Pelham School Press

The Pelham School Committee is working hard on the budget for 2010-2011 and the Pelham principal transition. I want to thank all of the Pelham parents who attended the January 7^th meeting and heard many of the issues that the Committee is discussing. Pelham School Committee members, Tracy Farnham, Kathy Weilerstein and Debbie Gould encourage all parents to attend the meetings and to contact them with questions or concerns.

Parents, please remember that birthdays are very important in the life of a child, and many hurt feelings may result when children are excluded from social events. The Pelham School Council developed the following guidelines,which are in the Pelham School Handbook: Birthdays: Each student birthday is recognized by the class or by the entire school at lunch time. Some families may choose to send in a special snack for the classroom. In such a small, close-knit community as ours, we hope that parents will be particularly sensitive about inclusiveness. If you plan a party but can’t invite everybody in the class, please be discrete about your plans and keep invitations and travel arrangements separate from the school day. If for religious or other reasons, a child’s family does not observe birthdays, the school will recognize another designated celebration at the family’s request.

Helping students develop empathy is one of the basic objectives of our social skills curriculum, Second Step, and a major focus of the classroom activities led by our counselor Deb King. “How do you think your friends felt when you wouldn’t share the toys with them?” is a question teachers and parents ask children to help guide the development of their empathy toward others. As students grow and mature they must learn to take the perspective of others in order to understand different people, cultures, world events, literature, and the arts. In our complex world successful students need confidence in themselves as learners; the tools and strategies for acquiring, evaluating, and applying knowledge; and insight into the motives, feelings, and behavior of others and the ability to communicate this understanding. Developing empathy helps students work and live with others in our classrooms, schools, and communities, and empathy will be a major theme across Pelham School this month during our study of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rena Moore

***COLLECTIONS CONTINUE***

Sixth Grade continues to collect books for distribution at local doctor and dentist offices. Please do all you can to help. There are collection boxes outside the school office and the sixth grade classroom.

REMINDER: Please make sure your child’s name is in all winter clothing. We have many sweatshirts, jackets, backpacks, and in particular, snow pants that are alike and easily confused. Also, please remember to check the Lost & Found at school, which is located across from the cafeteria.

TONIGHT IS Movie Night!!

Join your friends at the Pelham School gym TO SEE ALiens in the attic

Aliens in the Attic (2009)

PTO Family Movie Night Thursday Jan 14^th 6:00 PM Pelham Gym/Cafeteria

Movie is Free, popcorn and baked goods for sale. Bring pillows and blankets<![if !vml]><![endif]>

An adventure/comedy about kids on a family vacation who must fight off an attack by knee-high alien invaders with world-destroying ambitions. At the same time, the youngsters work hard to keep their parents in the dark about the battle upstairs.

Rated PG for action violence, some suggestive humor and language. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0775552/

Safety Reminder: Parent, please note that students are not allowed to have knives at school for any reason. This policy is stated on page 20 of the Pelham School pages of the Pelham School Handbook, with further explanation on page 20 of the district pages in the Pelham School Handbook.

Anti-Racism Curriculum During the school year we take advantage of many opportunities to talk about fairness among people. The Martin Luther King holiday provides the backdrop to directly discuss issues of color and the history of racism in an age-appropriate manner.

Soon we will play a game called “Sneetches”after hearing the book “Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss. In this story, some creatures called “Sneetches” have stars on their bellies and other “Sneetches” have none. The “Star-Belly Sneetches” are the entitled race and get special privileges, and the “Plain-Belly Sneetches” are left out or treated unfairly. A profiteer named Sylvester McMonkey McBean arrives with a “Star-On” Machine and starts charging “Plain-Belly Sneetches” to have stars applied to their bellies. The “Star-Belly Sneetches” then want their stars removed because they are no longer special. They pay McBean to have their stars taken off. By the end of the story all the Sneetches are out of money and are so mixed up that they no longer can differentiate “Star-Belly Sneetches” from “Plain-Belly Sneetches.” They realize the foolishness of their ways and learn to work together in harmony.

First graders will make stars to wear and take turns during the morning having privileges like being first in line or sitting in special spots in the room. Some feelings may be hurt and lots of discussion will follow in order to process the game. We will discuss how this game relates to racism and hopefully conclude that it is not what’s on the outside that matters but instead it’s what’s on the inside that matters. We will also discuss what to do if we hear anyone being treated unfairly for any reason. Bystanders need courage to act, whether talking to the offending person or getting help from an adult.

Throughout the year we will revisit this issue and children will have varied opportunities to explore character education. Please contact me if you have question, concerns or comments.

I want to wish everyone a happy New Year. The class got off to a good start last week even though I was in and out as I went to workshops about our new writing program. I learned some great new ideas which will be fun to try. But more about that later.

Our Nutrition Unit ended on a delicious note when Ms. DeBois introduced us to some healthy snacks that included all of the five food groups. Some children were tentative about trying a mixture of spinach, avocado, sweet potato, black beans, and cheese on a toasted tortilla, but those that did found it quite tasty. I bought all the ingredients to try it on my tentative vegetable eater at home. The children also did a great job of keeping track of foods they ate, graphing the data, and analyzing their graphs to see where they could improve on eating healthier.

We are now studying continents. The objectives for this unit are to know and label correctly the seven continents and 4 oceans, also to know the names of some major rivers and mountain ranges in the world. Another goal is to have the children experience or learn about some of the different cultures by integrating art, music, and literature into the unit. If there are any Pelham parents who have something to share with the class, i.e. pictures, foods, clothing from different cultures please contact me.

Finally, the Second Grade Class is proud and excited to announce that our Rock Sale was a big success. The children really took to painting rocks and promoting their sale. They even got the After School program to help out to raise money for our two charities, the Amherst Survival Center and the Dakin Animal Shelter. We had a lively discussion around how we would divide the $110.00 that the class raised. We have voted to give $80.00 to the Survival Center and $30.00 to the Dakin Animal Shelter. I especially was very pleased with the cooperation and positive atmosphere that this project created.

Thanks to all of the Pelham Community for your support and donations. I hope you enjoy your rocks. Cynthia Corey