Today First Grade had a terric presentation on Winter Animals. Mr.

Kindal from the Delaware Canal State Park visited with us to give us interesting facts about how animals adapt, migrate, or hibernate during the winter months. The students listened to a book about the changes that take place in winter. They then were able
Also Visited Second Grade, Article on Page 3

LittleLeopard News
Feb 2013

Adaptation, Hibernation, Migration! Oh My!

discuss what animals adapted, hibernated or migrated in the book by looking at pictures that Mr. Kindal brought in to share with us. The most exciting part of the presentation was the stuffed fox that he brought in for the kids to view. They learned that the hair on parts of the fox is darker than on others because the darker hair protects those parts of it's body from the cold. It was a great morning in First Grade!

Up Coming Events
March
March 1 ! Dr. Seuss ! Celebration Feb 28 - Mar 1 ! Spirit Days March 6 ! $2.00 Bookstore March 27 - Apr 1 ! No School ! Spring Break

Message from the Principal

Make that Reading Connection
How else can you t in more time to help your youngster become a better reader? As you go about your day, narrate what you are doing using at least one unfamiliar word repeatedly in your description. Explain what the word is and then use it again in context. Write it out so they can see what the word looks like. Ask your young one to give you both a fact and an opinion back to back. Help them differentiate the two by modeling it yourself. Model and Explain: " The ice cream is cold. I think that Cookies and Cream is the best avor. What fact can you give me about ice cream? What opinion do you have about ice cream?" Get a pack of "stickie" notes and place them in areas your child will nd them. Vary the messages to include directives, reminders, and kudos in a way that leads to a follow up discussion later on in the day. Taking advantage of every opportunity to help develop strong language skills can always help your child a better reader. Fit it in! Best Regards, Hector D. Bonilla Principal March Elementary School bonillah@eastonsd.org Fortitudine Vincimus

April
PSSA for 3rd/4th April 3 ! $2 Bookstore April 15 - 19 ! Bookfair April 17-23 ! Conferences

First in Math
Top Five Players
Megumi B. " 6,454 Tiah F. " 5,584 Salman A. " 5,572 Estelle F. " 5,403 Lyla V." 5,263

Player of the Month Salman A. + 2,630

March School is off to a good start using First in Math Online Program in grades 2, 3, and 4. First In Math activities employ Deep Practice techniques to rapidly increase computation, problem solving, critical thinking and essential math basics. Skills that may take months of regular practice can be mastered in a much shorter time using Deep Practice techniques and the immediate feedback online learning can provide. Children using FIM have shown dramatic increases in math scoresacross the board from the top students to the most math-challenged learners. We are excited to see students' active engagement in the program again Team of the Month this year. Classrooms have already started earning weekly trophies for being Mr. McMillian the team of the week in their grade.

+13,435

Delware Canal State Park

Second graders had the opportunity to learn more about animal adaptations with Mr. Kindel, a park ranger from Delware Canal State Park. Mr. Kindel came to our school through Miss Kordek. Children explored ways animals change their bodies and behaviors in order to survive. Animals such as foxes change the color of their fur to protect themselves from predators, or survive in colder or warmer environments. Other animals can also nd different ways to hunt, nd and storage food during the winter, or cover their bodies with a thicker or oily layer to swim faster or for longer periods of time. When asked to list three or more facts about animal adaptations, children could go on, and on, and on!

Our America Reads Partnership with Lafayette College

The Little Leopards welcome back our America Reads tutors for the Spring semester. Most of the Fall semester tutors are returning to March School to continue supporting our students with literacy and math skills. Our staff and students are very excited to have the tutors back to help in the classroom settings. The tutors are quite eager to begin their classroom assignments. We are so fortunate to be able to have the America Reads/America Counts program in our school community.

Georgia OKeefe
In art class, second graders learned about famous American painter Georgia OKeefe and brought to life beautiful pansies, roses and calla lilies with Model Magic. They reviewed the art elements of pattern and repetition as they created decorative vases to hold their creations.

Change Please!
Students in Mrs. Rodrigues' class have been practicing their shopping skills. After reviewing the names and values of coins and bills, children counted different amounts of money in their "wallets" (trays) to see if they would have enough to buy a given item. If yes, could they pay with the exact amount, or would they get any money back? If no, how much money would they still need? The fun continues as children now translate all these different ideas into addition and subtraction problems.

Civil Rights Movement

On January 15th, F. A. March Elementary School participated in a day of service and learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. Principal Mr. Hector Bonilla read to students along with other guest readers including: Director of Pupil Services, Mrs. Alyssa Emili and School Board Members Mr. Bill Rider and Dr. Bob Moskaitis

Is the Globe Flat or Round?

F.A.March Enrichment students really proved that the world is round by assembling a 540 sphere shaped puzzle. It was a time consuming project and required a lot of patience to get the pieces to stay in place. They loved it so much that the globe is now back in pieces all ready to be assembled again!

100th Day
In ESL, the rst graders are creating pictures out of the numbers 1, 0, and 0 in honor of the 100th day.

If I had $100, I would....

On Day 100, rst graders in Mrs. VanFleet's class were given the opportunity to write about what they would do with 100 dollars. Here are some of their ideas: "If I had $100, I would buy a sh tank because I like sh and they are fun. I would get food to survive and live and have food for the pets." - Jack K. " If I had $100, I would give it to poor people because they could buy clothes. They could eat food and get pets." - Emma M. "If I had $100, I would love to get some cats. My sister is going to live in the wild so I think I'll get her some food. I want to get the newest Lego Harry Potter Hogwart's school."- Lucas N. "If I had $100, I would wish I was in charge and I had a castle above the clouds and it was made out of candy. I would want chocolate."Brooke X. "If I had $100, I would buy all the pizza I could and I would buy a house. I wish I had $100." - Brayden W.

The Kindergarten classes spent the day together participating in both Language Arts and Math activities for Day 100. Some of the activities were: writing about what we would look like when we were 100 years old, writing numbers 1-100, making a cube train 100 cubes long, and counting to 100 by 1's and 10's.

Staff Interviews
Each month different staff members will be interviewed by 3rd and 4th grade students. The students will develop the question with help from teachers.

Staff Interviews
Mr. Moussa -Grade 1 Submitted by: Kevin and Aiden
1) When is your birthday? April 21 2) What books do you like? Dr. Seuss 3) Where are you from? Allentown, PA 4) What is your favorite food? Cheese Fries

Mrs. VanFleet - Grade 1 Submitted by: Jarred and Angie

1) When is your birthday? August 28 2) Do you have a son or daughter? Yes, I have one daughter, Melissa 3) What books do you like? Nicholas Sparks books 4) Where are you from? Easton, PA 5) What is your favorite food? Pasta 6) What did you do before working at March Elementary? Nursery School programs

5) What did you do before working at March Elementary? I managed a Sunglasses store 6) What books do you like to read? Dr. Seuss 7) What is your favorite movie? Batman Movies 8) What is your favorite country? American and Syria because my parents are from Syria.

Miss Hancz - Grade 1 Interviewed by: Joseph and Michaela

1) When is your birthday? September 15th 2) What books do you like? Biographies 3) Where are you from? Bethlehem, PA 4) What is your favorite food? Pizza 5) What did you do before working at March Elementary? I taught at the Easton Area Middle School. 6)What books do you like to read? Biographies 7)What is your favorite movie? Lion King 8) What is your favorite country? U.S.A.

What books do you like to read? Jan Britt What is your favorite movie? Cinderella What is your favorite country? U.S.A

Its Hip to Clip: Boxtops

Our Little Leopards are doing a FAME-tastic job of clipping Box Tops for the 2012-2013 school year. We set a goal of raising $1,500.00. The money earned through the collection of Box Tops will help to fund our FAME prizes. We are so excited to share that our school just hit $1000.00 in box tops. What a fabulous job! Take a LOOK at our Box Tops tracking chart in the hall and cheer our school on as we celebrate our progress. Don't forget to clip box tops and bring them into school because its HIP to CLIP!
VISIT THE SCHOOL WEBSITE @ HTTP:// WWW.EASTONSD.ORG /MARCH/ WELCOME.HTML SCHOOL ADDRESS: 429 READER ST EASTON, PA 18042 PHONE NUMBER: 610-250-2531

Leopard Council Collects T abs

Leopard Council and K-Kids is a program at school for 3rd and 4th graders to help our school and the community. The community service project we are working on is collecting can tabs. This will help save the Ronald McDonalds house and help sick children. So help us and bring in tabs to help sick children.

Articles Contributions:

H. Bonilla C. Kordek N. Niosi M. Woodland J. Brunetti

C. Rodrigues J. Brodhead K. Waring L. Van Fleet K. Wilcox

M. Kinney K. Gould M. Danyi

Compiled By: M. Kinney and C. Kordek