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February 2023 Staff Showcase

Upper Saddle River School District

February 2023 StaffShowcaseUpper Saddle River School District

National School Counselor's Week: February 6-10, 2023

Mrs. Slacin

Grades K-2 Guidance Counselor

Reynolds School

Small Group


Mrs. Slacin, Reynolds school counselor, meets with small groups of students from each grade level on a weekly basis to support students through social-emotional learning. During a February lesson, students learned about navigating emotions. Mrs. Slacin encouraged students to share how they were feeling and why, and also listen to their peers about their feelings. In order to ground the discussion in context for our youngest learners, Mrs. Slacin engaged students in a read aloud called, “A Box of Butterflies.” Mrs. Slacin infused reading comprehension and discussion skills into the lesson as students practiced describing and understanding their own emotions in connection to the character in the story. Students then worked on a coloring activity where they associated emotions to colors in order to recognize that not everyone has the same emotions or the same reactions to certain situations. Mrs. Slacin taught students a strategy for when they feel an intense emotion; the butterfly breath. This breath can help students when they have feelings that don’t feel good, and they feel like they need additional support.

Ms. Senger

Grades 3-5 Guidance Counselor

Bogert School

“No Place for Hate” Student Committee


During a February meeting of the “No Place for Hate” student committee at Bogert school, Ms. Senger collaborated with students about ways they could expand their efforts to make the school a respectful place where all students are treated fairly. Through Ms. Senger’s leadership and the student committee Bogert has launched culture shares as a way to highlight the diverse cultures in the community and celebrate differences. The goal of this committee is to put kindness in action! Ms. Senger and this student committee are working together to encourage students to continue to make school a better place. They planned several possibilities for school wide initiatives that will serve as collaborative experiences, but will also be educational opportunities for students to learn about others who may be similar or different to them. Some ideas included book buddies, collaborative murals or art projects, and poems or songs to help spread the word and build a community of inclusivity, equity and respect.

Mrs. Donnelly

Grades 6-8 Guidance Counselor

Cavallini Middle School

School-wide Service Project


As an extension of Cavallini Connections, Mrs. Donnelly launched a school wide service project for students. Students in cardinal ambassadors and the Leo club helped to put this project into action for all students. The goal of this service project was to establish and support a community of care within Cavallini to implement personalized outreach for people in need through creation of notes of gratitude. During all lunch periods all students were given the opportunity to contribute to the project by creating their own card for members of Seacrest Health, or even members of our own school community. The project was made accessible to all students by allowing them to create their own cards, or contribute to a collaborative card. While visiting the lunch periods, Mrs. Donnelly worked with students in understanding kindness and empathy, and how these things, along with collaboration, can help them navigate difficult situations and support others.

Mrs. Uzar

Grades 6-8 Guidance Counselor

Cavallini Middle School

Community Circle-Resolving Social Conflict


During a February sixth grade community circle lesson, Mrs. Uzar and several 8th grade Cardinal ambassadors, led students in discussion and problem solving in connection to social conflict. This lesson was student-created as a way to foster and elicit student voice. During this lesson, students talked with their peers about real-life scenarios and brainstormed resolutions for when they experience conflict or exclusion. Students even had the opportunity to complete a self-assessment about themselves, encouraging them to be reflective about staying true to themselves, being inclusive, and how to overcome conflict with friends or peers. Mrs. Uzar is working with her 8th grade students in developing leadership skills to support the 6th grade students, and the school community at large. During this lesson, Mrs. Uzar met with groups of sixth grade students to pose real-life examples, and encourage students to brainstorm approaches and solutions to navigating difficult situations.

District Events and Learning Experiences

In Pursuit of Passion-Experiential Day of Learning

6th grade

Cavallini Middle School


On Friday, February 10th, 6th grade students had the opportunity to get creative and find their passion through a variety of activities organized by the 6th grade team of teachers. The purpose of the day was to encourage students to get inspired, and find different ways to show their skills through art, yoga, music, and even the sport of golf! The day launched with a showcase of the 8th grade elective passion project film festival, capturing student engagement and giving them an opportunity to see a variety of projects that students in their school community are passionate about. While playing golf with Mrs. Chamberlin and Ms. Bevia, students had the opportunity to engage in physical activity and exhibit teamwork. In music exploration with Ms. Pike and Ms. Mascetti, students were able to build music profiles connecting genres to their interests and background. In yoga with Mr. Cirone, Ms. Kaldawi, and Ms. Barrow students engaged in calming and mindfulness activities, and in art with Ms. Au and Ms. Conners, students could participate in a grade-wide collaborative art project or engage in other writing or art activities. This day allowed students to expand and apply their knowledge to the arts and explore new passions!

"Do I Have a Right?"- Pocket Law Firm

7th grade Social Studies Civics Activity

Cavallini Middle School


Students in grade seven had the opportunity to participate in a Social Studies iCivics game titled, “Do I Have a Right?” Students in Mrs. Goodman’s and Ms. Kaldawi’s class competed in this game, in which they take on the role as manager/owner of a law firm. Clients come into their office with complaints and students must implement decision making skills in alignment with Constitutional rights. With each client, students must decide if the complaint is valid or not and if it represents a violation of a constitutional right. From here, students pair lawyers with the clients based on expertise for a particular amendment. Through these activities they earn points. This game serves as an opportunity for students to apply content knowledge in connectional to constitutional rights and real-life situations. The top two scorers from each social studies class participated in the championship round on February 16th, along with the top competitors from last year to defend their championship titles.

Therapy Dog Reading Activity

World Read Aloud Week

Reynolds School


For World Read Aloud week, Reynolds students engaged in a variety of activities including “One School, One Book” and even had an opportunity to read to therapy dogs. Ms. Titunick, Ms. Cucci, Ms. Welch, Mrs. Passanante, and Mrs. Levitt coordinated reading time for each grade level with the therapy dogs. Students were able to read to the dogs in small groups, or enjoy a read aloud with the company of the dogs. The goal of this activity was to enhance student comfortability with reading, and also allow students to practice fluency in reading. While reading with the dogs, students also had the opportunity to learn more about these specially trained dogs, their purpose, and how they support others.