News Alerts

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• JANUARY 3K NEWSLETTER

   

   

  Happy New Year and welcome back from Ms. Cristino, Miss Karol, Mrs. Nath, Ms. Gosset, Miss Erika and Mrs. Esther!

   

   

  WHAT WE ARE LEARNING:

  We are very excited to begin our Unit of Study on Balls. We have noticed that the children are very interested in balls. They are curious about different kinds of balls, how people use balls, what they are made of, what is inside of them and how high they can bounce. We think Balls will make an interesting study topic. As we study Balls, we will learn concepts and skills in literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts and technology. We will also use thinking skills to investigate, ask questions, solve problems, make predictions and test our ideas. Please try and spend time playing with balls of different shapes, types and sizes such as playground balls, tennis balls, volley balls, baseballs, footballs and marbles. Talk about what the balls are made of, whether they are heavy or light, and whether they are big or little.

   

   

  REMINDERS:

  Arrival time is between 7:45 and 8 am in The Annex. Students who arrive after 8:15 will be marked late.

  Dismissal time is promptly at 2:00. Any student not picked up by 2:20 will be walked to the main building gym.

  Please pack a water sippy cup and snack for your child, daily.

  Please be sure to send your child in to school with proper winter attire.

   

  IMPORTANT DATES:

  Monday, January 5, 2026 First day back to school

  Monday, January 19 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No School

   

  HAPPY 2026!!

  HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026!!

Pre-K January Newsletter

Teachers:

Mrs. Longo & Mrs. Jenn

Mrs. Kelly & Ms. B

Ms. Vozzolo & Mrs. Feller

What we are learning:

Your children will continue learning about buildings. They will learn who builds buildings and what tools they use, what they are made of and what makes them strong, and how we can make a community with our buildings. In addition, they will begin to learn to identify and write their names. After the Buildings Unit, we will begin our Clothing Unit.

Reminders:

• Please be sure to send a healthy snack and a reusable bottle of water each day.

• Blankets will be sent home for cleaning. Please be sure your child returns with a clean blanket the following week.

Important Dates:

Return from Break- January 5th

Martin Luther King Day (No School)- January 19th

Birthdays:

Amy T- January 26

Ismael R- January 28

2026 Kindergarten Newsletter

We are excited to welcome everyone back to school on Monday, January 5th! We hope you had a wonderful winter break and are ready for an exciting month of learning.

In Math, we will explore Topic 5: Classify and Count Data.

Our Reading focus is Module 4: Happy Healthy Me, where we will answer the question, how can I be my healthiest me? When we teach kindergarteners to take good care of their bodies, we’re not just helping them feel great today. We’re helping them form healthy habits to carry throughout their lives. In this module, children learn the essentials of healthy living, like eating well, exercising, and practicing good hygiene. They also see that being “my healthiest me” is a blast: It’s playing basketball, it’s swinging on the monkey bars, it’s eating a rainbow of foods. And after fun, active days, it's a good night’s sleep.

In Writing, students will begin research writing projects, and in Phonics, we will practice decoding, encoding, blending sounds into words, and learning “heart words”—those tricky words that don’t follow phonics rules and need to be memorized.

Please note that there will be no school on Monday, January 19th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

January 1st Grade Newsletter

Mrs.Villalta, Mrs.Frydel, Ms.Mondesi, Ms.Rooney, Mrs.M and Mrs.Benenati

Dates to Remember:

· No school, January 1&2, 2026.

· January 15th will begin dance classes with Ballet Hispanico.

· No school, January 19th, 2026.

· January 12-16th students will visit a temporary Planetarium in our gymnasium.

· January 20th-22nd Splat

Reminders:

· Please check your child’s folders every day.

· Please check homework every day.

· Arrival is in the gym at 8:00 am on Bleecker St.

· Dismissal is in the gym at 2:00pm on Bleecker St.

A peek at what we are learning:

MATH: Students will learn how to work with subtraction and addition equations. Students will find the unknown number in the equation, determine if the equation is true or false, find the missing equation and use different equations to solve word problems.

Phonics: Students will continue to learn how to print upper & lower-case letters. Students will learn the digraph ch & wh, and trigraph tch. They will continue to practice using CVC words and creating sentences.

ELA: Students will listen to and read stories and informational texts about getting along and being a good citizen. They will discover that playing games is a great way

to spend time with friends and get healthy exercise, too! As the students explore this topic, they will also learn about the importance of playing fairly and persevering when things get challenging. Students will then conduct a procedural text on how to make a friend.

Second Grade Newsletter

• Second Grade Newsletter

   

  We have had a wonderful few months with your children! We can’t wait to continue learning and growing together in the new year.

   

  What we are learning:

  ● HMH Into Reading: Students will learn lessons from characters in a story.

  ● Math: In Unit 6, students will use place value and models to subtract 2-digit and 1-digit numbers. They will learn how to show regrouping with place-value blocks.

  ● Writing: Children will write about an imaginary friend or place.

  Reminders:

  ● Please check your child's folder and homework daily.

  ● Arrival is at 8:00 a.m

  ● Dismissal is at 2:00 p.m

  ● There are spelling tests every Friday

   

  Important dates:

  ● Classes resume on Monday, January 5th.

  ● Swimming continues until the second week of January.

  ● No school 1/19 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 2026

Terrific Third Graders

Happy New Year!

W.I.N- What I Need?

W.I.N begins promptly at 8:10 every day. It is so important our children come in on time. This will help our students become better readers and writers. W.I.N will begin this month.

Math- Fluently Multiply and Divide within 100

Students will focus on the connection between multiplication and division. In previous topics, students learned their multiplication facts while using different strategies such as properties of operations, drawings, and skip counting. In this unit, students will learn how to use multiplication facts to help them divide numbers. Multiplication and division have an inverse relationship.

Reading- Module 5 Teamwork

Over the next three weeks, our class will build their knowledge about the concept of teamwork, with a focus on the realistic fiction genre. We will read texts and view videos about how sports can bring people together to work as a team.

Writing- Children will write a letter persuading a new student to be their friend. They will take the position as to why they should be your friend and give supporting details why.

Science- Bridges

In this 8-week module, students identify the characteristics that make a bridge unique and learn the basic differences between an arch, a truss, and a suspension and the forces that act on them. For the final project, students will use this knowledge to construct a six-foot-long truss-suspension bridge.

Writing- We will work on subject-verb agreement, Pronoun verb agreement, and verbs in the past, present, and future tenses.

Social Studies- Teamwork in the Community

Social studies will be tied into our HMH curriculum. In this unit, students will be reading and writing about athletes who work together to achieve a goal. They will discuss what teamwork means, both in sports and in life.

4th Grade

JANUARY

Reading

We have started Module 5 in our HMH reading program. In this module, students will listen to, read, and view a variety of texts

and media that present them with information about the arts.

A genre focus on biography provides students with opportunities to identify ideas and support, text structure, and figurative language in order to better understand unfamiliar texts. Students will also encounter informational text and poetry to build knowledge across genres. As students build their vocabulary and synthesize topic knowledge, they will learn that sharing our creative talents with the world can bring us closer together.

Over the next few weeks, they will build and strengthen their reading, writing, listening, speaking, and thinking skills as they explore facing challenges. Titles include

● The Beatles We’re Fab (and Funny)

● St. Augustine: A Story of America

In this module, students will listen to, read, and view a variety of texts that present them with examples of what makes someone a hero.

Writing

The next writing task the students are working on is a story.

Writing Prompt: Story

Students will READ the following sentence: It takes courage to make a difference.

Students will THINK about someone they know who has made a difference.

Students will WRITE a story about how that person made a difference.

Students need to be sure to —

• identify the person who made a difference

• explain what happened and how the person made a difference

• use adjectives and verbs to describe people, actions, and places

• use correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar

Please encourage your children to read every night

Math

Topic 5 In this topic your child will learn how to divide by one digit divisors. Learning this skill will require his or her understanding of estimating quotients and remainders and connecting models and symbols. You can expect to see work that provides practice in dividing whole numbers by one digit divisors and checking the answer using multiplication.

*****Please encourage your child to study their multiplication facts. THis will make the skill of division a little less difficult.*****

WIN – What I Need

On January 2nd new groups have been generated and students will begin their WIN program. Students have been divided into groups based on their needs and continue to be part of a School Wide Phonics Program.

Science:

After the Holidays, Ms. Fanning will be completing the Rocks and fossils unit - just 1-2 lessons left. She would like to begin introducing the next unit which is "Waves, Energy and Information". That unit should go through March- April. After that unit, she is very interested in working with the EIE unit ("Green Engineering"- the pizza ovens).

Upcoming Events

Jan 8th Salvadori Foundation

Jan 12-16 Planetarium Assembly

Jan 19th No School

Fifth Grade Newsletter

Physical Education

• K–1: Demonstrate basic jumping and landing skills; attempt overhand throws with correct arm motion.
• Grade 2: Successfully jump a self-turned rope several times in succession; show improved accuracy in overhand throws.
• Grade 3: Perform consecutive jumps with rhythm and control; throw overhand with proper form and step.
• Grades 4–5: Complete Fitnessgram assessments; continue refining throwing and jumping skills as part of overall fitness development.

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• January ENL Newsletter

   

  We are working on leveraging cross linguistic transfer to drive student literacy outcomes and explore opportunities to align instruction with best practices for multilingual learners. Multilingual students leverage their full linguistic repertoire to navigate and draw connections across languages when reading, writing, listening and speaking. Language comprehension and word recognition are both necessary for skilled reading. We are focusing on phonetics and phonology including the fact that English has double the sounds of Spanish, 92% correlation between English and Spanish and 8% provides an area for explicit instruction. We use Heggarty and Really Great Reading in the classrooms to support this learning.

  We are focusing on morphology including cognates, false cognates, shared prefixes (re-, in-, con-) and suffixes (-tion, -cion; -ism, -ismo; -ity, -idad) and inflected endings(-ed). Many prefixes are similar across both languages, and many suffixes have a predictable counterpart across languages (such as –ly and –mente). We use the HMH Morphology walls in the classrooms to support this learning.

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• Library Newsletter

   

• December Newsletter for Library

   

  Our students have been busy in the library!

   

  In December, we have many things to celebrate. We will enjoy literature focused on the many holidays and seasonal changes occurring during the month of December.

   

  Students in kindergarten, first and second grade will begin a unit on gingerbread stories, in which they compare and contrast the many different stories that focus on gingerbread men/women. Students in third and fourth grades will also work on gingerbread stories, but will continue their research into runaway food stories (Stop that Pickle, The Cajun Cornbread Boy, The Runaway Tortilla and many others). Students in fifth grade will work on a unit researching winter holidays around the world. Students will continue to borrow books throughout December. Additionally, seasonal texts will also be enjoyed and shared while visiting the library.

   

  Please continue to ask your children about their library books and continue to read with them at home!

  Happy November!

   

   

  MUSIC NEWSLETTER FOR JANUARY

   

  We have started new musical topics

  THIS MONTH:

  Kindergarten - Happy New Year Song, January songs

  First Grade - Carnival of the Animals unit, how to listen to a song (Lions, Hens and Rooster)

  Third Grade - Music Around the World Unit (Jamaica, Australia) 

  Fourth Grade - Learning how to play The Recorder

  Fifth Grade - Music Essentials for Middle School, Graduation songs (Let There Be Peace on Earth, Star Spangled Banner) 

   

  How Do We Learn a New Song in Music?   LISTEN     REPEAT          SING

   

  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Did you make your resolutions yet? A New Year is a great time to make a promise of something you will accomplish this year!  

   

  JOKE OF THE MONTH: Why should you put your calendar in the freezer?

  To have a cool year!!!  

   

  For all music newsletters visit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19iz9hZbq0kku_lPrycFqjjRYTOluvhGwNzvwyIm1rsY/edit?usp=sharing

  FOR FEBRUARY

• JOKE

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Yoga & Mindfulness Newsletter

Grades 1–5 | From the Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher

Hello Families,

Our students have been doing a wonderful job practicing yoga and mindfulness at school! During class, we’ve been learning how to move our bodies safely, breathe deeply, and calm our minds. Students are practicing focus, kindness, balance, and self-control, skills that help them both in and out of the classroom.

We’ve been working on:

· Simple yoga poses to build strength, flexibility, and confidence

· Breathing exercises to help with big emotions and stress

· Mindfulness activities that teach listening, patience, and awareness

· Relaxation and quiet time to help students reset and refocus

What’s Coming Up Next Month

Next month, we will focus on:

· Emotional awareness: noticing and naming feelings

· Self-regulation tools: calming strategies students can use anytime

· Mindful movement games that encourage teamwork and joy

· Short guided relaxation and visualization activities

Students will continue learning fun, practical tools they can use in the classroom, at home, and in everyday life.

Thank you for supporting your child’s wellness journey. It’s a joy to see our students grow in confidence, calm, and connection!

Warmly,

M.Savage

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• Science- January 2026 

  Ms. Fanning and Ms. Kassnove 

  • Kindergarten-  As we begin in 2026, our scientists will begin to learn about the needs of plants and animals. We will take a closer look at the similarities and differences and compare them. 
  • Grade 1- In this new unit of light and sound, students will take on the role of light and sound engineers as they are challenged with a design problem to design and eventually build. 
  • Grade 2- Second grade scientists are beginning a new unit: The Properties of Materials.  They are investigating a variety of substances with the goal of creating their own sticky school glue. 
  • Grade 3- Third grade scientists are beginning a new unit: “Environments and Survival”.  In this unit, students will explore how animals adapt and survive in a variety of environments.  They will solve the mystery of why a certain species of snail is not surviving well. 
  • Grade 4-   Scientists Started a new unit on Rocks and Fossils.   They are exploring how rocks and fossils can help us understand how the Earth changes over time.  Students are examining real fossils and learning about sedimentary rock and how fossils get buried in rock. 
  • Grade 5- Students started a new unit called Ecosystem Restoration.  They will investigate how living and non-living parts of a variety of ecosystems all work together to keep the ecosystem healthy and thriving.  We are creating terrariums to observe a small classroom ecosystem. 

  Speech and Language – January

  Word of the Month - snowman

   

  Books:

  The Mitten, written by Jan Brett

  I know An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Allison Jackson

  The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

   

   

  Language At Home:

   

  Language Extension is a technique that 'extends' a child's utterances (i.e.

  words, phrases, simple sentences). It can be used to support language acquisition in any activity or environment. Language Extension involves repeating your child's utterances in the manner in which an adult would say it, by adding 1-2 words.

   

  Ways to have your child organize their thoughts to create a verbal narrative:

  Ask your child to recall details from their day and tell you about it.

  Ask your child to discuss a TV show or movie they have watched.

  Ask your child what they saw today and what they did.

   

  **Practice using Language Extension while your child tells you what they have done at school each day.

   

  Activities:

  · Fill a bowl with snow and bring it inside. Have your child describe how the snow looks, feels, and tastes. Microwave the snow for 15 seconds. Talk about how the snow looks, feels, and tastes now.

  · Make a snowman craft out of marshmallows, pretzel sticks and M&M’s and discuss with this the step-by-step process. It’s an easy craft to find on-line.

  · Plan an alone time together to read a story or make an easy recipe. This is a fun activity where you can ask them comprehension questions during or after.

  · As you get ready to leave home, talk about the cold weather and what you will wear on each body part to stay warm outside.

  · Practice Language Extension while getting dressed.

  · Practice Language Extension while discussing your child's favorite book or show.

JANUARY

Counselor’s Corner - Josephine D’Amico

Happy New Year! 2026! As we start this new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished and set new goals for the months ahead. January is all about fresh starts, and I’m excited to work with your children to help them achieve their personal and academic goals.

Focus of the Month: Goal Setting & Resolutions

This month, we’re focusing on the importance of setting goals. During our guidance sessions, students will learn how to set SMART goals. We’ll discuss how setting goals can help them stay focused and motivated throughout the school year.

Wellness Tips: Starting the Year Strong

January is a great time to establish healthy habits that will set the tone for the rest of the year. Encourage your child to get enough sleep, eat well, and stay organized with their schoolwork.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions or would like to discuss how to support your child’s progress, please feel free to contact me at ([email protected]) or call (718-821-9800).