Clinton Township Newsletter

11 J u n e 2 0 1 4 "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." — Dr. Seuss S I N O U R S C H O O L S : On May 16, current CTMS seventh grade stu- dents were delighted to welcome incoming seventh students from Round Valley School and Lebanon Borough at the 2014 6th & 7th Move Up Dance . Students enjoyed participating in ping-pong, basketball, karaoke and dancing to local DJ, Dr. D. A great time was had by all! The Clinton Township Middle School hosted the Annual Hunterdon Film Festival and contest on May 23. Students from other area middle schools were invited to enter the docu- mentary contest and four other schools attended. There were eight enrichment groups from CTMS who entered with very interesting topics, such as "Should the Penny Be Retired", "Behind the Scenes in a Funeral Home", "Fear of Fying" and "Cell Phone Addiction" and more! Fifty 8th grade students attended a trip to Gettysburg National Battlefield, where they saw history come alive! Sponsored by the Board of Education, this enrichment trip included a visit to the museum/movie/cyclorama, a battlefield tour by an amazing guide, and a visit to the Jenny Wade home. Two enrichment groups in the CTMS Law Adventure program, sponsored by the NJ Bar Foundation, received an "Honorable Mention" for their original law cases. The stu- dents traveled to New Brunswick to perform their case in a mock trial format before a judge and jury. The PTA treated the 8th graders at CTMS to a performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. The 7th grade will see "Theatre Sports" in June. Thank you, PTA! C l i n t o n t o w n S h i p M i D D l e S C h o o l We are continuing to plant the seeds of friendship at Spruce Run School! Our stu- dents participated in writing a new school song for Spruce Run School, thanks to a grant graciously funded by the Clinton Township Foundation for Educational Excellence! We were pleased to welcome a song- writer who focuses on character education and worked with student input to create a fun and stu- dent-friendly song for our school. The songwriter worked with different groups of kindergarten and first grade students. Each group worked with the songwriter to write one part of the song, and after the song was written, the groups came together to record the song. That afternoon, the entire school gathered for an all-school assembly where the song writer led the children in a discussion about being considerate, compassionate and respectful of one another, in addition to performing a few of the songs he has written with other schools. The assembly closed with an all school performance of the newly composed school song. We are very excited to have created this new legacy for our school! We are so proud of our students! A special thank you to our teachers, Ms. Tanis, Mr. Ruttenberg, Mrs. Jaw and Mrs. Sidbury to writing this grant and to the Clinton Town- ship Foundation for Educational Excellence for supporting this grant to provide this won- derful opportunity for our school! S p r u C e r u n S C h o o l p a t r i C k M C g a h e r a n S C h o o l Second Grade Students Embark on Nature Study: Recently all second grade students participated in a class trip to Merrill Creek Reservoir. This trip was planned to support the grade level unit on meadow ecosystems. During the trip students participated in a variety of activities including a scavenger hunt, nature hike and turtle study. Parent chaperones also participated in this fun experience. Third Grade Students preparing for Water Study: In June, all third grade students will be going on a class trip to study rivers and streams. To prepare students for the trip, teachers and naturalists present lessons in the classroom. Students learn about the types of organisms they may find while exploring the stream. When students arrive at their destination they use scientific equipment to gather and classify invertebrates. We always hope for warm weather since participants are usually knee deep in water during the majority of the experience. PMG Students Publish Research Books: At the May 19 Board of Education Meeting, Admin- istrative Intern and PMG Art Teacher, Kelly DiGioia, shared a presentation of the PMG Research Lab project. Each student in the school became an expert on a specific insect (grade 2) or mammal (grade 3). After going through an extensive research process students drafted, revised and published a hard cover book, complete with illustrations. Many classes invited parents in to celebrate this accomplishment. Students are very proud of their books and love to share their knowledge! Fourth Grade Immigrant Mono- logues: Our fourth grade students just completed the novel, The Orphan of Ellis Island. Each student was assigned a person and a country, ac- companied with a special condition. They put a personal touch on this by assuming the role of the immigrant. Students wrote about this immigrant's experience and then dressed up as the immigrant and and presented their monologue to students, staff, and parents. A wonderful learning op- portunity was had by all! Fourth graders visited the Liber- ty Science Center. Exhibits focused on the environment, earth science, health and "green" energy choices. These were wonderful enhancements to the ecosystems, weather, earth structure, plants and animals, elec- tricity, and forces that students have learned about this year. Fifth graders visited the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. Students visited the planetarium, met with a planetologist, completed STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities and ex- plored the archaeology exhibit. Sixth graders visited the Frank- lin Institute and were able to observe and examine artifacts from the ancient city of Pompeii. Students studied Ancient Rome and ancient cultures in class. National Young Leaders State C o n f e r e n c e : S e v e n 6 t h g r a d e students attended the conference (NYLSC) which took place in Princ- eton. This conference offered students the opportunity to build their leader- ship skills through activities that promoted communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, decision- making and setting goals. Band and Choral Concerts at RVS!Some wonderful music was created from our Round Valley Stu- dents. Spring brought beautiful mu- sic from our fourth, fifth, and sixth graders through their performances in chorus and instrumental band. What an auditory treat! r o u n D v a l l e y S C h o o l Please visit our website to hear the song and download the words to sing along: www.ctsd.k12.nj.us/new-spruce-run-school-song/

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