LEMONADE LANE - HANDY HELPERS FAIR

Lemonade Lane has had a lot of traffic lately! 

The most recent event was our Community Handy Helpers Fair.  Adults from the community give presentations to the students about the way they helped in the community. 



We were pleased to have Blas Minor, Captain from the Chandler Fire Department and husband to our wonderful reading teacher Richelle Minor; Kristi Sandavol from Freestyle Karate and mother to our 2nd Grader Ty; Mr. and Mrs. Horne from the Horne Auto Dealerships and parents of preschooler Brooke and 3rd grader Hanna; and Connor Brigola's mom, Nurse Jodi Brigola showing her nursing skills to name just a few.

HOW QUICKLY TIME WILL FLY

It is amazing how quickly time will fly away from us.  It feels like just a few weeks have passed yet Thanksgiving is just around the corner. 

Much has been accomplished already, with Fall STEP Testing complete, Parent / Teacher Conferences finished, much fun was had during Fall Break and now the November Chandler Food Drive is underway!  

Students are progressing with their studies and participating in clubs and extracurricular activities.  Our Show Choir has many events planned and the students are working hard to learn their various performances.  Lemonade Lane's September and October events were wonderful successes for our All Day Preschool and Kindergarten classes.  (Articles and pictures will soon be posted.)

Now planning for our Annual December World's Fair has kicked in and shifting into high gear.  We invite you to attend this spectacular event where all of the classrooms are decorated by work and crafts the students have created.  Each classroom chooses a country or state for their theme.   You will enjoy music and song by local entertainers and our own Show Choir!  It is the event of the season and not to be missed!

BACK TO SCHOOL

Welcome back to all of our wonderful continuing students and a big 'Welcome' to our new students!  Please watch our website and blog for information on great events in the 2011/12 school year. 

Programs that will begin soon or have already begun:

  Mathletes
  Math Olympiads
  Mandarin Chinese
  JumpBunch
  New Vistas Sports Club
  Computer Club
  Lemonade Lane
  Chess Club
  New Vistas Theatre
  Poetry Club
  Short Story Club

SUMMER READING PROGRAM

Optional Summer Check and Chat Sessions for Returning Students

Mrs. McFadyen and all of our Reading Teachers encourage all our returning students to continue their reading during the summer.  One fun way to have your children read is to participate in the Summer Reading Program and 'Check and Chat' Sessions.

 

If your child is checking out a book for the summer, we will be offering three dates that you may sign up to have your child come in for a few minutes, if you have a need. At that time, your child may:

• Read with Mrs. McFadyen/ Mrs. Shioshita to briefly check comprehension and vocabulary.

•  Return a book, exchange a book or make adjustments.

If your child has finished the book and would like another, it will be important to bring the book and completed workbook with them.

Students in preprimers, who have finished a book, should be prepared to read all vocabulary words at the back of the book.

We hope this will provide an opportunity for parents and children to connect with school during the summer and to meet the needs of students around their summer reading. Please call the office (480.963.2313) and leave a message prior to the day to let us know you would like to stop by.  Scheduled dates and times are:  Thursday, June 16th; Tuesday, July 12th and Thursday, August 4th; from 9 am – 12 noon.

Happy Reading!!!

RELAY FOR LIFE

Last weekend thirty-eight participants from New Vistas School gathered at Basha High School's track field, pitched their tents on the infield, and began an all-night relay race to raise dollars for the American Cancer Society.  Their early goal was to raise a modest $1000.  By the day of the event, the team raised nearly six times that amount earning them a gold medal for Chandler team participants.

Team captains, both teachers at New Vistas, Dawnmarie Shipley and Stacey Trepanier, led their team to victory inspired by one of their own student's courageous testimony about her mother's bout with cancer this year.  Sixth grader, Hayley Benson, who now hopes to one day to become an oncologist, says that "If we find a cure for cancer it means celebrating more birthdays."  "Such a happy event for such a serious cause." says Trepanier, herself a cancer survivor who makes her participation an annual event.   "I was so proud to have been their teacher-sponsor team captain.  The respect, energy, responsibility, creativity, good sportsmanship, and support could not have been choreographed better."

The Relay opened with the Survivors Lap where survivors led the way around the track while being honored and applauded by all participants.  Being a part of the Survivors Lap allowed survivors to celebrate what they overcame while inspiring and motivating those in attendance to fight on for a cure.

One of the most moving parts of the Relay for Life was the Luminaria Ceremony.  Timed with the setting sun, luminaire lit; each bag bearing the name of someone who battled cancer.   Some present celebrated cancer survivors they know, while others honor loved ones who lost their battle with the disease.  All represented someone special affected by cancer and the family and friends who continue to fight back in their honor.

Team New Vistas chose a "'60's" theme with the children wearing tie-dyed shirts bearing the words:  "Love, Peace, and A Cure."   They gathered at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon and completed their laps at 6 a.m. Sunday morning.  At 4 a.m., sixth grader Aryasp Nejat said "It was hard to stay awake but we put our heads together and created themes for a lot of the laps...like the crazy hats lap, the bubble wrap lap, duct tape lap, teddy bear lap, snuggy lap.  It was really fun." 

DISNEY ... HERE WE COME!

On May 10^th, New Vistas Sixth Graders traveled to Disneyland in Anaheim, California to undergo Leadership Training with their acclaimed Youth Education Series:  The Pursuit of Excellence:  Leadership in Action.

The Disney Youth Education Series programs are accredited by Northwest Association of Accredited Schools who have established a list of core Academic National Standards for the program.  Each student was coached on the same character and leadership traits exhibited in the life of Walt Disney himself.   Disney credited these life lessons, instilled in him as a child, as the catalysts for his own success.

The students were then given a project to be completed on site utilizing concepts of teamwork, creativity, innovation, problem solving, analytics, persistence, courage, trust, and focus on the final goal.
Upon completion of the course each individual student learned to understand their own personal leadership strengths and weaknesses and how they could best apply them to a team setting.  They learned that although they come from diverse backgrounds and experiences there is power in their differences when building effective teams.  Respect was a key component in all activities.  The students learned that "goal setting" and "accomplishing goals" are vastly different and more easily achieved when ideas are brainstormed and each idea weighed carefully for efficiency, thoroughness and excellence.

Way to go!!!  We are so proud of you.

ANIMALS, FUN, CLASSMATES AND SUN

Field trips are so much fun and what better way to have fun than to go visit the Phoenix Zoo during our fabulous weather with your classmates, teachers and many dedicated moms! 

Our first grade classes did just that.  The students had an assignment coming due to write a report about an animal of their choice.  They were watchful to find their animal throughout the zoo as they completed an Amazing Animal tour and visited all the zoo exhibits. 

As you can see, the students really enjoyed themselves.

STATE SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS

We are so very proud of all the hard work our students put forth for the Arizona State Science Fair!  These hard-working students earned 23 Medals!!!

FIRST PLACE WINNERS!
Front Row: Aryasp, Anika, Sarah Jayne
Back Row:  Safiyah, Mia, Michael, Alicia

First Place Winners:  Alicia, Michael, Safiyah, Sarah Jayne, Anika, Mia and Aryasp
Second Place Winners:  Kira, Liam, Barin, Marwan and Vika
Third Place Winners:  Alexis, Nayah, Sarah, Zachary, Aditya, Hayley, Thomas and Pooja
Fourth Place Winners:  Mira, Mona and Caleb

EMILY'S STORY

Joseph Nseir, Trevor Burgoyne, and Runali Hatalkar

New Vistas 2nd & 4th Grade Students Adopt Entire US Marine Platoon in Afghanistan

Even though 2nd Lt. Emily Lyren is far away from home this year, she and her 40 man US Marine Platoon will not be forgotten.  New Vistas Center for Education 2nd and 4th grade students have adopted Emily and her entire platoon stationed in Afghanistan.  Forty-six students in all will be sending frequent care packages, letters, and gifts to ease the strain of a 6 month deployment to distant combat zones.

The New Vistas 2nd and 4th graders are students of mathematics teacher, Andrea Pearson and daughter, Mandy Pearson, a longtime friend of Emily's.  Andrea states:  "These soldiers often work 18 hour days in grueling heat at a remote combat post where personal time is in short supply.  So imagine a soldier during “mail call” hearing his or her name called out, and being able to physically hold something from “home” that instantly takes them away from the harshness of their surroundings, even if it’s only for a few minutes."  




Dhruv Khatri and Karan Bhullar

 

SCHOOL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING FAIR WINNERS


We are so happy to announce our school winners for the 2011 New Vistas Center for Education Science and Engineering Fair!

First Place: Vika Laloudakis

Second Place: Thomas Duke

Third Place: Pranav Konuru



Pranav Konuru, Thomas Duke, Mrs. Shipley and Vika Loloudakis



SCIENCE FAIR

The 4th, 5th and 6th grade students at New Vistas worked very hard on their Science Projects and that hard work was evident! 

Students, teachers, staff and parents had the opportunity to view these science display boards on Thursday, March 10th. 

Winners information will be posted in the April newsletter!

SEUSSVILLE

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on March 2, 1904.   He attended Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and Oxford in England. 

At the time of his death on September 24, 1991, Ted had written and illustrated 44 children's books, including such all-time favorites as Green Eggs and Ham, Oh, the Places You'll Go, Fox in Socks and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His books have been translated into more than 15 languages. 

Over 200 million copies had found their way into homes and hearts around the
world.

Many of the younger classes at New Vistas participated in Read Across America 2011 and celebrated the 'would be' 107th birthday of Dr. Seuss!

Mrs. McSweeney and Mrs. Castine dressed for the occasion.

BON APPETITE

Each month the students at New Vistas have the opportunity to study a different country, learning that country's greetings, customs, geography and much more. 

There has been much joy in Mrs. McSweeney's All Day Preschool class as they have begun their segment about France this March and food was the lesson on Friday. 

French cuisine is exquisite and famous worldwide.  You can experience dishes prepared with subtle flavors to very bold flavors. From complicated recipes to the most simplistic. And French food is pretty food. Even when the meal is simple, it is elegantly presented.

Our students had the opportunity to experience a French picnic enjoying their meal in Arizona's wonderful March weather sitting in our grassy area, listening to the birds chirping and the slight rustling of leaves. Their meal was a simple dish of various cheeses, French baguettes, luscious grapes, crisp apples and sparkling white grape juice.

Merci (pronounced as mare-see) to all our well behaved diners!

PULL FOR RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE

Students in Mrs. Pearson and Mrs. Holmes’ third grade class are collecting pull tabs to support Ronald McDonald House Charities.  The recycled beverage tabs support our local Ronald McDonald House, a temporary ‘home away from home’ for the families of seriously ill children being treated at nearby hospitals. 

On Fridays, students collect all the tabs that have been donated to classrooms throughout NV, sort, and record their new totals. Students are collating numbers, using calculators and making projections. As of the date of this writing, they are approaching 10,000!  Thank-you students and teachers for supporting such a worthwhile cause. 

Students are happily accepting donations!

WALK FOR WATER SAFETY

The New Vistas Girl's Service Club is joining forces with the Cardon Children's Medical Center for the "Walk for Water Safety".  Our service oriented young ladies assisted with the assembly of bracelets and gift bags full of life saving information for local Chandler families.  Way to go girls!!

BE MY VALENTINE

Valentine's Day is a favorite to the young and the young at heart!  Our students and teachers are no exception.  Mrs. Randall and Mrs. Devine's 3rd grade class created Valentine's for their parents.  They wrote letters to their parents, using their best handwriting and good grammar, adding lots of love with the decorations.

Our pictures show the students hard at work writing and decorating with beautiful results.

QUIET AWARDS

Mrs. Peterson, one of our reading teachers and Rizograph professional, has always appreciated when students walk through our school hallways and the office area in a quiet and orderly manner.  When she witnesses this she gives out 'Quiet Awards' to those deserving students.

Mrs. Beckman's first grade class has been so successful with receiving these 'Quiet Awards' from Mrs. Peterson, that their classroom window was full!  Mrs. Beckman asked herself, "How can we reward the students for their excellent choices and behavior?"  A fun and easy answer - a Friday Pizza Party! 

On Friday, February 11th Mrs. Beckman supplied pizza for all of her students!  What a wonderful treat.  Here is a picture of all the students holding their 'Quiet Awards'.

Now that you can see through the window again, the students are working hard to see if they can fill it during the second semester of school.

BEAR ESSENTIAL NEWS REPORTER

Congratulations to Anika Banister, one of our 5th Graders, who was invited by Bear Essential News to interview author Janette Rallison! 

The interview has been published in the February issue and you can read her article on page 17.

100, 100, 100

Math is a big portion of early education at New Vistas.  One event the teachers and students always enjoy is our 100th Day of School. 

Students in Mrs. McSweeney's All Day Preschool class decorated t-shirts with 100 painted dots, colored their 100 day headbands and made Fruit Loop necklaces made with ... you guessed it ... 100 Fruit Loops!

Great job!!



Mrs. Esposito's 3-Day morning class decorated their crowns with '100' dots and then enjoyed showing them off for all to see!   I think that this sweet little girl had 100 dots on her jacket too!

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR

On Thursday, February 3rd many of our students were celebrating the Lunar New Year.  We have just entered the Year of the Rabbit! 

Students enjoy dressing in traditional clothing and here are some beautiful examples! 

Thank you ladies.

CHESS ROCKS

We are so proud of our New Vistas Chess Club and all the beautiful trophies they have won.  It's a math lesson just to count them all.  Enjoy the pictures!!!!

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.