Banyan School Newsletter
October 19, 2016
Banyan School
12 Hollywood Avenue – Fairfield, NJ 07004
banyanschool.com
Upcoming Events
Event:
For:
Date:
Time:
Fire Prevention
All
October 21
1:00 PM
Picture Day
All
October 26
9:00 AM
Trunk or Treat
All
October 31
1:00-1:30 PM
MRS. SCHENFELD’S CLASS NEWS
The month of October has been very busy. Thank you to all of our
Banyan Parents who attended Back to School Night. It was good
seeing so many involved parents.
Congratulations to Alex H, Jonathan and Marcus who are now
beginning a new level in the Wilson Reading Program. Presently
these students are learning to decode and encode words with
another exception to the vowel consonant e syllable. Reading and
spelling these new words and developing new vocabulary is
certainly a challenge in this higher level of the Wilson Reading
Program. These students persevere each day and always put forth
their best effort!
MRS. BATTISTA-WELSH’S CLASS NEWS
There are pumpkins everywhere in art! The students have started
making their own pumpkins. Ms. Price’s class has learned how to
make mixed media pumpkins using strips of recycled newspapers.
The children practiced their ripping and tearing skills, which they
were only too happy to do. The other students are learning how to
draw their pumpkins using dimension. This can be a difficult
concept for some students to implement, but learning step by step
as a class helps them better grasp the concept.
Page 1 of 3
October is Anti-Bullying month. In writing the students have read the book, A Bad Case of Stripes,
and then discussed how they should not judge one another based on their differences, but
RESPECT one another and their differences. The students wrote an “I AM” piece in which they
listed positive attributes about themselves.
MRS. RALLO’S PERIOD 6 WRITING CLASS NEWS
The students in my sixth period writing class have been completing a variety of activities. At this
time, they are focusing on building longer, more descriptive sentences. The students were given
very simple sentences containing three or four words . We worked together using the 5Ws to
create longer sentences with more detail. Students were then given their own simple sentence
and asked to use who, what, where, when, or why to add more information. The students shared
their very creative and definitely more interesting sentences. The next step will be to use these
more descriptive sentences when writing at home and in school. Leo and Ben had some really
creative ideas. Eli began to write longer sentences with outstanding handwriting. Gokul was able
to use his who, what, where, when, why visual to help lengthen his sentences. I know these boys
are off to a great start this year, and they will become super writers.
MRS. WILSON’S MATH NEWS
During the week of October 3, 2016 my math students thought of kind words they could say to
classmates. They wrote their phrases on pieces of paper and dropped them into a "Kindness
Jar". At the end of the week we estimated how many slips of paper were in the jar. The students
thought of 90 kind things they could say to classmates. Here are a few:
How is your day going?
Look at the good side!
How was your weekend?
You are cool!
You are the best!
Nice haircut!
Cool shirt!
Delicious meal! (for the parents who get that meal on the table)
Keep calm and carry on!
You're awesome!
Your epic!
Page 2 of 3
MS. JOHNSON’S CLASS NEWS
During my period 6 class, we started reading The Gold Mine Mystery. The students are working on
vocabulary, predictions, sequencing, comprehension, and writing short summaries. The students
love this mystery book. Each day they look forward to the next chapter to see what
happened. They are already asking about the next book we will be reading.
MS. PRICE’S CLASS NEWS
My (period 5) Reading class is working hard on their short /a/ and /i/ words. We have added a few
new sight words to their sight word rings. We have been using our sight words in sentences as much
as possible. We also practice spelling them on the white board, sand tray, letter tiles, and magnetic
boards. We have started reading new books this week. Justin and Dylan are reading The Tin Man,
while Kiera is reading Mac and Tab. We have been incorporating Lindamood Bells “Visualize and
Verbalize” program in our reading class. The students have been practicing describing what they
read be creating a picture in their minds. We have also been reading leveled books on RazKids. I
am so proud of all of you for working so hard every day. Keep up the great work my busy bees!
Page 3 of 3