May 2016

Upcoming Dates to Remember

Friday May 13

7 p.m. Talent Show

Multipurpose Room

Tuesday May 17 3rd Grade Bike Rodeo-

Rain date Tues May 24

Saturday May 21 9 a.m.

CWCEF 5K

Wednesday May 25 5th grade art show

6:30-8 p.m. Multipurpose room

HSA Meeting

7 p.m. LIbrary

Friday May 27

Monday May 30 Tuesday May 31

School closed

Tuesday May 31 CWC Night

Jackals Game Yogi Berra Stadium

Friday June 3

6 p.m. Family Picnic

Rain date June 10

Thursday June 9 5 p.m

District Family Night West Caldwell Gazebo

Note from the Principal…

The 3rd Grade Bike Rodeo will be held on Tuesday May 17th from 1 to 3 p.m. This will be

coordinated by Officer Mazzeo. Students will go through a series of stations, learning about

bicycle safety and how to properly maneuver while on their bicycle.

Ms. Purcell, Wilson School art teacher, has scheduled a fifth grade Art Show, on Wednesday,

May 25th, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., in our multipurpose room. The art show will feature various

works of art, all created by our talented fifth grade artists.

Kindly be reminded that, due to unused snow days, schools will be closed on Friday May

27th and on Tuesday May 31st.

Scott Keena

Principal

FROM THE HSA…

We would like to thank Jodi Grosso and Lauren Capozzi for organizing 3-4 Night, Lenore

Cooperman for running the book fair and Janine Cerreto and Brittney Ott for running

our Movie Nights.

After school clubs have come to an end. Thank you to Janine Cerreto, Cathy Caragiulo,

Tracy Marsh, Mrs. Napolitano, Dina Sanderson, Kara Yorio and Andreas Wagner for

donating their time to teach our children and to all our families for their support with

this program. The success of this program allowed the HSA to donate $600 to Mrs.

Emmolo’s Makerspace.

1-2 night was a huge success. Thank you to all our volunteers

Thank you for your continued support,

Sue Rozell & Tracy Marsh HSA Co-Presidents

Fifth Grade The 5th graders have been very busy in their last few months at Wilson School. Administrators and guidance counselors from Grover Cleveland Middle School recently met with the 5th graders to talk about what to expect as the students transition to 6th grade and helped to answer any questions they may have had about the middle school. Many 5th graders created beautifully designed and decorated t-shirts for a contest sponsored by the West Caldwell Environmental Commission. This year’s theme was “Water is Everywhere.” Special thanks to Mr. Haas for the time and effort he spent speaking to our 5th graders about this contest and the importance of protecting our environment. The students enjoyed having author Elvira Woodruff spend a day at Wilson School the other day. It was fun for the students to listen to Mrs. Woodruff tell the audience how she thought of the topics for some of her books and the research that she did to help make those books realistic. Many of the 5th graders had read several of her books as fourth graders as part of an author study of Elvira Woodruff. Special thanks to Mrs. Emmolo for helping to arrange such a special day for everyone. Wilson students participated in various after school clubs that recently concluded. Students enjoyed creating delicious dishes in The Cooking Club, writing awesome articles for the Newspaper Club, doodling dazzling pictures in the Drawing Club, and 5th graders were overzealous to participate in the Zentangle Club. Special thanks to the parent volunteers for helping to organize these wonderful clubs. Second and 3rd grade children enjoyed learning about sign language in a club run by our school nurse, Mrs. Napolitano. Detective Paul Mazzeo has been visiting Wilson on Fridays as the students participate in the D.A.R.E. program. The 5th graders are learning to make good choices using the D.A.R.E. decision making model. Believe it or not, the 5th graders are already preparing for their special promotion day which will be here before you know it. They have been hard at work creating couplets which will be used to create their end of the year poem, learning songs with Mrs. Havrilla in chorus and had their picture taken by Mrs. Fredo which will also be included in the yearbook. Mrs. LeRouzic, Mrs. Zimany, and Mr. Stiefbold

3rd Grade Happenings

We have been busy building in 3rd Grade Land here

in Miss McBride’s room! Our architects have taken

on their latest design challenge… Geometrocity!

Their goal is to design, plan, sketch, and build their

very own cities. The architects will have the

opportunity to experience real-world constraints and

obstacles along the way. We will use our

background knowledge of Geometry and our

mapping skills to help secure a strong foundation in

our cities design and construction!

Mrs. Wyka’s students are true inventors at heart! With the pure genius and guidance of our

technology facilitators, Mrs. Halen and Mrs. Emmolo, the students in 3W were recently able to

create one of a kind musical instruments. What’s even more exciting is the fact that they were

able to create the instruments all within a one day timeframe!

The students in 3W were allowed to get their hands on, and explore, MaKey MaKey

Kits. Throughout the design process instruments like “The Amazing Partar” and the “Vello” we

created, amongst many others. They were functioning instruments created from everyday,

ordinary materials.

What is a Makey Makey kit? A MaKey MaKey is defined as an invention kit for the 21st

century. Where anyone can turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the

internet. It's considered a simple Invention kit for beginners and experts doing art, engineering,

and everything in between. However, if you asked the students in 3W to explain it, they would

have defined it as a day of pure fun!

The students began this designing process by learning about circuits and electricity. Once the

students had a solid foundation in the area of circuits and electricity, they were able to put their

knowledge to use. They went right to work creating and redesigning their own instruments. It

was amazing to see what the children would create, how their invention worked, and what it

sounded like! Part of the reason these third grade students were successful in this designing

process was because of their ability to utilize their problem and solution strategies from STEM

projects. What a creative crew we have in 3W!

#WykasloveMaKeyMakeyKits

Mrs. Ginex's class has been learning about renewable energy sources.

We had a lot of fun making hydro power wheels. Using aluminum pie plates

and wooden dowels and pitchers to pour water over the blades, we

experimented with how much weight the wheel could lift with the energy it

produced.

The next source we explored was wind energy. We created wind turbines

from recycled materials and attached them to DC motors. We used a blow

dryer and a heavy fan to replicate the wind and measured how much

electricity was produced using a meter.

The last source of renewable energy we are utilizing is solar

energy. Students built solar ovens to cook marshmallows.

We have had a blast using wind, water and our sun!!

First Grade

This year, in search of penguins and bears, the First Grade

went on a field trip to The Turtle Back Zoo. The penguins had

fun trying to climb and hide in the rock wall. We guessed it was

too cold for swimming!

After learning about black bears, seeing them in person

helped us to understand just how gigantic they really are! We

watched them take a leisurely walk through their habitat and

observed them having fun rolling in the grass.

As we approached the sea lion exhibit, we watched them

swim through the water with grace and speed. We then

traveled up to the stingrays and sharks. What an awesome

experience it was to feel their smooth bodies as they glided

through the water.

Capturing the hearts of almost everyone was the new baby

monkey! He certainly loved having an audience watch him as he

practiced his swinging and climbing skills.

Our First Grade trip to the zoo was so exciting!

Mrs. Kinsey and Mrs. Marinaccio

K-Kids News

Fourth and fifth grade students helped to raise $460 for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital on Wednesday March 23 and Wednesday March 30 when they participated in the K-Kids 3-on-3 Basketball Tournaments.

Nearly 100 students participated in the tournaments, playing against their peers in a round-robin format. Mr. Keena and Mr. Stiefbold were the referees. The students worked hard to organize teams, sell snacks, distribute participation prizes and more! The students cheered on their classmates.

Our students' effort will benefit the children at St. Jude’s. Doing good for others can be fun!