November ASH PTA Newsletter
Dates to Remember:
Nov 8: Election Day holiday
Nov 8: AIJK Karate bake sale, 7am-7pm
Nov 9: PTA/SDM Assessment meeting
Nov 15: PTA Meeting
Nov 3, Nov 17: Chess Club meetings
Nov 14-18: Reading is Fun distribution
Nov 18: Albany Family Dance w/ Paul Rosenberg
all the time: Box Tops for Education!
Message from the Principal
Does this scenario sound familiar?
"I hate homework. Why can’t we just learn at school and be done with it? I know how to do these problems, and I’ve shown that I understand them. So, why do I have to do 25?" Jeff had expressed this point of view many times before, but this time his mother had an answer.
"At Back-to-School night, your teachers explained some things about homework to us and went over what they see as the parent’s job. Let me see if I get this right. If they asked you to do 25 problems, you are probably supposed to practice in order to increase your accuracy and speed. So it’s probably not a good idea to sit there in front of the TV while you do the problems."
Jeff’s mother also remembered some of the tips the parents were given for helping students with their homework. "OK, here is the kitchen timer. When I say, 'Go,' do the first five problems and yell, 'Stop' when you finish." For the next 30 minutes, Jeff charted and tried to beat his time as he did each set of 5 problems, making sure that he also attended to being accurate. He had to admit that the time flew by and that it was kind of fun.
It is no exaggeration to say that homework is a staple of U.S. education. By the time students reach the middle grades, homework has become a part of their lives. Homework for young children should help them develop good study habits, foster positive attitudes toward school, and communicate to students the idea that learning takes work at home as well as at school.
Each classroom teacher should have established and communicated their homework policy to students and their parents at the start of the year. It is important that parents and their children understand the amount of homework that will be assigned, consequences for not completing the homework, and a description of the level of parental involvement that is acceptable.
Below are some homework guidelines to assist families:
· Help set up a consistent organized place for homework to be done.
· Help your child establish either a consistent schedule of completing homework, or help him create a schedule each Sunday night that reflects that particular week’s activities.
· Encourage, motivate, and prompt your child, but do not sit and do the homework. Homework is for your child to practice and use what they have learned. Errors will give the teacher information where instruction has failed and where the child needs additional support.
· If your child is practicing a skill, ask him or her to tell you which steps are easy, which are difficult, or how he or she is going to improve. If your child is doing a project, ask what knowledge is being applied in the project. If your child is consistently unable to talk about the knowledge he or she is practicing or using, please call the teacher.
· Although there might be exceptions, the minutes your child should spend on homework should equal approximately 10 times her grade level (2nd grader would spend 20 minutes, a 3rd grader 30 minutes and so on).
· When bedtime comes, please stop your child, even if he or she is not done.
Homework is an integral part of the learning process. It fosters responsibility, gives students opportunities to practice skills, and prepares students for a new topic or to elaborate on introduced material.
A successful school year is the result of the cooperative efforts of parent, teacher and student. As a team, we can accomplish many great things!
"Report to Parents", written to serve elementary and middle school principals.
AIJK Karate Corner
We will be hosting a bake sale on Tuesday November 8th (Election Day) from 7:00am til 7:00pm. Proceeds will go towards our travel team to the AAU National Karate Tournament.
Also keep your calendars open for Saturday, December 10th. ASH will be hosting a Friendship Tournament for all Karate students. Come see your friends compete in open hand kata, Kobudo and Kumite. Admission is FREE, great prizes will be raffled off, with food and fun for all!
Karate Terms for the QTR:
Ichi: One
Ni: Two
San: Three
Shi: Four
Go: Five
Roku: Six
Shichi: Seven
Hachi: Eight
Ku: Nine
Ju: Ten
Karate Do: The Way of Karate
Dojo: School of Training
Gi: Uniform
Obi: Belt
Sempai: Senior
Chess Club Update
The ASH Chess Club schedule has been temporarily adjusted to every other Thursday for the remainder of 2005. Two successful meetings were held in October, and four more are scheduled for 2005: November 3rd, November 17th, December 1st, and December 15th. The two-hour time slot from 2:30 to 4:30 seems to be working very well so far.
As of the end of October approximately twenty students have joined the club, with continuing interest from new members of all grades and experience levels, from kindergarten through sixth grade. So far it's been a lot of fun, and we're just getting warmed up!
We'll be looking at the possibility of holding Chess Club meetings every Thursday in 2006, depending both on student interest and the availability of enough outside volunteers to keep the program running smoothly. In particular, there's a lot of variation in the current membership: about half are still learning the rules of the game, and half have been playing long enough to have mastered the rules (though some might need occasional reminders about odd little details like en passant, or Queen-side castling) and are ready to move on to improving strategy and tactics.
Especially if the Chess Club grows much larger, it may make sense to split it into two sections along these general lines -- which means we could really use a few more parent volunteers to help out! Even if you don't know a pawn from a pin, you could really help out the Chess Club with a commitment to sit in on the Club meeting once a month, just to help out with the logistics: setting up chairs and tables, keeping track of attendance lists and bathroom trips, transferring students to the JCC after-school program and cleaning up after the meeting.
And if you do come and join the fun, the odds are good that you'll know the rules backwards and forwards by the time school is out for the year! Who says the students are the only ones who get to learn anything?
PTA/SDM program for parents
The Shared Decision Making program is scheduled to be held in the multi-function room at 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 9th on the subject of assessment. Its purpose is to inform parents of the No Child Left Behind mandate of annual testing in Language Arts and Math for grades 3-8, and the state-mandated testing in Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science for grade 4. Parents will be given a sampling of questions and a chance to grade their responses based on the rubrics provided by the state to determine the level of each student. Babysitting will be provided by the PTA. Flyers will be sent home regarding this. Any questions can be directed to the school office at 462-7258.
Reading is Fun & Hurricane Relief
The Reading is Fun distribution will take place the week of November 14-18. All students are asked to bring in an old book to exchange for the new book they will receive. The donated books will be sent to schools in the Louisiana area affected by Hurricane Katrina. Thank you for your participation.
Health Advisory: Your Child's Lunchbox May Be Hazardous
Press Release
August 31, 2005
A Back to School Warning: Children’s Vinyl Lunch Boxes Can Contain Dangerous Levels of Lead
Oakland, CA – The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) announced it is filing lawsuits today against makers and retailers of soft vinyl lunch boxes that can expose children to harmful levels of lead. The Center has also notified several other companies of violations under California’s toxics law Proposition 65 (Prop 65) for lunch boxes with high lead levels. The lawsuits and violation notices against companies including Toys “R” Us, Warner Brothers, DC Comics, Time Warner, Walgreens, and others involve many lunch boxes featuring beloved children’s characters including Superman, Tweety Bird, Powerpuff Girls, and Hamtaro. The level of lead in one lunch box, an Angela Anaconda box made by Targus International, tested at 56,400 parts per million (ppm) of lead, more than 90 times the 600 ppm legal limit for lead in paint in children’s products.
“Lead exposure should not be on the lunch menu when kids go back to school this fall,” said Michael Green, CEH Executive Director. “There is no reason to expose children to any lead from lunch boxes. We are calling on these companies to recall these products and take action to eliminate lead from their products in the future.”
Initial independent laboratory testing commissioned by CEH has already found seventeen lunch boxes with high lead levels, and the group’s investigation is ongoing. In addition to the testing on the Angela Anaconda lunch box, tests on other lunch boxes showed levels of lead between two and twenty-five times the legal limit for lead paint in children’s products. In most cases, the highest lead levels were found in the lining of lunch boxes, where lead could come into direct contact with food. Lead is known to be harmful to children even in minute amounts, as it can impair brain development and cause other behavioral and developmental problems. Children may be exposed to lead from lunch boxes when they eat food that has been stored in them. Handling the lunchboxes just before eating could also be an exposure risk.
It is not possible to tell by appearance whether a vinyl lunch box may contain lead, so CEH is advising parents to avoid vinyl lunch boxes altogether. “Parents may need to seek out alternatives, since many mass-produced lunch boxes are vinyl or vinyl-lined,” said Green. “A reusable cloth bag would be a good alternative.” Parents can find information on how to test for lead in their children’s lunch boxes at home at www.cehca.org/lunchboxes.htm.
ASH Cleanup A Success
Dates to Remember:
Nov 8: Election Day holiday
Nov 8: AIJK Karate bake sale, 7am-7pm
Nov 9: PTA/SDM Assessment meeting
Nov 15: PTA Meeting
Nov 3, Nov 17: Chess Club meetings
Nov 14-18: Reading is Fun distribution
Nov 18: Albany Family Dance w/ Paul Rosenberg
all the time: Box Tops for Education!
Message from the Principal
Does this scenario sound familiar?
"I hate homework. Why can’t we just learn at school and be done with it? I know how to do these problems, and I’ve shown that I understand them. So, why do I have to do 25?" Jeff had expressed this point of view many times before, but this time his mother had an answer.
"At Back-to-School night, your teachers explained some things about homework to us and went over what they see as the parent’s job. Let me see if I get this right. If they asked you to do 25 problems, you are probably supposed to practice in order to increase your accuracy and speed. So it’s probably not a good idea to sit there in front of the TV while you do the problems."
Jeff’s mother also remembered some of the tips the parents were given for helping students with their homework. "OK, here is the kitchen timer. When I say, 'Go,' do the first five problems and yell, 'Stop' when you finish." For the next 30 minutes, Jeff charted and tried to beat his time as he did each set of 5 problems, making sure that he also attended to being accurate. He had to admit that the time flew by and that it was kind of fun.
It is no exaggeration to say that homework is a staple of U.S. education. By the time students reach the middle grades, homework has become a part of their lives. Homework for young children should help them develop good study habits, foster positive attitudes toward school, and communicate to students the idea that learning takes work at home as well as at school.
Each classroom teacher should have established and communicated their homework policy to students and their parents at the start of the year. It is important that parents and their children understand the amount of homework that will be assigned, consequences for not completing the homework, and a description of the level of parental involvement that is acceptable.
Below are some homework guidelines to assist families:
· Help set up a consistent organized place for homework to be done.
· Help your child establish either a consistent schedule of completing homework, or help him create a schedule each Sunday night that reflects that particular week’s activities.
· Encourage, motivate, and prompt your child, but do not sit and do the homework. Homework is for your child to practice and use what they have learned. Errors will give the teacher information where instruction has failed and where the child needs additional support.
· If your child is practicing a skill, ask him or her to tell you which steps are easy, which are difficult, or how he or she is going to improve. If your child is doing a project, ask what knowledge is being applied in the project. If your child is consistently unable to talk about the knowledge he or she is practicing or using, please call the teacher.
· Although there might be exceptions, the minutes your child should spend on homework should equal approximately 10 times her grade level (2nd grader would spend 20 minutes, a 3rd grader 30 minutes and so on).
· When bedtime comes, please stop your child, even if he or she is not done.
Homework is an integral part of the learning process. It fosters responsibility, gives students opportunities to practice skills, and prepares students for a new topic or to elaborate on introduced material.
A successful school year is the result of the cooperative efforts of parent, teacher and student. As a team, we can accomplish many great things!
"Report to Parents", written to serve elementary and middle school principals.
AIJK Karate Corner
We will be hosting a bake sale on Tuesday November 8th (Election Day) from 7:00am til 7:00pm. Proceeds will go towards our travel team to the AAU National Karate Tournament.
Also keep your calendars open for Saturday, December 10th. ASH will be hosting a Friendship Tournament for all Karate students. Come see your friends compete in open hand kata, Kobudo and Kumite. Admission is FREE, great prizes will be raffled off, with food and fun for all!
Karate Terms for the QTR:
Ichi: One
Ni: Two
San: Three
Shi: Four
Go: Five
Roku: Six
Shichi: Seven
Hachi: Eight
Ku: Nine
Ju: Ten
Karate Do: The Way of Karate
Dojo: School of Training
Gi: Uniform
Obi: Belt
Sempai: Senior
Chess Club Update
The ASH Chess Club schedule has been temporarily adjusted to every other Thursday for the remainder of 2005. Two successful meetings were held in October, and four more are scheduled for 2005: November 3rd, November 17th, December 1st, and December 15th. The two-hour time slot from 2:30 to 4:30 seems to be working very well so far.
As of the end of October approximately twenty students have joined the club, with continuing interest from new members of all grades and experience levels, from kindergarten through sixth grade. So far it's been a lot of fun, and we're just getting warmed up!
We'll be looking at the possibility of holding Chess Club meetings every Thursday in 2006, depending both on student interest and the availability of enough outside volunteers to keep the program running smoothly. In particular, there's a lot of variation in the current membership: about half are still learning the rules of the game, and half have been playing long enough to have mastered the rules (though some might need occasional reminders about odd little details like en passant, or Queen-side castling) and are ready to move on to improving strategy and tactics.
Especially if the Chess Club grows much larger, it may make sense to split it into two sections along these general lines -- which means we could really use a few more parent volunteers to help out! Even if you don't know a pawn from a pin, you could really help out the Chess Club with a commitment to sit in on the Club meeting once a month, just to help out with the logistics: setting up chairs and tables, keeping track of attendance lists and bathroom trips, transferring students to the JCC after-school program and cleaning up after the meeting.
And if you do come and join the fun, the odds are good that you'll know the rules backwards and forwards by the time school is out for the year! Who says the students are the only ones who get to learn anything?
PTA/SDM program for parents
The Shared Decision Making program is scheduled to be held in the multi-function room at 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 9th on the subject of assessment. Its purpose is to inform parents of the No Child Left Behind mandate of annual testing in Language Arts and Math for grades 3-8, and the state-mandated testing in Language Arts, Math, Social Studies and Science for grade 4. Parents will be given a sampling of questions and a chance to grade their responses based on the rubrics provided by the state to determine the level of each student. Babysitting will be provided by the PTA. Flyers will be sent home regarding this. Any questions can be directed to the school office at 462-7258.
Reading is Fun & Hurricane Relief
The Reading is Fun distribution will take place the week of November 14-18. All students are asked to bring in an old book to exchange for the new book they will receive. The donated books will be sent to schools in the Louisiana area affected by Hurricane Katrina. Thank you for your participation.
Health Advisory: Your Child's Lunchbox May Be Hazardous
Press Release
August 31, 2005
A Back to School Warning: Children’s Vinyl Lunch Boxes Can Contain Dangerous Levels of Lead
Oakland, CA – The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) announced it is filing lawsuits today against makers and retailers of soft vinyl lunch boxes that can expose children to harmful levels of lead. The Center has also notified several other companies of violations under California’s toxics law Proposition 65 (Prop 65) for lunch boxes with high lead levels. The lawsuits and violation notices against companies including Toys “R” Us, Warner Brothers, DC Comics, Time Warner, Walgreens, and others involve many lunch boxes featuring beloved children’s characters including Superman, Tweety Bird, Powerpuff Girls, and Hamtaro. The level of lead in one lunch box, an Angela Anaconda box made by Targus International, tested at 56,400 parts per million (ppm) of lead, more than 90 times the 600 ppm legal limit for lead in paint in children’s products.
“Lead exposure should not be on the lunch menu when kids go back to school this fall,” said Michael Green, CEH Executive Director. “There is no reason to expose children to any lead from lunch boxes. We are calling on these companies to recall these products and take action to eliminate lead from their products in the future.”
Initial independent laboratory testing commissioned by CEH has already found seventeen lunch boxes with high lead levels, and the group’s investigation is ongoing. In addition to the testing on the Angela Anaconda lunch box, tests on other lunch boxes showed levels of lead between two and twenty-five times the legal limit for lead paint in children’s products. In most cases, the highest lead levels were found in the lining of lunch boxes, where lead could come into direct contact with food. Lead is known to be harmful to children even in minute amounts, as it can impair brain development and cause other behavioral and developmental problems. Children may be exposed to lead from lunch boxes when they eat food that has been stored in them. Handling the lunchboxes just before eating could also be an exposure risk.
It is not possible to tell by appearance whether a vinyl lunch box may contain lead, so CEH is advising parents to avoid vinyl lunch boxes altogether. “Parents may need to seek out alternatives, since many mass-produced lunch boxes are vinyl or vinyl-lined,” said Green. “A reusable cloth bag would be a good alternative.” Parents can find information on how to test for lead in their children’s lunch boxes at home at www.cehca.org/lunchboxes.htm.
ASH Cleanup A Success
Thanks to all the troopers that showed up despite the pouring rain, the October clean-up was a rousing success. Thank you to Amber Jones for organizing the event, and to everyone who brought flowers. A special thank you also goes to Mrs Wallace whose dedication to the school at all levels continues to inspire all who know her.
Family Dances with ASH alumnus Paul Rosenburg
The AlbanyFamily Dances
SCHEDULE FOR THE 2005-2006 SEASON:
Circle dances, squares, line dances, and singing games.
Instruction and calling by Paul Rosenberg; music by Tame Rutabaga (sit-in musicians of any age and any degree of experience are welcome to join in).
LOCATION: St. Teresa Social Center, at the corner of New Scotland and Hollywood Avenues,
If you are not familiar with that section of
TIME: The dances all begin at
ADMISSION: Suggested donation: adults $5; children under 12, $1
INFORMATION: Call the Dance Hotline: 518-292-0133 (or call 518-482-9255).
The Voorheesville Family Dances
SCHEDULE FOR THE 2005-2006 SEASON:
Circle dances, squares, line dances and singing games.
Instruction and calling by Paul Rosenberg; music by Tame Rutabaga (sit-in musicians of any age and any degree of experience are welcome to join in).
LOCATION: The Old Songs building,
TIME: The dances all begin at
ADMISSION: Suggested donation: adults $5; children under 12, $1
INFORMATION: Call the Dance Hotline: 518-292-0133 (or call 518-482-9255).
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