Dear Parents and Guardians:

We have had a great opening at the new home of Vernon’s kindergarten and first-grade students. Under beautiful blue skies, we began the day by “cutting the blue ribbon” to open the doors of our school for the 30th year. This is the first time since the 1993-1994 school year that kindergarten and first-grade students were in the building! A great piece of Vernon trivia! Here is a photo taken by Mrs. Docherty and Mr. Joseph from our rooftop as Mrs. Barone’s first-grade class led our school in the flag salute and ringing our school bell to begin the school year. This has become a very special annual tradition that we brought with us from Walnut Ridge.

 

 

Please join us for the…

Fall Harvest Open House-Saturday, September 16th, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm

Come enjoy some light refreshments, tour our new building, explore our curriculum in demonstrations throughout various classrooms, experience the computer lab as your child would in computer class, visit our library and stop at stations from different community organizations. This year, we will be having former principals of the building as our guests of honor. We will have Dr. Fred Podorf, first principal to open Cedar Mountain, Mrs. Linda Lanterman Nick, Mr. Arnold Aromando, and our recent outgoing principal, Mr. Dennis Mudrick in attendance. This program has been made available through a generous NJEA Pride grant organized by our Math Coach, Mrs. Nelson, VTEA Pride Chair and preschool teacher, Mrs. Lombardi. We are very excited to collaborate with the VTEA and NJEA for this special activity.

SCA meeting: Thursday, September 14th, at 9:30 and 6:30 pm. At 9:10 am, at our first meeting, there will be an SCA sponsored Meet-and-Greet “Yahoo! Boo-Hoo Breakfast” in the all-purpose room. Come meet other SCA parents and our new officers to learn how the SCA enhances every students’ experience and how you can get involved in your child’s school. Our meetings are held on the second Thursday of every month at 9:30 and 6:30 pm. Our SCA has planned many events for students and families this year. Please see the CM calendar for a full listing of events. This Friday, please join us for an SCA Hoe Down at 5:00 pm to kick off the new year. Great children’s line dancing music will be played. This is a great way to get to know the families in our school and for your child to make new friends.

We will be having our Bus Safety Program– Friday, September 15th, led by our School Counselor, Mrs. Keane. Thank you for reinforcing bus safety rules with your children. Every student must wear his or her seatbelt while the bus is in motion. 

Here are a few more school reminders:

  • School Picture Day- Wednesday, September 20th- flyers will be sent home this week; there are multiple packages available for purchase
  • SCA Hoe Down- Friday, September 15th, at 5:00 pm, in the lower parking lot outside of the gym- we will also be holding a Chili Contest! If you would like to enter your chili, please email the Cedar Mountain SCA at: cedarmountainschoolsca@gmail.com

Introducing our new Physical Education Teacher, Miss Michele Gonnelli:

Miss Michele Gonnelli

Miss Gonnelli is a recent graduate of William Paterson University. She has many accolades to be proud of, some of which include the following:

  • Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society member
  • Tau Sigma National Honor Society member
  • 2017 NJ Distinguished Clinical Intern Award Nominee
  • 2017 American Kinesiology Association Undergraduate Scholar Award Nominee

Teaching health and physical education is Miss Gonnelli’s passion, especially because she practices living a healthy lifestyle and has the same wishes for her students as well! Her goal as a physical education educator is to prove to her students that staying physically active and healthy can be fun while explaining how their bodies will thank them in the future. Miss Gonnelli will support her students by encouraging them to do their very best every single day and always remind them never to give up. As a young professional, Miss Gonnelli has a published article in The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance entitled: “What Physical Educators Need to Know”. We are very excited to have Miss Gonnelli as our new physical education teacher.

First-Grade Developmental Reading Assessments (DRAs)– This month, each student in first-grade is will be receiving a one-on-one reading assessment to determine his or her reading level and areas of strength and where a student may require additional support. The DRA is used in the classroom to level reading instruction and teach the student at his or her level. 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 Reading Night on Wednesday, October 11th, 2017, at 6:00 pm, sponsored by Project Self-Sufficiency.

INFORMATION ON PARKING AND DROP OFF AT CEDAR MOUNTAIN PRIMARY SCHOOL

Parents that drop off and pick up their child(ren) will be required to park in an available spot in the parking lot or on Sammis Road and escort your child to either the ramp in the main parking lot or by the front playground. Please be aware that Cedar Mountain Primary School does not have the personnel to supervise students who are dropped off early; therefore, students will only be permitted to enter the building at 9:20 AM when students are dismissed from their bus. If you are picking up your child at the end of the school day, students will be dismissed to the front foyer at 3:40 pm. You must present proper ID to Mrs. Donovan who will bring your child(ren) to you.

School Messenger System: We will be using School Messenger to notify parents/guardians of school happenings, important information, informational fliers, school closings as well as delayed openings and early dismissals. When you update your contact information, you must “opt in” to receive non-emergency phone calls. If you do not opt-in, you will not receive phone calls or emails from School Messenger this year; you will only receive emergency closings, early dismissals and/or delayed openings. If you need any assistance with changing your status in School Messenger, please call Mrs. Devlin, at 973-764-4391.

Please see the Cedar Mountain Digital Backpack for other important school information and the many forms that were distributed at Back to School Night.

Our year is off to a great start! I hope to see you at our school events…

Mrs. Gebhardt