Thank You EMS Book Fair Chairs and Volunteers

2012 Book Fair Chairs – Adrienne Anderson and Karen Toback

What a week this has been!  I want to thank you and express my admiration for your work in making the Book Fair a great success.  Your hours of volunteered time, your good cheer, your donations of café food and gift books, and your participation in the event – often despite not having power or with the snow pelting down outside – have played an enormous role in reminding us all of the power and depth of the Elisabeth Morrow community.  

I would like to extend special thanks to Adrienne Anderson and Karen Toback, who planned and executed a wonderful event despite the extenuating circumstances.  From setting up in the cold and dark the Thursday before the Fair to being among the last to leave the night of the snow storm, their leadership and perseverance serve as an excellent example to us all – and to our children.

Aaron Cooper
Head of School

EMS Teachers Present at Annual New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative Conference

Sandy Malko, Laurie Lester and Kristi Evans at NJECC Conference

by Dr. Allison Egert
Director or Special Learning Services


EMS teachers Kristi Evans, Laurie Lester and Sandy Malko recently presented Captivating the Young Using 21st Century Skills  which highlighted the use of iPADS and other mobile devices for teaching and differentiating instruction for students who may find reading and writing a bit more challenging.  With the help of Sarah Rolle, EMS Director of Technology, the teachers developed a website for their attendees that offered a few iPad references and a list of top 10 apps that are effective and engaging for students in first through fourth grades.  

Kristi Evans

For me, the presentation was a reminder that it's a dynamic time to be a teacher.  We are finding, both here at EMS and elsewhere, that digital engagement and literacy is promoting independent discovery and sparking an interest in students for acquiring the background knowledge necessary for understanding texts. iPad's are also further encouraging peer relationships and collaborative learning.  Mostly, however, they are just plain fun to use as part of the learning process–for students as well as teachers.

"High-Order" Reading

by Beth Brennan

Director of Early Childhood Programs

Recently, I read an article called "Using Higher Order Questioning to Accelerate Students' Growth in Reading" by Debra S.Peterson and Barbara M. Taylor,* from this month's issue of The Reading Teacher.  With regard to student reading, the authors stressed the importance of facilitating "high-order" discussion and writing to promote deeper thinking in students: So, in essence, teachers need to engage student readers beyond simple factual analysis and at more of an analytical, abstract or inferential level.

This is precisely the subject matter we tackle during grade-level meetings and professional development days at EMS.  Our teachers regularly assess to what extent they are engaging students in rich and thoughtful reflection, or to what degree their students are thinking critically about the reading.  The hardest part we find (perhaps for any educator) is having the willingness or confidence to move text discussions away from "teacher instructed" to "student centered." This is challenging; it is very easy to just provide answers, but it takes a great deal more effort to move students toward meaningful analysis or discussion. And, it is very important that we do so if we hope to promote and cement higher-order comprehension. 

* - This article is protected by copywrite and therefore not available via direct link.  A PDF may be purchased through the Wiley Online Library.  The abstract is available here.  If you wish to read this article, contact me and I will try to provide you with a copy