The Monroe Messenger
Parent Newsletter
March 2024
A Message from the Principal
Dear James Monroe Families,
Once upon a time at James Monroe, there was a celebration of readers! Our school-wide theme "Once upon a Time" will include buddy reading, guest readers from the community, assemblies and a magical family reading night. We encourage you to pick up a book and read to your child, no matter their age, and enjoy reading together.
We look forward to seeing you at our Multicultural Night and Parent Teacher Conferences.
Warmly,
Cynthia Tufaro, principal
Maggie Callahan, assistant principa
REMEMBER! MARCH 6TH & 7TH are early dismissal days. 1:30 closing.
Spring Parent Teacher Conferences
There is still time to schedule Parent Teacher Conferences on the following date:
Thursday, March 7th at 5:00 - 6:30pm (in-person)
These are early dismissal days.
Grades K - 5 - 1:30 p.m.
You may schedule a 10-minute conference with your child's teacher using the conference feature on Parent Portal. Conferences are a valuable time to help forge a strong relationship and assist the teacher in getting to know your child better as well as providing you with a progress update. Contact your child’s teacher if you have any problems scheduling an appointment.
Directions for grades K - 5 and SCA:
1. Log into Parent Portal.
2. Go to Student Data and select conferences. A link will appear that says “Schedule conference for Parent Teacher Conferences” for each available day. (See image below)
3. On the next screen, select “Reserve” to choose a day and time for your child's teacher.
4. Select only one conference per teacher. Select a conference appointment that matches your preference. An email notification will be sent to confirm the appointment.
Thank you for your Donations!
"Soup"er Bowl Food Drive!
Our “Soup”er Bowl Food Drive was a huge success! We were able to fill over 13 large containers with food for to Replenish Food Bank for Middlesex County! When we work together as a team to fight hunger, we are all winners! Thank you for all of your generous donations!
5th Graders vs. Teachers Volleyball Game
5th grade homerooms played a competitive round of volleyball to earn a spot to compete against our staff volleyball team. In the end, 5-1 played the teachers in the final match! It was all for a good cause and donations went toward ETEA scholarships, Camp Kiddie Keep Well and Buddy Ball. Congratulations to our teachers who brought home the trophy!
Once Upon a Reading Adventure!
March kicks off with a celebration of reading! Our school comes together for buddy reading across grade levels, Family Reaing Night with a magical storyteller, themed dressed up reading days around fairy tales, assemblies and special guest readers from our community. Thank you to our reading specialist, Mrs. Kelly Pedana, our intervention team Mrs. Westcott and Mrs. Ciccarella and our reading committee for elevating the value of reading in such fun and engaging ways!
Register for Family Reading Night!
Updated School Calendar
Message from Dr. Aldarelli
Dear Edison Township Public School’s Community:
As you are all well aware, the winter of 2023-2024 has been challenging. Due to inclement weather, our district exceeded the emergency days allocated in this year’s calendar. At the Tuesday, February 27, 2024, Board of Education Meeting, the Board of Education approved the following change:
● Tuesday, April 23, 2024, will be an Early Dismissal Day For additional information, please use the links to view the revised calendar and early dismissal schedule on our website.
Thank you for your continued support!
Middle School Electives for 5th Graders Going to 6th Grade
Parent Portal Window Open
Selection of Middle School World Language and Electives on Parent Portal will take place from March 5th at 10 am and close on March 12th at 4pm. Click on the following link for directions of how to schedule in the Parent Portal.
You will be asked to choose one World Language and one Elective. For the electives and World Language, please select your child’s first and second choice.
WORLD LANGUAGES FOR GRADE 6: SPANISH 6 or FRENCH 6
ELECTIVE COURSE OFFERINGS FOR GRADE 6 (You will only have ONE elective):
Select an area in the parent portal, and you will see a list of available electives.
CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION (CTE) SUBJECT AREA
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS SUBJECT AREA
WORLD LANGUAGE SUBJECT AREA
** A Middle School Program of Studies for elective course descriptions will be posted on the middle school website that your child will be attending.
Please review the Elective Information with your child and discuss their interests and abilities regarding these classes. Every effort will be made to accommodate the selections made for your child, but they are not guaranteed. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact your child’s current School Counselor. You must complete your elective selection in the portal before March 12th, but it is not “first come, first served.”
March Reading Challenge
Mrs. Somes inspires readers in the library!
Time for our annual reading contest! This year we will be keeping with our school wide theme "Once Upon a Time". Classes will be sorted into one of four teams during their next library class. The teams are as follows:
Red- Little Red Riding Hood
Yellow- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Blue- Three Little Kittens
Green- Jack and the Beanstalk
The contest will run from 2/26 through 3/15.
Kids Heart Challenge
Our Physical Education classes kicked off the American Heart Association's “Kids Heart Challenge” this month across all of their classes! Together we doubled our fundraising from last year and raised over $7,000.00! Students learned about how to build a healthy lifestyle and engaged in fun cardiovascular activities! Check out the video for some highlights!
28 Families Learned Hands Only CPR
17 Students Completed Finn's Mission
Our Top 5 Fundraisers were:
Maanya
Francesca
Avya
Praneel
Aarohi
James Monroe Elementary School Kids Heart Challenge
A special thank you to Mrs. Reif or Mr. Fernandez for leading this initiative! Our Physical Education classes earned funding to purchase new gym equipment, too!
Multicultural Night - March 26th - Volunteers Needed!
We seeking families to volunteer. Please join us at our upcoming Multicultural Night to be held on March 26th from 6 - 7:30 pm. It is a wonderful celebration of our school community's diversity and gives us an opportunity to learn about each other's cultures, traditions and food. We can't wait to see our featured dancers and musicians perform! If your family is interested in volunteering and helping host a table, please register HERE.
Tricky Tray - April 12th
Whoo's in the News- February Edition
Thank you to our Media Club for creating this month's Whoo's News!
Someone Special Dance
Check out these highlights from our Someone Special Dance. Children and their special guest danced the night away. Thank you to the James Monroe PTO for creating a magical atmosphere and to our staff volunteers for their assistance.
March Calendar
PTO meeting - March
Please join us in the cafeteria or virtually at or next PTO meeting on March 19th at 6:00 pm. A link will be shared to join virtually as well before the meeting.
Science Fair
We are so proud of our future leaders in the STEM field for sharing their knowledge at our recent Science Fair. Thank you to our parent volunteers and to our staff, especially Mrs. Somes, for providing this enriching opportunity for our students.
Kindergarten Registration 23-24 Now Open
Click HERE to register your incoming Kindergarten student.
Dual Language Academy
Visit the Dual Language Academy website for more information.
The Public Schools of Edison Township is proud to offer a Dual Language Academy (DLA) located at Washington Elementary School. In this dual language program, students will be taught literacy and academic content in both English and Spanish. The DLA is a full-time program of instruction running from Grade K through 5th grade that provides structured English language instruction, as well as instruction in Spanish, in all core content areas.All Edison School District students are eligible to apply for the program prior to the start of kindergarten.
Poetry Contest
Calling All Poets!
The Young American Poetry Society is looking for entries to publish in this year’s digest. If interested, please pick up an entry form from the Library, available starting the week of February 12th. You may return your original poems to the Library and they will be mailed in to be reviewed by their committee. They feature Haiku poetry but all forms of poetry are welcome. Poems must be 80 words or less. Poems are due to the Library by March 25th. For more information please visit www.youngpoets.org We are looking forward to seeing our creative Owls at work!
Adult English Classes
Drama Club News
Drama Club News
March Newsletter Drama Club
Just keep swimming…and practicing your lines and dances and songs!
Rehearsals are well under way for this year's musical~ Finding Nemo.
We continue to work after school at rehearsals but our committed cast members work at lunch and at home practicing as well!
Information was sent home this week to invite our Kindergarten, First and Second grade students the opportunity to be a part of the opening number of the musical! It is so exciting to work together to create magic on stage!
The set designers are hard at work bringing Finding Nemo to life! They have been painting, drawing, and sharing great ideas of how to portray our underwater world. We continue to work on our sets and look forward to bringing our prop designers on board to work with us on costumes, and other special projects. Creative juices are flowing and we can’t wait to see what comes next!
A Message from Mrs. Sclafani - School Nurse
This month I am addressing two very important items for students and families of James Monroe, good nutrition and sleep; without which your student will not be at their best health and ability to learn in school. Please note the following resources below:
NATIONAL NUTRITION MONTH
National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The campaign is designed to focus attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. National Nutrition Month also promotes the Academy and its members to the public and the media as the most valuable and credible source of timely, scientifically based food and nutrition information.
https://www.eatright.org/national-nutrition-month/resources
🔸If your child buys food at school, please consider reviewing the menus on Maschio’s website for James Monroe: https://edisontps.nutrislice.com/menu/james-monroe-elementary-school and discuss with him/her what foods would be a good alternative to what is usually eaten. Add a fruit or vegetable, etc. Please send your student/s to school with a water bottle. Encourage them to drink that whole bottle the first half of the school day, REFILL it and drink that 2nd bottle the second half of the school day. Then, have them continue to drink 2 more bottles minimum at home before bed. This is the recommended minimum to drink daily.
🔸Try these computer games available online for children to play that allow them to have fun and learn how to make good food choices at the same time: https://www.healthyeating.org/products-and-activities/games-activities/myplate https://www.myplate.gov/life-stages/kids
🔸Tips to “Eat Right At School” are available here from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/features/eating_healthier.htm
NATIONAL SLEEP AWARENESS
Every year, the National Sleep Foundation takes this time to reemphasize the important connection between your sleep and your health and well-being.
Many students are a little drowsy in the morning but some students are extremely tired with fatigue, glassy eyes, irritability and some are almost unrousable falling asleep on their desks. These students are frequently sent to the nurse’s office to be assessed for illness and may be sent home because they are not able to stay awake to learn.
If your student is having difficulty sleeping on a regular basis, please refer to this list of concerns below and discuss with your pediatrician if your child would benefit from an evaluation by a pediatric sleep neurologist and/or pediatric pulmonologist such as these folks listed below at the nearby JFK Center for Sleep Disorders.
Please call or email me to discuss if you have any questions or concerns.
Thank you,
Mrs. Sclafani
Breakfast and Lunch Information
Snacks!
Children can purchase snacks after they eat lunch on Tuesday and Thursdays!