Upcoming Events
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November 19
Minimum Day November 27
Borough Menorah Lighting Ceremony
November 27
Happy Thanksgiving! November 28-29
Borough Tree Lighting Ceremony
Minimum Days and P/T Conferences
December 4-6
Board of Education mtg.
December 10
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Franklin Lakes Public Schools
School News and Views November 2013
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Dear Community Members,
It's hard to believe that we are already into our third issue of School News and Views from Franklin Lakes Public Schools. This month's release reports on gardens and getaways, dancing and donations, thinking pink and programs, and fall celebrations, commemorations, and elections. We even have a special entry from a Board of Education member.
As we continue to publish great news from our schools, we look forward to bringing you more from our school partners and student related town organizations. Tune in during mid-December and, in the meantime, I send you best wishes for a Thanksgiving weekend filled with family, friends, love and laughter!
Sincerely,
Frank Romano, III, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
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District News
SNaV Curriculum: Independent Study Program Excites
Students
Fourth and fifth graders at CRS, HMR, and WAS are excited to begin their journey as a part of the Independent Study Program, an enrichment program open to all students in those grades. The program was designed to meet the needs of our creative, highly-motivated students by providing them the opportunity to meet with their like-minded peers in a setting that allows them to reflect on their strengths and explore their interests.
As a part of the Independent Study Program, students meet once per week during their lunch and recess time with our Independent Study Program teacher, Mrs. Monaghan. Mrs. Monaghan is thrilled to guide her students on their journey as they reflect on their strengths, interests, and the way they like to learn and express themselves in order to investigate personal areas for research and develop projects to share with their families and friends. Some ideas that participants are already interested in investigating are movie making, video game coding, magnet powered cars, and rock and roll. The program culminates with an Independent Study Showcase where families are invited to share in celebrating their child's work as a part of the program. We look forward to seeing you at the Independent Study Showcase this winter!
SNaV Business and Operations: NJ Wellness Program
Have you heard about NJWELL? It's the new Wellness program that offers financial incentives to actively employed members of the State Employees Health Benefits Plan (SEHBP) who complete preventative screenings and participate in other health and wellness activities! Spouses and partners covered as dependents in the SEHBP are also eligible to participate and earn rewards in NJWELL, which kicks off in January, 2014. If 80% or more of the District's employees participate, the District is also eligible to receive a financial bonus.
As we enter into the holiday season, remember "everything in moderation" and keep exercising. Take a walk after your holiday dinner - it's a fun way to keep the kids busy and you won't feel so guilty about eating that extra portion of dessert!
SNaV Technology: Value of Old-Fashioned Networking
With all of the changes occurring in education, it is imperative that school districts share experiences and stay informed in order to best meet the needs of students, staff, and the overall school community. Our Information Technology staff are members of a number of organizations that provide a valuable forum to that end. In fact, our staff has taken a leadership role in founding and/or managing several of these groups.
The New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative (NJECC) is a non-profit organization with over one hundred New Jersey school district and university members. The mission of the organization is to promote and support the integration of technology in education as it applies to student learning, professional development, and instructional planning. NJECC provides monthly meetings with relevant educational technology topics, a statewide conference with presentations of best practices, some of which our own staff has presented, and opportunities for discounts on software and hardware. Mrs. Bridget Pastenkos, Technology Coordinator, is an NJECC trustee.
The New Jersey System Administrators Users Group has over one hundred members. In addition to a very active and helpful listserve (member/email list), members meet once a month to discuss issues and learn about new products related to infrastructure, networking, security, and virtualization. Group cooperation has brought down costs for several hardware and networking purchases. Our Network Administrator, Mr. Barrett Hartman, is a founding member of this valuable group.
The District's student information system, Genesis, holds a bi-yearly users group meeting where districts gather with the developers to discuss new advances and future plans. Genesis is used by over 225 school districts in the state of NJ as their student information system and this up-close relationship with the developers is quite an asset. Mrs. Bridget Pastenkos is also a founding member of the Genesis User Group.
While our focus is technology and its deployment/management, in-person, "old-fashioned" interaction and communication among users play a vital and increasingly important role.
SNaV Special Services: Sowing the Seeds for Learning
Dr. Marcy Pryor's Science class was featured in the Suburban News on October 31st because of the learning garden they created with the help from Mr. Steven Langella of Langella Landscaping and his wife, speech pathologist, Christina Langella. Dr. Pryor and Mrs. Langella collaborate to use the Science curriculum to address the students' speech and language goals weekly during an integrated session. This learning garden created a real-world opportunity to overlap the core curriculum and support services (including speech, occupational therapy and physical therapy).
Throughout the year, the students are learning about plants in Science class and this learning garden will change with the seasons. Mr. Langella donated all of the pla nts, seeds, soil, mulch, and bulbs for the garden. Students were then able to get to work and beautify the area outside of their classroom windows. Students needed to follow a design board to place the plants in the appropriate locations. They dug, mulched, put down seeds, and planted bulbs. Students also learned the names of the plants, whether or not they were annuals or perennials, and if the plants needed shade or full sun. Students are excitedly watching their learning garden grow and change with the seasons.
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FAMS News
SNaV FAMS: DANCE-A-THON
The FAMS Peer Leadership Corps is proud to announce that the 2013 DANCE-A-THON was a huge success! The fun-filled night included many FAMS students dancing, playing games, and winning prizes. This annual dance acts as a fundraiser for over 25 local charities and organizations that help serve our community. This year, the PLC was happy to feature Habitat for Humanity and the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge as our main beneficiaries.
As always, we will continue to support all of the phenomenal organizations we have helped in the past. Since its inception, the DANCE-A-THON has helped raise over $110,000 for our community! This event continues to be a great success based on the tremendous generosity and support of our school, students, families, and community. The PLC is honored to help represent FAMS making a difference in people's lives, and we'll continue to help throughout the school year. THANK YOU!
SNaV FAMS: Frost Valley
The sixth grade class recently enjoyed a successful three day trip to the Frost Valley YMCA, set on a spectacular 5,000 acres in the Catskill Mountains. Students participated in three different one and a half hour classes each day that reinforced confidence, trust, resourcefulness, and camaraderie. Students rotated tasks; setting dining tables, serving meals, cleaning up, and learning to recycle food waste for composting. Different assignments for bus, cabin, dining, and activity groups fostered new friendships. They participated in hiking, water ecology, orienteering, boating, and a low ropes course.
Nightly entertainment included the educational "Birdman" featuring spectacular birds of prey, the "Snakeman" displaying a huge tortoise and a variety of reptiles, a night hike with amazing stargazing (the best in the Northeast), the "Action Auction", and a bonfire with marshmallow roasting. After a challenging and entertaining itinerary, we traveled back to home cooking and our own beds. Our twenty-three chaperones, including our own Dr. Meli who worked relentlessly, had such a positive impact on the children and their dedication is appreciated.
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CRS News
SNaV CRS: Halloween Festivities
CRS recently hosted our annual Halloween Parade. This enjoyable experience allowed students of all ages and their teachers to dress up in very creative and unique costumes and parade around the school for our audience of families and friends. In addition, our students enjoyed Halloween
 parties sponsored by our PTA class parents. We would like to thank all of our many parents who contributed to making these events so successful.
The CRS PTA funded and ran a wildly successful Halloween Bash! Students of all ages and their families had the chance to dress up in their costumes and experience a Trunk Or Treat followed by a night of festivities. The bash was highly attended and enjoyed all around. A very special thanks to the CRS PTA for putting on such a ghoulish spectacle!
SNaV CRS: Think Pink Day
CRS Goes Pink! On Friday, October 25th, CRS was pinked out in honor of breast awareness. This day was inspired by "Go Passionately Pink for the Cure!", an event run by Susan G. Komen for the Cure. We were so pleased to see that students and teachers wore as much pink as they possibly could. In addition, a donation was made to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure on behalf of Colonial Road School.
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HMR News
SNaV HMR: Kindergarten Pumpkin Field Trip & Exploration
HMR's kindergarteners had a great time at Demarest Farm! They went on a hayride to the pumpkin patch, where students picked out a pumpkin, saw farm animals, and explored a corn maze. After donuts and cider, they headed back to school to participate in a pumpkin investigation.
Activities included measuring pumpkins with cubes, counting lines, and guessing whether they would sink or float in water. Then students experimented to test their hypotheses and discovered that pumpkins do float! The children discussed why this happened and then opened up their class pumpkin and felt inside. This hands-on exploration was followed by a math activity that involved counting the seeds inside the class pumpkin.
SNaV HMR: Having a Ball in Preschool
Thanks to a generous FLEF grant, our Preschool students now have stability ball chairs! The students were recently introduced to these chairs (much like the common exercise balls but with four "feet"). The occupational and physical therapists helped teachers to match students to the suitably sized stability ball chair. These chairs help to promote core strength, self-regulation, and attention span, enhancing students' academic and social development. The ball chairs are also used in all of the District's Kindergarten classrooms. We are delighted to promote consistency within our District that will ease the transition as our own students move ahead! Who says that we don't have a ball in Preschool?
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WAS News
SNaV WAS: Mascot Election Day
November 5th was a very special day at Woodside Avenue School. It was Election Day for the residents of Franklin Lakes. The students had heard many people talk about voting and discussing candidates who were running for office or important issues.
Although the students of Woodside Avenue School were unable to vote for the next Governor of New Jersey, they were able to participate in an extremely special election - for their school mascot. The mascot was to be an animal or image that would represent Woodside on future T-shirts, during sporting events, and even on the school stationery. The fifth grade students provided the whole school with some great choices including a Woodside Wizard, a Woodside Stallion, a Woodside Warrior, a Woodside Wolf and a Woodside Cheetah.
Winning with 35.5% of the votes... The Woodside Wolf!
SNaV WAS: Sharing Veteran's Day with a Veteran
In honor of Veteran's Day, the 4th grade Social Studies classes participated in a live Skype session with wonderful guest speaker, Lieutenant Magrane. The students have been learning about patriotism and democracy. Social Studies teachers, Kimberly Balch, Emily Mier and Jill Bernstein asked an active military member to speak with the class about the importance of Veteran's Day and the military. Lieutenant Magrane donated her time to share her experiences and to talk about Veteran's Day.
The students were able to quietly listen, absorb the information spoken by the guest speaker, and then actively participate by asking questions that sparked their curiosity. The students thoroughly
enjoyed this opportunity and were able to learn that Veteran's Day is a cheerful holiday that allows people all over America to appreciate and recognize the hard work accomplished by veterans and active members of the military.
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Board of Education News
SNaV BOE: Tribute to Mr. BIll Gorton
This month, in honor of Veteran's day, we are pleased to honor a local veteran and a veteran of the Franklin Lakes School system, Mr. Bill Gorton.
 Mr. Gorton was born in Paterson, NJ and grew up in Elmwood Park, where he attended Memorial High School. Growing up he played on various sports teams, but during his high school years he became very involved in music. He had a passion for playing the drums and especially enjoyed the drum and bugle corps. He graduated high school in 1965 and was accepted into the new Music Education Program at William Paterson University, which was known as Paterson State Teachers College. Mr. Gorton majored in percussion with a minor in orchestral studies. To read more of this article, click here. |
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