Clinton Township Newsletter

11 J u l y 2 0 1 5 I N O U R S C H O O L S : Su R Scho Next school year, Spruce Run School is celebrating 60 years of learning! We will have special spirit days to dress like it is 1955! Students will also listen to music from 1955. We're looking for volunteers to share with our students about 1955. If you lived in Clinton Township in 1955 and have something to share with our students, we would love to hear from you. Perhaps you attended Spruce Run School in 1955 or remember childhood activities. We are also looking for memorabilia. If you have photos or know of anyone with a classic 1955 car, please contact us! Mrs. Sidbury, our enrichment teacher, is coordinating activities. She can be reached at esidbury@ctsd.k12.nj.us or by phone at 908.735.7916, ext 209. We look forward to hearing from you! Paick McGah Scho Healthy Kids Week at PMG! From June 1 through June 5 students participated in Healthy Kids Week. This exciting week was developed by the Special Area Teaching team. It provided students a fun and informational week to learn more about being healthy. Each day began with a morning announcement describing a healthy side dish that students could choose from the cafeteria. An All-School Morning Meeting was enjoyed by all. It consisted of a "Go Noodle" dance activity led by the PE Teacher, Miss Napoli, and a slide show about healthy choices by the nurse, Mrs. DiLeo, and a guest speaker. The meeting ended with Mrs. DiGioia, the Art Teacher, presenting a $1000 check to a representative from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital! This money was raised through the generosity of parents during Arts Fest. Throughout the rest of the week, students in Physical Education classes were introduced to Jazzercise by various instructors who donated their time to the school. The week concluded with Field Days and Spirit Day. Child's Play: Each spring PMG welcomes the Child's Play Touring Theater to the school. This theater company specializes in creating original skits based on student writing. This year PMG authors, Ian Grenda and Marissa Annese witnessed the world premieres of skits based on their writing. Ian's story is titled "The Dragon who had no Friends" and Marissa's story is, "Ducks." The following students received honorable mentions and certificates: "Strawberry's 9th Birthday" by Zachary Emerson and Christopher Dilanno, "Stripes Disobeys" by Emma Gregory and Madison Millward, "Softball Comeback" by Sarah Schwierk, "The Lion Pride" by Annika Hoyer, "Coco Gets Hungry" by Isabella Hodkinson, "Banana the Duck's Big Adventure" by Rachel Elizabeth Bielenberg, "Springtime Is Here" by Sofia Cappuccio, "You Can Do It George" by Brooke Cahill, "Fairy Adventure" by Sofie Hagadorn and Charlotte Shannon, "The New World" by Rosa Bryant Spann, "Best Christmas Ever" by Isha Goyal, "The Adventures of Pasta Connor and Pizza Jamison" by Connor McHugh and Jamison Morrow, "The Dog and the Guinea Pig" by Mackenzie Metzger and Brooke Trauger, "Oscar and the Snake" by Ira DeShields and Inesh Raddalgoda, "The Eechu Problem" by Selina Zhang. Rd V Scho POPs Prototypes and Possibilities: Students have been researching both how products can be improved and new inventions. Students were required to keep a journal of the process, survey of potential clients, consumers, produce their POP and present to a panel of judges from the community. What a fantastic day! Artline: Mr. Gugliandolo and Mrs. Sielaff and a number of students worked collaboratively to construct a "pod" or "bubble", which served as a museum to display their artwork. Students applied to participate in this activity and then created artwork based on the theme "Art Throughout the Continents." A w a r d s N i g h t : M a n y R o u n d V a l l e y Students were recognized on June 9 for their achievements! Our auditorium was full when the following categories were recognized: Word Masters, NJ Trebel Choir, Reading Olympics, Johns Hopkins, NJ Math League, Geography Bee, Golden Eagle Singers, Continental Math, Express Times Spelling Bee and the Accelerated Readers. Fourth Grade Immigrant Monologues: Our fourth grade students just completed the novel, The Orphan of Ellis Island, The Cat Who Escaped from Steerage. Each student was assigned a person and a country, 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 presented their monologue to students, staff and parents. A wonderful learning opportunity was had by all! Garden: How Does Our Garden Grow? T h i s i s t h e fifth y e a r w e ' v e h a d o u r Community Garden. We've made some substantial growth over the years. This year we added a permanent fence and gates to the Round Valley Garden to protect the crops. Students and teachers have worked diligently by planting seeds, nurturing the seedlings and transplanting to the garden, building the soil base and a d d i n g a composting bin for fertilization. That's how our garden is growing! t Tohip Midd Scho On June 8, the faculty of the Clinton Township Middle School was proud to recognize the outstanding academic achievement, excellence in the fine arts and exemplary citizenship of our students! The following students received awards from local organizations and individuals: CTMS Distinguished Students: Ella Fasciano and Matthew Stanzione, PTA Top Students: Rachel Mead and James Vallay, Scott Van Doren Awards: Samantha Van Belle and David Rende, Gebhardt & Kiefer Award: Gavin Strand, Knights of Columbus Awards: Amanda Chisholm and Matthew Shea, William Colantano, Jr. Award: Charlotte Houghton, Walter Schaufele Award: Sydney Smit, CTEA Character Counts Awards: Julia MacIsaac, Jeel Patel, Thomas Zappetti and Andrew Rusnak Solar Sprints: Congratulations to Brendan Merkle and Ian Adams for receiving the award of 2nd Place in Best Use of Recycled Materials in the Regional Junior Solar Sprint Competition on May 28 at Ridgedale Middle School (Florham Park, NJ). Their car was made out of cereal and waffle boxes, and was named "The Thick and Fluffy Mobile". Enrichment: Congratulations to our Documentary Film Makers! At the 2015 Hunterdon Film Festival, CTMS took home 3 out of 5 trophies! In 1st place: Zach Kesselhaut with Crohn's: My Challenge. In 3rd place, we had Rebecca Cecil and Amanda Chisholm with Paving the Planet, a movie about deforestation. We also received the Judges' Choice Award, which went to Nick Minadeo, Drew Wager and Ian Adams for their movie, Up in Arms, a film about gun control. Other schools attending were Ethel Hoppock Middle School (Bethlehem), Clinton Public, Califon Public and Woodglen School (Lebanon Township).

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