Issue 16 - Feb. 14

THRILLING THURSDAY THOUGHTS

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Valentine's Day to the whole Cantiague team! This day is all about the love... love for our families... love for our friends... and love for our work family!! So, I hope you all feel the love coming your way because working in this building brings me a tremendous amount of joy, pride and happiness, which I depend on to get me through the difficult times! I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming Winter Break - this week off could not come at a better time! It will be a prime opportunity for all of us to rest, relax and recharge for the month of March, which is a busy one!

On another note, thank you all for your participation in our staff raffle/fundraiser for Hegarty Elementary School - it is so awesome to know that we are handing them a check for $5,700 from our community. We would not have sold as many raffles if it wasnt for all of you making such a dedicated effort - THANK YOU!

Additionally, just as a reminder, I will not be here after the break for at least three days because of Paul's upcoming surgery, which is scheduled for Monday, February 25th. I cannot begin to thank each of you for your support and understanding over the last few days in regards to this upcoming procedure. Although at this point surgery for Paul is "routine", it is never easy and it is totally nerve wracking for us as his parents but being in such a supportive and positive environment makes it that much easier so THANK YOU! Also, a special thank you to Laura and Pam for always holding down the fort in my absence... you ROCK!!

Please keep these Thrilling Thursday Thoughts because it will cover the next two weeks (because I will be out the week after the break)!

Finally, as I try each week, I devoted as much of my time as possible traveling around the building to capture the AWESOMENESS and during my visits this week, I...

• Watched two first graders playing Sight Word Ping Pong in Lisa's room! It was such a fun way to have the children practice their sight words - each ping pong ball had a basic sight word written on it and the children took turns spelling the word, saying the word and then tossing the ball to their partner who had to repeat the exercise - what a wonderful way to turn something rote into something engaging and kinesthetic!

• Saw our 4th Graders in the Levermans participating in a "Spanish Mid-Term" with Milissa and they did an awesome job! After filling in a sheet where they introduced themselves in Spanish, the children then got up and acted out an exchange and their work was excellent as they could say hello, introduce themselves and share some relevant personal information - it was impressive!

• Watched our 3rd, 4th and 5th Graders do their Chinese New Year announcements with Pei-Shan, which were truly incredible! Not only were the children excited but their singing was beautiful! I can barely carry a tune in English so to see them singing entire songs in Mandarin was impressive - BRAVO! Check out this short video...

• Saw our kindergarteners getting ready for the Special Person poetry celebration! They were getting their poems prepared and I cannot even begin to describe how impressed I am with their ability to meaningfully embed various poetic crafts (like repitition or figurative language) into their work - AWESOME!

• Watched our Alex, Rosanna, Jen and Joe bring their classes together for a Valentine's Day craft project and their collaborative efforts were impressive! To see the fifth graders guiding the first graders through their work and then proudly displaying their final creations was pretty cool!!

• I spent some time in Jill's room where I watched the children do some basic algebra problems and the work was impressive. The children were trying to solve 13 - ? = 9 and they were using their whiteboards to work out the problem using whatever strategy made sense!

Tech Tip of the Week...

Thinking about finally taking the plunge and getting on Twitter, check out these BEGINNER TIPS for Twitter! The power of Twitter is AWESOME and the amount of free Professional Development is unreal!

Schedule of the Week...

Friday, March 1

Happy Friday & March!
Gr. 5 MS Articulation Meetings:

8:30 - Alites

9:45 - Burrows

10:50 - Siper

Monday, March 4

Happy Monday
PTA Executive Board - 9:45am

"B" Week

World Language Week
ELA/MATH Afterschool

Tuesday, March 5

Faculty Meeting for all staff at 3pm

PTA Meeting at 9:45am

Wednesday, March 6

CST at 1:20pm
Gr. 5 DNA Lab Trip
ELA/MATH Afterschool

Thursday, March 7

Cultural Arts - LAST SESSION
Gr. 5 DNA Lab Trip
Board of Education Meeting to review BUDGET

Friday, March 8

Happy Friday!
End of Second Marking Period
Report Cards & Comments due to Tony

Kids' Korner

While having lunch with a group of second graders, one of the boys told us a story of how he was skiing and accidentally crashed into this "sexy lady" instead of hitting a tree! Needless to say I nearly spit the Coke out of my mouth when he refered to the lady as sexy - HYSTERICAL! 

Pics of the Week...

FEBRUARY 14th WEEK IN TWEETS

MARCH 1st WEEK IN TWEETS

Upcoming Board of Education Meetings...

• Thursday, Mar. 14th
• Thursday, Apr. 18th
• Thursday, May 23rd
• Thursday, June 13th