The TES Times May

I hope this message finds you enjoying the taste of summer weather. The month of May at TES has been jam-packed with special days, field trips, concerts, field day, and many other celebrations. I want to sincerely thank you for sharing your children with us. It has been a pleasure to watch them grow and blossom this school year. On behalf of the entire TES Family, I want to wish you and your families a summer filled with happiness, laughter, and great memories.

I will be sending out our next TES Times in August with Back to School information. Until then, be well and enjoy the summer!

Lisa Moore

Principal

Natalia Dar Sabih and her daughter, Lyza, in second grade, created a memorable and quite beautiful hay bale. We are continuously amazed at the creativity of our families! Thank you so much!

And our June hay bale creation is by the Fleming Family. Ryan is in fourth grade and he was helped by his parents, Karen and Charles. Definitely giving end of the year vibes!

Link to 2024-2025 Tewksbury Public Schools Schedule

Thank you to everyone for making it another successful service project for my fourth grade class. Our school raised $1030.36 for The Seeing Eye in Morristown. We also announced to the school how much money was raised and the winners of the coloring contest. I have the winners' entries, and they will be displayed by the front entrance. Thank you!

- Ms. Wade-Taffera, Homeroom Teacher

Mrs. Moore is pictured with members of the Citron and Shalhoub families. At the TEF Barn Dance, the Citron's and Shalhoub's had the winning bid for the garden bench created by the First Graders. Then they donated the bench to the school! Thank you!

Every spring The Hunterdon County Librarians Association honors thirteen student winners from Hunterdon County, in grades K through 12. The winners have been nominated by their school librarians, teachers and librarians from our public library. We are pleased to announce that Claire Mattrey, Fourth Grader, was selected as an Enthusiastic Reader Award Winner. Claire is pictured below at the Award Ceremony on May 20th with our library/media specialist, Annie Rose-Mason, Fourth Grade Teacher Alyssa Forsythe, and Principal Lisa Moore.

During our most recent Tiger Den time, our students completed their rocks and installation of the rocks for the "Only One You" project. This project was meant to show each student that they are unique and special and part of one school. Featured in these photos on the left and right are members of Mrs. Emge's and Mrs. Barnes' Jaguar Den as they completed an "Only One You" scavenger hunt and installation of their rocks.

The Discovery Den, formerly known as the Makerspace, is an addition to our playground that allows students to build with natural materials and collaborate with peers. This creative space includes a shade sail, fence weaving, rocks, shells, logs, pine cones, blocks, ramps, a table and a sandbox. In the Discovery Den students will use their problem solving and cooperative play skills in a classic hands-on way. The development of this was spearheaded by Karen Morrow and Amanda Kouzis. Through grants, donations, and community effort, the "Discovery Den" become real! Nicholas S. from Mrs. Perticari's Kindergarten Class thought up the name, "Discovery Den"!

Preschool students have been busy little bees this month. Students invited their mothers into school to celebrate them. They served their mothers iced tea and treats, and gave them a special hand made gift. Students have also taken great care of their plants they planted with Whittemore. Students watered them and made sure they got just enough sun to grow. Once they were hardy, Mrs. McCollum, from Whittemore, helped us plant them outdoors in our garden. What fun we have been having!

As TES finishes out the last full month of school, we are taking the time to enjoy every single moment we have with each other! In Kindergarten, we have accomplished just that in the month of May!

We kicked off the month with our ABC Countdown! Everyday up until June 14th, an activity is planned around a letter of the alphabet. Students have expressed their excitement surrounding this end of the year celebration. In addition, we ventured off to visit FosterField Farms in Morristown. Students got to experience farm life as it was over 100 years ago! The classes visited with the cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, horses, ducks and turkeys that live there.

In math, we continued our learned knowledge of our addition facts to 10. Soon after, we started learning about subtraction! We first discussed the idea of taking away and ending up with less of something. Then, we learned about the minus sign and how to create number sentences. Kindergarten practiced this new knowledge with board games, quick facts, and word problems. During our ELA instruction, we started and finished our opinion writing unit! Students first learned about the difference between facts and opinions. Then, brainstormed and picked one topic to write about. We are so impressed with their writing stamina and use of conventions. In reading we are continuing to practice our fluency, sight word knowledge, and reading comprehension skills! Look out First Grade, these Kindergarten students are ready for YOU!

This month has been a busy one in first grade! We have been writing personal narratives that tell about something that happened to us, or something we have done. In math, we have been working on adding and subtracting to 20 using various strategies. In Social Studies we continue to learn about our community. Tewksbury has so many special places that help us provide for our wants and needs. As we begin to wrap up the school year, we are discovering how much we've grown as readers and writers!

The month of May --- a busy time, but always an exciting month for students. Warmer weather, field trips, school and family events, and June on the next calendar page. But we concentrated on the learning and work continues on too!

We are so proud of our writers for crafting their own poems, and proudly and courageously reading them to packed classrooms during our Poetry Cafe. A big thanks to parents for attending, donating snacks, and being a supportive and appreciative audience! Another highlight for our Second Graders was our Field Trip to Doyle's Farm. Each class participated in lessons and hands on activities together, including bottle and hand feeding goats, and by day's end, students all had their favorite animals and names for them!

As we finish up May, students are happily engaging in Math lessons on multiplication and division. It always makes them feel like they've learned something “magical and mysterious" and they are so proud of themselves! Many Flat Stanleys have returned home to TES, and the hundreds of postcards received have taken everyone on a journey across the globe. Ahh, May! It is a most wonderful month to be a Second Grader!

Third Graders made good use of our lovely school grounds as we explored our ponds and collected tadpoles. Afterwards, all students observed, first hand, in each of their classrooms the metamorphosis from tadpole to froglet in amazement. Now we look forward to taking our knowledge of ecology to Echo Hill to get hands-on experience with a stream habitat that supports a variety of local plant and animal life.

Speaking of plant life, students also grew pea plants from seeds. They learned about the effect of sun, water and soil in growing this sweet veggie. This was just another fascinating life cycle to ponder again and again!

This month, May brought more than flowers for the fourth grade. Students and their families enjoyed participating in and attending the Talent Show! It was great fun to watch the kids demonstrate their joke telling and dance skills on stage. Just as the dust settled on our own stage, the Fourth Graders hit the road to see a live performance of Charlotte’s Web at the Morristown Performing Arts Center. Students enjoyed the show and look forward to viewing Charlotte’s Web the movie together as a grade level in June. This month’s Tiger Den meeting sent us outdoors on a scavenger hunt where students were able to enjoy the school campus on a sunny day! Of course, the NJSLA was a big part of our month before we enjoyed a science residency with Hunterdon County Parks sponsored by the TEF. The month ended with our Spring Concert and Field Day!

On May 14th, TES celebrated the first framed Art Show in a very long time. All Tewksbury students’ art was on display for all to enjoy in a school wide exhibit. Students artwork included Kandinsky-like circles from Kindergarten, dandelion fields from First Graders, and happy cows created by Second Graders. Third graders had their names in a bento box style and Fourth Graders celebrated that Tiger Spirit with their amazing collages!! Lets not forget preschool stamped their hands and added their touch of creativity, too.

Now we are working on new Paul Klee self portraits for Fourth Grades, as well as Paul Klee cityscapes in third. We are also working on Claude Monet flowers in second and lily pads in first. Kindergarten students are working on more listening and art building skills creating a stamp book and preschool has been making colors with model magic. I am currently individually cutting out all of the Art that was returned from the art show so I can return it to all of you soon!

Have a wonderful summer!

- Mrs. Pecora

Batter up! Throughout the month of May, our students have been enthusiastically honing their fielding and batting skills through a variety of modified games and activities.

As we wrap up this month, we're thrilled to announce our Olympic-themed Field Day on May 31st, celebrating the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Students will have the opportunity to participate in a range of Olympic events, including modified shot put, javelin throw, canoe sprints, and volleyball, along with many other fun stations. Who knows? We might just have some future Olympians in training!

- Mr. Wooby and Ms. Mukherjee

Can there be fact in fiction? Factual information that sounds too fantastical to be true?! This month in the Library Media Center, students have been exploring these questions. At each grade level, we have been using a variety of fiction and nonfiction books about animals as a jumping off point into discussion about information literacy. As we head into June, our older students are taking these lessons to the next level by creating their own fact vs. fiction animal research projects. Our younger students will be reading and discussing engaging picture books about forts and making connections with art and engineering activities! The end of May also marks the end of book check out for the 2023-2024 school year. All library books are due back on or before Friday, May 31st. Please reach out to Mrs. Rose-Mason via email (arose-mason@tewksburyschools.org) if you have any questions about missing books!

- Ms. Rose-Mason

Third and Fourth Graders are finishing up their food vocabulary unit by creating menus for imaginary restaurants and school lunch menus in Spanish. Second Graders will be bringing home their beautiful "arpilleras" with a description in Spanish. First graders have learned lots of animal words and have invented a new animal by mixing two together! All grades have some fun games to play before the year is through.

- Senora Obercian

The Kindergartners and First Graders have mastered using a computer mouse's Click, Drag, and Drop features. They worked diligently through a Google Slides presentation to accomplish various tasks on each slide. I am very proud of them!

This month students in grades two and three have been learning the ins and outs of Google Slides. Students have been using or creating and formatting a slide presentation while learning all the cool things that can be done with Google Slides. Slides will be a useful tool for students to use in the classroom and beyond. In addition to learning Slides, Students in grades one through four have been working on their TES memories list, where we reflect on the past year and type our memories in a Google Doc. This is an ongoing list so that in 4th grade students can create a word cloud that I will print and frame for them to keep. Fourth-grade parents keep your eye out for your child’s TES Paw Print. All students should keep practicing typing by using Typing Agent or Typing.com over the summer to learn the keyboard. Enjoy your summer break!

- Mrs. Havens

As we get closer to June, I reflected on the incredible journey our students have taken in the world of music. From the first notes played in September to the final performances of the Spring Concert, our young musicians have grown immensely. The students and I couldn't have done it without the unwavering support of our parents. This year, the school community witnessed our students tackle new and challenging pieces, develop their skills, and, most importantly, discover the joy of making music. Highlights included the delightful Winter Concert, our innovative Beatles March Madness brackets, and the impressive Spring Concert, where students showcased their talents and hard work. As I look forward to next year, I am excited about the new opportunities and musical adventures that await. I am deeply grateful for your continued support and partnership in nurturing a love for music in our students. Thank you once again for a wonderfully musical year.

- Mr. Shaffer

The end of the year is always a terrific time to reflect on the growth and development of our students/your kids! One of the most magical parts of working with younger students is the incredible amount of growth we get to observe in these little people. We as educators/school staff are always pursuing how to best support this growth. One concept which we observe is the term Growth Mindset. The hallmark of Growth Mindset is embracing challenges as opportunities for growth and valuing process and effort.

Change your words and change your outcome:

Medication Pick up- If your child has medication in the Health Office, please stop by the Health Office on or before June 14, 2024 by 12:50 PM to collect your child’s medication(s). Medication orders must be renewed each school year by your child’s physician. All medication must be picked up by an adult and may not be stored over the summer per TTSD Policy 5141.21. Medication forms for the 24-25 school year will be available at med pick-up and can also be found under Health Services > Health Office Forms on the school website.

For Students Rising from Grade 2 to Grade 3: According to our district policy and state requirements, all third grade students enrolled at TES, must have an updated physical exam on file at school. If your child is a current Grade 2 student rising to Grade 3, please send in a completed Universal Health Physical Form for your child. A current physical is any PE that is done within 365 days of the August 28,2024 school start date. Please submit PE documentation by June 7, 2024. If your child has a summer birthday/PE, please return the linked PE form by August 22, 2024. Keep a copy of the completed form for your records as you may need it for sports, camps, etc .

For children entering Pre-K and Kindergarten: Documentation of immunizations and a physical exam are a New Jersey State requirement for entrance into school. Specific immunizations are required in each age group. Each child must have a complete medical examination conducted within one year of the August 30, 2023 first day of school. If your child has a medical or religious exemption from immunization, documentation needs to be provided. Please submit a completed Universal Health Physical Form and immunization documentation by June 7, 2024. If your child has a summer birthday/ PE, please return the linked PE form by August 22, 2024. Keep a copy of the completed form for your records as you may need it for sports, camps, etc .

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Dozens of our teachers and staff volunteered to donate their time to create "events" that parents could bid on at the Barn Dance. Faculty donations included "Extra Recess", "A Picnic with the Principal", "Morning Announcements", "Cooking with Mrs. Pepe", a painting by Mrs. Callahan and many more things.

We are grateful to the staff and teachers who donated their time and talent! And we are thankful to the TEF for providing so many enriching programs this year!

Last Day to Order School Supply Kits

The TES teachers and the PTA have been working to make your "Back to School" shopping simpler this summer! You now have the option to purchase your supply kits from the PTA. Please do so before July 1st & your child's kit will be on their desk on the first day of school.

Maschio's Food Services, Inc. is the contracted lunch provider at TES. See the following links for more information about the lunch service provided by Maschio's as well as PaySchools, our point of sale service system. You can find their menu on our school website at the following link:

https://tewksburyschools.nutrislice.com/menu/tewksbury-elementary/lunch