Volume 27, Issue 2 • March 2016
Published by the Falk School PTO
In this Issue
Admissions Notes.............................................2
Talent Show......................................................2
Primary News ..................................................3
Intermediate News............................................3
Library News....................................................5
From the Art Studio..........................................8
Music Notes.....................................................9
Spotlight On Faculty.......................................10
Middle School News.......................................11
Spanish News................................................12
From the PTO President
Dear Falk Families,
I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break;
hopefully everyone enjoyed the unusually warm
temperatures and got some time to relax.
The other PTO officers and I have been putting a
great deal of thought into how the PTO can be a
viable, useful part of the Falk community. There are
some big changes that will be occurring in the focus
of our organization.
Dates to
Remember
4/15-21Library
Book Fair
4/21 Talent Show
4/22 Passover –
School Holiday
4/28 Intermediate
and Middle School
Spring Concert
5/9-12
7th & 8th Grade
Musical Into the
Woods
5/13 Falk Spring
Carnival (date is
tentative)
6/1 Schoolwide
Silent Read-In
At the fore, the funding of field trips and other
curriculum-enhancing activities will now be
coming from the school. These activities
were by far the biggest piece of our
expense and are really something
that the school, not the PTO
should have governance over.
Not all requests for speakers
and trips come to the PTO
for funding, and as a result
there has been some false
assumptions that the PTO
actively decides not to fund
certain things. The nature of
these speakers and trips is to
dovetail with curriculum and the
decision is that of the teachers and
administration at Falk. Additionally,
over the past two years, the PTO has
made great efforts to bring back the role of the
Falk Fund, which is there to fund projects that will
aid the school.
Next year we will be able to reduce PTO dues with
this clarity in our funding. This will take our focus
away from constant requests for dues and towards
a positive focus on action. Once our budget is less
strained we look to return to the central purpose of
the PTO: creating schoolwide community gatherings (such as the beginning of the year, end of the
year, and multicultural picnics), supporting community enrichment groups (such as the diversity
and inclusion or the learning diversity groups),
appreciating students and teachers (through end of
season team parties, teacher breakfast, and more),
and organizing schoolwide activities (movie nights,
carnival, fair trade holiday gift shop, talent show,
and more). If you envision something that fits into
these categories, speak up and make it happen!
Our recent survey has shown that while the parent
body wants the PTO to continue sponsoring events,
very few people have the ability or interest in volunteering their time. I would like to encourage any
and all to take an active part in the PTO, whether
it be for actual committee positions next year, to
volunteer for individual events, or to provide ideas
at a meeting. Being a part of your child’s school in
this way offers a sense of community, an
opportunity for input, and allows you to
interact with other parents beyond
those in your child’s class.
Specifically we have our Spring
Carnival coming up which is
open to being re-imagined or
simply aided by volunteers.
Looking ahead, we are currently looking for several
officer positions to be filled
for next year’s roster:
Vice-President - This person
organizes our town halls and
helps to highlight ‘agenda’ issues
as part of the Executive Committee
team. They will then become President
the following year (Tina Tesore will be next
year’s president).
Secretary - This person aids dialogue between
the PTO and the parent body. Ann Gaul, our
exiting Secretary, has made great strides in
setting up a new system for getting feedback
through surveys so we can hear from those who
can’t make it to meetings. The future Secretary
can continue to improve how parents receive and
give information and views.
FalkTalk editors - These positions are an
excellent way to foster communication within the
whole school and encourage participation from
parents and teachers alike. Multiple people can
serve in this role to create the layout (1-2 people)
continued on page 2
From the PTO President, continued
Admissions Notes
A New Kindergarten on the Way!
We couldn’t be more excited about our
kindergarten class of 2016! Once again, we are
fortunate to have an amazing and wonderfully
diverse group of families joining us, including
several younger members of our current
families. Be sure to extend a warm welcome
to them all.
and collect, organize, and edit contributions
(1-2 people). FalkTalk is open to being reinvented as our school grows.
Members of a new Budget and Planning
Committee - They will help the Treasurer
make decisions about raising and spending
funds. Our treasurer Mike Steich has put in
some time to streamline our banking system
for smoother collection and distribution of funds
so the focus can be on what we are funding,
not the other way around!
Holding one of these positions offers you the
chance for real input and the implementation of
new ideas. I encourage you to ask more about
the nature of these positions and see yourself
contributing. Please email me with any questions
at annebrownleefisher@gmail.com. The PTO
looks forward to hearing from you!
Anne Brownlee-Fisher
PTO President
Referrals for Occasional Openings
Occasionally members of our community move away, take sabbaticals, or seek
other educational opportunities. The Admissions team works hard to fill those
openings with families that value our mission and philosophy. That is why we
welcome referrals from you
Welcoming New Families
We are looking for parents in all grades to be a contact person for new families.
Please email the admissions office at falkinfo@pitt.edu if you are interested.
We will put you in touch with a Falk parent who has graciously volunteered to
be a coordinator for us. We also welcome your ideas about events in addition to
Spring Carnival where we could host our new families.
2016 Falk School Talent Show!
If you are interested in performing in this year’s Talent Show or otherwise
participating as a card/poster carrier, stage crew member or parent volunteer
please don’t forget to register on or before Thursday, April 7, 2016!
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Day of the Show: The Talent Show will be held on Thursday, April 21,
2016. The all-day school-wide performance will begin at 9:15 a.m. in the
gym. Parents of students are welcome to attend, but the gym will be crowded
as all students, faculty and staff will be together at that time. Also, please
keep in mind that nearby parking during the day is extremely limited.
2. Limit on number of performances: Each student performer will be
limited to one act, either individually or with a group; provided, however, that
a student may participate in any number of teacher-led group acts, such as
Band, Chorus, brass sectional, a class performance, etc.
3. Time limits: Performers must limit their performance time to 3 minutes
and 30 seconds or less. This time limit applies regardless of how many
performers are involved. Time will be tight, so we have to work together to
pace things and give everyone a chance to perform.
4. Registration Form: Each performer must register in one of the following
ways: (i) register online at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hc-LHLVDD_
Iwrwq8dGytV6Xnm4pSg6nI7xhI-3mso2Y/viewform; (ii) send a PDF copy of a
completed registration form to Ms. Rothstein and Ms. Walker via email, or (iii)
turn in a completed registration form to the front desk as soon as possible.
Those wishing to serve as card carriers or members of the stage crew (must
be in 6th grade or above) are also asked to complete and submit a registration form. If you are interested in performing but haven’t worked out the
details of your act, please go ahead and submit a registration form as
soon as possible to reserve a spot. Space is likely to be limited, and it is
easier to remove acts from the schedule than to add them.
2
If you have any questions please contact the Talent Show Coordinators,
Kate Rothstein (rothsteinkate@gmail.com) and Deborah Walker
(dlwalker23@yahoo.com
Intermediate News
Primary News
We cannot believe Spring
Break is already upon us! This
school year has been moving
along so quickly. Here are a
few highlights from the past
few months.
In kindergarten the children
have had a busy start to
2016! January was an exciting
month as we welcomed two
Korean student teachers into
our classrooms. The children
truly enjoyed this experience
as they learned about Korean
culture and traditions through
stories, art projects and games.
In February we were excited
to celebrate the 100th day of
school! The children had a lot
of fun exploring the number 100 in a variety of ways. March began
with Wacky Wednesday in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The children
and teachers had a lot of fun being “wacky” and drawing one another
in our special outfits. We look forward to the warm weather and spring
activities that are coming up in the last few months of school.
In first grade, Mr. Goodwin’s class has been learning how to sew by
creating embroidered versions of the different classroom numbers
throughout the school. This is the beginning of a more in depth Social
Studies project to have the kids better understand the community of
Falk. We also created our own math problems using objects in the
classroom to tell stories that included equations to solve. We then
filmed these story problems and created a math video. The kids are
also finishing up their Animal Unit in Science by creating a display
that explores the different animal types and the traits that they have
in common or not in common. In Ms. Wright’s class the children
have been exploring Shakespeare’s The Tempest. They put a lot of
hard work into their performance and were very excited to have their
chance to shine on stage.
Second grade has been collaborating with Mr. Wagner using
ScratchJr. The goal of this collaboration is to get the students to
explore algorithmic thinking. First, the students experimented with
ScratchJr to get familiar with the interface and the different drag
drop programming blocks. When the students had a conceptual
understanding of the blocks they then went “unplugged.” Students
started to program using print programming blocks to move in the
real world. Once they mastered the movement blocks they then used
the ScratchJr application to have a sprite navigate to different parts
of Oakland using a map of Oakland as the background. The
students are currently learning how to send and
receive messages to different sprites
to get them to interact in a
logical sequence. Without
these send and receive messages all of the sprites would
run their program at the same
time. Over the next couple of
months second graders will be
creating storyboards and using
ScratchJr to make their stories
come to life.
Third Grade
This week in buddy read we read books that related
to black history month. We read books by African
American authors. Our buddies are in kindergarten.
After we finished the book with our buddies we
decorated bookmarks. On the back of the bookmark
we drew our favorite part from the book. Everybody
had different stories so everybody had a different
picture. They all looked great!
- Nikhil Saxena and Natalie Conwell
On March 2, 2016 third grade took a field trip to
the Andy Warhol Museum and we saw very cool
paintings. Andy Warhol’s real name was Andrew
Warhola. He changed it because someone misspelled his name and he thought that would be an
easier name to say as a famous artist. We also went
in a room with helium balloons that were silver. They
were silver because Andy Warhol’s favorite color
was silver. He wanted a room of silver floating lights
but he found that big silver balloons worked just as
well with lights shining down on them. We also saw
couch sculptures that were cut and had parachutes
on them. We were there for two hours and it was the
best experience ever!
- Nora Coen-Pirani and Emily Tea
In Science we have been studying insects. We’ve
been looking at insects and observing them, sketching them, and reading about insects in our backyard
and the woods. We have also learned a lot about
the anatomy of insects. The abdomen is the biggest
part of the body. The thorax is in the middle of the
head and the abdomen. We have been talking about
where different insects go in the winter when it’s cold.
Some insects hibernate and find shelter but some
others migrate to somewhere warmer. We are going
to do some more observations of insects close up
soon!
- Andrew Merchant and Otto Wagner
Fourth Grade
This year the 4th grade has been working on fairy
houses in Art class. The first thing 4th graders did
was collect materials like bark, moss, sticks and
other natural materials. Then we made the main
structure out of cardboard. We weren’t allowed to
make more than two floors or it would fall over.
A couple days we took a break one day we
built furniture with saws. Another day we made
imaginary fairy maps that had real life things,
but we changed it into something magical. And
right now we are in the middle of decorating
the houses.
- Cora Myers
continued on page 4
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Volume 27, Issue 2
Intermediate News, continued
In 4th grade we are making fairy homes in
Art. We get to make ladders and zip lines.
We get to use real outside materials. We
are even making the fairies to live in our
fairy home! We got to cut our own wood.
This is a fun project and you could make
your own!
- Jessica Hunt
In Math in 4th grade we are working on A
LOT of fractions!!! We work on decimals
and the similarities of decimals and
fractions. Everybody in my class looks
forward to the next day of math to see
what we will learn next.
- Caroline Atteberry
Most kids from 4th grade play four square
at recess. We like to play four square
because it is really fun. We hit the ball
really hard to get people out. We form
nice lines. If we get out, we get out, but it’s
the most fun to be king.
- Reuben Mayer
Our music teacher Mr. Scheller is teaching us a lot of fun songs and rhythms!
Recently we learned an exciting game
where you and a partner have to quickly
repeat a hand-rhythm and then double it
each time you do it! Another game that
fourth grade enjoys is a game called
‘So-la-mi.’ In this game the teacher will
sing different music notes, but if the
teacher says “So-la-mi” and you repeat
it, the teacher gets a point. If you do not
repeat it, then you get a point! We also
learned a very fun song about a “Rare
Bog” and all the many things placed on
top of it! (There was an elephant on top of
an amoeba!) Music is definitely one of my
favorite classes!
- Simon Nigam
In Science the fourth
grade classes do
robotics. In robotics, we
build Lego robots and
program them to do cool
things using the Lego
Mindstorms program. At
the end of the unit, we
do a final project that we
present to parents and
other students. I think
we do robotics to help
us work better with other
4
people and to learn about programming
robots.
- Julia Sayette
The students in room 121 are currently
working on the robotics unit. They were
tickled to discover letters of advice from
previous robot-programmers, some of
which were their older siblings!
Fifth Grade
In Science we are doing a unit called
forensic science. We have been looking
at fingerprints, analyzing handwriting, and
looking at pictures and trying to remember
what we see. For fingerprints, we were
trying to figure out what formulas we had
on each hand. Then we tried to figure out
a riddle about who robbed the bank safe.
We did the riddle by listening to Ms. D call
out what types fingerprint patterns were
found on the safe. For example, “The
culprit has an arch pattern on their pointer
finger.” After learning about analyzing
handwriting, we tried to figure out which
signatures Ms. D wrote and which ones
other teachers had written. It is really fun
to see what you can figure out through
careful observation.
- Hannah Malkin
In Math we are learning about fractions.
We learned how to find a common
denominator and find out whether fractions are equal or not. Then we covered
adding and subtracting fractions. After
Spring Break we will be learning multiplying and dividing fractions. For homework,
we’ve been doing fraction puzzles to help
us practice the skills we’ve learned in class.
--Evan Dine and Elena Mazariegos
In reading class, we just
finished our group novel, The Devil’s
Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen. We wrote “I
Am” poems as a final project. Now we
are about to start our book report. We will
read our book of choice (no more than
180 pages) over the spring break. When
we come back, we will have to draft and
finalize 7 parts of the report. We will
workshop our drafts and revise them into
finals along the way. Our report should
be completed by March 29. This report is
to be our test on how we handle our time
with long-term projects as well as writing
books.
- Alexis Alarcon
In Social Studies we recently finished our
state brochures. We made a brochure
about the state that we got. We had to
include some things like notable people,
landmarks, a map of our state, the state
flag and the state symbols. Now we are
doing explorers. In Explorers we are
learning about famous explorers. We are
mostly focused on the Age of Exploration
and explorers from Europe. Some explorers that we have learned about so far are
Erik the Red, Leif Eriksson and Marco
Polo. I really enjoyed the state brochures
and the explorers are very interesting.
- Alex Hauskrecht
Library News
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE LIBRARY
The Library continues to be a hive of activity. It is a frequent
destination for Middle School students who are in Study Hall.
Students use the space to work collaboratively on projects,
in both digital and analog media, and they work on long- and
short-term classroom assignments. Intermediate students drop
in frequently to return and check out books, read in a cozy corner,
or log into Destiny Quest (see below). After School continues
to use the Library as a place where students can do homework,
and we have enjoyed seeing many students use the information
literacy skills that we have taught or use the chairs and their
sweaters to create forts between the bookcases where they can
work and read.
As in previous years at this time of year, we introduce to third
graders Destiny Quest, which is the social networking feature
of our online catalog. In addition to the regular search functions, students can use the program to recommend and discuss
books. Initially, we limit the number of friend requests they
can send to each other so that everyone has an opportunity to
do so. However, in part because they are so excited to make
virtual friends and in part because they don’t understand how the
system works, they want to know why they can’t make more than
two friend requests. This year in an attempt to help them understand our reasoning and to give them an opportunity to send
an additional friend request before we open it up, we assigned
the following math problem: If there are 44 third graders in Falk
School and all of them are friends with each other, how many
friendships are there? Four third graders were able to solve it,
and one student was able to solve an additional problem involving 400 Falk students. The following week, Mr. Yalch and Mr.
Outerbridge were invited into the third grade classrooms as guest
mathematicians to explore the problem further.
The 7th graders have been exploring one of our databases EBSCO’s Point of View. Specifically, they looked at both sides
of the question: should cell phones be banned in schools? They
identified facts and opinions on each side of the debate as well
as explored words and phrases that signal whether or not a
statement is presented as a fact or an opinion. In addition, they
searched for more recent research that would support either
argument and used a skill known to historians as sourcing, which
involves, among other things, learning about the author’s expertise and knowledge of the subject, who the intended audience
is, what the purpose of the article is, and, if an argument is being
made, what evidence is being used to support it.
SPRING READING
INITIATIVE: GET READING
@ YOUR LIBRARY
April & May
Special literacy events are planned
in April and May to celebrate
“School Library Month” (April) and
the joy of reading. These include
Book Badges, Reading Chain,
Library Book Fair, and the All
School Read-In. Later this month
families will receive by mail information about these
events as well as a “starter” set of book badges for recording
home reading.
• Book Badges: From April 1 until May 31, students, parents,
teachers, interns, staff, and family members are encouraged
to fill out a Book Badge for each book they read or that is read
to them. Envelopes for collecting Book Badges are in the K-5
homerooms, the Library, and other locations around the school.
Additional Book Badges are available in the same places. Note:
unpaged books usually have 32 pages.
• Page Tally: We will keep track of the cumulative total pages
that the Falk School community has read and display the total
each day in the Library and outside the school office.
• Book Badge Display: The completed Book Badges will be
attached and hung about the Library in a Reading Chain. The
display will be moved to the gym during the Read-In (see below),
when the community’s total page count will be announced.
• The Library Book Fair: This year’s theme is “Feeling Groovy!”
The Fair will take place April 15-21 in the Library (see below.)
• Read-In: A school wide Silent Sustained Read-In will be held
Wednesday, June 1 at 9:30 a.m. in the school gym. The total
number of books read and the total number of pages read represented by the Reading Chain will be announced at the Read-In.
The entire Falk School Community is invited to join in sustained
silent reading for twenty minutes. Parents are encouraged to
attend. Details will follow.
We will appreciate your support of these activities. Information is
available on the Library website at http://www.falkschool.pitt.edu/
library-pages/spring-reading-initiative-april-may. The Reading
Initiative activities begin April 1 and continue through May.
WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL OF
TEACHERS OF ENGLISH FESTIVAL
Each year WPCTE hosts two English festivals: one for grades
4-6, and one for grades 7-12. For the first time Falk is sending
teams to participate in this event. Students in grades 4 – 8 were
given information about these festivals, and 19 students signed
up. We will have 3 teams going to Seton-LaSalle High School
on Friday April 28 for the 4-6 Festival, and one team going to
Duquesne University on Thursday May 5 for the 7-12 Festival.
Ms. Williams is coordinating this effort and meeting with the
students once a month to prepare for their participation. We are
very excited about this special event!
continued on page 6
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Volume 27, Issue 2
Library News, continued
Birthday/Gift Book Program
The Library and the PTO coordinate the program
as a means of expanding the library collection
while commemorating special events and special
persons: birthdays, holidays, grandparents, teachers,
preservice teachers, and friends. An appropriate
bookplate is placed in each book. All Falk students,
teachers, preservice teachers, and staff benefit from
the continuous updating of the collection.
In November families received in the mail a letter
inviting them to participate, a donation form, and
a book list. Students and adults can also come to
the Library to browse books and complete an order
form. Donations can be made at any time. Keep in
mind the dollar amount for each book is a suggested
donation. This information is also available on the
Library website at http://www.falkschool.pitt.edu/
library-pages/about/Gift-book-program.
Cindy Tipper and Sarah Delano coordinate this
program with Ms. Williams. If you have any questions
about the Gift Book Program, contact Ms. Williams
(412-624-8516 or lwilliam@pitt.edu).
LIBRARY GIFTS
We would like to acknowledge those who have
donated books:
Phyllis Scherrer, Life Upon These Shores: Looking
at African American History 1513-2008 by Henry
Louis Gates, Jr., September 2015
Kaitlyn Nace, Courage for Beginners by Karen
Harrington and Waiting for the Magic by Patricia
MacLachlan in honor of her birthday, November 2015
Austin He, Fifty Cents and a Dream: Young Booker
T. Washington by Jabar Asim in honor of his birthday,
November 2015
Phoebe Siebold, The Bear’s Surprise by Benjamin
Chaud and Jaguars by Arnold Ringstad, November
2015
Sophie Filipink-Smith, Bear Sees Colors by Karma
Wilson in honor of Dila Hafalir, November 2015
Nora Coen-Pirani, The Last of the Really Great
Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards and Hero
Story Collection in honor of her birthday, October
2015
Pablo Coen-Pirani, Tesla’s Attic by Neal
Shusterman in honor of his birthday, February 2015
Charlie Gomulka, Greek Soldiers by Alex Stewart in
honor of his birthday, July 2015
Harry Leibovich, The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris
Grabenstein, The 12 Biggest Breakthroughs in
Medicine by M. M. Eboch, and Crime Lab Detectives
by John Townsend, November 2015
6
Olivia Leibovich, The Thickety: The Whispering
Trees by J.A. White, Brown Girl Dreaming by
Jacqueline Woodson, and The Alchemyst: The
Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael
Scott, November 2015
Evelyn Tipper, The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy
Holczer, December 2015
Daevan Mangalmurti, Muhammad by Demi,
December 2015
Mary Marinch, Big Book of Girl Stuff by Gibbs Smith
and Igniting a Passion for Reading by Steven L.
Layne, November 2015
Laurie Williams, The Nest by Kenneth Opel, All the
Answers by Kate Messner, and The Girl of Fire and
Thorns by Rae Carson, November 2015
Benoni Outerbridge, Sun Mother Wakes the World:
An Australian Creation Story adapted by Diane
Wolkstein, December 2015
Teadora, Berach, and Alberto Gildengers, On a
Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein by Jennifer
Berne in honor of Grandma, Alisa Einwohner,
December 2015
Zachary Shriber, Circle, Square, Moose by Kelly
Bingham in honor of his birthday, December 2015
Ayaka Hayashi, 12 Things to Know about Climate
Change by Jamie Kallio in honor of her birthday,
December 2015
Siming Tang, Honey by Sarah Weeks in honor of
Alice Tang, December 2015
Luke Pena, Counting Change by Bridget Heos in
honor of Ms O’Brien, January 2016
Deniz Finkel, God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant in
honor of his birthday, July 2015
Naomi Buklad and Michael Brenner, Alien
Abductions by Ray McClellan in honor of Luca
Brenner’s birthday, January 2016 and Hook’s
Revenge by Heidi Shulz in honor of Camille
Brenner’s birthday, February 2016
Lucia Lazzara-Goodrich, Amulet Book Seven:
Firelight by Kazu Kibuishi
Deep Dhaliwal, The
Monk Who Sold His
Ferrari: A Fable About
Fulfilling Your Dreams
and Reaching Your
Destiny by Robin S.
Sharma
Phoebe Tsagaris
and Family, miscellaneous hardcover and
paperback books,
December 2015
Library News, continued
PYRCA
Grades 3-6
On April 7, we will
begin collecting
student votes for the
Pennsylvania Young
Readers Choice
Awards. The winning
books are announced
at the Pennsylvania
School Librarian
Association conference in May, and the
authors and illustrators of the winning
books are always
thrilled to learn that
young readers across
the Commonwealth
have chosen their
books. For kindergarten through 2nd
grade, we have used
our read-aloud time
to read appropriate
PYRCA books so
that all Primary Level
students will be
eligible to vote. For
grades 3-8, it is up to
individual students
to read at least three
books in a category
to be eligible to vote.
If your child is looking
for something to read
between now and
April 13 when we
submit Falk’s votes,
the following are this
year’s nominees:
Armstrong, K. L. & M. A. Marr
Loki’s Wolves
Little, Brown and Company
Bell, Cece
El Deafo
Amulet Books
Burns, Loree Griffin
Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey
Millbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Books
Engle, Margarita
Henry Holt and Company
Mountain Dog
Isaacs, Anne
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
Lord, Cynthia
Half a Chance
Scholastic, Inc.
Martin, Ann M.
Rain Reign
Feiwel & Friends
Mass, Wendy & Michael Brawer Space Taxi: Archie Takes Flight
Little, Brown and Company
Ringwald, Whitaker
The Secret Box
Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
Scieszka, Jon
Amulet Books
Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor
Segel, Jason & Kirsten Miller
Nightmares!
Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books Sidman, Joyce
Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Skerry, Brian with Kathleen
Weidner Zoehfeld
The Whale Who Won Hearts: And More
True Stories of Adventures with Animals
National Geographic
Sutherland, Tui T. & Kari H. The Menagerie
HarperCollins
Woods, Brenda
The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond
Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Group USA
Grades 6-8
Alexander, Kwame
The Crossover
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Auxier, Jonathan
The Night Gardener
Amulet Books
Bausum, Ann
Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of
World War I’s Bravest Dog
National Geographic
Bracken, Beth & Kay Fraser
Wish
Capstone Books
Bradley, F. T.
Double Vision: Code Name 711
HarperCollins
Gephart, Donna
Death by Toilet Paper
Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
Haskell, Merrie
The Castle Behind Thorns
Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins
Holm, Jennifer L.
The Fourteenth Goldfish
Random House Books for Young Readers
Hurwitz, Michele Weber
The Summer I Saved the World...in 65 Days
Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
Milford, Kate
Greenglass House
Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pelletier, Cathie
The Summer Experiment
Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Philbrick, Rodman
Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina
Scholastic, Inc.
Schrefer, Eliot
Threatened
Scholastic, Inc.
Snyder, Maria V.
Storm Watcher
Leap Books, LLC
Stone, Tanya Lee
Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the
Candlewick Press
Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers
7
Volume 27, Issue 2
From the Art Studio
Kindergarten students.
Kindergarten has
been investigating the
theme of darkness and
nighttime in connection with their current
classroom study of light
and shadow. They have
woven dreamcatchers
to catch their dreams
and have designed an
illuminated lantern with
drawn images of what
makes them feel safe to
place in their bedrooms
at night. In project time,
Room 25 has been exploring animal life underground and Room 27 is getting ready to explore
woodworking. Room 25’s dreamcatchers and
Room 27’s lanterns are on display outside of
their classrooms
First grade. First grade has been investigating
“How do we make sense of the unknown?” and
“Does life exist in outer space?” In capturing
their impressions, ideas and predictions about
outer space, they have painted outer space
backdrops and have constructed glow-in-thedark transformer aliens. Now they are drawing
outer space comics and narrating stories about
their aliens. Some of their aliens and backdrops
are on display this month in the front foyer.
In our acoustic art collaboration, the children
have been creating alien sounds and languages
for their creatures. Currently on display in the
front foyer is the documentation of a recent
acoustic art exploration—“Jar Express.” The
children have been exploring pitch, rhythm,
and a shared notation. Please come by and
play some of their compositions as well as
create one of your own.
Top left: Liam models a
sea creature from the sixth
grade’s performance of
The Tempest
Top right: Ani paints a bird
puppet for the fifth grade
show.
Right: Talia paints a
portrait in Middle School
Humanities Immersion.
Second grade. After looking at contemporary
artists’ images of what it might look like from
the perspective of being under the water/sea/
ocean, children have been investigating the
aesthetic dimension of water using colored
acetate collages and painting with colored ink on
transparencies. They have used their collages
and paintings to create an underwater diorama
to house a community of fish and sea creatures
suspended from the top of their dioramas with
wire. They will return to their squirrel homes and
families as spring approaches.
Third grade. Third grade has just returned from
visiting the Andy Warhol Museum. They studied
Andy Warhol as an artist, beginning in his
early years in elementary schools, to taking art
classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art, to studying art at CMU, and then working with silkscreen
printmaking in his NYC studio The week before
the children designed their own prints of their
pets, making connections to Warhol’s interest
in printmaking and to their current exploration
of the pets in their lives. They have sewn and
completed their pet puppets and are now ready
to create their own puppet show performances.
Fourth grade. Fourth grade has been continuing to construct their fairy homes. Recently,
after looking at maps of Winnie the Pooh world,
Narnia, Harry Potter world and Peter Pan’s
Neverland as well as fantasy maps created by
contemporary artists, they designed fantasy
fairy world maps that included their fairy home
and all the special places around it. This built
upon their current experiences of mapmaking in
their classrooms’ Social Studies investigations.
Soon they will be constructing the furniture and
accessories for their fairy homes as well as their
fairies/characters.
continued on page 9
8
From the Art Studio, continued
Fifth grade. Fifth graders are working on puppets
and headdresses to tell two folk tales at a performance on Thursday, March 24 at 9:15 AM: “Pania
of the Reef,” which is a tale from New Zealand,
and “Song of the Armadillo,” which is a Bolivian
Tale. These two performances are being created
in collaboration with Ms. Gomez in Spanish and
Ms. Sassani in Music. The artwork they make
will bring the stories to life alongside music and
narration in both Spanish and English.
Sixth grade. The sixth graders recently completed
puppets and props for their class production
of The Tempest. They will be beginning a new,
surprising project after Spring Break.
Seventh grade. Recently completed dream
bedrooms are now becoming movie sets for stopmotion animation movies through a collaborative
project with Technology teacher Mr. Wagner.
Students are currently developing the starring
characters for their movies using a wire form and
Plasticine modeling clay. Look for a screening of
these movies sometime this spring.
Music Notes
The Music and Performing Arts Department has thoroughly enjoyed many collaborative performances throughout the semester. Ms. Sassani & Mr. Scheller
would like to thank the wonderful Falk community for their never-ending
support during the following successful events..
February 4
Our 5th Grade students performed songs from all
over the world to help with a Kickstarter campaign for
an organization called Culture Clips. Falk School is a
pilot school for this program, which is aimed to help
reach youth around the world.
February 11 Middle School
Band & Chorus – “Valentines for
Vets Assembly”
Our Middle School Band & Chorus
students, along with members of
Pitt’s ROTC, performed for our
K-8 students during this special
assembly.
February 25
6th Grade & Ms. Wright’s 1st Grade performed
The Tempest
Eighth-grade. Students are wrapping up a
self-proposed project where they selected a media
they wanted to work in and an artist that inspired
them to express something about themselves. An
exhibit of this artwork will take place around the
Middle School musical. At the end of March we
will welcome artist and wood worker Linda Van
Gehuchten to begin an 8th grade legacy project.
We say goodbye and thank you to Ms. Enders
and Ms. Gold—both Penn State student teachers
for the past eight weeks. We wish them much
success in their next art-teaching placement. We
welcome for the next seven weeks starting March
14th our two new student teachers from Penn
State, Ms. McDannel and Ms. Osborne.
“Culture Clips” at the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum
Bravo to our wonderful Falk Shakespearean actors for
two outstanding performances!
March 24 5th Grade
Puppet Performance
This year’s performance will
feature “Pania of the Reef,”
a Maori Folk Tale from New
Zealand, and “La música del armadillo” from Bolivia.
Ms. Capezzuti
Upcoming Music Events
Dr. Armstrong
April 28 Intermediate & Middle School Spring Concert
Featuring the Intermediate Band & Chorus, the Middle School Concert Band
and Chorus, the Middle School String Ensemble and Middle School Jazz Band.
April 30 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association’s District Band
Congratulations to our three Falk students, Silas Switzer, Abby Miller-Peterson
and Natalie Floreancig, who have been selected to perform at Baldwin High
School in April with select students from all over District 1 West.
May 12 – 15 “Into the Woods”
Annual 7th & 8th Grade Musical
May 19 Kindergarten and 3rd Grade Buddy Performance
9
Volume 27, Issue 2
Spotlight on Faculty and Staff
For this issue we posed eight questions
to Adrienne Baker, Middle School Science
and Social Studies teacher, and Laura Hunt,
Athletic Director and Physical Education
teacher.
Adrienne Baker
Please tell us about your role at Falk, such as how
long have you been here, and what part of your
job brings you the most joy? 6th Grade Science
and 7th Grade Social Studies - 3rd year currently,
but was here for a 2006-2007 school year as a
permanent sub in Middle School Science.
Where did you grow up and what places have you
called home? Pittsburgh – South Hills area
From your childhood, can you recall a favorite
toy, activity, or author? My favorite activity from
childhood was entertaining myself with all kinds of
dramatic play such as school, salon and restaurant.
What do you miss about being a child? I miss
the simplicity about being a child. Waking up and
creating my own fun, running around with my
neighborhood friends, riding bikes and coming
home when the street lights came on. The world
has changed quite a bit since then; but the simple
life of imagining is still a part of me.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Being
outdoors, hiking, hunting, and fishing – playing with
my dog and enjoying nature
If you could have dinner with one famous person—
living or non-living—who would it be and what
restaurant would you go to? Mister Rogers and we
would have a picnic in Schenley Park. We would
also invite Judy Garland for conversation’s sake.
If you didn’t have this job, what would be your
dream job? Performing on Broadway or having my
own children’s show.
Finally, if you could have any superpower, what
would it be and why? The ability to time travel;
having an opportunity to meet my ancestors and
know them when they were younger. I have always
enjoyed family history and this would allow me the
chance to get all the facts. My dad always told me
my great grandparents would get a kick out of me
and how fitting to know them before they passed. n
10
Laura Hunt
Please tell us about your role at Falk, such as
how long have you been here, and what part of
your job brings you the most joy? I have been at
Falk for about 18 years. I was an intern first and
then stepped into the role of Physical Education
the following year. I love being able to create and
design unique games and activities, which allow
children to use their imaginations while exercising.
I also enjoy developing fun relationships with the
students and hearing their laughter in my classes.
Where did you grow up and what places have you
called home? I grew up all over the world, starting
in Pensacola, Florida. I am from a military family
and we lived in several places including Guam,
Panama and Alaska.
From your childhood, can you recall a favorite toy,
activity, or author? My favorite “toy” was a tree. I
loved to be outside and climb trees all day.
What do you miss about being a child? What I
miss most about being a child is climbing trees and
playing outside until the streets lights come on.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time? In my
free time I enjoy spending time with my children
and watching them grow and develop. I also love
playing with my new bulldog puppy.
If you could have dinner with one famous person—living or non-living—who would it be and
what restaurant would you go to? I would like to sit
down and eat dinner with Walt Disney and Oswald
at the Coral Reef Restaurant..
If you didn’t have this job, what would be your
dream job? I do have a great time teaching but I
also think it would be fun to have my own toy store.
I guess I am just a big kid at heart.
Finally, if you could have any superpower, what
would it be and why? It would be cool to have the
superpower to speak with animals. I often wonder
what they are thinking or how they feeling. n
Middle School News
With Ms.
Sassani,
students
learned a
Renaissance
era dance
to show the
revelry and
celebration
of one of the
scenes and
found places
to enhance
the action
with music.
6th Grade Language Arts
Students in Ms. Smith’s sixth grade Language Arts
class recently wrapped up their production of The
Tempest by William Shakespeare. The underlying
goal of the production, which emphasized process
over product, was for students to understand
Shakespeare’s language by experiencing it for
themselves as it was intended—in front of an
audience.
First, students learned the plot of the play by reading the storybook version in Ms. Sassani’s music
class and watching the recent Stratford production
of the play in Language Arts. Theater games like
“What Am I Doing?” and tableau reinforced their
connection to it.
Once students knew the story, they worked in
Language Arts to understand the text more deeply
by asking questions about the characters and
themes. In the art studio with Ms. Capezzuti,
students visualized the setting of The Tempest and
created props and sets to enhance the experience
of “playing pretend” on stage. With Ms. Sassani,
students learned a Renaissance era dance to
show the revelry and celebration of one of the
scenes and found places to enhance the action
with music. Sixth grade also shared in activities
with Ms. Wright’s first graders, who performed a
version of The Tempest. Sixth graders modeled
inflection for the first graders while the first graders’
uninhibited expression helped inform character for
sixth graders.
Finally,
students devoted themselves to memorizing their lines and experimenting
with expression, inflection, and movement to bring
their characters to life. Through the process of
preparing for the play, students’ curiosity, imagination, and insight came together.
Science
6th and 7th grade students are advancing to the
next level of the Science Fair being held at Heinz
Field on April 1st. Fifty (50) students will be attending PRSEF (Pittsburgh Regional Science and
Engineering Fair) to showcase their experiments.
7th Grade Social Studies
Students in 7th grade have been learning about
Europe and the workings of the European Union.
We had visitors from the University of Pittsburgh
moderate our mock EU in class and our students
were delegates from 28 member states. They collectively debated issues facing the real EU, such
as immigration and European expansion. Our
students enjoyed the activity and are still discussing the issues amongst themselves.
Regional Spelling Bee
7th grader Natalie Floreancig recently won the
regional 2016 Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee
and will be traveling to Washington, D.C. in May to
compete in the National Spelling Bee! The winning
word was “agonal.”
11
Volume 27, Issue 2
Spanish News
From Ms. Gomez:
5th Grade and Spanish
Heritage Language Learners
classes:
On March 24, students in
the fifth grade classroom will
perform a folk tale in Spanish
from Bolivia, and it has been a
great collaboration project. The
creation, translation, adaptation
and execution of this play ‘La
música del armadillo’ was a
joint effort by many members
of the Falk community including, Ms. Capezzuti (Art), Ms.
Sassani (Music), Ms. Gómez,
7th grader Pablo Coen-Pirani
and 6th grader Sam Llovet-Nava
and the 5th grade classes and
their teachers Ms. Dillaman
and Ms. Ridge. The Bolivian
folk tale was rewritten by Pablo
and Sam under the supervision of Ms. Gómez as part of
the curriculum of the Spanish
Heritage Language Learners
class. Pablo and Sam were
instrumental in the design of
materials, the translation of the
play and the teaching of cultural
learnings to the 5th graders. The
interdisciplinary collaboration
between the Spanish Heritage
Language Learners class, the
5th grade, Music and Art was
a challenging yet beneficial
cultural learning experience for
all. We hope that this extremely
rewarding non-English language
play performance will be
the first of many at, by
and for the Falk School
community.
Also, the fifth grade
students had the
opportunity to engage
with students from the
University of Pittsburgh
to learn about the
different dances of Latin
America. The Center for
Latin American Studies
presented “A Tour of
Latin Music and Dance.”
This lesson introduced
12
students to a
few exciting
types of Latin
music and
the dances
that accompany these
styles,
including, for
example,
Salsa,
Merengue
and Bachata. A brief description of the music, history, and
cultural significance of each
dance was given, and students
had the opportunity to watch and
perform the basic steps.
6th Grade Spanish
Students are reviewing vocabulary for our unit “What do we
like to do” and they are using
an online game based called
Kahoot to practice vocabulary
and play against each other
in real time. Students were
taking surveys using laptops
and answering questions in the
target language while seeing the
results live on the big screen.
They had tons of fun. Also, last
December Ms. Gómez was conducting a research study in the
6th grade classes with Dr. Kristin
Davin (a former Falk Spanish
teacher). The study findings will
be presented at Georgetown
University and they will also be
shared
with our students and
teachers. The study’s title is
“Teaching Grammar in a Foreign
Language Classroom:
A Concept-Based approach.”
From Ms. Fedorko:
Our 7th grade and 1st grade
students have been studying
clothing in their Spanish classes.
During the unit they read Fancy
Nancy in Spanish as a way to
learn more about clothing. As an
assessment for the clothing unit
the seventh graders expanded
their knowledge by imagining
what happened the next day
with Fancy Nancy’s family.
They then wrote their own
versions of Nancy la elegante
and they read them to the first
graders – all in Spanish! The
1st graders learned a lot and
had fun learning from their older
schoolmates. n
Falk Laboratory School
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh PA 15216
Published by the Falk School PTO
Editor
Deborah Walker
dlwalker23@yahoo.com
Designer
Patricia Tsagaris
pinkhaus.design@verizon.net
Please send us your contributions
for future editions of FalkTalk.