HARLEM WIZARDS

vs.

 CHAPPAQUA CHALLENGERS

HGHS Gymnasium

A sold out event in prior years!

  

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BELL STUDENTS HARVEST THEIR GARDEN

October 31, 2008
by Christine Yeres

Robert E. Bell social studies teacher Mallory Chinn and her students threw a harvest celebration yesterday on the front lawn of the middle school. Her classes visited the outdoor enclosed garden of raised beds with its own irrigation system to harvest the vegetables and greens they planted earlier this fall. 

The handsome garden enclosure was constructed over the summer by Teich Garden Systems and funded through a grant from the Chappaqua School Foundation.  In early September students planted herbs in the beds at each end; broccoli and cauliflower in the center beds; kale, arugula, spinach and Swiss chard around the perimeter. They also grew marigolds and tried (but failed at) tomatoes. 

Today, Friday, October 31, the students will sample the fruits of their labors in a salad tasting and hear the results of a vote on competing dressings: Caesar, French and blue cheese. 

At right, Mallory Chinn

Parent helper, Ellen Miller

Parent helper, Paula Soohoo

Since its inception in 1993, CSF has funded over 100 projects across the Chappaqua schools. CSF welcomes grant submissions from teachers, administrators, parents, students - or any member of our community.   For more information... click here

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CSF Bookpacks encourage family reading time

The Kindergarten Bookpacks are a signature CSF program, enhancing reading for our youngest Chappaqua students. At Grafflin, CSF also funded the First Grade Bookpacks. Through a recent grant, the Bookpacks were updated with stories encompassing new curricular and community topics, from the environment to nutrition and health. The books reflect a range of reading levels and genres, exposing children to a variety of authors, writing styles, and subject matter.

Accompanying each Bookpack are questions meant to stimulate conversation between parents and children, foster critical and inferential thinking, promote literacy skills, and encourage children to relate what they have read to their own lives.

Debra Alspach, Assistant Principal at Grafflin, says the program exposes children to high quality literature, builds reading comprehension skills, and provides an opportunity for parents and children to read together. First grade teacher Yvonne Davies adds, “Because there is a common body of literature for all first graders, we can have deeper classroom discussions.”

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Let the Printing Press Roll!

“Writing, Imagery and Technology – A Journal of Print, Poems and Prose” was a grant for a printing press submitted to CSF by Seven Bridges art teachers Terry Koshel and Zach Arnold. The press allows for greater innovation than could be done by hand by offering more variety of printing mediums. Students will use the printing press to create a literary journal combining art prints with poetry and prose.   

The printing press will encourage cross-curricular projects, particularly with English and Social Studies. “Sixth grade English students will create original poetry inspired by both student and master artwork. In response, art students will create original illustrations inspired by the English students’ poetry,” said Ms. Koshel. “This model also will be used with the Harlem Renaissance unit and the American history unit on epidemics. For the Heraldic Imagery in the Middle Ages unit, students will research their own heritage and create pennants or shields using the printing press.”

Ms. Koshel’s inspiration came out of a 2004 collaborative project with students at Bell and Greeley in which they illustrated original Haiku. The result is the paperback book, The Sounds of Bamboo, which was published by a small press in California and can be seen in the Greeley and Seven Bridges libraries. 

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Video Conferences Expand Students' View of the World

There is no question that field trips motivate students and enhance learning. Now imagine field trips that go beyond the local apple orchard to exploring a tropical rainforest, sharing ideas with students in Africa, or interviewing a Mayflower Pilgrim. Thanks to a videoconferencing grant submitted by first grade teacher Miriam Longobardi of Roaring Brook School and funded by the Chappaqua School Foundation, students are participating in interactive, real-time communication with experts and classrooms around the world.

Beyond the excitement of virtual field trips, videoconferencing also makes possible peer-to-peer partnerships in which students form relationships outside the immediate community. Videoconferencing enables students to work collaboratively to bring everyday concepts to life. For example, in one project, Mrs. Longobardi's first graders partnered with first graders at a school in Eastchester. RBS students shared their "Small Moments" writing pieces with the Eastchester students, and the Eastchester class shared their "Authors as Mentors" pieces with our students.

 "Going beyond the classroom walls and sharing in this way is very motivating," explains Mrs. Longobardi. "Rather than passively receiving information, the children are active participants in their own learning, whether they are sharing work with peers or asking questions of an expert."

RBS teachers have exciting videoconferencing projects lined up for the 2008-09 school year. In November, first graders will go back in time to meet a Mayflower passenger and discover the lifestyle and hardships of the first Pilgrims. Later in the year, students will visit the Cincinnati Art Museum where they will participate in hands-on activities using images of animals from the extensive Art Museum collection.

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VISUAL PRESENTATION tools Enhance Learning

Research finds that the use of visuals in teaching results in a greater degree of learning. Until recently, the visual presentation tool used most often in the classroom was the overhead projector, which required the creation of transparencies and offered little flexibility. With a desire to upgrade, the Chappaqua School District approached the Chappaqua School Foundation to fund portable document cameras, the next generation of visual presentation tools.

Portable document cameras go beyond the simple functions of an overhead by enabling teachers and students to display information in a variety of forms from simple documents to three dimensional objects to microscopic images. The camera provides high quality color display, auto-focus, powerful zoom, the ability to annotate documents, and to store images for future use. 

Recognizing the benefits of the document camera, CSF funded 15 for use at HGHS, including 11 for the English department. The other four are placed in Math, Social Studies and Performing Arts. The grant also included a Portable Document Camera for both middle schools.

HGHS English teachers tell CSF that the cameras help facilitate the teaching of writing and projecting high quality images from books during classroom discussions. According to HGHS English teacher Andrew Corsilia, “When I need to share with the entire class the good work of individual students, the document camera does the trick.  Without any lengthy preparation, I can now project a first draft of a student’s essay, or display a student’s annotation of a poem.  My students have used the document camera during presentations, and we regularly project pages from our current text to discuss a writer’s style.”

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