Cottage Lane Elementary School Blog

Hello Cottage Lane Students

Last Wednesday, Cottage Lane students, teachers, and parents took the first trip to the Bronx Zoo. Since Wednesday is Free Admission Day, we thought the zoo would be like a zoo. Much to our surprise, we had the entire place to ourselves; well, except for the animals.

This year, fourth grade classes have been studying ecosystems, food chains or webs, and the effect the environment can have on species of animals. Students were responsible for visiting at least three different exhibits, and observing the different adaptations of the animals and plant life.  Additionally, to help reduce paper consumption, the assignment was digital.  Some students used phones, iPods, or cameras to record their findings and make videos. A list of vocabulary words were also provided. Our science teachers gave students zoo cards, which included an award challenge and "animal hunt".  Points were given for finding animals with horizontal and vertical stripes and spots. 

Some of the highlights included: seeing a two week old baby giraffe; a polar bear; tigers; lions; peacocks; and baboons.

Thank you to our teachers for planning such an engaging and wonderful trip!

            In the middle of October Mrs. O’Brien’s class started to recycle juice pouches.  They were recycling pouches because they wanted to collect money for the school.  Each pouch would give us two cents.  They did this recycling program because many students were drinking juice.  They were also doing this program because the two cents would give the money to the school for equipment.  They are still collecting juice pouches.  We interviewed some students in Mrs. O’Brien’s class and one girl said she felt good because they are helping the Earth.  They also said that they collected 321 pouches and received $6.42.  We think that this program will effect and change our Earth and school in a positive manner. 

By Diana and Christina     

PBL types of government

By: Brian Henry and Alice Wholey

     In Mrs. Coatti’s class we learned about the types of government. There are 7 types of government: dictatorship, oligarchy, aristocracy, representive and direct democracy, and absolute and limited monarchy.  Mrs. Sorrentino’s and Mrs. Coatti’s class had to do a skit for one of these governments and the other class had to figure out the government.  We interviewed Philip Kennedy and Kelly Haughey about this “What did you think about the skit?” “We did limited monarchy. We had a king, a slave, and a parliament, it wasn’t just for fun, and it was about learning about the types of government.” Says Kelly. Now on to Philip Kennedy “What was challenging about your skit?” “It was also hard to rehearse the lines because there were a lot of people interfering doing their skits.” Everyone had to rehearse their lines every day.

On February 8^th and 9^th Cottage Lane had a very special guest- Ralph Fletcher, author of picture books and chapter books our students know and love. Some of our favorites at Cottage Lane are Fig Pudding, and Marshfield Dreams. Mr. Fletcher also writes books for teachers and young adults.

Mr. Fletcher began his visit to Cottage Lane by taking a walk around the school and reading some personal narrative stories by fourth graders who used his writing as a mentor text during their writing process. Mia, a fourth grader who shared her writing with Mr. Fletcher, said “He got to check out my work and he said it was good, so that was nice to hear from a real author.”

All students had a chance to hear Mr. Fletcher talk in the library, and were excited to hear his real life stories which inspired his books. He also read from his books, and shared some poetry with students. During lunch, many teachers ate lunch with Mr. Fletcher and were able to talk to him about the teaching of writing and ask him questions.

After hearing Mr. Fletcher talk, Zoe, a fourth grader, said “I liked seeing all of his different books and I want to go to the library today and look for one of his books.”

We had our publishing party Dec. 16^th.   At our publishing party we read our personal narratives. We also showed our personal narratives by doing videos and putting them on the wall for the parents to read.  We had appetizers like pigs in a blanket and cheese and crackers.  Kid’s parents came to hear, read and comment on the personal narratives.  Our class spent at least 4 weeks on our personal narratives and we all worked really hard on them.  We were really excited to show off our personal narratives.  We had lots of fun dressing up fancy.  (Some of the boys had ties and the girls had dresses.)  We also have our personal narratives outside of Ms. Early’s classroom.  We would love for you to read them.

   Recycling for the Earth and Money for the School                 2011

            In the middle of October Mrs. O’Brien’s class started to recycle juice pouches.  They were recycling pouches because they wanted to collect money for the school.  Each pouch would give us two cents.  They did this recycling program because many students were drinking juice.  They were also doing this program because the two cents would give the money to the school for equipment.  They are still collecting juice pouches.  We interviewed some students in Mrs. O’Brien’s class and one girl said she felt good because they are helping the Earth.  They also said that they collected 321 pouches and received $6.42.  We think that this program will affect and change our Earth and school in a positive manner. 

Cottage Lane Elementary School presented at the board meeting on our core district goal, Providing Students with 21st Century Skills. Students from Ms. Caunitz and Ms. Forman's class presented their problem-based learning unit, Rockin Around New York State. Please click the link below to watch the video

Or, please click here to access our Powerpoint Presentation