Dear Catena & Donovan Families,
As the crisp days of fall settle in and the school year gets underway (18 days underway to be exact), we continue to focus on creating a respectful, responsible, safe, and kind environment for all students.
Our school is energized by the excitement of the first days of fall and we remind students to uphold our core expectations to be respectful, responsible, safe, and kind. We ask for families to reinforce this at home. To help guide conversations at home, here are a few things we’ve been emphasizing at school. First, please reinforce the importance of keeping one’s hands to oneself. Students should not be using physicality of any kind toward classmates. There is always an adult nearby to help students work through strong feelings and/or emotions. Secondly, we ask families to review respectful and safe behavior in the bathroom. Students should refrain from splashing water on the floors or at other students. Additionally, we’ve needed to speak to students about giving others their privacy and personal space and about using the bathroom appropriately. Students should not be peeking under stalls, throwing toilet paper, or clogging toilets purposefully.
This month, we were excited to celebrate a member of our dedicated staff who is the recipient of a Freehold Township Education Foundation (FTEF) Building Blocks for Innovation Grant. Mrs. Senna works with staff and students regularly to support students' social emotional learning and executive functioning skills. Her FTEF grant awarded her funds to use toward the project description below:
Social-emotional learning (SEL) plays a very important role in the healthy development of the whole child. We see first hand each day we work with children that emotional dysregulation can significantly impact a child's daily life, affecting their ability to focus, regulate emotions, and engage in activities. Aligned with the core concepts of responsive classroom and PBS, SEL sensory tool kits offer a comprehensive solution to support children in managing their feelings and emotions in a multisensory way. This project focuses on giving each classroom the sensory tool kits they need to address diverse sensory needs across different age groups and settings.
We are so proud of Mrs. Senna and how she continually demonstrates excellence in fostering a culture of respect, responsibility, and care in the classroom and beyond. Our staff is excited to work with her to create “Take a Break” bags/boxes for each classroom. Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Senna! Families can learn more about the FTEF at: www.ftefnj.org or hetal@ftefnj.org.
During the week of October 7th-11th, along with other elementary schools in the Freehold, we will celebrate the Week of Respect again this year. Families can find school spirit days’ information below. We’re excited to add Heritage Day on Friday, October 11th this year. Staff and students are invited/encouraged to wear something which highlights their heritage! We are connected. We are individually unique, together complete.
Warmly,
Ms. Shaw & Mrs. Fern
We're a Positive Behavior Support School
We believe we are all connected and together we will foster our PBS core values. Catena Colts will learn what it means to be respectful, responsible, safe, and kind in all areas of the building, playground, and on the bus. As a Positive Behavior Support (PBS) school we focus on establishing the behavioral supports and social culture needed for all students to achieve social, emotional, and academic success. Students meeting learned expectations will be recognized and rewarded throughout the school year in a myriad of ways. Along with our PBS Coaches, teachers will share more information about expectations, reward systems, and our common PBS language when school starts in just a couple of weeks. At home, families can help to prepare students by reviewing our PBS Expectation Matrix and support them throughout the year by using our common language when talking about the school day.
Another way parents might support our PBS program is by helping us to stock our PBS school store. Students have the opportunity to visit the PBS School Store to “cash” in their Colts Cash for both tangible items and for experiences with staff.
FTS Attendance Policy
Families are encouraged to review the updated policy. Click here to review the FTS Attendance Policy.
September 27- October 11th: iReady Testing Window Grades K-5
(Teachers will confirm dates with families.)
October 3rd & 4th: School Closed
October 7th: World Smile Day observed
October 7th-11th: Week of Respect
October 14th: School Closed for students; Staff Professional Development Day
October 18th: PTO Trunk or Treat
October 21st-25th: School Violence Awareness Week; PTO Scholastic Book Fair
October 24th: Family STEAM Night
October 31st: Halloween Schoolwide Parade
November 4th, 5th, & 6th: Early Dismissal & Parent Teacher Conferences
November 7th, 8th, 11th: School Closed NJEA Convention & Veteran's Day
iReady Diagnostic Assessment
What is i-Ready?
i-Ready is an online program that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.
The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions based on student responses. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.
What can you do to help at home?
To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:
- Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment.
- Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
- Try not to worry about questions to which they do not know the answers—remind them that this assessment is to see where they are and some of the questions are meant to be a challenge for them.
- Be respectful of other students to ensure everyone has a good testing environment.
- Use paper and pencil to show your work for the math assessment.
Free & Reduced Lunch Applications
Paper applications can be found on the district webpage. This folder contains all of the information regarding applying for Free/Reduced Lunch. If you can not print it, please contact your child's school and they will send a paper copy home for you. Please note, families will need the child's school ID Number to complete the application. School ID Numbers can be found in Genesis Parent Portal.
Please send any paper applications to:
Ali McKee
Freehold Township Schools
Benefits Coordinator
384 W. Main Street
Freehold, NJ 07728
You may also send by email or fax:
Fax: (732) 462-5939
Phone: (732) 462-8400 ext.8809
Paying for meals
Payments may be made with student's MealTime account. Any cash or checks brought to school for meals will be applied to your student's mealtime account. No change can be given in the cafeteria.
Please check out the program we'll be using to share our menus and nutritional information with you. Nutrislice will be updated any time we have a menu change and will have menus prepared weeks in advance. You can even add the app to your phone for up to date information. Click here to learn how to filter your menus!
To add funds to your student's MealTime account so they may purchase items in the school cafeteria, please click here (white box) or send cash or a check written out to Freehold Township Schools in with your student. All funds submitted in the cafeteria will be deposited into your student's Mealtime account. No change will be available in the cafeteria. For more information about Mealtime, please click here.
Breakfast is now available for Preschool & Elementary School Students
Breakfast is Served!
We'd like to remind everyone that breakfast is available for purchase in the cafeteria for all elementary school students. The menus are here. Students can go directly to the cafeteria when they come to school and grab a meal to bring to their classroom. All students who receive free lunch are also eligible to receive free breakfast. Regular price for breakfast is $2.05 and will be billed through the student's mealtime account. Menus will be posted on Nutrislice.
Doors will open at 8:30am for JJCS breakfast and 8:45am for LDS breakfast. Staff will monitor Door # 28 near the parent drop-off/pick-up to welcome students. Those students riding the bus to school will grab breakfast once buses unload and eat in their classroom.
For more information or to contact our Sodexo Food Services Department, visit our district webpage linked here.
Counselor's Corner: Connect with Mrs. Senna!
Visit the website. Make a membership toolkit account. Support our school community. Email for information: jjcpto@gmail.com