Inside this Edition
- Principal's Message
- Kindness Awards
- Grade Level Updates
- The Counselor's Corner
- Related Arts and Science Updates
- Nurse's Nook
- The Friday Playlist
Principal's Message
Our 5th graders did a great job this past week with the NJSLA Language Arts and Math sections. I am so proud of our oldest scholars for approaching the assessment calmly and confidently.
Best of luck to all of our Brandt students participating in the district musical, Spongebob, this weekend. Break a leg and we know you will make us proud!
As we continue to count down the days to the end of the school year, please remember attendance is critically important during these last few weeks. It is important to continue to get your child to school on time every day so they can put the finishing touches on their academics while making great memories with their friends and teachers.
As we continue to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month, on Monday May 22nd our students will experience a mindful Sound Bath assembly in the afternoon. Please make sure you see the flyer below for more details.
Don't forget that Friday, May 26th is a 1:00 PM dismissal day for all staff and students and there is no Passport to Learning After School Program. All must ensure they make appropriate arrangements for their child to be picked up at 1:00 PM next Friday. There is no school on Monday, May 29th in observance of Memorial Day.
This week, we continue to have a lot of important information for you to be aware of, so below, in today's edition of the newsletter, be sure to check out the flyers for:
- Grade 5 Night Out on 6/2
- The Elementary School Spring Concert
- Participating in the Band, Stings, and Chorus for the 23/24 School Year
- Through the Windows Art Exhibit
- PTO-Sponsored Golf Outing
- HMS Visits for 5th Graders
This coming week our 5th graders will have two days of NJSLA science assessments. We will also schedule make-ups for grades 3 & 4. During your child's assessment window, it is important to get a good night's rest the night before and to eat a good breakfast the morning of their scheduled assessments. It is also critically important your child get to school on time the days they are scheduled to take the NJSLA. You can reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions.
Please be sure to check out some photos in the gallery below of our kindergarteners at the Bergen County Zoo on their HPEF-sponsored Field Trip. Our 1st graders had a lot of fun at the Turtle Back Zoo and our 3rd graders had a lot of fun at the Flat Rock Brook Nature Center this past week. We'll share some photos of that next week!
Our upcoming trips are:
5/23 - Grade 4 - Ellis Island
5/31 - Part of Grade 3 - Flat Rock Brook Nature Center
6/8 - Grade 5 - NJ Sea Grant Consortium at Sandy Hook
If you have questions, contact your child's teacher.
Other dates to keep in mind:
- Grades 3 - 5 Career Day (June 2nd)
- Field Days (June 6th & 7th)
- Kindergarten Moving Up Ceremonies (June 20th)
- 5th Grade Moving on Ceremonies (June 21st)
As always, featured underneath our flyers section, I hope you take the time to read about all of the wonderful things happening in our grade level and subject area updates sections.
For this week's playlist, I hope you enjoy three of my random favorites...
Please have a safe and wonderful weekend!
- Mr. Bartlett
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
Kindergarten
First Grade
This week in ELA, 1st Graders focused on variant vowels spelled with au and aw. They also worked on vowel teams and reviewed possessive pronouns. They continue to work on capitalizing days of the week and months of the year.
In Math, 1st Graders are continuously working on double digit addition, counting on, and comparing least/greatest quantities. They have begun to review 2D and 3D shapes as well as applying shape vocabulary and exploring attributes of those shapes.
Hoboken 1st Graders also took a trip to the Turtle Back Zoo on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day spent exploring and learning about different animals. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who we think enjoyed themselves just as much as the children!
 |  |  |
Second Grade
Second grade has been working hard throughout this beautiful spring week!
In social studies, students continued to practice mindfulness techniques. Students practiced different breathing exercises and how to calm themselves down during times of stress. Students also discussed what a positive mindset looks like and how a positive mindset can help us overcome challenges both in and out of the classroom. The month of May is also Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Students have been participating in read alouds that highlight Asian Pacific Islander culture.
In reading, students are reviewing non-fiction texts and how to collect information that can be used in their research writing project. Students are reviewing different text features and how they help the reader better understand the information presented in the text.
In writing, students are continuing to research and write for their research project. Their informational piece is aimed to teach the reader about the topic they chose. Students are taking the skills they have been reviewing during reading and applying them to the research they are doing for this writing task.
In math, students are finishing unit 6. Throughout this unit, students have learned how to measure with a standard ruler as well as other nonstandard objects. Students also analyzed and compared different tools of measurement and what tools are best to use to measure different objects.
 |  |  |
Third Grade
ELA: This week students begin their next novel study, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. Kate DiCamillo takes us on an extraordinary journey, from the depths of the ocean to the net of a fisherman, from the bedside of an ailing child to the bustling streets of Memphis. Along the way, we are shown a miracle--that even a heart of the most breakable kind can learn to love, to lose, and to love again.
Math: This week students are completing Math investigations that are focused on developing students’ ideas about counting and quantity, as well as place value and the structure of the base-ten number system. Lastly students continue their study of the meaning of operations with whole numbers as well as the development of computational fluency.
SEL: In Move This World students are developing ways to make responsible decision making by analyzing situations, reflecting, goal setting in order to identify ways they can contribute to their community to make it a safer place.
Fourth Grade
This week fourth grade has been busy getting back to work after NJSLA testing! Students took a trip to the New Jersey Law Center to watch the mock trial competition! Students watched while students from other schools presented their mock trial cases and we were able to act as the jury and deliberate the verdict for both a civil and criminal case. Students had the opportunity to be a jury foreman and announce their verdict to the whole room.
In ELA this week students are working on finishing up their novel study of Wonder. Students are reading, writing and answering questions based on the reading. We are taking a deep dive into the characters of the novel and seeing how they have changed throughout. In writing fourth graders have been working on writing letters and diary entries to the character and from their point of view to enhance their understanding. Students are using what they have read and what they have experienced in their own lives to help them with their writing.
In math this week fourth graders are working on starting their next and final unit of math investigations. They reviewed and finished working on unit 6 all about fractions and decimals. Students played review games and worked together to solve fraction and decimal problems covered throughout the unit.
In social studies students have been working on an AAPI heritage month project, learning about the many different cultures and communities included. Students are in the process of working on a multimedia project to help teach their classmates about their chosen community. Students were also introduced to Ellis Island and began to learn about what it was and how it has impacted our country. We are off to Ellis Island on Tuesday!
 |  |  |
Fifth Grade
5th grade is wrapping up for the 2022-2023 school year!
As the school year is coming to an end, there are many events approaching. Our 5th graders are spending the week taking NJSLA. Students have been doing a wonderful job focusing and completing the assessments each day.
As we look ahead, students will continue reading Number the Stars in ELA. As students are reading, they will also be crafting a narrative story.
As we look ahead in mathematics, our 5th graders will be focusing on conversions. Students will be able to recognize and apply skills to convert different measurements.
 |  |  |
The Counselor's Corner
This week our students and staff recognized Food Allergy Awareness Week. Students completed different activities to learn about the different allergies people can have and what to do to avoid allergic reactions.
Physical Education
Ladies and gentlemen start your engines, it looks like the kart race is about to start! MarioKart is here at Brandt! Our gymnasium has transformed into a race track for students.
The track started with a minefield of banana peels left by mastermind Donkey Kong. It then led into a rumbling road with studded stones which may cause a flat or blowout. King Boo was waiting to strike after our dark tunnel. If students spun out on the banana peel, flat from a studded stone, or if tagged by king boo they would “spin out”. Students who spun out had to flip their scooter over, perform 10 jumping jacks, flip the scooter over again and continue in the race. All races were successful and did their best!
 |  |  |
World Languages
This week in Mandarin class, kindergarten and first graders are reading the book “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” The students created four pictures with their own favorite colors. They did a great job writing the Mandarin words. Second graders continue working on the vocabulary writing and talking about their favorite hobbies. Third to fifth graders are reviewing the vocabulary of different beverages and talking about their favorite and least favorite drinks.
 |  |  |
Art
 |  |  |
Music
This week, our 4th Graders were able to create melodies on Quaver as they started to learn how to compose a piece of music. In class, they had the opportunity to learn about simple melodies such as Ode To Joy from Beethoven's 9th Symphony and A Little Night Music from Mozart. These composers helped shape The Classical Period with their simplistic melodies and beautiful musical lines. Being able to create music with a good starting point is very important to become a great composer!
Theater
Science
This week in Kindergarten Science we began our last PLTW Module, Structure and Function: Human Body. In this module, students are reading a story about Angelina’s experience of falling and breaking her arm. Students explore the basic relationship between structure and function in the human body. They identify major structures, or organs, within the body and investigate the relationships of the structure and function of each organ, as well as identify the functions of bone. After exploring the inner body and learning that every human being is made of the same body parts on the inside, we discussed how every person has their own identity. Everyone got a body outline and gave it a physical identity. Today we reviewed the terms structure and function in relationship to living organisms. We had the opportunity to investigate some of the major structures inside the human body. We are so excited to see what will happen next week as we continue our exploration!
This week our first graders learned about ultraviolet light. We had a discussion about the effects of ultraviolet light and how we can protect ourselves from being sunburned. To prove that ultraviolet light really can cause changes we created bracelets using pipe cleaners and color changing beads. Inside the classroom the beads stayed white. But once we went to the rooftop and went out into the sun the beads changed color. We drew our before and after results in our Launch Logs.
This week in second grade science students began a new PLTW module called "The Changing Earth". In this module, students explore how the surface of the earth is always changing. They are introduced to different kinds of maps and explore how these maps convey different kinds of information about the world we live in.
This week in third grade science we began our new unit which is all about weather. We started the unit by learning about different ways of measuring weather and how we can use it to identify the patterns of weather in a variety of places. We then worked with partners to read different rain gauges, thermometers and wind vanes to figure out the weather on various days. Some students even spotted a rain gauge while on our field trip and got to analyze it to determine how much it had rained in the past few days. It sadly had not rained but it was still fun for the students to read!
This week in 4th grade science students began researching and planning for their end of the year science fair projects! The groups will be picking a topic from the units we have reviewed this year and create an experiment or research project to share with other classes! By the
end of this week, each group got to finish focusing on one topic with a lot of unique project ideas!
This week in 5th grade science, students continued to test their robots. Each round tested a different aspect of the robot's design, and students were working as a team to ensure their robot got through each testing round. As a class students developed a course design by incorporating different obstacles as well as bridges and tunnels for their robots to go through!
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  | |
Nurse's Nook
How to manage seasonal allergies at home
Allergies can make your little one feel miserable, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it better. You can help them avoid things that trigger their symptoms. And you can also learn about medicines that fight allergies. Home treatments can work, too. To ease sinus pressure, start by rinsing their face to remove any pollen. Then put a warm compress on their face, either the nose or forehead. Just ask where they feel pressure.
A cold, wet washcloth or an ice pack wrapped in a towel for a short time can relieve itchy eyes. Soothe itchy eyes with lubricating eye drops. They're sometimes called natural tears. Don't use products for "red eye" for more than a few days because they can make eyes worse. You can also get nonprescription antihistamine eye drops. They help red, itchy eyes. Ask your pharmacist, and follow the directions on the label.
For an irritated nose, you can spray sterilized salt water up your child’s nostrils, children’s saline solution nasal spray. It can also help wash away pollen, dust, and dander. It may even help loosen mucus. Ask the pharmacist to help you find a spray for children. Older kids may be able to flush their noses out with sterile salt water using a Neti-pot, which can be found at any local drug store.
Antihistamine Medications like Benadryl, Claritin and Zyrtec can help tame itching, sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes. You can buy some kinds without a prescription. They come in different forms, like pill, liquid, chewable, or "melt-away" options. Your doctor may suggest your child take one every day during allergy season. Some of these drugs can make them sleepy, so you may want to give them before bedtime. You may also buy the “non-drowsy” version which can be given before school.
Keep windows closed during peak pollen season. Also have your child shower and change clothes when they come inside the house because outdoor mold or weed pollens are a trigger!
If you have any questions or concerns regarding allergy season and what to we can do to help your child have a better day at school, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email or phone!
201-356-3757
