. Cunningham's first grade class with his son Logan. 


Upcoming Events:
CODE Assemblies: Thursday, October 30
Halloween Parade: Friday, October 31, 10 a.m.
Turkey Trot: Monday, November 3 (Details to come home with students)
PTA Game Night: Kindergarten and First Grade: Thursday, November 6, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
School Picture Retakes: Thursday, November 6, 6- 8 p.m.

~Lori


Friday, October 17, 2014

Falling into Some Fun at Stonehedge

PARP's "Cool Cat" Guest Readers Visit Classrooms
Dozens of guest speakers are visiting Stonehedge during the month of October and reading to students as a popular part of the PTA's PARP program. Along with PARP's theme of Cool Cats Read, these guests enthralled readers in all grades. A few pictures follow:
Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Brown, read to students in Mrs. Shepard's kindergarten classroom.

Board of Education member, James Soper, shares a story with the attentive listeners in Miss Cantone's first grade class.


Second grade students in Mrs. Schweitzer's class enjoyed listening to Camillus Town Supervisor Mary Ann Coogan as she read. 

Stay tuned for even more great PARP pictures in the next blog!

These HEDGE Award Winners Demonstrate Responsibility
The school year is still young, but these students are already working hard and demonstrating how responsible they are. They were recently honored with HEDGE Awards at the year's first Character Education assembly. 

During the assembly, students from Mrs. Bailey's and Mrs. Carrington's second grade classes introduced next month's character trait of respect. They created a video which explained a variety of ways to show respect in their homes, school, and community. 
First grade winners: Muhammad Awawda, Olyvia  Albright, Isabella Apps, Mia Barbuto, Alex Bigelow, Addison Biggs, Peyton Blair, David Bosak, Anthony Bowles, Molli Clark, Jack Cosamano, Jacob Dalton, Landon Derbyshire, Georgia Dziedzic, John Egerbrecht, Logan Frese, Mackenzie Ginty, Lilly Hodell, Katie Klaczko, Kylie Michaels, Gavin Moore, Ethan Reynolds, Grady Robertson, Sarah Smithers, Kaelyn Stone, Daniel Timoshuk, Johsua Whann, Ryan Zeleznock



Second grade winners: Christian Bower, Michael Colon, Grace Abert, Elijah Apps, Kaelyn Ashby, Garrett Bleskoski, Samantha Casson, Enya DaFoe, Devin Dantuono, Kyira Davis, Erik Dombroske, Sidney Hamilton, Zachary Hann, Ethan Jackson, Janie Kang, Braeden Keller, Riley Kittle, Ben Korzeniewski, Isabella Makarchuk, Madison Mayer, Calina Olson, Alexa Pallone, Evan Powers


Join us for Family Fun Night This Friday

The PTA's annual Harvest Family Fun Night is taking place Friday, October 17, from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Enjoy activities like dancing, face painting, story hour, BINGO, Simon Says, and Dance, Dance, Revolution. You'll also be able to get a child ID through the Camillus Police Department and our West Genesee Resource Officer, Officer Grace. Admission is $2 per person and will cover the cost of four (4) BINGO cards, a small water, a bag of delicious popcorn, one of our ever-popular glow sticks, and a raffle ticket. We hope to see you all there!



Other Upcoming Events 
October, 22 Fire Prevention Day
October 24, Half-Day, Professional Development, Dismissal 11:30 a.m.
October 30, CODE Assemblies
October 31, Halloween Parade, 10 a.m. (Look for information from your child with more details.)
November 3, Turkey Trot

Yours-
Lori



Thursday, October 2, 2014

Stonehedge Gives a Groovy Welcome to Author Eric Litwin

We got on our school shoes today and thoroughly enjoyed three assemblies by author-and all around entertainer-Eric Litwin.

Litwin is known for writing the first four Pete the Cat books.  He rocked the audiences with age-appropriate songs and readings. Students learned lessons about call and response songs, rhythm, and storytelling. With fantastic audience participation, students moved and grooved without even realizing they were learning!

The author's visit kicked off our PTA's month-long celebration of PARP (Parents As Reading Partners). An events calendar went home earlier this week with dates for all the exciting PARP activities. Check below for a list of upcoming events.

Special thanks to our PTA for bringing in the author and our library for hosting the day.

Kindergarten students sing along with Mr. Litwin.

Second Grade teacher Mrs. Prosser served as one of several "Official Page Turner" volunteers during the assemblies.


Our cool cat library crew were dressed for the occasion. From left, Mrs. Graser, Mrs. Abbott, and Mrs. Eichhorn.

  Third grade student Amaiya Bear helped sing a song during one performance.


It was hard to control the excitement during the show!






Important Dates to Remember
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10/7-10/9,
Scholastic Book Fair,  Gold Foyer, 3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 7 (Please note this is a correction from the PARP calendars that went home.)
Library Night, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, October 8 
PTA Meeting 6:30 Stonehedge Library

Thursday, October 9 
RtI Parent Information Night (K-5) Library, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Monday, October 13 
Columbus Day – No School

Friday, October 17
PTA Sponsored Family Fun Night (6:30-8:00 p.m.)
Stop by for some great fall family fun after dinner!                                                         
Thursday, October 23
Library Night, 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Friday, October 24
Half-day for Students – 11:30 a.m. dismissal

Friday, October 31, 10:00 a.m. 
Halloween Parade and Classroom Parties

Yours-
Lori and Brent