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Franklin Lakes Public Schools
School News and Views February 2014
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Dear Community Members,
Welcome to the February issue of School News and Views from Franklin Lakes Public Schools. I hope you are weathering the winter well! Despite interruptions due to delayed openings, early dismissals, and full day closings, exciting and dynamic teaching and learning continue. Solid work leads to meaningful experiences for the members of our school community and result in successes worth celebrating.
This month, we present coming of age through cooperative multimedia work; innovative technology from the FAMS DLC; savings though co-ops; local graduate studies for Franklin Lakes faculty; FLOW musical performance; the interdisciplinary growth experience; shooting for the stars with cooperation, patience and dedication; the Native American experience; awesome and inspiring character-building events; and a seasonally appropriate tracking of the Alaskan Dog race from Anchorage to Nome - the Iditarod. I hope you enjoy this February edition of School News and Views.
Stay warm and safe! Sincerely, Frank Romano, III, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools |
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District News
SNaV Curriculum:
Sixth grade students in Ms. Burnup's and Ms. Leonard's Excel classes worked in cooperative groups to prepare and present multimedia presentations for their peers as a culminating project, building on all they learned throughout the course. Students analyzed song segments from contemporary music and identified universal themes before digging deeper into the song's lyrics to identify evidence to support their claims about a song's theme. Popular songs focused on several coming of age themes, including adapting to change,  overcoming obstacles, acceptance, and changes in thinking. Students then developed story lines to accompany each song and created productions using software such as iMovie and other applications, shooting their own video, editing their footage, and adding effects and soundtracks, ultimately creating their own Oscar-worthy masterpieces! Students met the common core standards with the support of their teachers and used technology to synthesize their thinking and present their final work. At the viewing party, students watched as their classmates presented their self-directed movies. Additionally, students had the chance to compliment and critique one another's work after their presentations, celebrating their classmates' successes and strengthening students' speaking and listening skills at the same time.
SNaV Technology: Digital Learning Committee
At the January 28th BOE meeting, the Franklin Avenue Middle School Digital Learning Committee (DLC), comprised of teachers and administrators, presented their rational for implementing a 1:1 student laptop initiative at FAMS. The DLC was formed to determine the needs of the middle school students in regards to digital and online learning, workplace and 21st century skills, and online assessments. The BOE presentation highlighted classroom technology integration in all core curriculum areas, Common Core requirements and Data Driven Instruction. Meeting over the course of a year, the committee visited other middle schools that have already implemented 1:1 laptops for their students and surveyed all stakeholders to gauge their position on this initiative. To read more about the DLC's work, please click here. To view a video of the presentation, please click here.
SNaV Business & Operations: Looking Ahead
The school year is only half over, but our staff is already looking ahead and planning for the next school year. This is the time of year that we start the process of ordering next year's school supplies.
The District participates in several purchasing co-ops. Last year, we saved $60,391 through our primary co-op, Educational
 Data Services, Inc. Items ordered include supplies for the office, classrooms, health, library, athletics and science studies. We also achieve a considerable savings on utilities through the Middlesex Regional Educational Services Commission co-op. SNaV Special Services: Franklin Lake University?
Franklin Lakes School District's Special Services will be offering a 12 credit certificate course of study in the area of Multisensory Reading instruction, an Orton Gillingham methodology, in cooperation with Fairleigh Dickinson University. Upon completion of the program, five of our special education teachers will be certified as 'Orton Gillingham Teachers'. Students from our District will partake in the clinical teaching hours, receiving free tutoring services from our instructors during this practicum.
Ms. Denise Borgess, Dyslexia Specialist, Orton Gillingham Teacher Trainer and adjunct at FDU will teach the four graduate level courses and supervise instruction of students with moderate to severe reading disabilities.
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FAMS News
SNaV FAMS: FLOW Chorus Festival
On Thursday, February 6th, the 7th & 8th Grade FAMS Concert Choir participated in the FLOW Chorus Festival. Choirs from FAMS, Valley Middle School, Eisenhower Middle School,  Ramapo High School, and Indian Hills High School came together to share their musical talents and perform for one another. The students from FAMS had a fantastic performance and sang beautifully. The Festival concluded with all of the students gathering together on stage to perform a finale. It was a great experience for all participating students!
SNaV FAMS: An Interdisciplinary Literature Experience
To introduce their literature unit entitled "Overcoming Obstacles," seventh grade students participated in an interdisciplinary day that included artistic, literary, political, and historical perspectives of slavery and the African American experience. As a precursor to this lesson, students began reading Gary Paulsen's Night John, a piece of historical fiction set in the pre-civil war South where one slave is willing to risk his life and freedom to teach other slaves to read and write.
The normal trappings of a classroom were removed for the day's festivities while students visited stations, much like they would different exhibits at a museum. In small groups, students discussed and recorded what they observed as they made connections to the common themes discussed in Paulsen's work.
Aside from expanding their awareness and knowledge of this
 time period, students will use the information they gathered for a writing piece. Organized by Ms. Caesar and Mrs.DeRosa, this day involved the collaboration of many teachers including Ms. Aiello, Mrs. Amoroso, Ms. Behrens, Ms. Fano, and Mr. Vranesich. |
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CRS News
SNaV CRS: 3,2,1 Blast Off!
After weeks of preparation and training, the fifth graders put their skills to the test as they worked together to successfully land a probe on the Moon. Students prepared for their Buehler Challenger and Science Center field trip by partaking in hands-on
 experiments in Science. Students delved into researching minerals that are found on the Moon, how craters are formed, and what supplies and resources would be necessary to travel and survive on the Moon's surface. Students were divided into teams and worked hard to become familiar with the specific skills they would need in both Mission Control and on the spacecraft. The Challenger crew would have been very proud as students demonstrated cooperation, patience and dedication, successfully landing a probe on the Moon!
SNaV CRS: Native American Exploration Recently, our fourth graders enjoyed a PTA sponsored assembly showcasing how the Lenape Native American tribe lived and worked so many thousands of years ago. This high-energy history tour sparked the interest of all students as it demonstrated the mystery and magic of the Lenape culture. The students had a hands-on opportunity to explore numerous artifacts including tools, masks, clothing, furs, crafts, and games. Students were delighted to have this very special experience, as it was the perfect way to culminate their Native American study. |
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HMR News
SNaV HMR: HMR Gives Back
This year, one of our main goals at HMR has been finding opportunities to give back to the community and organizations in need. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, parents from HMR organized an event that created a hands-on opportunities for Franklin Lakes families to give back to the community. Hundreds
 of volunteers gathered at the Christopher Hope Community Center in Paterson to package thousands meals for the hungry. Students and parents were invited to take advantage of our minimum day schedule, join together, and help this cause. Children learned lessons in gratitude and families were actively involved in helping those less fortunate. Our families made a difference in the lives of thousands of our New Jersey neighbors who don't have enough to eat.
Together with the other volunteers at the location, we raised over  $10,000 and packaged 40,000 nutritious meals. Our own group, made up of about eighty Franklin Lakes students and parents, had representation from families across the district. We were the largest group and the biggest fundraisers! Thank you for taking your time to volunteer and a special thank you to the parents that organized this incredible event. To read more about this event, click here. SNaV HMR: OLWEUS Assembly OLWEUS is our district wide Anti-Bullying program. The students are learning many strategies to address and prevent bullying situations through this program. We had an OLWEUS assembly on Friday, January 31st. The students shared what they have learned from the program so far through class presentations. The presentations included skits, songs, artwork, and many other creative representations of their learning. The current focus of friendship was introduced at the assembly using a friendship chain. Prior to the assembly, students wrote what friendship means to them on a strip of paper and created a homeroom chain. These chains were then brought to the assembly and joined by teacher chains, until we had one school chain created with over three hundred links! The chain is hanging in our main hallway and it a beautiful representation of what the children are learning about friendship. We are very grateful to the committee of staff members that worked tirelessly to plan this assembly. 
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WAS News
SNaV WAS: Internet Super Hero/Heroine
Our fifth grade students have been reading, studying and discussing Myths, Epics and Legends as well as reflecting on the elements of good citizenship, both in real life and on the Internet. These two topics came together with the creation of our
 "Internet Super Hero / Heroine" project. Discussions have included spam and junk mail, cyberbullying, privacy and public information as well as developing deeper understandings of the elements of "citizenship, digital citizenship and responsibility." Our students worked on their own designs of heroes and superheros to help promote safety and being a good citizen on the Internet. Students shared this great work with each other and it is now on display in our library.
SNaV WAS: The Iditarod
For several years the library has "hosted" the Iditarod, the Alaskan Dog race from Anchorage to Nome that commemorates
 the Great Serum Run from 1925. Each class "sponsors" and follows the progress of two "mushers" - the men and woman who drive the sleds. The last week of February, each class will select their mushers and place their sleds on the map, located in the hallway outside the library . Each class will also post their musher's sled outside their own classroom. For the next two weeks, we will follow the race using the Iditarod site to update information about topics such as the weather, the trail, the mushers and the dogs. Approximately 72 mushers will  leave Anchorage on March 1st. We will follow the race until the last musher comes into Nome and the Red Lantern Award is given out. This terrific project allows students to apply science, math, history and biography skills in an authentic setting while also addressing the importance of sportsmanship. Each morning of the race, the sleds will be moved in our hallways for everyone to keep track of the race. To learn more about the Iditarod, click here. Mush on!! |
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