The Falcon Flyer Newsletter/March 2019/Monroe Township School District

MONROE TOWNSHIP SCHOOL DISTRICT

The Falcon Flyer Newsletter

MARCH 2019

A Message From Mr. Robert Goodall

Monroe Township School District Acting Superintendent

Please VOTE on March 12, 2019 - Polls open 7 AM - 8 PM

Question #1 - A Second Middle School

A 152,315 square foot school building for 1,000 students in grades 6-8 that provides parity of academic, athletic, and extra-curriculum spaces to support district-wide fairness in facilities and opportunities

Question #2 - If Question #1 Above Passes,

then

an Addition to High School

A 129,675 square foot addition to the high school building for 1,000 students and interior alterations for special needs programs

Download the MTSD District Mobile App TODAY!

Stay up to date with Monroe Township School District Events and Information! Use the links below to download the

FREE mobile app to your mobile device.

IOS App Store:

Monroe Township School Dist. by SchoolInfoApp, LLC

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monroe-township-school-dist/id1322733451?mt=8

Google Play:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app_monroetown.layout

Stay connected & up to date on information, events and happenings!

Click here to register for The Falcon Flyer Email Newsletter

Click here to view the Monroe Township School District Website

SCHOOL WEBSITE LINKS

Click here for Applegarth School

Click here for Barclay Brook School

Click here for Brookside School

Click here for Mill Lake Elementary School

Click here for Monroe Township High School

Click here for Monroe Township Middle School

Click here for Oak Tree School

Click here for Woodland School

Click here for Falcon Care

REGULAR SCHOOL DAY SCHEDULE TIMES:

Applegarth	9:05 am - 3:34 pm
Barclay Brook	9:05 am - 3:34 pm
Brookside	9:05 am - 3:34 pm
Mill Lake	8:50 am - 3:19 pm
Monroe Township High School	7:27 am - 2:00 pm
Monroe Township Middle School	8:10 am - 2:39 pm
Oak Tree	8:55 am - 3:24 pm
Woodland	8:10 am - 2:39 pm

Click here to view the 2018-2019 school calendar

(revised 7/18/18)

March 11, 2019	Monroe Township School District School Referendum Presentation Monroe Township Recreation Center - 7pm
March 12, 2019	Monroe Township School District Referendum Vote! - Polls open 7am-8pm!

Monroe Township School District

BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING DATES

March 18, 2019

Preliminary Budget Hearing

Click here to view the full list of 2019 Board of Education meeting dates

Board of Education meetings are held at

Monroe Township High School in the Media Center at 7:00pm

Committee Meetings

March 12, 2019

Committee meetings are held at the Board office

Personnel - 4:00pm (*Not open to the public)

Buildings, Grounds and Transportation - 5:00pm

Finance - 6:00pm

Policy - 7:00-8:30pm

Educational Advocacy Committee Meetin g

March 14, 2019 - 5:00pm

held at the Board office

Curriculum Committee Meeting

March 18, 2019 at 5:30pm

held at Monroe Township High School in the

Media Center conference room

For more information about the Monroe Township Board of Education click here: https://www.monroe.k12.nj.us/domain/13

2019 Board Members

Ms. Kathy Kolupanowich, Board President

Mr. Steven Riback, Vice President

Ms. Michele Arminio

Mr. Ken Chiarella

Ms. Jill DeMaio

Ms. Patricia Lang

Mr. Andy Paluri

Ms. Rupa Siegel

Mr. Peter Tufano

Jamesburg Representative

Mr. Paul Rutsky

Student Board Members

Ms. Sreeja Mamillapalli

Mr. Manan Shah

Monroe Township District Referendum Social Media Sites

District Website Referendum Page:

http://referendum.monroe.k12.nj.us

Facebook Referendum Page:

https://www.facebook.com/MonroeReferendum/

District Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mtsdfalcons

District Mobile App:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monroe-township-school-dist/id1322733451?mt=8

Click here to view the Referendum News Flyer in PDF form

Click here to view the PDF flyer and to view the registration links

Please register using this link:

https://www.livingreclaimedshop.com/product-page/monroe-township-baseball-assoc-3-8-at-7-00pm

MTHS MIDDLE STATES ACCREDITATION

WHAT IS MIDDLE STATES ACCREDITATION?

* Accreditation is an external objective measure of school quality and student achievement that fosters continuous school improvement.

* The process begins when a school conducts a comprehensive self-study and evaluation, while submitting to a rigorous peer review process.

* A group from the Middle States Association will come to visit our school, evaluating us on twelve standards, as well as our institution's plan for growth. Once the group visit is complete, the determination will be made if accreditation will be rewarded.

* Dates of High School visit: March 19 th - 22 nd 2019

Click here to learn more and to view the PowerPoint presentation

CODE AND GO AT OAK TREE

By Melissa Bordieri

The second graders in Mrs. Bordieri's class at Oak Tree have been having fun learning the basics of coding. Earlier this school year, Mrs. Bordieri introduced her students to the purple Code & Go Robot Mouse. Students can program the mouse to move left, right, forwards or backwards by pushing the arrow keys on the back of the mouse. Students use problem solving and critical thinking skills to work cooperatively in small groups to program the mouse. At first, students struggled to find the right sequential order needed to have the mouse reach the "cheese". Students used rulers to figure out how far the mouse would travel with each move. They mapped out the directions they would need to program for the mouse. Despite many trials and errors, students had a blast learning how to correctly program their mouse to move along a specified path. Once her students got the hang of coding, Mrs. Bordieri then had her second graders work in small groups to design their own paths for the mouse to travel. The small groups rotated around the room to try out each other's paths. For Valentine's Day, the students tried to get their mouse to carry and deliver a Valentine card around obstacles. During an upcoming Math unit on time, student groups will be using stopwatches to try to beat the best time to get their mouse through the obstacle course. Mrs. Bordieri plans to continue incorporating the Code & Go Robot Mice into different subject areas.

PJ'S FOR POLICE

Oak Tree students raised close to $450 as part of our PJs for Police fundraiser to support Team Monroe Township. For the fifth consecutive year the team will be riding alongside hundreds of police officers in Chapter 10 of the Police Unity Tour, a four- day bicycle ride from New Jersey to Washington, DC, in honor of fallen officers throughout the country. The goal of this three hundred mile ride is to remember those officers killed in the line of duty, and to raise funds for the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF).

Click here to view the flyer in PDF form and to view the registration link

Click here to view the PDF flyer and to view the registration link

CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS AT OAK TREE

Taking a stroll through the hallways of Oak Tree during the month of February is like taking a trip around the world. Each homeroom has been assigned a country to represent the different cultures around the world. Bulletin boards are decorated with information from the various countries and may include crafts, flags, masks, and words from the native language. In its sixth year, our Cultural Expressions Committee works diligently each year to develop unique and meaningful activities in which students can learn about their assigned country as well as many others. This year students researched an array of categories including food, clothing, traditions, geography. education, and language. The Committee then videotaped students presenting the information using the Flipgrid program. Using this unique technology students at each grade level now have the opportunity to enjoy learning about different cultures through presentations created by their peers. In addition the classes represent their country for World Cup Soccer and Field Day in the spring. Recognizing each other differences is vital to the acceptance of others and that is the vision of Cultural Expressions at Oak Tree.

SCHOOL HAPPENINGS AT APPLEGARTH

Valentines for Veterans

The classes at Applegarth School have had the opportunity to visit our Pop-Up

Makerspace in the Commons since the beginning of February. In addition tomaking handmade Valentines for their family and loved ones, Applegarthresponded to an invitation from Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman. The invitation was to make handmade Valentines for our veterans in NJ and active service members.

Students were provided with a wide variety of materials such as colored paper, pompoms, stickers, felt, gems, lace hearts, etc. and were asked to design a creative card to be given to the Congresswoman's office. From there, they were amassed and distributed to the Trenton Veterans Center. The Vet Center will distribute the cards to veterans living throughout Central Jersey.

Congresswoman Watson Coleman prepared a video that was

presented to students explaining that we need to let our veterans know how much we appreciate them for working hard to protect our safety and freedom.

The Congresswoman's office was very pleasantly surprised when Applegarth donated over 200 hand-made Valentines!

Kids Heart Challenge at Applegarth

Back in January, Applegarth students were joined in the gym for a kick-off of the Kids Heart Challenge. Their challenge was to raise awareness and money for the National Heart Association. The National Heart Association focuses on eradicating heart disease, the number one killer worldwide. Heart disease can also cause disabilities and diminish the quality of life. The National Heart Association invests billions of dollars each year for research in an effort to make breakthroughs in freeing the world of cardiovascular diseases.

Through their physical education classes with Ms. Stacy Fleisher and Mr. Michael Fattibene, students were taught to avoid heart conditions by eating healthy, being physically active, and managing stress successfully.

With music cranking in the Applegarth gym, students spent extra time on physical fitness in activities like jumping rope, hopping on pogo sticks, and jumping up and down on inflated balls. It was a heart healthy day that raised well over $3,000.00....and the envelopes are still coming in!

RAKs in Ms. Sheppard's Class

The students in Ms. Sheppard's fourth grade class are no strangers to completing kind deeds for others. In past months, students have worked with the charitable organization, Feeding Frenz, to provide socks and snacks to those who needed them, and to help with assembling utensils for the community kitchen. This past month, students were challenged by their teacher to complete five random acts of kindness! The students rose to the challenge, completing helpful and inspiring deeds which were spotlighted on the class bulletin board.

After their acts of kindness were completed, Ms. Sheppard's class wrote about their experiences and delivered a report to the class. The class validated the efforts of their peers by raising their hands and making positive comments about the presentation. Students also wrote down positive responses for their classmates to save.

What a wonderful way to supplement the curriculum with social and emotional learning!

Wellness Winter Wonderland

Students at Applegarth Elementary School participated in a story reading withAssistant Principal, Mrs. Maggie Fidura. Students listened to a read aloud of the book, I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. Students listened to the book in groups in the cafeteria and then returned to their classes where they completed a follow up activity with their teachers. Each student was given a cut out snowflake, and wrote something they like about themselves on it.

The student creations were hung up in the main hallway at Applegarth, to create our own Wellness Winter Wonderland!

MTHS ATHLETICS

Congratulations to Mike Kides for scoring his 1,000 career Points!

Congratulations to our Competition Cheer Team on becoming State Champions!!!!!!!

Congratulations to Jordan Kaplan he advanced to Meet of Champions in the 800m by placing 5th at group 4 Championships. At the Meet of Champions, Jordan placed 6th and broke his own school record!

Coaches Casarella and Guerra would like to offer a big CONGRATULATIONS to the Boys Bowling team for placing 2nd in the GMC Tournament Finals! We are very proud of all of their accomplishments this season and look forward to many more!

BROOKSIDE SCHOOL NEWS

Our Classroom Super Bowl

By: Anaya Shah

I knew we were in for a surprise the minute I stepped into the classroom. It was our classroom transformation day! We all had to wear a sports jersey. There was a Rams side and a Patriots side of the room. There was tablecloth covering both of the tables. Our teams were picked randomly out of a hat. At the board, there was a Patriots player and a Rams player at opposite sides of the field. The goal was throughout the day, the teams would move closer to the opponent's end zone depending on how well your team performed in every activity.

Instead of periods, we had quarters. There were games like an online breakout, fantasy football, football geography, football math, and close reading about two football players. The first activity was a breakout. In the breakout, every group got one computer and we were pretending that we got trapped in a locker room. We had to go through a series of riddles to unlock the locker room. In Fantasy Football, you have to choose some players to make a team. Each player had a cost based on their ranking. You had a budget of $100.The total points your selected team scored depended upon the player's performance (touchdowns, yards, sacks, interceptions, etc.) in the Super Bowl. In football geography, you had to identify where each team played. Then you would answer some questions about each of the states.Football math was when you had a chart about the best players and you had to answer questions according to the chart. For extra yardage, you had to play a math game after you were finished.

Ms. Kelly was dressed as a referee. Her job was making sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to. She also carried a yellow flag and blew a whistle for fouls, and either team could lose yards.

Then there was also the overtime S.T.E.M. project. Working as a team, the Rams were against the Patriots trying to make a mini football go through the field goal we were trying to make with limited supplies. We had to mark the field up to 50 yards. Then we stood at the farthest point of our field and "kicked" to make the ball go through the field goal. This was the last opportunity for a team to score a touchdown. Finally, it was the moment everyone had been waiting for. It was time to test our field goals. The Patriots were ten yards away from their field goal and the Rams were thirty. It seemed hopeless for the Rams to make a comeback. Then the moment had come. It was time to shoot our mini footballs into the field goal we made. We combined both of our half fields, so it would create a full one. Then, five team members got a chance to kick from fifty yards away. The Patriots scored once, so they got two yards, but the Rams scored none, so we didn't move. Then, because no one had scored a touchdown, we tried again from sixty yards. This round was worth thirty yards ahead. The Patriots scored, but the Rams didn't, so the Patriots won. Although my team didn't win, it was fun having a classroom transformation. We cannot wait for the next one.

100 Days of Learning at Oak Tree!

To celebrate 100 days of learning at OakTree,the students in Mrs.Winther and Miss Kirner's third grade classes traveled through time as they completed a1900's themed scavenger hunt to learn all about life 100 years ago on the 100th Day of School! During Reader's Workshop throughout the week, the students read excerpts from the book, "If You Lived 100 Years Ago," by Ann McGovern. In this nonfiction text,readers learned all about life in New York City in the early 1900s. Reading groups worked together to read and identify main idea/key details for excerpts from the book about a variety of topics, including transportation, economy, education, fashion, and medicine during the time period. Students gathered research notes about their assigned topic, then met with students who learned about other topics, to share knowledge and learn from one another's research. On the 100th Day, the teachers and students dressed like people would have 100 years ago, and students worked in small groups to complete a scavenger hunt. They "time traveled" by observing photos/timelines/diagrams related to the time period, then scanned QR codes at each station to watch a video about a topic within the time period. For each station, students completed a learning activity such as a Venn Diagram, paragraph writing, asking/answering questions, and more. We had so much fun and learned so much! Happy 100th Day of learning!