International Education Week A Huge Success Our celebration of International Education Week provided us with lots of learning opportunities. The activities included two days of international presenters who shared the music, dance, and culture of 20 different countries including, Sierra Leone, India, Scotland, Iran, Russia, France, Egypt, to name a few. In addition, midweek they were enthralled by the Mifflin High School Drama Department who presented three folk tales using both Chinese, Somali, and Spanish as a part of the shows. The week wrapped up with their tra-ditional International Feast. Emerson parents provided dishes from across the world for students to sample. It was a terrific fun filled learning experience. Thank you so much for your overwhelming re-sponse of food and help for the event. Thank you PTA for partnering on the event! Kudos to Mrs. Monteiro, Mrs. Blais and Mrs. Pappas for coordinating the event!~

Happy Holidays!

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Volume 4, Issue 4

December 2011

Above: Folklor Hispano

Below: It is all about Scot-land!

Feasting upstairs!

John McCollough plays the bagpipes.

Page 2

International Week Pics

THE TURTLE TIMES

VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 Page 3

Achievement Record Dates

January 10-AR February 10-Interim

April 8-AR April 20—Interim

May 24—AR

Lost and Found If you have lost it, we have found it! Our Lost and Found is over-flowing with coats, scarves, hats, etc… Feel free come and retrieve your child’s belongings.

Thanks!

Terrific Turtles for November!

Front row: Megan Bouton, Fuanyi Fobellah, Tessa Bouton, Thomas Williams, Kathryn Cohen, Nata-lie Tangeman Second row: Liam Dawson, Olivia Rasar, Ava Kellar, Laney Walden, Meilli Warren,

Abby Cumming-Vukovic, Stephen Vilardo, Ethan Pate Back row: Sabrina Davis, Emily Kellar, Coleton Morr, Claudia Santino, Dulcie Heyes, Oliver Runyon, Jack Heyes

From Mrs. Rand: A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words!

Goodsearch and Goodshop As we enter the holiday season I wanted to share something which can benefit Emerson. Good-search.com is a search engine (through Yahoo) which allows you to designate a group or charity to get “credit” for you search. For every search you make on the site your designated group gets a penny. Sounds like nothing, but it does add up! Check it out for yourself. The other thing you can do is funnel any of your online shopping that you normally do through this site, Goodshop.com . In those situations, they give a percentage of what you spend to your designated group. Once again, check it out...They have nearly everybody on there!

We are listed under—Emerson Magnet Elementary School (Westerville, OH) ID:881929 Even if you do not choose Emerson, you can designate some very worthy charitable groups. We are going to do searches and shop anyway, right? Feel free to share this with others. One caution, as with any search site, it is not filtered for kids, so monitor their searches (in particular-pictures).

WELLNESS TIPS – START SMALL – JUST START!!!

Try 1-2 of these easy tips at a time until they

become a habit, then add more. Small steps add up to a healthier life!

DRINK

Use 1% or 2% milk instead of whole milk

Drink a glass of water before each meal and between each meal

Drink 100% juice and avoid juice drinks which add sugar

EAT

Eat off of smaller plates

Avoid food portions larger than your fist

Before going back for seconds, wait 10 minutes

Eat 2 vegetables at dinner – try a new one each week – involve the kids in

EXERCISE

Exercise with a family member or friend

Go for a walk as a family activity

Park farther away from school, work, church, grocery

Take the stairs

Limit TV – but when watching, exercise at every commercial

For more information go to www.americanheart.org

Mr. Kissling’s Counseling Corner

The Westerville character education “Word of the Month” for December is Caring. Caring about others is a key component of being a person of character. Friends, families, schools, and communities cannot thrive without people who care for one another. Kindness to all people with whom we come into contact is the cornerstone of a caring person. Many great philosophers and poets have noted that the best of humanity is represented in acts of kindness and caring.

Quotes:

“Kindness is never wasted” Aesop

“People should see kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile” Mother Teresa

“If I can stop one heart from breaking/ I shall not live in vain;/ If I can ease one life the aching,/ Or cool the pain,/ Or help the fainting robin/ Into his nest again,/ I shall not have lived in vain” Emily Dickinson

“Art thou lonely, O my brother?/ Share they little with another!/ Stretch a hand to one unfriended/ And thy loneliness is ended” John Oxenham

“Those who are kind are happy people. Kindness will also be given to them” Jesus Christ

People who are caring…

• Think about other people’s feelings and needs.

• Are kind with their words and actions.

• Give to others without thinking about what they will get in return. Help others.

Caring and Compassion family discussion topics:

• Are people born with compassion or is it something they learn?

• What are examples of caring and compassion you have seen this week?

• What famous people do you consider to be compassionate? What have they done to show this?

• What can kids do at school to show more compassion to their classmates?

What can people do to make our world a more caring and compassionate place?

Take a trip to the library and check out these books on caring and compassion:

Picture books Chapter books

Horton Hatches the Egg, by Dr. Seuss Blackberries in the Dark, by Mavis Jukes

Arnie and the New Kid, by Nancy Carlson Sunshine Home, by Eve Bunting

The Paper Crane, by Molly Bang Mrs. Katz and the Tush, by Patricia Polacco

The Talking Eggs, by Robert D. San Souci

Your helpful librarian has numerous suggestions on other titles on this theme.

Happy Holidays to You and Yours!

Winter Break begins on December 22nd 2011 and

Ends on January 3rd, 2012. Classes resume on Wednesday January 4th.

Have Fun and Be Safe!

¡HOLA! From Senora Murray: During the month of December, kids’ (and grown-ups!) thoughts are on upcoming holidays. Most Span-ish-speaking countries will have many people celebrating Christmas, but in Spanish class our students will be learning holiday vocabulary that can be used for many types of celebrations across many cul-tures and religions:

family = familia

gift = regalo

celebration = celebración

tradition = tradición

candle = vela

song = canción

dance = baile

house = casa

decoration = decoración

card = tarjeta

candy = dulce or caramelo

music = música

¡Felices Fiestas! (Happy Holidays!)

PTA PTA The PTA would like to say thank you to all of the count-less volunteer hours the parents have put in so far this year. We really appreciate all of your time! Thanks goes out to those vol-

unteers who recently helped out with International Week and the Book Fair. Please be assured that as we get information regarding the proposed cuts to pro-gramming we will be diligent in sharing that information through the yahoo group. Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays to the Emerson students and parents.

From the Art Room:

This month, 1st graders will begin learning about Grandma Moses, and the paintings she made of winter time scenes. They will investigate these paintings, and then they will create their own winter scenes with paint and crayons! In November, 2nd graders learned about artist Mark Dion who created living sculpture to inspire peo-ple to take care of our environment. Your children drew animals from the Amazon Rain forest, and this month, they are rolling out tiles of clay. Your students will carve the animals they drew into the tiles. After the tiles are baked in the kiln, your 2nd graders will paint the tiles with watercolors, and then they will be able to inspire and educate people about their Rain forest animal just like Mark Dion does! 3rd graders are learning about the symbol of dragons to Asian and European cultures. They are also considering color symbolism and how it varies from one country to another. Your students will be drawing and painting their own dragons, they will decide what their dragons mean to them as personal symbols, and they will be choosing colors for their dragons that have personal meaning to them. 4th graders are finishing up the magazine beads they started making last month. They will be string-ing their beads and creating necklaces and bracelets from them! 5th graders learned about maps, and how maps reflect the world view of the people who create them. They also learned about artist Nina Katchadourian who creates surprising maps of the world that re-flect our unexpected connections with each other. Your students will be creating personal maps that show their own world view as well as their personal journeys in life.

If you have any questions about what your students are doing in art, feel free to stop by or send me an email!

Katie Pearce

Examples of 5th grade Time Based Art

Help us find the GEMS at Emerson! It’s almost that time of year again! We need to find the GEMs of Emerson –

and we need your help! The Great Educator Mentor Award (GEM), in its eighth year, is given to recognize an in-dividual who makes a difference in the lives of students at each school in the Westerville School District and/or the community as a whole. You can nominate a community member, volunteer, parent, teacher, or district/building staff member. (Note: students are NOT eligible to receive the GEM award) If you know of someone who has made a difference in the lives of students from February 2010 – February 2011, please consider filling out the GEM Award Nomination Form. It is an honor to receive this award as it is an honor to be nominated. Nominations can be made by members of the school, parents, students and/or the public. Yes – that means YOU and your student(s)! ☺ 

Nomination forms for the GEM Award will be sent home in January, or you can contact me at: stephanie_mccarty@hotmail.com and I’ll email it if you are anxious to get started before winter break ☺  There are many, many GEMs  in our building. Take a moment to look around and take another moment to let them know you are grateful for all they do by writing a nomination. The deadline for nominations is Thursday, February 16, 2012.

Thank you! Stephanie McCarty

Emerson PTA GEM Chair

PTA PTA The PTA would like to say thank you to all of the countless volunteer hours the parents have put in so far this year. We really appreciate all of your time! Thanks goes out to those volunteers who recently helped out with International Week and the Book Fair.

Happy Holidays to the Emerson students and parents.

44 Vine Street Westerville, Ohio

43081

EMERSON WORLD CULTURES AND LANGUAGES MAGNET

SCHOOL

have teachers and staff who rou-tinely go above and beyond to meet the needs of our kids and their fami-lies. We are blessed to work in a school district dedicated to collabo-rating with us to try to make things the best they can be no matter what it entails. The situation we face is daunting. There are challenges ahead. Despite that, I remain confi-dent that no matter what - we are going to emerge better and stronger. My personal experience has taught me that even in the worst moments there is good to be found if you look for it.

Dear Emerson Family

I grew up hearing my mother tell me to count my blessings. Of course when things are going well that is easy to do! During difficult times it is even more important to do... so here goes... We are blessed to have students who work hard everyday and yet still find time to care about their school, family and community. We are blessed to have families who love our school and work in partner-ship with us to make every learning opportunity count...even when the lessons are hard. We are blessed to

Principal’s Message… BE SAFE… DO YOUR BEST

Phone: 614-797-7080 Fax: 614-797-7081 jarrellv@wcsoh.org

It is officially COLD out there. We are going to try to get the kids out for recess as often as possible, so please remember to bundle them up! Thanks!

At Emerson I believe we are preparing the kids to take their place in the world and to make the world better for every-one. These kids are our gift to the future.

I hope that the holidays bring you all the good things in life and that our students return rested and happy in January. I feel so very blessed to be a part of the Emer-son family. Thank you for your support!

Ms. J.