SWS Newsletter
November 3, 2023 - Caught Being Kind Edition!
Dear SWS Community,
In honor of Veterans Day, RED WHITE & BLUE day is coming Wednesday, November 8. Students should plan to wear patriotic colors for our special Veteran's Day Tribute. Please join us for this special event. Information is in the flyer below.
What a fabulous week we had with Halloween and the Pumpkin Run today. Many thanks to PE teacher Mrs. Kerry Deckert for setting up the parade and run route and getting our SWS student-athletes in shape and ready to run the Pumpkin event today!
Be sure to see art teacher Mrs. Wizner's note below requesting any donations of unscented baby wipes her for art classes.
Fall Conferences
Fall Parent/Guardian conferences are coming up soon. Parent/Guardian conferences with teachers are not required, but they are available with all academic and special teachers for families who wish to attend.
Conferences will be held on the evening of Monday, November 20, and the afternoon of Tuesday, November 21. The school will host an early dismissal schedule on these two days, and lunch will not be served.
Conference sign-ups will be done online via Google Forms, which will be emailed to all families on Sunday, November 5 at 5 p.m. For families with multiple children in different grades, we ask that you choose time slots that are not scheduled back to back. By choosing time slots with travel time built in, you can be assured that you will not miss your second appointment.
Because we want to meet with so many families, on-time arrival is necessary - feel free to arrive early and buy some baked goods from the Student Council and check out all the beautiful artwork on our school walls.
World Kindness Week Programming
We're very excited to announce that we will be celebrating World Kindness Week on November 13 with a spirit week and assembly programming. World Kindness Week was first launched in 1998 by The World Kindness Movement. There are currently more than 28 nations involved in The World Kindness Movement. The mission of the World Kindness Movement and World Kindness Week is to create a kinder world by inspiring individuals and nations toward greater kindness.
- Mon. Nov. 13 - Kindness Ties Us Together - wear a tie or bowtie
- Tues. Nov. 14 - Work Out Problems With Kindness - wear work out clothes
- Wed. Nov 15 - Team Up for Kindness - wear sports gear
- Thurs. Nov 16 - Ride the Kindness Wave - Wear Hawaiian beach and surf attire
- Fri. Nov. 17 - Peace Love & Kindness - wear tye dye
For our Kindergarten through third grade, students will enjoy a character education assembly called Pinocchio. In this show, the adventures of life teach a puppet about honesty and humanity. A master craftsman lovingly creates a little wooden marionette... but what a bad little puppet he turns out to be! He's selfish and greedy, and he lies. He doesn't listen to the good counsel of anyone: his father Gepetto, a philosopher Cricket, or a Blue Fairy. After many hair-raising adventures, Pinocchio finally learns what it takes to become human... kindness, compassion, loyalty, hard work, and selflessness.
Our grades four through six will enjoy a three-day character education program with local motivational speaker Brian Thomas. Working in small groups, motivational speaker and coach Brian Thomas will work with students on role play, game play, and open discussion about self awareness, gratitude, empathy/respect, communication, kindness, and passion/purpose. Students will meet with this speaker on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of World Kindness week during their PE periods.
Thank you to Ms. Nina Vasallo for her help in securing this programming for our students!
Sincerely,
Brooke Phillips
Principal/Supervisor of Special Education
Dates to Keep In Mind:
Mon, Nov. 6 - Community Cares Club Meeting, 3:15pm
Mon. Nov. 6 - PTO Meeting, 7pm
Thurs., Nov 9 & Fri., Oct. 10 - School Closed NJ Teacher Convention
Mon. Nov. 13 - Grades K-3 Character Ed Assembly - 9:30-10:20 am
Mon., Tues., Wed., Nov 13-15 - Grades 4-6 Character Ed Assembly during each grade’s PE period
Friday, Nov. 17 - Pizza Lunch Day
Wed., Nov. 22 - Picture Retake Day
Mon. Dec. 4 SEPAG Meeting - 6:30pm - Guest Speaker Michelle Lockwood on Inclusive Education
Mon. Dec. 4 - PTO Meeting, 7pm
Pumpkin Decorating Contest
Check out our Caught Being Kind PTO Thank You Winners and all of our October Caught Being Kind Student Recognitions!
Kindergarten
First Grade
Second Grade
In math students worked on a variety of math solving strategies including inverse relationship of addition and subtraction to recall basic facts; the use bar models to represent a variety of addition and subtraction situations; and how to solve problems involving equal groups by using the strategy act it out.
2nd Grade Guest Speaker
Native American Agriculture was the topic, and her talk highlighted The Three Sisters of Native American agriculture- corn, bean, and pumpkin/squash. Students learned about companion planting and what the contribution of each companion plant can be.
Students learned the effect that climate has on planting in different parts of the country. Students also made their own Three Sisters seed packet and recipe book.