Brandt's Weekly Newsletter
1.21.2022
Inside this Edition
- Principal's Message
- eSTEM Challenge Update
- Data Privacy Week
- Basketball Clinic Sign-Up
- Kindness Awards
- Grade Level Updates
- The Counselor's Corner - The Great Kindness Challenge!
- Related Arts and Science Updates
- Nurse's Nook
- The Friday Playlist
Principal's Message
With consideration to the cold weather, please make sure you are staying safe and warm when out and about!
I am thrilled to once again share our weekly newsletter with you, as our students and staff continue to work hard.
In this issue, please be sure read about our students participating in the eSTEM Challenge. Additionally, next week is Data Privacy Week, and we have a link for tips for parents in the featured section below.
Next week we will also participate in The Great Kindness Challenge as well. Be sure to check out Mrs. Hosbach's Counselor's Corner section for more details. In addition to various activities to promote kindness throughout our school we will have Kindness Spirit Week with (optional) themed dress up days. Check out the flyer with the details below!
I am once again including the link to the newsletter entitled: "New Guidance Regarding COVID-19 for K-12 School Settings Beginning 1/11/2022."
Additionally, you can still send us any updated COVID-19 vaccination records for your child. You can email your updated vaccine records to me and Nurse Renee. Our emails are :
For this week's Friday playlist, I went with three songs with the theme of winter. I hope you enjoy them.
Please stay safe out there and have a great weekend!
- Mr. Bartlett
eStem Challenge
We recently launched the NJIT eSTEM Challenge. Coach Quist and Coach Caniglia kicked off the challenge with the students and their NJIT mentors via Google Meet. They revealed the challenge to our eager future engineers who have already started brainstorming ideas. It was amazing to see students who have never met before come together as a team. We really have two great coaches leading our students!
Data Privacy Week
I hope you are as excited as we are about Data Privacy Week January 24th to 28th.
Please click on the link below to see the attached parent tip sheet (Raising Privacy-Savvy Kids).
Basketball Clinic Sign Up
Kindness Awards
Jaiden McCauly is a new student to Brandt School and already practices the Brandt kindness way. He is extremely polite to his peers and is always eager to help. You can always find Jaiden saying please and thank you throughout the day. Jaiden is always inviting others to play, giving compliments, and offering to help someone!
Ella Danko is always kind and helpful to all of her classmates!
Carlos Pineda always has a great attitude, treats his classmates and teachers with respect, and is always there when someone needs a friend. Carlos is a friend that classmates can go to for kindness and support.
Jack Brennan always helps classmates when they need assistance.
Vedika Dua is extremely kind and caring everyday. She is a friend to everyone and a strong leader in our classroom community. This week, Vedika helped out her classmate during centers. She is always positive and has a big smile on her face each day!
Kindergarten
In ELA, we are learning how to say, spell, and write sentences with the sight word "and". We are also practicing the consonant "Nn" and how to use our mouth to say the sound correctly.
In Math, we are continuing to learn about shapes. Students are looking at the differences of shapes with 5 or more sides and corners. We are also reviewing measurement.
In Social Studies, we are learning about equality and why it is important to love our friends.
First Grade
The First Grade is working diligently on writing about Martin Luther King, Jr., along with plural nouns, long a with the silent e, making predictions, and verbs. They are practicing their sight words as well!
In Math, the First Graders are focused identifying, reading, writing, and sequencing numbers to 120 by playing Missing Numbers. As the students finish up Unit 3, they will compare long and short everyday objects around the room and collect the data on a chart after solving true and false math equation statements.
In Social Studies, students responded to the writing prompt: "If you saw someone being treated unfairly what would you do?" by writing four or more sentences after reviewing sentence structure and discussing kindness and equity. They wrote their own dreams for a better world by brainstorming a list of ways they can make a positive impact in our society after reading nonfiction books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and learning how his dream helped change laws in our society.
During ILP, classes continue to apply their technology skills to log into their tablets independently and utilize the IXL and Classworks platform.
Second Grade
In Writer's Workshop students continued with their persuasive writing unit. This week we are focusing on writing for a change. Students brainstormed and discussed changes they would like to see at home, school, or in their town. They engaged in discussions and debates on various changes they would like to see and gave reasons to support their opinions in order to get ready for their writing next week.
In Math, students wrapped up unit two on shapes and fractions. Students discussed what a fraction is and what it means to split items into equal parts. Students looked at various shapes and determined if they were split into halves, thirds or quarters. Students also reviewed 3D shapes and arrays.
In Social Studies, students talked about ways to be a good citizen, and what qualities make a good citizen in our town and our school. Students also discussed ways they can take action to improve a problem and how we can work together to make improvements around our environment.
Third Grade
This week our super stars truly showed off all of their third grade skills! Students have continued to dive into the life of Coretta Scott King through our third novel study of the year, Who Was Coretta Scott King? This week students learned about the impact that Coretta had on the Civil Rights Movement, and about her life growing up in the segregated south. Students were then able to apply what they learned about the Civil RIghts movement to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Throughout the week, students read books, watched videos and listened to songs about MLK and discussed his everlasting impact on society. Students then wrote about their own dreams for the future to help make the world a better place.
In math, students have continued to explore addition and subtraction of 3 and 4-digit numbers. Throughout this unit, we have learned a variety of games and activities to help us practice our skills - some of our favorite games from the unit are Close to 100 and Capture 5. Students have learned a plethora of new ways to solve and model equations, and are on their way to become addition and subtraction masters.
For social studies, students began to study how our state developed, and what makes people live where they do. Fun Fact: Did you know that New Jersey is one of the most densely populated states?
Fourth Grade
Our fourth grade readers have continued reading and learning about Supreme Court justice: Sonia Sotomayor. The novel, Who is Sonia Sotomayor? tells the life of this trailblazing woman! Students have been participating in whole class read alouds. Students have been identifying character traits of Sonia and explaining why that character trait applies to her. In addition, they have been working on answering analytical questions based on their reading and class discussion.
Our fourth grade writers have been busy working on research simulation tasks and answering analytical questions using text evidence. This requires our fourth grade writers to read two informational articles in order to answer a given prompt. For example, students may have to compare and contrast the two articles by generating a well thought out and cohesive essay. Students are fine tuning topic sentences that connect to their prompt and creating a thesis statement to inform the reader what the remaining portion of the essay will be about. Afterwards, students search for specific text evidence to support their ideas as well as analyze this evidence to extend their thinking.
Our fourth grade mathematicians have continued their Geometry unit. Students learned how to identify and measure acute, right, obtuse and straight angles. Students also learned how to use a protractor to measure these angles.Students also identified various polygons based on the number of sides. This geometry unit requires students to know various vocabulary terms and use them when we have class discussions.
Our fourth grade agents of change have been studying the many causes of the American Revolution. Students have been diving into critical historical events, such as the French and Indian War, the Proclamation of 1763, and all the various forms of taxation King George III imposed upon the colonists to pay off his debt. Students also read about the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party and discussed causes and effects of both events. Students learned that when small groups of colonists in the different colonies join together with one common cause in mind–their unity sparked a revolution of change!
Fifth Grade
In Social Studies, fifth graders engaged in various activities to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy. By listening to read alouds, watching videos, and conducting research, students deepened their understanding of Dr. King’s impact on the world. To wrap up their learning this week, fifth graders collaborated on a colorful mosaic of Dr. King to display in the hallway!
In Math, students continued to engage in their fourth unit of the year to further solidify their understanding of strategies for multiplying and dividing large numbers, adding to their math toolbox! This week, students applied their knowledge to solve real-world problems involving ordering supplies for field day and calculating potential costs.
In ELA, fifth grade students enjoyed hearing more about the real life people and events featured in our current nonfiction novel, Outcasts United. This week, students focused their learning on using signal words to identify various nonfiction text structures to aid in their comprehension of the novel. Students also had a wonderful time participating in the Spelling Bee this week, where they were able to put their skills to the test!
The Counselor's Corner
Email: jhosbach@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Individualized Learning Pathway - 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 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
Physical Education
In changing up the stations for the week, students completed a different series of 8 stations ranging from pushups(standard and modified version), speed ladders (lateral movements), more hurdles, elevated balance beams, walking on stilts, crawling, skipping rope, and a mini ball hop obstacle course. A different challenge was introduced to the student week, but with the similar result of feeling proud and excited to enhance their physical fitness.
World Languages
This week, we personalized our connection with the Spanish language through use of "Greetings" vocabulary and introductory phrases. Each class participated in different activities designed to strengthen the presentational and interpersonal modes of communication. Language is acquired by doing. It is imperative that learners obtain frequent opportunities to communicate in the target-language. Students spoke clearly and confidently. Already, the students are expanding their linguistic repertoires!
In Mandarin class, students are learning the Chinese zodiac! The students are very excited to find out what zodiac animals they are and how to say and write them in Mandarin. Fourth graders are working on a project based on the Chinese zodiac.
Art
Music
Science
This week students continued to review the different parts of the plant and what their functions are. They also further explored what a plant needs but as they progress in the unit they can now explain why the plant needs these things in their own words. The students are also beginning to understand how animals help plants grow.
Students in grade 3 began a new unit on the variation of traits. They explored how traits can be inherited, influenced by the environment, or multifactorial. Students identified inherited traits in known animals that helped them survive in the wild. Students were then able to apply what they learned to create a fictional animal that inherited traits that would help it survive in its environment.
Mr. Metcalfe's 4th Grade Neurologists mapped out the lobes of the brain and the central nervous system. They investigated the brain's connection to the five senses and how living things might differ in the way their brain receives and interprets information sent to the brain. His 5th Grade astronomers worked in groups to create a star map to help identify constellations in the night sky. The classes gathered plenty of research to help them determine when and where the constellations will be seen during specific times of the year.
Nurse's Nook
Important COVID-19 Reminders
***If your child gets PCR tested for any reason, do not send them to school until their PCR results come back negative.***
If you wish to submit your child’s COVID-19 vaccination card to me, please email it to rbanks@hoboken.k12.nj.us.
Current COVID-19 Protocol for Positive Individuals
Symptomatic: A symptomatic staff/student must isolate for at least 5 days. The first day of symptoms is considered day zero. The staff/student may return on day 6 as long as they have been fever free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medications) and their symptoms are improving significantly.
Asymptomatic: A student/staff who tests positive for COVID-19 and does not have symptoms must isolate for 5 days, with day zero being the date the positive test was taken. If at any point during the 5 day isolation period the staff/student develops symptoms, their isolation period restarts with day zero being the day symptoms started.
*Please note that if an individual has a positive test result with a rapid test and then takes a PCR test that results negative, they are still considered positive and need to follow the protocol stated above.
Other Important Reminder
Updated physicals and immunization records are past due to me. If you have received a letter or email from me requesting updated records, please send them to me as soon as possible. It is very important that I receive these updated records as they are required for school attendance.
Email: rbanks@hoboken.k12.nj.us
Website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fabout%2Fsteps-whe