Trinity Girls on the Run

Congratulations Trinity Girls on the Run!

On Saturday, Trinity 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students who participated in Girls on the Run this fall joined with girls from schools through Howard and Carroll counties in their season culminating 5K. The girls did an excellent job, and we are so proud of their hard work, positive attitudes, and perseverance. We were blessed with a break in the rainy weather for just about the exact amount of time it took to set up, run, and clean up the race, so for that we are very grateful! We had a season full of fun, balanced with learning and preparation for the 5K, and we are looking forward to another great season this spring!

Way to go Trinity tigers - Emily, Ava, Zorah, Makenzie, Melania, Audrey, Caitlin, Delaney, Kate, Konner, Madison, and Savannah! You were awesome!

Tara Archer, Preschool Teacher

What is Girls on the Run? Girls on the Run is a transformational physical activity based positive youth development program for girls in 3rd-8th grade. We teach life skills through dynamic, interactive lessons and running games. The program culminates with the girls being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5k running event. The goal of the program is to unleash confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness.
http://www.girlsontherun.org/

Trinity School Virtue of the Month for December: Tolerance

December is a good time of the year to practice tolerance.

Tolerance is respecting the dignity and rights of others – even those whose beliefs and behaviors are different from our own.

We may not agree with others, but we must respect differences.

 Tolerant people say:

“Hey stop it. You’re putting her down.”

“It’s hurtful to make fun of how people look.”

“That’s not funny.  It pokes fun at his race.”

“Why don’t you let him be on the team?  So what if he’s never hit a ball before.”

 Tolerant people:

·         Refuse to take part in activities that make fun of people because they’re different.

·         Don’t laugh at jokes that make unkind remarks about a person’s race, religion, culture or size.

·         Stand up for someone who is being put down or ridiculed.

·         Refuse to exclude someone because she/he is different or not as experienced at something as others.

·         Get into the habit of saying only positive and kind things about others.

 It takes self-control to be TOLERANT.

 

 

 

 

Trinity Thanksgiving

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast 
 

 

Thanksgiving brings to mind turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie and all sorts of yummy food. Thanksgiving food, family, friends and festivities are all wonderful traditions for a wonderful day, but a truly thankful heart and grateful soul will make it a priority to thank God first for the many blessings, big and small. Mrs. Connell and Mrs. O’Malley’s pilgrims and Indians celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with prayer and a feast. It was a wonderful morning and seeing the children interacting with one another, as a family! A special note of thanks to our many parent volunteers, who served with such a willing spirit. Gobble, gobble!!!

 

The Spirit of Thankful Hearts and Hands

 

As we get ready to spend Thanksgiving with our loved ones, now is a good time to reflect on the true meaning of the holiday. There is no one better to tell us all about it than the students who attend Trinity Extended Day. Every year the students spend their afternoon preparing lasagna meals and making sandwiches, writing notes and decorating brown bags for children and families in the communities through Grass Roots for Thanksgiving. Christian Boyce said it best ““It’s great making someone’s day better, making sandwiches and giving them food. It makes me feel good and it’s so much fun!”  

 Barbara Law

Preschool/TED Director

Trinity School - A Healthy Howard Gold Award School

Trinity School is a Healthy Howard, Healthy School!

 

Trinity School has been a Healthy School for the past 3 years.  In 2012 and 2013 Trinity School was awarded Silver Medals, and in 2014 Trinity was awarded a Gold Medal.  

 
 
The purpose of the Healthy Howard program is to create an environment of health and wellness that will engage the entire school community. 

 

Two key goals of this program are:

1. A  commitment to create a culture where healthy eating and physical activity are the norm and not the exception
2. Promote parent, community and professional involvement in developing a healthier school environment



 At Trinity School we achieve these goals by offering new and improved ways to educate the students, staff, and families. Some of the special ways Trinity earned the Gold Medal in 2014 are:

 

·         Trinity has two recesses a day for children in preschool through the 4^th grade.  Weather permitting, this gives our young students the chance to get some fresh air and exercise twice a day.

·         Trinity participated in the Apple Crunch Day (pictured above).  Held on Food Day, all Trinity students and teachers crunched into an apple at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·         The Trick or Trot 5K is a race held on a Saturday in October.  What makes this event unique is that the course is contained on campus - no running on public roads with traffic.  Students, parents, and alumni enjoy the chance to run around campus and see the Halloween decorations in the woods.  There were 250 runners this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·        In addition to the Trick or Trot, there is lots of running at Trinity School.  We have Girls on the Run, Cross Country, Track, and the Trinity Trot.  All of this running takes place on our beautiful campus. 

·         Trinity preschoolers are looking forward to yoga class during the winter months when it is too cold for the playground.  One of our teachers is certified to teach yoga to young children.

·         There are no vending machines on the Trinity campus.

·         In conjunction with our Green School efforts, students are discouraged from bringing prepackaged snacks to school.  Healthy snacks are provided in preschool and the extended day program.  Students and parents are encouraged to pack healthy snacks.

·         Healthy living is part of the curriculum throughout the school.  Preschoolers have are taught about nutrition and healthy eating.  Second graders have a unit on My Plate in their Social Science class.   Middle School students learn about nutrition in Life Skills classes. 

 

St. Julie said “Teach them what they need to know for live.”   These are just a few highlights of ways Trinity promotes healthy living for life.

Amanda Soares
Trinity School Nurse

 

 

 

 

 

Trinity School Virtue of the Month for November: Honesty

Trinity School Virtue of the Month for November: Honesty

When you think of someone's reputation, you usually think of his or her HONESTY.  Very early on, you will be identified by classmates as an honest or dishonest person.  When people know you are honest they will like you, rely on you, and want to be around you.  No one wants to be around a liar.  So it is very important that you guard your honest reputation.

An HONEST person always speaks the truth.

Honest persons:

• Tell the truth despite consequences
• Do their own homework
• Write a report without copying
•  Return things that he/she borrowed

You are being honest when you...

• Tell a friend the truth
• Keep your eyes on your own paper
• Clean up your room after making a promise
• Give the cashier the extra money she gave you by mistake
• Keep a friend's secret
• Admit you made a mistake
• Turn in a wallet full of money that you found

Honesty is being sincere, truthful, trustworthy, honorable, fair, genuine, and loyal with integrity.

You guard your honest reputation by constantly practicing honesty.  Like any other habit, honesty must be cultivated.  The more you do it, the more it becomes a part of your nature.  HOW WILL YOU PRACTICE HONESTY THIS WEEK?

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

Trinity School Virtue of the Month for October: Diligence

Trinity School Virtue of the Month for October: Diligence

Diligence comes from the Latin word diligere meaning to value highly, to take delight in.

A DILIGENT person works HARD to finish a job.

A DILIGENT person is:

• a hard worker
• industrious
• attentive
• persistent
• steady
• earnest
• energetic

A DILIGENT person:

• applies himself/herself to the task at hand
• starts working right away
• works hard to finish a job
• invests time & energy
• does a job efficiently
• applies his/her God-given talents

DILIGENT is a key ingredient to success in practice, exercise and study.

Virtue of the Month for September: Responsibility

Responsibility is accepting the consequences of your actions.

Seeds to Plant: If it needs to be done, DO IT!

Weeds to Pull: No excuses!

Family/School Rule: No complaining, no blaming, no whining.

Everyone - both children and adults - has things to do in life that are important for their own growth and that of others.  It is each person's job to do these things to the best of his/her ability.

A person who is RESPONSIBLE gets the job done.  You cannot depends on an irresponsible person.

An IRRESPONSIBLE person often says: I don't know; nobody told me; I didn't mean to.

A RESPONSIBLE person will find out the correct information and think before he/she acts.

No one MAKES you do something.  YOU are in charge of yourself.

Whatever choice you make, you also CHOOSE the CONSEQUENCE.

A RESPONSIBLE person accepts the consequences of his/her actions.

List all the RESPONSIBILITIES that you have.

How are you doing?

Education Best Practice: K to 8 Configuration

Introduction

The United States is virtually the only nation where elementary school students spend time in a middle or junior high school before entering high school.  The curricular and non-curricular benefits of a K-8 school have been written about in multiple studies and newspaper articles.  This is what educators, parents and nationally respected research institutes have concluded about the advantages of the K-8 model:

 

Curricular Benefits

v  Studies have found that 8th graders in K-8 schools score significantly higher than those in middle school on standardized tests of achievement in reading, mathematics and science.

v  Attendance, dropout rates and student test scores are better for children attending K-8 schools than for those in traditional middle schools.

 

K-8s are the place where everybody knows your name.

v  Teachers in K-8 settings are accustomed to teaming, planning together and working with the same group of students.  They are also trained to teach elementary students and bring a student-centered approach to their teaching.

v  Children in K-8 schools are able to experience the comfort and stability of familiar surrounding and staff for an eight or nine-year period. 

10- to 14-Year-Olds are Children

v  Forces in today’s society are pushing 10- to 14-year old children to grow up fast.  Because they have fewer children in that age group, K-8 schools are in a better position to remind children, parents and the entire community, that these are still children and should be treated as such.

 

v  The configuration of grades 6-8 actually works against the needs of young adolescents.  Ten-year old children are at their most vulnerable when moved from the stable school environment they are accustomed to and asked to navigate a new school and a new succession of adults while they are still learning to negotiate with each other. 

Greater Parent Involvement, Leadership Skills and Higher Self Esteem in K-8

v  Parents are more inclined to stay connected to and involved in K-8 schools than in middle schools—a factor that correlates highly with student success in school.  Too frequently, parents disconnect when a child graduates from a K-6. 

v  K-8 settings provide the ideal environment to begin fostering leadership in young adolescents.  Older children serve in many capacities and undertake service projects, while younger students have someone to look up to. 

v  Students in the K-8 school show a higher self-esteem and confidence and a healthier adolescent development.

Sources:  American Association of School Administrators (AASA); National School Boards Association (NSBA); Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL);  Deseret News (Marjorie Cortez); Philadelphia Education Fund (Keith Look)

Trinity 5th Graders Celebrate Winn-Dixie

The fifth grade students read Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. To celebrate the themes and ideas from the book, we had a party. The party included food items from the book, like egg salad, punch, and even Littmus Lozenges! The students brought in pictures of their pets and we celebrated their pets by creating decorations with their pictures. The students concluded the celebration by watching the movie Because of Winn-Dixie. They will be writing an essay comparing the book and movie in L.A.. It was a wonderful day with lots of amazing food!

Campus Carpool Planters

 

 PRIMARY SCHOOL FLOWER POTS:  The 8 flower pots that mark the carpool lines were decorated by the primary school classes as an Earth Day project last spring.  Thanks to Mrs. Stauffer who created the flags and planted the flowers.

These pots are found at the end of each primary school carpool line, which marks the line number for student pick up.

Environmental Tips

1.  Be sensible! The Earth might seem like it has abundant water, but in fact only one percent of all water on the planet is available for humans. Look for the WaterSense label to find water efficient products that use less water to do the same job. (epa.gov) Look for tips this month on how to conserve this valuable and limited resource.

 2.  Make it a full load! Run your dishwasher only when it's full. Give yourself a break. Don't pre-rinse dishes - tests show pre-rinsing doesn't improve dishwasher cleaning, and you'll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load. Studies show hand washing dishes uses more water and more energy (for the hot water) than an energy-efficient dishwasher. When you buy a new dishwasher, look for one that saves water. Water-efficient models use only about only about 4 gallons per wash. (epa.gov)

  3.  Shower power! A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, but taking a five-minute shower saves water by using 10 to 25 gallons. Put a little timer or clock near your shower so you can see how fast you are. (epa.gov)

4.  Make it a full load! The average washing machine uses 40.9 gallons of water per load. If you buy a new washer, shop for a high-efficiency washer that needs less than 28 gallons of water per load. (They also use less detergent so you save money J) To achieve even greater savings, wash only full loads of laundry or be sure to choose the appropriate load size on the washing machine. Most fabrics only need a cold water setting. Check the labels to save energy with cold wash instead of warm or hot.  (epa.gov)

Inspirational Green Video

This is a truly inspirational clip—a group of middle school students who made a determined effort and produced an unexpected impact on their school and community.  Just goes to show you how little things we do matter and how it adds up to big things. 


http://www.youngvoicesonclimatechange.com/movie_dreaming.php

Want to Help Trinity Go Green?

  

 

 

If you are a Trinity parent, supporting and encouraging Trinity and its students in their going green efforts is a great start. In addition, we encourage each member of the Trinity family to adopt green practices at work and at home. The following websites are additional sources of information about the green revolution and provide tips on how you can reduce your carbon footprint:

• The Daily Green, a consumer's guide to "going green" from GoodHousekeeping.com;
• Learn the Issues: Green Living, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency website that provides information about ways you can reduce your environmental footprint, from suggestions about everyday grocery purchases to tips on making your home more energy efficient (visitors can also sign up to receive the EPA's Going Green monthly newsletter);
• 10 Ways to Go Green and Save Green, a website sponsored by the Worldwatch Institute that provides tips on "going green" and "saving green";
• Low Impact Living, use the environmental impact calculator to determine how your lifestyle impacts the environment and review tips on how to "go green".