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From The Principal
Happy New Year Clinton Community!
I have this hanging on a wall in my office and refer to it
often. It helps me guide the expectations we have for our
Clinton kids. What a great time to review who they are.
Thank you for your love and belief in them as well.
12thMLK: Amazing Grace, 7:30pm
Clinton School
at
Last Day to Register
for Enrichment
14th-16th
Treasure in the Trunk
19thMartin Luther King, Jr. Day, District Closed
20th
SEPAC/SPED-PTO meeting, 7:30 pm, 525 Academy Street, Maplewood
21stADD/ADHD Support Group, 7:30 pm, The Parenting Center
22ndGeneral PTA Meeting, 7:30 pm, Introducing the Clinton School
Buddy Program
26th
Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 pm. 525 Academy Street, Maplewood
Coming-up-in-February
6th
Clinton School Pride Day
Tricky Tray
In-This-Issue
Pg 4
Pg 5 Science Circus
at
Clinton
Tricky Tray Needs You!
We are all looking forward to a productive successful 2015
with our amazing Clinton kids and with you.
Pg 5Clinton Faculty
Achieve Grants
Patty
Pg. 7-8
Poetry, Opinion and Origami
Clinton’s Roving Reporters!
A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
win
from
www.clintonelementary.org
Clinton Courier
Issue 5, Jan 2015
PTA Board 2014-2015
From The PTA President
President
Happy New Year, Clinton School Families!
First Vice President
I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL holiday break and is ready to jump with
both feet into another exciting and fun-filled year at Clinton. We have a number of events on the calendar already that I urge our families to take advantage
of. Don’t forget to check the school website (www.clintonelementary.org) on a
regular basis and if you don’t already receive important email notifications from
Clinton, please sign up now. Send a message to clintonschoolpta@gmail.com
asking to be added to our list. Please indicate the grade of your children.
Holly Pappas
973-763-1223 holly.s.pappas@gmail.com
Andrea Beck
973-763-1223 andreabeck999@yahoo.com
Vice Presidents
Fundraising
Sharon Geraghty
973-761-4120 Sharon2326@gmail.com
Assistant, Fundraising
Janet Trzaska
973-762-4884 meyers1113@aol.com
Cultural Arts
Shanta Gyan sbgyan@hotmail.com
Assistant, Cultural Arts
Candice Davenport candice.davenport@gmail.com
Public Relations
Mauri Solages mmsolages@gmail.com
Assistant, Public Relations
C. Rami Coleman corinapeas@yahoo.com
Membership
Paul Gaykowski
Assistant, Membership
December was a busy month for everyone. Special thanks to Leah Gomberg
and our parent volunteers for a fantastic Winter Craft Fair and for creating a
winter wonderland in the front hall using student’s creations. Thanks to everyone who helped provide a lovely breakfast for the cafeteria staff and to our wonderful Clinton students who made a special thank you banner. Our first annual
holiday teacher luncheon was also a great success.
Verna Jackson
Treasurer
Jonelle Delk jonelledelk@hotmail.com
Recording Secretary
Kimmberly Bulkley
Corresponding Secretary
Jenny Lindstrom
Clinton Courier
Editor, Anne Harding
973-763-3893 anne_harding@yahoo.com
Layout Editor, Kathleen Hong
Webmaster
Norman Villatoro
Cultural Heritage Month Coordinator
January is shaping up to be a very eventful month starting with Clinton hosting a Children’s Theatre event on January 12th. Please bring the whole family
for this fun evening! The second General PTA meeting of the school year will
be held on January 22nd. Don’t miss the introduction of the Clinton School
Buddy Program along with the PTA budget and some exciting fundraising goals.
Finally, we hope you’ve marked your calendar for our biggest fundraiser of the
year. The annual Tricky Tray will take place on February 6th at the Orange
Lawn Tennis Club in South Orange. The prizes this year are amazing and we
hope to raise more money than ever before. We look forward to seeing you
there!
Neena Kumar & Eileen Campos
ELL Liaison
Leana Lu
After School Enrichment Coordinator
Erica Dussman
Holly
holly.s.pappas@gmail.com
973-327-4827
SPED-PTO Liaison
Kate Shamburg
973-378-8199 kashamburg@gmail.com
Members-at-Large
Eileen Campos
Leah Gomberg
Dermal McCrear
Monica Ross
Amy Janay
President Emeritus
Maureen Jones
Teacher Representatives
Stefanie Wrembel swrembel@somsd.k12.nj.us
Robin Ross rross@somsd.k12.nj.us
Clinton PTA gets 4%
of every purchase you make on Amazon if you use
this link. Just click to go to the page and bookmark it!
Principal
Patricia O’Neill
973-378-7686 poneill@somsd.k12.nj.us
Assistant Principal
Ann Bodnar
973-378-7686 abodnar@somsd.k12.nj.us
http://is.gd/clintonamazon
A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
www.clintonelementary.org
2
Clinton Courier
Grade News
Kindergarten
Kindergarten closes the year with lots of learning and cheer.
We are finishing our Writing like Scientists unit and continuing to practice our reading strategies in our Just Right
books. We are comparing numbers using more and less and
have focused on positional words as well. Looking forward
to 2015!
First Grade
First Grade read many snowmen and gingerbread stories
in December. After reading the stories we retold the stories
with partners and/or within our Reading Response Journals.
We also compared and contrasted settings, characters and
problems. In Writing, we are working on expanding our
small moment stories into many moment stories. We are using Angela Johnson as one of our mentor authors. In Math,
we finished Unit 7, Numbers to 20, and will be starting
Addition and Subtraction to 20, one of first grade’s most
important units. Also, the first grade teachers would like to
thank everyone who helped make our holiday parties a big
success and wish you all a happy and healthy 2015!!
Second Grade
Happy Holidays from Second Grade! In reading we have
been working on informational text including identifying
text features. We have been using what we have learned in
reading to write our own informational text or All About
book. In Math we are digging into multiplication and it is
really exciting! In Social Studies we have been exploring
maps, so feel free to pass the direction map along to us on
our holiday travels.
Third Grade
We have been busy in Third Grade. In Math the chant has
been “Multiplication Facts! Multiplication Facts! Multiplication Facts!” all month, and we are on our way to mastery
(but please continue to help us practice). We have moved
from our nonfiction to our inner strength thematic unit in
Reading. We are also finishing up our Feature Articles on
our Chromebooks and are beginning Expository Essays in
writing. We are excited to begin studying Native Americans
in Social Studies when we return from the break. We also
really enjoyed our Third Grade Multi-Cultural Feast (thank
A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
Issue 5, Jan 2015
you parents and teachers for all the fantastic food and treats).
Hope everyone had a great break!
Fourth Grade
In Fourth Grade Math we are focused on our fraction unit.
We have been studying Colonial New Jersey in Social Studies and in Language Arts we have been reading historical
fiction, including Freedom Crossing. We are also excitedly
anticipating our March 17th trip to see Freedom Train, the
story of Harriet Tubman. In Writing we have been working
on literary essays.
Fifth Grade
In Math, we are wrapping up chapters on the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of fractions and mixed
numbers. We are reviewing the chapters taught so far and
will take a Benchmark Assessment on these skills sometime
in mid-January. We are encouraged to bring our textbooks
home and review those previously taught skills. (Please
remember the textbook can be accessed online, contact your
child’s homeroom teacher for login and password information.)
In Science, we are continuing the Energy unit and using Science Court Activities to learn about Inertia. Some students
completed Colonization Projects in Social Studies and some
students are beginning to research the colony they will report
on for this unit.
We will be working on a new writing unit in January, Literary Essay. We will take a close look at a piece of literature
and deeply examine its theme and characters, and will
develop a thesis and create an essay proving the thesis. In
Reading we are working on our Historical Fiction Unit. We
will be reading historical fiction books primarily set during
the Revolutionary War. We will look at fact vs fiction.
The social work interns are running a Fifth Grade talent
show. We are excited to show off our talents! We are looking
forward to seeing some dancing, singing, instrument playing,
and many more of our fifth-graders’ talents.
Thank you to our parents and volunteers for our “Happy
New Year” parties! Hope everyone had a Happy Holiday
Recess!!
Multi-Age
In December, as part of our Community Based Instruction
Curriculum, we had a 90-minute yoga class, donated by Sarah Dennehy and Mindful Kids Yoga. We also took a trip to
the Livingston Mall to purchase gifts for military personnel
overseas through Operation Gratitude. A fun winter activity
our class completed was “trapped in a snow globe,” where
the boys made snow globes with their pictures in them!
www.clintonelementary.org
3
Clinton Courier
Issue 5, Jan 2015
MLK: Amazing Grace
Clinton January 12
at
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Elementary PTAs
and the Parenting Center are hosting a performance of MLK:
Amazing Grace at Clinton, at 7:30 p.m. on January 12.
The dramatic piece was written by Rochel Garner Coleman,
who also will direct the show. Four storytellers will use minor
props and costume changes to play participants in the Civil
Rights Movement, including Rosa Parks, Andy Young, Sheyanne Webb and more. Characters will talk about their association with Martin Luther King, Jr. Their accounts are based on
real-life stories and historical research. The show is free and
suitable for the whole family.
Beyond the Bell Enrichment
Deadline Coming Soon!
Beyond the Bell After School Enrichment Winter Session
comes to Clinton! You should have received a registration
packet in your child’s backpack on the first day back to school.
Registration deadline is Monday, January 12.
Questions? Contact Jonelle Delk at jonelledelk@hotmail.com
Notes
from the
Nurse
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you all
had a wonderful holiday and peaceful break. As
we begin the new year I am asking for your help. Several of
our students and staff members suffer from migraine headaches. For some there are specific things that trigger these
headaches. Some very common triggers are strongly scented
lotions, perfumes and colognes. Please refrain from using
these scented items on your children on school days as they
may cause their teachers and / or classmates to develop a
headache. I thank you for you anticipated cooperation.
We are now at the height of cold and flu season, so please
remind your children to cover those coughs and sneezes and
wash their hands often. These simple acts go a long way to
keeping us all healthy. Once again, please remember that NO
MEDICATIONS, including over-the-counter medicines, may
be administered at school without a doctor’s prescription.
Thank you and here’s to a fantastic 2015!!
Your Nurse,
Joann Harrigan, RN CSN,
Clinton School Nurse
973-378-7686 ext.5003
A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
Library News
The new year always brings about feelings of
starting anew, but I want to reflect on an amazing end to 2014.
Every student in Clinton Elementary School participated in the
international event Hour of Code. The statistics for this year’s
event were staggering as over 77,000 events were held around
the world in December. Our Clinton kids were excited to learn
about computer science, algorithms, loops and functions. One of
the best parts of the week was watching kids learn that even the
President was coding.
2015 is going to be a great year in the library. We are continuing to evolve our space to meet the needs of our students. The
library was awarded an Achieve grant in 2014 for Makerspace
materials. This includes books on robotics, 3D printing, knitting,
origami and science exploration.
Happy New Year and happy reading!
Jennifer Latimer,
Clinton Elementary School Library
jlatimer@somsd.k12.nj.us Twitter @jenlatimer
www.AnywhereLibrarian.com
www.donorschoose.org/jlatimer
973-378-7686 x 5004
‘Science Circus’ Coming
Clinton School
to
Get ready for the circus coming to Clinton School! However,
this circus won’t feature clowns, lions and trapeze artists.
Instead students will participate in a “Science Circus”, where
they will explore the effects of liquid nitrogen on various states
of matter, the power of air pressure, and the shocking effects of
electrical charges.
For Clinton School’s upcoming assembly program, science
educators will engage lots of students in over a dozen chilling
and thrilling experiments!
Two assemblies will be held on Friday, January 16, at 8:30am
and 9:30am. The K-2 assembly will take place in the auditorium
at 8:30am; and grades 3-5 assembly at 9:30am.
Parents and younger siblings are welcome to attend the assembly.
If you plan to attend, please sit in the balcony area.
— Shanta Gyan, VP for Cultural Arts &
Candice Davenport, Asst VP for Cultural Arts
www.clintonelementary.org
4
Clinton Courier
Issue 5, Jan 2015
Clinton Faculty Win Achieve
Foundation Grants!
IT’S TIME TO START LOOKING FORWARD
TO THE BIGGEST
FUNDRAISER
(AND FUN-RAISER) ON
THE CLINTON SCHOOL CALENDAR:
THE SILENT AUCTION &
TRICKY TRAY
COMING THIS FEBRUARY!
Here’s what we need from our parent body to make the
event an even bigger success than it has been years past:
T1.ricky Tray
set for
Mark your calendars for Friday, Feb. 6th,
and plan to buy your tickets! We’ve secured
a swanky new location this year, and are planning an evening that is not to be missed.
February 6
• Commit to donating at least one item
to the event! When we all take ownership of the success of our school, our
kids win!
Clinton’s
12th Annual Auction & 3.Tricky
Tray is coming up
2. Think about what YOU can bring to the table!
Volunteer to help the committee
solicit donations from our local
soon.• This
ouraccess
biggest
(and
most fun) fundraiser
of the year.
Do you have
to a special
hook-up
business communities!
through work or family that could be
We need
your
rely
from
our
Clinton
auctioned
off athelp!
our eventWe
& bring
in big on donations
Contact either
Eileen
Campos
donations for our amazing school?
at flyleen@hotmail.com or
Kelly Turner at kellyturner@verizon.net
families
to
supply
auction
items.
• Think out of the box: do you have access
for more information about how
to sports/event/theater tickets, do you
make jewelry, have access to a vacation
spot that could be auctioned for a week,
bake amazing cakes, offer a service that
everyone needs? These types of items/
services can be a big help in raising
funds that directly benefit our kids!
you can get involved!
LET THE
theater,
actor,
Do you craft? Have a hookup to a
restaurant,
tickets, venues or shop? Think outsideCOUNTDOWN
the box! Can you
BEGIN!
donate a couple of hours of babysitting,
bake a dozen cupcakes, facepaint at a kid’s party or organize someone’s closet?
Name
& Email:
____________________________
of donation:
Did
you
receive
a gift you can’t useDescription
or don’t
want? Donate it!
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
Would you host a dinner? The Clinton Dinners are always a
How you’d like to be listed in the program:
Limitations:
big hit and super fun. Come up with a theme or a menu, din_________________________________________
ners
can be at your home or can be_________________________________________
delivered. Please consider
donating something!
The Achieve Foundation’s
Teacher Grant Program
inspires district teachers
to propose exceptional,
constructive projects to
help their students in the
classroom and beyond.
In all, Achieve awarded 63 teacher grants totaling $67,000
for the current school year.
Congratulations to Clinton’s Jennifer Latimer, who received
a grant to create Makerspace Creator Space!
Some proposals were approved but did not receive the entire
amount of funding requested, including Jon Korellis for Community Based Instruction at Clinton. These projects are
now eligible for direct funding, which means you can donate
directly to any project of your choice through January 31st!
Fill out pledge form below (use flip side for additional space) and send back addressed to Tricky Tray Committee.
(i.e. “Beaded Objects by Clinton Parent Eileen Campos”)
(i.e. Valid for 1 year from the date of the Auction)
We will be having our Treasure in the Trunk days on January 14, 15, and 16. You can anonymously regift any unwanted
items. All must be in new condition, We’ll take it all! These
items will be prize donations for our Tricky Tray portion of the
event. Look for cars with signs parked in front of the school at
AM drop off.
We will also be selling raffle tickets during our Treasure in the
Trunk days. We have 2 amazing raffles this year. Maplewood
Family Pool Membership: All Clinton families are eligible
for this prize... ahh summer, what’s better than hanging out
at the pool? The Restaurant Raffle: Dine out for days! The
winner receives Gift Certificates to over 15 restaurants with
more coming in each day! Currently we have over $475 worth
of gift cards... did I mention more coming every day? Raffle
tickets are $15 each or 2 for $25. All winning tickets will be
pulled at the Tricky Tray. You do not need to be present to win.
This year’s event will be held February 6th, 2015 at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club. Mark your calendars. We promise a
fun evening. Please contact Eileen Campos or Kelly Turner.
We can both be reached at clintonauction@gmail.com for any
questions or if you’d like to discuss prize ideas.
A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
Click here to donate: https://achievefoundation.org/supportus-category/fundraising/annual-fund/. Just choose Direct
Funding on the form, provide the information requested, and
pay via Paypal. To pay by mail, send your check with the
teacher’s name and school in the memo line to Achieve
Foundation, PO Box 84, Maplewood, NJ, 07040.
Direct Grant Funding donations are fully tax-deductible.
For more information please contact Buena Chilstrom
at grants@achievefoundation.org or 973-762-8274. Please
click here for a list of all the Achieve grants awarded this year.
Coming in February: AfricanAmerican Heritage Month
January’s display, “When is Your New Year,” is now up in the
front hallway. Please stop by, take a look, and enjoy the stories
and artifacts representing the Jewish, Chinese and calendar
New Year. Next month we will be celebrating African American heritage at Clinton. Do you have any creative thoughts,
ideas, stories, mementos, keepsakes or anything else that can
help us best represent this important month? We are really
hoping for input from the community. If you have any
thoughts or suggestions or just want to help please contact
Neena Kumar (neena.kumar@mac.com). Thank you!
— Neena Kumar, Cultural Heritage Coordinator
www.clintonelementary.org
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Clinton Courier
Issue 5, Jan 2015
Night of 100 Dinners
Seeking Hosts
Every year for the past 11 years, the community has come
together to host dozens of dinners around town in support
of the Achieve Foundation. This is one of the largest annual
fundraisers for the organization, which funds programs for
exemplary public education in Maplewood and South Orange
via teacher grants, STEM+ initiatives, volunteer tutoring,
professional development and more. Last year, we had around
75 families hosting and would love to increase the number of
hosts for 2015’s event.
How does it work?
GS Troop 22908 brings
Gratitude Graffiti to Clinton
In early November the Junior Girl Scouts Troop 22908 created a Clinton Gratitude Graffiti poster and installed it on the
school cafeteria wall, which stayed up until Winter Break. The
girl scouts hoped to generate well-being by providing a space
for students and grown-ups within the Clinton School community to express feelings of gratitude. Besides coinciding with
the Season of Giving, the project also helped the girl scouts to
live by the Girl Scout Law which is:
I will do my best to be
honest and fair
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
And to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.
It’s a fundraiser with a personal touch. Every year, people
volunteer by opening their homes to host or co-host simultaneous dinner parties to support Achieve. This year’s event takes
place on March 7th, 2015. Hosts create their own guest lists
and provide all the trimmings for parties that suit their fancy:
from candlelight dinners to take-out sushi or subs. Achieve
makes it easy by sending and tracking all invitations to YOUR
personal guest list. Dinner guests make a gift to Achieve of
$50 per person or more to attend. A party can be as simple
as a group of families doing potluck or a girls’ night out with
cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. It’s entirely up to the hosts.
For more information about hosting, donating or becoming an
event sponsor, please contact 100dinners@achievefoundation.
org. In addition, Clinton parents Shama Diegnan (shamadiegnan@att.net) and Shanta Gyan (sbgyan@hotmail.com) are
happy to share their hosting experiences or answer questions.
Perhaps because the Gratitude Graffiti project came on the
heels of the successful Week of Respect graffiti project at Columbia High School and Clinton Elementary, Clinton students
flourished at the task and their shared positive messages overflowed the allotted space quite early on so that it was necessary to provide more poster paper to last the full period.
Teachers and staff also wrote gratitude messages which was
shared weekly during Thursday’s morning announcements.
Clinton parent, Candice Davenport, and Lucila McElroy are
co-founders of the Gratitude Graffiti Project. To learn more
about The Gratitude Graffiti Project, click here for the website:
http://thegratitudegraffitiproject.com/
A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
www.clintonelementary.org
6
Clinton Courier
Issue 5, Jan 2015
January 2014 Roving Reporters
I am Thankful For ... by: Amanda Clinton students wrote about what they are thankful for and here is a selection from around the school: Maggie: The world Benjamin: Class Ella: Food and Mom Gavin: Friends Mallory: Books Dylan: Soccer Amanda: World Peace Clinton Courier Staff: Alison Amanda Ciara Evan Eve James Juliet Katie M. Katie T. Lily Owen Sadie Scarlett Winter Scarlett S.
Winter Snow falling, leaves dropping. Ice on roofs, long and cone shaped. Fire, burning orange. Warm and comforting. Milk with cookies. Eaten and drank. Chimneys smoking into the grey sky. Thinking of polar bears, and penguins, and angels. Christmas and New Year. Stockings and hats. Snow and ice, blue and white. Pillows and blankets wrap around the world. Snowmen and sledding. Skating and skiing. Love between two. Love between five. Love between ten. Boots, and coats, and hats, and scarfs. Hibernation, and migration Santa zipping from house to house, dropping goods to the children of the world. My white dog, nuzzling up to her family. Minds full of dreams, hearts full of love. And clouds, leading the snow, on the most incredible journey of the year.
Issue 5 ∙ Winter 2014 ∙ Maplewood, New Jersey A Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
www.clintonelementary.org
7
Clinton Courier
Issue 5, Jan 2015
Step 2. Turn Sticky Note over and fold the right third to the left. Letter from the Editor These past weeks have been so much fun as the Roving Reporter staff has worked to bring the Clinton community fun and interesting news and interest stories. In addition, the staff wanted to express themselves creatively through poetry, papercrafts and more. ­ Mrs. Latimer .How to Origami (Easy) Step 3. Fold the left third over the right half. By James V. Start with one square sticky note. In my opinion By Evan ARE STAND UP DESKS BETTER? According to recent studies, yes. I read an article from Scholastic News and it says that standing up can burn ten more calories than sitting down every hour. It also says if you are standing up for a week you will burn the same amount of calories as you do running three miles. So make your choice. Do you want to stand………….or sit? www.wired.com Winter Poetry by Alison Step 1. Fold bottom third of Sticky Note upwards. Step 4. Flip back over and draw your face above the line. Winter Ice No school Time for happiness Eating pie Reading A small little speck Falling far on to the ground Quietly it lands Issue 5 ∙ Winter 2014 ∙ Maplewood, New Jersey A
Publication of the Clinton Parent Teacher Association
www.clintonelementary.org
8