Cubs' ROAR Parent Newsletter

Welcome to our second edition of the CUBS' ROAR Parent Newsletter this school year! We are excited to be able to share this newsletter with our school community again this year. We send out this newsletter quarterly to highlight "The Happenings" at School Five! Contained in this newsletter you will find information about our grade levels and the activities that we have engaged in during the months of December 2023 through February 2024. We encourage you to continue to read and hope that you enjoy this trip into our days at School Five.

We continue to monitor the morning arrival and afternoon dismissal. We realize that on occasions, emergencies happen and we adjust to address those emergencies on an individual basis. However, below you will find a few reminders about these times of day.

Arrival & Dismissal:

• Students may not be dropped off before 8:40am, and they are considered late after 8:50am.
• Students may not be picked up early before 3:25pm, unless it is a verified emergency (medical appointment, etc.).
• We begin our schoolwide dismissal procedures at 3:00pm, so students may not be picked up between 3:00pm and 3:25pm.
• If your students is coming in late due to an appointment, please be sure to provide a doctor's note.
• If your student needs to leave early due to a doctor's appointment, please make sure to notify the teacher in writing on the day of the appointment, if it will be an early pickup. We will not disrupt instruction on a whim. Therefore, communication with the school/teacher well before pickup is important.

Vehicular Traffic:

• Our arrival begins at 8:40am and the school day begins at 8:50am.
• If you are dropping off or picking up during these times of day, PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY. These times are high traffic times of day and we have staff, students and parents moving in the parking lot.
• Be sure follow and adhere to the signs - DO NOT PARK ON THE CURB. Our curb is drop off only at arrival and dismissal times. DO NOT PARK ON OUR GRASS, as these areas are not designated parking.
• We are working closely with our Lindenwold Police Department to ensure that our traffic rules and regulations are being followed.

When weather and dismissal are at odds as we approach dismissal time, we will be making a global call notifying the parents of walkers of our inclement dismissal procedures. It is important that our parents of walkers become aware of the inclement dismissal procedures. Note that attached is an aerial view of our school with our dismissal doors.

School attendance is vital for elementary students because it supports their academic, social, and emotional development, lays the foundation for future success, and helps them develop important life skills. Regular attendance ensures that students have the best opportunities for growth and achievement during their elementary school years.

• Academic Achievement: Regular attendance at school is crucial for academic success. Elementary school is a foundational period in a child's education, where they build fundamental skills in subjects like reading, writing, and math. Consistent attendance allows students to receive instruction, participate in classroom activities, and complete assignments, which are essential for their learning and academic progress.

• Skill Development: Elementary school provides opportunities for students to develop social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Regular attendance ensures that students can engage with their peers and teachers, fostering social interactions, emotional growth, and the development of essential life skills such as teamwork and problem-solving.

• Consistency: Consistent school attendance establishes routines and helps students develop good habits. It teaches responsibility and time management, both of which are important life skills.

• Building a Strong Foundation: Elementary education builds the foundation for higher-level learning. Missing school can lead to gaps in a child's knowledge and skills, making it more challenging for them to catch up in the future.
  

As part of our state mandates, we are required to complete mandated drills on a monthly basis. This consists of fire and emergency drills. Our teachers and students follow specific protocol for the drills assigned and these are scheduled to take place at different times of the day. If you are coming to our school during a time when a drill is taking place, please note that you will be expected to remain outside of the building until the drill is complete. School business will resume upon the completion of the drill.

Lastly, please note that when a fire or emergency drill takes place you will receive a global call informing you of such as a requirement of the mandate. Note that in most case, you will be informed that the drill occurred without incident.

At School Five, every classroom teachers selects a Student of the Month based on set criteria for the given month. The selected students' pictures with their teachers are posted on our Student of the Month display board by our main entrance to the school. Each month two students are also selected as our Board of Education Students of the Month. Below are the Students of the Month for September, October and November of this school year.

December 2023

Jonathan Patterson (Grade 1)

Kimberly Benitez Luciano (Grade 4)

January 2024

Lismerly Hernandez (Grade 4)

J'cion Parker Gray (Grade 4)

February 2024

Ander Padilla (Kindergarten)

Harry Joe Pacheco (Kindergarten)

During December, we held one of our School Five Spirit Assemblies where we acknowledge students for their reading and math accomplishments. Students in grades K-4 received certificates for their work.

School Five grew the Grinch's heart! Every year, we challenge our students and staff to do Good Deeds, a minimum of three, in order to grow the Grinch's heart. All participants must write their good deeds on the hearts. The hearts were collected and counted by our NEHS students once submitted. We all must do our Good Deeds and do our part! Lastly, December 1st was also a school-wide dress down day for students and staff.

Our School Five teachers, Mrs. Riculfy and Ms. Huesken collected coats, hats and gloves for our School Five community. Due to their successful collection along with your generous donations, School Five hosted an outdoor coat drive on Dec. 13th. Families that RSVP'ed drove up outside the front entrance of the school and picked up one coat per school-aged child while supplies lasted. We had a successful distribution of over 70 coats!

Our Winter Concert & Art Show figured the work of our School Five Choir comprised of Third & Fourth Grade students, as well as the art work of our Third & Fourth Grade students was on display on Thursday, December 14th at Lindenwold High School. Doors opened at 6:30pm for our guests for the art show and the concert started promptly at 7pm.

Our Winter Book Distribution took place just before the winter holidays. The students were able to choose 2-3 books of their choice in the Media Center. Thanks to Mr. Borkowski, Mrs. Strong was able to buy large quantities of high interest books. Spanish books were also be available. Our students and their teachers looked forward to spreading joy with good books!

Our School Five Health & Wellness Committee comprised of our staff members and our student leaders from Student Government have collaborated this year on the implementation of activities that support nutrition and physical exercise at School Five. Teachers sent home some of these materials for parents to also review at home. Bilingual classes in K, 1 and 2 received the small books in Spanish.

School Five kicked off our annual Kids' Heart Challenge, formerly known as Jump Rope for Heart. With the leadership of Mrs. Shannon Hines, PE/Health Teacher, we have been doing this particular fundraiser for about ten years, and have had our students participate every year. With this fundraiser:

• All donations will need to be in to Mrs. Hines by that date.
• There were instant Thank You gifts (rubber bracelets and keychains) that students earned with their donations.
• There is an option to participate without collecting any money! By going on the website or app and registering (valid email required). If they register (for free) they received a red bracelet.
• In order to boost our fundraising to reach our goal of $2700, Mrs. Hines held other fundraisers as well. They include:
• WEAR RED FOR HEART DAY
• VALENTINE CANDY GRAMS

As a school, we raised $2500. Awesome job and an awesome effort School Five!

This is a quarterly award for exceptional behavior in our cafeteria during our lunch periods, that includes Being Kind, Staying In Their Seats and Keeping Their Areas Clean! Students who exhibit exceptional behavior and responsibility in the cafeteria received a golden ticket to eat lunch with friends from other classes. We held our second Golden Lunch Table Award in January and it was a HIT! Students enjoyed having the opportunity to dine with friends from other classes at our beautifully decorated table. KUDOS to all of our students who earned this award.

This year, we began our series of Chat & Chews hosting our school community. The purpose of the Chat & Chew is to discuss topics of interest to our parents and guardians. Our first one was held on January 31st on the topic of Teaching our English Language Learners - Bilingual & ESL Program. The Chat & Chew will typically be an hour long, from 9:30am to 10:30am. Doors will open at 9:15am. All are welcome to participate, however, be sure to RSVP to ensure that we have refreshments and seating for you.

School Five kicked off Black History Month! As part of our monthly celebration, our daily morning announcements highlighted influential African Americans that have impacted our history. Our Fourth Graders and their teachers also learned and presented our African American Living Museum to honor these trailblazers in various domains. See pictures below in the Fourth Grade section of this newsletter.

In celebration of the month of love, our students were treated a book tasting in the Media Center, where they experienced books from different genres in our Cub's Cafe. Students in Third & Fourth Grades sampled a variety of genres to see what they may like to try next. This event helps refresh student excitement about independent reading as well as introduce books that they may have never picked up before.

In February, we celebrated our 100th Day of School. Students engaged in activities involving counting to 100. In addition to counting to 100, our students were also encouraged to dress as a centenarian- a person that is 100 years old! Below see the creative ways that our students dressed for the occasion.

Our Kindergarten through Second Graders and their families enjoyed an evening of learning and fun in February. We opened our doors for a fun-filled night of learning. Our students and their families learned literacy and math games to support learning at home. Our students rotated through stations while working with their families.

As we continue to state: ATTENDANCE MATTERS! Our students with the best attendance had an opportunity to celebrate their commitment to coming to school with an Attendance Game Party in February. Students played board games with each other and with School Five staff. Keep Up Your Attendance Boys & Girls!

Our Kindergartener celebrated the winter holidays by reading the book, Polar Express and enjoying some winter treats. Our Kindergarten classrooms also decorated their doors with our school-wide theme of Winter Wonderland.

Our Kindergarten students and their teachers were hard at work learning their letters this year. As a culminating activity to celebrate their learning, Kindergarten students participated in a Letter Parade in January. Kindergarten teachers and students paraded through our hallways while "showing off" all the letters they have learned. Our Kindergarteners know their ABCs!

Our Kindergarten Team went to the Planetarium in January. We had a celestial experience when they visited the Edelman Planetarium at Rowan University. It was "out of this world!”

Our Kindergartners have crammed quite a lot into December, January and February. They learned about holidays around the world in the month of December. Turned their hallway into a Winter Wonderland by decorating their doors. And culminated the month by coming to school comfy cozy

while enjoying a train ride on the Polar Express!!

After returning from a restful Winter break, it was time to show off how much they learned from September to December. Our extended School Five Family embraced our K Teachers and students as they proudly paraded around the school wearing hats and necklaces that represented all 26 letters and sounds of the alphabet that they learned. Later that month, we had a celestial experience when they visited the Edelman Planetarium at Rowan University. It was "out of this world!”

Then it was time to celebrate all of the academic and social accomplishments they made over the first 100 days of school! They LOVED the dancing they did that day, the decorations, the activities and let’s not forget that some of them were able to do all of this fun stuff at the ripe old age of 100!!! Needless to say....there has been so much that they have done and there is so much more that they will do! Stay tuned...

In December, First Graders packed their suitcases and took a Google Earth trip around the world to learn all about how winter holidays are celebrated in other countries. They also worked hard creating unique snowflakes for our door decorating contest to represent how special and unique each and every First Grade Student truly is! We Are Like Snowflakes...All Unique! All Special!

In February, they celebrated the 100th day of school! This was a momentous occasion for our First Grade students, as this milestone not only marks a significant achievement, but it is also a celebration of learning and growth. Our First Graders participated in a combination of educational activities, crafts, and fun! They licked lollipops to see how many licks it would take to finish their lollipop, painted 100 gumballs on a gumball machine, flipped a counter 100 times and made 100th day crowns! There was lots on learning and practicing counting to 100!

Although they are more than halfway through First Grade, they still have much more to accomplish and explore. The next few months hold the promise of further growth and exciting opportunities for learning and developing the skills that will take us through First Grade and beyond!

Our Second Grade students conducted a book review where they reviewed their books telling us why they are a must read. #MustRead! Their work was posted in the Second Grade hallway with each students' review.

Second Graders also enjoyed taking part on the themes we have celebrated thus far. Here are some pictures of their creative collaborations! #TwinDay #PlaidDay #DressInRedDay #StuffedAnimalDay

Our Third Grader have been busy at work....LEARNING! Below are just some of the activities that our students have engaged in during the months of December through February. Here are some activities that took place in Mrs. Mojica's classroom:

• Positive Vibes- Students decorated signs with positive words and inspirational phrases. The finished work was secretly hung throughout the building as our Random Act of Kindness.

• Smart Seats- Students love relocating to a “Smart Seat.” Alone or with a friend, on the floor, or in a tent…even at the teacher’s desk, it’s a fun way to get the job done!

• Buddy Reading- What better way to exercise those reading muscles than to share a book with a friend, right?

• Magic Glasses- Sometimes putting on a pair of “Magic Glasses” can give the confidence you need to tackle those challenging words!

• Dragon Puzzle- To celebrate the Chinese New Year 2024 (Year of the Dragon), a floor size puzzle was assembled. Its new home is on the classroom wall in Room 126.

• Twin Day- We were seeing double and even triple on this special day when friends dressed alike:)

• Yummy Reports- Students spotlighted their favorite books by creating “Sandwich” Book Reports…”Lettuce” celebrate!!

Third Grade students in Mrs. Spaventa’s class also engaged in many activities. Check out the list below:

• They cheered on the Kindergarteners as they walked around the room and sang their alphabet song. Students clapped and gave thumbs up to the Kindergarten students.
• For the holiday party, Mrs. Spaventa included a fun pinecone craft. Students painted their pine cones with their room mom Mrs. Malara. They decorated their pine cones with fuzzy pom poms and a gold star to make it look like a holiday tree.
• Mrs. Spaventa and one of her students were twinning on Grinch day! Another student had Cindy-Lou-Who hair for the holidays.
• Fa la la llama- Students helped decorate the door for our school-wide door decorating contest with an ornament unique to them. Students enjoyed adding things throughout the week, like snow and fun pictures to add more to the door.
• One of our student was the student leader for the visual drill in phonics. When she says the letters and sounds, the students repeat it as part of the UFLI Phonics Program.
• Students played games as part of Kindness Week. These included: dominoes, play-doh, charades, checkers and pictionary as we continue to build a classroom community.
• Character Day included Princess Peach, Wednesday Adams, Miles Morales and Raphael.
• February was Black History Month and Third Grade would like to acknowledge the trailblazers that inspire so many of us today!
• Dr. Martinez-Preyor gave an amazing lesson on the Scientific Method to prepare the Third Grade for the Science Fair. It was a very informative lesson on the steps to prepare them for the upcoming experiments and research. Students were excited to share their ideas.

As members of NEHS, our Fourth Graders have been working to live by the pillars of NEHS - Leadership, Responsibility, Scholarship and Service. During the months of January and February, our NEHS students conducted an Animal Care Drive for a local animal shelter. They brought the donated animals with the assistance and support of their advisors to the shelter. While there, they had the opportunity to meet some of the animals (cats and dogs) housed there. It was wonderful to see our students and their humanitarianism at work.

One of our favorite annual events - our African American Living Museum - did not disappoint this year as our Fourth Graders really became their selected historic figures. Students were divided into:

Authors & Activists, Scientists/Inventors & Athletes, and Entertainers & Political Leaders. Enjoy viewing the pictures below.

The Fourth Grade Trip this year was to the Governor's Mansion, also known as Drumthwacket. It is a trip that our students enjoy as they tour the property and enjoy lunch on the grounds. Our Fourth Graders returned full of knowledge and ready to share their experience at Drumthwacket.

Our work as a school would not be the same without the support of our school community. We hope that this newsletter provides a glimpse of the activities, but most importantly the learning that takes place at Lindenwold School Five. As always, we welcome your input and support.