Connors School Scoop
January 21, 2022
Dear Connors Families,
I hope everyone had a wonderful week! It is definitely cold outside. We had an exciting week of learning activities at Connors. We also have so MANY upcoming events, so please be sure to read the upcoming dates carefully.
Here are a few friendly reminders:
Attendance
Daily attendance at school is important factor in the academic growth and success of children. If your child will be absent for any reason, please make sure to notify our school clerks, Martiza Ramos maritza.ramos@hoboken.k12.nj.us and Aishah Tapia aishah.tapia@hoboken.k12.nj.us so they can make a note in Genesis. Please make sure to send your child to school on time. The school day begins at 8:15 am.
School Nurse:
It is very important that our families please remain vigilant with our health and safety protocols. If your child develops symptoms, please keep your child home and email Nurse Maddie mcarroll@hoboken.k12.nj.us for further instructions. Remember, anyone fully vaccinated traveling outside those states or internationally have no testing or quarantining requirements. In addition, please remember to fill out your Genesis Covid form Daily. Also, this is super important: If your child tested because they are not feeling well, do not to send your child back to school until they have a negative test results in hand. We do not want a situation in which a child wasn't feeling well, then got tested and started to feel better and came back to school. When the results come in, if the results are positive, it can put an entire class on quarantine. Thank you for being vigilant with our health and safety protocols. Thank you for partnering with us during these last few weeks with a rise in Covid cases. Please review the New Guidance Regarding Covid 19, Isolations v. Quarantine below if you have not already done so: https://www.smore.com/fc7ak
Covid 19 District Protocols
Below are the links to the district Covid protocols for your reference.
Updated Reopening plan
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qtl8Z_ETahzfXnpo-Ebk_5_c0KqbszVIBcrEo-TmZKA/edit
Test to Stay Plan
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NbPTlPM-HqNWlEci28fcK4eR0ZmiY1dQb95duMXguVw/edit
New Guidance Regarding Covid 19 Isolation v. Quarantine
Breakfast/Lunch:
Breakfast and Lunch is free of charge for all students. The lunch menu is located on the district website. Here is the link to the lunch menu nutrition slice:
https://hoboken.nutrislice.com/menu/connors-elementary/lunch/2022-01-21 Please make sure to send your child to school with a snack daily.
Our Connors School Scoop also includes:
- Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Learning Activities
- Move This World Family Login Information
- Move This World Emotion Motion Podcast
- The Great Kindness Challenge-January 24th-28th
- Kindness Challenge School Spirit Week Flyer-January 24th-28th
- Passport to Learning Spring Registration
- District Musical "Matilda" Information
- Data Privacy Week-January 24th-28th
- Valentine's Day Guidance
- Read All About It-Information on DRA2 Assessment
- Upcoming Dates
- Koala with Character Awards
- Meet our new school Secretary, Aishah Tapia
- Meet our new school LDTC, Alison Kershis
- Learning Activities throughout the week
We make it our priority to partner with parents in the academic growth and success of every child. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions. I wish everyone a wonderful weekend.
All the best,
Principal Addi
Move This World
Move this World: Family engagement
Move This World’s SEL programs teach family members, students, and educators a common language and effective exercises that aid in identifying and managing emotions, problem-solving, and building relationships.
Evidence-based developmentally aligned curriculum
Shot, engaging videos
Explicit instruction + daily practice
High impact
Staying Connected: Family Platform Guide
Log on to: movethisworld.com
Username: connors.family
Password: hoboken123
The Emotion Motion Podcast takes listeners on a journey through storytelling designed to engage children, their families and their teachers in movement and creative expression. Hope you enjoy!!
The Great Kindness Challenge
Our school is proudly participating in The Great Kindness Challenge, a week-long program dedicated to creating a culture of kindness and compassion in communities worldwide.
In light of the life-altering global pandemic, we believe it’s more important than ever to give our students the opportunity to participate in this uplifting week of kindness.
To help our students practice kindness and put their compassion into action, they will receive a Great Kindness Challenge checklist.
We will encourage all students to
complete as many acts of kindness
as possible at school and hope they
feel inspired to continue them at
home!
Together, we will lift each
other up, cheer each
other on and show the
world that KINDNESS MATTERS!
Passport to Learning Spring Registration
Spring Passport to Learning Program Information and Registration:
Due to popular demand, we will now also accept checks. You will have the ability to select which form of payment that you would like to make during the pay element of registration. Checks must be received no later than February, 23rd, 2022 or your child will forfeit their seat in the Passport to Learning Program. Please be aware that if you pay by check any refund will take longer than normal as it needs to be processed through our business department rather than directly through the payment portal.
Please be advised and aware that if you pay by credit card there will be a processing/convenience fee associated with this payment.
- The 3rd party registration platform processing fee is $.99 per registrant.
- The fee for credit card processing is 2.99% cents.
- Children who qualify for the free lunch program will attend any/all options at no cost.
- Children who qualify for a reduced lunch program will attend any/all options at %30 of the total cost.
To view all Passport to Learning course descriptions, pricing, dates, and logistics please click here to access the Passport to Learning Parent Information Packet.
I look forward to a new semester in the exciting world of Passport to Learning and to watching your children grow as a result of the new opportunities laid before them.
Due to the 3 days of PTL cancellation this month due to remote learning, I will be deducting .068% off the price of each 3:15 - 4:15 course. You will see this deduction when you are registering.
To register for Spring Passport to Learning and to view the important dates please use the links below.
IMPORTANT Passport to Learning DATES:
1/24/22 - Online Registration opens at 3:00pm and closes 2/4/22 Connors Spring PTL Registration
1/24/22-Phone Based Registration Starts at 3:15pm and ends 6:00pm the same day
2/25/22 Winter PTL Ends
2/28/22 Spring PTL Starts
District Musical " Matilda"
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I would like to invite your child in grades K-12 to participate in this year's district musical, Matilda. We will be calling this production Matilda 2.0. since the original production was supposed to happen in May of 2020. Regardless of who was cast in the show in the past, every student will be reauditioned. We will be treating this production as a "brand new" show.
If you are interested in having your child participate in this year's musical, please visit our website at www.hoboken.k12.nj.us under the “The Arts" link/Theatre Department/District Musical for a list of FAQ's to guide you through this process. This will help acclimate you to policies for rehearsals and the entire district musical experience, as well as answer any questions you may have about the audition process.
All participants in the district musical must commit to a TWO-DAY audition process. Even if your child only wants to dance, they must STILL attend the singing auditions, as both days are required. Participation in the musical is limited in number. Some children who audition may not be cast in the show. Failure to follow the audition process and policies (sign-ups, and attending both days) will result in your child being ineligible to be cast in the show. While we hope to include every child who wishes to participate, we also need to make sure that we have the resources needed to provide a safe and effective learning environment.
In an effort to expedite auditions, every student must PRE-REGISTER using the attached google form. https://forms.gle/sYMwHudA5JKPxGoP8 Online sign ups will happen from now until Friday, February 11th. In an effort to stay socially-distanced throughout the audition process, after the registration process has closed, you will receive an email from a production team member that states your "specific" audition time. This will be the time that your child needs to arrive on BOTH audition days. Parents are welcome to stay for the duration of their child's audition only and not the entire audition process as in years past. Each child will be needed for roughly 30-45 minutes both days to complete the audition process. Please keep these audition days cleared from other activities as you will not know your child's audition time slot until a week or so before auditions,
The callbacks list, cast list, and weekly rehearsal schedules are posted at www.hoboken.k12.nj.us under the "The Arts" link/Theatre Department/District Musical. If your child is cast in the production, a Google Classroom will be set up for both cast members and parents and that is where all information will be posted moving forward.
Auditions and ALL rehearsals are held at Hoboken High School Auditorium: Please also note that the production team is NOT responsible for getting students back and forth between buildings after school. We are only responsible for your child once they have arrived at Hoboken High School's auditorium.
Reminder, you must pre-register your child before February 11th in order for them to be eligible to audition. ***An audition time slot will be assigned and emailed to you at a later date***
Monday February 28th: Singing auditions
Wednesday March 2nd: Dancing auditions (please dress your child in appropriate clothing for movement)
Thursday March 3rd: Callbacks (your child is only needed if they are asked to come back). The callbacks list will be posted on www.hoboken.k12.nj.us under the "The Arts" link/Theatre Department/District Musical. These callbacks will take place from 3:15-6pm as a group as it's a small number of students who will be called back. If your child is NOT called back, that does NOT mean they are not cast. Please check the finalized cast list that will be posted on March 5th.
Saturday March 5th: Cast list and 1st rehearsal schedule will be posted on www.hoboken.k12.nj.us under the "The Arts" link/Theatre Department/District Musical.
Monday March 7th: 1st rehearsal is 3:15-6pm (check rehearsal schedule to see if you are needed).
Matilda Show Dates (3):
Friday May 20th at 7:00 pm
Saturday May 21st at 2:00 pm
Sunday May 22nd at at 2:00 pm
***Please do not audition if you cannot attend all three performances***
Pack a water bottle and snack for your child for auditions and rehearsals daily. The K-2 grade ensemble will meet Tuesday and Thursday weekly. If your child already has commitments after school these days please do not send them to auditions.
Additionally we will be holding a "Mock Audition Fundraiser" on Saturday February 26th from 9am-12noon. Information will be sent home about this event at a later date. It is meant to help prepare your child for the audition process. Casting will NOT be based on who participates in this fundraiser event. This event coincides with the high school's Makers Day (noon to 3:00 pm) and is sure to be a family fun filled day of activities.
On behalf of the entire production team, we look forward to working with your children in this production.
Danielle Miller Fine and Performing Arts Supervisor (6-12)
danielle.miller@hoboken.k12.ni.us
(201)-356-3702
Jessica Fasolino
Fine and Performing Arts Supervisor (K-5)
(201)-356-3733
Data Privacy Week
In the Hoboken Public School District we take data privacy very seriously. We collect only the data necessary for the job of educating the children of Hoboken and we safeguard that data very carefully. You can read more about our Data Security and Privacy Policy on our website.
Save the Date for our Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events:
- DRA2-Winter Benchmark-December 22nd-Feb 2nd
- Linkit Form B Window-January 24th-February 2nd
- January 17th-21st Grade-level Classroom Spelling Bee (Facilitated by the HR Teacher)
January 24th, 2022 - Online Registration for Passport to Learning opens at 3:00pm and closes 2/4/22 Connors Spring PTL Registration
- Data Privacy Week January 24th-28th
- The Great Kindness Challenge-January 24th-28th
- Kindness Challenge School Spirit Week Flyer-January 24th-28th
- February-Black History Month
- February 3rd, 2022 - School-Wide Bee
- February 8th, 2022-Virtual PTO Meeting, 12:00 pm
- February 9th, 2022-Virtual Coffee and Connect, 12:00 pm
- February 11, 2022 - School Bee Champion Round
- February 11, 2022- Registration for District Musical "Matilda" closes
- February 14th, 2022-Valentine's Day
- February 16th, 2022-Evening Honoring the Amistad Commission at Hoboken High School
- February 19, 2022 - Hudson County Spelling Bee
- February 28, 2022- Singing Auditions for District Musical "Matilda"
- March 2, 2022- Dance Auditions for District Musical 'Matilda"
Valentine's Day Celebrations
Meet our New Clerk, Aishah Tapia
Hi everyone, my name is Aishah Tapia. I am so excited to be here at Connors and to be partnering up with Maritza Ramos as the new clerk. I graduated from Hoboken High School and attended Centenary University! I have been working in the district with the theatre department for the last 5 years and have loved every minute of it! You can reach me at my email aishah.tapia@hoboken.k12.nj.us .
Meet Alison Kershis, LDTC
Hello! My name is Alison Kershis and I’m excited to be rejoining the Connors school child study team as the learning disabilities teacher consultant. I’ve been in the Hoboken school district since 2011. Prior to becoming an LDTC, I served as a special education teacher and response to intervention specialist at Connors school.
I graduated from Georgian Court University where I pursued a double major in English and Elementary Education with an endorsement in special education. I obtained a masters degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University and currently hold certification as a reading specialist and Orton Gillingham instructor. Developing strategies and interventions to support struggling learners is a passion of mine and I look forward developing individual plans designed for academic success and lifelong learning.
If you need to reach me please don’t hesitate to contact me at alison.kershis@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Koalas with Character Awards!
We are so proud of our Connors Koalas who are continually displaying wonderful character "Koalaties". A special congratulations to Ziyah Bates, Oliver Kondili, Clara Renoni, Dylan Morissey, and Lucas Zuckerman! We are so proud of you!
Read All About It
DRA 2 Assessments are happening now through February 2nd. Click on the link below to view more information about the DRA-2 Assessment as well as view our previous Coffee and Connects that focused on reading strategies. https://www.smore.com/9raqz
Ms. Fleischer's Kindergarten Class
Kindergarteners had a blast this week in Miss Fleischer and Mrs. Mussara's class. In Math this week, students were introduced to measuring with non-standard measurement. Rather than using a ruler, students can use cubes, popsicle sticks, or even paperclips to measure objects. One of our math lessons had students measure their shoes and their friend's shoes with cubes. As a class, we recorded the measurement data. Check out some pictures from our fun, hands-on Math lesson.
Ms. Rodriguez's Kindergarten Class
We had an awesome week in Kindergarten! Our focus letter of the week was Hh. We created an anchor chart of words with initial /h/ sounds and used our interactive notebooks to sort words that do and don’t begin with Hh. We also had a great time collecting data and counting in math. Student’s took turns using cubes to measure each other’s shoes and reviewed the key vocabulary words, longer and shorter. After learning about MLK’s famous I Have A Dream Speech, students created their own Dr. King craft and wrote their own dreams inside of a speech bubble. We are excited for all the fun learning activities to come!
Ms. Watson and Ms. Layson's Class
This week in Ms.Watson & Ms.Layson’s class we learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and all of his accomplishments! We read the story “I am Martin Luther King Jr.” by Brad Meltzer. This book not only taught us about King’s accomplishments and struggles, it gave us insight on how unfair America was back in the day. We learned about peaceful protests and how they sparked change in our world! Ms.Watson even read the class part of the speech “I have a dream” and we had a huge class discussion about it. We also read the book “Let Freedom Sing” by Vanessa Newton. We discussed as a class how we can let our light shine. We did a writing assignment about it! We even got to learn the song “This little light of mine”. We made MLK puppets and made sure to sing our new song nice and loud!
Ms. Vayda's 1st Grade Class
Math:
During Math Workshop we had a ton of fun "fishing." Before we began this activity, we had to understand what it means to be a "keeper." We learned when people go fishing, different types of fish need to be a certain length in order for it to be considered a keeper. Students worked with their groups to catch 3 different types of fish. Students used cubes to measure 6 different sizes of each fish. The names of these fish were Perch, Mackerel, and Alewife. Once the fish were all caught, students measured the fish to determine if it was a keeper. Then they had to solve how much longer or shorter each fish was from being considered a keeper. This was a fun way to practice measurement. We then worked on solving fish story problems. We will continue working on measurement and time next week as well.
Social Studies:
In honor of Martin Luther King Day, students had to answer their grade level question, "What is your Dream?" As a class we discussed our dreams for the world, school, and family. After listening to stories and discussing personal dreams, students created their own dream mobile.
ELA:
Readers' Workshop: Our essential question this week was, "How was life different long ago?" Students read non-fiction texts that explained how life was different at homes and schools long ago. Since our comprehension strategy was compare and contrast, we learned how to use a Venn Diagram to organize our information. Before we compared life long ago and today, we used objects in the classroom to compare and contrast. Ms. Vayda used her 2 snacks as one of the examples. We also focused on magic e words with long o and u. In grammar, we learned when to use present tense verbs "is and are" in a sentence.
Writers' Workshop:
This was an exciting week because we presented our first opinion writing pieces. Students wrote at least 3 reasons and examples to support the best part of them. Everyone did such an amazing job on this writing task. They are currently on our bulletin board in the hallway for other staff members and students to enjoy reading. I can't wait for families to treasure these stories once they are sent home.
Article- A-Day:
This week our theme was United States Presidents. Students wrote 1-2 facts about each president that we read about. We learned about Jefferson, Roosevelt, Lincoln, Madison, and Washington. Even though it was a four day week, we still made time for all 5 articles. At the end of the week, we listened to the US Presidents Song. One connection students made was that they recognized some last names because they are streets in Hoboken.
Ms. Schultes' 1st Grade Class
Students have been having so much fun during math centers! Since this unit is focused on measurement, students have been “fishing for keepers”! Students split into groups and had to find fish that were “keepers”. For example, one type of fish may only have been a keeper if it were 8 inches long. If a fish were any shorter or longer than 8 inches, it would not be a keeper. Then, students need to solve how much longer or shorter the fish they “caught” needed to be in order to become a keeper. Students used subtraction to find their answer. I am so proud of their hard work!
Ms. Garcia's 2nd Grade Class
ELA:
This week students reviewed skills such as plot, sequencing, and main idea while DRA’s were in progress. Students also finished up their opinion writing piece about what recreational activity they would like to see in Hoboken.
Math:
This week in math students learned about sticker problems that encourage the strategy of adding two 2-digit numbers by keeping one number whole and adding the other one in parts. They also learned how to play a game called Close to 20. They had a great time playing in pairs!
Social Studies:
Students this week focused on various ideas and interests that connect people.
Ms. Johnson's 2nd Grade Class
ELA:
This week in ELA we had the essential question, "How can people help out their community?". Our comprehension skill was asking questions as you read and author's purpose. The genre we focused on was narrative nonfiction and in phonics we did long "o" sounds. We also did more DRA2 assessments and students are making great progress.
Math:
In math we practiced counting within 100! Students have been using strategies like counting up, place value, subtraction, and the addition standard algorithm. We played a game called Close to 20 where students had to choose 3 number cards out of five that added up to as close to 20 as possible and then find the difference to 20.
Social Studies:
This week we learned about state symbols and how communities can connect based off of common interests. We also held our classroom wide spelling bee. Congratulations to Serena Bufano!
Ms. Rinaldi's 2nd Grade Class
We are so happy to have our entire class back together again this week!
ELA -
This week we have been focusing on our opinion writing and reading skills. We have been completing ELA IXLs, practicing skills in the Wonders Practice Book, and reading one-on-one with the teacher.
Social Studies -
This week we have been learning about the people of our state. We are now able to identify the common interests a state's citizens have. We also discussed and described conflicts and challenges that groups of people have faced. Additionally, we were able to name and research important people and the actions for which they are remembered.
Math -
We took our Unit 3 - Session 1 assessment on using place-value models to represent a 2-digit number as tens and ones, finding different combinations of a 2-digit number by only using tens and ones, and identifying and using coin equivalencies. We also began Session 2 and learned how to play a new math game called "Close to 20". By playing this game, we are able to use known combinations to add two or more numbers as well as find the difference between 20 and a given number.
Ms. Ayers' 2nd Grade Class
ELA
Writers in Ms. Ayers' class took the time this week to celebrate the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The 2nd grade writers learned about Dr. King's life and his importance to our country through various forms of media (books, videos, songs, etc.). From there, students were given the task to compose a friendly letter to Dr. King, sharing why his actions are appreciated and/or how his fight for equality affects their lives today. Throughout the week, the class used the writing process (prewrite, draft, revise, edit and publish) to publish a final copy of their letters to him. Read parts of their messages below:
- I am thankful that you fought for equal rights because I would have never met some of my friends since they are a different race than me. - Max and Sydney
- If you didn't fight for our equal rights, I wouldn't be able to vote in America since I am a girl and I am from Turkey. - Lior
- You fought for our equal rights so that I can have black cousins. - Madelyn
- If you didn't fight for our freedom, I would never have existed because my mom and dad are two different races. - Miles
- I might not have met Ms. Ayers as my teacher because she's black and I'm white. - Matteo
Math
In Math, Ms. Ayers' friends continued using the place-value model to represent 2-digit numbers. This week, they have practiced identifying combinations of a number, representing 2-digit numbers on a 10 X 10 array, creating equations for tens and ones, in addition to finding how many more is needed to get to another number using Math Workshop activities and games. Students loved the new game, Roll-a-Square, in which they rolled dice to accumulate 100 cubes organized in a 10 X 10 array, while also completing the tasks on different squares on the gameboard.
Ms. Hall's 3rd Grade Class
ELA:
This week continued to learn all about one of the fearless leaders of the Civil Rights Movement: Coretta Scott King! We learned about Coretta’s life after meeting her husband, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and their early efforts in the movement. Students summarized what they have read about Coretta’s life so far by writing a paragraph or essay describing three character traits that Coretta exemplifies.
This week we also participated in the first round of the spelling bee! Congratulations Nicholas Pickerel on being crowned the Room 309 Spelling Bee Champion! He will now represent our class in the school-wide spelling bee. I am extremely proud of all the amazing spelling that we saw happening throughout the competition. However, what I am most proud of is how the students encouraged and supported each other. Way to go, Room 309!
Math:
This week students reviewed all of the skills learned in our third unit! Students reviewed ideas about counting and quantity, place value and the structure of the base-10 number system, the meaning of operations with whole numbers, and the development of computational fluency. Students demonstrated mastery of these skills on their Unit 3 assessment!
Social Studies:
This week students learned about the timeline of our state’s history: from the American Indians that settled here first, to the European explorers that traveled here, to the transition of the land from a territory to a state. We learned about how territories become states by creating constitutions and submitting them to congress. We learned about the founders of our state and New Jersey’s earliest entrepreneurs.
Ms. Januse's 3rd Grade Class
Third graders continued reading Who Was Coretta Scott King? in ELA. This week, students learned the importance of annotating text. Students learned to S.N.O.T.S. (Small Notes On The Side) in order to better understand the text. They then used the small notes they took in order to answer comprehension questions.
Mini PGP:
During the second week of our Mini PGP unit, Lego Kits, students collaboratively built a Cargo Station. Each team member was responsible for a different task.
Ms. Gruber's 3rd-4th Grade Class
This week in Ms. Gruber's class we finished our monthly writing task and worked really hard! We reviewed the long o vowel sound, participated in our guided reading groups and the spelling bee! We were very excited about the spelling bee and getting to compete against our friends!
In math, we worked on doing equations with larger numbers, finding the unknown number in an equation, and got to play a lot of games together! One of our favorite games was BINGO through practicing fact families.
During Social Studies we began a performance task which we'll be working on for the next week or so. We started learning about some problems NJ is facing and next week we will begin conducting research on our chromebooks in partners about specific problems we are interested in solving (or coming up with a solution to). We had a great week!
Ms. Sivo's Class
Sivo's Stars
ELA:
We have been working on our letter sounds and recently introduced the letter T. Check out our graffiti wall! We have also been working on Sequencing. We pasted steps on how to make a pizza and will write about each step using our transition word wall!
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Ruby Bridges was a brave, young, African American girl that used her bravery to change the world. We read all about her and completed some reading comprehension questions to better understand what we've learned.
MATH:
We used Boom Cards to practice our double digit, regrouping addition problems. We also reviewed place value.
MINI PGP:
PENGUINS! We love penguins! We learned all about Penguins and even created our own penguins showing off what we've learned!
Ms. Rodriguez's 4th Grade Class
4th Grade Scholars further developed their critical thinking skills when reading a nonfiction text. After reading "The Big Race," a narrative nonfiction passage, students analyzed the text for cause and effect relationships. It is important for students to understand the different structures of nonfiction text, including compare and contrast, sequence of events, and problem/solution. They have explored these different text structures while reading the core novel "Who is Sonia Sotomayor?" as well as supplemental texts.
Ms. Romanowski's 5th Grade Class
Math:
Fifth graders are wrapping up unit 3 in Math Investigations. Students used their skills of turning mixed numbers into improper fractions and finding the least common multiple of two or more numbers in order to add and subtract mixed numbers.
ELA:
Our class has read the first 15 chapters in our novel, Outcasts United. In the chapters we read this week, students learned about the hardships and challenges that refugee families are faced with upon arriving in the United States from their countries of origin. In writer’s workshop, students conferenced with Miss Romanowski to edit and revise their January writing pieces.
Ms. Sogluizzo's Class
Ms. Sogluizzo's third and fourth graders were reviewing addition and subtraction with larger numbers. They completed a "Going Food Shopping" project where they had to search the Shoprite Circular to make their shopping list, stay under their $100.00 budget, and then copy the items and their prices to their Google Slides. Next, the students had to calculate the total cost and determine the amount of change they would receive. The children also played a dice and card game to practice subtraction over zero. Finally, the students were getting ready for Valentine's Day by creating a poster "Mending Their Broken Hearts With Subtraction". Great job!!!
Ms. Cofrancesco, Reading Specialist
This week each RTI session began with the Three Part Drill; which is Orton Gillingham's multi sensory review of learned phonetic concepts. After the Three Part Drill, each group practiced RED words; which are words that are not phonetic along with some high-frequency sight words. Each group practiced different RED words based on their needs. All students practiced the words using the multisensory approach which had students write down their new words with a red crayon multiple times, arm tap each letter, trace the word with their fingers/screens, and write a sentence with each word.
After word work, students in Kindergarten reviewed previously taught letters and sight words by finding the sight words around the room and using letter tiles to make sight words. First and second graders practiced blending by stretching out the sounds of letters to blend cvc words. Furthermore, first and second graders read a new guided reading story and practiced fluency along with retelling. Third graders were very excited to begin their Lego PGP task. Fourth grade students read a new guided reading story and reviewed how to write a summary. Fifth grade students wrapped up their TED Talks for PGP this week by sharing their presentations with the group. Great job this week!
Individualized Learning Pathway - Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth with Ms. Barsukova
On Mondays - Wednesdays during the Individualized Learning Pathway (ILP) period, students who have qualified to participate in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) programming engage in a wide array of math course offerings that address their specific strengths and interests. Johns Hopkins CTY believes in researching and advancing ways to identify and nurture academically talented learners. CTY furthers research, guides educators and families and inspires students from diverse communities and backgrounds to pursue their intellectual passions and create the world of tomorrow. This week, we would like to highlight one of the CTY courses offered to our Hoboken students this winter:
Scratch Programming for Elementary Students
This course will be an introduction to fundamental programming concepts and will most certainly guide our students in building strong logical and creative thinking skills! Scratch is a visual programming language created by the MIT Media Lab. Its drag-and-drop interface with colorful blocks makes it one of the most intuitive programming languages to learn. Our students will create animations, computer games and interactive projects all while learning alongside CTY instructors and students from across the globe.
ILP with Ms. Barsukova
-During MiniPGP/Enrichment, 5th Graders are embarking on a new journey of exploring the Junior UN Model! An exciting and very skill based project that requires 21st century skills! 4th Graders are continuing with putting together the Sample of the Case for the Mock Trial using the Graphic Organizer and Law State Fair resources to drive the organization of the case. 3rd Graders take roles of engineers to work collaboratively on building with LEGOs. 2nd Graders are at their last steps of wrapping up their work on the script for the fable. 1st Graders are celebrating Penguin Awareness Day by completing a Read Aloud and making a Penguin Craft with facts they learned about the flightless bird. Kindergarten continues learning about Martin Luther King Jr. by reading the text, writing 6 facts, picking one fact to expand on, and completing the coloring page to put the project together. Students are doing their absolute best!
-During ILP, students in 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd have been practicing their Math and ELA skills with the text about Benjamin Franklin to celebrate his birthday which, based on the new calendar, happens on January 17th. Not only students learned about his work and that he often appears in our everyday life on the 100 dollar bill but practiced skills such as addition of 4 digit numbers, multiplication, restating of the questions, writing in full sentences, reasoning skills, and applying prior knowledge with the Trivia Questions. In addition, 5th graders were given an extra challenge to use their design skills to create their own Kite templates to summarize two facts they learned about Ben Franklin. Students will continue the unit next week with the Newspaper Article. Great work this week!
-During ILP, students in 1st Grade focused on solving and creating their own two-step word problems based on the examples and using a Graphic Organizer as a guide. They are working very diligently and carefully to present the knowledge of their skills!
-During ILP, students in Kindergarten worked on the concept of Making Inferences. Students had to use their prior knowledge and the clues from the text to make an educated guess about the scenario or figure out the meaning of the unknown word. This skill is important for making predictions in the reading comprehension component. We practiced restating the questions in the given Inference activity and answering given questions in a full complete sentence. Students did an amazing job with writing and inferring what the scenario was about! In addition, we practiced answering questions to the reading comprehension and creating our own questions to the classmates about the text.
Science with Ms. Stinson
In Ms. Stinson’s PLTW 4th grade class we are learning about Input/Output of the human brain. We put our “brains” to work and built a model of the brain out of clay! Students were able to identify all of the different lobes of the brain and were able to explain how our brain controls our body! This activity is preparing us for our culminating PLTW project on identifying and preventing concussions. Stay tuned for more amazing projects about the brain from this fantastic fourth grade!!
This afternoon Ms. Stinson’s 5th grade PLTW classes participated in a virtual lesson with SUEZ water company and learned some interesting facts about where we get the water that we drink right here in Hoboken! The 5th grade loved learning about water and the water cycle and had some awesome questions for our presenter as well!
Science with Miss Pinkas
Our second grade students continued to learn about pollination. They learned the steps of pollination and that it is an ongoing process. Each student was given steps that needed to be put in the correct order. They had to cut and glue them in their science notebooks. They did a great job and had a lot of fun!
Science with Mr. Donovan
Over the course of the last few weeks students have been reading about and describing the parts of the brain and their functions. Students this week used this prior knowledge to built a model of the brain and labeled its parts and functions.
Mr. Azzarto's Music Class
Hello Connors family, the week of January 17th was a week filled with the bass clef, dotted note values, and student empowerment.
In Ms. Johnson’s class, the students began learning about the bass clef. They identified instruments that would use the bass clef and note placement on the bass clef. Learning a new music clef is not an easy task and they are well on their way to becoming fluent in the language of music. Also, we had a moment of student empowerment. We chose a student to lead the class in answering questions about the bass clef. Student led lessons are part of a complete education and so much more. Here is Aya teaching the class all about the bass clef and calling upon her classmates to answer the questions.
In Ms. Rodriguez’s class the students learned about dotted notation. Not all notation is worth 4, 2, or 1 beats. Sometimes musicians need to play 6, 3, and 1 ½ beats. This is complex “music math”. It may not be algebra, but for musicians, it’s fairly difficult to learn. They are doing really well grasping this concept and will move on to more difficult equations. Here is Zendaya demonstrating to the class the correct amount of beats various dotted notes are worth.
Mr. Favino's P.E. Class
This week in PE we continued the volleyball portion of our team sports unit. This week our focus was to get students accustomed to positioning and striking the ball while moving. Students began the week with an introduction to the overhand serve and had the objective of serving accurately 3 times to a partner. We began striking the ball in stride in our Balloon Bump Shuffle Race where students used the bumping and setting skills on the move. In K-2 we finished the week by simulating a volleyball game in groups of 3, where 2 students would play against each other to 3 while their 3rd partner acted as the “net”. In grades 3-5 we finished the week with line volleyball, which further taught students positioning and communication in volleyball. We also got our first experience with real volleyball with a modified volleyball game with no net being used. Next week we plan to bring the net out and get some great games going!
Mandarin with Ms. Jia
This week students continued the topic of Chinese Zodiac animals. They made great effort to enforce their memory of the 12 zodiac animals by doing worksheets in small group settings. With the Chinese New Year coming up in a week or so, students learned that the new year will be represented by the zodiac sign of the tiger. Next week students will learn how to determine their zodiac sign by making a zodiac wheel and other projects.
Hoboken Public School District Calendar
Connors Calendar of Events
Thomas G. Connors Elementary School
Email: juliana.addi@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Website: http://www.hoboken.k12.nj.us
Location: 201 Monroe Street, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Phone: 201-356-3684