Based on a true story, this picture book follows Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia who was determined to find a way to honor and remember soldiers. With detailed drawings and information on the period surrounding world War I, this book is a powerful way to share with your child what it means to serve your country. Once you have read this book together, your little one will be spotting red poppies everywhere you go. Celebrating Our Latest Book Infusion: Promoting Messages of Acceptance, Diversity and Empowerment.10/17/2017
Last week at Chatsworth, every classroom teacher opened customized boxes of new books that focus on celebrating all diverse experiences. This was a collaborative effort to continue to prioritize our commitment to enriching and expanding our classroom libraries with children's literature that explore diversity, acceptance, and honor all experiences.
This was led by our district-wide literacy ambassador, Maggie Hoddinott, worked closely with the schools to research books that would bring a wide range of perspectives to our classroom and school libraries. All of these new books are filled with messages that allow children to put themselves in the shoes of diverse characters that experience social issues related to familial structures, race, wealth, poverty, opportunities, and friendship, All the books honor our humanity, while allowing children to develop empathetic attitudes for all people. If you are interested in finding some books that promote messages of celebrating diversity, empowerment and acceptance with your children at home, please click on the link below. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/10-childrens-books-that-celebrate-diversity/ Our values, and actions speak volumes for what we model and teach our children in school, and at home. Please join us in sending these very important messages to our Chatsworth Children. We, the Chatsworth staff, will continue to focus on supporting all the children in school. We look forward to sharing with you, in our next blog, all about other initiatives that are already happening, and will be happening soon! Our K-2 Family, Fun Math Night at Chatsworth Avenue School- Another Great Collaborative Effort!10/13/2017
Our K-2 Family Math Night was a successful evening that empowered our families to have the opportunity to learn and play some of Chatsworth's favorite math games, alongside their children. We were proud of our 4th and 5th grade leaders who volunteered to help Mr. Forcinito lead the way in teaching the little ones, and their parents how to play a variety of games including the following:
Thank you to everyone who supported this evening. What do you envision when you think about a true community garden? Well, this year at Chatsworth, the fruits of our labor and love, over the last couple of years, has finally come full circle. Emily, and I coordinated with a committee of parents, led by Karen Hall and Kerry Sneyd, and the teachers to diligently align outdoor hands-on experiences in our gardens with existing units of study and the Next Gen. Science Standards to imagine what is possible for our children at Chatsworth. Mrs. Peters' garden and the Chatsworth garden has been a labor of love for all stakeholders involved in our collaborative effort. The engagement of all children was astonishing when learning in our gardens this year!
So, here is a peek at our first ever attempt at a summer crop. As you can see, everything is flourishing! If you're in town, come by and see the our sunflowers nearing 10ft tall (planted by incoming 1st graders), or maybe focus on the tomato, squash (yellow flowers) and pumpkin (planted by incoming 5th). Last but not least, we invite you to grab some kale (planted by incoming 3rd)! This summer, we have 15+ families all chipping in to water our crops. We are so grateful and excited that it's finally a true COMMUNITY garden! Gratitude is defined as the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. As the hallways begin to look less crowded with overflowing backpacks, instruments, and student writing on the walls, we realize the year is coming an end. Another year that students, teachers, parents and administrators have dedicated their commitment to ensure that all children have had a successful school experience. One that brings memories of gratitude! We think about everything that brings us the feeling of simple, or more complex moments of gratitude. Seeing children and families walk through the hallways with gifts of thanks and joy for their teachers, and friends that have made this year extra special. You hear words of thanks, whether it be about how the year was amazing, or the extra helping hand that was given, or you might catch a conversation from a fifth grader to his/her principals about the sheer gratitude for Chatsworth feeling like home for the last six years. Tears are shed, while smiles are bright, and the smell of new beginnings are in the air. Feelings are real, and very sincere at Chatsworth. So, in preparation, and following our gratitude parade, students reflected on what they are thankful for, which include some of the following ideas.
Our purpose for the parade was captured by Lila in 4KW so brilliantly. She stated: "The purpose of the parade was to have the whole school together. Every grade was a color to show that the grades have grown into a community. " This is what I'm thankful for... Having a community that supports messages of empathy, responsibility, and perseverance at Chatsworth. Because, as teachers this is what we value and teach each and every day. This parade was a new and symbolic way to show what we stand for as an entire school community and the children were proud to show what gratitude means to them. So, I leave you this year with the "gift of gratitude" as you begin your summer with your family and friends. Pause, appreciate, savor, and listen. Dream BIG, and as Peter Reynolds says... The best dreamer is a HAPPY one! Just, BE YOU! Our District Literacy Coach Shares Her Expertise, Understanding and Supporting Our Primary Readers3/6/2017
Please take some time to listen and learn about how complex the reading process is for our children during the beginning years, and most importantly how to support your child. What kind of reader are you? Are you a reader who gravitates towards non-fiction books, or possibly one who selects a historical fiction book that lifts you away to a different era?
As part of my New Year's Resolution, a busy mom of two, and principal of a school with over 725 children in attendance, I needed to put more energy towards reading more to empower myself on all levels, whether it was focused on successful parenting tips for the toddler years, or how to get a better work life balance, or possibly even just for pleasure to decompress. Every idea needs an action plan to become a reality. So, I started a book club with five of my best friends, including my sister, Kristen, and we would meet approximately every 4-6 weeks. Our first pick was titled, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which I highly recommend, but it didn’t come close to my original goal of focusing on the “self-help” books, as a genre. This book reminds me of the complexity of relationships between families, friends, and even enemies in the best and worst of conditions. Why does it always come back to the power of relationships in this world? If we are raising self-aware children who can manage their own emotions, and have an understanding and acceptance of others, then as parents we have officially graduated. This is our daily work as parents, a job that is complicated, trying and absolutely fascinating all at the same time. After all, it’s our most proud endeavor in this world. So, as we plan for the February break, I thought I would leave you with a few book titles that I am considering digging into over the holiday. And yes, they are all related to empowering myself, as a parent. Knowledge is Power, and Parenting is a Journey. Last week, I came across a hand-out titled, What Are the Key Features of High-Quality Standards for Social and Emotional Learning while surfing on the CASEL (http://www.casel.org) website. After reviewing some school sytems that have comprehensive SEL standards across the five domains, including self-awareness, self management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making... I stumbled upon this extremely informative parent tool on the CASEL website that can help you stay connected to your child's educational journey. It's called the Parent Toolkit and can be found by clicking on this link: http://www.parenttoolkit.com
This toolkit utilizes a range of experts in the field, including CASEL’s Roger Weissberg, classroom teachers, college professors, pediatricians, dieticians, psychologists, and parents to make the resource robust and useful. The Toolkit focuses on may aspects of your child's development, because we know that there is interconnectedness between being happy, healthy, and connected with others makes a child succeed in many ways throughgout their life. So, let's just say... this resource is sort of like shopping on Amazon, you get everything you need to support your child in a few clicks. It's pretty hard to believe, it could be that easy! Your shopping cart, or bucket is filled with the knowledge you need as a parent. Parents as partners. Recently, I came across a blog post naming 13 powerful children's books that send children of all ages important messages that kindness matters in our world. As adults, and children we all need time to pause and think about our social interactions and how our actions positively or negatively impact other people, and the energy around us each and every day. When we take time to know each other's story and listen to the meaning behind the story, we are opening our hearts and minds to imagining what's possible. When teaching our children about doing the "right" thing, we try our very best to model how advocating for self, and making the right decisions is definitely a decision to stand by what you believe in. Our hope is that all children take responsibility for their own actions, stand by what they believe is fair, and support one another along the journey of learning to practice and accept what is...These are all messages at Chatsworth, we value and believe will guide our children to "not judge a book by it's cover". We, as the teachers and parents are trying our best to instill the importance of the invaluable trait of being kind to others!
With that said, please take some time to enjoy one of these picture books with one, or all of your children. See if your child/children can identify why being kind matters, or maybe how the character stood up for his beliefs, or possibly why the giving tree never stopped giving no matter what the conditions. I guess, it's true, we can never underestimate the power of a good book to teach us life-long messages. Kindness Matters! On Tuesday evening, we had the privilege of sharing our hopes and dreams for our children at Chatsworth. Our discussion was focused on sharing our beliefs, and practices that we believe are important to continuously develop. -Best practices in literacy -Social and emotional intelligence -Authentic learning opportunities We hope these slides provide you with a glimpse of what makes Chatsworth a special place. |
Katie Andersen
Principal Lauren Scharfstein Assistant Principal |