Happy New Year!

Thank you for your patience as we navigate continual changes to COVID protocols for schools. We appreciate your ongoing understanding and flexibility!

We are looking forward to a great year ahead! As a reminder, the following important dates are quickly approaching:

• 4th and 5th Grade Chorus, Band and Orchestra concert - Thursday, January 13th
• School spirit wear day - Let's see your Tiger pride! - Friday, January 14th
• MLK Day - Full day of school - Monday, January 17th
• Grades K-3 Musical Assembly - Wednesday, January 19th
• Kindergarten Selects the Spirit Wear Theme - Friday, January 21st
• 5th Grade Ski Club - Monday, January 24th
• Kindness wear day - Let's spread some joy and kindness around TES! - Friday, January 28th

Sincerely,

Katie Lemerich

Fresh air and outdoor play is an incredibly important part of your child's day at school. We will intend to go outside as much as possible for recess, so please monitor your children’s clothing selections to make sure they are prepared for colder temperatures. They should have a hat, gloves, scarf and appropriate footwear for rain, snow, and mud.

Each year we collect a large selection of lost clothing that we can not match up with children. Please label your children’s winter clothes so if they misplace them, we can get them returned.

With support from our art teacher, Mrs. Wadler and counselor Mrs. Donovan, we will be having a musical group performing for our K-3rd graders at a future date. Their motivational assemblies are filled with fun, upbeat songs that emphasize kindness, anti- bullying and other character education themes. There will be two back to back 45 minute concerts. It should be a fun time for all! https://unclebrothers.com/elementary-assemblies

All K-3 students who need to take home their Chromebook home to receive quarantine instruction are provided a case during their time learning at home. At the end of the quarantine, the case should be returned to the main office. All students in grades 4th and 5th grade were provided a case. If their case is lost or broken, you can send in a check in the amount of $35 written out to Tewksbury Township Board of Education, and a new one will be provided. We appreciate your help with reinforcing the importance of this responsibility with your child.

As of January 3, 2022, the district has moved to PaySchools for lunch payments. Your balances from RealTime, negative or positive, have been moved over to PaySchools.

Click here to access the PaySchools.com website to set up your account:

https://www.payschoolscentral.com/

Click here to access a video walkthrough for setting up your account: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez1cFR0XW-I

Please note that there is no fee to utilize PaySchools reports or to look at balances. The fee only applies to credit card payments.

Some helpful reminders as we transition to PaySchools:

You will be able to enter an amount for restrictions on the daily spending in PaySchools.

• Please be aware that if you put “0”, your student will be unable to purchase anything.
• If you put an amount that is low, that may also prevent your student from purchasing everything he/she wants for that day and/or the next day until PaySchools synchronizes.
• We suggest that you put an amount of $15 or more.

If you wish to set up the auto replenish feature, please put a minimum of $50 or more. There are fees associated with these transactions.

• Under $50 has a flat fee of $1.95.
• Over $50 has a fee of 3.9%.
• You may process multiple family members at the same time.

It is our hope that this service will prove to be a convenient and easy system for you to use. If you have any questions about this system, please contact Heather Goguen directly at hgoguen@tewksburyschools.org or at extension 4232.

Happy 2022! Especially for elementary students, every year brings an enormous amount of growth and change. Witnessing and sharing this journey with you and your children is truly the gift of working in a school. In support of this, we are excited to once again be participating in the LET GROW initiative. Parent support of this program is essential, and we thank you in advance for your support. Please find more information here (LET GROW) and be on the look out for handouts coming home next week. Every student is invited to bring back in a Building Blocks Template block to recognize their effort. They will also receive a small prize as well as be entered into a drawing for lego sets at the end of the year. We can't wait to see how they grow!

Let Grow Parent Letter

As parents, we often want to reassure our children, but we need to be mindful about the effects too much reassurance will have and its impact on creating anxiety in children.

Read here about the 6 Ways Reassurance Can Actually Make Children’s Anxiety Worse.

Need help? Have a question? Give us a call at x2001 or x2002. We are here to answer any questions you have and to be of assistance!

Website: https://www.tewksburyschools.org/site/Default.aspx?PageID=11
Location: 109 Fairmount Road East, Califon, NJ, USA
Phone: 908-832-2594
Twitter: @tewksburyelem