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Elysian Charter School
Weekly Newsletter
A Positively Different Public School
October 31, 2016 Vol. 12 Issue 9
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 Sometimes I Feel So Proud Did you see the kindergarten performance at the Community Meeting on Friday? These five year olds have been in school for just about seven weeks, yet they performed in front of the whole school and all the parents and sang out loudly and clearly in Spanish. Right after the performance our social worker, Diane, went into the kindergarten rooms and asked how they felt. The children described being nervous before the show, but felt real pride that they had done such a good job!
Or maybe you came to High School Night, or Hoboken High School Night. On both of these evenings a large number of our graduates came back to talk to current parents and students about their high school experience. And I must say they were amazing! The students (and there were quite a few) were articulate and expressive about their transition to high school. For all the students that I met who had just graduated from Elysian in June, I asked about the transition to high school. We would actually go through each subject. The students all felt that they were well prepared, in some cases ahead of their new peers. They also felt that they were better problem-solvers than some of their peers. All felt the difference of moving from a small, informal environment to a larger more structured situation; but they all agreed the adjustment was quite quick.
We had our Middle School Night last Wednesday. It was an opportunity for the teachers to share their thinking about children developing into adolescents and the effect that it has on both teaching and social emotional development of the students. The integration of language arts and social studies, for example, allows for students to understand the concepts of history and literature in a rich context. This was demonstrated when Leah described the founding of the first civilization in Mesopotamia and the characteristics that all civilizations share comparing that to the society developed in the novel, The Hunger Games. Or when Hillary described a mapping project where—just before we moved to our new building—the students diagramed the rooms to scale and planned how to set the rooms up to fit all the furniture while creating an atmosphere for learning. We also saw pictures of the recently completed Princeton Blairstown trip in which students were presented with physical problems to solve and where they worked to figure out the solutions, learning to work together and support each other.
And we are all proud of the “All In” video, where Aram led our students in this uplifting song that embodies our philosophy. The lyric that I love the most is, “If we fall down seven times we get up eight.” This embodies the attitude of trying and learning from mistakes without feeling embarrassed, and continuing to try without giving up.
It is good to step back and see the whole and see how the parts all come together. Sometimes I am just so proud.
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Reminder: Sibling Applications for Kindergarten 2017-2018 are due for Elysian Family Sibling Preference
If you have a child at Elysian already, and you are planning to enroll a sibling in the 2017-18 school year, please complete an application form and return it to Susan Gilbertson in the office. You can find the form on Elysian's website, ecsnj.org, or stop by the office to pick it up. We must have an application on file before the January 11th Lottery in order for you to receive sibling preference.
The Deadline for ALL Applications is January 9th at 5:00 pm.
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ORGAN LIBRARY PROJECT
This year the third grade is participating in a very special project in partnership with the Morgan Library and Museum, The two classes visited the Morgan in September to learn about illuminated manuscripts. They then returned in October to make illuminated letters of their own. They made the paint/pigment from grinding up bugs, minerals and plants and learned to use gold leaf. We will try to use an illuminated letter each week somewhere in the newsletter to mark the beginning of an article. At the end of the project, each student will create an accordian book with an illustrated original story!
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| KUUMBA Day Volunteers Wanted Saturday, December 17th is KUUMBA Day. Tomorrow Third grade parents will receive a flyer about the first KUUMBA Planning meeting! Be on the lookout!
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| PTSO CORNER
SCHOOL PICTURES will be available for online order in the coming weeks. Please look out for fliers coming home and/or school e-mail with the details. Picture Retake Day is Tuesday, November 15!
THANK YOU to our amazing ELYSIAN HALLOWEEN PARTY chairs: Jen Vassallo, Jenn Napolitani, and Cecilia Bejar. A big THANK YOU also to Bob Maltese for his help setting up, Derrick Ladson for his energy and dancing expertise, Francine Ladson for greeting everyone at the front door, and all of our volunteers for their donations and time at the event!!
Halloween Party Costume Contest Winners: Juan Pablo and Emilio Bejar for best duo/group, Megan Phalen for most crafty, and Gavin Rutledge for crowd favorite! (SEE BELOW!)
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| Halloween Contest Winners!
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For Parents of Basketball Players
Basketball season is just around the corner. We have many students who are excited to play this year and we are hoping that the city will allow us to have more than one team at some grade levels.
Please make certain that you send in school form and that you sign up online with the city as soon as possible so that the city knows how many players we will have this year.
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| Elysian Collects Box Tops and LABELS for Education: Look for the container near Deb's desk in the office! 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. NOVEMBER CALENDAR Tuesday, November 1- The New Victory Theater visits Elysian's 4th grade
Sunday, November 6- Daylight savings time ends.
Thursday, November 10- 8:45 AM Open House for prospective parents
Friday, November 11- School closed for Veteran's Day
Monday, November 14- Parent-teacher conference week begins
Tuesday, November 15- Parent-teacher conferences continue
Wednesday, November 16
- Half Day of School., 12:30 dismissal for parent-teacher conferences
Thursday, November 17- Parent teacher conferences continue
Friday, November 18- Last day of parent-teacher conferences.
Monday, November 21- 4th and 5th grade day-long trip
Wednesday, November 23- Half day of school, 12:30 dismissal for Thanksgiving Holiday.
- After School Program ends early, 4:00 PM today
Thursday, November 24 and Friday, November 25- Elysian closed for Thanksgiving Holiday.
Monday, November 28- Elysian Open House for prospective parents, 6:00 PM
- Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:00 PM
Tuesday, November 29- Melissa's 2nd grade class trip
Friday, December 2- 6th grade returns from overnight 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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