Principal Garcia's Newsletter
Friday, December 16, 2022
Torey J. Sabatini School
Important Dates
- December 21 - Grade K-2 Sing-along 9:15-9:45 AM
- December 21 - Grade 3-5 Sing-along 10:00-10:30 AM
- December 23 - Single Session Early Dismissal Day
- December 26 - 30 - Schools Closed for Winter Recess
- January 2 - School is Back in Session
- January 5 - First Grade Breakfast with the Principal!
- January 6 - TJS Spirit Wear Day
- January 11 - General PTO Meeting at 7:30 PM, TJS Art Room
- January 13 - Second Grade Awesome Art
Sing-Alongs...You are Invited!
*NEW* Weekly Reading Tips from Mrs. LoBrace
How to Support your Child’s Practice with Decoding Words at Home!
*Be Positive and Focus on Building their Confidence - Learning to read can be a slow and disjointed journey, and a challenging experience for both child and parent alike. Keeping them confident is key! The most important part is to celebrate the enjoyment of reading and the stories they read. Be positive and celebrate their strides! They will be more apt to want to continue trying if they have a positive association with their practice. Keep it light and fun!
*Incorporate Wait Time - Resist the urge to help your child immediately with a word when they are stuck - give them the opportunity to apply reading strategies from their toolbox to decode the word themselves. Encourage them to first try to apply any related strategies below and then it’s okay to give it to them if needed or if it’s a word you know they don’t have the tools for yet!
*Strategies we encourage students to use when decoding in context include:
- Pointing to the words to keep them focused on tracking what they are reading
- Looking at the pictures
- Looking at the first sound
- Stretching the sounds in the word and blending it together
- Identifying if the word is a trick word (one they are not able to sound phonetically and can only be memorized)
- Trying out a different vowel sound - short vs. long, vowel teams
- Breaking up the word into parts - your child may break the word into syllables, identify patterns they know, or look for smaller words they know inside the word.
- Reading the words around the word (the context of the sentence) to decode the unknown word.
- Using the meaning (what they know and understand about the story) to help decode.
- Reread and ask yourself: Does it Look Right? Does it sound right? Does it Make sense?
Click on the link below for a bookmark that reminds students of some of the phonics patterns they can look for to decode!
Kindergarten - Q and U Celebration!
Staff Spotlight
Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Suzanne Pelkey
Hi TJS Families! My name is Suzanne Pelkey and this is my 11th year teaching at TJS! I worked at JP Morgan for 13 years before I decided to go back to school and get my teaching certification. My husband, Kevin, and I have three children. Eve is 19 and a sophomore in college, and our twins, Max and Nate, are 17 yr old seniors in High School.
I became inspired to go back to school and get my teaching certification when my children were little and had their own educational struggles. I felt like I won the jackpot when I was offered the job to teach the Kindergarten Wrap Around Program at TJS. I taught that program for two years and then switched to 2nd grade for another 5 years before returning to Kindergarten when the district began its full day program. I work with an amazing team of teachers and feel incredibly blessed and lucky to be among them.
In my free time, I love to read, do puzzles, take art classes, and go on walks and bike rides with my family.
Occupational Therapist, Mrs. Theresa Feron
Hi! My name is Theresa Feron and I am the Occupational Therapist at TJS. I have been working as an occupational therapist for over 25 years. I have been in the Madison Public Schools since 2010. Prior to working in the Madison Schools, I worked in another district in NJ, the NYC Department of Education, Blythedale Children’s Hospital in NY, Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation in NJ, and Helen Hayes Hospital in NY.
I am married to Peter, and have two children Maura and Ryan, along with two dogs, Mojo and Delaney. Maura is a Freshman at Michigan State University and Ryan is a Junior at Chatham High School. In my spare time, I enjoy watching swim meets, yoga, walking, gardening, cooking and spending time at the beach with family and a good book.
News from the PTO
We are getting excited! Jaime Seeley and Alyson O’Connell are starting to plan our spring social! We’ll need LOTS of volunteers to make this event happen. If you’d like to join the planning crew, please reach out to us at presidents.tjspto@gmail.com.
Save the Date! Please join us in the New Year on Wednesday, January 11th at 7:30pm in the TJS Art Room for our next General PTO meeting.
Check out our new and improved TJS PTO website! It is full of information on all things TJS PTO! www.tjspto.org
Shopping on Amazon for the holidays?? Support TJS PTO with Amazon Smile, and a portion of all of your purchases will come back to the school. Click Here for How-To Instructions
News from the MEF
The MEF is busy finalizing our fall grant cycle, and we are so excited to share with you the amazing things in store for our schools. This giving season, we hope you will consider giving local and make a donation to the Madison Education Foundation (MEF). Your generous contributions allow us to fund great ideas that inspire educators and energize the academic and creative lives and social-emotional health of students in Madison Public Schools.
Learn more about how your donations make a positive impact in our public schools HERE, and make a tax-deductible donation to MEF to support our grant-making program HERE.
We are grateful for your support all year round and especially during this season of giving.