Brandt's Weekly Newsletter
9.15.23
Inside this Edition
- Principal's Message
- Kindness Awards
- Grade Level Updates
- The Counselor's Corner
- Related Arts and Science Updates
- Nurse's Nook
- The Friday Playlist
Principal's Message
Let's celebrate today - we made it through our first full week of school together! As I always say, while we are not perfect, we will continue to get better and better each day we are in school as routines and procedures become more familiar. Our staff, students, and community-at-large deserve a huge round of applause for a successful first full week. Thank you all for your continued patience and understanding.
Please take a moment to check out the flyer below with information about a new and exciting initiative here at Brandt School - Brag Tags! In the coming days, all of our students will receive everything they need to begin participating in this exciting way to celebrate our students and show our Brandt School Pride.
On behalf of the Hoboken Public School District, Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! We are certainly looking forward to celebrating this vibrant aspect of our community over the next few weeks in our classrooms. Hispanic Heritage is a beautiful thread woven into our society fabric, and we will have a lot of fun as we learn about it over the next few weeks.
Our annual Back to School Night event is this Tuesday, September 19th from 6:30 - 8:00 PM. The event is intended for adults only. It is not a time to discuss your child's specific progress. There is a dedicated day set aside just for that on October 25th. On behalf of the PTO, there is a parent social immediately following Back to School Night at 10th and Willow. Please click on this link for more information about Back to School Night: https://www.smore.com/fcs1m
Next Friday, September 22nd, I hope you can attend the annual Back to School Party in Columbus Park from 6:00 - 7:30 PM. Feel free to pack a picnic or check out the food truck. Our PTO always does a tremendous job organizing this event so we hope to see you there!
Please remember, the school day ends at 3:00 PM. If your child is not a part of the Passport to Learning After School Program, please make sure you or an appropriately designated individual is here to pick your child up on time. Also, if your child is in the Passport program, make sure you email your child's homeroom teacher directly on any day they might not be attending the program after school. This will greatly expedite the pickup process for you. One final thing regarding picking children up from school - remember no child will be released in between 2:30 and 3:00 PM. After 2:30, you must wait until regular dismissal time. Thank you for your continued cooperation.
Please make sure you check out all of the information in our grade level and subject area updates featured below...
For this week's Friday playlist, I hope you enjoy three of my favorites to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month... Have a great weekend and see you Monday!
- Mr. Bartlett
Brag Tags Are On The Way!
Kindness Awards
Madison Eckert acted as a mentor for her peers in her class.
Dhruv Talreja has been a wonderful leader and classmate this week. He welcomed any classmate to work with him.
Kyla Andreula is a model student who had a great first week by following all routines and procedures and helping out in the classroom.
Sophia Petrakov is a great helper and wonderful friend.
Kindergarten
First Grade
First graders are off to a great start this new school year. Throughout the first full week, students engaged in many activities related to getting to know their classmates and teachers. Students learned the routines and procedures that they will need to know and follow for first grade. A favorite new routine is eating lunch in the cafeteria.
In ELA, students reviewed letter recognition and sounds. They on worked writing a complete sentence and using lowercase letters for all writing except when starting a sentence or the first letter of their name.
In Math, students are working on counting objects up to 20. Students are practicing strategies to avoid double counting or missing an object when counting. Students are also working on addition strategies to solve problems up to 10.
Second Grade
In Language Arts, students have been getting to know all about what we will be learning in second grade and how we will be growing our brain in reading, phonics, and writing! Students have received their materials and are practicing their routines in the classroom. We have discussed what our favorite books are and some stories we will read this year.
MATH:
Students are getting settled into their Math routine. We have introduced our math supplies which include number lines, counting cubes, plane shapes, among other great resources. Students have been using their white boards to create math facts as practice. We have created a "Mystery Math About Me" and are excited for grown ups to see.
Social Studies:
We have learned a lot about our class community and how to respect our classmates and our class materials. We are even learning new facts about each other! We are working what it means to work together, never give up, and try your best.
Third Grade
We’re very excited to start the year with our third graders! This past week we jumped right into community building activities, read alouds, math games, and creative writing.
In math, students created "Math About Me" posters. Students reviewed place value, time, and measurement, as well as learned some new games the students will use throughout the year.
In ELA, the students got to know one another by writing autobiographies about themselves. Each day we completed fun read alouds.
For social studies, students focused on building a welcoming classroom community and had many opportunities to share about themselves. Students created personal goals for the month and steps of how to achieve them. Students then made a list of all the things they hope to be able to accomplish this year. Third grade students had opportunities to learn about their classmates through play and exploration!
Fourth Grade
The Fourth Graders have been busy learning all about their classroom environments this week. They are learning the routines and expectations. Fourth graders are working towards setting goals for the school year. They are learning about their classmates and teachers while establishing lifelong friendships.
Students set up their math and writing notebooks and learned the expectations and routines of math and ELA, while reviewing concepts from third grade before diving into all new fourth grade units. Students worked on forming good habits and creating goals both inside and outside of school. Students discussed and wrote about what it will take to achieve these goals. We are so excited and ready for a great year in 4th grade.
We dove into both the ELA curriculum and Math curriculums. In ELA this week students worked on comparing and contrasting ideas from different texts. Students also began reading their first novel of the year Who is Sonia Sotomayor? The nonfiction text will be used to enhance and apply reading and comprehension strategies taught during the week.
In math students reviewed and went over concepts learned in third grade to get them ready for the start of the first unit of math investigations. Students are talking about and learning making arrays to show multiplication and are identifying objects that come in arrays.
Fifth Grade
It has been a wonderful start to the school year here in 5th grade!
In ELA, we have been working on building a tight-knit classroom community and ensuring we are following all classroom procedures.This includes our brilliant 5th graders creating "All About Me" posters and sharing them with their classmates. We began our first ELA novel, Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. During this week, we began our reader and writer’s workshop. Students began exploring the setting of the novel to grasp the time period of the 1930's in Mexico.
In Math, we began Unit 1: Puzzles, Clusters, and Towers. Throughout this unit, we will be investigating factors, multiples, and building arrays. Our scholarly 5th graders will be exploring properties of numbers as well as multiplication properties.
In Social Studies, we began celebrating Hispanic Heritage month. Our 5th grade historians have been researching hispanic figures and creating a researching project. Students have been invited to share their research with their classmates.
Let’s have a rockin’ school year!
The Counselor's Corner
I'm so excited to begin another year as your school counselor. I'm so impressed how our students and staff have jumped right back into our routines like we never left. It's been great seeing all the smiling faces around the building. As your school counselor I am here to help with any needs you may have throughout the school day.
What does a School Counselor Do?
-Provide support for students to ensure they maintain academic standards and set goals for academic success.
-Develop programs to provide students the skills to improve organization, study habits, and time management.
-Assist students on working through personal problems that may affect academics or relationships.
-Help students improve social skills.
I'm looking forward to a great year ahead!!
Email: jhosbach@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Individualized Learning Pathway - Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
On Mondays - Wednesdays during the Individualized Learning Pathway (ILP) period, students who have qualified to participate in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) programming engage in a wide array of verbal course offerings that address their specific strengths and interests. Johns Hopkins CTY believes in researching and advancing ways to identify and nurture academically talented learners. CTY furthers research, guides educators and families and inspires students from diverse communities and backgrounds to pursue their intellectual passions and create the world of tomorrow.
This week, we would like to highlight one of the CTY courses offered to our Hoboken students this fall:
CTY Young Readers Series: Quests and Challenges
In this CTY course, students will follow the young protagonists of three novels as they use their wits, courage and brains to complete elaborate missions. Students summarize, make inferences, determine characters’ motivations, evaluate arguments, and provide textual evidence to support opinions and discuss themes virtually with peers from all over the world in this CTY course. Students will take on different points of view and use sophisticated vocabulary words and literary devices while crafting their own unique tales of intrigue. Students' reading and writing skills will grow as they work each day to stay one step ahead of villains and tackle heart-thumping adventures!
Physical Education
Welcome back Brandt Bears! It’s another year of grit, challenges, and giving your best effort in physical education. Students this week were reminded or introduced to our classroom rules to ensure a safe fun learning environment. Students in grades K-5 played adventure bingo. In grades 3-5 we encouraged getting to know their classmates through reading prompts to learn interesting information about their friends. Once a box was completed it was followed by a victory lap. Grades K-2 followed the same pattern but used picture prompts instead.
Our theme is to get to know each other through fitness. Our second day activity for grades 3-5 was to partner with a friend and ach partner would run out (one at a time) to the middle and grab a card. Each card had activity they completed with their peers.
Our K-2 group worked together on locomotor movements. The game we played was called My Island. In this activity students were given a locomotor movement. Students moved around open space and performed that activity while listening to music. Once the music stopped students had to place one foot on the island (hula hoops). Before the round started the PE teacher would provide them with a number of how many people were allowed on the island. Those who couldn’t find an island were brought together to perform an exercise. Once the exercise was complete the game would resume with a different movement and number.
The PE staff look forward to seeing you all next week at Back to School night. Please also look over your child's schedule to see when they have PE. It is important that students wear sneakers on those days. If you send your child in with shoes, boots, crocs, we ask that you put a pair of sneakers in their book bag. We look forward to another great year of exciting new games.
World Languages
Art
Students also created their own sketchbooks to enjoy each art class, whether to sketch out ideas, inspire creativity, and enjoy the individuality and freedom of self expression!
Music
This week students were introduced to a brand new year in music! While learning their new classroom procedures, they did so through new songs, movement, and musical games. Mr. Panfile and Ms. Certisimo are looking forward to a wonderful year of musical classes filled with growth and exploration!
Science
Kindergarten
Our kindergarten students have been very excited to begin our science program. We have spent the first few days introducing our text books and learning about engineers. We have discussed how things we use everyday are designed and built. We looked at some science tools we will be using this year and used our magnifying glasses to look at things around us. We also used our interactive notebooks to sort pictures into two groups, tools and toys.
1st Grade
In unit 1 of science, first grade students are learning all about engineering and technology. Classes are learning the steps of the design process. The design process will be a vital part of hands-on activities in science this year. First graders learned about the job of engineers as they use technology, math and science to solve problems.
2nd Grade
It was an exciting week in second grade science as we began our first unit of the year. Students began by learning what an engineer is, what they do, and the steps they use to solve problems everyday. The students first tried to use the steps to solve different silly problems in the classroom. Afterwards, students worked on making colorful flip books that allowed them to use color and art to bring each step to life and gave them the ability to add their own style to each concept.
3rd Grade
This week in 3rd grade science students learned all about engineers. We focused on the engineering design process that scientists use when developing something. Students put their knowledge to the test by developing an idea on how to water plants in a classroom during a 2 week break from school. Students came up with inventions, ideas, and tools to incorporate to solve that problem.
4th Grade
We had an awesome first week in 4th grade science! We reviewed expectations and procedures, and got started on our first unit. We will be starting the year with Engineering & Technology, reviewing what we previously learned and what we are excited to learn this year. We discussed the role of an engineer, and will continue with research and hands-on activities next week!
5th Grade
Fifth graders are off to a great start in science class! Unit 1 focuses on Engineering and Technology. This week, students learned about different types of engineers and the roles that science and math play in the field of engineering. We also examined various inventions, noticing how many technologies change over time to meet people's wants and needs. After reviewing the steps of the design process, students worked collaboratively in small groups to complete a hands-on, lab activity. Each group designed, built and tested a system for holding weights.
Nurse's Nook
Welcome Back Brandt Bears!
Hello, my name is Nurse Cassandra and I would like to extend a warm welcome to all students and their parents. I am looking forward to working with you and your children here at Joseph Brant Elementary
School Year 23-24
If your student needs medication to be administered in the school setting, the medication and accompanying order are provided by a parent or guardian to the school nurse. Medication should not be sent in with the student. No medication may be given without a doctor's order. This includes inhalers, emergency epinephrine, daily medications, antibiotics, eye drops, ear drops, cough drops, over-the-counter pain medication, or any other form of medication.
HEALTH CENTER SERVICES
The following products have been approved for use by the School Health Advisory Committee and the Hoboken Emergency Medical Services Council as first aid and illness treatments:
alcohol
antibiotic ointment
bacitracin
calamine lotion
throat spray
first aid cream
hand lotion
isotonic eye wash
saline contact solution
Vaseline
Hydrocortisone cream 1%
**Generic forms of the above may be substituted.
As your school nurse I will do an assessment on students who visit my office, administer first aid as needed, and assist students in returning to class, ready to learn. School nurses and building designees have protocols from a local physician at Hoboken Care Point Medical center.
MEDICATION/TREATMENT ADMINISTRATION
In compliance with school of continuing and professional studies policy, we do not administer or supervise prescriptions or over-the-counter medications nor medical treatments without a physician's order and written parent or guardian permission. The first dose or administration of any medication or treatment should be done at home. A new permission form must be completed annually and on file at the school nurse’s office.
All medications must be presented in their original pharmacy container with the student's name, name of medication, name of prescribing physician, and dosage with beginning and ending date. This medication must be accompanied by a physician's medication order and parental permission for administration.
Medications/treatments for after-school activities (such as sports) and field trips must also follow the above guidelines. We are willing to accommodate your student's health needs but would need prior notice for activities after school and field trips. Please contact me by phone or email to arrange for these needs in advance at (201) 356-3757 or cnuovo@hoboken.k12.nj.us.
COVID-19 Guidelines:
If an individual tests positive, they must quarantine for 5 days. They may return to school or work on day 6 if they are asymptomatic. It is recommended that the individual wear a mask until day 10. Please note that mask wearing is a recommendation at this time. It is not a requirement.
If an individual is deemed a close contact, they may stay in school but it is highly recommended that the individual wears a mask for 5 days after contact with the positive subject and then test on day 5. If they test negative and are opting to wear the mask, they may stop wearing it. If they test positive, they will quarantine for 5 days and follow the above guidelines.
*You can refer to the CDC website for more information regarding COVID-19
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/isolation.html
STUDENT WELLNESS
Student wellness and healthy lifestyle choices are linked to academic success. School nurses are in the unique position of fostering students and staff daily with respect to these choices.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns I am happy to help in any way that I can to help support you and your child!