Lakes Ledger

January 3rd: Return to school

January 10th: Lego Club begins for 1st & 2nd graders (PTA Sponsored - more information below)

January 11th: Lego Club begins for 3rd & 4th graders (PTA Sponsored - more information below)

January 13th: A Night Around the World (PTA Sponsored - more information below)

January 16th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day - School closed

January 18th: Board of Education Meeting

January 26th: End of Marking Period 2

January 27th: Guest Author Reader Melissa Finkelstein (PTA Sponsored - more information below)

Hello Byram Lakes students and families!

2022 was a great year. Our students were able to put virtual learning in the past (for the most part) and get back to the school experience that we know and love. Sure, we had some bumps in the road as we learned how to reconnect (or connect for the first time) with our peers and our teachers. We had a couple of September "snow" days during which the water didn't quite cooperate. But all in all, our staff, families, and students worked collaboratively to find out what our students needed, and work towards addressing those needs.

Now we're getting ready for 2023! This is the perfect opportunity for all of us to take a breath, and take a look at what's ahead for our students. School will continue to push and challenge our students, and that's ok! Teachers will be ready to deliver high quality instruction. Students will be asked to strive for excellence in school, and I am confident that they will rise to meet that challenge.

So what can we do to make 2023 our children's most successful school year yet? This is a great opportunity to read with your child. Research shows that reading to your child daily supports cognitive development, improved language skills and vocabulary, increased concentration, discipline, and creativity, and a lifelong love of learning! Does your child need some extra support in math? Great! Ask his/her teacher about any learning gaps that can be addressed through practice at home. Can it be difficult to work on these things when things get a little crazy at home? Designate a time during the afternoon and a place in a common area to allow your child to do some homework or get a little extra study practice. Does your child need a little help socially or emotionally? Ask me what services can be offered here at school to give them some extra support, or enroll them in a new town sport or activity. See some ideas below.

A new year brings new opportunities. Let's use this fresh start to continue some of the great things from 2022, and work together to promote even more academic success for the children of Byram Lakes!

Pete Morris

Included in this edition of the Lakes Ledger:

A Look Back

- Governor's Educators of the Year

- Teaching & Learning

- BLES School Library Opening

- Kindness Club

- Holiday Concert

- Ornament Sale

- Guest Speaker Lee Rouson

A Look Ahead

- Kindergarten Registration

- Byram Summer Adventure Program

- Teacher Wishlists

- Lego Club

General Info

- Attendance

- Cold Weather

- Pickup Patrol

- SchoolMessenger

- Lunch

- COVID

PTA Corner

- Lego Club

- Upcoming Events - Night Around the World & Guest Author

- General Meeting 1/5/23

Extra! Extra!

- BLES Building Calendar

- Byram Recreation Signup Information

- Classroom newsletters

Every year, Byram Lakes staff and families have the opportunity to nominate teachers and Educational Support Professionals for the Governor's Educator of the Year award. These nominations are analyzed and selected by a committee. The requirements for Governor's Educator of the Year are:

• Be an exceptionally skilled and dedicated licensed classroom teacher (PreK to grade12 in a public or charter school) where teaching is the primary responsibility rather than administrative or supervisory responsibilities or an educational services professional (ESP)
• Be an expert in the field who inspires students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn
• Actively collaborate with colleagues, students, and families to create a strong culture of respect and success
• Demonstrate leadership and innovation in educational activities at the school, district and/or state and national levels that take place both within and outside the school setting
• Have the respect and admiration of students, parents and colleagues

Our two winners this year meet all of these criteria and SO MUCH MORE. They are revered by the staff, and our students are so lucky to be in the hands of these compassionate and dedicated educators.

Congratulations to our Governor's Educator of the Year, PE and health teacher Mike Kulesa!

Congratulations to our Governor's Educational Services Professional of the year, school nurse Barbara Scholl!

Students in Mrs. Koch's and Mrs. Michaud's first grade classes worked in learning centers to practice different skills in the classroom. Students read, built, rhymed, sorted, and created!

The School Library is OPEN! Students are able to go in to the library once per week with their classes to find some new books, or enjoy some old ones. THANK YOU to the parent volunteers who have been able to donate their time and effort to providing this amazing experience for our students.

Students in the 4th grade Kindness Club spent time doing some good for others. Students worked with teachers and parents to create little snowmen that would be donated to local nursing homes. Students filled up socks with rice, decorated them, and got them ready to ship off to bring a little joy to others during this holiday season!

Students in Mrs. Sinnott's and Mrs. Zelizo's classes spent some time practicing their letters and sounds. This fundamental instruction is so important in developing lifelong reading skills! Students were able to practice in a variety of fun and effective ways

Mr. Swagger and Mrs. Scaturo helped get food shoppers in the holiday spirit last week! Our 4th grade choir, along with the middle school choir, was invited to ShopRite to sing. These students put on an amazing performance for all.

Students in Mrs. Friend's and Ms. Friend's classes led the way in the annual Holiday Ornament Sale. Students created ornaments in their classes. During the last week of school, students and teachers sold these ornaments at lunch time. We are so proud to share that the Holiday Ornament Sale raised $841 for families in need!

At the end of November, Lee Rouson came in to talk with our Byram Lakes students. Mr. Rouson is a former NFL player who played for the New York Giants. He spoke to our students about making good choices in life and following each of our own paths. He left students with a challenge to live their lives by asking themselves one very important question: Who are you??

Do you live in Byram and have a child that will be turning five on or before October 1, 2023? Then it is time to register him/her for kindergarten! Do you know someone in town that has their first child turning five on or before this date? Then please share this information with them!

Kindergarten registration will open on January 9, 2023. The Smore link below will provide a step by step walk through of the registration process. There is a short video clip providing instructions for how to use the online portal to register a child. Should you have any questions or need any assistance with the online registration process, please contact the main office at Byram Lakes for help.

Please submit Kindergarten registration paperwork by March 3, 2023

Click Here to Access the Kindergarten Registration Newsletter

Do you have a child turning three prior to August 31, 2023 or turning four prior to October 1, 2023? Then they are eligible to be enrolled in the preschool program at Byram Lakes Elementary School! Click here to access an overview of the program as well as important dates regarding the application process. If you are interested in having your child attend our preschool program, please click here to access the application. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS MARCH 10 2023.

Byram Summer Adventures is a 6 week summer program being proposed to the Byram community. The program would be sponsored by the PTA in cooperation with four certified Byram teachers. The program would be available for children currently enrolled in the Byram school district, Kindergarten (students that have completed kindergarten this year) - fourth grade (rising and current 4th graders). The proposed program would run Monday through Thursday from 9:00am - 1:00pm at the Byram Lakes Elementary School. There would be three stations that each group would rotate through, STEM, physical education games, and art and crafts. Each child will have an opportunity to spend an hour at each station. Students would be required to bring a peanut free lunch from home. The estimated cost for each week is $100 - $125 based on enrollment.

If this sounds like something you may be interested in, please fill in the Form below! This was sent out via an email blast a few weeks ago, so you may have already completed the form.

Byram Summer Adventure Interest Form

Would you be willing to help your child's teacher obtain materials for their classrooms? Several of our teachers have created 'wishlists' on Amazon. Simply open the doc linked here. If you would like to help out any of the teachers who have created wishlists, open their list. Any items purchased will be sent directly to the school. Thank you!

Amazon Teacher Wishlists

Thank you to the PTA for continuing to host Lego Club for our students! Just a couple of reminders for anyone in Lego Club:

- Please adjust Pickup Patrol to let us know your child will be staying for Lego Club.

- Lego Club ends at 4:30.

- Your child must be registered through the PTA to participate in Lego Club.

Please see the PTA Corner below for more information including how to sign up!

Attendance is crucial to our childrens' success in school! Please take a look at our district's Attendance Policy here. In accordance with our district attendance policy, we will be notifying home as students accumulate unexcused absences. Notification processes are as follows:

4 absences/tardies: letter home about the importance of attendance generated (Truancy Officer)

8 absences/tardies:second letter home with importance of attendance, and warning of what will happen if absences/tardies increase (Truancy Officer)

12 unexcused absences/tardies: mandatory meeting to develop an Attendance Improvement Plan (RTI Coordinator)

18 absences/tardies: possible referral to truancy court (Administrator)

In order to avoid an unexcused absence, please send in a doctor's note or other documentation providing an excused reason for the absence. The regulation on absence classification can be found here. If you have doctor's notes or documentation for any school days already missed, please send those in to our main office as soon as possible.

It's cold out there! Please make sure you send your children in with jackets as appropriate. As long as the weather is nice and it is not at a freezing temperature outside, we'll be going out for recess.

The Byram Township School District utilizes Pick Up Patrol to ensure that all students arrive to school and return home safely. This system allows parents to input the mode by which their child(ren) will return home at the end of the school day. Options for dismissal include pick up or school bus. Parents can set a default plan to notify their child's teacher of how they will be going home each day. Should that default need to be changed on a given day, it is the parent's responsibility to log in and update the day with a "Plan Change." This will notify the teacher that the student will not be following the normal dismissal plan and can then inform the student of the plan change for that day. If you need to change your child's plan for the day, you will need to do so no later than 3:05 pm.

Please click here for an informational flyer that will explain more.

SchoolMessenger Communicate is the platform that we use at BTSD to get messages out to our parents through phone and email. With this platform we are required to receive your permission to send you text messages before you can be added to our text alerts list. To do this, you will need to opt-in to use this service. Opting-in is only required to receive text message alerts, your choice to opt-in or not will not affect receiving email and phone alerts.

In order to opt-in:

• If you already have a mobile phone number in our system attached to your contact card and you wish to opt-in, you may send a text message to 67587 with Y or Yes in the text message at any time. Doing so will opt you in to receive text alerts after we complete the migration.

Click here for an informational flier with more information as well as a QR Code that you can scan to assist you with opting in as well.

If you do not opt-in using one of the methods provided above, you will not receive any text alerts from the school after we migrate to the new system. You can also opt-out at any time by sending STOP to 67587, or by replying to a school alert with STOP in the message.

If you opted-in, but are finding that you are not receiving school alerts via text, this likely means we do not have your number in our system, or it is not correctly marked as a mobile number. Please contact the main office of your child’s school to have the contact number corrected, and marked as a mobile number.

Students have been loving our school lunches provided by Maschio's Food Services! Maschio's is committed to serving healthy and delicious food options to our students on a regular basis. Unlike last year, lunch will not be offered at no cost to students. Lunch options include a main course option, a bagel bag, and a muffin bag. All lunches include components of a well-rounded nutritional meal, such as a vegetable, a milk, and a cheese stick or yogurt for the bagged options. A student lunch costs $3.50.

Using their online portal, you can check out the upcoming menus for each month. You can also preload your child's account so that they have the funds to buy lunch. See the below links for more information. If your child buys lunch, it is very helpful if they know their PIN to ensure a quick buying process and more time to eat. Your child's lunch pin is the last four digits of their Student ID number.

Maschio's Welcome Back Letter

Byram Food Services

Maschio's Menus

If your child charges lunch and you have not yet added funds, you will be receiving notices from me to fund your account.

A message from the Board Office:

The school lunches are not free anymore unless you qualify through the free and reduced application process.The income guidelines have changed so if you didn't qualify in the past you may qualify now. Please complete an application and send it in an envelope to the Byram Board of Education office.Those families that qualify for reduced lunch will get it free this year under a state subsidy.The applications can be found on the Byram School website under the students tab and food service tab.

https://www.byramschools.org/cmsAdmin/uploads/freereducedapplication.pdf

If your child tests positive for COVID-19, please inform the school as soon as possible. As per state guidance, your child will need to remain out of school for 5 days. At that point you and your child will have the option of what to do for the next five days: either returning to school in person with a mask OR staying out.

There will be no letters sent home for positive cases this year. If your child isn't feeling well, play it safe and keep them home.

Masks are optional for all staff and students.

A huge THANK YOU to the Byram PTA, as they continue to work so hard to provide some excellent opportunities for our students and families. Remember, if you would like to volunteer in the classroom, please Please check out this section to see what they've got going on. See below for flyers on some exciting upcoming events! Click on the flyer images for a larger version.

Check out the PTA MemberHub here to sign up, and the Facebook page here.

The PTA is always looking for volunteers, please contact them at byrampta@gmail.com

Here’s your 2022-2023 Byram PTA Board Members:

President Marla Rodriguez

Vice President Ana Lavrador

Secretary Oriana Strohmeyer

Treasurer Lindsey McBain

By-Laws Chair Patricia Trentanelli

The PTA would like to wish everyone happy holidays and a happy new year! Thank you for your continued support. Thank you to all the volunteers and special thank you to Jenny our holiday shop chairperson putting it all together. It was a huge success. The kids loved shopping for their family and friends.

We are getting ready for an exciting new year filled with fun events.

We are starting up the Lego club for the 1st and 2nd graders. The program will start Tuesday January 10th. Lego Club for 3rd and 4th graders will begin Wednesday January 11th.

Please fill out the Google Forms linked below to sign up. Pick up will be 4:30pm. Program will run until the end of May.

1st and 2nd Grade Lego Club Signup

3rd and 4th Grade Lego Club Signup

We are so excited for our Night Around The World- International Festival January 13th. It will be a family event where families can represent different countries with posters, costumes, food, crafts and music. You can be as creative as you would like to be. Signups will be going out next week.

On January 27th we will be hosting an event for our younger kids Prek-2 grades. The author of Picky the Panda and Tickly Tail will read her book to the children and have activities for the children and their parents to learn how to embrace other children with sensory differences.

January 5th our board will have our executive board meeting and general board meeting. Please join us. We would love to hear all your ideas.

See what events are happening at BLES on our building calendar.

Please check out the link below to see and register for any local sports leagues, including baseball, softball, lacrosse, and more. See contact information below for Catherine Biancone, the town's Recreation Director.

Byram Township Sports & Recreation Leagues

Catherine Biancone

Recreation Leader

973-347-2500 x160
cbiancone@byramtwp.org

Students in Mrs. Ryan's SEEK class spent time this month putting together a newsletter of their very own. Take a look here!

Check out what's happening in Mrs. Scaturo's music room! Includes information on 4th grade band and choir

We've gone digital with our student/parent handbook! Check it out here.

Is there anything else you'd like to see/see more of in the Smore this year? Let me know!

Email: morris.peter@byramschools.org
Website: byramschools.org
Location: 11 Mansfield Drive, Stanhope, NJ, USA
Phone: (973)347-1047
Twitter: @petemorris202