Dear Glen Meadow Families:
We are all looking forward to our Spring Recess, we hope you and your family have a restful time off. Please access this podcast by our Superintendent, Ms. D’Avino, and Assistant Superintendent, Dr. McKay, about returning to school in April. As you are aware, we are combining our Blue and Gold teams and welcoming our Exclusively Virtual students whose parents have notified our school that their child will be returning in April as an in-person student. We are eager for our first day back to be a celebratory day! Please encourage your child to wear his or her “Class Of” t-shirt on Monday, April 14th to show his or her Vernon pride! For parents whose child is coming to school for the first time to be an in-person learner, a protective shield will be given to your child. As a reminder, our complimentary breakfast and lunch program will continue through the rest of the year. Thank you for reading on about some of the activities taking place at Glen Meadow this spring…
Thank a Teacher: The Vernon Advertiser News is sponsoring a “Give your Teacher a Shout Out” program. The Vernon Advertiser is asking students to write a thank you letter to a teacher, tell them why they are special, or just write about a memorable moment in school this year. Send your letter to comm.engage@strausnews.com. Your child’s letter may appear in an upcoming edition of The Vernon Advertiser News!
National Junior Honor Society: The NJHS Induction Ceremony will take place online on Wednesday, April 14, 2021, at 5:30 pm. Members of the National Junior Honor Society are producing the video using WeVideo for this year’s ceremony. Congratulations to our 30 7th and 8th graders who will be inducted on April 14th! Click on the picture below to enlarge.
Academic Bowl: The Glen Meadow Academic Bowl Team recently competed in their second tournament of the season. The teams represented Glen Meadow well, improving their scores from the first tournament and rising to 8th place out of 16 teams. The teams now have their eyes set on the top of the leaderboard. Mr. Manis was so pleased with their performance, as they demonstrated more confidence, teamwork, and willingness to take risks. There remain two additional tournaments and a finals round.
Chorus Students Meet Arranger of Music: The 7th and 8th grade chorus at Glen Meadow has been preparing a selection of pieces for their spring concert. The students are performing a Hamilton Medley called Hamilton Highlights which encompasses multiple songs from the Broadway musical, Hamilton. The chorus got the opportunity to meet the composer who arranged the piece, Lisa DeSpain. Ms. DeSpain is a composer of musical theatre, opera, and concert works based out of New York City. The students were able to meet with Ms. DeSpain via zoom and ask questions about her career, the creative process when composing a piece of music, and how to create an arrangement. They were also able to connect with Ms. DeSpain about their piece Hamilton Highlights and ask questions to find out how this piece of music came to be. The opportunity to meet with Lisa DeSpain gave the chorus a whole new perspective for the love and passion that Hamilton Highlights has to offer. The students were very excited to have this very special meeting with the arranger of the music they will be singing. She gave students such encouraging words about working hard with their singing talent.
Orchestra Student Practice Music While Playing a Game: Dr. Compton-Galvan, our strings teacher, had students have some fun while learning music in their virtual lesson with her. The piece the students learned is called “Arkansas Traveler” but many of you may recall the same melody used as a Kindergarten song, “Picking up my Baby Bumble Bee”.
Track and Field: Coaches Davenport, Galante, and have begun virtual workouts. It is important for our Track and Field students to participate in these trainings to build endurance and strength. Formal practices will begin right after the spring recess on April 13, 2021, from 3:00 to 4:15 pm. Mrs. Davenport and Mr. Galante are providing specific information for our athletes on the Track and Field Schoology page. There is still time to sign up! See either Mrs. Davenport or Mr. Galante for how to sign up and also see our Athlete Page link for all of the forms needed for participation.
Wallkill Valley Regional High School Invitational Art Show: Congratulations to 8th grader Melody Buccieri, who won 3rd place for the middle school division at the Wallkill Invitational Art Show. Melody created a small-scale prototype of various-sized mushrooms out of clay that will be enlarged and used in our outdoor classroom. Other students whose art was entered are Victoria Huban, Susie Mentone, Madalynn Calcagno, and Elizabeth Peek. Check out their work below.
Glen Meadow Outdoor Classroom: Our outdoor classroom is taking shape. Soon benches and tables will be arriving. Planting continues and trees are being decorated with ribbon with words of inspiration on them. We thank Mrs. Chornobroff for donating boxes of beautiful ribbon from her company that is being used for this project. Mrs. Hirkaler, art teacher, was teaching the students how to weave the ribbon on the trees. Students wrote positive messages on each ribbon. Take a walk in our schoolyard and check it out!
Sussex County Salute to Veterans- Design a Pin Contest: Sussex County Senior Services is inviting all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to participate in their Design a Pin Contest. The pin must include the words Sussex County on it. The pin must be hand-drawn, not computer-designed. The pin selected will be made into a 1” by 1” pin. The student whose pin is selected as the winner will receive a $200.00 check and be honored at the November 2021 Salute to Military Veterans’ Parade at the Sussex County Fairgrounds. Designs are due to your child’s Social Studies teacher by June 4, 2021. Please click this flyer for all the details.
Sussex County Library Offering FREE Tutoring: The Sussex County Library is offering FREEtutoring from BrainFuse. This program provides LIVE tutors for kindergarten through college students with a Sussex County Library card. In addition to live tutors, BrainFuse also offers FAFSA assistance, an interactive writing lab, language lab, study area, and other useful features for students. The Sussex County Library currently has access to BrainFuse until June 15, 2021. Click this flyer for details.
Mindfulness for Students: The Vernon Township School District has been very fortunate to have Mindfulness trainer, Mr. Thomasberger, working with our faculty and students this year. Mindfulness is a practice of training the mind to pay attention to whatever comes up in the present moment. In our society, children are often asked to, “pay attention”, “calm down”, “be kind”, and/or “be grateful”; yet, they’re not exactly taught how to do this. Mindfulness and Mindful Movement can change the neuropathways of our brain allowing us the space to be responsive instead of reactive when in a triggered situation. This is a way to help children and teens learn self-regulation, how to change their mindset from one of un-comfortability and disease to a place of control and being centered. Below are the next installments of Mr. Thomasberger’s training for our students with the Zoom link provided:
Link for April 29th @ 3:45 – 4:30 pm Meeting ID: 853 2574 1150 Passcode: 003667
Link for May 13th @ 3:45 – 4:30 pm Meeting ID: 899 3207 2421 Passcode: 546673
Link for May 27th @ 3:45 – 4:30 pm Meeting ID: 853 2730 8391 Passcode: 000754
Link for June 10th @ 3:45 – 4:30 pm Meeting ID: 863 2742 1829 Passcode: 598394
Marking Period 3 Closes on Monday, April 12: Parents and guardians will be able to see final grades for MP 3 on Monday, April 19 in the late afternoon. Marking period 4 begins on Tuesday, April 13 and will close on the last day of school, Friday, June 18, 2021.
State Testing: The NJ Student Learning Assessment will take place during the week of May 10 for Language Arts and the week of May 17 for Math. The 8th graders will take the State Science test on May 27-28, 2021.
Don’t forget that our SCA meets on the third Wednesday of every month at 9:45 am. This month we will be meeting on April 21, 2021, via Zoom. You will find the Zoom link on the Parents Group/SCA Link on the GMMS page. The GMMS SCA will begin planning the 8th-grade dance. The SCA is inviting any parents interested to join in the planning for this event.
In closing, we all hope that you have a great spring recess!
Rosemary Gebhardt Erick Kosek, Ed. D.
Principal Assistant Principal