We
welcome you to School #6, as we do each day of the year to the many
visitors from other districts, student teachers/observers, volunteers,
parents, and children. Our school motto, “Proud to Be
Me at School #6!” talks to our feelings within our heart which
you too will hopefully feel as you read about us and visually walk
through our Pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms and hallways.
Our School Mission Statement,
created by our Site Based Team at the onset of the millennium,
hangs proudly in our main entrance, each statement a tribute to
all that our dedicated and caring teachers, aides, monitors, support
staff, administrative/instructional assistants, secretaries, and
custodians hold as their guiding principles when interacting with
the district’s youngest students.
Mission Statement
School
#6, in partnership with children, parents and community,
provides
a foundation for learning within a
Caring and loving environment,
while
Having a balance of work and
play.
Opportunities are given through
our diversified curriculum, allowing
Our children to become flexible
and creative problem solvers.
Literacy surrounds our students
as we...
Nurture
and support their strengths and needs.
Unique individuals are developed,
able to discover their special talents.
Magical beginnings pave the way
in fostering a positive self-image,
enabling
them to
Become responsible citizens of
the community.
Embracing others with values
of
Respect, kindness, tolerance
and appreciation is encouraged.
Safety
and security within a child’s school family enables
growth
for him/her to become independent and interdependent.
Imagine a place of unconditional
love where the
eXcitement of life-long learning is
instilled...
“Proud to be Me at School #6!”
Indeed, our Mission Statement
comes to life in our Pre-K and Kindergarten Programs …
School
#6, in partnership with children, parents and community, provides
a foundation for learning within a
Caring
and loving environment, while
Having
a balance of work and play.
We value our home-school partnership as we together are committed
to making our school a family-like environment where children learn,
create, and marvel at their world. The learning climate in
Pre-K and Kindergarten is positive and affirming, guiding children
within a developmentally appropriate, multi-sensory, and differentiated
atmosphere. Home carry-over is always encouraged in the Pre-K
and Kindergarten classes’ weekly comprehensive Newsletter as
on-going teacher/parent communication of school happenings further
effects a strong home-school partnership. Our curriculum has
breadth and depth, balanced with our two indoor playgrounds, three
outdoor playgrounds, two gyms, classroom Play Centers, and newly
created Nature Trail. Our PTA, under it’s
fine leadership combined with the commitment of time and generosity
of its members, have enabled enriching experiences such as the Fall
Festival, Holiday/Special Person’s Boutique, People As Reading
Partners (PARP), numerous Cultural Arts presentations, Pre-K Spring
Fling, Kindergarten Winter Wonderland Dance, Pre-K Pancake Breakfast,
Kindergarten Field Day, and more! In addition, we have celebrations
galore such as our Thanksgiving Feasts, Holiday Sing-Along, Hundred
Days of School, Dr. Seuss’ Birthday, Mothers’ Day Teas,
Teddy Bear Picnics, Star of the Week, Birthdays/Holidays, Month of
the Young Child, etc.. Continuing in its fine tradition, the
parents of our Site Based Team join with our faculty representatives
and administrator to support Building and District Goals through
their valuable initiatives.
Opportunities
are given through our diversified curriculum, allowing
Our
children to become flexible and creative problem solvers.
Our Science and Social
Studies’ Essential Questions foundation have taught
our students to become even more adept at critical thinking skills. By
means of investigations, observations and inquiry skills, our children’s “talk” has
entered another level. Their valuable resources include Science
Kits, a fully equipped Hands-On Science Room, non-fiction Science
and Social Studies books, WLIW Video Streaming, Video Conferencing,
and Nature Center. An amazing Nature Trail was recently
created on the school grounds for use in integrating content areas
across the curriculum for Pre-K and Kindergarten students. It is
dedicated to our precious young scientists whose creativity and
imagination inspire their educators every day. Equipment,
books, and supplies for student use complement Nature Trail instruction. Added
to the above is our strong and comprehensive MathLand curriculum,
relying heavily on Problem Solving Strategies and Manipulatives
for our young students to “try”, “observe”, “check”,
and “conclude”. Our diversified curriculum also
allows for the teaching of Spanish for twenty minutes every other
day, incorporating topics which reinforce the basic concepts taught
within the Kindergarten curriculum. It is commonplace to
hear our kindergartners singing their favorite Spanish songs as
they play. Ask any kindergartner and he/she will say that
español es muy divertido! (Spanish is a lot of fun!).
Literacy
surrounds our students as we …
Nurture
and support their strengths and needs.
Our Houghton-Mifflin Program
serves as a cornerstone for our Language Arts Program. The
components of Guided Reading and Writing have received increased
attention, causing our enthusiastic young “authors, illustrators,
and readers” to delight in their writings and abilities to “break
the code!”. Our school library helps to instill the
love of listening to and reading of books by its having shelves
filled with the most recent literature for early childhood. Our
Reading Teacher has continued to enable us to expand our Guided
Reading Program in every class, allowed our advanced Kinder-Readers
Program to grow and provided staff development and consultative
opportunities. A major objective previously begun has been
aimed towards vertical articulation in fostering partnerships across
K-1. School #6 is proud to boast about its continuation of
the Building Goal to enhance its previously established dynamic
Leveled Reading Lending Library. Within its walls, is a valuable
resource enabling the Kindergarten teachers to differentiate instruction
in order to meet the literacy needs of all their students. It
houses an abundance of reading and writing resources including
a variety of fiction and non-fiction leveled texts, Big Books,
Benchmark Assessments, Reader’s Theatre scripts, books on
tape, and poster-flip charts for oral language development. The
plentiful Read-Alouds are used to launch different genre writing
during Writing Workshop. In fact, 8 kindergartners had their
poetry published in Young Voices, An Anthology of Poetry by
Nassau County Students. We are so proud of our Kindergarten
poets and their teachers! Technology, including a Listening
Center and Smartboard, is also housed in the Lending Leveled Library. A
traditional yearly event, “Gift of a Book Celebration”,
occurs when School 9E’s sixth graders read to our four year
old classes. Fostering the love of reading, the “Book
It For Beginners” Reading Program continues when PARP ends. It
is a weekly treat for our four year old Pre-K classes to host a
Kindergarten class as our “older” students read to
our “younger” ones.
Unique
individuals are developed, able to discover their special talents.
Developing Understanding
of Self and Others (DUSO) continues in its successful life teachings
using underwater creatures. Each child recognizes his/her
special qualities and is encouraged to celebrate his/her uniqueness. School
#6’s School-Wide Read-Alouds, which occur every other month,
enable the school community to reflect and respond to a book emphasizing
and applauding traits of individuality, values, and appreciation
of diversity. The children’s experimentation with different
mediums and techniques allows their creativity and artistic abilities
to shine. The “Kinder-Art” display at the
District Art Festival is a delight for all to see. Musical
opportunities, whether it be in the form of instruments, song,
or movement are other avenues in which young talent is observed.
Magical
beginnings pave the way in fostering a positive self-image, enabling
them to
Become
responsible citizens of the community.
Beginning in Pre-K, we
heightened the children’s awareness and sensitivity regarding
the importance of community service. At this early age, our
Pre-K and Kindergarten students have been active participants in “Kinder-Kids
for the Community” Projects. School #6 has
traditionally been a proud recipient each year of one of the few
Newsday FutureCorps Grants awarded. Our community service
projects have been featured twice in Newsday. Our Pre-K
and Kindergarten students ambitiously raised money for Oceanside’s
Community Service. Our “Mitten Wall” was
replete with hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens donated to the
John Thiesson Children’s Foundation. The annual Thanksgiving
Food and Oceanside Federation of Teachers’ Holiday Toy Drives
are outreach projects in which our entire school becomes involved. Our
students used their superb writing and illustrating skills to create
December holiday wishes for our overseas soldiers; School #6 was
one of three schools across the country highlighted Christmas Day
on Channel 11 straight from Iraq! The District’s youngest
students sent beautiful card creations to Northport Veterans Affairs
Medical Center on Valentines Day. Children helping
children is the driving force behind our kindergartners’ Hopping
Into Spring for SIBS Place” and our preschoolers’ “Running
the Bases for SIBS Place”, a “home away from home” facility
in conjunction with South Nassau Communities Hospital for children
whose siblings have life-threatening illnesses. School #6
participated in the district wide project, “Save the Earth
School by School” by using the proceeds from recycling to
sponsor a manatee, as well as planting for school beautification. Our
students and those from Castleton High School collaborated to create
a “Saving the Earth Mural”. In addition, the
purchase of “Going Healthy, Going Green” reusable snack
bags was a huge success!
Embracing
others with values of
Respect,
kindness, tolerance, and appreciation is encouraged.
Foundations of positive
character traits are implemented through the exemplary role models
of our staff, complemented by instruction. The “STAR” Program
(Stop, Think, Act, Review) incorporates 40 traits ranging from
respect, responsibility, and sharing to pride, helping others,
and determination. We’ve continued to expand our bibliography
of special picture books, linked to these traits, which are read
and discussed with the children on a weekly basis. The Heartwood
Program has provided an effective addition to our resources. In
September, Mr. Stein, the School Social Worker, and Mrs. Brady,
the School Psychologist, role played School #6’s Rights and
Responsibilities with the kindergartners, giving the students a
clear understanding of expectations regarding interactions within
a learning and playing environment. In Pre-K developing positive
character traits early on begins with the implementation of the “Hugs
and Tugs” Program and the Houghton-Mifflin Preschool Literacy
Program, focusing on such areas as “showing kindness
and consideration”, “problem solving”, “feelings”, “manners”,
and “making friends”.
Safety
and security within a child’s school family enables
growth for him/her to become independent
and interdependent.
It is within a safe learning
community that our children are encouraged to question and offer
answers. Opportunities outside School #6’s walls are
afforded our kindergartners as they take trips to Hofstra’s
Adams Playhouse, Oceanside Library, Teddy Bear Clinic, etc. The
use of Video Conferencing under the expertise of Mrs. Schirmer,
Computer Instructional Assistant, has surpassed the number 70! Our
Kindergartners are transported from the Center for Puppetry in
Georgia to the Clarion Health Partners in Indiana to the MOTE Marine
Laboratory in Florida to the Buffalo Zoo in New York to a Texas
classroom and more as their learning takes on broader and far reaching
proportions. Each month during Computer Lab the Kindergartners
participate in a lesson involving the Smartboard, complementing
classroom curriculum instruction. Use of the Smartboard within
classrooms as well is a treat for all the students. Undoubtedly,
our daily partnerships with the School #6 family of staff and parents
enable our students to grow and mature socially, emotionally, and
academically. Our kindergartners appreciate the contribution
of the many wonderful adults, not only in the Senior Connections
Program, but also in our high school, Ambassador Program, and colleges. The
Oceanside Fire Department has shared crucial lessons with our youngsters
during Fire Prevention Week; the health care personnel at South
Nassau Communities Hospital instruct our students during their
visit to the Teddy Bear Clinic; our neighborhood professionals,
parents, and relatives offer the children many first hand experiences
during career talks. In support of our health and wellness
initiatives, the children have taken part in such activities as
aerobics, karate, and yoga presented by trained community volunteers.
Imagine
a place of unconditional love where the
eXcitement
of life-long learning is instilled …
That’s
right … it’s here at School #6!
“ESTOY
ORGULLOSO DE SER YO EN LA ESCUELA #6”
“PROUD
TO BE ME AT SCHOOL #6”
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