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Elysian Charter School
Weekly Newsletter
A Positively Different Public School
September 16, 2015 Vol. 11 Issue 1
Please note that the school newsletter is sent out on Mondays. When there is a holiday, the newsletter is sent the following day. Please send news to lynne.shapiro@ecsnj.org by 1:00 PM on Mondays.
The weekly newsletter is archived on Elysian's website, www.ecsnj.org, so that you can always access both the most recent newsletter as well as all previous ones.
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| Harry's Corner Here is the speech I gave at the Ribbon Cutting ceremony on September 9th, 2015.
Wow, look at this! This is absolutely amazing. I am so excited that Elysian has come to this point! It is truly a dream come true.
Most of the thank yous, to all of the wonderful people who have contributed so much money and support, will come from others. I just want to mention a few people who helped develop the vision that allowed us come to this point. - Larry Bijou and his team, including Dave Gaber and Matt Testa. It was Larry’s vision in 2007, Dave’s ability to develop and translate that vision into a viable project for us to join and Matt’s ability to get this project done, and done well, in time for us to move in.
- I would also like to thank Greybar Management and Oscar Morales and Tim Raywood who have made our move into this building so much easier and who have demonstrated their support of us already.
- Also our team that oversaw the construction—Diane Macon, Aaron Lewit and Jen Marsh.
- A big thank you also goes to The Friends of Elysian, Grace Leong, Kim Demopolis, and Eileen O’Brien and the consortium of fund raisers, The Campaign for Elysian, who have done an amazing job in helping to make this possible.
- To all the board members and board presidents over the years who have envisioned this and taken the steps to make this a do-able project.
- To the previous directors, Lydia Becker and Carol Stock who planted the seeds that led to the creation of our beautiful new space.
- My team that has worked tirelessly to make this move happen and set up the space—led by Diane Macon—once again. Also Deb Rosner, Susan Gilbertson and two of our newest staff, Pam Gorode-Laden and Bob Maltese.
- I would also like to acknowledge some of the other educators present—Dr. Christine Johnson, Hoboken’s new Superintendent of Schools and Ruth Tyroler, President of the Hoboken Board of Education. Also Dr. Farvadin from Stevens Institute of Technology and Sergio Alati from that other Stevens, Stevens Coop. Also my colleagues from Hoboken Charter, Deidre Grode and Jen Sargent at HoLa and Nicole Cole, Director of the NJ Charter School Association.
- And finally, I would like to thank our amazing staff and teachers—some of whom have been here since the inception of the school in 1997. They are the ones who really make Elysian special.
But what makes Elysian is more than a building… It is a series of beliefs and a vision of how children learn.
We believe strongly that children learn by doing. For example - When our students are learning about simple machines there is an invention fair where the children work together to create inventions that utilize the six simple machines (can you remember what they are?).
- When they study ratios, the teacher brings her bicycle in, turns it upside down and the students see the effect that having larger or smaller gears have.
- When children learn to write, they make books and have author presentations to which the parents come so that they have a real audience for their work.
- Every one of our students, every year, goes to a Broadway show.
- Much of our work is presented to the children as problems to solve. They work together at tables of 3 or 4 students, rather than individual desks, not only learning the particular material they are studying, they learn to problem solve with peers and how to use workplace language to approach a problem, much the way so many businesses are organized into teams.
This beautiful new building won’t change what we believe, but it will provide an environment that will help us to come together as a community into one building, it will help our staff to work together on our vertical development of curriculum, it will provide more opportunities to meet and plan together. It will help us provide the nurturing and supportive environment that fosters children’s learning!
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Safe Bicycling Workshop, Thursday, September 24, 3:00 - 3:45 PM For those families interested in potentially riding bikes to school we are hosting a Safe Bicycling Workshop on Thursday September 24 from 3:00 - 3:45 PM for students in grades 4-8. This educational workshop is led by the Hudson County Transportation Management Agency, and is designed to help young people learn how to cycle safely in an urban environment, including understanding safe routes and crossings to school. This inaugural workshop will actually not include bike riding, but is meant as more of an introductory session using educational videos. It will be held in a classroom. Based on the interest from this initial workshop, the TMA has offered to come back with a whole range of similar programs they can offer including Safe Walking to School, Learning to Ride, a Bicycle Loaner program, and others. All these programs are free.
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| Elysian Collects Box Tops and LABELS for Education: Look for the red container near Deb's desk in the Rue Building. And there's a box in Demarest, too! We are waiting for a check for around $500. Please don't forget to clip your box tops. Thank you!
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| As per state law, we no longer publish the exact location of trips for security reasons.
Please read the calendar weekly, as changes are updated regularly.September Calendar
Wednesday, September 23- Elysian Closed for Yom Kippur.
Thursday, September 24- Bicycle Safety Workshop at Elysian, 3:00 PM - 3:45 PM for students grades 4 - 8. See above to RSVP.
Monday, September 28 - Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:00 PM
Wednesday, September 30
- PTSO Meeting, 6:30 PM. Pizza and childcare available.
Upcoming October Events - Mark Your Calendar:- Tuesday, October 6-Friday, October 9 - Book Fair, 3rd floor lobby
- Wednesday, October 7 - 6:00 PM, Back to School Night
- Wednesday, October 7, 4th Grade Trip
- Monday, October 12 - Elysian Closed for Columbus Day
- Thursday, October 15 - 2nd grade trip
- Friday, October 16 - Photo Day
- Wednesday, October 21 - 12:30 dismissal for Staff Development, After School Program available
- Wednesday, October 21 - PTSO Meeting, 6:30 PM, Pizza and childcare available
- Wednesday, October 21-Friday, October 29 - 7th and 8th grade trip
- Thursday, October 22 - 2nd grade trip
- Monday, October 26 - High School Night 5:30 p.m.
- Monday, October 26 - Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:00 PM
- Thursday, October 29 - 8th grade trip
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301 Garden Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030
Harry Laub, Ph.D.,
Director | harry.laub@ecsnj.org | Phone:201.876.0102 | Fax:201.876.9576 |
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