Happy Holidays from Stonehedge

First Graders Travel Around the World
Our first grade students learned about holiday traditions as part of a unit that studied Holidays Around the World. As each group visited different classrooms, they were told about a different country's traditions. They even created passports to document their journey.

These first grade students learned about the tradition of spinning the dreidel in Israel. 

 

After learning about holidays in Germany, children sampled gingerbread men. 

Miss Elmer stamped passports as students left her classroom after learning about Mexican traditions and dancing to "Feliz Navidad".

Mrs. Cunningham, dressed as Sweden's Saint Lucia, taught the children about Swedish traditions.

Kindergarten Plays Their Reindeer Games

Classes took turns preparing magical 'reindeer food': some special oats and glitter. 

  

After making these fantastic reindeer hats, everyone listened to a reindeer story. 

These second graders were so excited to read their personalized letters from the elf!

A little party-time break and a different kind of holiday wrapping!

Welcome to First Grade, Mrs. Harris

Welcome to Mrs. Harris--first grade's newest addition. She will be filling in for Miss Munley until her return.  

Students Take Part in CODE Presentations 

Thank you to Officer Brand for talking with students yesterday as part of the Community Oriented Drug Education (CODE) program. Here she addresses second grade students about anti-bullying. Maureen Foran-Mocete from the McMahon /Ryan Child Advocacy Center also spoke with students. Topics were as follows:

Kindergarten - My Body Belongs to Me

Grade 1 – Building Self Esteem 

Grade 2 - Bullying Awareness.

 

Did you know that Stonehedge Blue is now on Twitter? Be sure to follow us @Stonehedgeblue to see snapshots of your children's days and other important information!




Please remember that school is closed beginning Monday, December 22 and reopens on Monday, January 5, 2015. 

Happy Holidays,
~Lori

Volunteers Needed for Winter Wonderland...Please Respond by Friday, December 19!

Dear Stonehedge Blue Families,

I know how busy you are and what a premium time is for everyone. Sometimes it seems that there is not enough time in a day for all that we have to do. With that being said, I am asking for volunteers for a very special upcoming event. A note detailing this information is going home today with students.

Our 2^nd AnnualWinter “Wonder”land project for grades K-2 will be beginning soon.  For those of you new to Stonehedge, this is a project based learning opportunity where students will be researching topics of interest and preparing a project to showcase and share what they have learned. 

Volunteers are needed to help children research and gather information and then to design and create their projects. This is done with small groups of students within the classroom. It all culminates with an evening event where families come to view the final projects. Last year, this proved to be a very exciting and motivating time for students as they explored and became experts about a variety of topics! 

The established schedule is as follows:

January 12-16, Topic Research, (Volunteers needed during the morning time frame ranging from 9:30-12:00)

January 20-23, Project Work, (Volunteers needed during the morning time frame ranging from 9:30-12:00)

January 26-29, Additional time if needed to complete projects (9:30-12:00)

February 5 Evening Presentation, (Need support to decorate and display projects after school 3:00 – 5:00)

If you are interested in helping out as a volunteer and are available during any of the above mentioned times, please complete the form included with the letter that went home today, or one is available online (by clicking here) and return to the main office by Friday, December 19^th.  If you have any questions, please contact the main office at 487-4633.  

I have scheduled a meeting for all individuals who wish to volunteer for Monday, January 12 at 9:30 in the Blue Cafeteria prior to the first day of the program. This will be a nice opportunity to meet you and share some of my requests for volunteering. Thank you in advance for considering volunteering. I look forward to hearing from those interested soon.

Sincerely,

Lori Keevil

Winter Warmth Not Hard to Find At Stonehedge

No Bullying Here!

Last week all first grade children spent the morning immersed in messages about friendship. The anti-bullying message can be a difficult concept for young children to understand and to deal with independently. This special day focused on defining bullying, identifying the many ways to be a kind and caring friend, and learning how to solve problems when faced with conflict here at school. Students did cool activities, sang songs, listened to stories and watched a video that coordinates with our school’s effort to be bucket fillers.  Different thoughts about friendship can be seen throughout the entire hallway. Thank you to the first grade team of teachers for coordinating this day!

Click HERE to view a video entitled, "How Full Is Your Bucket?"

Students buddied up and wrote out descriptions of why they are thankful for their friends.

Character Education: Developing Caring and Compassion

Compassion for others is a character trait that young children need to develop and adults need to foster. When children feel compassion and express it through acts of kindness, they make themselves better people and the world is a better place. Miss Finger and Mrs. Schweitzer’s classes were proud to lead this month’s character education assemble.  Children watched a video called Boomerang, (Click here to view.)  which demonstrated the power of Random Acts of Kindness.  They witnessed how individuals put others’ needs and feelings before their own needs and most importantly, expected nothing in return. This is a good time of the year for students to extend a helping hand and foster compassion and empathy for others.

Students were sent home with a list of ways they could perform random acts of kindness. They are encouraged to pick one and write what they did to be helpful on the paper hand that also came home. The hope is that the walls of the school will be lined with green helping hands!

During the assembly, second graders showed how quickly acts of kindness can spread by starting several lines of handshaking to spread compassion.

Many families have done exactly this by sending in donations for our very own Stonehedge PTA Giving Tree. If you intend on making a donation, please remember that the deadline (December 12)  is quickly approaching. Thank you in advance for the outpouring of support for our Stonehedge families and the Samaritan Center. 

 First Grade HEDGE Award Winners

Jackson Austin, Lainah Baker, Jayden Carlisle, Brayden Carvel, Crystal Clark, Addison Connelly, Evan Dufford, Sarah Domin, Harper Flynn, Ashley Foss, Elizabeth Friers, Evan Grebenevich, Ethan Harvey, Dhiraj Jampana, Payton Jeffery, Mason McAloon, Katie McDonough, Stella Mikhailova, Alice Pratt, Ayesha Rehman, Daniel Schiffer, Logan Scott, Clayton Watkins, Daniel Yatsula, Za'nigh Yost, Landyn Young

Second Grade HEDGE Award Winners

Angelina Allen, Justyna Apps, Keira Braun, Gianna Caraccio, Alex Cardone, Audrey  Diddle, Makayla Dunham, Mark Gabello, Tommy Gozzi, Gabriella Hinman, Thomas Levison, Yuliana Melnik, Ryan O'Connor, George Ponto, Peyton Rosenthal, Jonathan Shoults, Ava Spraker, Jayden Torrance, Paul Toumbacaris, Kyra Vargas, Angelo Vrabel, Ariana Welsh, Hannah Wood

Performers Delight at Winter Concert

Yesterday students throughout the school enjoyed a winter assembly with delightful, seasonal music performed by the fourth and fifth grade chorus as well as the fifth grade orchestra.

Please remember: If you have a change of plans for your child's dismissal, you must send in a note ahead of time. Forms were sent home earlier this year and more are available through the office. 

Also: When winter weather is predicted, stay tuned to Dr. Brown's twitter feed, the website, district facebook page, the West Genesee app, and the local radio and television stations for information on delays and cancellations.

Let's Get Together at Stonehedge

On November 25th, students of all ages came together for a Meet and Greet Buddy Day. The day was an opportunity for students to meet new friends in a different grade level.  Throughout the structured activity, older students interviewed younger students to learn more about them. In turn, the younger students drew a picture of their new friend. Older students then read a book to their new friend and together they discussed the story elements as well as their favorite part of the story.

This Meet and Greet was organized through the Shared Decision Making (SDM) committee. This year members of SDM created a goal to create structured activities to bring together older and younger students.

Stay tuned for what’s in store for these newly formed friendships! 

See more pictures from the Meet and Greet at the end of the blog.

PTA Giving Tree Drive Under Way Now
Each year as the holidays get underway, the Stonehedge community turns its heart and thoughts toward others. The PTA's Annual Giving Tree drive will be collecting holiday gifts for families in need at Stonehedge. In an effort to meet the specific needs of these children, we are asking that families of students in kindergarten, first, and second grade please consider donating cash or Target gift cards. Please use the special collection envelope that came home with your child to return your donation to your child's teacher. Even a small donation can make a big difference to a child. The Giving Tree runs now through December 12. 

Baking the Basics
When Miss Winters' class read the classic fairy tale, The Little Hen, they learned that everyone needs to help out on a task in order to enjoy the rewards. They did just that when baking bread in her classroom. Students used math and reading skills as they took turns measuring ingredients and writing the bread recipe.

Miss Winters helps a student measure flour for their bread dough.

Everyone's hard work paid off the next day when they dined on home-baked bread, butter, and applesauce during their Thanksgiving Feast.

 

First grade students created a turkey whose feathers represented for what each student was thankful.   

More Meet and Greet Buddy Day Pictures