Dear Friend of Terraset,
At last the snow has cleared from the
front of the school and the kids can use the sidewalk. Indeed, they can
even get out to the playground! Spring is certainly in the air as
spring vacation approaches. So, the big news in this month's edition of
TouchPoint is that planning for the Earth Day Carnival is in full
swing. You will start to hear a lot about it over the next couple of
weeks and if you think you can help, we would love to hear from you!
We also know that spring is in the air as
we hear of birth announcements. In particular, congratulations go out
to Mr. Will Patterson, Terraset's PE teacher, and his wife Sarah. Their
son, Brennan, was born on Wednesday, March 10th. You should have seen
the joy on the faces of Mr. Patterson's students when they heard the
big news!
Needless to say, there is more news in this edition, so we hope you make it all the way to the end!
If there is information that you would like to see included in this publication, please send us your thoughts.
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| Snow Days Mean Makeup Days! |
At its March 4 regular
meeting, the School Board approved a snow makeup day plan. Because we
have already had nine inclement days, we will have school on April 12
and June 23-25.
June 28-30 have been reserved in the event that we have further (upto 15) inclement days.
A motion to direct the Superintendent to
request a waiver for one of the required makeup days and any additional
days missed for the remainder of the year passed 11-1.
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| Call for Graphic Artists! |
 With
the Earth Day Carnival coming up, along with other ongoing
projects, the PTA really needs some help from any graphic artists
that may be a part of our community.
If you are able to volunteer some of your
time for well defined and often relatively small projects, could you
let us know? We would love to hear from you!
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| Teacher's Tale: Mrs Kimberly Mathews |
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from Mrs. Mathews
If any of you have visited Terraset this
year and happened to espy a teacher leading a group of children with a
magic wand or some other colorful pointer, then you have seen me,
Kimberley Mathews, the new teacher of English for Speakers of Other
Languages (ESOL). This area of study used to be called English as a
Second Language, or ESL, but because English is actually a third or
fourth language for some of our students, the name has changed.
But the goal is the same, and that is to support and teach our students
who are growing up in a multi-lingual environment.
I have taught English in one capacity or another for over ten years. I
have taught adults and children of all ages. Before coming to
Fairfax County Public Schools, I was an elementary English teacher in
Berlin, Germany at a bicultural, bilingual school for American and
German children. This is my first year at Terraset Elementary
School. I live in Annandale with my husband Doug and our two
children Will (14 years) and Lilly (9 years).
Some of you might wonder what an ESOL teacher does at an elementary
school. Well, to be honest, I wear many hats. My first task is to
support students who have little knowledge of English. To do this I
either pull together small groups of students and teach them directly
or push-in a classroom and support student learning while the homeroom
teacher conducts a lesson. My second task is to support the
teachers at Terraset. I do this by sharing research and techniques
that are known to help ESOL students. I also assist in developing
lessons and modify assignments. One critical part is to work with
teachers who have ESOL students participating with the Virginia
Alternative Reading Assessment as part of their SOLs. A large part
of my job is administrative, in that I keep records and attend meetings
regarding all ESOL students. A component of this area is
testing. For instance, I just completed the federally mandated
assessment of all ESOL students in the school (109), kindergarten
through sixth grade.
I enjoy the job at Terraset because each day is different from the
next. I love the flexibility to work with teachers and students in
many different ways. One of my goals is to communicate better with
parents and develop a way that I can highlight the accomplishments of
ESOL students. If anyone is ever interested in volunteering to
work with ESOL students, please e-mail me the times you might be
available, and I can then match you with students and activities. Or if
you happen to see me walking around the halls with my magic wand,
please stop to say hello!
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| Reflections Update |
 As
announced last month, John Hodge in Mrs. Henry's first grade,
progressed to district level judging of the 2010 Reflections primary
division: visual art. His painting received a Merit Award.
Congratulations to John and all those who supported him in this endeavor!
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| GRACE Art Corner: Faith Ringgold |
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From Alison Stobie
This month the kids will be looking at the art of Faith
Ringgold. Faith is a pioneer in fabric painting and
quilting. She is also an important female African American artist
who used her art as a medium for telling the stories of African
American women. The children will be making a picture quilt where
they can depict the story of a happy time in their life.
A quilt is a type of blanket usually made from stitching pieces of
fabric together to make a picture or pattern. Quilts used to be made to
put on the bed to keep you warm. Over time though, they have
become works of art. Faith Ringgold's quilts are mixture of both
art and craft.
In the past young girls would learn to make quilts from the women in
the family. A young girl would be expected to make 13 quilts
before she married. Her first quilt would be quite simple but the
patterns would get more complicated as she grew older. She would
make her thirteenth quilt when she knew the man she was to
marry. This would be her most beautiful and intricate
quilt.
Faith Ringgold is a pioneer in making quilting an art form. Faith
was born in Harlem, New York in 1930. Faith had asthma as a child
and did not go to school in kindergarten and first grade. Her
mother was a fashion designer so there were always pieces of cloth and
art materials around the house. Her mother taught her how to sew just
as her grandmother had taught her. As a child Faith visited a lot of
museums and saw many great performers.
Faith loved to paint and draw and grew to be a teacher and an
artist. She says that she wanted to become an artist so she could
tell her own story. At first she painted on canvas but she wanted
to be able to move her paintings around easily. She found that the
frames around pictures were big and bulky and if she removed these
frames she was able to roll up her pictures. She then began
experimenting with using fabric instead of frames. This was in
part a result of a visit to a museum in Holland where she saw Tibetan
Tankas which are stories painted on silk cloth.
Faith made her first quilt with her mother in 1980. It was called
Echoes of Harlem and was a reflection of her early life in
Harlem. By then, Ringgold had become interested in using quilts as
a means to tell a story. Ringgold had heard stories of her mother's
grandmother who boiled and bleached flour sacks to line the quilts she
sewed as part of her plantation duties and her father's stories of his
father, a minister, who knew tales from everyone in town. Most of
her quilts show pictures of the experience of African American women.
Ringgold has made over 80 quilts in her career. Most are painted but
some incorporate printed media such as etching, lithography, and silk
screen. "Tar Beach", is one of her most well known quilts. It
incorporates a written story from her "Woman on a Bridge" series, which
she completed in 1988. Faith Ringgold now lives in California and
New York.
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| FCPS Budget Update |
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The Fairfax County School
Board has voted to adopt the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) FY
2011 advertised budget of $2.3 billion, restoring some programs
previously identified for elimination in the proposed budget.
Restoration of these programs depends on whether or not FCPS receives
adequate funding from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the
state.
At its March 8th meeting, the
Board of Supervisors approved proposed Tax Rates for Tax Year
2010, with flexibility up to $1.12 per $100 of assessed value for the
real estate tax.
This is considerably less
than many advocates were hoping for and it remains undecided how much
of this revenue Fairfax County will transfer to the school system,
so we are in a waiting game. However, many remain hopeful that the
strong support for schools demonstrated by Fairfax County taxpayers has
been recognized.
Budget Timeline Moving Forward:
4/6 School Board Presents Budget to County Board of Supervisors
4/6-8 County Board of Supervisors Budget Public Hearings
4/27 County Board of Supervisors Approves County Budget, Tax Rate Resolution, and
Transfer Amount to Schools
4/29 School Board Budget Work Session
5/10 School Board Budget Work Session
5/11-12 School Board Budget Public Hearings
5/13 School Board Budget Work Session 5/20 School Board Adopts FY 2011 Approved Budget
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| Tips for Parents from The Parent Institute |
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Help Your Child Write, Develop A Better Vocabulary
To be a good writer, children need a good vocabulary. To help your child develop her vocabulary, encourage her to:
- Read a lot. The more she reads, the more new words she'll encounter.
- Examine the context of new words. See if she can tell what a new word means by the text around it.
- Look up words she doesn't know in the dictionary.
- Keep a list of new words and their meanings in a special notebook.
- Learn the roots of words. See how many
words she can think of that contain the same root-predict, verdict,
dictionary and dictate, for example.
- Do word exchanges. Together, read over
what she writes. Then have her see how many words she can replace
without changing the meaning.
- Regularly use a thesaurus. Find synonyms for words she uses often.
- Play word games like Scrabble® and Mad Libs.
- Do crossword and other word puzzles.
Copyright (c) 2010 The Parent Institute, a Division of NIS, Inc.
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Announcing
Terraset Earth Day Carnival
Sunday, April 25, 2010
12:00-3:30 pm
Terraset Elementary School
11411 Ridge Heights Road, Reston, VA
Attractions Include
The Terraset Annual Family Fun Run at 11:30am
Outdoor Rides from 12 to 3:30pm
Dozens of games from 12 to 3:30pm
Silent Auction from 12 to 2:30pm
Face Painting from 12-3pm
Cake Walk
Tie Dyeing
Watch for more details in Tuesday Packet
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| Carnival Poster Competition |
Terraset Earth Day Carnival
Poster Competition
The
Earth Day Carnival needs a poster, so Terraset students are encouraged
to enter our poster competion! Last year's winning design, shown to the
right, allowed us to promote the carnival throughout the Terraset
community. Which of our budding artists will be featured this year?
Terraset
was built as an environmentally friendly and energy efficient school.
The Earth Day Carnival draws on this history by promoting recycling,
renewing and re-using! Major attractions will include the Family Fun
Run, a Silent Auction, and many different "green" games and activities.
The
poster will be displayed throughout the wider Terraset community to
promote the Earth Day Carnival to be held Sunday, April 25th.
Competition Guidelines
- Poster design should represent the carnival theme
- Do NOT include any titles, dates or wording - all text will be added to a digital master using the winning artwork
- We suggest you use markers to create your artwork
- Your finished poster should be 18" x 24"
- Your entry should be submitted by Wednesday, April 7th, 2010.
- Contest is open to Terraset K-6th grade students only
- The winner will be announced on Friday, April 9th on WTER.
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| Summer Band & Orchestra Camp |
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The Franklin Middle School Band Boosters
will sponsor a Summer Band and Orchestra Camp. The camp is offered to
all 3rd-10th grade band and orechestra students including beginning,
concert and symphonic band/orchestra members. A concert featuring all
performing groups is scheduled for July 17th.
Camp Details
Herndon Middle School
June 28 - July 23.
Orchestra from 8:30am to 12:30pm
Band from 9:00am - 1:00pm
Cost $175 per student
All students will receive a camp tee-shirt
Students will study the following areas:
All brass, woodwind, percussion, and string instruments
Music Theory
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