Every new challenge widens my horizons, strengthens my self-competence, and heightens my enjoyment of discovery.

NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 20, 2019

Wider Horizons School

IMPORTANT DATES: 9/17 Constitution Day10/2 Individual Portraits10/11 ColumbusDay- NO SCHOOL10/16 PSAT Testing!0/31 Biography Fair

Spending Time with Grandparents

CULTURALAPPROPRIATIONVERSUSCULTURALAPPRECIATIONByDomenickJ.MaglioPh.D.

WehavebeeninthemiddleofaculturewarforthemindsofAmericansformanydecades.TraditionallypeoplecametotheUnitedStatesfromothercountriestoforgebetterlivesfortheirfamilies.Thenewlyarrivingimmigrantskeptmostoftheiroldcountrycustomsfortheinitialyears.MostoftheseKirstgenerationAmericansspokebrokenEnglish,amixtureofnativetonguesandEnglishphrasestocommunicateinbusinesstransactionsandlaterinsocialones.

TheirchildrenwereeducatedinEnglishspeakingclassesandoftenactedasinterpretersfortheirparents.TheseKirstgenerationchildrenbecameimmersedwiththeirEnglishspeakingfriends.TheybecameaccustomedtonewfoodsandtraditionsofotherAmericansbutespeciallyfullyassimilatedcitizens.Theseadultandpeerexpressions,mannerismsandinterestswereimportantinlearninghowtotransitionintobeingAmerican.

Surprisingly,ifyouaskfourthgenerationimmigrantsmanymaynotknowfromwheretheirancestorsimmigrated.TheyhavebeentotallyassimilatedasAmericansyetatcloserexaminationoftheirlifestylestherearesomeremnantsoftheirancestor’semphasisoncertaincustoms,moralvalues,beliefs,socializationandtraditionswhichtheywereexposedtoinfamilyinteractions.

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Last Friday was WHS Grandparents Day.

Lena enjoys time with her grandmother.

Upper Elementary has a Question and Answer with their grandparents.

Junior High & High School play a game with their grandparents to see who knows each other the best.

Hadley shows her grandmother how she uses the math material.

Selina shares a beautiful smile with her grandmother.

PRESCHOOL Mrs. Bermudez

This week in preschool we continued our discussion about oceans and why leaves change colors. At the art table the children made and painted a Jack-o-lantern.

In Math the students had a lesson with the short bead stairs, the decimal system, and the 9 tray decimal system. The purpose of the short bead stairs is to assist the children in memorizing the colors of each bead bar and its associated quantity. This is a preliminary activity necessary for more advanced work. The decimal system is to help the child become familiar with the quantities and hierarchies of the decimal system. Some of the students are adding with the decimal system or subtracting numbers.

In language the children are working with sounds, blending sounds, working with the pink series (short vowels), reading sentences, or reading Bob Books. The children are also encouraged to practice their penmanship every other day.

Congratulations to Ari for reading his first Bob book!

Have a great weekend!

PRIMARY Mrs. Youse & Mrs. Bulso

The primary class has been working hard this week. In math the students had a lesson on the addition stripboard and addition chart #3. These tools help the children to practice, solve, and memorize addition facts. The students also had the opportunity to work with addition flashcards to help them memorize their addition tables. We learned about the commutative property of addition. The students were able to see, with the help of the red commutative boxes, that changing the order of the numbers being added did not change the end result.

In language the students learned about blending. A blend is two letters that are put together and create a single sound such as “th” or “wh.” The children were able to match images of blended letters with actual objects that begin with a particular blended sound (for example matching a plastic number three with the image th). Learning blends is an essential step in helping the students learn to read. They also worked on a fall poem “Apples

On A Tree” and used their fingers to paint a picture of an apple tree.

I n s e n s o r i a l we i n t ro d u c e d t h e constructive triangles. We had lessons on the rectangular boxes, triangular box, and hexagonal boxes all of which contain constructive triangles of differing size and color. These materials allow the students to see that one shape, the triangle, can be fit together to create many new geometric shapes.

This week in science the students had an opportunity to learn about the four seasons with the help of a sorting activity. The students were presented with cards labeled winter, spring, summer, and fall in addition to cards with seasonal related images that they had to match with the correct season. They also learned about some of the organs in the human body and had an introduction to the 7 continents and dif ferent types of landforms.

Congratulations to Layla for finishing the Bob book series and to Yegorii for moving up in multiplication tables. We have some kindergarteners who have started reading the Bob books as well.

We hope that everyone has a great weekend!

LOWER ELEMENTARY Ms. Urbanek, Miss Doman, & Mr. Garrand

Congratulations to Aiden and Nicholas for having a perfect reading sheet last week.

Congratulations to Zoey, Skye, Hayley, Elizabeth, Brooklyn, Lynus, Barrett, Emani, Jael, David, Lilith, Andy, Isabella, Beatrice, Luis, Nicholas, and Patrick P. for moving up to the next times table.

Congratulations to Gianna for mastering mixed multiplication and moving to division facts.

Congratulations to Braden for mastering his times tables up to ten and moving to mixed multiplication.

Congratulations to Gianna for mastering addition facts.

Congratulations to Robert and Zoey for mastering subtraction facts.

In art the students made an owl using newspaper, feathers, and their own hand prints.

In Language arts the second graders learned about the different types of plural nouns such as, -s, -es, -ies, v to f, no change, and two plurals. The third graders learned about antonyms.

In math the students will continue learning and reviewing coins and counting different coins. They will continue to work in their booklets, applications, and geometry cards. The students had a lesson on different key words for addition in applications. This will help them to identify the difference between signs when solving the problems.

In spelling this week the students wrote spelling words on a chalk board 2x, spelling competition with white boards, cereal or stamps, and sentences. The students had a group lesson talking about the definition of each word.

In science the students continued to work on different animals of the vertebrate.

In Geography the students are continuing to work on continent animals.

In History the students are continuing to work on the California region and created a basket using weaving techniques of the Native American tribe.

In Spanish the students reviewed alphabet sounds and numbers.

Siyanna celebrates her birthday walk.

STUDENT EDITOR: Dakayla Marques

UPPER ELEMENTARY Mrs. Gutierrez, Mrs. Bianco

& Mrs. Hughes

Students observed Constitution Day with a reader’s theater featuring the Founders and Townspeople. They learned about the h a r d w o r k p e r f o r m e d a t t h e Constitutional Convention, which required creativity and compromise, and resulted in the Constitution that protects our freedoms today.

It is important that students who have not yet mastered their math facts practice at home; support is provided in class, but work at home is also required.  A daily home session will result in the competence required to progress in math. This week most students rewrote their Patriot composition; we discussed as a class the difference between copying the article and putting it in your own words.  This is a difficult but required skill. In language fourth graders had a lesson in common and mass nouns. This week the students welcomed Levi to our class.

This week in geography the students studied the phases of the Moon. Each student chose a phase, wrote the definition, drew a picture, and will share it with the class next week. In botany the students are working on their species spotlight. Each student chose a plant species to research and draw a picture. They will present their species spotlight next week.

Sixth graders completed their first book report this week. A lesson was given on the structure of a book report and all of its important parts were written in their rule book. The next novel, My Side of the Mountain, was assigned and a book synopsis must be completed by October 1st.

Parents, please remember scorecards are sent out on Tuesdays and must be returned by Wednesday.

JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH Mrs. Parks, Ms. Abbey, & Mrs. Letourneau

On Tuesday we celebrated Constitution Day in class. Before we said the pledge in the morning, the entire class said the preamble to the Constitution. We also had a working lunch on Tuesday; the students ate lunch at their desks while watching a video about the Constitution. On Veteran's Day, November 11th, we will be singing the medley of songs that the 5th-12th graders performed for the 9/11 ceremony.

The students were told at the beginning of the year to keep their completed math sets in a three-ring binder. At the end of each quarter the binder will be turned in for a chance to receive two points added to their quarterly grade. If all the sets are in the binder and neatly organized, the student will receive those two points. These two points are very important and can make a major difference in the students grade. For example: If a student has a quarterly grade of an 88% and they receive the two points for having a complete binder, their grade will now be a 90%; which is a whole letter grade increase from a B to an A. It is worth it to be organized and neat in their classes.

The Earth Science students drew and colored the rock cycle for a lab this week. The Life Science students drew the cell cycle and the phases of mitosis in an animal cell. These labs help the students to better understand the concepts and increase their knowledge about the subject for tests. AFTERSCHOOL

Miss Doman

In afterschool this week we continued to play gaga ball and use our new soccer net outside. We enjoyed asking questions and talking about things we like during snack time.

Primary students started to help clean the preschools nap mats and also helped clean the afterschool classroom.

AFTERSCHOOL Ms. Bennett

On the playground the s tudents participated in Gaga Ball, Hide and Seek, Dodge Ball, Steal the Bacon, and Relay Races.

In art the students created a splatter painted picture.

D u r i n g M i n d L a b t h e s t u d e n t s participated in activities such as Hangman and Cranium.

The children were very creative in using the building activities. Many towers and castles were built.

On Friday the students enjoyed watching The Lorax and eating popcorn.

Brianna celebrates her birthday walk.

Molly completes the teen number board.

Spanish 1 enjoyed making delicious churros last Friday.

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ForthemostparttheyconsiderthemselvestotallyAmerican.Theyaretheproductsofthemeltingpotprocessthathavemadeoursthevibrantgreatnationbyintroducingsubtlenuancedthinkingandbehaviorintoourculture.

Thencametheprogressive’s“saladbowl”formulaofhownewimmigrants,legalandillegal,shouldbetreated.Insteadofhavingtoexperiencetheinitialgovernmentteststopermitthemtobecomefullyassimilatedcitizens,theyaregivenapass.TheseillegalimmigrantsarenotsupposedtolearnUShistoryorspeakEnglishasitcouldbetoomuchofahardshipforthem.

Theprogressivesrelentlesslysay,“diversityisourstrength”inordertoshowthatthesecitizenswhoarenotenthusiasticpatrioticAmericansarestilltotallyacceptable.Theyinsistthatimmigrantsshouldretaintheirforeignculturalidentitytoinsuretheyremaindifferent.Theydemandyoungsterswhoenterpublicschoolbetaughtintheirnativelanguageandbeexposedtothevirtuesoftheirancestors’culture.Thisdiversityapproach,revisingthetruthorglossingoverthesufferingtheancestorsenduredintheiroriginalhomelandlessentheirappreciationforanewlife.ThefeelingofambivalencetowardstheUnitedStatesdoesnotencourageassimilationtobeproudAmericans.

AccordingtotheirmantraeachethicgroupshouldkeeptheirnativecultureandnotbecomeAmericanized.Mostbizarre,theseprogressivesarguethatU.S.citizensshouldnotbeadoptingother’sethnicfoods,music,customsoranythingthatispartoftheirownfamily’snativeculture.Thisconvolutedthinkingmakestakingofafeatureofanyethnicgroupnegativelylabeledas“culturalappropriation.”ThesubcultureofimmigrantsshouldremainseparatefrommainstreamAmericatopreservetheir“sacreddiversity”whilepreventingthemfromfullyjoiningtheU.S.culture.

Newimmigrantsholdingontotheirformercultureshouldbeonlyatemporarycondition.AsthoseimmigrantslearnmoreoftheculturetheirappreciationofitwilltransformthemintotrueAmericans.The“saladbowl”perspectiveisamethodofpreventingtheassimilationprocess.Theprogressiveshaveanointedtheserecentimmigrantswiththelabelsof“privilegedandprotectedclass”tosplitournationintocompetingtribalgroupsfurtherdividingourcountry.

ImaginecomingtotheU.S.andseeingAmericanseatingonlymeatandpotatoes.FromsmalltownstomajorcitiesAmericanscaneatfoodsfromallovertheworld.PizzafromItaly,bratwurstfromGermany,tacosfromsouthoftheborder,wontonsoupfromChina,winefromFranceandmanyotherdisheshavebecomepartoftheAmericanexperience.Culturalappropriationconcernswouldeliminateourabilitytoabsorbideasandvariousfoodsintoournation.

Ourstrengthasanationdoesnotcomefromourseparationfromeachother’sculturebuttheacceptingofeachonetobecomepartofourcommonculture:America.OurcultureismademorevibrantbyeveryonewhobecomesacitizenandbringsnewspiceandexcitementtotheU.S.experience.

ThestrengthoftheU.S.isnotthecountryourancestorscamefrombutthecreationthatmeltstheessenceofeachsubcultureintoamagniKicentexperienceforallAmericans.Inthesamewaymetalsarestrengthenedandimprovedbyblendingtypestocreateanalloythatisstrongerorthathasuniquedesirableproperties.Thesecretingredienttotheprocessisblendingwiththepredominateculture.Thecommongoodforallcitizensstrengthensourbondofloveforourcountry.

EPluribusUnumhasbeenthegoalfortheUnitedStates,letusnotreverseitandfosterchaosandself-destruction.

DomenickMaglio,PhD.isacolumnistcarriedbyvariousnewspapers,anauthorofseveralbooksandowner/directorofWiderHorizonsSchool,acollegeprepprogram.Dr.Maglioisanauthorofweeklynewspaperarticles,INVASIONWITHINandanewbookentitled,INCHARGEPARENTINGInaPCWorld.YoucanseemanyofDr.Maglio’sarticlesatwww.drmaglioblogspot.com.