The Friday Note April 15, 2011

The Randolph School, 2467 Route 9D, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 tel: 845-297-5600 email: learn@randolphschool.org fax: 845-297-5617 web: www.randolphschool.org

Events Calendar

April 2011 Tuesday, April 12 Penguins Museum & Play 5pm Wednesday, April 13 Authors Journey to Where the Wild Things Are 5pm Monday 4/18– Friday 4/22 Spring Vacation-No School Monday, April 25 Teacher Work Day-No School Tuesday, April 26 Everyone returns to school Authors to the Farm Wednesday, April 27 Downstairs to the Farm Friday, April 29 Grandfriends Day! 11:30-2:30

Have a Great Break! See you on the 26th!

Thoughts From Alisa Alisa Algava is Randolph School’s Director

“Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.” ~Alex Haley

Children’s eyes light up in a different way when grandparents appear to pick them up at the front door of Randolph School. I see it over and over again. And then there is the requisite tour – showing and sharing each room, pointing out the important toys or activities or journals or playground structures, even explaining where the bathrooms are. Whether the grandparent lives nearby or is visiting from far away, there is a love for each other and a joy in sharing our little school that can’t be missed.

When we return to school after next week’s vacation, we will be celebrating our grandparents and grandfriends at Randolph School. On Friday, April 29 from 11:30am-2:30pm is our annual Grandfriends Day, a moment in which our children get to share their world and school with their elder family members and important family friends. Grandfriends will get the opportunity to participate in each group’s Circle time, enjoy a performance of songs that our kids have been learning all year, do some multi-age and intergenerational activities, and eat homemade cake and ice cream sundaes topped by the maple syrup made by our very own kids. Our faculty recently sent an email to our current Randolph families describing this event and, more importantly, explaining why we organize this gathering each year. Here is what we said: “Cultivating relationships between children and their elders is a custom that can be traced back to the very beginnings of human history and, in this modern world, we at Randolph School believe that celebrating and deepening those relationships is a vital part of the education of a whole child. Grandfriends are an anchoring

strand in the web of teachers that a child will encounter over and over again in the course of her development, and a grandfriend visiting a child's school, meeting his teachers and friends, and seeing where she spends her days is a powerful reminder of this fact. (Plus, we have so much fun watching the children and grandfriends playing and laughing and hugging!)”

Please make sure your child’s grandfriends know about this event – they should have received a Randolph-grandchild-decorated invitation in the mail two weeks ago. Please ask them to RSVP if they haven’t already (or you can tell the Office for them). And, if any parents are available that Friday, we still need a few volunteers to help with activities and setup and cleanup – send an email to christine@randolphschool to let Christine know if you can help.

Next week, I’ll be visiting my grandmother in New Jersey. She is 94. In my family, we call her “The Source.” I will get to sit and talk with her, and, if I’m lucky, maybe even play a game of Boggle. My Grandma knows me and loves me and helps me feel connected – to my mom, to my sister, to my aunts and cousins, and even to all the relatives and ancestors I never knew. There is something powerful in the relationship between a grandparent and grandchild. And I’m luckier than most to have known all four of my grandparents, three of them into their nineties. Our Randolph kids are lucky, too, to be able to share their beloved school with their treasured grandparents and family friends on Grandfriends Day. I know it will be a magnificent day filled with joy, learning, and connection. I can feel it already.

Fitness with Brad

Spanish with Janet

It is amazing to see how much clothing vocabulary we are absorbing through songs, games, projects and studying. Tía Monica has been stuck in our heads and has been a very boisterous way to practice pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. We’ve also created clotheslines and sets of matching cards that we use for “Go Fish” and matching games. We used the vocabulary to play telephone and to talk about what we would wear in different weather and seasons. This unit leads naturally into a review, or, for some, an introduction to weather and seasons. As always, we are taking the opportunity to practice new grammar and conversation skills. We are asking and telling each other our names, learning the use of “hay,”and some are getting a formal introduction to Spanish verbs. The Downstairs has also begun practicing asking each other their names and answering. We also sang some old favorites. It was impressive how much they remembered of songs we have not heard since the fall. Below is some Spanish to try at home. Remember the rules of pronunciation. We’ve been learning those, too! The vowels sound like this: a=ah, e=ay, i=ee, o=oh, u=oo. “Ll sounds like “y.” Put the emphasis on the second to last syllable unless there is an accent to direct you differently. ¿Cómo te llamas?- What is your name Me llamo...- My name is... ¿Que hace el tiempo?- What’s the weather like? La falda- skirt La blusa- blouse Los pantalones cortos- shorts La camisa- shirt La camiseta- tee shirts Las sandalias- sandals Los zapatos- shoes El gorro- hat or cap Chau, Janet

These rainy days have led us indoors to have our workout and group time together. We have been playing games that focus work on our powers of observation, deduction and whimsical natures. One game has a virus passing along its deadly purpose in the form of a handshake. A doctor must discover who the virus is before it is too late. While the students are learning to give a proper handshake, they are interacting socially and moving around the room. In another game the students copy the actions of one person. Another person must discover who is the leader of the group. This games allow the students to move a lot and our hearts are usually racing by the time the round ends. We have other games where the students have to discover whose voice they heard. These games help and children become a more cohesive group and encourage them to pay attention to the details of everyone in the Upstairs. All of the games are geared to improve our physical health, social skills and understanding of each other as members of a community. These are fun activities for the Upstairs to have when the weather drives us indoors. Hopefully the weather will warm up and we can run around the fields and playgrounds after vacation.

Art with Valerie

Philosophy with Dan

Finally. Outdoor space as a continuation of the Art Studio. Is there a happier bunch of artists anywhere? I doubt it! We packed our sketchbooks, pencils, erasers, and sharpeners and headed outside for the first observational drawing event of the season. We were greeted by families of peeping robins searching for nibbles, vibrant daffodils waving in the wind and a roaring creek running fierce from a recent rain. We studied and talked about the changes in our environment – and how it made us feel. We made notes, sketched and took a minute more just to bask. What a difference a couple of weeks can make. I’ve had the honor of joining the Authors more than usual that past couple of weeks and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my extra time with them. It was a joy seeing my students with each other outside of the Art Studio and join Anita and David as they incorporate the arts into their day. It was most fabulous creating a “terrible” environment with the Authors to rumpus in (with their parents). I reflected much on myself as a teacher and even more about the community that flows through the veins of the main building. Although we do have the most fabulous space in the world – the Carriage House to create and explore the world of art, I’m struck by the notion that it also encourages me to be a bit disconnected from the main building. My goal is to spend more time with all groups in their home base this spring and add a more cohesive flow to our endeavors. I also invite you to participate in an art workshop, "Dwell:Climb:Fly" for children ages 5 - 10. The event will be hosted by Open Space gallery in Beacon. Over three weeks, teams of children will build an installation based on the following themes: human and animal dwellings, climbing structures, and things that take flight. Randolph moms and artists Kalene Rivers and Jean Brennan will lead the workshop with me. The event will be conducted in the gallery space on subsequent weekends starting April 30th and culminate in an opening on Beacon's 'Second Saturday' on May 14th. This event is free and open to the public. Children who are interested in participating should contact learn@randolphschool.org. SAVE THE DATE! The annual Randolph Art show is coming up! Opening celebration May 23rd 2-4pm and May 24th 5-7pm. Hoe you can join us!

In philosophy, both Penguins and Authors have started new projects. Each group is reading a philosophy for children text written by Matthew Lipman, one of the founders of the P4C movement. The Penguins are reading Pixie, a story about a precociously philosophical girl who must be about the age of our Penguins, while the Authors are reading Kio and Gus, a text more appropriate for their ages. Both texts are stuffed with the traditional philosophical problems, but are presented in a style intended to engage and stimulate young minds. The Penguins have spent time delving into the relationship between body and self, an issue presented by Pixie when she states “But you see, that’s what puzzles me. Either my body and I are the same, or they’re not the same. If my body and I are the same, then it can’t belong to me. And if my body and I are different, then who am I?” Needless to say, this has made for some intense conversation, some of which has brought the group back to the same mind/body issues that we dealt with previously. Am I my mind, or am I body and mind? And if I am mind, and mind is brain, am I just brain? The Authors have been wrestling with the question whether water passing through the overflow hole in a bathtub is running into the hole or out of the hole. The issue is raised by Kio as he takes his bath – “I like the gurgle it makes as it runs into that hole. (Does the water run into the hole or out the hole?)” This has proved quite difficult for some Authors to grasp, some of whom insisted that there is no real issue here – the water goes out the hole. Others, like Eamonn, took the bolder position that anything passing through a hole must both go in and out the hole. When I raised the issue with the Penguins, they agreed on a similar answer, though phrased in a somewhat more sophisticated manner. Instead of claiming that water both enters and exits a hole, they claimed that holes don’t exist, that what we call holes are all really tunnels. And since all holes are tunnels, anything passing through them must go both in and out. Needless to say, both Goldie and I felt proud of the work they were doing. You can hear part of the discussion by clicking HERE.

Music With Gina

Spring is here and you can feel it all around Randolph. The children are buzzing with excitement all over the school. Downstairs, we've been continu-ing to explore the story and song of the "Little Horses" and did some rhythm echoing and impro-vising on the drums and rhythm sticks while singing along to "Take Time in Life." Upstairs, the Authors learned a new song and dance that was full of sur-prises! We also used it to help with our rhythm read-ing and to make connections to other songs we have sung that have "Mi-Re-Do" and "Sol-Mi-Do" in them, as well as see what that looks like on the staff. The Penguins had a jam session on the xylo-phones and drums and began discussing their song to share at Stepping Stones. Since they are the oldest group in the school (aside from Avery and Cody), they are getting to propose a song for the celebra-tion. The guidelines are that they must either bring me a physical copy of the song or email me an MP3 or link to You Tube video of the song. They must also bring me a copy of the lyrics, which should be thematic; friendship, celebration, end of school, summer, people moving on, etc. They should also remember, when choosing a song to propose, that they will be singing this in front of their parents and possibly grandparents, so to make sure the content is appropriate. There submissions need to be sent to me by music class on Wednesday, April 27th. Have a great break! Gina

Poem in Your Pocket Day!

POEM IN MY POCKET (for The Randolph School)--by Edwin Torres (Rubio’s Dad!) I wrote a poem the poem talked to me it said, hello I am your poem I said, hello I am your pocket the poem looked at me and said, blooby dabby blop blop I said, is that your name no my name is zeeby zeeby wawa wait a minute... deebeeedeeeenanana hold on... guuddu guuuduuu nnnggggggg I knew I had to catch this poem so I opened my pocket very wide sssssssssssoooooppppppppaaaaaaaaaaa and caught it...chomp…with my eyes, my ears, my tongue now, whenever I want to smile I open my pocket take out my poem and listen... (without making noise, open your mouth and go…"bllleleebbbebebeennnenen")

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Penguins to see The Man Who Planted Trees

2

3 4

5 6 7 Parent Group Mtg. 7:30 31 N. Walnut/Beacon

8 9 Community Clean-up Day! 10am-4pm

10 11 12 Penguins Native American Museum & Play 5pm

13 Authors Journey to Where the Wild Things Are 5-6:30

14 15 16

17 18 Spring Vacation

19 Spring Vacation

20 Spring Vacation

21 Spring Vacation

22 Spring Vacation

23

24 25 Teacher Work Day No School

26 Authors to the Farm @9:30

27 Downstairs to the Farm @9:15

28 29 Grand Friends Day!

30

April 2011 Events Calendar

(Key: All School, Downstairs, Authors, Emperor Penguins, Cody&Avery)

Randolph School @ A Glance

School/Community Announcements

Parents Please Note: Childcare

will not be offered during Spring Vacation April 18-22

Randolph Twitters!! Come follow our Tweet.

If you write them, they will follow….your children’s

quotes that is. And we’re not only writing them down, we

are tweeting them on Twitter! Come “follow us”

@RandolphSpeaks…. …….on Twitter!

Thank you, to All who came out to help on

Community Cleanup Day!! David, Diane, Jon, Katlyn, Kathryn, Gerry, Eammon,

Attiya, Knut, Joshua, Jannis, Elian, Kasia, Antos,

Anne, William, Jen, Ava, Julia, Sadie,

Margot, Jameson, Zach, Ruby, Shep, Beth,

Jim, Charlie, John Mindiy Kai and Oliver!

School/Community Announcements

Become a FAN and visit the Randolph School on Facebook at www.facebook.com/randolphschool

Dwell Climb Fly The Randolph School invites you to participate in an art workshop, entitled "Dwell, Climb, Fly" for children ages 5 - 10. The event will be hosted by Open Space gallery in Beacon, NY. Over three weeks, teams of children will build an installation based on the following themes: human and animal dwellings, climbing structures, and things that take flight. Randolph School art teacher Valerie Foster Adam and local artists Kalene Rivers and Jean Brennan will lead the workshop. It will be conducted in the gallery space on subsequent weekends in late April through mid-May and culminate in an opening on Beacon's 'Second Saturday' on May 14th. Materials are being collected from local resource recovery centers and the community at large. This event is

free and open to the public. Parents of children who are interested in participating should contact learn@randolphschool.org.

3 Bedroom home for rent in Cold Spring. Easy access to Metro North, shopping and entertainment. Hardwood floors, large eat-in kitchen, washer/dryer, new dishwasher, off street parking, other amenities. Contact Anita, 845 891 9303.

Parents, don’t forget to check the school calendar on our website and click on Meal in a Bowl to find out

who’s making it and what’s in this week’s Something in a bowl!

http://www.randolphschool.org/events/calendar/

Location Topic Scheduled Times East Entrance Shape up! Exploring the 

shapes in origami Ongoing

East Scenic Overlook

Geology in the Hudson Valley

Ongoing

East Sceenic Overlook

Music by: Pat Lamanna – Folk gui‐tarist Aidan Phipps, Bassist

6pm, 7pm,8pm Aidan Phipps 

6:30, 7:30, 8:30 Pat La‐manna

Center Over‐look

Fun with Physics Ongoing

West Overlook Fun with Spanish Ongoing

West Overlook The Good Dog Founda‐tion

Ongoing

West Overlook Ecology of the Hudson River

Ongoing

Strolling on Walkway

Barbershop quartet 8‐9pm

West Entrance Christopher Brellochs and Dutchess Community College Jazz ensembles  

6‐6:45pm DCC Student Jazz Combo 

7‐7:45 DCC Faculty Jazz Combo

West Entrance Biking Ongoing

Announcements Continued….

Parents...It’s TICK time

again. Please check

your children carefully

each evening for ticks.

We’ve already had a

few sightings!

Dutchess community Day!

April 30, 2011

11:00-4:00pm

@ Dutchess Community

College

Community Connections,

Local Vendors, Food, Fun

for kids, Music1

Stop by the

randolph School Booth

and say hello!

Parents: Check out the schedule for the Walkway Over the Hudson this weekend!