W. L. Morse 2011-2012 News

First Grade Students Visit Kendal On-The-Hudson

For the past five years, after celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the First Grade classes at the W.L. Morse School commence visits to Kendal On-The-Hudson Nursing home.

In Dr. King’s memory, his son, Martin Luther King III started a program called, “Do Something: Acts of Justice and Kindness.”  True to this program, our students have learned the values taught by Dr. King—justice, compassion, responsibility, non-violence and moral courage—and put these values into practice by performing positive acts in their communities by visiting the elderly.

First Grade students visit Kendal every two weeks until the end of school. While there, each class shares something special with the residents. This could be a favorite book, poem, math game or self-published writing piece.

During last week’s visit, each child gave a resident a handmade flower, and read them a selection of books brought from school that they have been reading. It was a very touching visit; the success and happiness we were met with was memorable.  

Before visiting day, students were taught about the elderly members of Kendal and how the elderly have earned not only our respect, but our kindness. The interactions were inspiring and several children remarked as they were leaving their new friends that “This was the best day ever!”

The most touching event was watching a child who very rarely takes risks in class, walk up to a resident, give her his flower and commence reading his books to her. Without teacher support, he simply saw others doing it, and he entered into the world of giving.

The success of the Kindness & Justice Challenge is a fitting tribute to Dr. King's life and legacy. He believed passionately in the power of young people to make a difference, and he showed us that young people can be visionaries and powerful agents of change. (Posted 1/29/12)

First Graders Writing iBooks

The students in Mrs. Chulla’s first grade are not only working on developing their creative writing skills by writing traditional stories, they are writing ibooks as well!  They recently produced 2 ibooks using the Book Creator app on an iPad2. Book Creator’s recent update allows students to add audio to their books as well.  Those ibooks not only can be read by the students on the class ipads but can be emailed and downloaded by parents to any “I”technology ie: iphone, itouch, ipad.  The students can then share their work with anyone at home.  A great home-school technology connection! (Posted 1/13/12)

Wishes for the New Year

Mrs. Bakala's class wrote about a wish to everyone for the New Year. With Mr. Staker's help they were able to integrate technology by photographing and recording their work. Also, the class enjoyed making a snowman for the holiday season.  A big thank you to all the parents for their help. Happy New Year to Everyone! Click here to watch the video. (Posted 1/3/12)

Learning About Social Skills in Ms. Rivera's Classroom

The first graders in Ms. Rivera and Mrs. Tucci’s class have been learning about social skills in their character education class.. They practiced when to say please, thank you, excuse me and good morning using scenarios. Then the children wrote about a time they had to use a social skill. Now the children use the social skills they practiced at home and in school all the time.  Click here to watch the video. (Posted 12/20/11)

Responsibility

The 1^st and 2^nd grade students at Morse have been focusing on Responsibility during the months of November and December. The children shared how they can be responsible at home, at school, and in the community. With the support of Mr. Staker, the children in Mrs. Richardson’s class recorded ways that they are responsible. Click here to watch the video.  (Posted 12/20/11)

Online field Trip to Acadia National Park

The first graders in Mr. Vetere's class at Morse School having been writing pen pal letters to students in Winterport, Maine. To get a better understanding of life in the downeast region of Maine the students took a virtual field trip to Acadia National Park. The trip was a boat cruise around Mt. Desert Island and the smaller surrounding islands. Mt. Desert Island is home to many fantastic views of the rocky shores. Many of the students' favorite spot was the "Dance Floor". This was a social gathering place on the flat coastal rocks where people would come together to enjoy the scenery and each others' company. Students were also able to see what it's like to live in downeast Maine. Fishing is the major industry for the region. Students were fascinated by the way Lobsterman catch the lobsters many of us eat here in New York. Lighthouses were a place where past meets present. Many of the lighthouses on the island are still in use. After the trip the students were very excited to share what they had seen with their pen pals.  (Posted 12/10/11)

Enchanted Castle

Second grade Dual Language at W.L. Morse, invites you to explore the enchanted castle that waits outside of Mrs. Tavares and Mrs. Kluge’s classrooms.

The unit study framework was designed and taught with the understanding that our inspirations and our knowledge of story elements are the foundations to construct stories. Students were given the opportunity to read and write through the genre of fairy tales.

As a result, each published piece of writing has been displayed on a beautifully landscaped replica of a majestic castle. On this display, you will find inspirational and creative pieces of writing which includes a 3- dimensional project that reflects student understanding of the unit theme. This was a collaborative project with the help of       Mrs. Tavares, Mrs. Kluge, Ms. Mailman (student teacher), Ms. Lopez and most importantly Mr. Bencosme. Therefore, the final product was a great success!

El Programa de Lenguaje Dual de la escuela W.L Morse, los invita a que viajen y exploren un mundo de fantasía en un castillo encantado, el cual fue recreado por las clases de la profesora Tavares y la profesora Kluge.

El marco de unidad de estudio fue diseñado e impartido en el entendimiento de que nuestra inspiración y nuestro conocimiento de los elementos de la historia son los pedestales para construir cuentos. Los estudiantes tuvieron la oportunidad de leer y escribir a través del género de los cuentos de hadas.

El Castillo esta decorado con balcones de diversos colores y los cuales contienen los escritos de genero fantástico de cada uno de los estudiantes del Programa de Lenguaje Dual. También, se ha exhibido una portada con los personajes de cada obra.  En esta los personajes sobre salen en tercera dimensión y fueron ilustrados por los mismos estudiantes.

Posteriormente, este proyecto se pudo llevar acabo con la colaboración de las profesoras del programa dual y con sus asistentes, Srta. Mailman (practicante), Srta. López y Sr. Bencosme.  (Posted 12/10/11)

 Morse School Holiday Sing Along Concerts

The annual Morse School Holiday Sing Along concerts were held on December 9th.  The students learned a total of 16 songs and came together to welcome in the holiday season.   They started with a remembrance of the most recent holiday: Thanksgiving, The students sang of thankfulness and paid tribute to the center of the feast, the turkey!     The students went on to sing songs of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and winter weather.   The definite highlight was the finale, a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock", complete with dancing and a saxophone solo.   It was a great way to come together as a school community and celebrate the season!(Posted 12/10/11)

Paul Klee Style Paintings

Communicating with visual symbols is basic to all disciplines.  Artists use visual elements to represent ideas and subject matter.  Scientists use drawn images, or symbols, to represent just about everything in the universe, from chemical elements to the planets.  For this project, Second graders had the opportunity to make a connection between science and art! 

We started off the project by brainstorming all different lines we could think of.  We then turned on the Smartboard to view the artworks of Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940).  We carefully studied the simple lines Klee used in paintings like Park Near Lucerne and tried to analyze what the lines might represent (like trees, people, etc.)  We also discussed how the artist “implied” the idea of each object rather than painting it realistically.  Then we turned our thinking to science and looked at planet symbols.  Students quickly noticed the connection between the simple line drawings of the science symbols and those of Paul Klee. 

Second grade artists were now ready to begin their paintings.  Every student received a reference sheet with planet symbols and began by drawing out their design in pencil first.  We then took black tempera paints and outlined each pencil line with the paint. 

Finally, students were art detectives and analyzed how Paul Klee used color in his line paintings.  We discovered that sometimes Klee would pattern off the background in blocks of color and other times he would outline color around lines.  Students were encouraged to try both painting methods, as well as to limit their palette to three colors.  They also had the option to makes tints by mixing the color with white.  The completed paintings were a dazzling array of lines and colors!   

2nd Grade Poets

Ms. Fradkin's second grade writers began the school year by celebrating their diversity through poetry. The students were inspired by the book, “I Am America” by Charles R. Smith Jr.  These poems helped us learn some important things about each another, as well as highlight our individualities! Click here to listen to our poems.

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