Donovan Family Digest
February 21st, 2021
BEGINNING TOMORROW, FEB. 22ND ALL K-5 STUDENTS ARE BACK 5 DAYS A WEEK.
8:25-12:25 + afternoon instruction
Students who have indicated they are remaining virtual will log on as usual.
REPORTING ABSENCES
It is extremely important to report if there is any change in your child's school attendance. While it is important to tell the teacher, we ask to notify the front office as well to avoid multiple phone calls home.
WHEN SHOULD I CALL AND EMAIL THE FRONT OFFICE?
* Your child is supposed to be in school but will now be working virtually from home.
* Your child will not be on Zoom or in person.
Please be sure to leave the reasons for either
EMAIL LBELFIORE@FREEHOLDTWP.K12.NJ.US & DRUSTERHOLZ@FREEHOLDTWP.K12.NJ.US
732-431-3321
Please remember to complete the Covid Screening form each day that your child is scheduled to attend school in person.
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See below for important updates regarding:
- Arrival/Dismissal changes
- Free Breakfast and Lunch for all students
- Pawlie's Student Shout Outs
- Travel Reporting
- Fifth Grade News
- Rescheduled Picture Makeup day is this week.
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Please remember to fill out your child's daily health form. Also if you have been traveling, or plan to travel, please email the nurse at jarmstrong@freeholdtwp.k12.nj.us to make sure you are complying with the 10-day travel advisory quarantine.
IMPORTANT ARRIVAL/DISMISSAL SAFETY INFORMATION
We appreciate your attention to this letter regarding arrival/dismissal at Laura Donovan.
On Monday, February 22nd we will be welcoming back grades 3-5. At that point, all K-5 students will have returned for 5 day a week instruction (8:25-12:25 & afternoon instruction).
For those of you who are veteran LDS families, you know that in a normal year the amount of traffic during arrival and dismissal is quite heavy. LDS has the greatest percentage of families who do not receive busing. Therefore, we have the greatest number of students on foot and car traffic. In addition, this is all happening in our sweet neighborhood set up. In a typical year, this is a challenge but we manage it well with the support of FTPD and family reminders throughout the year. We always appreciate families that take the guidelines seriously so that we maintain safety and efficiency as a priority.
This year, due to Covid concerns, several families who are entitled to busing are opting to drive their students to school. Mr. Dickstein has made it clear that once all students have returned on the 22nd, the buses will do their best to enforce social distancing, but it will certainly be more of a challenge with the increased number of students. This can ultimately result in more close contacts and quarantines should a student test positive for Covid while riding the bus.
Our arrival/dismissal is required to be staggered to best separate students when arriving and dismissing, as well as hand sanitizing each child who enters and exits. Therefore, we ask for your patience over the next few weeks, as arrival/dismissal will be lengthier than typical. We ask you stay in your cars at all times and adhere to the guidelines for walking/drop off. (see below)
Once all students have returned, after the first week of monitoring the arrival/dismissal times, it is possible we will need to make some adjustments and communicate them out to you. We appreciate all of your patience in advance.
If there is any change in your child's arrival/dismissal arrangements, they must be in writing to your child's teacher(s) and the front office.
Thank you for helping to keep our students and staff safe!
Safety at arrival and dismissal has been a concern:
- Please stay in your vehicle at all times. Please practice having your child get in and out of the car on the driver’s side in a quick manner so that this does not hold up the line of cars behind you. Please do not leave your vehicle.
- Please wear a mask while on school property. Staff members are assisting students, so we kindly ask you to wear a mask during arrival/dismissal.
- Please do not pull around cars or form two lanes. We realize your time is valuable but please wait to pull up. Do not create a second lane for drop off.
- Please pull ALL THE WAY UP in the line of cars so that more cars may move ahead. Please do not stop.
- A FAMILY SIGN must be used when picking up your child(ren) in the afternoon. This allows us to call for your child(ren) as soon as you arrive. (If you need a sign for yourself or someone picking up your child, contact Mrs. Belfiore lbelfiore@freeholdtwp.k12.nj.us)
- Please try to refrain from cell phone use while driving on school property. Students are crossing at crosswalks and staff members are on duty. This is a safety issue that we are trying to enforce during arrival and dismissal.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS
REMEMBER THE DATE
Feb 22 - Kindergarten - 5th grade 5 days a week
Feb 22-26 - Penny Wars
Feb 25 - Final Picture Retake day in school
Feb 25 - Early Dismissal - No afternoon classes for students. Staff Professional Day
Feb 25 - Romeo's Chicken and Wings Restaurant Night Fundraiser
TIGER CUB BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS February 21st - 27th
A very Happy Birthday to all of our Tiger Cubs! We hope your special day is as amazing as YOU!
FEB 21
Kyrillos Habib
Abner Meza Castro
Mac Reiser
Feb 22
Audriana Christiansen
Nicholas Christiansen
Feb 23
Graham Matthews
Rayna Reddy
Jayden Reddy
Feb 24
Kayleigh Moore
Feb 25
Annabella Goetke
Feb 26
Ja'syn Clark
Feb 27
Milania Degliuomini
Michael Felker
It's hard to believe that it's time to think about next school year already, but here we are. If you have a child that will be 5 years old before 10/1/2021, it's time to register for kindergarten. Below is the first step to registering your child for kindergarten for the 21-22 school year. Click the link below and begin the process by filling out the form. This will add your name to a list managed by the main office. Once you complete the online portion, more information will be sent via email in regards to the next step of the process. As always if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the main office. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
PAWLIE'S STUDENT SHOUT OUTS
PAWLIE'S STUDENT SHOUT OUTS
Kindergarten - Lucia
Kindergarten - Joseph
Kindergarten - Ethan
First Grade - Sadie
First Grade - Aden
First Grade - Frankie
First Grade - Alyssa
Second Grade - Juan
Second Grade - Owen
Second Grade - Giuliana
Second Grade - Victoria
Third Grade - Brielle
Third Grade - Jason
Third Grade - Sloane
Fourth Grade - Nicholas
Fourth Grade - Chloe
Fourth Grade - Brynn
Fifth Grade - Julian
Fifth Grade - Alexa
Fifth Grade - Chase
Fifth Grade - Lilah
Tweets from our Virtual Week
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FIFTH GRADE NEWS
5th GRADE PARENTS - PLEASE READ
Dear 5th Grade parents,
Normally the 5TH grade class would run Project Eat food drive for Open Door Food Pantry in the Borough. Unfortunately, this year is different and we cannot do this at this time with the pandemic. We thought of another way our 5th graders can help our community by making sandwiches for St. Peter’s Church in Freehold Borough. We are asking if all our 5th graders can make ten or more sandwiches to be donated. We thought it would fun to create a contest for the 5th grade class who makes the most sandwiches will win a prize. We suggest that the kids make the sandwiches wearing plastic gloves and wrap them in foil or sandwich zip loc bags see bottom for suggested sandwiches ideas the church looks for. Please take pictures of your 5th grader making sandwiches so we can include them in the yearbook and video!
Here is the schedule for the sandwich collection:
Ms. Capone’s class drop off is March 3rd from 5-7pm (changed the date w the weather)
Ms. Creech/Ms. D’Angelo’s class drop off is February 10th 5-7 pm
Ms. Deutsch’s class drop off is February 17th from 5-7pm
Ms. Monahan’s class drop off is February 24th 5-7 pm
There will be a plastic bin outside my front door. Only thing I ask if you write the number of sandwiches & the type of sandwiches you made on the outside of the bag. My address is 82 Ascot Dr. if you have any questions please call or text me 347-993-1848 or email babssi1@aol.com.
SANDWICH IDEAS
Deli Meat- with or without cheese, can include condiments, lettuce, tomato
-Turkey
-Ham
-Peanut Butter & Jelly
-Veggie
*Preferred Sandwich Turkey & Cheese and/or Ham & Cheese and/or PB&J
**You can also include with you your sandwich a lunch bag with a mini water and snack if you like but don’t have to. If you choose to do so you can include a picture or inspirational message.
**changes made from the original letter
Sincerely,
Barbara Haberstroh
Penny Wars!
The 5th grade leadership club will be hosting a school-wide PENNY WARS to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund
Penny Jars will be in your grade's hallway starting Monday, February 22nd for students to add their votes (coins). At the end of the week, the winner will be announced over the loudspeaker!
First week question: What should Pawlie dress up as- A PIRATE or A BABY?
Make a 5th Grader Smile
Dear LDS K-4th grade families,
We hope that everyone is doing well and keeping warm! As you may (or may not know), our kids 5th grade year at LDS is typically a very special one filled with events just for their grade. Given the circumstances our current 5th graders have already missed out on so many of those events such as the 5th grade picnic, grade level Halloween and New Year’s Eve parties, Project Eat, Peer Leadership opportunities, Safety Patrol, and so much more. We have come up with an idea that we hope will put a smile on their faces, we are calling it, Project: Make a 5th Grader Smile and hope that you will participate.
Below is a SignUp.com link which has a list of all of the 5th graders participating.
Please click on the name of a student that you would like to "adopt" to see all of their favorite things, a little bit about them, as well as their parents contact info and address. Feel free to text their parents when you drop off a treat (ring and run style) so they know that it's there.
If you see a child with a few sign ups, please choose another child who may not have any yet. Feel free to start bringing treats, notes of encouragement or anything else that you think may put a smile on their faces anytime from now until the end of the school year.
Thank you again for participating. We are LDS Strong!
*This is only for LDS families, please so not share anyone’s personal information with people outside of our school community*
Questions: text Corey Varela (908-812-0245)
https://signup.com/mobileweb/2.0/vspot.html?activitykey=296984170869362069#choose_jobs_page
PTO NEWS
THURSDAY, FEB. 25TH FINAL PICTURE MAKEUP DAY
FREE BREAKFAST & LUNCH FOR ALL STUDENTS
Chromebook assistance
If you are having a Chromebook issue, please contact the front office. A technology ticket will be created and someone will get back to you as soon as they are available to assist. Thank you!