Home and School Association Newsletter – March/April 2015

Dear Sousa families,Thank you to all who helped make this year’s Sousa Social Night such a success! A record breaking turnout of 213 parents and faculty joined us on Saturday to celebrate Sousa and the spirit of the community that defi nes our school. We also would like to extend our appreciation to all of the parents who could not attend the event but participated in the faculty auction or sent in donations.

Through your generosity, we raised approximately $25,000 for the HSA which will enable it to fund a number of diverse and meaningful programs for our children throughout the year. They include numerous assemblies, speakers, literacy and cultural arts performances, special classroom projects and supplies, the purchase of new technology, and the fi fth grade experience that comprises the yearbook, graduation party and fi fth grade art project that becomes a permanent fi xture at Sousa.

We would like to extend a very special “thank you” to all who participated in making Sousa Social Night a success:- The Sousa HSA fundraising committee and all those who lent a hand on Saturday and over the past several weeks. - The class liaisons and level leaders who helped publicize our event to Sousa families. - Our teacher representatives Karen Silver and Liz Molloy who organized the faculty donations.- Our faculty for donating their time and providing priceless opportunities for our children to enjoy fun experiences with them.- Our local businesses and corporate sponsors for their contributions. (A full list of donors can be found on the Sousa HSA website. Please be sure to support these businesses and thank them for their generosity toward our school.)- Our many Sousa parents who made generous contributions to support the event. A special thank you to the Capobianco family, Cotumaccio family, Fensterstock family, Gargani family, Itzikowitz family, Kerrane family, Longaro family, Lorson family, Meyers family, Persaud family, Rowe family, Schachter family, Schissel family, Sedgwick family, Streim family and the Yardeni family.

Finally, we would like to thank you not only for the monetary donations to the HSA, but for all of the time and energy you contribute to make our school so special.

Thank you!

Kathy Dinas-Rivera & Stacey Delich-GouldSousa HSA Fundraising Co-Chairs

Notes from Dr. MeoliI was fortunate to be able to attend the largest education conference in the world last month sponsored by ASCD, an organization with over 140,000 members from 100 countries. There, I was immersed in workshops and presentations from all of the best thinkers in education about how we can best serve the academic, social, physical, and psychological needs of our children in schools from Sarasota to Sri Lanka. I love hearing how teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals and other educators are dealing with the challenges of educating children in the 21st century—some very similar to our own and some very different—and I came home with many thoughts and ideas about how we might look at the things we do through some slightly different lenses to serve our children even better.

Since I have been back in Port Washington, I have already shared some of those ideas with teachers here at Sousa as well as presenting to my administrative colleagues on two big subjects: using data to inform instruction in the classroom, and (a perennial “biggie” at the elementary level) effective literacy instruction. I have also had a chance to do a number of classroom observations, formal and informal, in my charged up, “post conference” state which I’m sure is both a blessing and a curse for the Sousa staff. I have no doubt there have been a few “oh, he must have picked THAT up at ASCD!” comments in the faculty lounge over the past few weeks! (continued on next page)

On the one hand, learning is a vastly complex process about which we can discuss, argue, legislate, and litigate. On the other hand, it is the most basic element of sentient beings, most especially of the Homo sapiens species that populates our classrooms, and the most obvious phenomenon to observe and identify in the world.

Case in point (and, by the way, point of this essay…): the Wednesday morning before spring break, parent teacher conference day. I was making my usual rounds touching base with parents as they waited for their appointed time to meet with teachers, when I happened upon the art room. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? Dozens of Sousa students and their parents engaged in making art. A beehive of activities. An ant farm of motion and materials. Semi-organized chaos, as Mr. Moore might say. Mind you, this was a day off for these kids and their families. They could have been sleeping in or half way to Bermuda. They could have been watching TV or at the diner having breakfast. Instead, they were up to their elbows in clay and computers and laboring, intensely but happily, on their projects.

It was a truly amazing scene. I left to go back to my offi ce to get my camera so I could capture it but, in the hallways, reality took over. By the time I made it back, three or four parent conversations later, most of the participants had gone and there were only about a score left, most of who were also winding down. As the pictures in the halls of Sousa can attest, I have captured some great moments on fi lm in my years here; this was one that got away.

So I am left to try and capture that incredible experience in text. I hope these words will speak as forcefully, if not as viscerally, as a single picture might have (I have included two pictures which give a bit of a fl avor, if not the overall experience). But before I do I want to be sure and say that, among the many ordinary things that happen in schools every day, I get to see glimpses of brilliance like this on many days in many classrooms; they are certainly not confi ned to the art room. (I have, by the way, presented workshops at ASCD over a half dozen times sharing what we are doing in Sousa and Port with all those global educators. We are all both learners and teachers as well.) The elegance of seeing in a few seconds what I had heard and talked about for six days, however, made this an especially powerful moment in time for me.

So, here’s what my non-existent picture might have captured:

Learning is compelling, hard, messy, exciting. Where else would I rather be? What else could I possibly want to be doing?

Learning is collaborative, cooperative, social, without boundaries, intergenerational. While one father has his son looking up a six word Tibetan poem on the Internet, another is re-imagining a Picasso image that had resonated with him.

Learning involves knowledge, preparation, responsiveness, understanding of the learner, and follow up by the teacher/coach. Otherwise it wouldn’t be semi-organized chaos….

Learning does not look the same for everyone (anyone?) and what each individual does with that learning exhibits itself in many different ways. Some need technical guidance, some creative, some procedural, and others mechanical. At the same time. Learning creates its own energy. Energy leads to refl ection. Refl ection leads to more learning. Learning creates its own energy….

I’m thinking I should learn to carry my phone/camera with me more often!

Dave Meoli

Notes from Dr. Meoli (continued)

PEP Brown Bag Lunch SeminarsThird grade students had the opportunity this year to participate in a PEP (Port Enrichment Program) Brown Bag Lunch Seminar. Students brought their lunch to the PEP room and spent lunch/recess time trying something new with Ms. Jeanne Zeh. Some students chose to play Bananagrams, a game all about spelling and speed. There’s no board to get in the way, no score pad to distract you from building words, and the layout structure is very similar to Scrabble. During the workshop Lunch at the Improv, students learned creative thinking, public speaking, teaming, listening, focus, eye contact, self-confi dence and self-respect. Other students chose to create origami, the ancient Japanese art form of paper folding. Students learned to transform a fl at sheet of paper into a unique 3D sculpture and competed against each other’s creations in an Olympic tournament. During the Cradle of Aviation workshop, which was funded by a PWEF (Port Washington Education Foundation) grant, students learned the insight into the scientifi c principles of fl ight.

Ms. Lai Chan recently joined the Sousa family as our new computer lab IT aide. Ms. Chan was born in Hong Kong, came to the United States as a teenager and has a degree in Computer Science. She is very excited to be part of the Sousa team and looks forward to working with all of the chil-dren. Welcome to Sousa, Ms. Chan!

New Information Technology Aide

Sousa’s Got Talent!My Talent Show Experience - By Jae Anne Longaro, 5th Grade“I really enjoyed the talent show this year. We all had so much fun and I am so sad I cannot perform at Sousa next year. (They may have a Talent Show at Weber, we will soon fi nd out.)I really like the talent show because you can perform whatever you want! Some people did magic, some danced, some sang. One person did the baby shark thing! There was some butterfl ies backstage for all of us, because so many people are in the audience! This year I decided to sing Defying Gravity, from Wicked, The Broadway Musical. The song means that she is running away because she doesn’t like all the limits. Thats why I chose it. My friend, Iann, performed the “Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars. He got a friend to do the drums, while he sang and played the piano! My other friends, Ili and Talya danced to “Bad Blood” by Taylor Swift and Nicole sang a Taylor Swift song.In conclusion, the experience was amazing, and I hope I get to do something as great as this again or at least come back to Sousa next year to help Trish and Erica with the show!”

The 2nd edition of the long awaited and family favorite Sousa’s Got Talent Show, hosted by parents Trish Gargani and Erica Fazzari, featured the many talents of our children. This year, there were 36 acts performed by 50 comedians, singers, musicians, humorists, dancers, gymnasts and even a magician. Special thanks to all the parents and the children who made this such a special night.

Parents As Reading PartnersThere is an indisputable value in sitting down with your child to read a book together. Special thanks to the Sousa Literacy com-mittee and its co-chairs Claudine McKinney and Dina Marro who arranged a great Parents As Reading Partners (PARP) week inviting kids to read with their parents for a collective 50,000 minutes. Art teacher Mr. Moore built a “Sousa Strong Reader-Meter” to calculate all the minutes that were read by the children and parents. There were even blinking lights on the meter which fl ashed when they beat their goal. Meanwhile, storyteller Jonathan Kruk entertained children and their parents during an animated night of storytelling. You can view several activities Jonathan Kruk has found and developed over the years as a master storyteller at https://www.sousahsa.org/literacy.html

Nutrition weekNutrition week focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. This year, the children tasted samples of Tuscan Bean Soup, Confetti Rice and a Melon Trio. All grades also participated in a Yoga session and learned how to keep breathing mindfully for a healthy lifestyle. Special thanks to the HSA Nutrition Committee co-chairs Mary Apat and Kathy Shanahan and all the volunteers who helped make this event a success.

Do you have any photos from Sousa class trips or activities? Show off your child’s artwork,

accomplishments, prizes won, etc. in The Sousa Notes. Please send any photos, articles to your class liaisons

or directly to:Rod at rodn29@gmail.com

or Jen at jsouth28@gmail.com

The HSA Nutrition Committee and their Farm-To-School initiative helped fund a new hydra-tion station for the Cafeteria. Installed right in time for Nutrition Week, the new station al-ready helped eliminate waste from 625 dis-posable plastic bottles… Make sure to come back to school with your reusable water bot-tle!

The Sousa Book Fair is always a great opportunity to promote reading to kids and it is always a pleasure to see them enthusiastically searching for the newest book while watching them budget their spending money. Special thanks to our school librarian Mrs. Moser, to our new Book Fair co-chairs Lisa Penha, Felicia Miller and Halona Jaffe and to all of the parent-volunteers who helped run a successful event despite a snow storm!

Co-Chairs Amy Urban and Stephanie Sendrowitz organized another successful annual book exchange event and helped promote the love of reading to students who traded their old books for new stories. A special thank you to all the volunteers who helped make this event possible and to the Weber HSA who helped collect chapter books for our 5th graders.

New Hydration Station

Sousa Annual Book Fair

Annual book exchange

In a remarkable display of musical talent, Port Washington student-musicians dazzled onlookers with a variety of tunes during the district’s annual Night of 1,000 Strings concert at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts on March 12. The musical pieces included Peter Ilyich Tchaikowsky’s “Overture 1812, Opus 49” and Johann Strauss’s “Fledermaus Waltzes.” More than 300 orchestra students from grades 4 through 12 – 39 of whom were from Sousa – fi lled the performance hall with wonderful music. The event culminated in a combined performance of the classic “Irish Tune from County Derry,” also known as “Danny Boy.” The program was made possible in part by the Arts Education Program at LIU Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, and was sponsored by the district’s Creative Arts Department. The performance was co-sponsored with a generous grant from Helping Enrich the Arts in Port Washington (HEARTS).

Night of 1000 Strings

Over 200 Sousa students, family and friends gathered on February 28 at Nassau Coliseum to cheer on the New York Islanders during their last season at the arena. Fourth and fi fth graders from Sousa were given a unique opportunity to sing “America the Beautiful” to all on-lookers. Their inspired performance was even simulcast on the Coliseum’s jumbo screen. Special thanks to Ms. Berberabe who organized the rehearsals and conducted the students’ performance. Go Islanders!

Islanders Game

The Parents’ Council and the Sousa HSA Community Outreach Committee would like to thank the entire Sousa school community for the generous donations to the clothing drive. Because of your generosity many Port Washington families were provided with much needed clothes, concert wear and special dresses. Your contributions were very much appreciated. Nurse Judy was also very grateful for all the spare pairs of pants she received for the nurse’s offi ce.

Spring Clothing Drive

Blood drive

Sousa showed its red spirit and helped collect 40 much-needed pints of blood which can help save 120 lives. Fourth grade students learned from the New York Blood Center why it is important for people to donate blood. They made posters that were posted around town and had the opportunity to participate in the “Little Doctors” program during the Blood Drive by welcoming the donors.

Douglas Florian Visits SousaPoet, Painter and Artist Douglas Florian recently visited Sousa. Mr. Florian has written and illustrated more than fi fty children’s books which include Beast Feast, Insectlopedia (a national bestseller), Mammalabilia and Dinothesaurus. In his presentation to students, he described in detail the process of creating a book, and used humor and audience participation to generate excitement and understanding. He explained poetry, relating its different elements, such as rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration and recited poems from his books of humorous verse while holding up blowups of the illustrations.

Sousa HSA Upcoming Events MAY1st - Sousa Spirit Day5th - Sousa Kindergarten Orientation, 9am5th - Board of Education Budget Hearing & Tenure Meeting, 7:30pm, Schreiber Aud.6th - Elementary ACES6th - Elementary All-District Concert, 7:30pm, Schreiber6th - Evening Budget Info Meeting, 8pm, Weber Library7th-8th - Sousa Mother’s & Father’s Day Fair8th - Parenting in the Age of Technology Workshop, 9am, Sousa Auditorium9th - Family Fun Run Health & Wellness Fair, 12pm, Schreiber11th - Parents’ Council Budget Info Mtg, 9:30, PW Public Library15th - Sousa HSA Meeting, 8:15am15th - Fifth Grade Social, 7pm, Weber Cafe16th - Portfest, Schreiber Field18th - Sousa Spring Concert, 7:30pm, Sousa Auditorium19th - School Budget Vote and Board of Education Election, Weber, 6am-10pm20th - Sousa Conversations with Dr. Meoli22nd - No School - Superintendent’s Conference Day25th - No School - Memorial Day28th - Sousa Staff Appreciation Lunch

Bookmark ContestCongratulations to all the students who participated in the library’s bookmark contest.All bookmarks looked fantastic and were full of originality. The Friends of the Library Committee selected three bookmarks and distributed them to all students. Grades K-1 winner is Luna, Grades 2-3 is Isabelle and Oliver won Grades 4-5. All entries are on display in the Library window.

Sousa Family Science NightMark your calendar: Sousa HSA is excited to introduce Sousa Family Science Night on Thursday, May 21, from 6:30pm to 9pm. Throughout the evening, all Sousa students (grades K-5) accompanied by their parents will observe and be encouraged to partic-ipate in a series of hands-on lab stations prepared with unique science experiments, including Portable Star Lab, DNA Extraction, Walking on Water, Mat’s Magic Science Show, Magnetic Slime, Elephant Toothpaste, Rocket Launch, Painting with Dry Ice and many and many more activities! This will be an exciting way to explore science together with family and friends.

We need your participation!*Request for volunteers: We need many parents to host fun and easy science stations - at least 2 parents per stations: Please consider hosting a station with a friend. Want to Help? Contact Laura Stulbaum at lfriedla@nyit.edu. Thank you!

**Request for donations: we need the following items:- Sealable Plastic Baby Food Containers- Gladware or Supermarket Brand Sealable Mini Round 4 oz Containers- Corks (from wine bottles)- Empty Plastic Water Bottles 8 ounce- Empty Plastic Water Bottles 16 ounce- Knee high Unpaired SocksPlease send as many of these items to the school lobby - Thank you!

Teachers update

Kindergarten –The Kindergarten classes reached 100 days of school and jointly collected 100 dental health items for the Necessities Pantry at a local church led by Pastor Charlie Vogeley. They will go to Hofstra to see a play about Curious George and will begin a unit on the life cycle of a ladybug.

First Grade First graders learned about famous women in history for Women’s History Month. They also began a unit on poetry where they will be reading and writing Haiku, Cinquian, Listing, Shape and Acrostic poems.

Second GradeTo celebrate Read Across America Day, the nation’s largest reading event, occurring each year on or near Dr. Seuss’ birthday, second grade students read various Dr. Seuss classics and participated in exciting activities such as learning about the life of Dr. Seuss and exploring Oobleck. Oobleck, inspired by the Dr. Seuss book “Bartholomew and the Oobleck,” is a non-newtonian fl uid that acts like a liquid when being poured, but like a solid when a force is acting on it. They are studying maps and letter writing. Each student will send Flat Stanley to friends or relatives around the country or world. They will go to the Long Island Children’s Museum to learn more about maps.

Third GradeThe students continued to explore rocks and minerals, including testing playground rocks to see what minerals they may contain. The students are exploring China, which timed perfectly with the Chinese or Lunar New Year. Students are work-ing on creative writing, cursive and vocabulary, and they are looking forward to the upcoming unit on rain forests.

Fourth GradeFourth graders celebrated the 100th day of school with their fi rst grade partners and played 100-based math games. They also participated in the Math Olympiads, the national math challenge for grades 4 through 6. They are beginning a nutrition unit called Arianna Bones and studying the American Revolution in Social Studies.

Fifth GradeThey have been learning about what life was like for the pioneers who traveled west. They have also been learning about the human respiratory system. Several fi fth graders will be performing in a Dancing Classrooms Competition on April 26th at Sachem High School. Come out and support them! All fi fth grade classes are looking forward to a trip to the Civil War Encampment at Smithtown Historical Society.

Physical EducationThe K-2nd grade classes were fi nishing up the hand-eye coordination unit, while the 3rd -5th grade classes were fi nish-ing up the hand-eye team games. All grades are still working on the volleyball unit and are now preparing for the ACES event on May 6th – Mark your calendar!

LibraryDuring their library period, students continue to share the new 2015 award winning books such as “Sam and Dave Dig a Hole” and “Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend.” We also celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with “Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories.” Also in library:

• Kindergartners learned about book awards such as the Caldecott and the Theodor Seuss Geisel award and we shared with them some past and current winners.

• 1st graders are identifying story elements in fractured fairy tales, a story that uses fairy tales you know and then changes the characters, the setting, points of view, or plots.

• 2nd graders have learned how to use the OPAC (online public access catalog) computer program to locate their favorite books in the library.

• 3rd graders are fi nishing up their mock-Caldecott committee work (reading and evaluating outstanding pic-ture books).

• 4th graders are now skilled at using the OPAC and locating books on the library shelves, even in the Dewey numbered sections!

• 5th graders are learning how to conduct an effective Internet search and evaluate web sites.

MusicThe 4th and 5th grade chorus, band and orchestra students are preparing for the Spring Concert on Monday, May 18th – save the date!Select 5th grade students are preparing for the All-District Elementary Music Festival at Schreiber High School on May 6th.