Dates to Remember

10/2 PTG meeting @ 6:30

Title 1 Parent Meeting

10/10 Superintendent Conference Day

10/13 Columbus Day

10/15 Picture Day

10/31 Cultural Parade

Making Tracks

John E. Joy Community Newsletter

October 2014

The John E. Joy Elementary School

Learning Community is committed to

providing an excellent education for all of

its students. We believe that it is our

responsibility to foster a life-long love of

learning and to develop thoughtful,

independent learners by providing a

nurturing, innovative and inspirational

climate that empowers all of our students

to grow into competent, caring,

respectful, responsible and resourceful

citizens who take a genuine interest in

their community.

The John E. Joy Learning Community members

are whole–heartedly committed to the success

of all of our children who are our future.

Mission Statement Vision Statement

Principal News!

Dear Parents,

Thank you very much for your work to make the

school year start off successfully. As you know, our

teachers and staff members worked together to

make the first days of school go smoothly. Thank

you to those who volunteered to join our Parent

Teacher Group. We are off to a great beginning.

The beginning and end of the school day are two

important times to be mindful of safety. In order to

keep all of our children safe, we ask that you follow

our arrival and dismissal procedures. Please see

insert.

I look forward to working together with you to

make this year a very successful year for your child.

Please call 334-1261 if you have any questions.

Yours in Education,

Andria M. Lacey

1st

Teacher Tracks

Second graders are quickly adjusting to

their new classrooms. They are becoming

familiar with new routines and are making

new friends. Next week we will begin

learning Fairy Tales and Tall Tales. In Math

next week we will be doing review and

practicing fluency. Second grade writers

will be very busy this year as well. We would

like to wish everyone a very happy and

successful 2014-2015 school year!

In Kindergarten, we are working on learning

our personal standards of respect,

responsibility and resourcefulness as well as

the routines of Kindergarten. We are

making many new friends and fun

discoveries about them. In ELA, we are

learning about Nursery Rhymes and the Five

Senses. In Math we will be practicing all

the ways to make numbers to five, sorting

things that are exactly the same, not the

same and sort of the same. We are hoping

to take a trip to the fire station to

culminate our fire safety unit. We are going

to visit the library and get library cards. It’s

a wonderful way to teach responsibility and

get great books without spending any

money! We are really excited for this year!

3rd

Welcome to third grade! We are off to a

great start! In ELA, we have been reading

about how people access books around the

world. We read about children in the country

of Chad that have to build their own school

every year! In Math, we started the year

learning how to multiple and divide. We are

using arrays, number bonds, and tape

diagrams to help us. The district has started

a new writing program, and we have been

writing personal narratives. During writer’s

workshop, we can write with colored pens.

WOOHOO! Our first science unit is

buoyancy. We tried to make clay boats that

floated. Parent-Teacher conferences don’t

start until January. If you were unable to

attend Open House, you will be contacted to

schedule a conference.

Mrs. Iacovissi's class is learning the meaning of

the 3R's. Respectful, Responsible and

Resourceful. Fourth grade is learning how to

write a class constitution and understanding how

to use "special language" and transition words to

make it sound more interesting. In math we are

busy learning how to bundle and change from

hundreds to thousands and vice versa. We are

learning key words such as ---units, standard form,

place value and bundle. In science we are learning

about living and non-living things. For the

upcoming cultural fest we will be portraying

Native Americans, which we will soon be learning

about within our ELA curriculum. Start thinking

about a costume now!!

In first grade we are very busy! We are

learning a new math program which aligns

with the common core standards. The focus

so far is how to decompose numbers to ten

using number bonds. We are also learning to

become fast thinkers when it comes to

recognizing a number represented in

different ways (dots, fingers, pictures,

etc.). We also take part in writing workshop

where we are learning to become

independent writers. This marking period’s

topic is ‘Small Moment Stories’. We are

writing stories that happened to us over a

very short moment. In ELA we have been

listening to and learning about fables. We

have also been focusing on our letter

formation and sounds associated with the

letters and combinations of letters. We are

doing all of that while learning and reviewing

our school and classroom procedures!

2nd

4th

K

Mrs. Ward

Mrs. Serrano

Teacher Tracks

Mrs. Lanzi’s

Class

Welcome to John E. Joy School!

September is an exciting time for all students and

staff! Speech and language students will soon start

coming to the speech room to get assistance with

their articulation, language, voice and hearing

needs. All kindergarten students’ speech and

language skills will be screened in the following

weeks as is required by New York State law. If you

have any questions regarding your child's speech

and language needs please contact Mrs. Janes at

any time. Best wishes for a "Roaring" good year at

John E. Joy!

Mrs. Sheryl Janes

Licensed Speech/Language Pathologist

Mrs. Janes

Music

In kindergarten music classes this month we will be learning to sing the songs, “America” “Here We Go

Round The Mulberry Bush” “1,2,3, Little Pumpkins” and Ring Around The Pumpkin. We will also be

learning the difference between a march and a lullaby. In First Grade we will be learning to sing Old

McDonald and several Halloween songs. In Second Grade we will be learning to sing “God Bless

America” “Tinga Layo” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and “He’s Got The whole World In His Hands”. In

Third grade we will be learning the curriculum song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home”. We will

also be learning “The Ghost of John” and the difference between major and minor songs. In Fourth

Grade we will be working on the curriculum songs “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” and “The Erie

Canal”. We will also be starting our folk song unit.

back to

school. Students who need some

extra help with their math skills will

be receiving services through AIS

support. This may include

collaborations with the teacher,

push in services or small group

instruction within my classroom.

Parents please feel free to call me

at any time if you have any concerns

regarding your child’s math progress.

Mrs. Latulipe’s

class

Welcome back!!! In the Resource Room, Mrs. Latulipe is working with teachers to develop a schedule

for each student. Scheduling may be a bit more challenging this year as she is traveling to Gansevoort

School each morning to work there until 10:00 and then will travel to Joy School. The goal for this

year is for all students to work to improve reading vocabulary, fluency, and reading comprehension

skills. Students will also work to learn basic Math facts and to improve problem solving skills. The

district has recently purchased a new writing program to help all students to become better

writers. Looking forward to a wonderful school year!!

Art

We are looking forward to the upcoming

school year and are committed to the

Vision and Mission of our school. As

the year progresses we will submit

activities that you can do with your

children at home which will continue to

foster life-long learners. Please stop by

on Open House, Tuesday September

16th to see us. We are genuinely excited

to work with your children this year.

Art is the various branches of creative activity.

Each student at John E. Joy will be learning,

experiencing, and creating the “ABC’s of Art”,

which includes Line, Shape, Color, Form, Texture,

and Value. They will be guided through the

exploration of various materials, such as crayons,

markers, water color, paint, etc. It is recommended

that students not dress their best on art day

and/or bring in a smock. This year the art program

is being shared by Mrs. Kernan, Ms. Duran, and,

new to the district, Mrs. Benoit. There will be

several shows and displays throughout the year, so

please encourage all students to do their best.

work.

Ms. Thrasher

Ms. Thrasher is checking in with

teachers and students to make sure

everyone is adjusting to the new school

year.

Mrs. Daoreuang’s

Mrs. Fritzen’s

Class

John E. Joy

8194 Bielby Road

Rome, NY 13440

Phone 315-334-1260 Fax 315-334-7362

Check out our Joy Newsletter

on the website!

http://www.romecsd.org/Domain/13

This year in ESL we are excited to start a new celebration: "Country of the Month". We will choose

one country per month to learn more about as a school. The countries we pick will be based on where

our ESL students and families are from. The first country for September we looked at was Puerto

Rico. Here are some fun facts about this interesting Caribbean island:

* Puerto Rico is roughly the size of

Connecticut.

* Puerto Rican coffee is considered some of the best coffee in the world.

* The hammock was first invented and used in Puerto Rico.

* We adopted the words "hurricane" and "manatee" from the Taino Indians living in Puerto

Rico.

* The average temperature is between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

The country of the month for October is Burma/Myanmar. We have a lot of students at Joy whose

families are from Burma/Myanmar. Some of these students were born in Thailand awaiting their

opportunity to immigrate to America. Here are some facts about Burma (Myanmar):

* Burma (Myanmar) is in Southeast Asia and is bordered by China, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, and

India.

* Burma (Myanamar) has many different habitats ranging from snow-topped Alpine mountains to

tropical forests.

* Green tea and rice are commonly enjoyed during meals.

*Burma was officially named Myanmar in 1989.

* Corrupt military governments have oppressed many people in Myanmar, including ethnic minorities.

Please come visit our bulletin board outside of the ESL room to see pictures and learn more facts

about our country of the month.

PTG

PTG is happy to announce that we are off and running to a great start to the new school year! Open

House was a success and we got a lot of volunteers for various upcoming events. We are looking

forward to our first fundraiser. Information coming home soon. PTG meetings are monthly, and we

look forward to seeing new faces.

Media Center

Welcome back to the Joy Library Media Center! It's another brand new

year, and the Joy library has lots of brand new books to start it off

right. September has been a month of review for most library students --

with time spent brainstorming behavior expectations, revisiting check-out

procedures, and reviewing library organization. For the newest members of

the Joy learning community, much time has been spent learning how a

library functions and how we can properly care for the library books that

we will be borrowing throughout the year. Kindergarteners have learned

that responsible library students:

• Keep their library book in a special place where it won't get lost or

forgotten. Backpacks are a great place to keep books when we

aren't reading them!

• Care for their library books by keeping them away from water, pets,

younger brothers and sisters, food, and drinks.

• Use a bookmark to mark your pages. Don't bend or "dog-ear" pages.

• Return their library books on "Library Day" so they can borrow a

new book.

John E. Joy students will have the opportunity to check out books every

week on the day that their class visits the library. However, students must

return their library books from the previous week before they can check

out any new ones. If students haven't finished reading their book from the

previous week, they can bring it back in and renew it for another week.

Parents/Guardians -- you can help your students to be responsible library

students by reminding them to keep their library books in a safe place

where they will not be lost or forgotten on "Library Day." It’s going to be a

GREAT year. Let’s get reading!!