What’s coming up in

November?

6th Election Day! NO SCHOOL for students

8th Pen’s Den

13th PTL Meeting 6:30 pm / Library

14th 19th 21st

American Education Week Parent Visitation 9:30 – 11:00 am PM K: 1 – 2:30 pm

Picture re-take day

11:15 Dismissal

23rd and 24th

NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving Holiday

26th

and

27th

Holiday Shop Gymnasium Schedule by class

28th

Jingle Bell Night 6:00 – 8:00 pm

PENNELL IN PRINT

NOVEMBER 2012

PENNELL ELEMENTARY

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

PENNELL ELEMENTARY NEWSLETTER

Happy November Parents!

Happy autumn to everyone! We have been very busy as usual and time has just been flying by!

Between Hurricane Sandy and Halloween, October can be described as SCARY! Our annual Fall

Fest however was a real blast! As you can see below, Pennell students were in rare form!

Please see more pictures on page 3.

Would you like the opportunity to see the great things that happen in your child’s classroom

as they occur? In observance of American Education Week, we invite you to visit the school

from 9:30 am to 11:00 am on Wednesday, November 14th. PM Kindergarten parents are

invited to come from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm on the same day. Please remember to sign in and

receive a pass before going to your child’s classroom.

After-School Tutoring: We will soon begin after-school tutoring for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade in the areas of math and reading. The goal of the after-school tutoring is to support and assist our students with skills and strategies to help them in the classroom. If your child is a candidate for our after-school club, you will be notified by letter. Please consider this important resource for your child if he or she is in need.

As always, thank you for your support!

Mr. Shawn Dutkiewicz, Pennell Elementary Principal

Pictured (left to right): Nicole Buscaglia, Alexis Robinson, Jaimy Johnston, and Patricia Young.

WHAT’S ON THE FRIDGE THIS MONTH?

Pennell has 72

students

participating in

Instrumental Music

and 68 in Chorus!

Please “LIKE” the Pennell

Elementary and PDSD

Facebook pages!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

The Penguin Press

Newspaper has a

staff of nearly 70

students!

FALL FEST SMILES!

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.

NOVEMBER’S MONTHLY VALUE:

Cooperation—working together to do more than you can do alone

Car Time – Song: "Together We Can" - Together We Can 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: How many people do you think you know?

DISCUSSION STARTER:

Malaria is a disease that people get after being bitten by a mosquito that has the malaria parasite. Once the person

has been bitten, malaria infects their blood and causes them to be very sick and sometimes even die. The sad part

is that this disease can be cured; yet nearly 3,000 children in Africa die from malaria every year. One way malaria

can be prevented is by the use of a net that hangs over children’s beds at night preventing them from mosquito

bites.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

You can buy one insecticide-treated mosquito net for a child in Africa for only $10. How many nets do you think you could buy?

If you cooperate with your friends and family, how many nets could you purchase if you all worked together?

Choose three friends to educate this week about malaria. Are there other needs that you could meet if you chose to work together to make a difference?

Rest – K-2: Zinnia and Dot by: Lisa Campbell Ernst; Meet Zinnia and Dot--two plump, self-satisfied hens who bicker

constantly about the quality of their eggs. Whose are more lustrous, shapely, smooth? Their rivalry rages until a

weasel bursts in and steals the eggs--all but one, a particularly prime specimen. Just in time, they realize they've

got to stick together to protect their prized egg.

3-5: Pink and Say by: Patricia Polacco; In a true story, Pinkus Aylee, a black Union soldier, finds Sheldon Curtis left

for dead and carries him home to be tended by his mother, but when the two boys attempt to rejoin the Union

troops, they are captured and sent to Andersonville Prison.

Experience – How much allowance do you get? How much do you spend on your daily coffee or soda fix? How

many pennies and nickels have you collected on your bedside table? Ask yourselves these questions as a

family and see if you can work together to buy mosquito nets for those in danger of becoming infected by

malaria. Put your heads together as a family and come up with some ways to encourage your friends, co-

workers, and community to make a difference as well. The more people work together, the more you will be

able to accomplish! Visit http://www.biteback.net/ for more information.

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 October 31st 2012: Congrats to the students who have read at least 250,000 words!

Students Total Words Read

Colin Bradley 1,699,068

Jalyn Slaughter 1,627,149

Darren Panusky 1,029,242

Chelsea Hendrix 944,052

Kelsey Celestino 935,451

Devin Widmaier 862,189

Sara Chodak 844,799

Abigail Otsyina 677,789

Christian Hansen 639,349

Zachary Seddon 624,153

Shannon Purfield 552,123

Nicole Buscaglia 524,141

Jenna Ford 508,842

Emmanuel Otsyina 492,827

Shalane Buck 475,859

Xavier Slaughter 433,492

Ryley Marker 429,678

Luke Rice 413,321

Destin Pagan 375,328

Jacqueline Oldham 363,888

Tyler Smith 351,877

Kiley Boyd 307,183

Nick Maiale 303,414

Sophia Pantuliano 302,394

Jaimee Higgins 300,616

Erin Kelly 297,027

Randy Marker 278,473

Jake Stritzinger 275,825

Brenden Purfield 275,097

Kayla Boyd 265,501

Kassidy Lambert 261,121

Dominic Marano 256,141

Sarah Gartland 255,132

Tara France 254,590

READING COUNTS

Technology…Transforming Teaching and Learning

Students + teachers + technology = a thriving classroom! Technology is an essential learning tool for students and

an integral resource that supports innovative teaching. The District has invested in a wide variety of technology

and teachers are using this technology in creative ways to engage students.

Lap top carts are used by secondary teachers for students to access My Big Campus, an on-line social learning platform. Teachers can post and collect assignments, quizzes and tests; students can view tutorials and discuss topics with their peers on-line. Students are demonstrating their knowledge of literature by creating digital brochures or by representing novels using only images. Classes can analyze contemporary television clips or commercials for elements of popular culture and share for discussion and critique on My Big Campus. In the elementary classrooms, lap top carts provide an extension to the computer lab in each school. Students have additional opportunities to use the computer in a variety of ways. For example, when young writers are ready to publish their story or research, they can use a lap top for this stage of the writing process. In addition, the students can do research to prepare for a social studies or science project as well as to prepare a Power Point presentation to share with their class. Mobile devices such as iPods and iPads are being used at all grade levels. These devices allow teachers to assign activities based on student needs, to record student progress, and to have students work in small collaborative groups, among other activities. Since students are introduced to educational ways to use these devices at school, they are able to purposefully use their personal mobile devices at home. Teachers are using applications on iPads to contact students and parents, record student work and instruct small groups of students with interactive activities. A set of i-Pods can be spotted quickly in an elementary classroom at a work station. Students are given specific apps to choose from in subjects such as mathematics, reading, or phonics. They practice the skills that have been taught as they work toward mastery.

Interactive white boards are used by many teachers. Vernier LabQuest 2 probeware, with its built-in graphing and analysis applications, is used at SVHS and NMS to collect, analyze, and combine data from experiments in science classes. Students can then share their results with the class on the interactive white-board, manipulating the images to further analyze their data. The Interactive White Board is usually on at the start of the school day in our elementary classrooms. The teachers use this tool to begin the first lesson of the day in reading or mathematics. The students are able to come to the board and actively participate in the lesson by manipulating the interactive content. During work station time, the interactive white board is now a center where students work together in a small group extending practice time with many skills.

To support the district’s vision of using technology to transform teaching and learning, monthly technology trainings are provided to all staff members. In addition, cohorts of teachers have elected to participate in our annual summer Tech Academy to gain additional knowledge and expertise. Our efforts are driven by the goal of increasing student achievement and engagement.

SPOTLIGHT ON CURRICULUM

NOVEMBER NOTES FROM NURSE HOLLY:

Flu Facts from the CDC (Center for Disease Control)

Did you know?

The flu is an infection of the nose, throat and lungs caused by influenza viruses.

Children 2 to 17 years old are nearly 2 to 3 times more likely to be infected with the flu than adults.

School-age children are the main spreaders of the flu virus to other children, adults and older people.

Children younger than 5 had similar hospitalization rates from the flu as people 50-64 years of age.

More than 200,000 people in the US are hospitalized each year because of the flu.

The best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated; everyone in the family over 6 months of age should get the flu vaccine every year.

You cannot get the flu from the flu vaccine. The vaccines are made not to cause infection. Some

people may experience side effects, but it is not the flu.

So protect yourself and your family: Get your flu vaccines today

FROM THE NURSE’S OFFICE…