TouchPoint
Volume 3,
Issue 5 |
December 2010 |
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Terraset PTA
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Address
Terraset
Elementary School
11411 Ridge Heights Road
Reston, Virginia
20191
Visit our Blog!
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Dear Friend of
Terraset,
Welcome to this edition of TouchPoint! The holidays are upon us
and I don't know about you, but I always affectionately refer to them
as the "holidaze". There has been so much going on at the school
and all the kids have been busy! The annual Outback Dinner and
Math Night was a big success with a fun time had by all as students and
teachers alike dueled with some mad math skills. This month
excitement has been building as students and parents prepare for
holiday parties and anticipate Winter Break!
The cold weather has many of us curled up in front of a fireplace,
perhaps with a cup of hot cocoa or a mug of steaming coffee. I do
hope you will curl up with your laptop or computer for just a moment to
peruse this edition of TouchPoint!
Have a great Winter Break and keep those fingers and toes warm!
Devon
Boatwright
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 Jonathan Andert, Our New Human Relations Liaison!
We have a new Human Relation Liaison for
our school! Mr. Jonathan Andert, our resident music teacher, will
serve in this new volunteer position. The position was
created by the Human Relations Advisory Committee and is lead by the
Office of Equity and Compliance. Each school in FCPS is required
to appoint one staff member as the HR Liaison to promote, strengthen
and streamline good human relations efforts in his/her school and
community.
What does this Human Relations Liaison
do? Says Jonathan, "The HR Liaison is the point of contact for
all HR questions and issues in his/her community. I will work hard to
encourage effective communication throughout the school community
regarding activities, events, and resources that foster positive
relations, inclusion and diversity. If I don't have the answer to your
question, I will work hard to find one."
If you have any questions for Jonathan,
he encourages you to get in touch with him by email:
jeandert@fcps.edu
or phone: 703-390-5655.
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From Song to Dance to Art, Terraset Students
have International Flair!
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| Zumba! |
November 15-19 was a big time for Terraset Elementary students.
It was International Education Week! There is such
a huge diversity among our students and this was a great way to
celebrate all the different cultures. During the week students
watched clips on WTER about different cultures. Specialists also
incorporated cultural lessons into their daily plans.
But perhaps the most
excitement came when the entire school gathered in the gym to celebrate
diversity! Led by music teacher, Jonathan Andert and Spanish
teacher, Marisol Calvache-Vu, the students sang songs and danced to
music from around the world. It was quite a sight to see, as the
gym was decorated with cultural artwork, including a piece done by the
kids called a "mola". A "mola", meaning 'shirt' in Delegaya- the
language of Panama, is characterized by bold, geometric designs.
In Art, the second graders replicated these designs using construction
paper, glue and scissors.
One of the highlights
of the assembly included introducing the students to Zumba. Zumba
is a fitness program implemented in Colombia in the 1990s. It
combines moves from salsa to flamenco to merengue and it's all done to
the energetic beat of Latin music. Every student from K to 6 was
grooving to the funky beat as they all had a blast dancing!
After the invigorating
dance workout, students slowed down to an African song, Siyahamba. Led by DeAnthony Levenberry on
Conga and Breana Robinson on maracas, the whole school sang about
peace.
International Week was
truly a fun week for everyone involved. From the videos on WTER
to the culmination of the week in an assembly for all, who says
learning can't be fun! I know we're all looking forward to seeing
what next year's International Week has in store for everyone!
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Pack 32 Scouts for Food
Scouting for
Food is a national food drive run by the Boy Scouts of America every
November. According to the food bank, the donations Pack 32 and other
Scouting organizations collect in November provide enough canned goods
to last them all year. By participating in this food drive,
Pack 32 does
a good turn for our neighbors and puts the words of the Cub Scout
Promise - to help other people - into action.
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| Pack Leader Donavan Arizmendi
with some hardworking Scouts! |
Terraset's Pack 32 participated in Scouting for Food once again this
year and set a new Pack record for collections. On November 6, they
walked local neighborhoods delivering 900 bags and
flyers, asking people to donate non-perishable food for the needy. On
November 13, they returned to those neighborhoods to pick up all the
donations and deliver them to the food bank. This year, they collected
an astounding 154 bags for an estimated 1232 pounds of food. So if
you see some Cub Scouts with tired arms, you'll know why!
We want to especially recognize the following Scouts for their
contribution to this effort: James Bailey, John Carr, Remington Curren,
Noah Davidson, Noah Edell, Max Estrada, Gabe Gordon, Sebastian Guy,
Will Irwin, Hunter Munguia,Carlo Nasser, Erik Smith, Rory Stobie, Caleb
Waller, Jack Weber, Jaden Whaley, Derek Williams
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Spotlight on: Dawn Dzurilla and the Cafeteria
Staff!
By Liz
Falcone
Have you ever had the
opportunity to have lunch with your child at school? It's quite an
experience! The classes start arriving to the cafeteria around 11:15am
then continue every three minutes to the end of the lunch block. The
parade of children either find their way directly to an allocated table
(if they have brought their own lunch) or head through the lunch line
-- all under the watchful eyes of the Terraset Cafeteria Team. Since
last week was Cafeteria Staff Appreciation week, it seems timely that
we step back and consider just what our Cafeteria Team do for us!
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| Devasena, Dawn and Maria keep things
running smoothly! |
Dawn Dzurilla
(Cafeteria Manager), Devasena Kamineni (Cashier), Maria Vazquez-Gusman
(Server) and Lakiya Wilson (Hostess) ensure that our kids receive at
least a little healthy food (but they can't make them eat it!) and do
their best to keep the cafeteria a place where kids can enjoy their
meal. The second part can be quite a challenge given the number of kids
in the room... and its acoustics!
Dawn,
with a smile beaming, takes great pride in her team. "Sena has
been working here for 11 years and Maria for seven!" smiles Dawn, who
has worked in the cafeteria for ten years herself. Lakiya started
working at Terraset just a couple of months ago, but she knows the
school well... her daughter Ashley is in Mr. Millar's 5th grade.
"My team is very efficient" says Dawn proudly. Needless to say, their
work begins long before the kids get to school. Dawn begins at 7am each
day, preparing fruit trays and serving breakfast to the kids who eat at
school. Then there are deliveries to be received. Then food needs
to be cooked, orders placed, inventory maintained, and kids'
pre-payments collected and recorded. Sena and Maria arrive at about
9:30. Then the fun begins! "I know most of the kids," says Dawn as
she prepares for the next class to come through. It's true! Stand near
the register for 5 minutes and you will hear Dawn address each of the
kids by their first name. Not bad considering there are some 420 kids
who eat in the cafeteria each day! Most of those kids buy their lunch
so it's a pretty busy time of day for Dawn and her team.
Dawn grinned when I asked her what a dream day in the
cafeteria would be like. "All the students would take fruit and veggies
without being told and it would be nice and quiet!" Hmmm... that sounds
good! Happy Holidays Dawn... may all your dreams come true!
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Parents-
Help FCPS Determine Student Interest in After School Curricula!
Our
school has been selected to participate in a survey. This
survey is used to see where student interests lie and help determine
afterschool programs. The program being studied now
is modeled after the GLOBAL project, which seeks to expose children to
other languages and cultures. Barbara Havens, Early
Childhood Program Manager for FCPS, is interested in seeing what
additional curriculum will excite children and parents alike and
identify topics which will extend the curriculum.
The
survey below will help her out in seeing what students and parents want.
It takes only about 5-10 minutes to
complete and will be available until December 23. By
providing your feedback, you will be having a direct say into what
classes will appeal to students and extend their learning. Thanks!
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ExpandingAcademicOpportunitiesK-6
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Terraset Celebrates Cultural
Diversity with Song in LAS PARRANDAS
Terraset's students are
gearing up for a Spanish holiday tradition, Parrandas or Posadas- also
known as the Festival of the Lights. This holiday event has no
religious focus but rather seeks to focus on the holidays and
traditions around lights. The unit will culminate in a joint
effort between Mrs. Calvache-Vu and Mr. Andert. The students will
go around to each learning center as they sing holiday songs in
Spanish. Students will be caroling on Dec 22nd and are welcome to
wear a red or green shirt. It should be a festive time for all!
From Mrs. Calvache Vu:
Parrandas or Posadas are
a traditional carnival-like street party with origins date back to the
18th century. Adults and children, together using rattles, tambourines
and other instruments could run around the village making noise and
singing verses. Initially, they took place in northern cities of
the Villa Clara province
in Cuba. Most famous
parrandas are celebrated in Remedios colonial
city. Second by Camajuani and
followed in popularity by Vueltas, Taguayabon, Calabazar and Falcon. Through
the years it has been known there are similar celebrations around
Latino America.
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Developing
Children's Altruism
Remember back when our
children were what I affectionately refer to as "teeny tiny"? You
know, that age where they depend so much on us, and yet they have such
a strong desire to be independent? I love that
age. It's so much fun. And
I love the altruistic tendencies children have when they're younger. They
help put the toys in the toy bin, they want to help sweep and vacuum
and load the dishwasher.They hug a friend who's sad. It's
such a sweet time.
But as they get older and
school, homework and extra curriculars get in the way, children lose a
little of the "helper" in them. So here's a few
tips in keeping that altruistic nature alive and well as our children
grow.
- Model altruism
yourself. This is pretty much true of all
aspects of life with our children. If you model
is, they grow up realizing the value and importance of helping others. Helping
them clean up a mess they made will make them more likely to help you
clean up your mess. Cook a meal for a
sick friend.
- Doing something
small makes a big impact. Picking small
projects to start with helps children make an impact on a level they
can understand. Nothing brings my 5 year old
more joy than dropping coins I give her into the Salvation Army buckets
so prevalent outside the stores now. My 9 year
old will drop in his own allowance. Other ideas
include food pantry donations- especially if they can pick out some of
the canned goods being sent in.
- Join a group
that participates in altruistic activities. Scouting
troops often do many service projects throughout the year.
- Volunteer! Volunteering
with your children can be so rewarding! You can
visit Reston Association's
website for volunteer opportunities. Other
ideas include participating in a local park cleanup,
planting trees for a Nature Center or visit a nursing home.
Together you and your children can make a huge difference
in the community and you'll be imparting a huge value onto your
children: that helping others, even if it means taking some time away
from ourselves, is worth the effort. It builds
children with strong characters and excellent interpersonal skills. So
make volunteering a New Year's resolution and nurture our children's
inner altruistic nature.
For more great volunteer ideas visit: Charity Guide
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Grace
Art Corner: Keith Haring
From Alison Stobie
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| Keith Haring |
Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 and became the eldest of three children.
He lived in a small town in Kutztown, PA, a
Pennsylvania Dutch farm community. His mother was a stay-at-home
mom and his dad worked in an
office but drew cartoons in his spare time. At only a year old, Haring was
drawing with crayons with his father after dinner. His
father showed him how to change a circle into an animal, an ice-cream
cone or a balloon.
Haring
was the class clown and loved to make other people laugh. His art
teachers were amazed at his pictures and how he could create pictures
using a variety of different lines - maybe this was because Haring was
influenced by cartoonists such as Walt Disney, Charles Schultz and Dr
Seuss. In high school he knew he wanted to be an
artist but he started hanging out with others who used drugs. He
realized that doing drugs affected his grades and this would stop him
from becoming an artist. Haring went to Pittsburg, PA to study
art and in 1978 he moved to New York City.
In
New York City in the 1970s there was a lot of graffiti. Haring
was fascinated by the style and creativity of the graffiti
artists. One day, whilst travelling on the subway he noticed that
many of the advertising spaces were blank. He bought some chalk
and started making line drawings in these bare advertising
spaces. He could have got into trouble for this but fortunately
his drawings were good and he quickly became well known in New York
City, especially as he could draw 30-40 drawings a day. After his
success on the subway, he was able to sell his work from his studio and
make a living from being an artist.
Like
graffiti artists who have a tag, Haring had his own symbols to identify
his pictures. He often used hisradiant baby and barking dog as
his tag. The lines emanating from the pictures like rays of light
are used to add energy to the pictures. Often his images are used
many times in different pictures. He changes the pose or color of
the image to give the picture a different effect.
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| Radiant Baby |
Haring
wanted art to be enjoyed by everyone and his work is classified as "Pop
Art." He believed that art should be a part of every aspect of
our lives. He wished to "give art back to the people." He
was happy for his designs to be used on anything from clothing to
fridge magnets and his symbols could even be seen on the Berlin
Wall. Some people at the time thought his willingness to have his
art displayed everywhere was an example of commercialism and he was
trying to "dumb down" art. Instead, Haring wanted the poorest child to
be able to afford a piece of his artwork.
Additionally,
when people asked Haring what his art was trying to say he would
respond by saying "I don't know, you tell me." This
response was intended to involve the viewer in the art rather than the
artist telling the viewer what to think. Again this was a
different approach from that traditionally taken by the art world.
Haring's
work is dynamic yet simple, colorful and vibrant and very
original. His artwork can be found all over the world and
was often used to fund social causes - AIDS, literacy,
anti-drugs. Haring's wanted his simple images and icons to
communicate with everyone - especially children. Unfortunately
Haring died at the age of 31 through complications arising from having
AIDS.
Today
Haring's pictures can sell at auction for around $1 million. Here is
a really neat website for
children using Haring's artwork.
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Providing
Windows of Opportunity: Flexible, Tax Advantaged, Afforadable,
College Savings!
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Dates
to Remember
Dec 22: Early Closing at 1:55pm
Dec 23: Winter Break
Jan 3: School resumes
Jan 4: PTA meeting at
6:30pm
Jan 17: MLK holiday
Jan 25: School Club's Picture Day
Jan 31: Teacher workday/Student
Holiday
Feb 18: BINGO Night at 6pm (save
that date!)
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Address and Hours:
11411 Ridge Heights
Road,
Reston, Virginia 20191
Bell Schedule:
Mon: 9:15-1:25
T-F: 9:15-3:55
Office Hours:
8:00AM-4:30PM
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