Highlights as of November 19, 2008:

·     The Holmdel Foundation reports that the annual giving is in full swing and doing well. Also, the car raffle is on going and a mass mailing will be done in January to everyone in the district.
 

·     Parent-teacher conferences at the district schools began last week and will continue through this week.
 

·     Last weekend I attended the Friday evening performance of Our Town, which was the first production performed on the newly refurbished stage at the Satz School. The students did a wonderful job. Thank you to the teachers, administrators, and staff who supported the children and made this production possible.
 

·     I encourage all those who can to attend the walk for Courtney Dayback on Saturday, November 22, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. at Cross Farms.

Activities towards meeting district goals:

Differentiated Instruction:

·     Susan Alston and Liz Giacobbe presented a workshop to administrators on “Understanding by Design.” This information, which allows teachers to develop units of study that meet the diverse learning styles of their students, will be turn-keyed to the Village faculty at an upcoming faculty meeting.

Character Education

·     Many classes at Village are taking the Character Ed program beyond their classroom walls and making service learning projects. Mrs. Varga’s 1^st grade helped clean up the beach in October. Mrs. Shapter is organizing care packages to soldiers in Iraq in conjunction with other first grade classes, and the second grade teachers are organizing a “Giving Tree” where 2^nd grade students can select the name of a child in Monmouth County and purchase a gift for the holidays.

Highlights as of November 12, 2008:

·     This past Saturday, soldiers from Alpha Company (Holmdel’s adopted unit) were honored at a community social. Mr. Roger Benedict and his TV Production students made a DVD of the flag raising ceremony that took place in April and Mrs. Vander Woude presented this DVD to Lieutenant Commander Frederic Drummond. He was so moved by the clip that he has ordered that a copy be provided to each member of Alpha Company.  It will also be incorporated in a transition package for other troops to serve as a morale boost by underscoring the importance of community involvement.  He will also present a copy to Army Gen. David Petraeus, who previously served as the top U.S. commander in Iraq and now serves as Chief of U.S. Central Command.

·     I hope you had the opportunity to see our Halloween parades. The costumes were so creative and a wonderful time was had by all – students, staff and parents.

·     The fourth graders recently took their first field trip this year to Huber Woods. The staff and students had a great time engaging in all the activities the day had to offer.  

·     The student council candidates at Indian Hill did a fantastic job with their speeches for office – very professional. Congratulations to the new student council officers.

·     World Language teacher Jacqueline Peters recently conducted two presentations at the NJEA convention: Uses of New Technology to Enhance Teaching in the World Language Classroom and the Thematic Unit: Le Chambon: Où on a fait du bon. Translation:  “Le Chambon - a small town in France – where good was done.” The “good” means saving approximately 5000 Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

·     Please mark your calendars for December 1, 2008 when the High School Humanities Department will hold A Holiday Book Fair fund raiser at Barnes & Noble in Holmdel from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. With the exception of gift cards, every item in the store, including the café and magazines, will count towards our total. Everyone is invited!

·     The Girls’ Field Hockey Team won the NJSIAA North II – Group III Sectional Championship on November 8, by defeating Voorhees 2-0. The girls played in the Semifinal Group III Championship on Wednesday, November 12. They played Wayne Hills at Watchung Elementary School in Montclair. Since they won Wednesday, they will play for the Group III State Championship on Sunday, November 16.

Activities towards meeting district goals:

Differentiated Instruction:

·     Indian Hill has started to set up schedules for staff and students to go to the reading room for training in how to use various literacy materials to differentiate instruction. At present, this is being done on a voluntary basis with the plan to turnkey this information to other staff members. The response so far has been very good with the staff, and they look forward to continuing this initiative.

Character Education

·     With respect to the character education initiative, the fourth and fifth grade teachers are continuing with the morning meeting practice with their students.

Technology

·     Skills Tutor and Learnia technology training took place at Indian Hill and both programs are being put into practice.