read - Clinton Elementary School
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read - Clinton Elementary School
From The Principal Happy New Year Clinton Community! I have this hanging on a wall in my office and refer to it often. It helps me guide the expectations we have for our Clinton kids. What a great time to review who they are. Thank you for your love and belief in them as well. 12thMLK: Amazing Grace, 7:30pm Clinton School at Last Day to Register for Enrichment 14th-16th Treasure in the Trunk 19thMartin Luther King, Jr. Day, District Closed 20th SEPAC/SPED-PTO meeting, 7:30 pm, 525 Academy Street, Maplewood 21stADD/ADHD Support Group, 7:30 pm, The Parenting Center 22ndGeneral PTA Meeting, 7:30 pm, Introducing the Clinton School Buddy Program 26th Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 pm. 525 Academy Street, Maplewood Coming-up-in-February 6th Clinton School Pride Day Tricky Tray In-This-Issue Pg 4 Pg 5 Science Circus at Clinton Tricky Tray Needs You! We are all looking forward to a productive successful 2015 with our amazing Clinton kids and with you. Pg 5Clinton Faculty Achieve Grants Patty Pg. 7-8 Poetry, Opinion and Origami Clinton’s Roving Reporters! A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association win from www.clintonelementary.org Clinton Courier Issue 5, Jan 2015 PTA Board 2014-2015 From The PTA President President Happy New Year, Clinton School Families! First Vice President I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL holiday break and is ready to jump with both feet into another exciting and fun-filled year at Clinton. We have a number of events on the calendar already that I urge our families to take advantage of. Don’t forget to check the school website (www.clintonelementary.org) on a regular basis and if you don’t already receive important email notifications from Clinton, please sign up now. Send a message to [email protected] asking to be added to our list. Please indicate the grade of your children. Holly Pappas 973-763-1223 [email protected] Andrea Beck 973-763-1223 [email protected] Vice Presidents Fundraising Sharon Geraghty 973-761-4120 [email protected] Assistant, Fundraising Janet Trzaska 973-762-4884 [email protected] Cultural Arts Shanta Gyan [email protected] Assistant, Cultural Arts Candice Davenport [email protected] Public Relations Mauri Solages [email protected] Assistant, Public Relations C. Rami Coleman [email protected] Membership Paul Gaykowski Assistant, Membership December was a busy month for everyone. Special thanks to Leah Gomberg and our parent volunteers for a fantastic Winter Craft Fair and for creating a winter wonderland in the front hall using student’s creations. Thanks to everyone who helped provide a lovely breakfast for the cafeteria staff and to our wonderful Clinton students who made a special thank you banner. Our first annual holiday teacher luncheon was also a great success. Verna Jackson Treasurer Jonelle Delk [email protected] Recording Secretary Kimmberly Bulkley Corresponding Secretary Jenny Lindstrom Clinton Courier Editor, Anne Harding 973-763-3893 [email protected] Layout Editor, Kathleen Hong Webmaster Norman Villatoro Cultural Heritage Month Coordinator January is shaping up to be a very eventful month starting with Clinton hosting a Children’s Theatre event on January 12th. Please bring the whole family for this fun evening! The second General PTA meeting of the school year will be held on January 22nd. Don’t miss the introduction of the Clinton School Buddy Program along with the PTA budget and some exciting fundraising goals. Finally, we hope you’ve marked your calendar for our biggest fundraiser of the year. The annual Tricky Tray will take place on February 6th at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange. The prizes this year are amazing and we hope to raise more money than ever before. We look forward to seeing you there! Neena Kumar & Eileen Campos ELL Liaison Leana Lu After School Enrichment Coordinator Erica Dussman Holly [email protected] 973-327-4827 SPED-PTO Liaison Kate Shamburg 973-378-8199 [email protected] Members-at-Large Eileen Campos Leah Gomberg Dermal McCrear Monica Ross Amy Janay President Emeritus Maureen Jones Teacher Representatives Stefanie Wrembel [email protected] Robin Ross [email protected] Clinton PTA gets 4% of every purchase you make on Amazon if you use this link. Just click to go to the page and bookmark it! Principal Patricia O’Neill 973-378-7686 [email protected] Assistant Principal Ann Bodnar 973-378-7686 [email protected] http://is.gd/clintonamazon A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association www.clintonelementary.org 2 Clinton Courier Grade News Kindergarten Kindergarten closes the year with lots of learning and cheer. We are finishing our Writing like Scientists unit and continuing to practice our reading strategies in our Just Right books. We are comparing numbers using more and less and have focused on positional words as well. Looking forward to 2015! First Grade First Grade read many snowmen and gingerbread stories in December. After reading the stories we retold the stories with partners and/or within our Reading Response Journals. We also compared and contrasted settings, characters and problems. In Writing, we are working on expanding our small moment stories into many moment stories. We are using Angela Johnson as one of our mentor authors. In Math, we finished Unit 7, Numbers to 20, and will be starting Addition and Subtraction to 20, one of first grade’s most important units. Also, the first grade teachers would like to thank everyone who helped make our holiday parties a big success and wish you all a happy and healthy 2015!! Second Grade Happy Holidays from Second Grade! In reading we have been working on informational text including identifying text features. We have been using what we have learned in reading to write our own informational text or All About book. In Math we are digging into multiplication and it is really exciting! In Social Studies we have been exploring maps, so feel free to pass the direction map along to us on our holiday travels. Third Grade We have been busy in Third Grade. In Math the chant has been “Multiplication Facts! Multiplication Facts! Multiplication Facts!” all month, and we are on our way to mastery (but please continue to help us practice). We have moved from our nonfiction to our inner strength thematic unit in Reading. We are also finishing up our Feature Articles on our Chromebooks and are beginning Expository Essays in writing. We are excited to begin studying Native Americans in Social Studies when we return from the break. We also really enjoyed our Third Grade Multi-Cultural Feast (thank A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association Issue 5, Jan 2015 you parents and teachers for all the fantastic food and treats). Hope everyone had a great break! Fourth Grade In Fourth Grade Math we are focused on our fraction unit. We have been studying Colonial New Jersey in Social Studies and in Language Arts we have been reading historical fiction, including Freedom Crossing. We are also excitedly anticipating our March 17th trip to see Freedom Train, the story of Harriet Tubman. In Writing we have been working on literary essays. Fifth Grade In Math, we are wrapping up chapters on the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions and mixed numbers. We are reviewing the chapters taught so far and will take a Benchmark Assessment on these skills sometime in mid-January. We are encouraged to bring our textbooks home and review those previously taught skills. (Please remember the textbook can be accessed online, contact your child’s homeroom teacher for login and password information.) In Science, we are continuing the Energy unit and using Science Court Activities to learn about Inertia. Some students completed Colonization Projects in Social Studies and some students are beginning to research the colony they will report on for this unit. We will be working on a new writing unit in January, Literary Essay. We will take a close look at a piece of literature and deeply examine its theme and characters, and will develop a thesis and create an essay proving the thesis. In Reading we are working on our Historical Fiction Unit. We will be reading historical fiction books primarily set during the Revolutionary War. We will look at fact vs fiction. The social work interns are running a Fifth Grade talent show. We are excited to show off our talents! We are looking forward to seeing some dancing, singing, instrument playing, and many more of our fifth-graders’ talents. Thank you to our parents and volunteers for our “Happy New Year” parties! Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday Recess!! Multi-Age In December, as part of our Community Based Instruction Curriculum, we had a 90-minute yoga class, donated by Sarah Dennehy and Mindful Kids Yoga. We also took a trip to the Livingston Mall to purchase gifts for military personnel overseas through Operation Gratitude. A fun winter activity our class completed was “trapped in a snow globe,” where the boys made snow globes with their pictures in them! www.clintonelementary.org 3 Clinton Courier Issue 5, Jan 2015 MLK: Amazing Grace Clinton January 12 at In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Elementary PTAs and the Parenting Center are hosting a performance of MLK: Amazing Grace at Clinton, at 7:30 p.m. on January 12. The dramatic piece was written by Rochel Garner Coleman, who also will direct the show. Four storytellers will use minor props and costume changes to play participants in the Civil Rights Movement, including Rosa Parks, Andy Young, Sheyanne Webb and more. Characters will talk about their association with Martin Luther King, Jr. Their accounts are based on real-life stories and historical research. The show is free and suitable for the whole family. Beyond the Bell Enrichment Deadline Coming Soon! Beyond the Bell After School Enrichment Winter Session comes to Clinton! You should have received a registration packet in your child’s backpack on the first day back to school. Registration deadline is Monday, January 12. Questions? Contact Jonelle Delk at [email protected] Notes from the Nurse Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and peaceful break. As we begin the new year I am asking for your help. Several of our students and staff members suffer from migraine headaches. For some there are specific things that trigger these headaches. Some very common triggers are strongly scented lotions, perfumes and colognes. Please refrain from using these scented items on your children on school days as they may cause their teachers and / or classmates to develop a headache. I thank you for you anticipated cooperation. We are now at the height of cold and flu season, so please remind your children to cover those coughs and sneezes and wash their hands often. These simple acts go a long way to keeping us all healthy. Once again, please remember that NO MEDICATIONS, including over-the-counter medicines, may be administered at school without a doctor’s prescription. Thank you and here’s to a fantastic 2015!! Your Nurse, Joann Harrigan, RN CSN, Clinton School Nurse 973-378-7686 ext.5003 A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association Library News The new year always brings about feelings of starting anew, but I want to reflect on an amazing end to 2014. Every student in Clinton Elementary School participated in the international event Hour of Code. The statistics for this year’s event were staggering as over 77,000 events were held around the world in December. Our Clinton kids were excited to learn about computer science, algorithms, loops and functions. One of the best parts of the week was watching kids learn that even the President was coding. 2015 is going to be a great year in the library. We are continuing to evolve our space to meet the needs of our students. The library was awarded an Achieve grant in 2014 for Makerspace materials. This includes books on robotics, 3D printing, knitting, origami and science exploration. Happy New Year and happy reading! Jennifer Latimer, Clinton Elementary School Library [email protected] Twitter @jenlatimer www.AnywhereLibrarian.com www.donorschoose.org/jlatimer 973-378-7686 x 5004 ‘Science Circus’ Coming Clinton School to Get ready for the circus coming to Clinton School! However, this circus won’t feature clowns, lions and trapeze artists. Instead students will participate in a “Science Circus”, where they will explore the effects of liquid nitrogen on various states of matter, the power of air pressure, and the shocking effects of electrical charges. For Clinton School’s upcoming assembly program, science educators will engage lots of students in over a dozen chilling and thrilling experiments! Two assemblies will be held on Friday, January 16, at 8:30am and 9:30am. The K-2 assembly will take place in the auditorium at 8:30am; and grades 3-5 assembly at 9:30am. Parents and younger siblings are welcome to attend the assembly. If you plan to attend, please sit in the balcony area. — Shanta Gyan, VP for Cultural Arts & Candice Davenport, Asst VP for Cultural Arts www.clintonelementary.org 4 Clinton Courier Issue 5, Jan 2015 Clinton Faculty Win Achieve Foundation Grants! IT’S TIME TO START LOOKING FORWARD TO THE BIGGEST FUNDRAISER (AND FUN-RAISER) ON THE CLINTON SCHOOL CALENDAR: THE SILENT AUCTION & TRICKY TRAY COMING THIS FEBRUARY! Here’s what we need from our parent body to make the event an even bigger success than it has been years past: T1.ricky Tray set for Mark your calendars for Friday, Feb. 6th, and plan to buy your tickets! We’ve secured a swanky new location this year, and are planning an evening that is not to be missed. February 6 • Commit to donating at least one item to the event! When we all take ownership of the success of our school, our kids win! Clinton’s 12th Annual Auction & 3.Tricky Tray is coming up 2. Think about what YOU can bring to the table! Volunteer to help the committee solicit donations from our local soon.• This ouraccess biggest (and most fun) fundraiser of the year. Do you have to a special hook-up business communities! through work or family that could be We need your rely from our Clinton auctioned off athelp! our eventWe & bring in big on donations Contact either Eileen Campos donations for our amazing school? at [email protected] or Kelly Turner at [email protected] families to supply auction items. • Think out of the box: do you have access for more information about how to sports/event/theater tickets, do you make jewelry, have access to a vacation spot that could be auctioned for a week, bake amazing cakes, offer a service that everyone needs? These types of items/ services can be a big help in raising funds that directly benefit our kids! you can get involved! LET THE theater, actor, Do you craft? Have a hookup to a restaurant, tickets, venues or shop? Think outsideCOUNTDOWN the box! Can you BEGIN! donate a couple of hours of babysitting, bake a dozen cupcakes, facepaint at a kid’s party or organize someone’s closet? Name & Email: ____________________________ of donation: Did you receive a gift you can’t useDescription or don’t want? Donate it! _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Would you host a dinner? The Clinton Dinners are always a How you’d like to be listed in the program: Limitations: big hit and super fun. Come up with a theme or a menu, din_________________________________________ ners can be at your home or can be_________________________________________ delivered. Please consider donating something! The Achieve Foundation’s Teacher Grant Program inspires district teachers to propose exceptional, constructive projects to help their students in the classroom and beyond. In all, Achieve awarded 63 teacher grants totaling $67,000 for the current school year. Congratulations to Clinton’s Jennifer Latimer, who received a grant to create Makerspace Creator Space! Some proposals were approved but did not receive the entire amount of funding requested, including Jon Korellis for Community Based Instruction at Clinton. These projects are now eligible for direct funding, which means you can donate directly to any project of your choice through January 31st! Fill out pledge form below (use flip side for additional space) and send back addressed to Tricky Tray Committee. (i.e. “Beaded Objects by Clinton Parent Eileen Campos”) (i.e. Valid for 1 year from the date of the Auction) We will be having our Treasure in the Trunk days on January 14, 15, and 16. You can anonymously regift any unwanted items. All must be in new condition, We’ll take it all! These items will be prize donations for our Tricky Tray portion of the event. Look for cars with signs parked in front of the school at AM drop off. We will also be selling raffle tickets during our Treasure in the Trunk days. We have 2 amazing raffles this year. Maplewood Family Pool Membership: All Clinton families are eligible for this prize... ahh summer, what’s better than hanging out at the pool? The Restaurant Raffle: Dine out for days! The winner receives Gift Certificates to over 15 restaurants with more coming in each day! Currently we have over $475 worth of gift cards... did I mention more coming every day? Raffle tickets are $15 each or 2 for $25. All winning tickets will be pulled at the Tricky Tray. You do not need to be present to win. This year’s event will be held February 6th, 2015 at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club. Mark your calendars. We promise a fun evening. Please contact Eileen Campos or Kelly Turner. We can both be reached at [email protected] for any questions or if you’d like to discuss prize ideas. A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association Click here to donate: https://achievefoundation.org/supportus-category/fundraising/annual-fund/. Just choose Direct Funding on the form, provide the information requested, and pay via Paypal. To pay by mail, send your check with the teacher’s name and school in the memo line to Achieve Foundation, PO Box 84, Maplewood, NJ, 07040. Direct Grant Funding donations are fully tax-deductible. For more information please contact Buena Chilstrom at [email protected] or 973-762-8274. Please click here for a list of all the Achieve grants awarded this year. Coming in February: AfricanAmerican Heritage Month January’s display, “When is Your New Year,” is now up in the front hallway. Please stop by, take a look, and enjoy the stories and artifacts representing the Jewish, Chinese and calendar New Year. Next month we will be celebrating African American heritage at Clinton. Do you have any creative thoughts, ideas, stories, mementos, keepsakes or anything else that can help us best represent this important month? We are really hoping for input from the community. If you have any thoughts or suggestions or just want to help please contact Neena Kumar ([email protected]). Thank you! — Neena Kumar, Cultural Heritage Coordinator www.clintonelementary.org 5 Clinton Courier Issue 5, Jan 2015 Night of 100 Dinners Seeking Hosts Every year for the past 11 years, the community has come together to host dozens of dinners around town in support of the Achieve Foundation. This is one of the largest annual fundraisers for the organization, which funds programs for exemplary public education in Maplewood and South Orange via teacher grants, STEM+ initiatives, volunteer tutoring, professional development and more. Last year, we had around 75 families hosting and would love to increase the number of hosts for 2015’s event. How does it work? GS Troop 22908 brings Gratitude Graffiti to Clinton In early November the Junior Girl Scouts Troop 22908 created a Clinton Gratitude Graffiti poster and installed it on the school cafeteria wall, which stayed up until Winter Break. The girl scouts hoped to generate well-being by providing a space for students and grown-ups within the Clinton School community to express feelings of gratitude. Besides coinciding with the Season of Giving, the project also helped the girl scouts to live by the Girl Scout Law which is: I will do my best to be honest and fair friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, And to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout. It’s a fundraiser with a personal touch. Every year, people volunteer by opening their homes to host or co-host simultaneous dinner parties to support Achieve. This year’s event takes place on March 7th, 2015. Hosts create their own guest lists and provide all the trimmings for parties that suit their fancy: from candlelight dinners to take-out sushi or subs. Achieve makes it easy by sending and tracking all invitations to YOUR personal guest list. Dinner guests make a gift to Achieve of $50 per person or more to attend. A party can be as simple as a group of families doing potluck or a girls’ night out with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. It’s entirely up to the hosts. For more information about hosting, donating or becoming an event sponsor, please contact 100dinners@achievefoundation. org. In addition, Clinton parents Shama Diegnan ([email protected]) and Shanta Gyan ([email protected]) are happy to share their hosting experiences or answer questions. Perhaps because the Gratitude Graffiti project came on the heels of the successful Week of Respect graffiti project at Columbia High School and Clinton Elementary, Clinton students flourished at the task and their shared positive messages overflowed the allotted space quite early on so that it was necessary to provide more poster paper to last the full period. Teachers and staff also wrote gratitude messages which was shared weekly during Thursday’s morning announcements. Clinton parent, Candice Davenport, and Lucila McElroy are co-founders of the Gratitude Graffiti Project. To learn more about The Gratitude Graffiti Project, click here for the website: http://thegratitudegraffitiproject.com/ A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association www.clintonelementary.org 6 Clinton Courier Issue 5, Jan 2015 January 2014 Roving Reporters I am Thankful For ... by: Amanda Clinton students wrote about what they are thankful for and here is a selection from around the school: Maggie: The world Benjamin: Class Ella: Food and Mom Gavin: Friends Mallory: Books Dylan: Soccer Amanda: World Peace Clinton Courier Staff: Alison Amanda Ciara Evan Eve James Juliet Katie M. Katie T. Lily Owen Sadie Scarlett Winter Scarlett S. Winter Snow falling, leaves dropping. Ice on roofs, long and cone shaped. Fire, burning orange. Warm and comforting. Milk with cookies. Eaten and drank. Chimneys smoking into the grey sky. Thinking of polar bears, and penguins, and angels. Christmas and New Year. Stockings and hats. Snow and ice, blue and white. Pillows and blankets wrap around the world. Snowmen and sledding. Skating and skiing. Love between two. Love between five. Love between ten. Boots, and coats, and hats, and scarfs. Hibernation, and migration Santa zipping from house to house, dropping goods to the children of the world. My white dog, nuzzling up to her family. Minds full of dreams, hearts full of love. And clouds, leading the snow, on the most incredible journey of the year. Issue 5 ∙ Winter 2014 ∙ Maplewood, New Jersey A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association www.clintonelementary.org 7 Clinton Courier Issue 5, Jan 2015 Step 2. Turn Sticky Note over and fold the right third to the left. Letter from the Editor These past weeks have been so much fun as the Roving Reporter staff has worked to bring the Clinton community fun and interesting news and interest stories. In addition, the staff wanted to express themselves creatively through poetry, papercrafts and more. Mrs. Latimer .How to Origami (Easy) Step 3. Fold the left third over the right half. By James V. Start with one square sticky note. In my opinion By Evan ARE STAND UP DESKS BETTER? According to recent studies, yes. I read an article from Scholastic News and it says that standing up can burn ten more calories than sitting down every hour. It also says if you are standing up for a week you will burn the same amount of calories as you do running three miles. So make your choice. Do you want to stand………….or sit? www.wired.com Winter Poetry by Alison Step 1. Fold bottom third of Sticky Note upwards. Step 4. Flip back over and draw your face above the line. Winter Ice No school Time for happiness Eating pie Reading A small little speck Falling far on to the ground Quietly it lands Issue 5 ∙ Winter 2014 ∙ Maplewood, New Jersey A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association www.clintonelementary.org 8