GINGERBREAD EVENTThank you to all the wonderful volunteers who made the Gingerbread Event a success on Friday, December 10th.!A total of 350 children and parents turned out for this!festive!event.!Everyone should agree it was a nice way to kick off the Holidays.! These PTA sponsored events are wonderful ways to get to know the children and families at Glendale and could not be possible without parents and teachers pitching in to!organize, setup and cleanup!!Want to learn more about PTA’s upcoming events, programs and happenings?

Visit http://glendale.shs.k12.ny.us and click on PTA in the left menu.

Want to make your own Gingerbread House?! Here's all you need:!

Small empty milk or cream carton7 graham crackersLots of candy to decorate (use that Halloween candy that’s laying around)Icing (Recipe:!6 egg whites,!1 tsp cream of tartar,!32 oz bag of confectioners sugar - be sure to beat it for 10 minutes until stiff and fluffy)Let your kids create!!

Submitted byAmy Reinhart and Judy Valent

Notes from PTA:

Cassidy’s Snowy DayThere is a lot of snow in Cheektowaga!

On December 2, 2010 I woke up and Mommy called me down the stairs. She told me to look out the window. There was a lot of snow on the ground! The snow was almost up to the living room window. Daddy was outside snow blowing. Me and Gianna had to stay inside the house that morning until Daddy came in. Later we went outside with Daddy and we played and played. Then Gianna’s cheeks got cold and we went in to warm up.

Written by Cassidy Papero (kindergarten) & her mom

!

GLENDALE GAZETTE M. DiBernardo, editor

December 2010

GAZETTE December 2010

http://glendale.shs.k12.ny.us/http://glendale.shs.k12.ny.us/

Fierce Rivals Face-Off by Peyton Urbaniak, grade 5

What is a rival? In this case, they’re sworn enemies on the baseball field. Take the Yankees and the Red Sox for example. It’s always exciting to see these two rivals face-off, but this isn’t an MLB game. THIS is the Mel-Ott Little League Baseball championship game, starring (you guessed it) the Yankees and the Red Sox.Believe it or not, the Yankees were 12-2, and the Red Sox were 4-8 by the end of the regular season. Both teams were undefeated in the play-offs, so they would play in the championship game on June 23,2010 at 4:30 p.m. at diamond 4, at Mel-Ott Little League. The Red Sox went into the 9th inning

winning 10-4, but here’s where it gets interesting. The Yankees had their star hitters up, like Michael Wells. It then became 10-7 just like that. With 2 outs and bases loaded, the Yankees had 1 more batter left. STRIKE ONE!.... STRIKE TWO!..........BANG! A hit to left field. It soon became 10-10 and the last batter was coming home just as the catcher got the ball. “When I saw it was 2 outs and bases loaded, I knew I had gotten what I came for,” said a random fan. “It’s the excitement and tension that makes a good game.”The batter slid into home when the catcher got the ball and…………… SAFE! The Yankees had won 11-10. Once again, the two rivals serve up another great game.

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WE’RE PLAYING BASKETBALL!Team 1 (red) - Miami Heat • Team 2 (gray) San Antonio Spurs

Team 3 (blue) Orlando Magic • Team 4 (yellow) LA Lakers

On December 7, 2010, fourth grader Tahron Goudelock lead the Miami Heat to victory with 6 points, taking the win with a final score of 14-0. Other key players from the Heat were fifth graders Giovanni Gilchrist and Jacob Hines and first grader Kamar Goudelock. The Orlando Magic played a hard defense with key players Lucas Cousins from fifth grade, and fourth graders Ruben Davila and Julius Gladney.

WINTER !by Seirra Montero, grade 4

Everywhere I go winter arrives like a thief. You can't see him but you can feel him. He is like ice. No wonder the flowers are gone from the backyard. Winter has taken them all. As time passes, winter grows stronger and stronger. He turns my pond to ice. He chases leaves from trees and sneaks under my window and makes me cold. Winter is taking over as time goes by. I look out the window and all I see is white. All white. A whole carpet of snow. I run right back into my warm covers and simply huddle right back down. Oh winter you have won this one but just wait until I get the last laugh.

Winter by Michael Jozwiak, grade 4!"#$%#&$'"()*#+$,(#-.)#%'.&%/$"%#0'1#23.4(%*#5.#./"%$1(#0'1#,06(#0#%'.&,0'*#7(""()#1)(%%#&0),#8(90/%(#$"#$%#9.31*#:..6#";()(#0)(#%.,(#A44(&)%?(+#,*(-%#.

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From the Editor...

In the Fall of 2002, Mrs. Brace asked if I

would guide a group of student writers

and revamp the Glendale Gazette. I was

a third grade teacher, in my third year at

Glendale. My daughter Amanda was in

7th grade, and my son Nick was in 3rd

grade here at Glendale. Over the years,

if you’ve been paying attention, you’ve

learned about backseat wars, my grandmother’s kitchen, and our family’s Christmas Eve traditions. I taught you how

to take the perfect snapshot and the history of the sunflower. I shared my New Year Resolutions and the fact that I

don’t have a talent. You’ve witnessed Dr. Seuss celebrations, Swim Nights, Variety Shows, Battle of the Books, Flag Days,

the School Store, and the Special Olympics. Most importantly, of course, you’ve been there with me as I sent my kids to

Sweet Home Middle School, then the high school, and even on to college. I somehow figured out how to shop for a

prom gown and how to bundle up for a rainy October soccer game. I taught Amanda and Nick how to drive, and I

moved too many times.

This is 40th edition of the Glendale Gazette since I started as editor. For the first time, we will publish it in full color, only

online. I created it in a program called Pages, instead of Microsoft Word or Apple Works. I’ve figured out many of the

changes the first decade of the 21st century has brought. Now I need to see Nick through his high school graduation

and get used to talking to my grandson on Skype because he lives so far away. Maybe I’ll have this whole

“grandmother thing” figured out by the first time Connor calls me Mimi. In any case, thanks for sharing these 40 issues

with us here at Glendale. Come back and see us sometime. We’ll be here. Happy Holidays!

~Melinda DiBernardo

Meet Connor Nicholas

Photo by Katherine Huff. Contact her at katherinehuff@yahoo.com

Girl Scoutsby Melody Clune, grade 5

Girl Scouts is a group where you can have fun and go camping. I started when I was in kindergarten. Meetings are a couple of times a month. Our leader is Mrs. Johnson. We meet right after school in a Glendale classroom. Cierah, Emma, Madison, Julia, Kaley, Anna, Jillian, Adrianna, Miranda, Fabiola, Julia, McKenna, and myself are in the group.Earning badges can be easy and hard. There is a poetry badge. You do an acrostic poem for the word Girl Scouts. We worked together to finish the poem and earned a badge. There are many different things Girl Scouts do. Once a year we have a big cookie sale. People love our cookies! It is our biggest fundraiser.Sometimes we even rake leaves for people that need help. Girl Scouts is for people who want to help the community. You can learn about yourself and working with other people by becoming a Girl Scout.

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CLUB SPOTLIGHT

Club: Glendale Chorus

Director: Mrs. White

Students: 60 (4th & 5th graders)

Meets: Tuesday/Thursday all year

Winter Concert: December 15

On the Program: Ding Dong, Ring the Bells; Sleigh Ride; and the fan favorite Rocking Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Flu

Special Guests: Glendale’s Chimin’ In Hand Chimes Choir

Next Performance: District Music Festival, January 30 at 2:00 pm

Have You Been Bullied Because You’re Different?

by Averi Wachowiak, grade 5

Hello Glendale! As some of you know, I am a percussionist in Gold Band. And some of you might know that we had our Winter Concert on December 16, 2010. We have been practicing really hard! We practice our instruments in lessons once a week, go to after-school band at the high school every Monday, and we practice at home every day! On Thursday, we realized that it all pays off! The songs we played were: Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (a song from the movie), Holiday Time (which is a whole bunch of holiday songs mixed up). If you were at the concert, I hope you could hear all the different songs we played! Then we played Soaring Spirit (one of my favorites). It sounds really cool. And we also had Creepy Crawlies. It would be a great song for Halloween, but since we don’t have a concert in October, we played it at the Winter Concert! Our Gold Band is made up of kids from Maplemere, Heritage Heights, Willow Ridge, and right here...Glendale! It is all 5th graders. Our teacher is the wonderful Mrs. Coniglio. Some of you might know her. She’s really awesome and talented! She teaches many instruments, like flute, oboe, clarinet, french horn, trumpet, brass, and all that stuff and more! Those are the instruments you heard at the concert. By the way, we have two concerts...Winter and Spring. Hope to see you next time!

Music is in the Air...

Day To Night! by Anthony Sturniolo, grade 4Night is where Momma tucks me in.!The sun sets.! The moon rises.!The stars look through the window ready to lighten the sky.!When day turns to night.!The mountains rise and can hear the coyotes howling. I close my eyes ready for the dark night.I open my eyes ready to watch the bright sun rise, and hear the rooster crow.!The sky is bright.!The rabbits wake up and all of nature wakes up.!The green trees are ready to fill the earth with their rich pine scent.

STRONG MUSEUM OF PLAYby Jacob Cline, grade 5

Have you ever been to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, New York? There are many exhibits. Some of the names are the SUPER KIDS MARKET, SESAME STREET and THE DANCING WINGS BUTTERFLY GARDEN. Thousands of kids go there every day!At the SUPER KIDS MARKET there is a little WEGMANS where kids can shop and check out their groceries. On SESAME STREET, there is a theater where you can watch a puppet show. AT THE DANCING WINGS BUTTERFLY GARDEN, you can go in a huge dome with birds and huge butterflies. There are SUPER HEROS in the AMERICAN COMIC BOOK HEROS EXHIBIT. There is even a TOY HALL OF FAME!There are also exhibits that have not opened yet. One of them is THE GAME REVOLUTION EXHIBIT. The museum is constantly bringing new exhibits. The Strong Museum of Play is a fun museum because there is so much to do.

Fantasy IslandPatrick Dake, grade 5

Two summers ago, my brother and I went to the amusement park, Fantasy Island. We went with my Dad, my cousin Alex, my aunt and uncle. Fantasy Island is the most beautiful place in the world. I think the water park is the best part.The toilet bowl water slide shoots you out so fast that you almost spin around the bowl shaped slide at super sonic speed. Then you go into a tube and go out the other side of the slide. Be careful, it’s addictive! Once you ride it you don’t want to stop.They also have a wave pool with a deep end. It feels like you are surfing in Hawaii. The curly-q water slide has a lift at the bottom that shoots you in the air. Sun chairs are available if you need a comfortable rest.Fantasy Island is a fun place to go. Anyone who loves excitement, getting wet and having fun should go. I went in as a boy who was afraid of waterslides, and left as a young man who loves the water slides almost as much as I love living!

Places to Go...Things to Do...

Bennett Beach: !"#$$%"&''"'($)"*+,"-.)),("-./

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The “NEWS” Storyby Justin C. Karaga, grade 5

Alright everyone, Take Five! Hello, Readers. Welcome to the newsroom of our school Glendale Elementary School! Here we set up our news broadcast. We always have time to practice and we MUST meet our deadline of 8:20 EVERY morning. We start getting ready at 7:45 am.We have a new crew every morning. Each job is different. The jobs include: technician, camera, recorder, anchor, sports, contest, and Words of Wisdom.Technician is the person who edits our power points and controls the clicker for the computer. Camera is the person who sets up the camera position, live, and for movement. Recorder is the person who sits next to our mini tv monitor and clicks record and off. It must get boring sometimes. Anchor is the live reporter… When the camera goes live, they give us the story. SPORTS! This is the guy who has the notebook, takes stats, and watches tv… Fun job. CONTEST! We don’t run as many of those anymore. This is a person that comes up with questions and books as the prizes. AND WORDS OF WISDOM, which is the most important part of the

news. It’s a person (students, teachers, principal, and staff) who reads something to make people feel better and think of world situations.We broadcast the news from room 269. We used to have an old room. The old room had a mural behind the

anchor desk. It was pretty cool. The reason behind why we do this all is so we can inform the school about information like; the date, clubs, lunch, and the school day number. It can be very helpful.

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Attendance Matters!

Are you helping your child have great attendance? Being in school every day—and on time—will help your child do well. Are you supporting your child’s attendance habit? Answer the following questions yes or no to find out:• Have you told your child that you expect her to go to school every day? If you tell her it’s important to you, it will

become important to her.• Do you ignore weak excuses? Not feeling like getting out of bed isn’t a good reason to stay home. Don’t discuss it

or raise your voice. Just tell her she must go to school. It’s a rule.• Do you keep your child home if she’s sick?• Do you try to make medical and dental appointments

outside of school hours?• Do you help your child set the alarm clock earlier if she

has trouble getting to school before 8:20?

How well are you doing? Each YES means you are supporting your child’s attendance. For each NO answer, try that idea.

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Our favorite FREE stuff:

RenAngry, Annoyed

Strong, Skinny, DogEediot, Violent, Genius, Peaceful

Weak, Fat, CatCalm, Content

Stimpy

by Jackson Steinbroner, grade 5

How to Make a Pinecone Turkey

by Mrs. Papero’s 2nd Grade Class

You will need a fake leaf, a pinecone, glue, wiggly eyes, a brown pom-pom, orange and red felt, and scissors. First, glue the pinecone to the middle of the leaf. Next, glue the pom-pom to the tip of the pinecone. Then, glue the wiggly eyes onto the pom-pom. Last, use the felt to cut out an orange beak and a red wattle and glue it to the pom-pom. You could give it to someone as a gift or you could put it out for a decoration.

GAZETTE December 2010...page 10

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A Message from Mrs. BraceDear Parents/Guardians,

Happy Holidays! One of our continued district goals for this school year is to increase effective communication between parents, community and staff. We have many tried and trued communication systems in place and now we have implemented a few new systems as well. The Glendale PTA will continue to meet bi-monthly to discuss past and upcoming plans for student and family activities. (see dates on the school calendar). Our Open House took place on October 1 and many families were in attendance to meet teachers and get information about the curriculum for this school year. The Glendale Building Professional Learning Community team meets monthly and includes representative from all stakeholder groups, including parents. The Glendale Gazette is published 6 times each year and is always packed with news as well as student work. Global Connect is our automated telephone system that is used to broadcast information to all parents as needed. If you are not receiving Global Connect calls please contact our office. The Sweet Home website holds a wealth of information for parents and students (www.sweethomeschools.com) We have recently added a link to the weekly after school activity calendar under Glendale News and Weekly Announcements so check that out and let us know what you think. As always, we welcome your input and involvement within our school and programs.

For many families, the holiday shopping season begins before sunrise on the Friday after Thanksgiving. During the holiday season, we spend a great deal of time finding the perfect gift. I would like to share an article from the National Association of Elementary School Principals that offers some suggestions to help parents make great choices for children’s gifts.

Play together: Look for toys and games that require family participation. Among the best are ones that combine fun and learning. Card and board games, dominoes, marbles, checkers, chess, and word and spelling games are a few good examples.

Make something happen: Look for toys that promote creativity. Providing dress-up clothes, art supplies, or puppets are easy ways to stimulate your child’s imagination. Inventing, creating and make-believe should be a part of every child’s free time.

Ready, action: Children need physical exercise. A ball, bat and glove, junior golf clubs, a tennis racquet, skates, a jump rope, hula-hoop, or Frisbees are great ways to promote physical fitness. Doing these activities as a family gives you more family playtime and helps keep everyone fit.

Something to show for it: Children love to produce things. Think about buying an inexpensive or disposable camera and photo album, a paint set and some paper, a sketch book and colored pencils, sewing or weaving kits, beading materials, origami paper, or a cookbook.

Make reading a gift: Give a subscription to an age-appropriate magazine (Sports Illustrated for Kids, Ranger Rick, etc.), or a book on CD, or combine a toy with a book.

As you consider all of the gifts your children hope to receive, I hope that you will consider the one thing that probably won’t appear on their “wish list.” That is the gift of time. Spending time with your child is truly a gift they will appreciate and enjoy. I would encourage you to make time to create some special memories with your family this holiday season. On behalf of all of us at Glendale Elementary School, I would like to wish your family happy holidays and the best the New Year has to offer.

" Joyce M. Brace, Principal! ! ! Phone: 250-1500 ! Email:! jbrace@shs.k12.ny.us

GAZETTE December 2010...page 12

mailto:jbrace@shs.k12.ny.ushttp://www.sweethomeschools.comhttp://www.sweethomeschools.commailto:jbrace@shs.k12.ny.us

What’s in this issue of the Gazette?

1 ! PTA Happenings

2-3 ! Sports

4 ! From the Editor

5 ! Music & More

6-7 ! According To Kids

8-9 ! How To

9 ! Attendance Matters

10 ! Free Stuff for Kids

11 ! In the News

12 ! Principal’s Message

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