MARCH 14, 2014
March 14, 2014
Principals Message
Redecorating your home = Improved
vocabulary for children?
When our children were around 5-6 years old, my wife had the inspiration
to redecorate our home. Now, this was not your traditional redecoration!
There were no paint swatches, curtain samples or new furniture purchased.
Instead, she grabbed a stack of plain white index cards
and wrote on each of them a single word which labeled
various items around our house. See pictures.
As I previewed the report cards that were sent home in
early February, I noticed that teachers frequently recommended that
parents help their children with “Sight Words.” Sight Words, or “High
Frequency Words,” comprise 50% - 70% of the vocabulary found in
children’s literature. Many of these words need to be memorized (or
learned by sight) because they cannot be sounded
out phonetically. The word, “the” for example would
be pronounced “t… hu… eh” if it were stretched out,
which would obviously be incorrect.
A great way to help children learn these words would be
to write them on individual cards and practice them with
your child. I have included a list of Sight Words that we
expect our students will have mastered by the time they
leave Waverly. Helping your children memorize each of these words would
be a tangible way of becoming involved in your child’s learning at home.
When my wife “redecorated,” she was using a technique
called labeling. Although Martha Stewart would not
likely approve of our sense of style, our efforts have
increased our children’s vocabulary. Whether you
choose to label items around your house, create and review Sight Word
flashcards, or do both, I am confident your children will benefit.
Dr. Jeff Melendez is the Principal of Waverly School. He can be reached at 914-793-6130 ext.
5502 or via email at jmelendez@eastchester.k12.ny.us. Please feel free to reach out if you have
any questions or concerns.
DATES TO REMEMBER:
Friday 3/14/14 - Grade 1 Camp
Out - 7:00 PM
Wednesday 3/19/14 - Little
Spirit Clubs Begin
Friday 3/21/14 - Snow Date for
Grade 1 Camp Out
Wednesday 4/9/14 – Principal’s
Coffee – 2:00 PM
Friday 4/11/14 – Interim Progress
Reports Sent Home
Monday 4/14/14- Friday 4/18/14 –
Spring Break – SCHOOLS
CLOSED
Wednesday 4/23/14 and Friday
4/25/14 – 11:15 AM dismissal –
PT Conferences
Friday 5/2/14 and Friday 5/9/14 –
Kindergarten Only- 11:15AM
Dismissal- Incoming Kindergarten
Orientation
Friday 5/23/14 ALL SCHOOLS
OPEN
MARCH 14, 2014
Sign Up for our Email Blasts
Email is an efficient and green method of
communication. It saves time and paper. The
PTA will be using email throughout the year to
reach out to our Waverly parent population. If
you have not already done so, please take a
moment to sign up for our e-blasts. Please go
to the waverlypta.org link located at the right
side of Waverly's homepage in order to sign
up for e-blasts. You can also send an email
to: webmaster@waverlypta.org. Please be
sure to indicate your child's grade
(kindergarten or first) in the email to the
webmaster.
Waverly PTA Membership
Thanks to everyone who has joined the PTA.
We now have 392 members and we thank you
for your continued support. We would like to
remind those of you who haven't joined that
for your membership to count for the 20132014 school year with the NYSPTA any new
memberships need to be received by MARCH
21. If you are planning on joining, please print
out a membership form from the Waverly PTA
website and send it with your payment via
back pack mail to "Patricia Connaire PTA
Membership." If you have any questions, you
can send an e-mail to
PatriciaConnaire@gmail.com.
100% Membership
The Waverly PTA congratulates Mrs.
Borowsky's class on being the first to achieve
100% PTA membership. We also want to
thank the class parents Kristen Beades and
Kim Petriello for their outreach efforts. Thanks
for the support!
http://waverlypta.org
Directory Update
Thank you to all Waverly families who made
us aware of any errors, omissions or deletions
that occurred in the directory. Thanks to the
hard work and effort of Patricia Connaire, we
were able to produce an addendum to the
directory. The addendum contains all of the
corrected information that we received from
the Waverly community. Thank you for your
patience, support and flexibility while the
directory and the addendum were in
production.
Kindergarten Pajama StoryTime
On Friday, March 7 the Waverly PTA hosted
our annual Kindergarten Pajama Story Time
event. In keeping with the FIESTA theme, our
Kindergarteners enjoyed a fun evening
listening to parents read Fiesta Fiasco and
Clark the Shark. They were then treated to
some nacho chips and salsa and worked on
designing their own wooden maracas. The
children were delighted to regroup with their
classmates in a more casual manner.
While the children were busy in their
classrooms, parents also had an opportunity
to mingle and enjoy delicious baked treats and
coffee donated from Starbucks.
The Waverly PTA would like to thank the
following parent volunteers for making Friday's
Kindergarten Pajama StoryTime event such a
huge success:
Rachel Muzichenko, Lisa Minigone,
Melissa Ferrara, Tracey Kanterman, Serene
Saab, Maureen Sheridan, Loretta Austin,
Allison Solano, Arlene Hyland, Jackie
Miller, Monica Pernerstorfer, Debbie
Frascone, Maria Liosatos, Alysse
Jinete, Julie Conte, Cathy Mangione,
Joanne Romano, Raquel Morano, Christie
McLoughlin, Carrie Milaccio, Leza Telesco,
Myriam Rastaetter, Tania Maggiolo, Lauren
Meade, Miho Takahashi, Colleen
Liberatore, Dana King, Valerie Chessler,
Lauren Mascia, Paul Kanterman, Jennifer
Demaio, Rosanna Forgione, Brenda
Siciliano, Mindy DiLeo, Nigel Gaines, Alicia
Waters, Lori Mortensen, Patricia Connaire,
Patricia Ziomber, Tara Bonanno, Rita
Petriello, Marilyn Marshall, Amanda
Charles, Danielle Callari, Renee
Dibenedetto, Marty Geagan, Pauline
Higgins, Suzanne Schubert, Donna Love,
Michele Rivera, Megan Fix, Glen Caserta
Jennifer Mccartt, Namiko Martin, Jennifer
Caserta, Crista Trotto, Margaret
Papademetriou, Kim Naclerio, Eva
Kokkalas, Sara Kate Hayward, Karyn
Langke,Sandra Genova, Regina Thomson,
Christine Kanner, Mazda Alaie, Melissa
Provenzano, Christie Marrone, Barbara
Levine, Regina Martorello, Cristina
Battista, Susan Piergiovanni, Christie
Landers, Alicia Waters, Megan Dwyer and
Adrienne Ruggerio.
Special thanks to Lauren Hagerty, Chrissy
Geagan and Arlene Hyland for chairing this
fun event and to Dr. Melendez for pitching
in and helping everything run smoothly.
Please let us know if your name was left
off in error. We greatly appreciate the
effort of all our contributing parents!
http://waverlypta.org
Volunteer Spotlight
In this edition of the Waverly Whisper we
would once again like to recognize the hard
work and effort of our Membership Chair,
Patricia Connaire. Patricia has dedicated a
great deal of time and effort to be sure that the
Waverly PTA meets its membership goals this
year. She has processed hundreds of
membership requests and has promoted
membership at events such as Open House
and Math Night. We are grateful to Patricia
for all of her efforts as our Membership Chair
this year. Thanks to Patricia, Waverly PTA
members received benefits such as the
Waverly Directory and participation in after
school clubs. Patricia also compiled the
addendum to the Waverly Directory, which is
a great benefit to all members. The Waverly
PTA salutes Patricia Connaire for all that she
does for the Waverly community.
.
DANCING WITH “OUR” STARS ORDER FORMS FOR TICKETS and RAFFLES!
Event: Friday, March 21 at 7pm EHS Gym Doors open at 6:30pm
The Sophomore Class presents the eighth annual, DANCING WITH “OUR”
STARS, a dance performance modeled after ABC’s show, Dancing with the
Stars. HS and MS teachers and staff have partnered with other teachers and/or
students to put together this program.
In addition, many teachers are participating in the fourth annual “Cupcake Wars”
and they will be judged by the audience on appearance and on taste by local bakeries.
There will also be a raffle for tickets to a Katy Perry concert or a Yankee-Mets game! See ticket form
below.
Tickets may be purchased in advance, at a cost of $10 per person. Children ages 4 and under are FREE. See ticket form
below.
The proceeds from the show will support Gilda’s Club, a local cancer support group, located in White Plains. Andrea’s
Dance Studio and Dance by Design in Eastchester are assisting us in providing a fun filled event by teaching some
ballroom dancing to our team of dancers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Dancing with OUR Stars Ticket Order Form – Pre-orders due by Tuesday, March 18
Tickets are $10.00 each (donations are gladly accepted!)
Limited VIP seating available starting at $25.00 per ticket in the EAGLES’ NEST
(food and drinks included and served at your seat)
Name:______________________________________________Phone:_______________________
School/Teacher :________________________________________________________________
E-mail: ________________________________________________________________________
Tickets $10 Each X ___________ Tickets
Amount Enclosed _________________
Return order form with cash or check made payable to Eastchester High School in an envelope marked “Dancing
with ‘OUR’ Stars” c/o J.Logan, Middle School to your child’s school by Tuesday, March 18, 2014. Tickets will be
sent home via backpack on Thursday, March 20th!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Raffle Tickets Pre-order Form – Ticket Pre-orders Due by Thursday, March 20.
Katy Perry and Yankee vs. Mets Tickets (great seats for both events)
Take a chance to win 2 Tickets to see Katy Perry in concert
Saturday, July 9, 2014 @ Madison Square Garden
AND / OR
Yankees vs. Mets
Tuesday, May 3, 2014 at Yankee Stadium
$5.00 each raffle ticket or 5 raffle tickets for $20
Limited quantities are being sold - once they are gone, they are gone!
Drawing to be held on March 21, 2014 at the “Dancing with Our Stars” Event - Raffle holder need not be present to win!
Please complete the form below and enclose it with your payment (CASH ONLY!) in an envelope marked
“Katy Perry and/or Yankees/Mets tickets” – Mrs. Pullano. Mail to Gina Pullano, 140 Oakland Avenue, Tuckahoe, NY
10707 OR return to the PTA Mailbox in any school and address it to Gina Pullano
(Any questions, you can email Gina at gpullano@email.com )
Katy Perry Concert_______________________
Name_______________________
Yankee/Mets Tickets _________
School: ________________________
Address: ______________________________________Phone #________________________________
# of Chances________
Amount Enclosed $____________
Grade K • High-Frequency Words
1. I
2. can
3. the
4. we
5. see
6. a
7. like
8. to
9. and
10. go
11. you
12. do
13. my
14. are
15. he
16. with
17. is
18. little
19. she
20. was
21. for
22. have
23. of
24. they
25. said
26. want
27. here
28. me
29. this
30. what
31. help
32. too
33. has
34. play
35. look
36. where
37. good
38. who
39. come
40. does
Grade 1 • High-Frequency Words
1. a
2. and
3. are
4. can
5. do
6. for
7. go
8. has
9. have
10. he
11. here
12. I
13. is
14. like
15. little
16. look
17. me
18. my
19. play
20. said
21. see
22. she
23. the
24. this
25. to
26. was
27. we
28. where
29. with
30. you
31. does
32. not
33. school
34. what
35. down
36. out
37. up
38. very
39. be
40. come
41. good
42. pull
43. fun
44. make
45. they
46. too
47. jump
48. move
49. run
50. two
51. again
52. help
53. new
54. there
55. use
56. could
57. live
58. one
59. then
60. three
61. eat
62. no
63. of
64. under
65. who
66. all
67. call
68. day
69. her
70. want
71. around
72. by
73. many
74. place
75. walk
76. away
77. now
78. some
79. today
80. way
81. why
82. green
83. grow
84. pretty
85. should
86. together
87. water
88. any
89. from
90. happy
91. once
92. so
93. upon
94. ago
95. boy
96. girl
97. how
98. old
99. people
100. after
101. buy
102. done
103. every
104. soon
105. work
106. about
107. animal
108. carry
109. eight
110. give
111. our
112. because
113. blue
114. into
115. or
116. other
117. small
Grade 1 • High-Frequency Words
118. find
119. food
120. more
121. over
122. start
123. warm
124. caught
125. flew
126. know
127. laugh
128. listen
129. were
130. found
131. hard
132. near
133. woman
134. would
135. write
136. four
137. large
138. none
139. only
140. put
141. round
142. another
143. climb
144. full
145. great
146. poor
147. through
148. began
149. better
150. guess
151. learn
152. right
153. sure
154. color
155. early
156. instead
157. nothing
158. oh
159. thought
160. above
161. build
162. fall
163. knew
164. money
165. toward
166. answer
167. brought
168. busy
169. door
170. enough
171. eyes
172. brother
173. father
174. friend
175. love
176. mother
177. picture
178. been
179. children
180. month
181. question
182. their
183. year
184. before
185. front
186. heard
187. push
188. tomorrow
189. your
190. favorite
191. few
192. gone
193. surprise
194. wonder
195. young