Torey J. Sabatini
School
October 2011
Important Dates
October
24
single session/Conferences/Book Fair
25
single session/Conferences/Book Fair
31
Halloween Parade
31
Cultural Arts – “Taking It to the
Street”
November
3
Gr. 2 PTO Ed. Enrich “Weather or Not”
8
Grade 3 PTO Ed. Enrich “Colonial Life”
8
BoE – 7:30
9
end of 1ST MARKING PERIOD
10,11 NJEA Convention/Buildings Closed
14
PTO – 8:45
18
1ST MP REPORT CARDS
22
1:30 HS Band
23
Single Session – Thanksgiving
24,25 Buildings Closed – Thanksgiving
29
BoE – 7:30
December
3
MEF Gala Fundraiser @ FDU
3
Holiday Workshop – 9-12
7
2-Hr Delayed Opening
13
BoE – 7:30
16
Holiday Concert
23
Holiday Sing Along – 11:30
23
Single Session – Holiday Recess
26-30 Buildings Closed – Holiday Recess
Thanks, PTO
The TJS PTO is an amazing organization devoted to
helping our school in a myriad of ways. We are constantly supported by their contributions.
Through fundraising, the PTO has supported the
school and staff by offering programs, contributions
of materials and equipment and staff grants. Each
year, the PTO hosts an “Adult Social” which has contributed mightily to the fundraising effort. There is
also an end of year celebration, the TJS Jamboree,
which is a successful fundraising venture. In addition, there are various activities that double as fundraisers throughout the year.
The PTO also provides a volunteer base for the
school’s programs and extracurricular events. Parents contribute significantly to Awesome Art and a
number of after-school activities and clubs. Many of
these activities are time honored traditions at Torey
J, like Family Fun Night and the Holiday Workshop.
Parents also volunteer to help supervise lunch and/or
recess every day.
We are so fortunate to have a PTO that works so
hard to support our school and students. If you are
able, please look into ways that you can contribute to
the PTO in whatever way works for you. Thank you.
Teacher of the Year
TJS Arrival and Dismissal
Torey J. Sabatini School is very proud to announce our teacher of the year , Mrs. Carolyn
Rommeihs, for the 2010-2011 school year.
Arrival and dismissal can be a challenge at
Torey J., but we can all lessen the problem by
following some simple rules.
Mrs. Rommeihs graduated from Kean University
in Union, NJ and taught middle school in Elizabeth, NJ for 7 years. After working as a teaching assistant at KRS, she has been a special education teacher in the Madison Schools for the
past 12 years, initially in the self-contained LLD
class and for the past five years with collaborative teaching teams in the “inclusion model” at
TJS.
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Mrs. Rommeihs lives in Madison with her husband Bob and son Matthew. She had the wonderful opportunity to stay home with Mathew
until he was in first grade and feels strongly
that her experiences as a parent informed and
enriched her work as a teacher.
Mrs. Rommeihs is a teacher who, in addition to
her extensive training in academic areas, is
blessed with an empathetic, kind approach to
every student and adult in her orbit. She is the
consummate professional and the ideal colleague. We at Torey J. are very proud to have
her as our teacher of the year!
Madison Public School District Mission Statement
The Madison School District will inspire
and challenge all students to be life-long
learners, empowered with the knowledge,
skills, and character to shape their futures, realize their dreams, and contribute positively to the world.
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Please avoid taking three point turns. If
you need to turn around, just go around
the block. It won’t take long and you will
contribute to a much safer traffic pattern.
Avoid turning around in neighbors’ driveways. Let’s be aware of the occasional discomfort being a neighbor of an elementary
school can include and be extra thoughtful
of the folks that live near us.
Closely follow the directives of the school
crossing guards. They do not have an easy
job and the safety of our children is foremost in their thoughts. Please give them
the support they need to do their jobs
well.
The challenges of arrival and dismissal are
only increased by the bad weather that winter
can bring along. Let’s stay focused on safety
and maintaining good drop off and pick up procedures for our students’ safety.
Farm Stand
The Jaguar Jungle has a farm stand! Pomptonian,
our food service provider, has instituted a farm
stand for students purchasing lunch.
This farm stand contains fruits and vegetables for
students to include with their lunches. It is like a
mini salad bar. This is an effort to improve upon
the typical vegetables served for school lunch and
encourage our students to eat fresh vegetables
and fruit.
So...if your child purchases lunch, please encourage
them to take advantage of the Farm Stand. It is
just outside of the kitchen and brimming with nutritious food.
Enrichment
Enrichment programming at Torey J. have increased
over the past few years at TJS.
Some of the programming is through the PTO, with
parent involvement. Examples of this category would
be the Drama Club, Awesome Art, the Science Club,
the Green Team, the Science Fair and the newspaper (new this year). These activities were all
spurred by parent initiative and became realities due
to parents’ energy and enthusiasm.
Then there are the enrichment activities run by Enrich and Grow, a company that has served our school
district for several years now. Through them, our
school has a steady menu of after-school activities
such as chess, Lego architects, science wizardry,
sports and games and many more. These activities
take place after school and there is a fee involved.
Young Playwrights is a program that meets each week
through much of the year with our fourth and fifth
graders. Playwrights Theater of NJ has offered
their services to the Madison Schools for many
years. The students work on plays throughout the
year and several are selected to be performed for
the school during an assembly.
In addition to all of these offerings, the PTO provides Educational Enrichment programs throughout
the year, where outside speakers and facilitators
come into the classroom with activities that are curriculum specific. Additionally, the PTO provides Cultural Arts Assembly programs throughout the year
that bring performance to our students.
Thanks to everyone who contributes to our array of
enrichment programs at TJS. If you have ideas of
programs, please fell free to see me to chat about it.
Thank you.
TJS Staff Luncheon
Thank you for an incredible Staff Luncheon,
TJS PTO!! Your efforts are appreciated by all.
Thanks to everyone who contributed. It is an
incredibly kind, affirming gesture. Thanks
New Staff at Torey J.
Torey J. has benefitted from some wonderful new
staff this year. Combined with the spectacular
staff we already have here, TJS is really doing
some wonderful things.
It isn’t easy to come into a school that is operating
at a high level with accomplished, veteran staff,
but our new colleagues have quickly become part of
our culture and added to it.
Ms. Mascia and Ms. Pisano have created a brand
new third grade team. Their professionalism and
enthusiasm are infectious.
Ms. Kolarsick, soon to be Mrs. Manley, was a late
addition to our staff and has become a great part
of our second grade team.
We knew Ms. McDonald from her time as the kindergarten maternity leave replacement for Mrs.
Waryha. Her work in first grade has been tremendous.
In addition to new teachers, our two new teacher
assistants have contributed to our school in a wonderful way. Both Mrs. Mutascio and Ms. Cash have
added to our school in valuable, unique ways.
We have much to appreciate at Torey J. and our
new staff deserves loads of appreciation!!
Mr. Nittel
Our new Director of Curriculum and Instruction,
Lee Nittel, has been on the job for less than a
month and great things are happening. We are all
excited to work with Mr. Nittel and extend a warm
welcome to him as he begins his work in Madison.
He will be a tremendous asset to our district!
Green Team and the Three Rs
School Beautification
Our school beautification team has been hard at
work making Torey J. a nicer place to be around.
The team, led by Mrs. Bolt, Ms. Baisch, Mrs.
Cleaves and Mrs. Habib have made contributions
that do not only beautify the property, but makes
our space more useful.
This summer, using PTO funds, they arranged for
new swings to be installed in the far playground,
together with two more “spinny” cups, one for the
near and one for the far playground. Students are
already reaping the awards of these additions to
the property.
They have also arranged for several new benches
to be installed. Three new benches are now in the
far playground area, near the basketball court and
three new benches have been installed around the
school’s entrance area, along the blacktop. Parents
and students have appreciated these benches already and they add to the overall school environment.
Plantings have also been added to the area along
neighbor’s fences on the Glenwild side of our property and throughout the beds leading to Woodland,
bordering the parking lot walkway and around the
Woodland entrance. This has all made a marked
improvement to the TJS environment and made it a
place to truly be proud of visually.
We would like to thank J&M Home and Garden for
their continued support of our landscaping projects
for the school grounds.. J&M has loaned us their
tools, provided planting materials and supervised
their landscaping staff for weeding, planting and
mulching. They also continue to give us generous
discounts for our new plantings. Their generosity
is much appreciated!
Thanks, Beautification Team!
The TJS Green Team is once again making the
school a better place and helping our students to
understand their responsibility. The team is led by
Mrs. Tom and our own Mrs. Niper. It is comprised
of fourth graders and they take on various tasks
around the school.
Additionally, parents and students take part in a
number of projects to reduce waste leaving the
school and create an awareness of issues. Some
projects are:
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Trashless Thursdays—students are encouraged
to minimize their waste by using reusable containers and utensils.
Composting—Students are encouraged to place
fruit and vegetable scraps in a separate container that is emptied in a compost bin each
day.
Drink Pouch and Snack Wrapper Brigade—drink
pouches and snack wrappers are saved and sent
to a company that creates products using them,
keeping them out of the landfills. Mrs. Prout is
in charge of this project.
Walk to School Days are regularly scheduled
for as many students to walk to school as possible. Parents accompany groups of students to
walk to school together. These days result in
nearly 70% of our students walking instead of
riding.
Paperless Communication—Torey J. and the
TJS PTO have moved to paperless communication over the past few years and it has gone
beautifully. Though there are drawbacks to
technology, one benefit is being able to communicate more effectively and with less waste.
By making efforts to reduce waste, we hope to
raise student awareness regarding responsibility to
each other. The three Rs... reuse, reduce and recycle, are three Rs we try to practice here at
Torey J.
Thanks to all of the parent volunteers who make
this possible.
Halloween
The Torey J. Sabatini School Halloween celebration promises to be lots of fun for all!! We
are looking forward to a parade, class parties
and an assembly for our whole school. Halloween will be celebrated at TJS on Monday,
October 31st. The Halloween Parade will
start promptly at 12:55 PM.
Please note the following guidelines regarding
Halloween:
Kindergarten students may not wear masks.
Students may not bring toy weapons of any
kind to school, even if it is part of their
costumes.
Students may go home to change into their
costumes during lunch. They must be
picked up by a parent or guardian to go
home for lunch (11:45 to 12:35). On
Friday, October 28th, teachers will be
making a list of students who will be going home for lunch on Halloween. Please
make these arrangements by Monday so
we can have an accurate list. Students
who stay in school may change into their
costumes after they eat lunch.
Please make sure your child(ren) is back to
school and in their classroom by 12:35 if
they go home to change. It is crucial
that they be on time, since we will not
start the parade until everyone returns.
Our Halloween Parade will begin promptly at
12:55 PM and will proceed around the
playground, out to Woodland Road, and
back to school by way of the path off of
Woodland Road. Classroom parties and
the assembly will take place following the
parade.
Please make sure to review any after-school
plans you have made with your children
thoroughly. Make sure they know
Please make sure to review any afterschool plans you have made with your
children thoroughly. Make sure they
know
precisely where you want them to go,
and with whom, at 3:15. This is a very
exciting day for our students and taking extra effort to ensure that plans
are clear to them will be extremely
worthwhile for everyone.
The general schedule for the day is:
11:45 to 12:35 – lunch / recess
12:55 to 1:25 – Halloween Parade
1:30 to 2:00 – classroom parties
2:00 – PTO Cultural Arts Assembly
3:15 – dismissal
Thank you for your cooperation!!! Halloween at
TJS will be great fun and by working together, we can ensure that the children are
safe and secure while they have their holiday
fun.
Logo wear
Thanks to the PTO for organizing another
great logo-wear sale!!
The products are wonderful and we all love to
see our students wearing TJS clothing for
special (and sometimes ordinary) occasions. It
really adds to school spirit and the clothes are
great!
Special thanks go to Trish Cassella and Jennifer Catrini and all of the parents who helped
for making TJS logo wear a reality!
If this sale went by without you purchasing
anything, there will be future sales. We usually have one in the spring, so watch for future
announcements.
Drain
Many of you may remember the drainage problem we had near the school entrances. There
was even one spot that filled like a small pond.
No child could resist the temptation of splashing around, with or without boots.
Well, over the summer the situation was remedied. A trench was dug, crushed drainage pipes
were replaced and things were repaved. The
days of ponds near our entrances are over.
NJ ASK 2012
Dates for the administration of this year’s
NJ ASK are May 7th through May 11th. If
you are parents of students in grades three,
four or five, please remember this week.
Attendance is crucial for this very important assessment.
PTO meeting with Dr. Rossi
The next meeting of the Torey J. PTO will be
held the morning of Monday, November 14th in
the Torey J. media center. The meeting starts
promptly at 8:45.
In addition to hearing all about the latest PTO
news, the new superintendent of the Madison
Public Schools, Dr. Michael Rossi, will be a guest
and speak to the audience. This is a great opportunity for TJS parents to meet Dr. Rossi and
hear some of his ideas for the future of the
Madison Schools..
Please plan to attend if possible. The meeting
will be great and the bonus will be meeting Dr.
Rossi!!
Project Fit America
Torey J., through our PE teacher, Mr. Gerenstein, has been awarded a grant from Morristown Memorial Hospital and Project Fit America. The grant is for an outdoor fitness area
with installed equipment that can be used during PE class and recess. The grant also includes indoor activities and equipment and
training for “Mr. G”.
This grant was a tremendous accomplishment
for Mr. Gerenstein and we are eagerly anticipating the new equipment being used after it
is installed in the spring of 2012. There will
be a “kick-off” event sometime in the spring to
christen the fitness area (in the far playground adjacent to the basketball courts).
Great job, Mr. G!!
Honeywell
The use of Honeywell Instant Alert System as
a way to notify parents of news around the
district is expanding.
No longer is its use solely to notify parents of
school closings. You can now expect to be notified by Honeywell for a variety of reasons.
Due to this change of use, you may wish to return to Honeywell and adjust your contact
preferences and information.
The instructions for making changes in your
Honeywell account are attached to this newsletter.
Thank you.
PTO Projects at Torey J.
It is a fact of life at Torey J. that we couldn’t do
what we do without the largesse of the PTO. To
further illustrate that point, please look over the
impressive list of contributions the PTO has made
to our school:
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The climbing wall in the Jaguar Junglestudents love it and it comprises part of their
PE class.
The stage curtains—replaced 40 year old curtains. What a difference!
Sound system in the Jaguar Jungle—One of
the best sound systems in the district and one
we are proud of when our students perform.
New monitors and computers in our virtualized
computer lab—it is quieter, cleaner and more
energy efficient...and the monitors are clear!
Smartboards in all K through 2 classrooms—
Our teachers now regard Smartboards as indispensible in their classrooms.
Classroom carpets in all classrooms—Not only
are they cozy, they are part of the classroom
layout that encourages current best practice.
Classroom libraries—Through teacher grants,
our classroom libraries have been enriched
through PTO funding.
Orff instruments and ukuleles for the music
program—Our music program is superb and the
instruments have transformed it to a more
hands on experience for students.
Responsive Classroom training for teachers—
The program is recognized as a huge asset for
our school and district. The PTO has helped
to fund training for several teachers.
The TJS PTO is blessed with great people who
only want the best for our school. Special recognition and thanks go to our co presidents, Karen
Tom and Louise Pierce, our co vice presidents, Colleen Taddeo and Janet Cleaves and the entire executive board. Thank you!
TJS Book Fair
Many thanks to Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs. Waxman
for organizing a superb opportunity for our students. The TJS book fair has been a great success.
All students have two times to browse the book
fair with their class. Parents help out and the
teachers also guide them to books they may find
interesting. The book fair is also open after school
during which time parents can join their children in
the search for books.
Not only is the book fair a nice fundraiser for our
school, it is also a positive source of encourage for
our students’ reading habits. Thanks to everyone
who contributed to a successful experience.
Responsive Classroom
Responsive Classroom has created a steadily improved learning and social environment at Torey J.
We are very fortunate, since twelve of our teachers, plus their principal, have attended one week
trainings in the summer. In fact, several teachers
have attended two levels of training.
Each and every day at TJS begins with a morning
meeting. Throughout the day, a number of the
practices espoused by RC are employed, from
guided discovery to language use to logical consequences. This program has quietly supported our
school in developing a real sense of classroom community.
Responsive Classroom was developed over many
years by actual classroom educators. One of these
educators, Chip Wood, has published a book entitled Yardsticks in which he discussed developmentally characteristics of children.
This link will take you to his discussion of ten year
olds and what makes then unique. It’s fascinating
reading for anyone, and particularly parents of ten
year olds. www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/
terrific-tens
Honeywell Instant Alert® for Schools
Parent User Interface
Website URL: https://instantalert.honeywell.com
Minimum Requirements
Register and create your account
1. Go to the Honeywell Instant Alert for Schools website listed above.
2. If you are not a staff member in the school, click on ‘Parent’ in the New User box.
3. If you are a staff member in the school, use the user name and password given to you by the school.
4. Complete the student information form. Click ‘Submit.’
5. Complete the corresponding screen. Click ‘Submit.’
6. After receiving the Confirmation message, click ‘Proceed’ to get started with Instant Alert.
7. Note: Remember your Login Name and Password so you may use it to update your profile.
View and check details about yourself and your family members
1. Upon successful login, click on ‘My Family.’
2. Click on a parent name to view and edit parent details.
3. Click on a student name to view details about your children enrolled in this school.
Configure alert settings for yourself
1. Click on ‘Alert Setup.’
2. Click on the check boxes to select which alert type you would like to have sent to which device. Click on
‘Save’ when complete.
3. If you would like to add another contact device, select the device type and enter the device details.
Select the person to whom the device belongs and click on ‘Add.’
4. For e-mail, text messaging and pagers you may send yourself a test message. Click on ‘Send Test
Message’ to send yourself a message.
Additional Functions
View History of Alerts
Click on ‘Alert History’ to view Alerts that have been sent to you. Use the calendar icons and ‘Alert Type’ list
to filter the Alerts.
Identify key contacts for your children
1. Click on ‘Other Contacts.’
2. Click on ‘Add New Contact’ and complete the form.
3. Click on the ‘Pick Up Rights’ check box if you wish to allow this person the right to pick up your child from
school. This person’s name will appear on a report for the school.
4. Click on ‘Save’ when complete.
5. If you would like this person to receive Alerts from the school, return to the ‘Alert Setup’ page to
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