Torey J. Sabatini
School
April 2012
Important Dates
May
4
5
6
7-11
8
14-18
15
15
21
22
24
25
28
31
DEAR – 8 a.m.
Arbor Day/MAY DAY
MEF 5K Run—9:00 AM at MHS
Grade 3-5 NJ ASK
BoE – 7:30
Grade 3-5 NJ ASK make up
Gr. 1 “Sunshine & Shadows” - PTO
Spring concert – 7:30
Connecticut Ballet—all grades—PTO
BoE – 7:30
Totally Vocally – all grades—PTO
Schools Closed
Schools Closed – Memorial Day
Curriculum Night – 7 p.m.
June
1
5
7
8
8
12
14
19,20
21
22
22
22
26
HS Day of Service
District Art Show/Drew Univ – 6-8
Kindergarten/1stgrade Orientation
Beyond the Beat – all grades—PTO
Jamboree – 3:30—7:30
BoE
Pomptonian BBQ
Field Days
5th Grade Recognition Assembly
Clap Out – 12:45
End 4TH MP/report cards dist.
Last day of school
BoE – 7:30
Arbor Day/May Day
This coming Saturday, Madison will be buzzing
with activity. As happens every year, there will
be an Arbor Day presentation on the steps of
the Dodge Building. The presentation begins at
9:00 AM.
This year, students from CAS will be singing,
members of the KRS band will play a couple of
selections, and some third grade students from
TJS will be reciting poetry.
The presentation will be made in front of many
Madison residents and several honorees and notable guests will also take part. The Arbor Day
effort is led by the Madison Shade Tree Commission whose mission has been to encourage
trees in Madison to create a comforting canopy
in town.
Also, the program created for the event was
designed by two Torey J. fourth graders...Kelly
Phillips and Jun Jang. Congratulations!
While the presentation is going on, and for the
rest of the morning, hundreds of volunteers will
be working all over Madison to make the borough look and feel freshened up and ready for
spring. Volunteers are welcomed to help out at
TJS!
Dear Parents:
Within the next month or so, our staff will be making class assignment plans
for the 2012-2013 school year. Students will be assigned to heterogeneous
classroom groups by their current teachers, who are in the best position to
make the assignment, and reviewed by the principal and other relevant staff.
Please trust our decision on your child’s placement. Occasionally, we receive
requests for students to be placed with specific teachers or for certain students to be placed together. Please know that we cannot honor such requests.
If you have specific concerns regarding your child and another student
being placed together, please contact me via e-mail by May 15th at the
latest.
Staff considers many factors as balanced groups are prepared, including the
range of academic abilities, social mixture, gender balance, individual learning
styles, student personality and interaction, students benefiting from being
together or separated overall student behavior, and class size. The objective
of this process is to produce a heterogeneous group of students engineered
to become a community of learners, which promotes students who function to
the fullest extent of their abilities. We assure you that the placement of
each child is carefully considered.
We will do our best to place your child(ren) in a class where the above issues
are acknowledged and the learning environment matches their learning needs.
Our staff is committed to your children and dedicates themselves to giving
your child the best possible learning experience.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Sincerely,
Michael Post
Safety Drills
There has been an adjustment, starting last
year, in how schools conduct and schedule drills
to ensure the safety of our students and staff.
In the past, two fire drills were conducted
each month that school was in session. These
drills were state mandated and reported to the
fire department each time they occurred. We
became very proficient at evacuating the school
quickly and safely through that practice.
This is the second school year in which the two
monthly fire drills have been reduced to one,
and the second has been replaced with school
safety drills. Now, every month, there is a
safety drill. These safety drills cover a number
of possible threats to our safety. With several
variations, there are two reactions to these
threats...lockdown or evaluation.
In the case of lockdown drills, all staff and students immediately go into the nearest classroom
and lock the door. They then settle as far from
the door, with as little access to the door as
possible. All lights are turned off. Generally,
representatives from the MPD supervise these
drills. They have even come with their crisis
team and gone from door to door during the
drill, ensuring that they know the school’s layout .
Autism Awareness Month
April has been Autism Awareness Month and at
Torey J. we have observed it in ways that are
instructive and meaningful.
New Jersey has a higher rate of individuals on
the autistic spectrum than the rest of the
country—one in ninety four, as opposed to one
in 150 nationally. Reasons for this disparity are
numerous and highly debatable. The point is,
there are few families and no communities that
are not touched in some way by this baffling
disorder.
At TJS, we have worked to distribute information to staff and raised funds for Autism research through the sale of t-shirts and a “wear
blue for autism awareness day” for staff. We
have also worked to remain sensitive to the
needs of families and how they choose to deal
with the challenge of autism.
The following are valuable resources:
Autism Resources: http://www.autismresources .com
Autism Society of America: http://www.autism
society.org
Autism Speaks: http://www.autismspeaks.org/
Interesting article: http://ezinearticles.com/?
New-Jersey-Autism-Statistics&id=5876493
The other type of drill necessitates evacuation.
There are a variety of reasons evacuation may
Videos on Autism:
be required, but the reaction, with some adjusthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
ments according to the situation, is to get the
v=nsmjwHW40ps&feature=related
students out and away from the school as
quickly as possible.
I know we all join in the support of families and
children affected by autism and unite to learn
These drills, coupled with our monthly fire
as much as we can about it.
drills, are designed to make our school as safe
as possible at all times.
Please check the lost and
found!!
Our lost and found is filled with clothes and
some of it could belong to your child. Come
and check. It is located below the showcase
on the way down to the Jaguar Jungle.
Thanks!
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 on the district website
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.
Important Letter from our School
Nurse
Dear Parents,
As you can tell, allergy season is in full
swing and it's BAD! I’ve asked the teachers
to remind all of their students with obvious
seasonal allergies to wash their hands after
recess and/or upon arriving at school
(especially if they walk to school).
They should also take a damp paper towel and
wipe their faces, lashes, brows, and the hair
around their faces. For students with curly or
long hair, they should keep it pulled or clipped
back away from their eyes. For boys, a spring
hair cut may be helpful. This will have a huge
positive effect on reducing itching, burning,
and swollen eyes.
During the day, if needed and the child
agrees, I will use Bausch and Lomb saline
drops to rinse the eyes. If you do not want
your child to have the drops, please let me
know. Also, please reinforce with your children, that the teachers will allow and encourage them to wash their hands and face in the
classroom. After recess, they should use the
bathrooms near the Jaguar Jungle as soon as
they come inside.
I’ve included a website that may be helpful in
addressing seasonal allergies. Thank you for
your help in keeping the children comfortable!
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/allergy.html
Thank you,
Msr. Crescas
.Parent
Portal
All parents have received log-in information for
a “parent portal” within the district’s student
information system. This should have arrived to
you via the report card given out on Friday,
2/3/12.
At present, the elementary students’ parent
portal will be relatively empty. You will be able
to check your child’s attendance at this time.
At MJS and MHS, however, the parent portal
will offer parents a wealth of information regarding your child and how they are doing.
Checking on week to week progress, homework
assignments, scheduled quizzes and tests,
grades and many other types of up-to-date information will be available.
At the elementary level, the parent portal will
not expand to include a wider assortment of information until the 2012-13 school year. As we
approach next school year, TJS parents will be
informed of the spectrum of information available on the parent portal and how to access that
information.
This is an exciting development for our parents
and students. It is another step toward creating a more transparent relationship between
home and school so that parents and students
are fully aware of expectations, events and assignments at all times.
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.
Cultural Arts
On an average of once per month, your child
has the opportunity to view a performance by
professional musicians, actors, dancers or even
puppeteers. These performances are generally viewed by the entire school, though in
some cases we divide the school into age
groups.
These performances are funded and arranged
for by our Cultural Arts committee of the
TJS PTO. Every year, our students benefit
from live performances by professionals
brought to our school to instruct and delight
our students. This year, we have had or will
be having, Brazilian dancers, ballet, a fantastic
hip hop dance presentation, an a cappella
group, and a presentation of popular children’s
books put to music. Each of these presentations have expanded our students’ understanding of arts and culture while being focused on
a level they can relate to best.
Past performances have included Japanese
drumming, Chinese dancers, puppet theater
that performed folk tales, opera, storytellers,
improvisational actors, Irish dancers and native American folk dancers...to name a few.
Our students have benefitted tremendously
from this program and we owe the TJS PTO a
huge debt of gratitude for funding it and organizing the presentations. This year, Kim
Walters and Patricia Collins have teamed to
create a highly successful line up of performances. Since the Walters moved, Mrs. Collins
has taken over alone and done a great job.
Thank you!!
Torey J. is the recipient of so many wonderful
experiences due to the largesse of the PTO!
Earth Day
Thank you, Mrs. Pierce!
Louise Pierce has served in the PTO from the
Earth Day was officially celebrated on Sunday,
time she and her family moved here from MA.
April 22nd. However, at Torey J. we celebrated
it in parts throughout the week.
Last year Louise served as vice president of the
PTO and this year, she moved up to be co presiOn Monday, Mr. Post started the day by reading
dent with Karen Tom. This will be her final year
a story during morning announcements of how
with the TJS PTO since all three of her chileveryone can make a positive impact by doing
dren will now be at MJS.
small acts of good will.
The Green Team (led by Karen Tom and Megan
Niper, our second grade teacher) made hourly
announcements throughout the day, presenting
“green facts” to the school over the public address system.
Each class used paper in the recycling bins to
make leaves that they wrote green pledges on.
Those leaves were then posted around the
showcase outside of the main office.
Then, light willing, as many lights as possible
were turned off for the afternoon to conserve
electricity. The dark day conspired against us
somewhat, but we did our best.
The final activity this week was to have a walk
to school day on Friday. Well over half of our
students walked to school. Parent volunteers
were on certain, strategic corners to supervise
the walkers and a great time was had by all. It
was a terrific activity.
During her time with the PTO, the school has
benefitted tremendously from her quiet, caring
leadership. The school is very lucky to have
people like her, who serve for the good of the
school and students at all times.
Thank you, Mrs. Pierce. We have been very fortunate to have you at the PTO’s helm this year.
Thanks for all of your time and effort.
Kindergarten Orientation
The time is approaching for kindergarten-age
children to enter kindergarten at Torey J. Sabatini School. To help make this big step go as
smoothly as possible, we have designed a program at TJS to orient parents and children to
our school and the way it works. We are holding a kindergarten orientation on June 7th
from 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm.
During the orientation, parents will be meeting
in the TJS library, where the principal and
staff members will explain various aspects of
Thanks for these activities go to Karen Tom and our school and kindergarten program. While the
Penny Sullivan, who organized the events and
parents meet, the “soon to be kindergartners”
activities, making it a successful week for all.
will engage in some fun, kindergarten appropriMrs. Niper and the Green Team also contribate activities in the kindergarten classroom with
uted. The entire school community took part in the kindergarten staff.
some way. Thank you!
This is a great way to become acquainted with
the school, meet other kindergartners and their
parents and prepare for next year! This event is
also open to incoming first graders new to TJS.
MEF 5K Run—Sunday, May 6th
Second Grade Assessments
The Madison Public Schools will no longer be
administering the Terra Nova Achievement
tests to second grade students. In its place,
students will be assessed using the Measures
of Academic Progress (MAP) test. The administration of this exam will take place the week
of May 21st, with make-ups scheduled for the
following week.
The reason for the change is to make certain
that student results are aligned with current
standards and provide teachers the data necessary to prepare students for the NJ ASK as
well as differentiate/individualize instruction
in the classroom.
The MAP test is given on the computer and is
an adaptive test, meaning if a student gets a
question correct, the test gives a more challenging item. Conversely, if a student gets a
question wrong, a simpler item will be given
narrowing in on a student’s learning level and
engaging them with content that allows them
to succeed. In addition, the state department
of education has informed districts that a new
assessment, PARCC, will be replacing the NJ
ASK test in the near future and will be administered on the computer. Therefore, taking
this step now will help prepare our students
for the PARCC assessment they will be required to take soon.
This is an exciting step for our second graders
and parents. We feel confident that this assessment will provide more information that is
relevant and timely.
Feel free to contact Mr. Post should you have
any questions regarding the test.
The Madison Education Foundation’s 9th annual
Madison 5K event will be on Sunday, May 6, at
Madison High School.
Funds raised through this annual event will go
towards grants which enhance the classroom for
students at all grade levels.
The event offers something for everyone: a
certified 5K road race, Kids’ Fun Runs, tricky
tray raffle, kid-friendly goody bags and entertainment for the whole family.
Check-in begins at 9AM; the race starts at
10AM. Kid’s Fun Runs (11 and under) at 11 AM.
Register and pay just $50 for family; $25 adult
(18 and up); $23 (USATF); $15 youth (17 and
under). This will guarantee a t-shirt!
It’s a wonderful event for a great cause!
May Day at Torey J!
May 5th is May Day in Madison and we at TJS
will be participating in the borough’s clean-up
efforts. We will be weeding and mulching the
TJS grounds.
The borough will furnish mulch, gloves and bags
for weeds, as well as drinks and snacks! Please
bring your rakes, shovels and wheel barrows and
come help us beautify TJS!
Stay for as long as you like. Even 30 minutes
help by a family is great. Any questions, please
contact Leigh Bolt (labolt@optonline.net).