Side by Side’s
Monthly News
March 25, 2011
Issue 98
From the Director:
Dear Side by Side Families,
I am happy to say that springtime is here and we have almost
completed our administration of the Connecticut Mastery Tests. Your
children and their teachers put in a lot of hard work and preparation for
these important tests. I look forward to reviewing our test scores and
the examples of individual student progress attained come next fall.
Please be reminded:
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Next Thursday, March 31 will be a 2pm early dismissal. Side
by Side School follows the Norwalk schools schedule due to
bus transportation.
April spring recess is scheduled for April 18-22. Side by Side
School will be closed during this break.
UPPER SCHOOL ONLY- The 2nd marking period for
students in grades 5-8 officially ended on Wednesday, March
23. Upper School student reports are mailed home and the
U.S. Conference night will be held on Thursday, March 31,
from 4-7pm.
As you know from prior communications, Side by Side is undergoing
the state mandated “renewal” process for charter schools this year.
During the past couple of months our curriculum, student performance,
governance and financial operations have been audited and evaluated
by a team from the CT State Department of Education (CSDE.) The
final phase of this renewal process will conclude with a public hearing,
hosted by CSDE at Norwalk City Hall. The State’s public hearing for
Side by Side’s charter renewal has been scheduled for Wednesday,
April 13 from 6-8pm at the Norwalk Town Hall in the Council
Chambers. A detailed notice will be sent home soon along with a
request to show your support for our school either by simply attending
this hearing or, for those students and parents who choose to, giving
positive testimony about our school at the hearing.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Happy spring,
Mr. Nittoly
ANY QUESTIONS?
Main Number ................................. 857-0306
Fax Number ................................... 838-2666
Director ........................................ Matt, x133
Nurse ......................................... Maria, x118
Social Worker......................... Marlene, x126
Assistant to the Director ................ Lilly, x132
Parent Coordinator…. ...............Evelyn, x130
Family Resource Center
Susan, x111
SAVE THE DATES:
Thursday, March 31 - Early dismissal at 2pm as per the recent
Norwalk Board of Education schedule change, regular bus
transportation at dismissal, no after school enrichment or extended day
Thursday, March 31 4-7pm Conference night for Upper School
SbS Open House dates and times: The last open house is scheduled
for Wed., April 6 at 5 pm. The SbS lottery will take place on Thur.,
April 28 at 5 pm. Lottery applications will be distributed following any
one of these information sessions.
Tuesdays, Intramurals for 5-8th gr. students, 3:45-5:00pm Pickle
ball begins Tuesday March 29
Tuesday, March 29 @5:15 pm – Board of Director’s meeting
Public Session: 5:15-5:30 pm
Review of Minutes
Director Update
Gala
Finance Committee Update
Recruitment Committee Update
Scholarship update
School Uniforms
BOD Elections for 2011-2012
PTCO Update
Proposed Changes to Bylaws: Chairperson Eligibility; Attendance of
Executive Sessions
Friday, April 8 Bingo Night 6:30-8pm in the SbS gymnasium
Scholastic Book Fair April 11 through April 15
Wednesday, April 13 from 6-8pm CSDE Charter Renewal Hearing
to be held at Norwalk Town Hall in the Council Chambers
Monday, April 18 through Friday, April 22 School closed for spring
break.
Please mark your calendars for the professional development
days planned for the remainder of this school year:
Tuesday April 26 @5:15 pm – Board of Director’s meeting
Agenda will be determined at the 3/29 meeting.
PTCO Meeting Wednesday, April 27 at 6pm
Wednesday, May 4* and Wednesday, June 1*
*These are early dismissal days. Students will be dismissed at 1 pm
with bus transportation provided at dismissal. No Extended Day.
Wednesday, May 18 Alumni Forum and PTCO meeting, 6pm
All School Meetings are scheduled for the second Friday of each
month from 2:30 to 2:50 pm in the multi-purpose room for students,
teachers and any parent who wishes to attend.
Announcements: Parents please look for an email and flyer to be sent
home in your children’s backpacks from Mr. Nittoly, requesting your
participation in a brief online survey about school uniforms. In order to
participate in the survey, please follow the link in the email, flyer or on
the Side by Side School website and enter your responses. Thank you
for your interest and cooperation.
Classroom News:
Pre-K 103 (Teachers Judie and Kim) – Recently, the Pre-K 103 class
went on a walking trip to the Maritime Center. It was a great experience
for the children to get an up close look at many different living
creatures. We also had the chance to watch an IMAX movie about the
amazing building work of beavers. Here are some of the keen
observations shared by our young learners:
We see the turtles swimming. Ander
The eel was with the turtle. He wasn’t moving because he just was not.
Nico
We saw penguins. They were going in the water and saying “Hi” to us.
Jasmine
We saw seals. They were swimming. Scarlett
We saw the Beaver movie. They were cutting down the trees.
Elizabeth
They (beavers) were cutting down the trees with their teeth because
they need a stick home. I saw the fox walking to look for food. Nico
We saw grey sharks (8 sand tiger sharks), they were swimming. Eric
The meerkats were funny, they were digging holes. Reighn
The sting ray gave me a high five. Alyssa
Pre-K 104 (Teachers, Jen and Carmen) –Pre-K 104 has been busy,
busy, busy! We have been constructing a neighborhood of homes out
of recycled materials, and we’re almost finished. We have also been
talking about different types of buildings and homes, such as condos,
apartment buildings and skyscrapers, and trying our hand at
constructing these types of buildings in the block area. We practiced
measuring objects using a variety of measuring tools, and we have
been creating animal homes that are just the right size for our
cuddlies. Our next study will be pets, and it is always a favorite!
Kindergarten- Kindergarten students are studying all about bread.
Our first attempt was white bread and after reading the book Bread and
Jam for Frances we decided to top it with strawberry jam. In order to
find out how to get the raisins in cinnamon raisin bread, we made a
delicious loaf of Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread. In class discussions,
the children talked about where they think flour comes from and how
it’s made. Alex said, “Maybe they pick petals from a flower and they
put it in a machine to cut it into little pieces.” Samantha said “Maybe
you mix salt and milk.” That was an idea to try, and we did, but all
agreed that the mixture was not flour. James said, “Let’s add some
sugar.” The result was still not flour. Daniela said, “Let’s mix just salt
and sugar, without the milk.” We tried that and it was close, but the
kids said it didn’t feel or look right, and wasn’t soft enough. We are
very excited to find the answer. Do you know how flour is made? We
will reveal the “secret” tomorrow in room 101.
1st Grade- The first grade is getting ready to start our big post office
unit. We will be learning all about how “snail mail” gets where it is going
and then we’ll be running our own Side By Side post office. We can’t
wait!
2nd Grade – 2nd grade engineers have learned how to use properties
of solids to build and created a written procedure for building strong
towers. Be sure to check out our bulletin board to see our creations!
We are now turning into chemists as we explore the unique properties
of liquids. Soon we will perform simple tests to see what happens to
solids that are placed in liquids and left overnight. We continue to read,
write, listen and speak during our literacy block. We are adding to our
robust vocabulary and using new words and ideas to spark inner
conversations! All of our work with words and ideas will continue in
order to support our development as thinking mathematicians!
3rd Grade – Greetings from room 204, we continue to work hard in the
third grade. The CMT’s are now over, and I am very proud of the hard
work the children put forth. It was nice to see everyone for parent
conferences. We are beginning our Native American unit. The students
will learn how the gifts of land and water were used in the past and how
that has changed over time. We’ll be taking our Pequot Museum trip on
May 13th. More information on that field trip will be sent home in
April. On April 8th we will have a special guest coming in to teach the
children the basics of speaking, reading, and writing the Chinese
language. We are all looking forward to that experience!
4th Grade – 4th graders have begun our study of Connecticut! We are
very excited to learn all about our amazing state! Our trip to the
Connecticut Historical Society Museum has been scheduled for Friday,
May 20. More information regarding this exciting field trip will be sent
home soon. Readers have been focusing on facts and opinions and
making inferences as we read a selection called “The Screech Owl
Who Liked Television” by Jean Craighead George. Ask your child all
about it! Conferences will be taking place on Thursday, March 24 and
Friday, March 25. We are looking forward to meeting with all of you!
5th Grade Language Arts - We are finishing up our author study of
Eve Bunting. Students have been working on identifying common
themes found in her books, as well as making text –to – text
connections. Students have also been working on several different
reading and comprehension skills, using nonfiction articles from
Scholastic News. Each week, students are presented with five new
vocabulary words to learn and use throughout the week.
6th Grade Language Arts - We have begun our class novel, My
Brother Sam is Dead, which corresponds to our Social Studies unit. We
were very excited to learn this week that our DonorsChoose.org
project, a class set of books, was fully funded! We will be using the
novel as a class read aloud, and students will be using our wiki page to
respond to the text.
5th Grade Social Studies - Students have been learning about the
events that occurred prior to the American Revolution. They’ve been
using metaphors (Parent: England as Child: Colonist) to help
understand what each event was like.
6th Grade Social Studies - While learning about the events leading up
to the Revolutionary War, students have also been looking at each
event with two sets of eyes – from the point of view of the Patriots, and
from that of the Loyalists. They see how there can be two different
perceptions of a single event.
Upper School Math News – In 5th grade math we have been working
on our fraction and percent unit. We’ve recently started adding and
subtracting fractions, and we are using the clock as a tool to do this.
When adding and subtracting problems at home, students should use
the clock to find a common denominator amongst fractions in order to
add or subtract them.
In 6th grade math we have moved into polygons. We have been
working with area, perimeter and circumference and once we’ve
mastered these concepts, we will broaden our understanding of
polygons to include the concepts of congruent and similar polygons,
classifying polygons, and symmetry.
In 7th grade math we are learning about transformations (translations,
rotations, reflections). We will soon learn how to find the area of
polygons, including parallelograms, circles, trapezoids, and triangles. In
8th grade math we have started our graphing unit. We are working on
showing events through a graph, function rules, and tables.
Upper School Science News
Fifth Grade students have been learning about the parts of the human
eye and the functions of those parts. They have also been investigating
various optical illusions and learning the science behind them. Be sure
to ask your fifth grader about after images, blind spots and "floating hot
dogs." We are preparing for a cow's eye dissection.
Sixth Grade: The students have been learning about heat transfer and
the heating of Earth materials. We have most recently investigated
how conduction transfers heat through direct contact. The students
were challenged to heat cool water to 30 degrees Celsius with hot
water without mixing the hot and cold water together. All student
groups were able to meet the challenge.
Seventh & Eighth Grades: The students continue to learn about the
structure of the Earth and plate tectonics. The seventh graders have
been researching the recent earthquake and tsunami that occurred in
Japan. They brainstormed questions, conducted research to answer
those questions and prepared a glog or PowerPoint to present to their
findings to their classmates. The eighth graders are learning about the
rock cycle and have begun a simulation that should help
them understand how one type of rock can become another type over
time.
Spanish News- Grade 5 is continuing to work with grammatical points
such as accents, tildes, and punctuation (which includes upside down
question marks and exclamation points). The students are learning
conjugations of regular verbs and are reviewing subject pronouns. The
fifth graders are also working with cognates (words that look and mean
the same in English and in Spanish). During the next few weeks,
students will work more with verb conjugations and adjectives, and will
use this information to read stories and articles.
Grade 6 is reviewing the verb “gustar” and also working with the verb
“querer.” The sixth graders are conjugating regular verbs in the
present tense and using these verbs to converse with others and
translate sentences. They will continue to work with adjectives, indirect
object pronouns and prepositional phrases to talk about what they and
others like to do and want to do. They will also continue with uses of
infinitives when working with these verbs.
Grade 7 will continue to review the verbs “gustar,” “querer,” and
“tener.” They will also reinforce their knowledge of the two verbs “to
be,” which are “ser” and “estar.” The students use F.L.E.S.H. D.O.T.S.
to help them remember when to use these verbs. In the weeks ahead,
the seventh graders will conjugate present tense verbs, complete
textbook activities, and read short stories and articles using
grammatical points that have been taught.
Grade 8 continues to work with reflexive verbs, talk about daily
routines, and say what bothers them using body vocabulary. The
students will be learning the conjugations of sentirse, uses of “tener”
when talking about feeling hungry, sleepy, or thirsty, and the uses of
“estar” when talking about feelings, state of being, emotions, or health.
The eighth graders will continue working with all these verbs while
learning the present progressive tense and reviewing affirmative and
negative informal commands.
Physical Education NewsWe would like to congratulate our 5th and 7th grade students Kyra
Harris, Hannah Parks, Kenya DuBose, and Fatima Khan, who
presented at The Courage to Speak Family Night at West Rocks
Middle School on March 14. Their essays were outstanding, and we
are very proud of way they represented Side by Side with their
important message about making safe and healthy choices. The
Courage to Speak program is presented to students during Health and
Physical Education classes at Side by Side Community School.
Congratulations as well to those students who participated in the Jump
Rope/Hoops for Heart fundraiser to benefit the American Heart
Association. We collected over $1800 this year sponsorships. Bravo.
Both the upper school and the lower school have started nutrition units
in health class. Mr. Lavaway has already begun making plans for an
exciting field day, scheduled for Friday, June 3rd and welcomes any
and all ideas for fun activities, donations and especially the names of
individuals and companies in the community who may be willing to
sponsor this year’s field day activities.
Music News:
Pre-k musicians are learning songs about people and what they do.
Our favorites are "Susan Had a Little Puppy" and "William Had Seven
Sons." Kindergarten musicians are learning silly songs with nonsense
words like "Razzama Tazzama" and "Flea Fly." We can't help but
laugh while we sing these songs! Try making up your own nonsense
song at home with your kindergartener. First grade musicians are
learning about songs that tell a story. We are practicing our singing
skills and acting skills as we interpret songs. Ask your first grader to
tell you the story of "Thorn Rosa" or "London Bridge." Second grade
musicians are continuing our dance tour of the world! Our latest stops
have been Egypt and Scotland. We have also enjoyed learning a fun
song called "James Brown," that requires a little bit of improvisation.
Third grade musicians are moving right along in recorder karate.
Many students have already earned their white, yellow and orange
belts and a few have even earned their purple belts. Nice work! We
are also planning a trip to see the New Haven Symphony in late April.
Look for a permission slip coming home in the next few weeks. Fourth
grade musicians are really enthusiastic about creating a class CD!
We've spent the last few weeks listening to, learning about, and
describing the characteristics of different styles of music. This will help
us when we create our own songs. The first assignment is to work in a
small group to write a rap song! Stay tuned...
Upper school guitar students are wrapping up the marking period with
a final performance exam. Next trimester's music offering will be piano.
Beginner band students are all set to begin rehearsing with
intermediate and advanced students! Coming to full band rehearsals is
not only a big step in their musical development, but it will also help us
prepare for our upcoming spring performances. I would ask all band
parents to please remember to check the schedule on Ms. Dorman's
webpage for the band schedule as well as any band assignments.
Congratulations to Jorge Aguilar and Ethan Anthony for their
outstanding performance at the CT Western Region Middle School
Concert on March 19th. Nice work!
Parent Community Coordinator News- Thank you to all the families
that attended our two fundraisers in March. We had a terrific turnout for
both My Three Sons and Movie Night and thanks to your generosity
we earned over $1500 in total from these two events. We are grateful
for all of our parent volunteers, too many to mention, but so eager to
help, whether it was to organize these events, set up the gym, bake
goodies or pop popcorn, sell refreshments or raffle tickets, collect raffle
prizes, or clean up after the fun. Every contribution, large or small,
adds to the overall success of events such as these and we couldn’t
have done it without you.
Bingo Night will take place Friday, April 8 at 6:30. Monee Reed, Bingo
committee chairperson is recruiting volunteers and would love to
assign a task to everyone willing to lend a hand. If you want to help
with this fun event, contact Evelyn at x130.
PTCO Update
At the last PTCO meeting, held on March 16, nominations for interim
officers were accepted from those in attendance, and a vote was taken.
These officers agreed to serve until the end of this school year. PTCO
bylaws are being drafted for review and approval by the Board of
Directors. The next meeting is on Wednesday, April 27, and we
especially encourage all parents of seventh and eighth grade students
to attend, in order to organize planning teams for the annual tag sale
scheduled for Saturday, June 4. A suggestion was made and all were
in favor of placing a large collection jar in the school lobby for the
victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Please
encourage your children to collect spare change, and drop it off in the
lobby. Attendance is steadily improving at these meetings, where
there’s been both positive energy and a helpful exchange of ideas, but
you’re the one we’ve been waiting for. Join us in this exciting new
organization. The names of interim officers that were elected include
the following:
Jen Weiss, Co-president
Monee Reed, Co-president
Wanda Rebelo, Vice-president for Fundraising
Lenora Matthews, Recording Secretary
Evelyn Quigley, Treasurer
FAMILY RESOURCE CENTER:
Parent Educators Susan Arnold, Carmen Fraguada and Marlene
DeBellis are offering personal visits for parents of newborns to 5 year
olds. If you would like to receive monthly information about your child’s
development including fun activities, please call Susan (x111) in the
office.
Early Learning Groups (Playgroups) – Early learning groups for
parents/caregivers and their babies & toddlers are held at St. Joseph’s
social hall from 9:00-10:00 am every Wednesday. All caregivers and
their toddler children are welcome to attend. The group is run by
Carmen Fraguada, certified parent educator and a representative from
Birth to Three. The next group is Wednesday, March 30.
South Norwalk Library Activities:
 Mostly Mother Goose Story Time on Wednesdays from
10:00-10:30 am for children up to age three years. This is a
drop-in program.
 Come and Play Game Day is every Thursday from 4:00 –
5:00 pm. Admission to the program is a library receipt
showing that the child has checked out a library book within
the previous two weeks. No registration required.
 Ani-Manga Swap for middle and high school students from
6:30-8:30 pm on Tuesdays, April 5 and May 3. Activities
include: origami, manga cartooning, watching anime and
swapping. Registration is required by calling 203-899-2790,
x3.
 The SoNo Book Club for 2nd and 3rd Graders each third
Wednesday of the month from 4:00 – 5:00 pm through May
2011. Registration is required.
Visit www.norwalklib.org for more information
Courageous Parenting 101, a free five-course substance abuse
education and prevention seminar for parents will be held at South
Norwalk Public Library on Tuesdays starting Tuesday, March 29
from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Please call the Courage to Speak at 877431-3295 for more information.
Stepping Stones Museum Activities:
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Media Minute: Mondays – 4pm, held in the Family and
Teacher Resource Center, this short, interactive program
explores technology topics for families.
Toddler Tales: Wednesdays – 10:15 am
Cuentos Para Niños: Miércoles - 10:45 am
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Resource Center Reads: Thursdays – 4pm
Visit www.steppingstonesmuseum.org for more information
Fairfield County Women’s Center is sponsoring a free presentation on
Monday, April 11 at Norwalk Community College’s East Campus.
Adrienne Parkmond of The WorkPlace will speak on “Women Leading
The Way in the New Economy” at 11:30 am. A panel discussion
follows at 1:00 pm. Call 203-857-6941 for more information.
Mark your calendar for Saturday, April 2 from 9:00 – 1:00 pm for
Wellfest 2011 at St. Thomas Gymnasium in East Norwalk.
Representatives from Norwalk Health Department, Community Health
Center, Norwalk Smiles Dental Clinic plus others will be on hand with
important information for your health.
Have you ever dreamed of opening a family childcare? Nilda Aponte,
Family Childcare Toolkit Licensing Director for All Our Kin, will be
speaking to parents at our Wednesday, April 6 playgroup at 9:15 am at
St. Joseph’s social hall. Please call Susan in the office for more
information.
Summer Care:
 The Recreation and Parks Department will be accepting
online pre-registration at www.norwalkct.org. The camp runs
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from July 5 through August 12. Children
must have completed kindergarten to enroll.
 The Fox Run School Family Resource Center (FRC) will
be providing SummerCare, a pre- and post-summer camp
childcare program for working parents. 2011 enrollment
forms and fee information for the FRC pre- and postcamp program are posted on:
http://teacherweb.com/CT/FoxRun/FamilyResourceCenter
Need assistance keeping your home heated this winter? United
Way 2-1-1, Connecticut's toll-free information and referral service, can
help get you connected to resources. United Way’s 211 can also help
with Income tax prep by connecting residents to free income tax
preparation support, or click on www.irs.gov for tax prep information.