A Monarch Butterfly Comes to Life at CMPS
Cedar Mountain Families,
We have had a great opening at the home of Vernon’s kindergarten and first-grade students. Under beautiful blue skies, we began the day by greeting each student as they came off their buses and lined up by teacher. Students are learning school and classroom routines. It is so nice to have a whole school full of happy students!
As a reminder, Vernon schools will be closed on Thursday, September 16, in observance of Yom Kippur.
Please join us for the…
Cedar Mountain Fall Harvest Open House -Saturday, September 18th, from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Come bring your family and enjoy some refreshments, tour our building, explore our curriculum in demonstrations throughout various classrooms, experience the computer lab as your child would in computer class, learn about our music program, visit our library, and stop at stations from different community organizations. There will be crafts, food, and games. We will also have various community organizations with us such as the Vernon Police, the Vernon PAL, the Vernon Coalition, Project Self-Sufficiency, the Girls Scouts, and local Karate schools. This program has been made available through a generous NJEA Pride grant organized by Mrs. Lombardi, one of our preschool teachers at Walnut Ridge. We are very excited to collaborate with the VTEA and NJEA for this special activity.
School Picture Day
As a reminder, School Picture Day is Wednesday, September 15! Retakes will be held on October 27th.
Principal’s Forum
Please join me along with other building experts for the Cedar Mountain Principal’s Forum on Wednesday, September, 22, at 6:30 pm, held in the cafeteria. At the Principal’s Forum, you will hear about ways to stay involved in and support your child’s education as well as the academic programs at Cedar Mountain. You will be hearing from the following building experts, Mrs. Karlevich, Speech/Language Therapist, Ms. Green, Professional School Counselor, Mrs. Battista, Math Interventionist, and Mrs. Krops, Reading Specialist.
School Flag Salute
Last week, we came together as a school community to celebrate our first day of school. Below are a few pictures of our student body saluting the flag together near the flag pole. We also sang “You’re a Grand Old Flag” together. Our school was led by Mrs. Megnin’s first-grade class. At the conclusion of our school opening, Mrs. Megnin’s class rang the Cedar Mountain School bell announcing to all that school is in session! Each week a different class leads our school to say the flag salute and sing a patriotic song; this is a very special activity of Cedar Mountain. This has become a very special annual tradition!
The moving wall
Our school district was very fortunate to see the passing of The Moving Wall on September 9th. “The Moving Wall” is the half-size replica of the Washington, DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial and has been touring the country for thirty-plus years. When John Devitt attended the 1982 dedication in Washington, he felt the positive power of “The Wall.” He vowed to share that experience with those who did not have the opportunity to go to Washington. The Moving Wall was escorted by the Sussex Elks Lodge #2288 and the American Legion Riders of Branchville and Franklin. Here is the LINK to The Moving Wall if you would like to read more about this traveling national treasure.
First days of School
As our students are settling into school routines, enjoy some pictures of our students in their classrooms learning.
What’s Your Anti-Drug?
Annually, The Center for Prevention and Counseling sponsors the “What’s Your Anti-Drug?” campaign. Mr. Hernandez, our Physical Education teacher, will be working with students on this project. Mr. Hernandez will be having students draw pictures of some of the favorite things our students like to do and the hobbies we are developing as youngsters. Students’ pictures will be entered into this contest. Below is the information on this campaign if you would like your child to work on this at home as well; please click on the image to enlarge it. The Vernon Schools always has many winters of this contest.
Face Mask Requirements:
Thank you for sending your child to school with a face mask every day. We always have a fresh supply if a mask becomes broken or falls on the floor. Our students have been extraordinary with following our mask protocol. If you are visiting the school, you are required to wear a mask.
Please continue to self-screen your child before they come to school each day. If your child is not feeling well, please have your child stay home. Call the attendance line 973-764-8824 to report your child as absent. You can also indicate an absence in Genesis, our office will automatically see your note in Genesis.
We are consistently encouraging frequent handwashing and the use of hand sanitizer.
If your child is considered a close contact he/she will still need to be quarantined for 10 or 14 days, depending upon the CALI index scores for our region. Our school nurse, Mrs. Forrest, will let you know how long to quarantine.
Complimentary Breakfast Program
Breakfast will be offered to ALL students free of charge. You do not need to qualify for free or reduced lunch for this program. You are required to order a breakfast by accessing this GOOGLE FORM. You may order by the day, week, or the whole month. Breakfast will be delivered to your child’s classroom. As a reminder, lunch is also complimentary; however, you do not need to order lunch.
SCA Meetings
Our first SCA meeting was held on September 13 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, October 4th.
SCA Remind App
To keep current with all SCA activities, join their Remind App. CLICK HERE for the directions to add this app to your phone.
Student Handbook
A lot of school and district information can be found the Cedar Mountain Parent Handbook. The handbook can be found on the Digital Backpack for Cedar Mountain. HERE IS THE LINK FOR THE HANDBOOK.
Baseline Assessment System
At the end of this month, each student in first-grade is will be receiving a one-on-one reading assessment, called The Fountas and Pinnell Baseline Assessment System, to determine each student’s reading level areas of reading strength, as well as where a student may require additional reading/literacy support. The Baseline Assessment System is used in the classroom to level reading instruction and teach the student at his or her level. Our kindergarten students will receive their first Baseline Assessment System screening in January 2022. Thank you for continuing to read to and with your child on a daily basis. There will be many opportunities this year for you to learn ways that you can support literacy at home beginning with The Principal’s Forum that will be held on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at 6:30 pm, in the cafeteria.
Please see the Cedar Mountain DIGITAL BACKPACK for other important school information and the many district letters and forms that live on the Digital Backpack.
Atlantic Health Offering FREE LiveOnline Meetings for Parents
Atlantic Health Systems’ Children’s Health and Goryeb Children’s Hospital is offering the below-listed programs that are free of charge. The first virtual program will be held on Tuesday, September 21st, at 7:00 pm, entitled Keeping Our Kids Safe While in School During the Pandemic, and will be presented by Phillip Devadan, MD, Pediatric Emergency Room Director, Chilton Medical Center.
To register, click the following link:
Home – Keeping Our Kids Safe While in School During the Pandemic (cvent.com)
The next virtual program will be offered on Wednesday, October 6th, at 12:00pm, and Wednesday, October 13th, at 7:00 pm, entitled Meet the Local Sleep Experts: Children and Sleep Q&A presented by Ashish R. Shah, MD, Pediatric Pulmonology, April N. Wazeka, MD, Pediatric Pulmonology, and Ramneet K. Gill, MD, Pediatric Pulmonology,
To register, click the following link:
Wednesday, October 6, 2021, 12:00 pm
https://atlantichealth.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_r5qHoCi7QzOM66hGAgn7Ww
Wednesday, October 13, 2021, 7:00 pm
https://atlantichealth.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SMjiJ01GQrK0tmEv5TUPmA
Our year is off to a great start! I hope to see you at our school events…
Mrs. Gebhardt
Principal