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December Family Newsletter
2023-2024 School Year
Dear Barley Sheaf School Community,
We hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday, giving thanks for the many things you are grateful for. We offer many thanks to each of you for helping to foster a successful home-school partnership for your children. We are thankful to serve our outstanding school community alongside our exceptional professionals. We look forward to connecting with our families at our upcoming family conferences, beginning December 5.
At Barley Sheaf, we continue to promote a positive school culture with an emphasis on kindness. Our PTO generously sponsored an assembly program with Brian Williams, The Kindness Ninja, on November 2. We are excited to share this special video that Mr. Williams made just for our Barley Sheaf Bears!
We extended our kindness to our local community as well. Our second grade team would like to thank our school community for your support of their action project to help two local animal shelters. Through your kindness and generosity we were able to collect over 200 containers of cat and dog food, more than 50 rolls of paper towels, close to 300 garbage bags and several packages of vinyl gloves. We also celebrated World Kindness Day by decorating coffee collars that were distributed to Starbucks customers on Monday, November 13. We hope you were able to pick up a warm beverage that day to see a specially designed coffee collar from one of our own students!
On behalf of the faculty and staff here at Barley Sheaf, we wish everyone a joyous and festive holiday season! May the New Year be filled with health and happiness for all!
With great appreciation,
Amy Switkes, Principal
Kimberly Bostory, Vice Principal
Save the Date
12/5/23 through 12/8/23- Parent-Teacher Conferences, School Early Dismissal
12/14/23- Scholastic Book Fair Family Night and Family Heritage Night, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
12/22/23- Early Dismissal
12/25/23 through 1/1/24- School Closed, Winter Break
1/2/24- Classes Resume
Teacher of the Year and Educational Services Professional of the Year!
Congratulations to Barley Sheaf's Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Kate Breuer and Barley Sheaf's Educational Services Professional of the Year, Ms. Kelsey Rucando! Our school is an even better place to learn and grow because of these two amazing professionals. Please join us in celebrating our 2023-2024 winners!
Barley Sheaf is Hiring!
Do you want to be more involved in school? Looking to stay connected to Barley Sheaf? We are currently hiring for Teacher Assistant, Cafeteria Aide, and Substitute positions! This is a wonderful opportunity to work with children in our joyful school setting!
Please reach out to Mrs. Switkes and Ms. Bostory with your interest.
Mental Health Grant with Rutgers University
In our November Family Newsletter, we shared with families our School Improvement Goals for the 2023-2024 school year. Part of our work will be in collaboration with Rutgers University. Barley Sheaf is participating in a grant with the Enhancing School Mental Health Services Project. Through our partnership, we will receive training and support to implement Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to meet the social and emotional needs of students. Our work will focus on prevention strategies to promote a positive school climate, social and emotional learning, mental health, and well-being.
Family Heritage Night
Please join us for our first annual Family Heritage Night on Thursday, December 14 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. More information and a form to sign up to participate can be found here. We hope to see you there!
After School Enrichment
The Barley Sheaf PTO is pleased to welcome back our After-School Enrichment (ASE) Program - our 25th year of offering the opportunity to share your talent with our enthusiastic students! Please read the attached flyers for more information. Applications are due December 6.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
We look forward to welcoming our families into school for family conferences! Family conferences offer parents the opportunity to meet with teachers to gain insights about your child’s growth and development in school. Conferences are scheduled for December 5 through December 8 and will be offered both in-person and virtually. Please reach out to your child's teacher to schedule your conference.
Below are a few suggestions to help you prepare for your upcoming conference.
- Before conferences: Talk with your child about their school experience. Ask your child if there is anything they would like you to discuss with their teacher. Prepare a list of questions for your child’s teacher.
- During conferences: Share what is working well for your child and any challenges your child may be experiencing. Ask for clarification of anything you don’t understand. Ask how you can support your child’s learning at home.
- After conferences: Talk to your child about the conference. Celebrate your child’s accomplishments. Share any plan you and the teacher developed to support your child.
We are looking forward to partnering with you to support your child’s academic, social, and emotional learning!
Is Your Contact Information Updated?
Families, please be sure to log into the Genesis Parent Portal to make sure your contact information is updated. This includes phone numbers and email addresses. As winter weather approaches, we want to make sure you get your school closing or delayed opening notifications.
Attendance
Please note the following:
- Students entering the building after 8:55 a.m. must be signed in by a parent and will be marked as tardy. Students who are picked up early before 3:25 p.m. will be marked as early dismissal. In accordance with our attendance policy, 3 tardies or dismissals will equal 1 absence.
- Please make sure to let the school know when your child will be late to school for a doctor appointment. You can either call the attendance line or fill out the online form and in the comment section you can specify that your child has an appointment and will be late. We ask that you kindly provide a doctor's note for these appointments.
Please review these helpful tips for what you can do at home to promote regular attendance for your child.
Safety and Security Procedures
- Visitors must be signed in and wear a visitor badge in the building.
- Do not hold any doors for visitors.
- Only staff and students are permitted on school grounds during school hours.
- For the safety and security of our staff and students, monthly fire and security drills are conducted.
- We have a full time School Resource Officer, Officer John Carney, working at Barley Sheaf every day.
- Please use the crosswalks in the parking lot.
- Please obey the 15 mph speed limit in our parking lot.
Dismissal Reminders
- Please make sure to call or send a note when your child's dismissal changes or if they will be picked up early for any reason.
- If you need to change your child's dismissal after the school day has started, please call the Main Office at 908-284-7586 before 2:30pm and we will be happy to relay the message.
- If your child attends the YMCA after-care and you make a change to their dismissal, please contact both the YMCA and the Barley Sheaf main office regarding any changes.
Cold Weather is Here!
Children should come dressed for outside play every day since they will be going outside for recess. Please remember to send your children to school with a coat, hat, and gloves!
From Our School Counselors
This December, our counselors will "Light Up the World with Kindness." Please review what students will be working on in school and how you can help support your child at home. Book recommendations are also included!
Related Arts Newsletter
Please enjoy the following newsletter from our Related Arts teachers! (Physical Education, Technology, Library, Art, World Language, and Music)
School Information
Send a Birthday Message!
Make your Barley Sheaf child's birthday extra special by wishing him or her a Happy Birthday on the electronic sign in front of the building! Please send an email to Megan Campbell at megan.campbell@frsd.us at least one week before the date and include your child's name, birthdate, grade and teacher. A Happy Birthday message with your child's first name will appear on the sign on their special day. The $10 cash or check donation can be sent to Barley Sheaf either in your child's backpack or via US mail. Checks should be made out to Barley Sheaf PTO.