PLD February Newsletter

Dear PLD Families,

It’s hard to believe that we are already halfway through the school year. Throughout February, students will be engaged in lessons about Lunar New Year and Black History Month. Students will also be celebrating the 100th day of school, where we will dress like a 100 year old on February 18th and participate in thematic activities.

At the end of the month (February 28th), we are inviting all parents to visit your child’s class from 9:00am-10:30am during our school-wide SEL day. The official invitation will be going home on February 12th, and it will include more details.

If you haven't already done so, please review the EWRSD community update (emailed January 30th) that addresses recent policy changes at the federal level that may affect our school community.

Please be reminded that school is closed on Monday, February 17th, for President’s Day.

With Drew Pride,

Jazmyn Allen

Attendance Corner

Students should have fewer than 11 absences by the end of February. More than 11 absences means that your child has missed over 10% of the school year, which may require a parent meeting and/or an attendance plan. Let’s work together to ensure consistent attendance!

February 3rd - 90s Day - Dress like you were in the 90's

February 7th - Superbowl Day - wear your favorite football jersey

February 5th - 11th - PTO Valentine Gram Sale

February 12th - Wear Yellow for Love the Bus Month

February 14th - Valentines Day - Wear Red/Pink/Hearts to celebrate

February 17th - SCHOOL CLOSED for Presidents Day

February 18th - 100th Day of School - dress like you're 100!

February 24th - Pretzel Day

February 24th - 28th - PTO Coin Wars

February 28th - School Store

February 28th - Social & Emotional Learning Day (SEL Day)

Registration is due on February 7th.

Congratulations to the top two winners of the Greater Hightstown Juniorettes Spelling Bee - both students are from Perry L. Drew!!!

1st place Janeenah Morales, 4th grade

2nd place Aayush Penugonda, 4th grade

Congratulations are also in order for the Perry L. Drew students who participated in the
Spelling Bee:

Julian A., Karter B., Leah N., Reagan M., Reya V., Sanya M., Sree V., Srunuhira P.,

Swara P., Tanmaya D., & Zil P

Please note that if you plan on picking up your child earlier than regular dismissal time it is always helpful to let us know. You can do this anyone of the following ways: enter it into Genesis, email your child's teacher or call the front office and let them know that you will be picking your child up early.

Please be advised that school starts at 8:45 am and dismissal is at 3:30. While we understand illnesses and circumstances occurring beyond your control. We encourage students to be on time. Missing precious instruction time is a loss that cannot be recovered.

Early dismissal from PLD is at 1:25

Delayed Opening arrival time for PLD is 10:15 am

The complete schedule can be found here: https://www.ewrsd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1561786&type=d&pREC_ID=1688531

In case of a 90 minute delay please use the following schedule:

Kidcare will open at 8:30 a.m. the morning of a delayed opening. Parents should have their children leave for school or the bus stop 90 minutes later than usual.

Friendly reminder: To keep the front of the building clear for carpool students, if you are picking up a student as a walker, please meet your child at the BREEZEWAY. Walkers are not dismissed at the front of the building as this area is kept open for carpool students. Regarding the carpool area, I do ask that we all work together as a community. Staff will only engage with the traffic on campus but I ask that you be courteous and mindful when entering the carpool lane. Please do not block the entry of the driveway due to the buses. Buses are unable to enter the driveway safely if it is blocked. Your support with this matter is appreciated.

Please remind your students to bring their charged chromebooks as well as a water bottle daily! It is extremely important that they remember to bring them everyday.

Please remind your children that there are lots of items in the lost & found. They can check the rack during their lunch period and claim what might belong to them!

Cooler weather may be setting in, however, we will still be having recess outdoors. Recess is a crucial part of the day, so by all means we will continue to provide this outdoor experience daily. Please be reminded to have your child properly dress for cooler weather. Coats, jackets, and hats may be needed. Checking the weather prior to the start of school would help in making sure proper attire is on daily.

Every week a student is chosen to be the Artist of the Week. Their art is then posted in the display case to be viewed for a week. Each of the chosen artists will be photographed and displayed in the newsletter.

Ms. Behrens, Mr. Berkuta, Ms. Rojas, and Mr. Korey would like to congratulate all band, orchestra, and choir students on a successful week of concerts. Everyone performed beautifully and were amazing to hear all together thanks to their hard work. Congratulations everyone!

The Physical Education team had the students thinking outside the box during our team building unit. Students had to work in various size groups to accomplish different obstacles. They had to use cooperation, communication, and strategic planning to overcome these challenges that were presented. As always, this was a successful unit and once again, a school favorite!

Mrs. Wherley's Class, doing an activity about vegetables in Spanish.

Ms. Capetta's Class doing an activity in our Spanish Class entitled "Where is the Winter Clothing"?"Dónde está la ropa de invierno?

Scoliosis Screening letters will be sent out soon. Please send back the letter to indicate if you do or do not want your child screened for scoliosis. I will be doing the screenings at the end of April and beginning of May. I will let your child's teacher know the date as it gets closer.

Any student who is 11 years old will need to have a Tdap and Meningitis vaccine prior to going into 6th grade. I am beginning to send out reminders to those children who are already 11 or will be 11 years old soon. Please send in any documentation of vaccines received so that I can update their medical record.

Please remember to send in any doctor office visits and updated immunizations to me via either your child, email or fax.

Please remember to keep your child home if they are sick.

Dear PLD Families,

Happy New Year! We hope that 2025 is your best year yet!

The 2024-2025 Yearbook is ready to be ordered! We are ONLY doing online ordering this year, so we will give you a quick guide to help you place your order. Yearbooks are $20, credit card / debit card only. Deadline for orders is April 11th, 2025. As we are working directly with a company to produce copies of the yearbook, orders must be in on time. No other orders can be taken after April 11th and access to the site will be closed. It is important to meet the deadline. Books will be delivered to the school and distributed in June. NO EXTRA COPIES will be available for purchase in June.

Please check your child's photo release status on Genesis. Many students are still marked as NO PHOTO/MEDIA RELEASE, which means that their picture cannot be used in our yearbook. Photo release forms have to be marked off on Genesis.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Rupp and Ms. Swinarski at the emails here :

Mrs. Rupp mrupp@ewrsd.k12.nj.us

Ms. Swinarski - sswinarski@ewrsd.k12.nj.us

HOW TO ORDER YOUR YEARBOOK:

• Log into: https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/

• Yearbook ID Code: 14469125 OR you can select search for your school State/Province: NJ City: East Windsor then select Perry L. Drew Elementary. Then click NEXT.

• You will need to enter your student's FIRST AND LAST NAME and select grade. Then click NEXT.

• Select the number of copies you wish to order. Then click NEXT.

• Fill out your billing information. Then click CONTINUE TO PAYMENT

• Enter your credit card details.Then click VERIFY CARD.

• ORDERING IS COMPLETE! Please print a receipt for your records.

Thank you so much.

Our PTO is here to support the whole PLD community, staff, students and families. Part of that support is keeping everyone informed and connected. Here we have ways to keep up to date on the happenings in the building and interact with other families. Please reach out if you need anything, we are here to help!

2024-2025 PTO Board

President: Kim Powers

Vice President: Barrie Roberts

Treasurer: Ameena Mohib

Secretary: Kelly Carella

Translator: Katie Vernati

Stay Connected

Remind: Text @PLDPTO2425 to 81010 for quick updates and reminders from the PTO

Facebook: Perry L. Drew PTO

Email: pldpto@gmail.com

Volunteers Needed for Events and Committees

If you are interested in volunteering, please feel free to contact pldpto@gmail.com. Your assistance would be greatly valued by our school community.

Mrs. Shupel's group is having a great time with measurement and graphing and putting our paper plane making skills to good use!

Kids Bop Day - Dress Like Your Favorite Singer - January 17, 2025

Students in Mrs. Volyand's class learned about the lives of MLK and Anne Frank and compared how to influential figures had dreams of equality of peace for all people.

Mrs. Wherley's class learning about Dr. Martin Luther King

Mrs. Mosca's class went on a field trip to Target!

Our 5th Grade Focus Group met with Mr. Daniels - January 23, 2025

Mrs. Wherley's class celebrated Lunar New Year!

Paint Night with Mr. Roselle - January 29, 2025

Bring your Favorite Stuffed Animal Day - January 31, 2025

Address: 70 Twin Rivers Drive North, East Windsor, NJ 08520

Contact: Kathleen Donohue, 609-4436-7820 X3000 - kdonohue@ewrsd.k12.nj.us OR

Evelin Surita (Habla Espanol), 609-443-7820 X3005 - esurita@ewrsd.k12.nj.us