Newtown High School Blog

The Newtown High School Nurtury still has a few open preschool positions for next year and that we are eagerly looking to fill them.  Need more information? email us at : nurtury@newtown.k12.ct.us or visit us at:  http://www.newtown.k12.ct.us/teachers/tpage.php?view=t&pid=846

Family and friends filled the Newtown High School Lecture Hall last Wednesday. All were gathered to honor graduates of The Nurtury preschool program by helping them celebrate their ‘Moving Up Day’. Read the rest of this entry »

It was Game Day in The Nurtury preschool program today.  Students in Stephanie Gacso’s Child Development 2 course have spent the last few weeks learning the fundamentals of educational games for children. A solid understanding of the cognitive, social and physical development of 3-year olds is critical to designing a quality game. Strategies for choosing who goes first, how to advance in the game, how to complete the game, are just as important as scale, color, vocabulary and game pieces. Read the rest of this entry »

Early Childhood Education II student, Kayla Buckley, created a transportation lesson for Nurtury students, and included a very exciting outing for the preschoolers. Kayla secured the services of her mother, Denise Buckley (one of Newtown’s bus drivers) to allow children to board her school bus, count the number of seats, learn the significance of the bus number, and the importance of safety rules like remaining seated while the bus is in motion.

Once the fundamentals were covered, the bus travelled twice around the high school parking lot – a short, but very exciting trip for those who had never had the opportunity to ride on a school bus before.

The young travelers then returned to the classroom for some discussion, and for creative coloring of school bus drawings.

Great idea, Kayla. And thank you, Mrs. Buckley.

All Aboard!

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’ birthday, and schools throughout the country celebrate it every year by participating in the Read Across America program.  Newtown High School created a unique twist to the celebration this year.  Students enrolled in the Kristin Violette’s Future Teachers of America (FTA) club met with Nurtury teacher Stephanie Gacso to discuss books, activities and lesson objectives appropriate for the 3 year old students in the NHS Nurtury program.

The FTA students then created their own thematic lessons and activities based upon any one of several recommended books.  For the special day, Nurtury students were paired with FTA students for the 90 minute session, which included reading, interacting, and a creative thematic activity.  During the lesson, Miss Gacso’s Child Development students acted as “observers” in the classroom, taking notes about the lesson and enagement with their pre school partner.  A lot of teaching and learning at a variety of levels.

Congratulations to the pre school, FTA and Child Development students, and  to their advisers; Miss Gacso and Miss Violette.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

(Indicated photos courtesy of The Bee)

The Nurtury celebrated it’s 4th Annual Pajama Party today. The children cooked recipes at centers (pancakes, waffles, fresh squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate, & potato latkes) along with the Early Childhood Education Students and then sat down to a delicious breakfast. They also made ornaments & played “Pin the Carrot Nose on the Snowman.”

The children in Stephanie Gacso’s Child Development class followed a “single portion recipe” to assemble snowman soup (hot chocolate mix). They read simple instruction cards to measure ingredients and used fine motor skills to pour & stir without spilling. They decided on a special person to give their present to in this gift giving season. They then sampled some snowman soup with their choice of marshmallows or whipped cream topping served by Mrs. Cacioppo, who assisted with the lesson.

Child Development teacher Stephanie Gacso joins her NHS students in supervising preschoolers in the art of cutting with scissors.

Preschoolers use safety scissors to cut pieces from a roll of play-clay into a paper cup. When the cutting is done, they roll the pieces together and start again.

What fun!

Child Development teacher (and Head Oompa Loompa) Stephanie Gacso led the Newtown High School preschoolers and their high school buddies on a Halloween Parade through the NHS hallways this afternoon. The group found Principal Chip Dumais, who just happened to have a basket of special treats to share. Some witnesses reported that Mr. Dumais seemed to be having as much fun as his costumed visitors. There are still two openings available in the preschool program. Contact Miss Gacso for details.

The Sandy Hook Fire Dept visited the NHS Nurtury on Monday 10/26 from 12:15-1:00 to inform students about the importance of Fire Safety/Prevention Month.

Firemen answered many questions about their truck and equipment and gave important advice about fire safety.

One important tip – change the batteries in your smoke detectors this weekend!

The Newtown High School Nurtury Program still has openings! Newtown children must be potty trained and have turned three by December 31, 2009.  Acceptance is on a first come, first served basis.  For more information, contact Stephanie Gacso at gacsos@newtown.k12.ct.us.

The Newtown High School Nurtury Preschool currently has 4 openings for the 2009-2010 school year.  Additional information can be found here.

More than 100 students, relatives, faculty and administration members attended the graduation ceremony for Miss Gacso’s class of preschoolers. Read the rest of this entry »

Miss Gacso’s Early Childhood Education students continued their Valentine’s Day mathematics adventure by lining up at the Post Office to purchase postage.  Each ‘stamp’ cost one heart-shaped ‘dollar’.  There was much careful counting by all. Read the rest of this entry »

Early Childhood Education (ECE) students are given the task of creating a thematic lesson that also addresses one of the cognitive development objectives from the CT Dept of Ed Preschool Curriculum benchmarks. This week’s theme is Valentine’s Day. Carnations were provided in cooperation with the The Greenery, an NHS enterprise. Read the rest of this entry »

The Master Schedule is developed in the spring of the previous year and “tweaked” throughout the summer to accommodate as many student requests as possible.  Our current staffing and space issues have made it difficult to grant all student requests for electives.  Read the rest of this entry »

Students in Ms. Gacso’s Child Development class are preparing plans for upcoming activities for their pre-school students.