Connors School Scoop
January 6, 2023
Dear Connors Families,
We had such an exciting week at Connors. Please make sure to review all of our exciting upcoming events in the Connors School Scoop!
Important Upcoming Dates and Events
- January 9th-Interim Report Card-2 Access on OnCourse
- January 10th-Connors "In Person" PTO meeting with Dr. Johnson @ 8:30 am-District Updates By The Superintendent
- January 16th-Martin Luther King Jr Day-School Closed
- January 20th-Grades 2-5 Homeroom Class Spelling Bee Competition
- January 23rd-27th-The Great Kindness Challenge
- January 26th-Laser School Assembly-Bullying Prevention Program
- January 26th-Grades 2-5 School Spelling Bee Competition
- January Coffee and Connect Meeting-Date will be Forthcoming; Topic-Technology in the Classroom Coffee and Connect Educational Technology in the Classroom Parent Questions
- January 27th-Theater Showcase Grades 2 and 3 @ 9:00 am
February-Black History Month
February 1st-Connors Pop Up Libary Grades 3-5
February 2nd-Connors Pop Up Library Grades K-2
February 4th-County Spelling Bee Competition
February 7th-Family Bingo Night and Pizza Party @ 6:00 pm-PTO Fundraiser Please note the change in date
Connors PTO Newsletter
Please click the following link to access our Connors PTO Newsletter.
CTY Johns Hopkins EXPO
We are SO proud of our grades 2-4 CTY Johns Hopkins students as they presented their CTY portfolios and highlighted their best work throughout the CTY course. The presentations gave the students a wonderful opportunity to share their work as well as reflect on their experiences. We are so incredilby proud of our students. There are lots of pictures of the presentations below in the Connors School Scoop.
Spelling Bee
We are very excited about the upcoming Scripps National Spelling Bee! Hard copies of the Scripps 2023 word list has been sent home with each 2nd-5th grader today. Students are invited to prepare as much as they'd like, but no one is required to study for the spelling bee. The Classroom spelling bees will be held on Friday, January 20th. The winners from each homeroom will then compete the following week to be the Connors School Spelling Bee Champion on Thursday, January 26th! The Connors School champion will be invited to the Hudson County Spelling Bee to compete on Saturday, February 4th. Please reach out to your child's homeroom teachers or Mr. Hamlin if you have any questions about the spelling bee. Links to the Spelling Bee lists are below.
2nd Grade Spelling Bee Word List
3rd Grade Spelling Bee Word List
4th Grade Spelling Bee Word List
5th Grade Spelling Bee Word List
Spelling Bee Word List with Pronunciations
Scripps offers an interactive app available on Google Play and the App Store. This year, the Bee's premier study tool is completely free for your students. Parents can download the app and allow students to learn their study words through spelling games and quizzes. Click HERE to learn more.
STEAM Tank Regionals...Here We Come!!
Congratulations to the following students who are going to the STEAM Tank Regional Competition!
- Siya Patel, Maya Nizgoda, Jayla Ruggiero - Basket Driver
- Emily Jala-DiCesare, Sydney Mckeown, Khloe Bautista - New Presentation
- Madelyn Kreuser, Sydnee Margolis, Kayla Havens - Presentation
- Ethan Torres, Alonzo Jeffries, Leonardo Garcia, Jayceon Huggins - Mr. Clean
- Badr Toujami, Miles Dell'Armi, Finn Melia - Seed Blaster
- Felicity Wright, Krystah Flores, Alaina Flores, Journey Goodwin - Ocean Net Cleaner
- Ava Goloborodko, Zaara Lalani, Janyvah Hernandez- Vacuum Backpack
- Audrey Bishop, Mina Kin-Tomcek, Mia Lopez, Adelina Gonzalez- Smell Good Compost
- Anika Konde, Ava Labombarda, Sophia Zhong, Stone Duskin - Glow Seatbelt
- Nick Atanasoff, Aaron Falcao-Petruskevich, Benjamin Kunz - EFS Bags
Pop-Up Library at Connors Elementary School
The Librarians from the Hoboken Publich Library are so excited to bring the Pop-Up Library to Connors. The goal of the visit it to give access to books and how students everything they can do with their own library card. If you already have a library card, please bring it to the pop-up library. If you need a library card, please fill out this google form. Connors Pop Up Library w/ the Hoboken Public Library Google Form. Please email questions about the pop up libary to valerie.coughlin@hoboken.bccls.org
LUNCH
Please ensure that you check with your child regarding what they would like to eat when you place your child's lunch order on the lunch order form. Oftentimes, children may want to choose different items than what their parents order for them which causes many students to feel upset. Here is the 1/9-1/13 Lunch Order Form. Here is the detailed lunch and breakfast menu from Chartwells, which has all of the nutritional information. https://hoboken.nutrislice.com/menus-eula.
Attendance
If your child will be absent from school, please email connorsattendance@hoboken.k12.nj.us along w/ your child’s homeroom teacher with the following information:
Child’s Name
Reason for absence
Date of expected return
Any documentation for your child’s absence (i.e. doctor’s note, court note, etc.)
School begins at 8:15 am. Please ensure that your child arrives on time to school and enters the building with their homeroom class.
Early Pick-Up
If you are picking up your child early from school, please Email connorsattendance@hoboken.k12.nj.us along w/ your child’s homeroom teacher with the following information by 10:00 am.
Time that you will be picking up your child
Who will be picking up your child. Make sure that whoever is picking up your child is listed on your child’s approved pick-up list. Connors Parent/Student Information Form 2022-2023
Parents will not be able to sign children out between 2:30 and 3:00 PM. After 2:30 PM, you must wait until regular dismissal time.
Additional helpful sites/links
Hoboken Public School District Calendar 2022-2023
Connors Calendar of Events 2022-2023
T.G Connors School Directory 2022-2023
Who should I contact for assistance?
Connors Family Manual, FAQ's Connors Elementary School 2022-2023.
2022-2023 District Assessment Calendar and Information to Parents
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
All the best,
Juliana Addi, Connors School Principal
Spelling Bee
Family Bingo Night-Connors PTO Fundraiser
The Pop-Up Library is Coming to Connors Elementary School!
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
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 verbal 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.
Happy New Year! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a relaxing, well-deserved break! Students got right back into the swing of things, as they returned to school to put the finishing touches on their CTY portfolio presentations. Students presented their portfolios this Thursday, January 5th, 2023 to celebrate and highlight a collection of their terrific work that they have done throughout the Fall CTY courses!
The CTY Math courses begin Monday, January 9th. We have few students joining CTY for the first time, so welcome aboard! Next week, we will transition our weekly newsletters to overviews of the CTY Math courses. We are looking forward to a great semester of math enrichment!
STEAM Tank Regional Competition
- Siya Patel, Maya Nizgoda, Jayla Ruggiero - Basket Driver
- Emily Jala-DiCesare, Sydney Mckeown, Khloe Bautista - New Presentation
- Madelyn Kreuser, Sydnee Margolis, Kayla Havens - Presentation
- Ethan Torres, Alonzo Jeffries, Leonardo Garcia, Jayceon Huggins - Mr. Clean
- Badr Toujami, Miles Dell'Armi, Finn Melia - Seed Blaster
- Felicity Wright, Krystah Flores, Alaina Flores, Journey Goodwin - Ocean Net Cleaner
- Ava Goloborodko, Zaara Lalani, Janyvah Hernandez- Vacuum Backpack
- Audrey Bishop, Mina Kin-Tomcek, Mia Lopez, Adelina Gonzalez- Smell Good Compost
- Anika Konde, Ava Labombarda, Sophia Zhong, Stone Duskin - Glow Seatbelt
- Nick Atanasoff, Aaron Falcao-Petruskevich, Benjamin Kunz - EFS Bags
Connors Class Learning Activities
Kindergarten
Ms. Fleischer, Ms. Watson, Mrs. Schain, Ms. Bartolotti, Mrs. White, Ms. Romanowski and Ms. DePascale
Math: This week in math kindergartners focused on counting and quantity. Utilizing these skills will prepare students for addition and subtraction. During Math Workshop, students learned new games such as Collect 15 Together, Build It, Grab and Count (1 and 2 handfuls) and much more! Students worked hard on IXL to improve their math fluency.
Readers Workshop: Kindergarten friends came back from Winter Break ready to work! This week in Reader's Workshop, Kindergarteners read the story Whose Shoes? Students were able to identify that different jobs require different shoes. Students also read two other stories: Little Juan and the Cooking Pot and Tom On Top! The letter of the week was the letter Oo and students mastered identifying the short /o/ sound. This week's sight word was the word you. Students came up with great sentences using the word you. Students did an amazing job completing their learning centers. We can't wait for another fun week of learning next week!
Science: In science, kindergarten classes are learning all about the sun. Classes also learned about famous scientist Galileo and how he studied the sun, the stars, and other objects in the sky. Next week, kindergarten classes will continue their study of the sun as we learn various ways people can protect themselves from it. Students will also work in small groups to design and build a shelter that will provide shade for an object.
1st Grade
Ms. Sheridan, Ms. Klag, Ms. Vayda, Ms. White and Ms. Stinson
Math: This week in math, students have learned how to use a hundreds chart to help them add, subtract, skip count and compare numbers. Students had fun using our Interactive 100s Chart to play Guess my number and filling in missing numbers on the chart. We will complete our unit 3 math investigations test next week.
ELA: This week our essential question was, "How do we get around?" We learned a lot more about maps during guided reading. Our comprehension skill focused on key details and the main idea when reading non-fiction texts. Our phonics focus was on digraphs ch, -tch, wh, and ph. Students had a lot of practice reading and spelling words with digraphs during centers. One center included using our decodable texts to search for digraphs and then record them. Another was using Reading Wonders online games to sort digraphs in the correct column. Our new high frequency words were: around, many, place, walk, and by. In grammar, we focused on irregular plural nouns. We learned some plural nouns do not follow the rule of -e or -es. In Writers' Workshop, we began writing our fantasy stories. We focused on writing a strong introduction. Students made sure their introduction had their characters and setting introduced. To expand even more, we worked on adding sound or dialogue to our writing to make it even stronger. Next week our focus will be writing about the problem and solution in the story. Students were reminded to use a lot of adjectives and detail to make their stories more exciting. We can't wait to share our finished work with you!
Social Studies: In Social Studies this week we discussed what a consumer and a seller is. We also learned what a producer does. The children then completed a Young Citizens workbook page. They had to write what the producer was producing and selling. We also went over different types of jobs and the reasons people work. We related this back to our discussion about goods and services. The children talked about different ways to make money. We reviewed ways to save and spend money. First grade students shared some great ideas on how to save money. In their notebook the children wrote about a time they had to make a difficult choice with deciding if something was worth spending money for or saving for something else. We can’t wait to learn more next week!
2nd Grade
Ms. Garcia, Ms. Rinaldi, Ms. Pokorny, Ms. Criqui and Ms. Romanowski
ELA: This week our second graders learned about finding the author’s purpose while reading narrative nonfiction stories. They were able to identify the text features such as captions and illustrations while reading the narrative nonfiction stories, “Biblioburro” and “Lighting Lives”. Students were able to identify and understand the author’s purpose by using the essential question for this text set, “How can people help out their community?” The phonics focus this week was long a. In writing, students started to brainstorm ideas for their personal narratives.
Math: Second graders started unit 3 of Math Investigations this week! We are shifting our focus from Geometry back to Numbers and Operations. This week we reviewed place value, and found all of the ways to represent 2-digit numbers with 10s and 1s. We will be using “strips” to represent 10s and “singles” to represent 1s at the make-believe store “Sticker Stations”. Students learned to represent strips and stickers in Sticker Notation to quickly draw the representation of a 2-digit number. Next week we will begin doing addition and subtraction with these numbers using our base-ten foundations to help us with regrouping. We can’t wait!
Social Studies: We are wrapping up Chapter 2 with Lesson 3 - Contributing to the School. We started off the week learning about how to be a good school citizen by identifying characteristics of a good citizen and pointing out specific ways that someone can be a good school citizen. We continued the week by learning that social action can improve problems in our school. We were able to identify school problems and ways to improve the situation. At the end of the week, we took one of the school problems we brainstormed and wrote an opinion piece supported by logical reasoning. We are so excited to see what comes next week and how we can use social action to make a change at our school!
Science: This week in science, second grade classes began a new unit, focusing on our changing Earth. Students learned about the various types of maps and their features. Some of these features include symbols, a compass rose, and a map key. Next week we will focus on using a map scale to calculate distances on a map. Students will also work with a partner to create a map of their own.
3rd Grade
Ms. Januse, Ms. Hall, Ms. Schmidt, Ms.Criqui, Ms. Layson, Ms. Goodwin, Ms. White
and Ms. Stinson
Math: This week in Math, students worked on two different strategies to solve subtraction story problems. Students were asked to use C.U.B.E.S. in order to identify which operation was needed in order to solve the problem. Then, they chose to either subtract back or add on to solve their story problems. Next week, we are wrapping up our unit and we will take our Unit 3 Assessment!
ELA: The students were very excited to begin our new core novel, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, this week. During the first three three chapters, students analyzed the characters in order to identify character traits, feelings, and changes. They also focused on completing their research-based writing task about how people help animals. Students focused specifically on creating their introductions and conclusions in order to finish their four-paragraph essays.
Social Studies: This week students started our new unit: a case study of the Lenni Lenape! In this unit, students will explore the history and connection of New Jersey and indigenous people, specifically the Lenni Lenape. This week students learned about the original settlers of our area, the resources they used, and the origin of immigration.
Third Grade Thrill: Third graders returned to school in 2023 ready for a new year of learning and growth! Students made resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. Students learned how to make goals that are S.M.A.R.T (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely). We have so many driven and inspiring third graders here at Connors!
4th Grade
Ms. Rodriguez, Ms. Schulz, Ms. Goodwin, Ms. Layson and Ms. DePascale
ELA: In English Language Arts, phenomenal 4th graders began Reading Wonders Unit 3 That's the Spirit with the first selection "Remembering Hurricane Katrina," a realistic fiction text focusing on the literary element of flashbacks. They also began the next core text, "What Would She Do?" which is a collection of passages about trailblazing women from the past and present. Students wrapped up the monthly Writer's Workshop focus on Research Simulation essays by completing the district's post-assessment writing task focused on the benefits of small houses.
Math: In Math, students worked on addition and subtraction word problems. They deepened their understanding of the operation of subtraction by analyzing different strategies and learned how to identify types of subtraction word problems such as put together, take apart, compare, and remove problems.
Social Studies: In Social Studies, students continued their exploration of maps and globes. Students explored maps and globes while they learned map reading skills. Students were working towards district requirements as they took notes on explorers and mapped the routes on desk maps and globes while also utilizing the online component Young Citizens.
Phenomenal 4th Graders welcomed the New Year by discussing resolutions and how they will make small changes to help improve themselves and achieve their goals.
Science: In Fourth Grade we began a new Unit on Energy Conversion. This week we started off by learning about potential and kinetic energy and discussing possible examples of both. We also talked about how we use food to provide our bodies with energy, along with growth and repair. We began to use our Vex kits to construct a bicycle which will help us demonstrate energy conversion.
5th Grade
Ms. Ortiz, Ms. Schultes, Ms. Pokorny, Ms. Layson and Ms. Hirniak
ELA: This week fifth graders started Unit 3 in ELA. We began reading and discussing our new core novel, Esperanza Rising. We focused on the comprehension skills and strategies of characterization, theme, and summarizing. Students were able to give character traits to characters in Esperanza Rising using indirect and direct characterization, and began to learn about the themes throughout the first two chapters.
Math: This week in Math, we began our 4th unit. This unit covers multiplication strategies. The strategies we have covered this week are breaking numbers apart by place, changing one factor and adjusting, or creating an equivalent problem. Students have also been working on using estimation strategies when multiplying. In addition to all the multiplication, students are continuing to work on using benchmarks to add and subtract mixed numbers and fractions.
Social Studies: In social studies we are continuing to learn about the industrial revolution. The topics for this week were child labor and the impacts of the industrial revolution. Students learned about why children were required to work and the dangerous working conditions that were endured. Students also learned about the various jobs that children were required to do. We also learned about the positives and negatives of the Industrial Revolution coming to the United States.
Science: This week in 5th grade science students finished up working on their ecosystem diagrams. Students worked together in groups to create accurate ecosystems that included the habitats found there as well as the various biotic and abiotic features. Students eagerly presented their diagrams to their fellow classmates, and were able to teach others about the ecosystem they researched.
ARCIERO AND SIVO'S ALL STARS
We adjusted well after coming back from our Holiday Break. We've accomplished so much! In ELA, we learned how to use Google Voice to digitally write! We learned how to share it with the teacher, add images and printed them out. We also learned about the digraph QU and how they are married and will always be together. We read the next chapter in The Littles and are almost done with our second novel! Ms. A's class began our next novel What Would She Do? and started to learn about influential women in history. We learned about long a vowel teams, and continued to work on our research writing task! In Math, we learned about ways to measure. We've used a ruler, unit blocks and paper clips so far! In Ms. A's class we continued to work through multiplication and division and what the two can visually look like using arrays, groups, and number lines.
Gym with Mr. Favino
This week in PE was a busy one! Students participated in their second PACER test of the year and we some some amazing improvements! In the second lesson of the week our K-2 students worked on soccer dribbling and learned the skill cues of a soccer shot and participated in a team shootout. Students in grades 3-5 practiced the same skills and finished with a game of crab soccer to learn the strategy of a basic game of soccer. Awesome week in PE!
Music with Mr. Azzarto
Hi Connors families,
Happy New Year!! With a new year comes a new beginning and our students are starting to learn some new music and how to play some new songs on a new instrument.
In Ms. Pinkas’s class the kindergarten students began mastering what notes look like on lines and spaces. This is the beginning of a life long journey on how to read music using the musical alphabet. They learned about the history of the music staff and when notes are placed on the bottom of the staff, the pitch of the note is low and when the notes are placed on the top of the staff, the pitch of the notes sounds high. Next week it will be time to learn the music alphabet! Here are Nora and Madeline showing off their line and space notes!
In the third grade the students started learning all about the recorder. They learned that the recorder is made up of three pieces, how to take apart and put back together the instrument, and the three positions that they have to master before they make their first sound. They were amazing. So amazing that we were having so much fun learning that I forgot to take a picture! I guarantee you will see many pictures of the third graders and them playing their recorders as we move forward. You rock third grade!
Theatre with Ms. Rotondi
This week in theatre students were able to rehearse their scene and dance in the gym. We incorporated new aspects of theatre including new blocking style, bows and sound effects. Great work from 2nd and 3rd grade!
Mandarin with Ms. Jia
This week in Mandarin is the first lesson in the new year! The kindergarten students started a new unit of Chinese zodiac animals. We watched the story of how the 12 zodiac animals were selected and got familiar with their names. Grade 1 and 2 reviewed the 12 months and the 12 zodiac animals as well. Grade 3-5 students are almost finished with the sports unit. Some classes did the verbal presentation of their google slides about the favorite sports of their family members and friends. They did a fantastic job and I am very proud of them! Pictured are some students with their presentation from Ms. Schultz’s class.
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