Dear Glen Meadow Families,

We welcome Mrs. Suzanne MacDougall as our Acting Assistant Principal of Glen Meadow. Mrs. MacDougall is filling in for Dr. Kosek who is covering for Mr. Mudrick at Lounsberry Hollow. Mrs. MacDougall is looking forward to serving in her new role at Glen Meadow. She looks forward to meeting students and parents and encouraging our students to reach their 100% (like the Glen Meadow Way says…). Mrs. MacDougall has recently been inspired by our Superintendent’s message that we can choose our attitude, our effort, and our actions. 

Mrs. MacDougall

 

Here are some hallway highlights of activities taking place in the classrooms of Glen Meadow…

Miss Frazita’s Math Classes: Who says games are for little kids? Miss Frazita’s students practiced math skills by playing familiar childhood games, but the games they played have a math focus:

-Fraction Land

-Sorry! Math Edition

-Trouble! Math Edition

Students also worked in centers to continue practicing what they are learning in class and applied their skills to everyday problem-solving. Centers included:

Dice Center: students rolling dice to compare numbers and race to complete the comparisons first

Coding Center: students use the code on the top of the sheet to compare quantities in picture form

War Center: students used cards to compare quantities and kept the cards if they had the greater quantity, the winner had the most cards at the end!

Shopping Center: students compared quantities to find the best deal!

Mr. DeYoung’s Foundations Lab Class: Mr. DeYoung technology students completed a “Radio Station Project,” where they had to create their own station ID, come up with a 5-song playlist with working links, and record themselves doing intros/outros, and a weather report. All content had to be organized and scripted.

Students also used Adobe Spark to create a short PSA where they also recorded themselves, and all work was embedded on their student Google Site project page.

At the end of the project, students had a Google Hangouts session with some of the board members of WTSR 91.3FM, Mr. DeYoung’s college radio station at TCNJ, where students were given a live video tour of the station, the newsroom, production room, offices, music library, and were also able to ask the station manager, music director, and news director questions about day-to-day operations using the library and the new camera/mic system that the IT department purchased and installed. This activity had multiple real-world applications; students were very engaged during this motivational project.

Concord Hymn: After Mrs. Ragone’s 8th-grade Language Arts students wrote their Patriot’s Pens essays, they studied the poem “Concord Hymn” written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Students worked in a group to study the poem and creatively interpret the poem. The groups wrote a poem interpretation of “Concord Hymn”, others created a model of the Concord Monument, another group gave the history of the poem, and finally, a group acted out their interpretation of the poem. What a great way to learn about and understand poetry!

Editing through Centers: Mrs. Schmidt’s 8th-grade students edited their Miracle Worker essays by working in centers to focus on different aspects of the writing process. At each station, they used different colored pens to help with the revising and editing process.

Sticks and Spoons: Mrs. Basso and Mrs. Zaremba’s Language Arts class tried a new activity called “Sticks and Spoons” to encourage equitable participation and collaboration. The students in the class were assigned groups and read a chapter of So Far From the Bamboo Grove with their groups.  Students were given lots of options…they could have one person read aloud, take turns reading aloud, or all read silently. The students were given five questions to discuss.  Once the students began the activity, the teachers In this strategy, the teachers assigned each table group a color on a stick and each student a number on a spoon. During class discussions, the teachers pick pulled a stick and a spoon to call on a group and a student in the group. Instead of having the same students always raising their hands in class, this activity allowed different students to be able to participate in the class discussion and they were able to discuss the answer with their teammates before saying the answer encouraging collaboration. Everyone enjoyed the activity and everyone was engaged.

What’s Your Anti-Drug? In its 19th year, sponsored by the Center for Prevention and Counseling, hundreds of Sussex County students submit drawings, stories, and photographs of their “anti-drug” for judging. This year we have three students who won the “anti-drug” campaign. Congratulations to Paul Mele, 8th grade, whose anti-drug is photography. Paul submitted one of his many outdoor scene photographs; Megan Calkin, 8th grade, whose “anti-drug” is horseback riding; and Dakota Resto, 6th grade, whose “anti-drug” is art. These students will be honored at this year’s Vernon Coalition’s Town Hall Meeting in April 2020, held at Glen Meadow Middle School.

 

Green Team: Mrs. Vaszlavik and her Green Team students have begun to collect plastic that will be recycled. The Glen Meadow Green Team will once again participate in a nationwide contest the “Trex School Challenge”.  Trex makes a compost material using several materials, one of which is plastic film packaging.  Last year, our school collected 2,010 pounds of plastic film.  From last year’s collection, we won Trex benches that are in the front of our school. The Green Team will continue the plastic film collection this year. The class that collects the most plastic will win a pizza party! Please view this short video from Trex about our recycling program. This video explains what is accepted. The picture below is one plastic film collection that our Green Team collected from all homerooms…that’s A LOT of plastic!!

 

Teen Child Assault Prevention Program: Teen CAP Adult Guide for parents of 8th-grade students. 8th-grade students will have the Teen CAP program in their social studies classes this month.

Vernon Lights Festival: Glen Meadow is excited to be invited to be one of the first groups to walk through the light festival themes on the grounds of the former Camp Sussex! Our 6th-graders will be going on Monday, December 2, 7th graders on Tuesday, December 3, and 8th graders on Wednesday, December 4. There is no charge for this special field trip. Please encourage your child to dress warmly and wear proper footwear as this is an outdoor activity. Check out the Vernon Lights Festival website.

Operation Parent:  Operationparent.org is an excellent website for parents of middle school and high school students. It contains multiple resources for parents raising teenagers. Check out the site for informational webinars and more. Here is a helpful video on cyberbullying and how you can monitor your child online.

 

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 Glen Meadow. Our building selection will be made in early December. There are so many outstanding professionals in Glen Meadow for you to consider! Last year’s recipients were Mrs. Kathy Stigler, special area technology teacher, and Ms. Stephanie Ash, School Nurse

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

Updating your contact information: Now that the winter is around the corner, 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. Please call the main office if you need any assistance with updating your contact information; we’d be happy to assist 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 less fortunate families in Sussex County. Students that have made donations are very proud of the gifts they personally selected.

 

A few reminders of upcoming events:

Grades for Marking Period One: Opens on Monday, November 11, 2019, in Genesis

5th Grade Family Exploring Electives Experience: Wednesday, November 13, 2019, at 6:30 pm, 5th graders and their families will be treated to a light dinner and will travel around the gym to “explore” all of the specials classes that are offered to Glen Meadow students. This program is run by dozens of Glen Meadow students who are going to represent all the activities available at Glen Meadow. Check out the commercial our students made for this event.

All Schools SCA Tricky Tray: Saturday, November 16, 2019, at VTHS, doors open at 6:00 pm

SCA Meeting: Wednesday, November 20, 2019, at 9:30 am

School Spirit Day: Thursday, November 21, 2019…students should wear their “Class of” t-shirts or other Vernon attire

Early Dismissal Day: Wednesday, November 27, 2019; Schools Closed November 28-29th

Change in the 2019-2020 School Calendar: We will have an Early Dismissal Day on Friday, December 20, 2019, school is closed from December 23, 2019, through January 1, 2020. School will re-open on Thursday, January 2, 2020.

Wishing you a great Thanksgiving with your family,

Mrs. Gebhardt