Clinton Township Newsletter

I N O UR S S CHO O L S : C LIN T ON T OW N S H IP SC H OOL DIST R IC T KIN DE R G A R T E N R E G ISTR A T ION Kindergarten registration will be held February 24 – 28, 2014. A child must be 5 years of age on or before October 1, 2012. Please call Spruce Run School at 908-735-7916 ext. 208 or e-mail npaul@ctsd.k12.nj.us and submit the following information: child's name, birth date, parents' names, address, home and cell phone numbers, and email address. Kindergarten Information Night – January 23, 2014 at 7:30 pm at Spruce Run School. We look forward to meeting our incoming kindergarten students! Spruce Run School Kindergarten Round-Up! Kindergarten Round-Up is now occurring at Spruce Run School. A child must be 5 years of age on or before October 1, 2014 to be eligible for kindergarten during the 2014-2015 school year. If you have a child who will be eligible for kindergarten next year, please notify our school as soon as possible by visiting our website to download and return the Kindergarten Round-Up Survey. In addition to the survey, completed kindergarten registration packets are due by February 7, 2014. You may visit our school website to download http://www. ctsd.k12.nj.us/kindergarten-registration-2014/ for the "New Student Registration" packet. After your child is registered for Kindergarten, Kindergarten Screenings will be held by appointment during the week of February 24, 2014. If you have any questions regarding the Kindergarten registration process, please contact Mrs. Paul at npaul@ctsd.k12.nj.us or 908.735.7916, ext 9208. Thank you! SRS Preschool Program: The Clinton Township School District is proud to offer our exceptional Integrated Preschool Program at Spruce Run School for the 2014-2015 school year. In our inclusive classrooms, typically developing preschoolers learn and play with students with special needs in a nurturing, language-enriched environment. All sessions provide a structured learning environment with a focus on play, social skills, language development, fine/gross motor and pre-readiness academic skills. All students are active learners in a caring and inviting environment. All 3 and 4 year old children in the Clinton Township School District who are 3 on or before October 1, 2014 are eligible to apply for the program. Please call our Department of Special Services for more information and an application at 908.238.9141, ext. 244. Applications are due by February 3, 2014. P at r i c k M c G a h e r a n S c h o o l PMG Has Talent! The annual PMG Talent Show was held this January. Organized and run by the Parent Teacher Association, the show was a huge success! This year there were over 30 acts! Mr. Verderamo, one of PMG's second grade teachers, was the Emcee. Student acts included dancers, magicians, comedians, instrumental performances and singing. Teachers joined in to be part of a student performance from Grease. A great time was had by all! Ball in the House at PMG: On January 6 students at PMG were treated to a special performance by Ball in the House acappella group. During the interactive show, band members described how they create their music and incorporated explanations of vocal arrangements, songwriting and explained how the friendships within the band make Ball in the House a special team. Reading and Writing at PMG: Second and third grade students at Patrick McGaheran School are developing their comprehension, fluency, vocabulary and love of reading. Comprehension, understanding and interpreting what is read is the ultimate goal of reading. Children need instruction in comprehension to become more proficient readers. Comprehension develops through reading and listening to texts being read aloud. Parents can enhance their child's comprehension skills by reading text to them that they would not be able to read themselves. When reading with your child or grandchild, stop periodically and say, "Let's see if we remember what I just read. Think about who the story was about and what happened." Do this three or four times throughout the story. Fluency is vital to comprehension and it is one of the most common reading problems. According to the National Reading Panel, 2000, fluency is reading "... with speed, accuracy, and proper expression." We tell our students that, "good reading sounds like talking". Paired reading, (Topping, 1987) is a procedure that has been shown to increase fluency with the help of parents at home. Paired reading sessions R o u n d V a ll e y S c h o o l : Congratulations to Caira Blake, Round Valley's Spelling Bee CHAMPION! Caira won when she correctly spelled: s-h-i-a-t-s-u. She will be advancing to the Regional Spelling Bee in March. Our students have organized eight teams for Reading Olympics. These students have made the commitment to take on the challenge of reading books for the final competition in April. begin with the adult reading a chosen passage to the child. Next, the two read the passage several times in unison. The child uses a prearranged signal when he or she wants to take over the reading and read alone. As the child reads, the adult may correct errors in word recognition by saying the word, having the child repeat the sentence in which the word appears, and then continuing to read. Paired Reading is an excellent strategy to help your child become more fluent on challenging text. This year students will be working with our new Research Labs. Each student will become an expert in a grade level topic and write a research paper to demonstrate his or her knowledge. Second grade students will each research an insect while third grade will explore mammals. Throughout the school year students at Patrick McGaheran will have the opportunity to work with the Student Publishing Center. The Center was established last year thanks to a grant from the Clinton Township Foundation for Excellence. Students are able to select samples of their writing to transform into a published book. Teachers will encourage students to write, revise and edit their writing and then submit it to the Publishing Center. Once the student writing is received, it will be bound into a book. It's a New Year and so many new things are happening at Round Valley School! At our last All School Meeting we introduced Footsteps Worth Following. Memory Book members, along with classroom students put together a wonderful presentation to kickoff our theme. They created words to the music of Footloose along with some fabulous dance and hand jive moves! Students will continually be meeting on this theme during our ABC classroom activities. Ahhh, the beautiful sounds of the students singing at the Choral Concert was an auditory delight. Mrs. Kliszus, once again, had a wide repertoire of musical selections. Thank you parents for your continued support of our fine arts programs! The PTA has been generous with providing assemblies for our students. Thank you! Fourth graders were very enthusiastic with the Geology Rocks presentation and fifth graders enjoyed the Greenhouse Rocks assembly. Clinton Township Middle School Three teams wrote and submitted case briefs to the Law Adventure contest, which is sponsored by the NJ Bar Foundation. The students were asked to write real life cases based on either animal cruelty or student rights. Best of luck to our Law Adventure teams! F CTMS will be hosting the Second Annual Poetry Slam in February. Middle Schools from the North/ Voorhees sending districts will write poems and act them out on stage. Our 4th Annual Mini Relay for Life will be held on Friday, February 21. In the first three years, the e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 CTSD community has raised almost $85,000 for the American Cancer Society! If you'd like to be a part of the Relay for LIfe by participating, making a donation, advertising or dedicating a luminaria to a loved one, please visit our website at http://relay. acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=60460. For more info. contact: Diane Cormican at: dcormican@ctsd.k12.nj.us. ♥ 15

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