Dear Parents and Guardians:
Like our bulletin board says, “It’s a Harvest of Gratitude”. We are very grateful for our students and teachers and the learning that takes place in our classrooms every day. We just held a very special ceremony for a Cedar Mountain parent, Mrs. Berisha, who recently became a US Citizen! Mrs. Berisha was surprised by our school by having her come to Cedar Mountain, lead us in pledging the flag, and then Mrs. Berisha walked our hallways as she was congratulated by every student, faculty, and staff member in the building. Students were adorned in red-white-and-blue holding American flags. Classes made special cards to congratulate Mrs. Berisha. We are so proud of Mrs. Berisha and we know the gratitude she feels for our school and our country! Below are a few pictures of our ceremony at Cedar Mountain.
As a reminder, all Vernon Schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 4-5, 2021, for the NJEA Convention and our schools will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 25-26, 2021, to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Introducing the Cedar Mountain Vlog! Check out the interview with Mrs. Yarosz’s students as they are in centers using their Chromebooks and how they access programs via their QR Codes.
Teacher of the Year Program
You are invited to nominate a teacher for the annual NJ Department of Education Governor’s Teacher of the Year and Governor’s Educational Services Professional of the Year. Please use this form to nominate a teacher at Cedar Mountain. Our building selection will be made later this month. There are so many outstanding professionals in Cedar Mountain for you to consider! Last year’s recipients were Mrs. Gwen Bicskei, kindergarten special education teacher, and Mrs. Kim Gibson, Speech/Language Specialist.
Each candidate should:
- Inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn;
- Serves as an exceptionally skilled and dedicated educator in a public or charter school;
- Expresses themselves in an engaging and articulate way;
- Plays an active role in the community as well as the school;
- Demonstrates leadership and innovation in and outside the classroom;
- Has the respect and admiration of students, parents, and colleagues
Pumpkin Composting Event: The VTHS Green Team is holding a community-wide pumpkin composting event at Pochuck Farms on Sunday, November 14, from 9 am to 12 pm. There will be pumpkin games set up such as pumpkin bowling, baseball, target practice, and slingshots. The VTHS Green Team members will be at Pochuck Farms to assist and provide information about composting, and count pumpkins collected. So bring your old pumpkins and see the flyer below…
Plant the Promise: “Plant the Promise” is a program sponsored by The Center for Prevention and Counseling. Each year schools apply to receive red tulip bulbs as a way to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Cedar Mountain was awarded this grant have recently received 100 red tulip bulbs! This fall, our students will be planting the bulbs in our front garden as you walk up the ramp. As the bulbs bloom in the spring, it will serve as a reminder of the importance and the beauty of living a drug-free life. Additionally, this will provide a chance to enjoy the outdoors, connect with nature, take a break from daily stress and see the rewards of something beautiful we’ve nurtured as a school community. Look for an invitation coming via School Messenger to plant our bulbs after school.
“What Makes Me Happy?”- The Center for Prevention and Counseling held a contest for all Sussex County Schools for K-3 students to draw a picture about what makes them happy as part of their Red Ribbon program. Congratulations to Stephanie Galindez Arrambide whose picture was selected out of hundreds that were submitted from Sussex County! We are so proud of Stephanie!
Mind Traveler’s Program: Annually our Board of Education sponsors the Mind Traveler’s reading program. Students are encouraged to read and record the books they have read. Two students from each grade level, preschool through fifth grade will be selected for their reading effort. Students selected will be honored at the January Board of Education meeting. Mrs. Kellish, our librarian, is working with students to read as many books as they can. Here is the form if you need another one to record books that have been read.
LinkIt: Students in first grade are using our LinkIt assessment system to take Benchmark A this fall in math and Language Arts. Students are taking the assessment in our computer lab are guided by Mrs. Chletsos, our computer teacher, along with Mrs. Rostami, RTI Coordinator, and our Tech Coach, Mr. Lasso. The assessment is read to all students. Students are logging onto the computer using a QR code that brings the student directly to the LinkIt assessment. Students are using such skills as selecting a multiple-choice answer, dragging and dropping answers in a box, as well as typing in short number answers on the math test. First-grade teachers will be able to analyze the data within LinkIt to determine the NJ Student Learning Standards that students struggle with in math and Language Arts and will help to focus their instruction.
Learning Parts of a Book: Mrs. Kellish, our librarian, reinforces many concepts learned in our Reading Workshop program. Students are learning about parts of the book. To reinforce these important concepts students learned a song from Jack Hartmann about the parts of a book. Click this link below and sing along with your child! In addition to this, students are learning how to identify and fiction versus a non-fiction book and what makes each book different. When students are selecting books in the library, they are asked to think about their interests and the type of books they want to find. Students use a paint stirrer to move books in the shelves to find the “just right” book for them.
Standard-Based Report Card: Thank you to Mrs. Panfile, RTI Math Coordinator, and Mrs.Rostami, LA RTI Coordinator, for making a presentation to our parents about our Standard-Based Report Cards as well as our Response to Intervention program. PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE PRESENTATION. You will find some exceptional questions that you can ask your children about their day at school. The questions will lead to fuller conversations and will help your children elaborate on their day at school. Here is the link to our Standard-Based Report Card that can be found on the Cedar Mountain website. You will be able to see exactly what the report card looks like, the standards that are graded, and the grading scale we use to measure our students.
Fundations Home Support Pack: Did you know that you can follow along with your child’s Fundations units to reinforce concepts at home? If you click on the DIGITAL BACKPACK and scroll down to Cedar Mountain, you will see the Home Support Pack that outlines activities you can do at home to reinforce the phonics concepts your child is learning in class unit by unit. Take a few minutes to check it out. You can also see the trajectory of skills as the year progresses.
From the Health Office: As the holiday season approaches, please be reminded of our district’s policy on quarantine after travel outside of NJ, NY, PA, or DE. Please contact Mrs. Forrest, our school nurse, with any questions.
Individuals who are not fully vaccinated will need to either:
- Quarantine for 10 days with no test, returning to school on day 11 OR
- Quarantine for 7 days upon return to New Jersey, test on day 3-5, send the negative test to the school, and return on day 8
Updating your contact information: Now that the winter will be setting in, you are reminded to update your contact information in Genesis. You should also make sure that you have all checked the boxes for the phones you want to receive school information. You can receive emails in addition to phone calls. Parents and guardians can always update their own contact info on the Genesis Parent Portal. In addition, you can always choose your own notification preferences in School Messenger directly at vtsd.com/infocenter. Please call the main office if you need any assistance; we’d be happy to help you!
Project Self-Sufficiency Toy Drive is underway. If you would like your child to donate a new unopened toy, please do so by early December. The toys that are donated will go to less fortunate families in Sussex County. Students that have made donations are very proud of the gifts they personally selected. Here is the informational flyer.
Box Tops for Education– Earn cash for your school! No more clipping. Just scan your receipts. Here is the flyer with more information. Thank you for supporting Cedar Mountain!
The Giving Tree Program-Annually all of our school’s SCAs sponsor the Giving Tree Program where gift cards are given to VTSD families in need. We will be holding a Spirit Day on Wednesday, November 24 across the district in order to raise funds for this cause. All students are requested to donate $1.00 for this program. Thank you for your generosity.
SCA Meetings
Cedar Mountain would like to thank our SCA for supplying a pumpkin for each of our students for Halloween; students had a lot of fun decorating them in their classrooms. Our October SCA meeting was held on Monday, November 1st via Zoom. If you would like to read the minutes of this meeting. Please go to the Cedar Mountain website and click on PARENT GROUPS/SCA. This will take you to the district SCA page where you can read our minutes and access other Cedar Mountain information. Our meetings are held on the first Monday of every month at 8:00 pm online via Zoom. The Zoom link can be found on the Cedar Mountain SCA page. All parents are invited to attend. Our next meeting will be held on Monday, December 6th.
Monthly Lunch Menu: To make our lunch menu more accessible, the lunch menu has been moved the main page of the Cedar Mountain website. Below is a screenshot of where to locate the menu.
Here are some SCA activities coming up:
- Cookie/Coffee Fundraiser Pick-Up – Friday, November 19th after school
- Gertrude Hawk Fundraiser Pick- Up – Friday, November 19th after school
- Pochuck Farm Pie Fundraiser Pick up at Pochuck Farm on Thursday and Friday, November 18th & 19th between 6 am & 5:30 pm
- Giving Tree Spirit Wear Day – $1 Donation – Wednesday, November 24th
- Holiday Shop – Monday, December 6th through Wednesday, December 8th kids will shop for family members and everything is a dollar. A flyer will be sent home at the end of November.
- Cookies with Santa – Friday, December 10th (snow date, Friday, December 17th) A flyer will be sent home shortly
A few more reminders…
- November 4-5: School will be closed for the NJEA Convention
- November 24: Early Dismissal 1:20
- November 25-26: School CLOSED for the Thanksgiving holiday
- December 3: District-Wide Tech Awareness Day
- December 7: Trimester One Ends
- December 17: Trimester One Report Cards will be available for viewing in Genesis (report cards are not printed; however, you can print out the report card for your child).
- December 18: Field trip to Glen Meadow Middle School to see the Winter Concert- you will be receiving a permission slip in the coming weeks.
- Here is our district calendar
Enjoy the beautiful fall artwork our K-1 students learned in their art class from their teacher Mrs. Patchell.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Gebhardt
Principal