Ms. Christie-Blick has retired from the South Orangetown Central School District. She is now working as a Climate Change Education Consultant. You can reach her through her website. She is also an instructor for the University of San Diego, Teaching Climate Change in the NGSS Classroom. She continues to own and moderate the website for teachers and children: Kids Against Climate Change .

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April is blue for respect. Respect is to show polite regard and consideration. Respect is a feeling of admiring someone or something that is good, valuable, and important and should be treated a certain way. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.

Cottage Lane’s book of the month, Pinduli, is a surprising story about self-image, self-acceptance, and treating others with respect. After reading, sharing and discussing this special book you will realize how a few tiny words – bad or good – can create something enormous!

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Green with Integrity!

• Integrity is the quality of being honest, having strong moral principles and total sincerity.
• Honesty is often viewed as saying the right thing and integrity is doing the right thing.
• Oprah Winfrey states, “Real integrity is doing the right thing knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.”

Read and listen to our book of the month, Mr. Peabody’s Apples.

In the story, Tommy realizes the damage he has caused to Mr. Peabody. He says, “I have a lot of work to do.” Pretend you are Tommy and write an apology to Mr. Peabody which explains how Tommy plans to amend what he has done.

 

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“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~ Dalai Lama

This month at Cottage Lane we are focusing on compassion. At today’s assembly, we discussed the meaning of compassion and how we can show compassion in school, at home and in the world. Our Compassion Cards encourage us to perform random acts of compassion. From the Smile Train Fundraiser to Valentine’s for Veterans, our compassion can make a difference in the lives of others.

Our book of the month, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, gives a lesson about how even small acts of kindness can change the world. The main character realizes the lost opportunity for friendship and thinks about how much better it could have been if a little compassion was shown toward others.

Remember…Don’t be a wrinkle in someone else’s heart. Instead…make time this month to complete your compassion cards. Together we can fill our hallway heart!

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Malala Yousafzai spoke to our 5th – 8th grade students about the importance of education. She has a new book called, We are Displaced. Please read or listen (scroll to the bottom of page) to her biography – Malala Yousafzai. Watch an interview with her below.

“Malala is a symbol of hope and an inspirational role model, particularly for girls. On her 16th birthday, she gave a passionate speech to the United Nations. She was inundated with awards, culminating in the ultimate honor in 2014, the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Read more here:

• Kids Rights – Malala
• Biography – Malala
• Time – Malala
• Time for Kids: Heroic Returns
• CBS interview “We are Displaced”

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Welcome to an exciting New Year, and may you achieve all your goals in 2019.

This month’s assembly, Colors of Character for January, reminds us that perseverance is essential to success.

What can you learn from:

• Understanding Talent
• Your Brain on Books
• Ezra Frech Sports Illustrated’s SportsKid of the Year Award.
• The Royal Bee

“YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU WANT. YOU CAN DREAM IT. YOU CAN HOPE IT. OR YOU CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN!”

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Empathy is the feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions.

• Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy is about standing in someone else’s shoes, feeling with his or her heart, seeing with his or her eyes. Empathy makes the world a better place.

Practice empathy by being observant of others, using active listening and donating a pair of new or gently used shoes for Soles to Souls.

Our book of the month is The Yellow Star by Carmen Deedy. After reading and listening to the Legend of King Christian X of Denmark, explain why the author titled the book The Yellow Star. What does the yellow star symbolize?

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Halloween 2018: Click a photo to begin the slide show.

 

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What’s your favorite book? Are you ready to encourage others to read it? Now is the time to use some writing skills and creativity for Mrs. McBride’s monthly challenge,The Book Bottle Buddy Challenge.

Re-use a bottle and get to work! All entries are due November 21st.

November is Gratitude

This month we celebrate Thanksgiving and Veterans Day. It is important to show gratitude for your own happiness, health, relationships and impact on the world.

Cottage Lane will be growing a gratitude tree. The gratitude tree will show everyone that we appreciate the small things in life, are grateful for everything they have, are mindful of the things that are going right in their lives and hold people in our lives close to our hearts.

In your writing journal write gratitude responses. Feel free to go above and beyond and say thank you to others – write them a letter and share that letter with them. Get a paper leaf from your teacher and add it to the CLE gratitude tree. If you need writing prompts, try these:

• It was a good moment today when __________________.
• I’m glad I had the opportunity to _________________ this week.
• Thinking about _______________ makes me feel good.
• I like seeing _______________________ in nature.
• I’m grateful I’ve accomplished ________________ in my life.
• I learned _________________ from a challenge.
• ______________ always makes me smile.
• Additional gratitude writing prompts can be found here.

Veterans Day 2018

Sunday, November 11th is Veterans Day. Our book of the month, America’s White Table. Listen to the significance of each item placed on the table and how Katie comes to understand and appreciate the depth of sacrifice that her uncle, members of the Armed Forces and their families have to make.

It is important Americans give thanks for their freedom. The perfect way to do this is by thanking our active troops, our veterans, our heroes. It is important to show gratitude toward those who serve. Consider writing a card to send to a veteran.

Additional Resources:

• Learn how to say thank you to veterans – The Gratitude Campaign!
• Bet You Didn’t Know: Veterans Day | History
• Men’s Basketball Veteran’s Day Recognition
• History of the Holidays: History of Veterans Day | History

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Happy Socktober! Each night in the United States, an estimated 600,000 people live on the streets. This October, we want 2 million people to show that even a small act of love, such as donating a pair of socks, can make a big difference in the lives of our neighbors who are homeless.

Kids and adults around the world have started their own sock drives to benefit their local homeless shelters. Cottage Lane Student Advisory Council will collect and donate new socks to People to People.

Please bring in a new pair of unworn socks by October 25th.

As a school we will celebrate this event by wearing our own pair of Crazy socks on October 25th!

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This month we celebrate and practice ACCEPTANCE!

• Acceptance is the willingness to embrace feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own.
• Acceptance is the ability to experience or survive something unpleasant.
• Acceptance is the willingness to tolerate a difficult or unpleasant situation.
• We all have the human need and right to be accepted.

Here is a recording introducing and pronouncing Duncan Tonatiuh.

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This week at Cottage Lane we are participating in the “Start with Hello” campaign. We are encouraging every student to make a difference with their peers. Whether it is a simple hello or a conversation, we are trying to foster an inclusive community.

Having conversations can be awkward, but Kid President shows us how it’s done! He too is on a mission to meet lots of awesome kids! #YearoftheKid Sometimes meeting new people can be scary. What if they’re too different and we don’t get along? What if things get really, really awkward? Well, Kid President says, embrace the AWKWARD! Check out his video below.

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What’s your favorite animal? Are you worried about an endangered species? Is there an animal you want to learn more about? Now is the time to use some research skills and creativity for Mrs. McBride’s monthly challenge, The Sock Challenge.

Find an old sock that lost its match in the laundry and get to work! All entries are due October 19th.

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Welcome back to an exciting school year! This year’s character education is bursting with color.

September is scarlet red for COURAGE. Starting a new year with new teachers, new classmates and new expectations takes courage. Being brave, making sacrifices, facing fears, admitting mistakes are all ways to show courage.

At our assembly, we learned how ordinary people found the courage to do extraordinary things. Welles Crowther, The Man in the Red Bandanna, was one of many amazing people who were courageous on September 11, 2001.

We all might not be able to be as courageous as Wells, but we can practice small acts of courage. Remember Mrs. King’s warrior words, “I have the power and the courage to be a positive, proactive upstander.” Will you stand up for yourself, stand up for others, make a new friend, try out for a team, develop a skill, audition for a play, speak in front of an audience, ask for help, treat failures as opportunities to grow, etc.?

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Visit our other website, Kids Against Climate Change. Read. Watch. Do!

Leave a comment. Submit a picture or video. It’s about your future!

 

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2018-19 Circle Line Trip

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ELA

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Math

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Science

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