Clinton Township Newsletter

1 5 n o v e m b e r 2 0 2 1 The Clinton Township Education Foundation has funded hundreds of innovative educational programs since 1998. Feel free to contact us for more ways you can help! Visit the Foundation's website: www.ClintonTownshipFoundation.org and select DONATE. Thank you in advance! Help wanted: Community members often ask what they can do to support our schools. Applying to be a substitute teacher is one way that people can be a tremendous support to our school! Please visit the "Job Opportunities" tab on our CTSD website for more information. Round Valley School 3rd Grade: Third graders have been reading and examining maps and globes. In addition, these cartographers have even been creating their own maps of an imaginary island of their own design. These maps include a compass rose as well as a map key, filled with information. Students have also been learning about landforms and how weather and humans affect the earth's surface. Students have researched various landforms and shared their learning with their classmates. In the beginning of the year, third graders were reviewing concepts of addition and subtraction, with and without regrouping. Many strategies were explored, including rounding and estimation and students were encouraged to find the method that worked best for their learning style. Currently, students are collecting and interpreting data to ask and answer questions. In Language Arts, the children are enjoying reading, listening to, and writing stories. Our personal narratives tell various tales about our lives, ranging from when we first met our baby brother to when we were rushed to the hospital in an ambulance after a car accident. We have so many wonderful and exciting stories to write, publish, and share! Fifth Grade Spotlight: Our fifth grade scientists have been busy putting into practice the scientific method through various experiments on surface tension, buoyancy and physical reactions. The Clinton Township School District, in partnership with the community, achieves excellence for each child by ensuring a meaningful and challenging educational experience in a supportive environment; developing life-long learners who are responsible and productive citizens. During the next few weeks they will be learning about what seeds need to thrive in an environment. These young scientists have planted and now are observing seeds in different environments and learning whether or not it is necessary for seeds to have water, sunlight, carbon dioxide, and soil in order to grow. In ELA, the fifth graders are reading the novel, Save Me A Seat, by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajanand. The students are learning about character traits and how characters change throughout the story. Students are looking for details in the novel to support their thoughts as they prepare written responses. Clinton Township Middle School Enrichment News: The Enrichment Program at CTMS is back in full swing! Students choose to enroll in these programs for extra challenge opportunities. In the mock trial program, sponsored by the New Jersey Bar Foundation, we have five groups this year! This is a competition where the students learn about courtroom law and write an original, balanced court case. Last spring we had three teams place on the state level, and the students are motivated to repeat that success! WordMasters, the national word analogy competition, is going strong with three teams (one per grade level) already diving into the new "gold division" lists. We have a record 44 students participating! Poetry Club has many returning poets and many new members. Congratulations to our published poets: Kelly Shanklin, Faye Fletcher, Kathryn Wolf and Holden Schipper. These young writers submitted poems to national student poetry competitions and are now published! And finally, our daily news program, which is filmed and edited by students, has grown to almost 70 news hosts and 25 video editors!

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