Highlights since our last board meeting:

Current Enrollment Figures 

Village School –in coordination with Meryl Gill, the Director of Special Services, the preschool information session was open to the public on Jan. 21st for a morning and evening session. Each session was well attended and the parents were very enthusiastic about the program. Preschool applications were accepted this week on Tuesday January 26^th, Wednesday January 27^th, and Thursday January 28^th from 9-11 a.m.

 The PSA, in coordination with Ms. Sweeney, had an excellent assembly, “The Rope Warrior,” who is a professional jump roper. The students and teachers were amazed by his skills and it was a wonderful way to kick-off the campaign for “Jump Rope for Heart” that will be taking place on Feb. 10th.

Village school students earned 500 "sneakers" this month for demonstrating RESPECT. Next month the students will be learning about CARING.

Indian Hill –The Knowledge Master's Open results are in!

Indian Hill 5th graders came in 2nd in NJ and 18th in USA.

And Indian Hill 6th graders came in 1st in NJ and 25th in USA!

 The Knowledge Master's Open is a trivia style online competition that is open to fifth and sixth grade students. It is held twice a year once in January and once in March.  It is a  challenging academic competition in which teams of students compete nationally and internationally without leaving their own schools. The Knowledge Master’s Open began in 1983 with 72 schools; annually the “Open”attracts over 3,000 schools and 45,000 participants from the U.S. and several foreign lands.

Teams in the Knowledge Master's Open receive curriculum-based contest questions (200 at secondary levels, 100 at 5th & 6th grade levels) on a CD-ROM and compete using a computer at their own schools.

Indian Hill 4th grade classes ran a Poetry Day for their students and parents. The children did a wonderful job presenting their poems by reciting them to the group and using the new ELMO projectors to give everyone a nice visual. 

Additionally, Indian Hill is running a fundraiser activity for the relief effort in Haiti.  They are very proud to be giving the students an opportunity to help those in need during such a difficult time.

Satz School - The students that participated in the Future City Engineer’s contest had a discussion and decided that they would like to donate their winnings to the Haiti relief fund. One student took the initiative and contacted Sports Authority about cashing in the three $40.00 cards to put towards the Haiti cause and  received a reply from them which explained how to do so.

As of last week the students and staff at Satz School raised $5,943.00 for their Haiti relief fund.  This is phenomenal given the fact that the school’s goal was $1,200.00.

W. R. Satz Middle School Proudly Presents….

Oliver will be presented January 29th at 7PM and January 30th at 3PM and 7PM in the Holmdel High School Auditorium

Holmdel High School –On January 22nd, Ms. Connelly's Acting classes presented an acting showcase in the high school auditorium, before an audience of over 200, entitled "Love and Lunacy." Thirty-seven students performed in eleven different scenes under the direction of Ms. Connelly and senior student director. This was the culmination of their semester-long experience in the class.  As Ms. Connelly noted in her Director's Notes, "there were twists and turns as we progressed from auditioning with monologues to collaborating with scene partners. We scrambled for makeshift costumes and outrageous props (imagine building a wooden leg or a washing machine!). Often, students were asked to move outside of their “comfort zone” to try and live truthfully in someone else's skin. Over the past few weeks, "I can't” became “I'll try” and eventually “I did it!"

The showcase, now in its third year, is more popular than ever, and a great example of performance assessment and differentiated instruction.  Bravo!

HHS Guidance - in order to better serve our student population, Holmdel High School has purchased Family Connection from Naviance.  Family Connection is a Web-based service designed especially for students and parents.  It is a comprehensive website that can be used to help in making decisions about colleges and careers.  Working with your student’s school counselor, Family Connection can assist in many areas:

·        College searches

·        College resumes

·        Career Interest surveys

·        Standardized test preparation

·        Scholarship opportunities

·        College visits

·        And much more!

We look forward to working with your child and introducing a tool to ensure future success.

All-Star Musicians- congratulations to a freshman, who recently earned 1st Chair - Oboe in the NJ All-State Wind Ensemble!

Progress Towards Reaching Our District Goals:

Several second and third grade teachers at Village School were trained on Everyday Math games which they will integrate into their lessons in order to continue differentiating their instruction.

At Indian Hill the 4th grade Literacy teachers are meeting weekly to plan and articulate lessons in Reading Workshop.

Satz School is continuing to work with DSACS to develop Safe and Civil Schools towards the Character Education goal.   They are in the process of developing and gathering data on bullying prevention and will also be implementing a climate survey to the students and staff later in the spring to evaluate the school climate.

They are also working towards the differentiation of instruction goal through the I&RS committee by having staff members attend workshops on developing strategies to address the learning and behavior problems of students at the middle school level. Several of these workshops focus on manipulating the curriculum to meet the individual needs of students.  The staff members then report back on these interventions and they turn key them to other staff members through their action plans.