What’s coming up in

January?

2nd

8th

School Resumes

PTL Meeting 6:30 pm / Library

10th Pen’s Den

17th

18th

3rd Grade Field Trip to the Arden Theatre

11:15 Dismissal BINGO NIGHT 7 PM at NMS

21st Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

NO SCHOOL – OFFICES AND SCHOOLS CLOSED

23rd School Board

Meeting 7:30 pm / PDSD Service Center

24th Elementary Progress Reports mailed home

PENNELL IN PRINT

JANUARY 2013

PENNELL ELEMENTARY

3300 RICHARD ROAD * ASTON, PA 19014 * 610.497.6300 x 7500

PENNELL ELEMENTARY NEWSLETTER

Happy NEW YEAR and WELCOME BACK!

I hope that everyone enjoyed a relaxing and safe holiday break! We welcomed back our students today…some a bit melancholy that their break was over…some excited to be back to school…but overall…a little more sleepy than usual.

A few students delivering their classroom attendance folder to the office stopped for a quick HAPPY NEW YEAR picture.

With the holiday season behind us, we are gearing up for the second half of the school year. We have many exciting things ahead of us, including: assemblies, Field Day, and our Reading Counts celebration just to name a few. Our reading goal for the year is 113 million words, and currently our students have read about 50 million words. We need our students to make a strong effort to reach our goal! Please continue to encourage your child to take their school work and studying very seriously. As we approach our PSSA state testing window in March and April, we will be working very hard to prepare our students for the assessment. Your assistance and support is greatly needed and very much appreciated.

January also brings colder weather conditions and complications with our outdoor recess. Please be sure your child is sent to school with a winter coat, and a hat and gloves for the recess yard. Also, our dress code policy precludes students from wearing shoes without a backing (flip flops, slippers, etc.). Please be sure your child is wearing shoes to school that are suitable for recess play and general exercise.

As always, thank you for your support!

Mr. Shawn Dutkiewicz, Pennell Principal

CONGRATULATIONS TO DECEMBER’S CORE

ESSENTIAL OF THE MONTH RECIPIENTS!

The following students were recognized for showing the core value of COMPASSION.

KINDERGARTEN - 1ST GRADE RECIPIENTS

Annabella Lancellotti

103AM

Joey Diamond 103PM

Christian Durkee 101

Justin Celentino 101

Nicky Krouse 101

Logan Reilley 101

Lauren Luongo 108

Matthew Dill 108

Niko Tozzi 109

Michael Maddox 109

Liam Polsky 107

Tyler Sanders 107

Megan Sarosy 107

Vincent Hanobeck 107

2ND GRADE RECIPIENTS

Hailey Chyneski 210

Alex Kenvin 210

Julia Lancelotti 210

Ryan Davis 211

Kyle Ott 212

Samantha Greisiger 212

Stephen Herre 211

Catherine Diamond 211

3RD GRADE RECIPIENTS

Tyler Koenig 206

Gianna McFarland 206

Hannah McGroary 206

Noah Migatz 208

Gianna Ellis 208

Andrew Tkacz 208

Danielle Gavlishin 209

Holden Dubach 209

4TH GRADE RECIPIENTS

Tyler Davidson 203

Nick Deckman 203

Kailyn Moran 203

Abigail Fisher 204

Niko Omiridis 204

Erin McGugan 205

Tyler Smith 205

Ava Fenner 205

5TH GRADE RECIPIENTS

Emma Robinson 200

Amber Kester 200

Dominic Marano 201

Marissa Calvecchio 201

Bryant Budiono 202

Abigail Erickson 202

Andrew Hill 202

Jacqueline Oldham 201

WHAT’S ON THE FRIDGE THIS MONTH?

PTL Event coming

soon…Bingo Night –

January 18th at 7 pm

@ Northley Middle

School

Please “LIKE” the

Pennell Elementary

and PDSD Facebook

pages!

Our Winter Concert was a fantastic success! Mr. Heimbecker, Instrumental Music Director, and Mrs. O’Kane,

Chorus Director, did an amazing job preparing their students to perform. The students did an extraordinary job

and the music and singing was enjoyed by all!

THE PENNELL WINTER CONCERT: CHORUS

Chorus Selections:

Rock n’ Roll Snowman………………………………..T. Jennings

Hanukkah’s Child…………………….………..........A. Synder

The Candlelight Canon................................A. Synder

Wranglin’ Reindeer……………………………………C. Miller

What I Like the Most About Christmas……….M. Vinson

Must Be Santa…..........................................Moore & Fredricks

4th Grade Chorus

Brandon Cairy

Daniel Cairy

Olivia Carr

Nick Colonna

Bailey Dantonio

Nick Deckman

Lydia Dinsmore

Abigail Fisher

Sarah Gartland

Kristine Guenther

Daria Grzybacz

Aaron Hanavin

Stephen Jones

Rachel June

Kierstyn Kirk

Carli Komorowski

Savannah Lewis

Julia McGehean

Erin McGugan

Kailyn Moran

Sydney Parkinson

Grace Pena

Hope Rice

Madison Schaefer

Angelina Stevens

Rachel Walker

Teagan Williams

5th Grade Chorus

Victoria Albanese

Sophia Belgiorno

Kayla Boyd

Kiley Boyd

Shalane Buck

Lavar Butler

Marissa Calvecchio

Makaila Carter

Sara Chodak

Dominique DelGiorno

Abigail Erickson

Tara France

Jessica Hastings

Chelsea Hendrix

Jaimee Higgins

Hunter Howe

Breanna Kalb

Amber Kester

Kassidy Lambert

Dominic Marano

Tyler McAllister

Caitlin McShane

Olivia Nickerson

Caitlin O’Brien Rachael

Patterson

Chris Piccioni

Riley Price

Shannon Purfield

Emma Robinson

Ava Ruggieri

Anthony Schellin

Nicholas Siekierski

Jalyn Slaughter

Zachary Smith

Amanda Tiger

Hannah Vickers

Jack Wendling

Our Winter Concert was a fantastic success! Mr. Heimbecker, Instrumental

Music Director, and Mrs. O’Kane, Chorus Director, did an amazing job preparing

their students to perform. The students did an extraordinary job and the music

and singing was enjoyed by all!

THE PENNELL WINTER CONCERT: BAND

Pennell “A” and “B” Band Members:

Flute Baritone /

Saxophone

Clarinet Percussion Trumpet

Sophia Belgiorno

Sarah Gartland

Michael Simons

Abigail Erickson

Jared Kosierowski

Kassidy Lambert

Rachael Patterson

Emma Polsky

Riley Price

Luke Rice

Devin Widmaier

Abigail Fisheer

Patrick Gill

Steven Lawson

Anthony Fisher

Victoria Albanese

Marissa Calvecchio

Dominique DelGiorno

Jaimee Higgins

Zachary Seddon

Jalyn Slaughter

Hannah Vickers

Hannah Brong

Olivia Carr

Christian Crawford

Ava Fenner

Daria Grzybacz

George Hearn

Kierstyn Kirk

Ria Megagam

Mia Sarceni

Colin Bradley

Joseph Coble

Jenna Ford

Ben Gordon

Nick Maiale

Tyler McAllister

Caitlin O’Brien

Anthony Schellin

Carli Komorowski

Dylan Marantino

Ryan Nearey

Scott Novak

Chase Segool

Angelina Stevens

Tyler Thornton

Shannon Purfield

Nicholas Siekierski

Zachary Smith

Danny Cairy

Katie Fallon

Stephen Jones

Alec Sarnocinski

Keyboards Trombone

Shalane Buck

LaVar Butler

MaKaila Carter

Sara Chodak

Chelsea Hendrix

Bailey Dantonio

Nicholas DiDonato

Rachel June

Paul Malatesta

Kailyn Moran

Hope Rice

Bajah Stevens

Teagan Williams

Nicholas Colonna

Lydia Dinsmore

Julia McGehean

Ryan Ott

Band Selections:

Carol of the Bells………………….M. Leontovych, arr. Heimbecker

Winter Wonderland……………...Bernard & Smith, arr. Heimbecker

Somewhere in My Memory……..J. Williams, arr. Heimbecker

Jingle Bell Rock…….………………arr. M Sweeney

Each month, Pennell focuses on a core value/essential that we hope students will practice and apply in their daily lives. We recognize students who exemplify our core essentials by giving them “team tickets”. Team tickets are awarded to students and then displayed in our lobby. At the end of the month, students who received a team ticket are chosen randomly to have lunch with the Principal, Mr. Dutkiewicz.

JANUARY’S MONTHLY VALUE: DETERMINATION

Determination—deciding it’s worth it to finish what you started

Car Time – Song: "Finish What I Start" – MOVE that is easily

downloadable in the Core Essentials store at

http://www.coreessentials.org/store.html for $1.39 a song!

Open Wide – JUST FOR FUN: Can you guess how tall the world’s

highest mountain is?

DISCUSSION STARTER: Mount Everest is the world’s highest

mountain. The summit is 29,029 feet—that’s almost five and a half

miles straight up! Climbing Mt. Everest is incredibly dangerous.

In fact, no one had ever done it until Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top in 1953. The crazy thing is that two men

almost reached the top only three days before him, but they turned around only 300 feet from the top because

they were too exhausted!

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Why do you think it would be hard to climb a mountain like Mt. Everest? What is the payoff for all the hard work that climbers of Mt. Everest have to do?

What are some tasks you have to complete—at home, at school, or with your friends? Why is it sometimes hard to finish these tasks?

What good might come from our determination to keep doing those things?

REST –

K-2: The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by: Mordicai Gerstein; In 1974, French aerialist Philippe

Petit threw a tightrope between the two towers of the World Trade Center and spent an hour walking,

dancing, and performing high-wire tricks a quarter mile in the sky.

3-5: The Incredible Journey by: Shelia Burnford; Instinct told them that the way home laid to the west.

And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set

out through the Canadian wilderness. Separately, they would soon have died. But, together, the three

house pets faced starvation, exposure, and wild forest animals to make their way home to the family they

love.

EXPERIENCE – We all know that overwhelming feeling of being at the beginning of a huge project—homework,

room cleaning, or home renovations to name a few. It can be discouraging. But when you get to the end and see

your accomplishments, it’s totally worth it! Learn this great lesson together as a family this month by setting up a

complicated looking jigsaw puzzle. Work on it throughout the month, as a family and don’t give up until it’s

finished!

CORE ESSENTIALS: VALUE OF THE MONTH

With Scholastic Reading Counts your child participates in an independent reading

program that tracks their success on the books they read, in and out of school. This

technology-based program creates a personalized and engaging learning environment

that ensures independent reading accountability.

This year, our school-wide Reading Counts goal is 113,000,000!

As of December 21st 2012: Congrats to the students who have read at least 450,000 words!

Students Total Words Read

Jalyn Slaughter 2,289,524

Colin Bradley 1,873,693

Darren Panusky 1,520,505

Chelsea Hendrix 1,486,940

Devin Widmaier 1,392,248

Christian Hansen 1,205,373

Kelsey Celestino 1,123,325

Sara Chodak 1,090,234

Nicole Buscaglia 1,027,541

Shannon Purfield 880,208

Abigail Otsyina 814,427

Zachary Seddon 704,606

Ryley Marker 698,319

Emmanuel Otsyina 677,911

Jenna Ford 663,634

Justin Hassel 637,370

Jacqueline Oldham 616,995

Shalane Buck 616,356

Nick Maiale 552,566

Tyler Smith 550,886

Sophia Pantuliano 533,756

Luke Rice 530,603

Gabrielle Lobb 520,058

Brenden Purfield 511,749

Erin Kelly 510,051

Xavier Slaughter 478,567

Tara France 476,716

Nina McClennen 452,707

READING COUNTS

Technology…Transforming Teaching and

Learning Writing ~ Making Meaning on the Page

By Anne Dudley and Rosemary Fowler, Curriculum Supervisors

Writing is a craft that requires the student to use specific words, in a specific order to create specific effects.

Students write in countless ways to communicate, express, question, persuade, synthesize, and teach. It takes

years to gain mastery over written language. The technology which is available today offers opportunities to

both teacher and student to be better able to develop this craft.

The document camera, also known as a visualizer, is a real-time image capture

device. The teacher or student places the document under the camera and it can be

projected to a large audience. When a teacher wants to show students the style of a

particular author, he can put the page under the camera and share with the class.

The students can see and hear the selection. A teacher can put a blank piece of paper

under the camera and write for all the students to see. Students can also project

their pieces of writing and work on peer revising together as a community of writers.

The writer needs to follow a process when writing a new piece. The computer provides the “paper” for the

initial draft, followed by a more efficient means of revising and editing. The final stage in the writing process is

publication. The computer provides the student with the opportunity to give his piece of writing a professional

look. He can design a brochure, add tables and diagrams as well as graphics. Reference tools are available for

the writer. While working on an informative piece, the internet is handy to check on facts and figures.

My Big Campus, an on-line social learning platform, gives students an

opportunity to collaborate and discuss their writing. More than ever, our

students are writing across the curriculum. The technology which is

available to them provides an invaluable resource.

Home/School Connection~

Link to recommended apps:

http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101/writing/literacyapps_writing

Evernote - Free app available to use on various devices. Great resource when you want to keep track of

your ideas and begin writing.

Story Builder - a multi-purpose app designed to teach story structure. In the process, students learn

sentence structure, sequencing, and making inferences.

SPOTLIGHT ON CURRICULUM

Building Your Child’s Language

through Story Time

Pennell is excited to announce that we will be offering a program to parents of pre-K to second grade students

to learn new techniques for reading and building vocabulary with their child. We would like to invite you to an

evening to explore new ways to build your child’s future academic success.

Building Your Child’s Language through Story Time will introduce you to strategies and techniques to maximize

the benefits associated with reading aloud with your child. After a brief introduction reviewing the facts, you

will be taught ways to help your child grow his or her communication as well as build a foundation for

becoming a successful reader.

Come to learn, enjoy some refreshments and leave with a gift of a book to share with your child at home. This

is an adult training, so parents, grandparents, and guardians are invited to attend. If you have any questions,

please contact Mary Beth Mytych, Speech and Language Therapist, at mmytych@pdsd.org or Karen Wells,

Reading Specialist, at kwells@pdsd.org.

When: Tuesday January 15, 2013

Time: 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Where: Pennell Elementary School Library

Please complete the RSVP below if you plan to attend and return by Wednesday, January, 9th, 2013.

Thank you!

Pennell Elementary

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BUILDING LANGUAGE THROUGH STORY TIME – PARENT TRAINING AT PENNELL ELEMENTARY

Parent Name(s) ________________________________________________________________________

YES, I will attend the parent training on January 15th.

Number of adults attending the training: _________