November 2016
The Albrook Almanac
Published for the families and friends of The Albrook School, Basking Ridge, New Jersey
Boot Day
by Mrs. Dignam
B
oot Day was on the calendar. Despite the fact that the week prior was
filled with days that were 70 degrees and sunny, our Boot Day forecast
was rain with a high of 42 degrees. We had always referred to Boot Day as a
"rain or shine" event. Barring extreme cold, we all felt that one of the benefits was that if we were properly dressed, we could enjoy being outside regardless of the weather. That morning I'll admit I was doubtful. However, as
soon as the children arrived, I knew it was true, because they were all extremely excited to go out in the rain.
The children were all prepared and bundled with boots and rain gear. Most
of them actually bounded out the door into the cold. We didn't have to walk
far to find a lavender plant. All of the children took a bit and crushed it in
their fingers as they contemplated the scent. We then walked around the
campus looking for signs of fall. There had been a frost, so we noted that
some of the annual plants had shriveled due to the cold. We observed the
changing leaves, some were so
bright they looked like flowers.
Many students enjoyed
pointing out the trees which all Students from the Lower Elementary go on
looked different due to the vari- a nature walk.
ous colors of the leaves. AddiFriday, Dec. 16
tionally, some trees had already lost their leaves. The children admired
Barnes & Noble Book Fair
3:30 –8:00pm
the largest tree in the area, an evergreen. We stood under it and appreciated the shelter that it provided from the rain. We enjoyed the respite
Monday, Dec. 19
and looked for pinecones. The children carefully collected pinecones
Elementary Music Recital 10:15
that would be used in the classroom. A few weeks prior, Mrs. Marvi had
given all the teachers a curriculum to connect with nature, and one of
Tuesday, December 20
the choices was to sing. We stood outside and sang in the rain. It was
Wednesday, December 21
lovely.
Expanded Care students only
Upcoming Events
Tuesday, December 20
Through
Monday, January 2
Holiday Vacation
Tuesday, January 3
Classes Resume
On our way back to school, there were pools of water on the patio. The
green light was given for the children to splash in the puddles. Clearly,
this was the highlight of Boot Day.
“Teaching children about the natural world should be
treated as one of the most important events in their
lives.” – Thomas Berry
The Albrook School ● 361 Somerville Road ● Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 ● 908-580-0661 ● www.albrookschool.org
November 2016
APA Fall Harvest
by Co-chair Mrs. Thompson
F
all Harvest arrived on a chilly, wet October
evening, but only warmth and good spirits
radiated from Albers Hall. This beloved seasonal
tradition was again a success, filled to capacity
as Albrook families came together to enjoy
pumpkin carving, food, singing, and each other's company.
This year's school theme of "Mindfulness" was
particularly evident during this community
event. With the large crowd came an overall
respect and awareness of the space and one's
surroundings, rather than chaos. People happily
made way for each other and children largely
remained calm and well-behaved as they enjoyed themselves. At the self-serve craft table,
even our youngest friends from Stepping Stones
were particularly aware of leaving stickers,
tattoos and coloring sheets for the rest of the
children and returning glue sticks when they
completed their craft, so that they'd be available for others.
The sense of community was also strong, as
families generously donated delicious dinner
dishes to complement the classic pizza fare.
Sweet treats and homemade cookies rounded
out a tasty evening. Everyone came together
(particularly some extra helpful fathers!) at the
end of the night to clean up, break down the
tables and chairs and return Albers Hall to its
rightful state in record time so that the children
could enjoy physical education the next morning.
The night was capped off with a sing-a-long led
by Mrs. Marvi - an annual highlight made all the
more special by this year's festive stage decorations. The children calmly filed on stage, then
enthusiastically shared the seasonal songs
they'd been practicing at school to end the
night on a high note. What a wonderful way to
celebrate the fall season!
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Ice Skating at Mennen Arena
November 2016
The Albrook Student Thanksgiving Food Drive 2016
by Ms. MacNeill
“No act of kindness, no matter how small is ever
wasted.” Aesop
T
he Albrook School’s first Food Drive was held
in November 1992 in support of the Interfaith
Food Pantry in Morristown. As the years passed,
the demand on the food bank became greater and
our school connected with the Somerset Food
Bank.
Through the years, we have had the pleasure of
observing students exercise their little muscles
with great pride, as they hauled, pulled and
dragged boxes and bags filled with much needed
food items.
The teachers and staff here at Albrook once again
witnessed the amazing generosity of our giving
families as the front office began to fill with desperately needed food items for the Food Bank. The
food drive this year was yet again an over whelming success. It is truly heartwarming to see our students immersed in the true gift of giving.
The staff at the Somerset Food Bank stated, “Due
to the recessionary times, there is a much greater
demand of families in need, causing a larger demand on keeping the shelves stocked. It is only
through the continuous support of people like the
families at The Albrook School that enables us to
address and serve the needs of these families.”
Thank you! For helping make this year’s food drive
a great success. Your generosity, action and giving
spirit will make someone’s Thanksgiving a richer
one!
“Real Generosity is doing something nice for
someone who will never find out.”
Frank Howard Clark
Peace Library
by Mrs. Sinck
C
ome explore the Albrook
School Library and the Peace
Library.
Our Peace Library was created in
2008 through Ms. Albers’ vision
and inspiration. Our peace library has grown over the years.
Many families and Ms. Albers
have been so gracious to donate
books to this section of our library. These books include any
topic relating to peace such as:
kindness, peace around the
world, International Peace Day,
conflict resolution, friendship, and emotions. There are many
books available for all age levels. For example, you might enjoy,
Can You Say Peace? or Sharing- How Kindness Grows for the
preschool or Kindergarten level. Another example might be Old
Turtle and the Broken Truth for the elementary level. With
mindfulness as our school goal this year, our peace library is a
wonderful way to incorporate that into our daily lives.
Our library is a peaceful environment for the children to explore.
All afternoon preschool and elementary children visit the school
library once a
week. But did
you know that it
is available for
everyone to use?
Parents are welcome to come
and explore our
peace library as
well as the parenting section or
check out additional books of
interest for your
children.
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November 2016
Practicing Mindfulness in the Lower Elementary
By Ms. Francese
M
indful attention centers on the conscious awareness of the present moment. Studies show that
when we focus our attention and control our breath, we
can become better able to reduce stress and thus optimize learning capacity in the brain. Practicing mindfulness
helps us monitor and become more aware of our feelings
in order to better understand how to respond to the
world reflectively rather than reflexively. Mindfulness
supports areas of competency that include: selfawareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsive decision-making, all of which
are developmentally critical for the 6-9 year old child. Research has shown that effective social skills, such as the
ability to manage one’s emotions and get along with others, play an integral role in both academic and personal
success.
The elementary classes are implementing the MindUp
Curriculum, developed by the Hawn Foundation. With this
curriculum, the children are learning about the brain and
how it functions and are gaining insight into their own
minds and behaviors as well as those of the people
around them. The lessons begin with an introduction to
brain physiology: the parts of the brain and how each
functions and interacts. “Core practice”, the habit of deep
belly breathing and focused attention, helps the children
become accustomed to centering their minds and calming
their bodies. The remaining lessons serve to expand the
children’s awareness of the connections between the
brain and body and between internal feelings and actual
experience.
The children have participated in guided activities designed to bring greater self-awareness through sharpening the senses by focusing on mindful listening, seeing,
smelling, tasting, and movement. They will learn about
perspective taking, choosing optimism, appreciating positive experiences, expressing gratitude, performing acts of
kindness, and taking action mindfully. Some of the highlights of our mindfulness practices thus far include savoring a raisin with slow and deliberate attention, watching
red and blue food coloring swirl together in a vessel of
water, sitting silently with no other purpose than to listen.
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We have also enjoyed experiencing nature for its own
sake, as we have done during our Boot Day outings. We
regularly use the apps Headspace and Insight Timer for
guided meditation and visualization. The children look
forward to our mindfulness practices with anticipation
and receive them all with a positive attitude.
Recommended reading:
A Handful of Quiet, Happiness in Four Pebbles Thich
Nhat Hanh
Sitting Still Like a Frog, Mindfulness Exercises for Kids
Eline Snel
The Mindful Child Susan Kaiser Greenland
Teach Breathe Learn, Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom Meena Srinivasan
10 Mindful Minutes Goldie Hawn
November 2016
Scouting
Tasty Voting & the Book Fair
by Mrs. Higgins, APA President
I
am writing this article as the proud co-leader of
Girl Scout Troop 60224.
Our Brownie troop has its roots at The Albrook
School starting as a Daisy Troop two years ago when
the girls were kindergartners. The original six members of the troop have stayed together the last two
years and this year we happily added six more girls
to our group. Our troop is still very rooted in the
Albrook community. 10 of the 12 girls have connections to our school. Four are current students - Caitlin, Aria, Emma, and Alina. Five are Albrook alumnae
- Abby, Beth, Maya, Siska, and Mia. One, Caroline,
has a younger sister, Marcela, who is a PreK-2 student in the O'Keeffe classroom.
We are currently earning a badge on Philanthropy
and the last step was to take action in our community. To that end, the girls decided to host a food drive
on Sunday, November 13 at the Stop & Shop in Basking Ridge. The drive benefitted the food pantry at
the Father English Center in Paterson. The girls were
truly amazing. I was so impressed with how assertive
they were as they went up to each and every customer as they walked in asking them to purchase
food for their drive. The vast majority of the people
were very generous which truly thrilled the girls.
They were also forced to deal with some disappointments as well, and they faced those with such poise
and maturity.
Will it be the Banana Berry Berry Blast or the US Sprinkle
Swirl? That was the big question this November at The
Albrook School. While the country was deciding who was
going to be the 45th President of the United States, our
children were holding an election of their own. The elementary students first read Dr. Seuss' One Vote, Two
Votes, I Vote, You Vote. It was a great way to introduce
the concept and practice of voting and the basic principles
of democracy. Our youngest students read a Scholastic
book titled Let's Vote On It! They learned that a vote is a
fair way to make a choice for a group. Then the Upper
Elementary students were split into groups of two and
asked to collaborate to come up with a name for a special
Albrook smoothie. Six "candidates" were chosen and sent
to Lower Elementary where a primary election was held.
The top two vote getters were put on a ballot for the Preschool classrooms to decide a winner. Everyone was excited to cast their vote and place it in the ballot box!
Please join us at the Book Fair on Friday, December
16th at Barnes & Noble in Bridgewater from 3:30pm
to 8:00pm, where the winner will be announced.
The winning drink will be for sale in the Café during
our Albrook Book Fair. We look forward to seeing
you all there!
Regardless of your political beliefs, the past few
weeks have been tumultuous with a lot of negativity
dominating the headlines. The generosity that was
displayed at the food drive really showed the best of
our community and our country. Congratulations to
Troop 60224 for making such a substantial difference in the lives of many people. Thanksgiving will
be even better this year for so many, thanks to their
efforts.
Images from Around Albrook: JFLL Lego Group
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November 2016
Halloween at Albrook
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