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The Lafayette Gazette
Winter 2003, 1st edition
News

In this issue:
    Bones!  Bones!  Bones!
    Penguins Are Cool Birds!
    A Birthday Celebration
    Put Martin Luther King, Jr. on a Coin!
    Hooray for the 100th Day!
    New Teacher in Town
    ESL Pen Pal Project at Lafayette School
    Craft Co-Op
    Our Chick Diary

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Bones!  Bones!  Bones!
by Mrs. Rothschild's First Graders

Our class and Ms. Wolfe's 8th Period Anatomy Class got together to learn about bones and the body.  We worked in Lafayette's Library so we would have enough space for 52 students!   We met on four Wednesdays during October,

November and December.  The high school students helped us put paper skeletons together.  They helped us learn the names of the bones.  We measured each others body parts.  We had a great time learning about bones!

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Penguins Are Cool Birds!
by Ms. Vescovi's First Graders

Our class has been learning about penguins.  Penguins are really cool birds but they can't fly!  But, they are excellent swimmers. There are about 17 different kinds of penguins.  All penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere.  They live in cold waters by places like Antarctica, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.  Some people think that penguins live at the North Pole, but that is not true. Since they are excellent swimmers, penguins spend a lot of time in the water.  The water is too cold for us, but penguins have blubber that keeps them warm. They eat fish, krill, and squid.  But, they have to watch out for their enemies in the water.  Whales, leopard seals, and sea lions love to eat penguins.  But the color of penguins helps them stay safe in the ocean.  It's hard for the enemy to see a penguin's

black back if they enemy is swimming above the penguins (it black blends in the with the dark bottom of the ocean.)  And, it's hard for the enemy to see a penguin's white belly if the enemy is swimming below the penguins (its white belly blends in with the sunny top the ocean.) Penguins are really fast swimmers, but when they come on land they walk funny.  penguins waddle when they walk.  If they want to go fast, some penguins that live in icy places will flop down on their bellies and slide or toboggan. The biggest penguin is called the Emperor.  It can be about 45 inches tall.  The smallest penguin is called the Little Blue.  It's only about 15 inches tall. Our class likes all kinds of penguins, but our favorites are the Emperor, the King, and the Little Blue.

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A Birthday Celebration
by Mrs. Fischbach's Second Graders

On January 17, 2003, Mrs. Fischbach's class celebrated Benjamin Franklin's birthday.  Ben Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts.  Ben Franklin was a man of many talents and interests.  He is probably most well known for using a key and a kite to discover electricity.  Our class learned many other facts about Ben Franklin.  For example, Ben Franklin signed the Constitution.  His picture is on the 100 dollar bill.  He started the first American library.  He

began working at the age of 10.  Ben Franklin invented things like bifocals, the glass harmonica, the iron furnace stove, and the odometer.  He also wanted the turkey to be the symbol of the United States, which of course became the bald eagle.  We each wrote a fact about Ben Franklin on a kite and made a bulletin board of them in the hallway.  This was a fun day because we learned so many new things about Ben Franklin.

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Put Martin Luther King, Jr. on a Coin!
by Robert

It all started when I collected coins.  We were sitting in our class for a meeting and we were learning about Martin Luther King.  Florence asked if Martin Luther King was on a coin.  I decided to do a petition to the U.S. Mint.  I went

back home and typed the petition with my cousins Jack and Julia.  The next day I brought it to school and everybody signed it.  And now we are sending it to the mint.

We need your help! If you feel strongly about having MLK, Jr. on a coin you can write a petition, gather signatures and send it to the U.S. Mint at:

U.S. Mint Headquarters
801 9th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20220

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Hooray for the 100th Day!
by Mrs. Zarama's Kindergartners & First Graders &
    Mrs. Beckman's First Graders

The 100th day of school was celebrated throughout Lafayette on Thursday, February 13, 2003.  100th Day hats and banners could be seen throughout the hallways.  Classes celebrated in different ways.  Some activities included writing numbers from 1-100, putting 100 words in alphabetical order, and doing 100 jumping jacks.  100th Day projects were done in some classrooms with students collecting 100 objects and displaying them.  The

students enjoyed participating in the activities throughout the day.  "We had a lot of fun doing things with the number 100," one student said. In Mrs. Zarama's class, the children had fun designing their own pictures using 100 colorful fruit loops.  Come and see their creations! Happy 100th Day to Lafayette School!

CELEBRATING 100 DAYS Mr. Sterner wearing his 100 hat and Mrs. Rothschild wearing 100 pins!

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New Teacher in Town   by Jenny & Bianca

Miss Hendry is helping Mrs. Griffin.  She is taking over Mrs. Griffin's class, that means that she is teaching Mrs. Griffin's class.  She likes helping her with her class.  Miss Hendry has taught other grades.  The other grades are Kindergarten and PreK. Mrs. Griffin went to school in Bridgewater.  She was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  Mrs. Griffin's

favorite book is Junie B. Jones.  She likes to teach first grade.  She has a baby now and is excited.  The baby's name is Abigail.  She was going to name the baby Michael if it was a boy.  Her baby was supposed to come on February 17th on President's Day.  Mrs. Griffin's baby came two days early on the 15th.  Mrs. Griffin didn't have any kids before.

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ESL Pen Pal Project at Lafayette School

Mrs. Kaplan's ESL students in grades 1 and 2 made new friends!  Starting in February, the kids began writing letters to pen pals in Mrs. Petriano's first grade at Tamaques School in Westfield.  Before the year is over, we are hoping that the students from both schools will meet each other on a class trip to Tamaques. Each Lafayette student sent a

map of Central and South America with their first letter, highlighting the countries they come from.  Both, Mrs. Kaplan and Mrs. Petriano have been doing map reading for a while, so it will be great to learn about a new place in the world.  The students have also designed their own stationery. We will keep you posted on this special activity!

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Craft Co-Op

The Craft Co-op is a program where the students from Mrs. Dominguez, Mrs. Beckman, Mrs. Zarama and Mrs. Kaye's classes are working together on various arts and crafts projects, based on science themes and craft traditions from around the world.  funded by a grant from the Bound Brook Education Foundation, the Craft Co-op program uses methods and media from what is usually available in the classroom.  Bilingual classes meet with regular classes to combine energy in the making of origami projects, block printing, fish printing and even

weaving.  The Origami Christmas tree and the Gyotaku Fish Prints have been exhibited in the halls at Lafayette School.  Future projects include ceramics, enameling and silk painting, just to name a few.  The students have made new friends and are developing a sense of self worth with their newly found skills.  Besides the plan to teach students to work together on team objectives, it serves as a means towards community awareness and service.  We really appreciate the Bound Brook Education Foundation's help and concern for our schools.

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Our Chick Diary
by Mrs. Rothschild's First Graders

February 24, 2003 Farmer Karen brought us twelve eggs. She told us how to take care of the eggs so they hopefully will hatch next Monday.  We have to turn the eggs three times a day.  The eggs have an X on one side so we know which way to turn them.  We each take a turn to roll them over. The eggs are kept warm in a special box called an INCUBATOR.  We need to make sure the temperature stays about 99.5 degrees.  Each day Mrs. Rothschild will put some water in the incubator to keep the eggs moist.
February 26, 2003 This morning when we came into school we saw that one egg is cracking and wiggling.  We think this egg will hatch later today.
February 27, 2003 The chick pecked a bigger hole, but it hasn’t come out yet.  We can hear it peeping.
March 3, 2003 When we came into school today, one egg had hatched.  Early in the day two more hatched.  Nine more to go!
March 4, 2003 All twelve eggs have hatched and the chicks are in the BROODER box!  Mrs. Rothschild and Mr. Joe taught them how to eat and drink.  They learned how to walk by themselves.  They looked funny when they first were learning how to walk. The chicks are cute and sweet. When they are not sleeping they make a lot of loud noise peeping.  They like to cuddle up next to each other.
March 5, 2003 We touched the chicks gently.  They are very soft.   We are sad because the first chick died.  He was very sick.  Now we have eleven noisy, active chicks!
March 7, 2003 The farmer took all the chicks back to the farm.  We got a red ribbon for having a “Great Hatch.”  We miss our chicks a lot because we had so much fun with them.

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last modified May 29, 2003