“When you lie no one trusts you anymore.” In just one sentence, George Grant Mason Elementary first grader Phoebe summed up the importance of honesty.
Phoebe’s insight came at this morning’s character trait read-along led by third grade teacher Mrs. Rocklin. For the January trait of Honesty, Rocklin chose “A Bike like Sergio’s” by author Maribeth Boelts and illustrator Noah Z. Jones.
The book tells the story of Ruben, a birthday boy who would just love to have a bike like his friend Sergio. Unfortunately for Ruben, money is tight at home and his parents can’t afford to give him such an expensive gift. But could Ruben’s luck be changing? During a trip to the grocery store, Ruben sees money fall out of someone’s pocket. He swiftly picks it up and discovers it was a hundred dollar bill; enough to buy a bike like Sergios! Ruben wrestled with how he could tell his parents, especially after seeing his mom cross items off the grocery list she doesn’t have the money to buy. When Ruben loses the money, and quickly finds it in his bag, he also finds his answer. He would be honest and return the money.
Rocklin followed up the reading with a discussion about honesty. And despite the freezing temperatures outside, a garden is growing inside GGM - a garden of honesty. This month, whenever a teacher sees a student or their class being honest, they will write the example down on the petal of a paper flower. Those flowers will be planted in the school’s main floor for all to see.
Who is up for a little “light” reading? 🔦 📚 All week, George Grant Mason Elementary third graders have been basking in the glow of flashlights during their independent reading time.
📕 Over the past few months, the class has been earning prizes for working well together, following rules and being honest. This time around, Mrs Rocklin’s students opted for a book time blackout!
As soon as she shuts the lights, students turn on their imaginations, getting lost in the pages of a work of fiction or non fiction. (Luckily they have a flashlight 🔦 to guide the way.)
📗 Rocklin is happy this is one of the prizes chosen by her vivacious readers, “it is so important to read each day and why not make it fun!”
📘 Flashlight reading has been spotted in other GGM classrooms this year. It’s one of the many enlightening ways Mrs. Rota keeps her fourth grade students engaged in their books.
💡What a bright idea.💡
#book #books #booklover #bookstagram #reading #readingtime #readingnook #readingisfun #readingislife #readingisfundamental
The Tuxedo Elementary Indoor Soccer season plans to get underway January 22. The league is available students in Grades 3 thru 6 and plans to meet Sundays at the John P. Mottola Gymnasium from 2PM - 4PM ET.(based on enrollment times may change) The league wraps up on March 12.
For more Information or to sign up, email: tuxedo.athletics@tuxedoschools.org
Sign up by January 14th and updated information will follow with exact times.
Tuxedo Forecast for Wednesday, January 4: High of 61° 🌤 and snow 🌨 in the morning… wait, what?!
❄️ That’s right there was snow in Tuxedo this morning, courtesy of our George Grant Mason Elementary Pre-Kindergartners. Ms. Braffett’s class cooled down this abnormally warm January day by creating snow slime. Glue, water, starch; one by one, students came to the front of the room to assist with the ingredients needed for their polar project. As the concoction came together, icy blue food coloring was mixed in and of course, glitter!
❄️ Braffett says she enjoys creating slime with the class because it is a fun way to introduce them to science, while providing an opportunity for teamwork. It is also a great sensory activity, which our young friends quickly found out as they began shaping and molding the glittery goop.
🥶 Luckily this snow doesn’t melt!
...and we’re back! Rested and refreshed from the winter break, George Grant Mason Elementary students returned to the classroom this morning, ready to learn (and create). 📓
📐You could feel the enthusiasm in Ms. Klimowich’s STEM lab where the second grade class put on their engineer caps to build ramps that could support the weight and energy of a rubber hand ball. 🛝
🔢 Down the hall, Mrs. Rocklin’s third graders put their energy into brushing up on some math equations, while Mrs. Rota's students got to work on their chromebooks. 💻
❄ Downstairs in Mr. Stankiewicz’s art room, fourth and fifth grade students brushed aside the rainy day by creating snowflakes using paper and scissors.✂️
🥳 #HappyNewYear and here is to a great second half of the school year! 🙌
❄️Let ‘em sew, let ‘em sew, let ‘em sew. George Grant Mason Elementary second graders got a lesson in sewing this morning; starting the day stitching and stuffing a fabric snowman. Before our budding seamstress and seamsters got to work, Ms. Blume walked the class through the steps of threading, piercing and pulling the needle. Their directions were capped with a safety reminder, because needles can be sharp! Ms. Blume reminded everyone, “if you need to get up, poke the needle in your tomato!” 🍅
🪡 With the help from five of our classroom mothers, students began sewing the seam along the edge of their fabric snowman, guiding their handpicked thread carefully and creating a whipstitch. Once they were nearly complete, it was time to stuff the snowman and seal it up.
✂️
🧵 Ms. Blume said the reason she wanted to do a lesson in sewing was simple, “its an important skill to have.” It also teaches students, “patience” and “fine motor skills.” 🪡
⛄️ It also created an occasion for camaraderie and collaboration. As each snowman was completed, classmates turned to help each other and compliment one another’s work. Some jokes were also shared. What would a snowman say if he could talk? “I’m a cool snowman” or “there is snow place like home!” ⛄️
To view the agenda for the Tuxedo Union Free School District Regular Board of Education Meeting on 12/21/2022, please visit our website, www.tuxedoufsd.org, select "menu" and then select "BoardDocs" under the Board of Education area of the screen.
It’s a holiday whodunit?! Someone stole Mrs. Rota’s headbands!
When George Grant Mason Elementary fourth graders arrived in school last Thursday, they found their teacher’s door covered in caution tape! The classroom had become a crime scene!
Students were ushered by Mrs. Rota and Mrs. Bock down to the school library where they were met by officers from the Tuxedo and Greenwood Lake Police Departments. Mrs. Rota explained that someone made a big mess of her room and took a bin of holiday headbands! But who was it? Luckily elves Joy, Twinkle and Snowflake got a glimpse of the classroom caper and left behind some clues before being captured. Tuxedo Officers Hall and Russell and Greenwood Lake Police Chief Eirand explained they would need some help cracking the case.
After the caution tape was cleared and the door was opened, students discovered their desks were littered with evidence. From Nurse Castricone’s stethoscope to Mrs. Sayle’s folder, it seemed like everyone was a suspect! With some help from the fifth-grade class, our young sleuths got to work searching for clues and marking off evidence. Once everything was accounted for, these grade four gumshoes began connecting the dots. Because the headband bandit has a fish tank, likes to read and have fun with her students - Mrs. Sayles and Mrs. Rush were the leading suspects.
So who did it? Well it was Mrs. Sayles! She just couldn’t resist festive fashion choices. But don’t worry, she is not a criminal! She emailed to say she was borrowing them, and Mrs. Rota never saw it! So Mrs. Sayles was let go by GGM authorities, photo souvenir in hand.
There was no denying the fun of solving the mystery, but it was much more than figuring out who stole headbands and trapped three innocent elves. It was an important lesson on #inference - how to come to a conclusion using evidence and reasoning. Mrs. Rota says it is vital for our young learners to know that “you can’t just throw something out there; you have to back it up.”
It’s safe to say thanks to some creative teachers, one good sport, Brendan Eirand and our local authorities, that case is closed.
Please be advised that the Tuxedo Union Free School District will be on a 2-hour delayed opening today, Friday, December 16, 2022.
Please use the following link to view the next Regular Meeting of the TUFSD Board of Education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_MxrEOaeQE
Please use the following link to view the meeting announcement for the next Regular Meeting of the TUFSD Board of Education: https://5il.co/1m20s
Please be advised that the Tuxedo Union Free School District will be dismissing early today, at 12:30.
Please see the following update from the New York State Education and Department of Health regarding influenza, RSV and COVID-19.
https://5il.co/1m19k
A tradition that truly “rocks.” With paint and markers in hand, the George F. Baker High School Senior class gathered at the edge of Tornado Drive yesterday afternoon to sign the rock that sits atop the TUFSD campus.
Standing shoulder to shoulder in the December cold, students added their names and a “Class of 23” design that now greets drivers passing by on Route 17.
Earlier in the day, a bundled up Mr. Stankiewicz was seen cleaning and prepping the rock so our oldest students could sign it ahead of Spirit Week, which kicks off Monday.
Go Tornadoes!
Packages, holiday cards…. neighborhood mail carriers certainly have their work cut out for them this time of year. To show their appreciation, our George Grant Mason Elementary third graders took time out of the school day to write thank you cards and draw pictures for those who work in “snow, rain, heat or the gloom of night.”
📬 Letter writing for the letter carrier is part of Ms. Rocklin’s “Ten Days of Giving Back.” Over the next two weeks, her third grade class will be spreading holiday cheer through small acts of appreciation and contribution. In addition to those delivering mail, thank you cards will be delivered to sanitation workers and members of the TUFSD community. Students have also been collecting, food, clothes and blankets, which will be donated before the break.
📦 As they danced and sung along to holiday music, our young artists folded, cut and drew their way to saying thank you to members of the USPS.
Oh, what fun,” everyone had at this afternoon’s George Grant Mason Elementary Winter Concert.
Students in Grades PK to 5 spread plenty of holiday cheer with music that left everyone smiling ear to ear. Under the instruction of Elementary Music teacher Cailin Cienki, our GGM singers were shining as bright as the lights waved around by the fourth and fifth
graders during their rendition of "Holiday Lights." Speaking of the fifth grade class, our oldest elementary students did a fantastic job introducing each song featured during the concert. Thank you to everyone who came, as well as Music instructor Clayton Chan on keys 🎹. Happy Holidays!
#winterconcert #holidayconcert #Holidays #holidayseason
George F. Baker High School sixth graders ended #ComputerScienceEducationWeek by starting their day with one hour of #coding.
All week, TUFSD students have been participating in the annual #hourofcode event during Mr. Margotta and Ms. Klimowich's #STEM classes. This morning, Ms. Klimowch gave her first period students sixty minutes to try their hand at seven different coding games found on Code.org. Almost instantly, TynkerCode’s "Dragon Blast 2022" appeared on every Chromebook screen.🐉 As students navigated their dragon through a jungle in a quest for treasure, they built code and their skills in advanced sequencing and debugging. "NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Space Jam" and "Space Invaders" also made an appearance in GFB Room 14, but they couldn’t compete with the 27 puzzles featured in the "self guided dragon adventure."
The first #CSEdWeek was launched in 2009 by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), as a “call to action to raise awareness about the need to elevate computer science education at all levels and to underscore the critical role of computing in all careers.”
Not only does computer science play a critical role in the halls of Tuxedo Union Free School District, it is a pillar of our award winning STEM program. George F. Baker High School is the only school in New York State to have a “National Certificate for STEM Excellence (NCSE)” The certificate was awarded to the district in 2022 by the National Institute for STEM Education. NISE recognizes “individual school campuses for their commitment to – and growth in – teachers’ implementation of 21st Century and STEM strategies.”
#computerscienceeducation #computerscienceedweek #computerscienceeducationweek #computerscience #computerscienceforkids #HourOfCode #hourofcode #stemforkids #stemeducation #dragonblast
🎼 Practice makes perfect for our George Grant Mason singers. Under the watchful of eye of Elementary Music teacher Cailin Cienki, grades PK – 5 spent the afternoon putting together the finishing touches on this week’s winter concert. ☃️
We can assure you come Friday afternoon at 1:45 PM: jingle Bells will be ringing, halls will be decked and holiday lights will be shining. (And good thing the weather doesn’t appear it will be frightful.)
If your child was absent on Oct. 18th, he/she will have their photo
taken for school records. It is not too late to order!
Log onto:
https://www.memorymakersstudios.com/
and use our school password:
GGM101822
If you would like your child’s photo retaken, please return the
original photo packet by Dec. 8th, so staff knows to send your
child for retakes. Thank you!
Questions?
Contact: nancy.donnelly@tuxedoschools.or
Rain 🌧 + Cold 🥶 + Wind 💨 on December 3 and they were running towards the water?! Congratulations to members of the Honor Society, Student Council, Interact Club and faculty who braved the elements to support the Special Olympics New York - Polar Plunge in the Village of Greenwood Lake NY this past Saturday. Our Tuxedo Tornadoes 🌪 team helped raise over $500.00 in individual and team donations to help local Special Olympics New York athletes. Thank you all for your generosity and we look forward to supporting this event next year.
