GEOGRAPHY

(jē-ŏg'rə-fē)

n., pl., -phies.

1. The study of the earth and its features and of the distribution of life on the earth, including human life and the effects of human activity.
2. The physical characteristics, especially the surface features, of an area.
3. A book on geography.
4. An ordered arrangement of constituent elements: charting a geography of the mind.

New Vistas' annual Geography Bee was a complete success.  Pictured here are our winners.

WHAT'S DONE IS DONE

... as Lady Macbeth said.

The 4th, 5th and 6th grade students are creating grand theatre and how best can that be done? ... but alas by performing a piece from the great William Shakespeare.  Macbeth was written sometime between 1603 and 1607 and was his shortest tragedy.  It is believed that the earliest account of a performance was at the Globe Theatre in London in April 1611 and first published in Folio in 1623.  The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and among its over 150 million items holds the first, second and third impressions of Macbeth in Folio.

Macbeth tells of a man who is deceived by himself and his wife. Thunder and lightning crash above a Scottish moor. Three haggard old women, the witches, appear out of the storm. In eerie, chanting tones, they make plans to meet again upon the heath, after the battle, to confront Macbeth. As quickly as they arrive, they disappear.

Our performers are very excited about this opportunity!  They hold a small statue of Shakespeare and various tea towels depicting images from Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace and of Shakespeare himself.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION THROUGH BASKETBALL

Mrs. Andrews' P.E. class is so enjoyable!  The class is filled with activities that develop strong bodies and utilize the cardio-respiratory system. 

The children in Mrs. Crowder's All Day Preschool class had so much fun learning about healthy exercise through many different sports with the lesson of the day ... basketball! 

Watch out Phoenix Suns ... here come the next extraordinary players to enter the NBA ... okay in a few years!!

TEDDY TOPICS

NV Kindergarten students enjoyed a theme centered day, where studies centered around their beloved Teddies and learning about bears in general.  Throughout the day, students read and studied about bears, and then used what they learned to complete a writing lesson.  Students were able to write descriptive sentences, developing sentence structure and applying conventions.  Students also worked on logic and estimating in math, trying to estimate the capacity of a container filled with gummy bears.

The teddies, and furry friends, were quiet and welcome guests.  Everyone learned a lot and had a great time too!

A TIME RIFE WITH CANDY HEARTS...

but in Mrs. Shipley's New Vistas' 5th and 6th grade classes, the hearts were real ones! 

Mrs. Shipley's classes studied heart health.  Learning terms like cardiac arrest and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and using Sprite computer graphics program and flow charts, students created simple interactive programs that friends and family could play to learn when and how to perform Hands Only CPR.

They were making sure everyone lives 'long heart healthy lives' in order to receive lots of those special February Valentines!

SPELLING BEE

New Vistas Center for Education would like to extend a big thank you and congratulations to all participants in the 2010/2011 spelling bee.  

This year, students in grades one through six competed in classroom spelling bees.  Each classroom spelling champion then participated in our school wide spelling bee.  We commend all students for their excellent preparation and sportsmanship during the school spelling bee. 



Our class winners!



Congratulations to Rachel Dai in first grade for winning the primary spelling bee.  Our intermediate spelling bee winner is Aditya Ashar in fifth grade.  He will represent New Vistas at the Regional Spelling Bee in February.  Congratulations, Aditya!







ART MASTERPIECE AT NEW VISTAS

As we continue our expansive curriculum at New Vistas, we have incorporated the Art Masterpiece program.

For January the students have been learning about Andy Warhol.  Mr. Warhol began as a commercial illustrator in New York, doing artwork for ads and magazines in the 1940s and 1950s. Eventually he crossed from commercial work to fine art, blurring the line between the two along the way.

In the early 1960s his huge and colorful silk-screen renderings of banal objects like Coke bottles and a Campbell's Soup can were hugely popular and established him as the leader of the so-called Pop Art movement.

In 1981 he undertook a series of myth paintings in which the subject matter treated mythical figures from popular culture sources, such as advertisements, comic strips and films.  These works included Dagwood, Mickey Mouse, and Superman.

Later in 1983 he created a series of endangered species paintings which depicted various threatened wild-life.  Today our students have created their own version of his work.

PENGUIN FUN

Preschoolers learn from everything they do.  They are naturally curious and enjoy hands-on learning.

Even though the temperature in Phoenix has been in the 70's this past week, New Vistas has ice skating penguins!  Mrs. Esposito's 2-Day morning students had fun making little penguins skate at every desk.

For their Science work this week, the children learned about magnets and how they work.  With gentle hands, Mrs. Esposito showed the students how to creatively make the penguins skate. 

They colored a pool of water on a paper plate, took their cut out penguins (with a trusty paperclip attached to their feet), a popicle stick with a small magnet attached and proceed to skate away. 

SCIENCE SIZZLES

Aditi Anand and Gautham Kugan

This morning at New Vistas was fun and exciting!  Mrs. Shipley assigned two students to search for wonderful items (bugs included) they could view on a 3D microscope that was loaned to us.  The 5th and 6th grade students were excited to view a cricket 3D. 

Mrs. Shipley wanted to share the excitement of discovery with students in the primary grades so they can look forward to what is to come.

Who knows what exciting bug we will be blessed to see in 3D tomorrow.

Here are a few more fun pictures from the use of the 3D microscope:

5th / 6th GRADE TREAT

What a treat on the first day back to school after winter break to have Lance Labun, NV alum, visit our 5th and 6th grade math classes.  He generously served as a 'visiting professor', assisting groups of students with some extra instruction.  Lance is currently finishing his dissertation to complete his PhD in Theoretical Physics at the University of Arizona.

Thanks Lance! (And congratulations on your impressive personal achievement.)

WORLD'S FAIR FUN

Our World's Fair was a complete success.  Mother Nature worked hard by raining the entire day, leaving for us what we thought would be a soggy evening, few visitors and wet footprints everywhere.  To our joy, the rain stopped around 5 pm, things dried out and everyone attended!  We were as busy as we usually are during these wonderful events.  Families brought extended family members and friends to enjoy the musical programs, the lights, Santa (who gave up some of his very valuable time a week before Christmas), family photo opportunities, delicious international cakes, and last but not least, the spectacularly decorated rooms showing the hard work and excitement of each and every student!  Our students, teachers and aides worked to the last minute to make this event special, with great success I must say!!  Each classroom was decorated beautifully, with artwork and projects posted for their selected country.

We thank each and every one of you for attending.  Some pictures will be posted below and we will continue to add more as they are made available.

Wilma and Betty with Mrs. Shipley

Evan Shipley's Volcano

Mrs. Holmes, Cayden Holmes, Mrs. Bobadilla

Ethan Rosenberg with Santa

Mrs. Miller / Mrs. Randall's USA Flag

Mrs. Hira / Mrs. Miller's French Quarter

Yummy Cake!!!