• February 20 - Schools Closed for President's Day
• February 21 - Schools Closed for Staff In-Service Day
• February 23 - TJS Virtual Family Trivia Night at 7:00 PM
• February 27 - March 3 - Read Across America Week
• February 28 - Troy Cummings Author Visit!
• March 1 - TJS Family Reading Night 6:30 - 7:30 PM
• March 2 - TJS Family Reading Night (Inclement weather date)
• March 3 - Grade 3 Breakfast with the Principal
• March 3 - TJS Spirit Wear Day
• March 8 - Second Trimester Ends
• March 8 - PTO Science Fair
• March 9 - Third Trimester Begins
• March 10 - Fourth Grade Awesome Art

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Read Across America is just around the corner! Get ready for these fun events to celebrate our love of reading!

Today marks the final day of our annual TJS Souper Bowl. On behalf of the TJS staff and the Morris Interfaith Food Pantry, I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all of the families that contributed. Our top contributing classes were Team 4Lade with 620 items, Team 1Deitz with 763 items, and Team 4Kennedy with 938 items! As a school community, we collected over 4,500 non-perishable items. This is truly a wonderful accomplishment and we could not have done it without your generosity, support, and commitment.

Second-grade lunch groups are in full swing! During each session, we focus on a specific social skill. During this cycle, students were encouraged to praise one another for making mistakes while playing a game together. We talked about how making mistakes is natural and that good sportsmanship includes accepting and helping others when mistakes are made. Students got a kick out of saying, “Good mistake!” to one another.

Mark your calendars, 5th Grade Peer Leader parents/guardians! There is a meeting coming up on Thursday, February, 23 from 3:15-4:00. More information to follow.

All About Questioning to Comprehend

Questioning is a reading strategy taught to students to help them effectively engage with text. Students are encouraged to move through the reading using guiding questions to support them in understanding what they read, as well as coming up with their own questions periodically as they move through a book.

Good readers challenge the text by asking questions as they read. This allows them to read with purpose, interact with the text at a higher level, and monitor their comprehension. The process of answering a question may also lead to asking new ones!

Students may ask questions about their reading to:

-Clarify meaning. For example, they may question what a particular word means or why a certain thing is happening.

-Make predictions about a text. For example, a reader may choose to ask questions to try and determine what is going to happen next.

-Understand an author’s purpose. For example, good readers may question why an author chose to write the particular piece of text.

-Better understand characters and events. For example, a reader may choose to ask why a character chose to act a certain way, or why an event is occurring.

Illness:

Please be aware of the TJS illness policy as mandated by the New Jersey Department of Health that any child who is home sick must be fever-free and symptom-free (including vomiting/diarrhea) a full 24 hours before returning to school. It is understood that coughs and respiratory symptoms can linger after the height of illness, however, please ensure that symptoms have improved before returning to school. Please note important Covid-19 guidelines include isolation for 5 days from the onset of symptoms or positive test and return to school with a mask for 5 additional days. While there is a test out option, it is required that the test be taken starting on day 6 following illness and then again 48 hours later. Students must have two consecutive negative tests in order to return to school without a mask. If you have any questions, please call the health office to discuss.

5th Grade Immunizations:

As a reminder, when your child turns 11 years old they are required to have 2 additional vaccinations, Meningococcal and TDAP, in order to enter grade 6 in the fall. As you begin to schedule your child’s well visit around their birthday, please remember to follow up with the necessary immunizations and documentation that is required for entry into school. Please see the attached link for the necessary form and return it to the TJS health office upon completion.

Vision and Hearing Screenings:

Screenings in all grades are nearly complete. Your children have all been extremely cooperative, attentive and a true pleasure to work with! Please note that if you receive an email from me with a recommendation for a referral, please follow up directly with your pediatrician to determine next steps. Typically, the tests are repeated in the office, and, if needed, further referrals are made to specialists. In the spring, I will be conducting scoliosis screenings in the 5th grade only. Prior to conducting the screenings, all 5th grade parents/guardians will receive an email from me with the option to OPT-OUT only. As always, if you have any specific concerns, or would like me to repeat a screening, please reach out to me directly (973) 593-3182 #3.

Please click on the flyer below for information on the MPS hiring event on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM.

Hi, my name is Michael Romanyshyn and I am working as a special education teacher at TJS. I’ve been in this school, either as a teacher or a teacher’s aide since last February, and I find it a very warm and welcoming place to work. Growing up in the Pennsylvania coal country, I originally started my teaching career in East Stroudsburg, nestled in the heart of the Pocono Mountains. Eventually, I left teaching as I had an opportunity to begin a career in video production, where I was able to produce and edit for 15 years. During that time, I worked on documentaries, multi-camera concerts, and I even found myself holding a camera on occasion.

In 2019, it was time for me to return to teaching. Being married (28 years) and having two young teenage daughters, who are now getting ready to head off to college, commuting to the city was quickly becoming something I started to dread. Ultimately, I found myself working as a leave replacement teacher at Madison Junior School in the fall of 2020, and I never looked back.

Outside of school, I love to spend time with my family. I also love reading, cooking, and playing the guitar. I also coach recreational soccer, having coached my daughter’s team for the past ten years. I love to play soccer, hockey, bowling, and golf. I enjoy biking and taking my dogs for a long walk.

Hi, TJS families!!! My name is Mr. W (Scott Wendrychowicz). This is my second year at Torey J. with your children. My previous roles were in the financial industry managing multiple departments for various firms. I grew up in Mahwah, New Jersey, I have six siblings and earned my degree in Management and Marketing from Ramapo College.

I have three beautiful children who all go to KRS. Elizabeth (5th grade), Kyle (3rd grade) and Mr. Connor (1st grade). We have a Fox Red English Lab named Ahsoka and a recent addition to the house, a Ball Python named Darth.

Outside of TJS, you are sure to see me going for my long walks around Madison or at the fields throughout Madison either coaching or watching my children play soccer, basketball, lacrosse, track, baseball, and softball. I love the outdoors, going for walks, and making sure my kids are always active. I recently coached the boys soccer team at MJS and look forward to another season this fall.

I love coming to TJS every day to work with the children and to be a part of their day. If your child is in a classroom I work in, then they will be part of our morning workouts to ensure we start our day off pumped and ready to learn.

Our next General PTO meeting will be held on March 1st at 9am in the TJS Art Room. This meeting is open to all parents and teachers and we hope to see you all there! Ms. Garcia will be in attendance and is happy to answer pre-submitted questions. Please use this google form to submit questions by Monday, Feb. 27th. There will also be a teacher presentation on reading.

Save the Date for our Spring Adult Social and Fundraiser on Friday, March 31, 2023. We are looking for volunteers to help with fundraising. Would you like to help us create baskets of items to raffle? Do you have a special item we can include in our silent auction? A round of golf? A vacation home? Tickets to a game? Please use this sign-up genius to let us know!

Library Help Needed! - New Dates and Times Added

Do you have an extra half hour to help out at school? Ms. Thomas needs our assistance to keep the TJS library organized between classes. Volunteers are needed for short periods to help reshelve books. Please check out the times on the SignUp Genius if you are interested!

Trivia and Pizza Night- Thursday, Feb. 23rd!

The PTO is excited to offer homemade pizza kits for Family Trivia Night on Thursday February 23rd! Romanelli’s will again be putting together delicious make-your-own pizza

kits that include sauce, cheese, and homemade dough for you to bake at home. Each kit contains a large pizza with cooking instructions.

The deadline for ordering pizza kits is Friday, February 17th. Each pizza kit costs $17.

Attention - TJS 2023 Science Fair Participants!

Don’t forget to submit the name of your student’s/team’s Science Fair Project TODAY!

Complete this 2-min Google Form. This information is used to help us keep track of the projects and to inform the space/layout for the science fair. **Please refrain from projects/experiments that involve food allergens like nuts.

Please email Laura & Jen at tjssciencefair@gmail.com if you need to arrange for an alternate pick-up time.