Our Schools

Fall News from Cedar Mountain…

September 28th, 2018 Cedar Mountain Primary School - Principal's Blog

Please join me in congratulating Mrs. Denise DeSalvia who has been selected as the Vernon Township Education Association Educational Support Professional of the Year! The faculty and staff of Cedar Mountain surprised Mrs. DeSalvia with this wonderful news honoring her at a brunch.

Mrs. Denise DeSalvia

Mrs. DeSaliva is a longstanding extraordinary full-time aide at Cedar Mountain Primary School, fulfilling this position in an exemplary manner, often going above and beyond in the classroom and in the library that she serves in the morning. Throughout her career as a professional aide, Mrs. DeSalvia also served many years in Walnut Ridge Primary School and Glen Meadow Middle School. Mrs. DeSaliva truly treats the students as her very own. Mrs. DeSalvia has a steeped experience as an aide in our district and has a great deal of knowledge of working with young children of varying needs. Mrs. DeSaliva’s bailiwick is her astute ability to use her intuition to support students of all abilities in the classroom; she is keenly aware of students’ needs. Mrs. DeSaliva’s overriding objective is to have students be independent and successful in the classroom. Congratulations to Mrs. DeSalvia.

As students are building their reading muscles and learning the Five Finger Rule to find a “Just Right” book, enjoy this picture of Mrs. Start’s class as they practice developing their reading muscles while “Leafing Through a Good Book”….

Mrs. Megnin’s students have also practiced the Five Finger Rule, you’ll even see Rusty the Seeing Eye Dog joining in!

First-Grade Safeties: Each month, first-grade students are specially selected as our building “Safeties”. Here are our October Safeties reporting for duty. You will see these students greeting students as they arrive every morning and making sure students are being safe in the hallway and in the stairwells. Congratulations students!

October 1-5, 2018 is the Week of Respect– all schools in the state of New Jersey celebrate this week with activities and lessons surrounding being bully-free. It is our hope that the students of Cedar Mountain Primary School will be respectful and kind 365 days a year. However, this week the entire school community will focus on being respectful, kind, thoughtful, and using proper manners. With the letter that was sent home, you will find an Act of Kindness sheet. Your child is invited to draw and write a specific act of kindness that occurred either at school or at home. It is so important to recognize the good behavior that our children display. Please support us in the initiative by working with your child on this special assignment. We will be reading many examples over our public address for many weeks. Please encourage your child’s participation in this meaningful activity. Throughout this week, Mr. Maurice, our School Counselor, will be teaching a respect lesson in each classroom. Below is a listing of activities taking place during this week:

Monday, October 1, 2018– Wear blue and gold! Wear your Class of 2030 or Class of 2031 t-shirts or any other blue and gold attire. Cedar Mountain will take part in the World Day of Bullying Prevention on Monday, October 1^st by wearing blue and gold and other school spirit attire. This World Day of Bullying Prevention came to be through the “Stomp Out Bullying” organization. Please visit the Stomp Out Bullying link for more information. Below is a picture of Mr. Maurice after teaching a lesson on respect in Mrs. Schwarz kindergarten classroom.

Friday, October 5th – “Rainbow of Respect!” Details below…

Kira Willey is coming to Cedar Mountain on Friday, October 5th!! Kira Willey is an award-winning American musician best known for her song Colors. Kira Willey is also a certified Yoga instructor. Cedar Mountain is so fortunate to have her return to our school again this school year. We thank the Cedar Mountain SCA for providing the funds to bring this special concert to our school. Please visit Kira Willey’s site to hear her music (note that Kira Willey mentions our school in her site). Kira Willey’s concert will culminate our Week of Respect. We will be surprising Kira Willey by having classes wear a different color of the rainbow in honor of her song Colors; a special song that Mr. Maurice uses to teach many of her school counseling lessons. Please see the letter from your child’s teacher with the color for your class. We are excited to hear her beautiful music while practicing yoga poses. Here is a TED Talk by Kira Willey on the topic of “An Easy Way for Kids to be Happy and Healthy”.

Early Dismissal Day: Monday, October 8, 2018, dismissal will be at 1:25 pm. As a reminder, lunches will not be served on this day in the cafeteria. You may purchase a Grab-n-Go lunch for your child. If your child is on free or reduced, you must still order a lunch for your child.

SCA Meetings are held on the first Monday of every month at 9:30 am AND 6:30 pm. Come out to learn about the programs the SCA brings to all of our students as well as learn about the academic programs in our school. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 1, 2018. This month we will have Mrs. Krops, our Reading Specialist, speak to our families about early literacy and what you can do at home to support the reading process. Here is a PDF of Mrs. Krops’ informative presentation. Our November meeting will be held on Monday, November 5, 2018, where Project Self-Sufficiency will be making a presentation of their resources available to families in the Sussex County area. This quote from Read Aloud.org nicely summarizes Mrs. Krops’ message about reading to your child at home:

Our SCA has the following positions that are unfilled due to resignations. If you are interested in serving in any of these positions, please email our president, Mrs. Denise Clarke at:cedarmountainschoolsca@gmail.com

Recording Secretary – Record minutes of general meetings; participate in SCA functions and attend general meetings. Attend Executive SCA meetings.

Corresponding Secretary – Share and maintain records of correspondence; participate in SCA functions and attend general meetings. Attend Executive SCA meetings.

First-Grade Family Dance Nights are coming! Mr. Moschella has invited all first-grade classes to bring their families Cedar to experience all of the dances they have learned in kindergarten and are learning this year. Each Dance Night begins at 6:00 pm. Your child will bring home an informational memo stating the night his or her class is invited to attend. The schedule is as follows:

Friday, October 5^th for the classes of Mrs. Giangrande, Mrs. Hartman, and Mrs. Megnin
Friday, October 12^th for the classes of Mrs. Battista, Mrs. Barone, and Mrs. Rogers
Friday, October 19^th for the classes of Mr. Dente, Mrs. Novak, Mrs. Start, Mrs. Talerico/Mrs. Ollert, Mrs. Vanadia, and Miss Waleck

Here are some pictures from our October 5th Family Dance Night…

October 8-12, 2018, is Fire Prevention Week The Vernon Township Fire Department will be here to speak to our students about Fire Safety on Wednesday, October 10, 2018. Our students will be learning about how to stay safe and how to prevent fires in their homes. This is a good time to practice fire drills in your own home! Please check your fire/smoke detectors as well as carbon monoxide detectors in your home. We thank the Vernon Township Fire Department for volunteering to keep us safe and for coming to our school to teach about fire safety.

Fall Reading Night, sponsored by Project Self-Sufficiency will be held on Wednesday, October 10, 2018, at 6:00 pm. Please click here for the flyer for this special activity. Students must be pre-registered in order to participate.

Picture Re-Takes: Are scheduled for Tuesday, October 23, 2018, if you need to have your child’s picture retaken or taken for the first time if they were absent or not yet enrolled at Cedar Mountain during our first picture day.

Parent Conference Days and our Scholastic Book Fair are coming!

Wednesday, October 25- 3:45-8:00 pm

Thursday, October 26- 3:45-8:00 pm

Friday, October 26- 2:15-4:00 pm

Each classroom teacher has a Sign-Up Genius link to select a time to meet with your child’s teacher. All special area teachers will be in their classrooms and are open for walk-ins. As a reminder, lunches will not be served on conference days. Here is the order form that was sent home with your child.

Kindergarten

Mrs. Sweeney/Mrs. Denninger

Ms. Thomas