Tappan Hill News 2007-2008

Celebrating Young Authors at Tappan Hill

On April 17, Tappan Hill held their first school-wide writing celebration.

Students from different classes shared their “Small Moments” stories with each other.  Classrooms were beautifully decorated and classical music played in the background, while the young authors read to each other. Special guests included Ms. Milliam, Principal, Mrs. Schoenberg, Reading Teacher, Ms. Almogabar, ESL Teacher and Dr. Smith, Superintendent of Schools.  Anyone walking around the school would have seen proud authors reading as well as active listeners.  The publishing party ended with delicious snacks for everyone to enjoy. (Posted 4/28/08) 

I Like Ants! They Make My Mama... Dance...

On Friday March 14, John Farrell, singer, author and songwriter entertained the students at Tappan Hill School.  The children were completely captivated by his interactive approach that allowed the children to become an important element to the show using song, storytelling, and sign language.  John Farrell was also impressed by the number of his songs that the children already knew how to sing. Throughout the year teachers play his CD’s and sing along with his music in the classrooms.  We love his songs!  Each song helps children explore important issues such as respect for oneself, community, and the earth in a fun and delightful style. Some of our favorite songs are: Library Song, Habitat, I Like Ants and Love Grows.   John introduced us to his new book, Dear Child. It was an outstanding concert!

If you are interested in purchasing  his CD’s for your child,  the order forms are available in the main office at Tappan Hill School. (Posted 3/30/08) 

Tappan Hill’s Abstract Collages Are Visual Melodies!

Tappan Hill’s kindergarten artists have been considering the relationship between art and music.  Studying the work of Russian-born abstract master Wassily Kandinsky, the students created watercolor responses to various classical music selections.  Exploring the techniques and work of collage artist Romare Bearden, the children created multi-colored painted papers in response to jazz music.  In a culminating project, celebrating African American History Month, the children created watercolor paintings based on an American jazz composition.  In order to highlight and develop these images, the students cut out inventive free-form shapes from their decorated papers.  These shapes were strategically placed and fastened to the abstract paintings in order to create a sense of balance and movement—indicative of a musical experience.  While creating these sophisticated abstract works, the children learned specific watercolor techniques to develop brightly colored paintings.  These pieces were carefully executed and painstakingly crafted.  The children learned how to wait for things to dry and they were dazzled by the results! (Posted 3/25/08) 

Happy New Year!      

The students at Tappan Hill School celebrated the Chinese New Year in many different ways this year. On February 12, Mrs. Sanchez-Zhu spoke to the school during an assembly about some Chinese traditions. She also included some of the traditions of Korean and the Philipino cultures.  Ms. Corea, Mrs. Garibaldi and Mrs. Praino’s classes created props, including the Dragon’s Head and marched in a Dragon Parade. The entire school created rattles and tamborines to make noise and ward off “bad luck” as the parade marched by.  This year we celebrate the year of the Rat. Children learned how to say Happy New Year in Mandarin and Cantonese.  Follow up activities included Mrs. Garibaldi’s class cooking dumplings and Ms. Corea’s and Mrs. Praino’s classes experimenting with chopsticks for the celebration. Other classes read books and learned how to write, using “Chinese” characters.  (Posted 3/3/08) 

How Book Will Travel

The students at Tappan Hill School are excited about books!  Starting this month, the students will begin to take books home each night. The books selected are based on the independent reading levels of the students.

Every student will have a special “bag” to keep the precious books clean and safe! On each “bag” there will be a list of activities that parents can complete at home with the child and inside the “bag” is a list of reading strategies.  Reading is a complex skill and having the opportunity to practice this skill with leveled books is essential. The Book-in-a Bag program is just one more way that the students at Tappan Hill School are developing their literacy skills! (Posted 1/31/08)

Food for Thought

The Nutcracker Ballet

The Kindergarten students at Tappan Hill School attended a performance of the Nutcracker Ballet at the Tarrytown Music Hall in early December.  The children were very familiar with the story and the music before the trip.  Each classroom teacher discussed the characters in the story and played the music by Tchaikovsky during rest time.  They also learned about many different types of “nutcrackers.” Some students brought their own nutcrackers from home to share with classmates.  The children were able to actually see ballet dancing on the Smartboard.  The children were able to learn the five basic positions. Teachers were able to also show the children other ballets on other internet sites.  The actual performance by the Ballet Atlantic Company was beautiful.  The costumes and the scenery were so colorful.  A favorite part of the story was the falling of the snow on the Snow Queen and her attendants.  It was magical.  The Christmas tree that grew as tall as the parlor at the stroke of midnight was magical as well.  If your family has not seen this holiday tradition, make sure to see it next year.

Students will continue to learn about ballet during our Enrichment For All program and also through our dance residency, which will take place in early Spring. (Posted 1/24/08)

Dear Parents,

I am pleased to inform you that we have begun our “Enrichment for All” Program.  We developed the program with the African proverb in mind:  “It takes a whole village to raise a child.”

At Tappan Hill, the whole staff (village) will be participating in a program to further enrich the learning of every child in our care.  We will be exposing the children to numerous and varied experiences that address the multiple intelligences and expand on the enriching activities that already occur at Tappan Hill. 

For our enrichment program, we chose to focus on the countries, languages, and cultures of Europe.  Throughout the year at Tappan Hill, as part of our Social Studies curriculum, children are provided with culturally enriching experiences relating to Latin America, the Carribean, Africa, and Asia.  Realizing the importance of the European influence on American culture, we chose to highlight that continent in our school-wide enrichment program.  The countries we have chosen to “tour” are: France and Italy.

Through various activities, children will have experiences in using their Visual/Spatial, Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematic, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal intelligences. 

Some of the activities that the children will experience are: Stregga Nona and Pasta making , Italian Folk Dances (including the Tarantella) , Soccer, Opera and Mosaics in Italy; Sign Language, Ballet, “Carnival of the Animals,” Monet and Madeline in France.  Please dress your child in loose clothing suitable for dance and athletics on Thursdays.

Your child will bring home “souvenirs” to share with you from their various experiences.  The program will last for nine more weeks and will generally occur on Thursday mornings from 8:45– 9:30 a.m.  If you would like more information, you can call either me or your child’s teacher.  Make every effort to have your child get to school on time (8:00 am) so they don’t miss one minute of this enriching journey. 

                                                                                                Excitedly,

                                                                                                Ms. M. Milliam
                                                                                                Principal

Once Upon a Time …

The Kindergarten children at Tappan Hill School took a trip to Lyndhurst Castle recently to enjoy the Holiday Fairytale Exhibit.  Before the trip, the students were taught the various features of fairytales as a literature genre.  Teachers read some familiar and not so familiar fairytales to the children.  Children noticed that many of them begin ‘Once upon a Time’ and end ‘Happily ever after.’  It was also noted that most fairytales have a “mean” or “bad” person in the story.  Many of the fairytales take place in castles and that many of the main characters are kings, queens, princes and princesses.  Lyndhurst is Tarrytown’s very own castle. The exhibit was so magical.  One could look at each of the over 10 rooms and feel that they were a part of each story. The children all had a favorite, which we graphed when upon returning to school.  The children also drew pictures and wrote about their favorites.  Many of the classes did a comparative literature study with the many versions of Cinderella.  If your family was not able to attend the exhibit, be sure to see it next year. (Posted 1/8/08)

Run!  Run As Fast As You Can!

The students in Mrs. Garibaldi and Mrs. Sanchez Zhu, E.S.L. teacher, collaboratively taught Mrs. Garibaldi’s Kindergarten class a comparative literature study during the month of December.  The students studied the likes and differences between the many different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  We then read some other variations on the same theme.  We read  The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Cat, The Musubi Man,  and Stop That Pickle. Stop That Pickle was similar to The Runaway Rice Cake, which we will be rereading for the Chinese New Year. There are other “runaway” versions such as The Runaway Latka and The Runaway Dreydl.  These are good books to read for Hanukkah. The Matzah Man is a good one to read for Passover.

A lot of the vocabulary had to be reviewed first when reading a version that took place in another part of the country. The children looked at the similar characters, settings and plots. Sequencing was very important. The children participated in ‘turn and talk’ and contributed to the creation of various Venn diagrams.  The children then graphed their favorite stories.  As a class we also went on the internet to discover other existing versions of the story.  To the delight of the girls in the class, we discovered during our research, that there are several books about a gingerbread girl.  This was an enjoyable, exciting and an enriching experience for the children! 

The children were delighted by the activity of decorating and eating of the gingerbread people (limb by limb,of course!).  Their most favorite activity was decorating the Gingerbread Houses with  Matthew Burnette’s mom on one day, and being able to eat a piece of candy from them every day after that. 

We are now going on to an author study of Jan Brett because her book, The Gingerbread Baby, was a favorite of the children. (Posted 1/7/08)

Snow People Relay                                        

In Physical education class the students at Tappan Hill get into the spirit of the holidays and winter weather by creating snow people.  Their creation is a team effort. This allows every student to practice in both fine and gross motor skills while being creative and having fun!

Brief description:
Four Students match up in relay lines.  A piece of construction paper and a magic marker are placed about 15 feet in front of each line.  When the music starts the first child from each line runs to the paper and creates the beginning of the snow person, the head & face.  Then they put the marker down and run back to tag the next child in line, who then runs down to create the second part of the snow person, the body and arms.  This continues until the last child of each team has a turn. To display the pride that the children have in their work, they are also asked to sign their names.  Every picture and each team wins for their effort!   (Posted 12/16/07)

Tappan Hill Goes Green!!

Tappan Hill School is making a concerted effort to recycle all paper and plastic goods within the school.  Merry Thomas and Alia Yeater, two of the kindergarten teachers in the building, have volunteered to head the district-wide clean-up project  at the kindergarten level.  Plastic bins are being utilized to collect the recyclables throughout the building.  The entire staff at Tappan Hill is teaching students the importance of going green.  The children will be involved in picking up and proper placement of recyclables to make it more manageable for the Village to pick up.  Parents and friends of Tappan Hill School please join us in celebrating the importance of going green!! (Posted 12/9/2007)

Little Hawk

Little Hawk, a member of the Mohawk Nation, came to Tappan Hill to teach our students about some of the cultural traditions of Native Americans.  Among the many things that he taught the children were some dances.  He explained how the Smoke Dance got its name (It was danced only by children … and they can kick up a lot of dust!)  He performed a Challenge Dance in which the person challenged must pick up a feather with his/her teeth and the ONLY part of the body touching the floor are the feet! (on  the right)   That was very difficult, as a  few students found out!  He finished the program with a hoop dance in which he used 18 hoops to dance in and out of.  While dancing he made the hoops into a snake, an eagle and finally Mother Earth! (Posted 11/28/2007)

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