The end of the third marking period is approaching! Students in Mrs. Smith's STEM class at Johnstone School are fully engaged in a new curriculum, Project Lead the Way. They worked on several projects related to design and modeling. Students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade were tasked with creating a skimmer using a design plan.
In this activity, students competed with their classmates to see who could create the best skimmer, a small vehicle that would glide across (or “skim” over) the floor. The more accurate the measurements, the better the skimmer would glide and the farther it would go.
Students were given a design plan with dimensions to clearly communicate the measurements and features of the skimmer. Students followed demonstration videos along with teacher support to create a completed skimmer using a file folder.
Students tested & reflected on how effectively they constructed their skimmers. Skimmers with accurate measurements and careful cutting/folding typically traveled the farthest.
Finally, students calculated the mean and average for their skimmer trials. The data was used to create a Class Skimmer Data Google Spreadsheet. Students were able to represent and analyze the statistical data for the class skimmer launch by creating a Candlestick Chart.
College English III students in Mrs. Belvett's class at Vineland High School spent the week getting introduced to Shakespeare and his play Macbeth. Students created improv scenes using lines from Macbeth and lines from the Star Wars character Yoda to interpret and analyze text. They played the Game of Shakespeare's Life: Macbeth Edition and searched the web for background information. They also began adventures with Flat Shakespeare. You might remember Flat Stanley -- the little cut-out character that travels around with students in their elementary school folders. Flat Shakespeare will be assigned to each student for one night. They are to take pictures with him around school and town! They can also post a video of Flat Shakespeare with someone they know reciting any line from Shakespeare. Flat Shakespeare has visited Rita's Water Ice, the VHS tennis courts, Ms. Chalow's anatomy class, the string ensemble, and the construction class. If he travels your way, be sure to participate!
The City of Vineland Board of Education has changed the date of the Public
Hearing on Budget meeting, which was scheduled for Monday, April 22,
2024. This will now take place on Wednesday, April 24, 2024, at 5:00 p.m.
in the Landis Administration Building Auditorium at 61 W. Landis Avenue,
Vineland, New Jersey. No formal action will be taken.
The new edition of the Vineland Public Library Gazette is now available! See the message below from the VPL:
Hello everyone. We are excited to be sharing the April 2024 Edition of our VPL Gazette. Please click on the link VPL GAZETTE: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGAtaOuyVg/fYAsbKjMod_DiidoaSa_GQ/view to see this month's edition. Please make sure to mark your calendars for our Book Sale scheduled for Saturday, May 4th.
Please take a few minutes to review this edition and share the link with your friends and neighbors. As always, we have something for everyone. Please encourage them to share the link as well. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions please contact us at: vplgazette@vinelandpubliclibrary.org.
As always, we appreciate the opportunity to share our newspaper and invite everyone to visit us as soon as you are able. We look forward to welcoming the entire community to the Vineland Public Library.
The 2024-2025 district calendar was approved at the April 10 Board of Education meeting and can be viewed below.
The first day of school for all students will be Thursday, September 5.
The calendar is also available on our website www.vineland.org.
English: https://5il.co/2iayz
Spanish: https://5il.co/2iaz0
Ms. Schwan’s class at Rossi Elementary School created multiple ecosystems, but these projects took considerable time, research, effort, and patience. At the beginning of the school year, our class decided to get a classroom pet. Our pet of choice ended up being a betta fish. Before getting our fish, we had to learn how to create an environment that would sustain our pet and give him the best life possible.
First, we set up our fish tank, making sure the water was dechlorinated, at the correct temperature, and had a filter, gravel, and synthetic plants. Next, we learned about the nitrogen cycle and how our fish tank needed time to complete a cycle before we put our fish in. This process takes months, so while we waited, we tested the water parameters, learned all about caring for our future pet, and did lots of research.
After two months of waiting, we were finally able to purchase our fish and bring him into the classroom. We named our betta fish Walter. Every student took turns feeding Walter, checking the water temperature in the tank, and making sure we kept our pets’ ecosystem functioning. Unfortunately, during a water change, our fish became stressed and passed away. Instead of being sad, we decided to learn from our mistakes! We spent time learning about the life cycle of fish. When we felt ready, we got another betta fish and named him George.
Now, we wanted George to have the best quality of life, and through our research, we realized that keeping live plants in a fish tank is optimal, as the plants help filter out nitrates that are harmful to fish. Therefore, we decided to get a larger fish tank, put live plants in, and make the best ecosystem possible!
Our class learned about the types of plants and substrates we should use in the larger fish tank. We purchased them and created a beautifully planted ecosystem for George, but, as we learned before, a fish tank needs to be cycled before placing fish inside. Therefore, we waited two months before placing George in the tank. George loves his new tank, and he even has six neon tetra friends living with him.
Currently, our class has three fish tanks! Eventually, we plan to change our two smaller tanks into planted aquariums so we can have more fish friends. Creating multiple ecosystems took a lot of work, but learning through exploration was so rewarding and fun.
On November 16, 2023, eight Vineland High School students in the Russian program participated in the 42nd National Russian Essay Contest, sponsored by the American Council of Teachers of Russian. Students write an essay in Russian on the topic or theme announced at the beginning of the period allotted for writing the essay. The time limit for writing the essays was two hours.
This year, 832 students from 29 Russian programs nationwide participated in the contest.
Vineland High School and Russian teacher Vlada Jackson are proud to announce that our students received eight medals and nine diplomas.
Students receiving medals included:
Gold medal - Yelyzavet Taranenko (11gr.)
6 Silver medals: Natalia Kobys (11gr.), Daniel Borisenko (11gr.), Vladimir Manannikov (10 gr.), Anastasiia Nikulina (12gr.), Anastasiya Serediuk (9 gr.), Nikita Yazvinskyi (12 rg.)
Bronze medal - Drytro Halushchak (12 gr.)
Diploma of Honorable Mention - Daryna Shevchuk (9 gr.)
Participation in this National Contest helped the students gain confidence in their knowledge of Russian, acquire a sense of achievement, and be recognized for their efforts in mastering a critical language. Congratulations on this wonderful achievement!
Purvesh Patel, Director of Food Service, was recognized at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting for the partnership between Sodexo Food Service and the Vineland Public Schools Special Education Department.
Executive Director of Student Services Teri Godlewski, accompanied by students in the RISE program, presented Mr. Patel with a certificate of recognition at the meeting. Students in the RISE (Reaching Independence through Structured Learning) program at VHS have started working together with the Adult Center for Transition (ACT) Program at the Rowan College of South Jersey at Cumberland campus. RCSJCC had been operating without a café for their students to purchase and enjoy breakfast, lunch, coffee, drinks, or snacks for quite some time.
The ACT and RISE programs partnered to solve this problem together, providing an opportunity for all of our students to get real-life work experience in a working kitchen and café at the RCSJCC Campus. With the help of Mr. Patel and Sodexo, the Together Café opened for business on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.
Vineland Public Schools celebrated the contributions of 19 outstanding staff members during the Board of Education meeting on April 10th. These individuals were honored with the new Support Staff Member of the Year award for the 2023-24 academic year.
In February, our staff was invited to nominate their peers who work tirelessly behind the scenes and go above and beyond to ensure the smooth functioning of our schools. Over 150 heartfelt nominations were received, which were eventually narrowed down to one recipient per school and the Landis Administrative Offices.
Congratulations to this year’s honorees! Your hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed and we are grateful for all that you do.
2023-24 Support Staff Member of the Year:
Barse Elementary School: Grace Ortiz, Aide
Cunningham Academy: Doris Edwards, Aide
Dallago Preschool East: Mari Story, SecurityGuard
Dallago Preschool West: Maria Panzino, Secretary
D’Ippolito Elementary School: Susan Levari, Aide
Durand Elementary School: Higinio David Beltran, Maintenance
Johnstone Middle School: Angela McLaughlin, Secretary
Landis Administration Building: Wanda Santiago Jimenez, Secretary
Landis Transportation: Maria Tejada, Driver
Mennies Elementary School: Darlene Castellini, Secretary
Petway Elementary School: Angel Ortiz, Maintenance
Pilla Middle School: Ioannis John Frangomihalos, Guard
Rossi Elementary School: Helen Pereira, Guard
Sabater Elementary School: Jonathan Gonzalez, Secretary
Veterans Memorial Middle School: Sue Smith, Secretary
VHS Tanner Building (North): Dana Franchetta, Aide
VHS South: Roberto Cruz, Maintenance
Wallace Middle School: Virmarie Boyer, Secretary
Winslow Elementary School: Mary Frangomihalos, Food Service
Thank you to the students from Sabater Elementary School who led the flag salute at Wednesday's Board of Education meeting. Great job! 🇺🇸
We will be streaming the April 10 Vineland Board of Education Combined Meeting at 5 p.m. on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/live/XL487twiZhQ?si=xIb9PvmQxg30yikz
Meeting Agenda: https://bit.ly/43RY5TQ
In Ms. Morgan's Project Lead the Way class at Pilla Middle School, 7th graders Nathan Broshchan and Marvin Moenga presented their foot orthosis, which they built for a child with cerebral palsy. Their design was the first of its kind, including a retractable base that would allow the child to continue to use the boot as their foot grows.
The American Legion Contest winners from Mennies Elementary School are Ailianie Liciaga 1st place, Alina Mykhaylevych 2nd, and Jeffrey Cruz 3rd. These 5th-grade students were given medals and awards from the veterans. We are very proud of them and their effort in this contest!
The Wallace NJHS and Safety Patrol members acted as student liaisons during the recent Career Day held at Wallace Middle School. The students helped the presenters find classrooms, accompanied them on their presentations, and enjoyed lunch. Guidance counselor Mr. Ortiz complimented the students on how helpful and respectful the students were. These 8th graders continue to make everyone at Wallace proud!
To celebrate poetry month, students in Ms. Galan's Language Arts classes at Wallace Middle School visited the library to complete Blackout Poetry. Repurposing old books provided by librarian Mrs. Squire, the students created found poetry by locating words on the pages they wanted to use and blacking out the ones they did not want to use. The activity was enjoyed by all, including principal Ms. Rosado and assistant principal Mrs. Galan, who stopped in to create their own poems.
Vineland Public Schools hosted its first Elementary Parent Resource Night on Tuesday at the Landis Administrative Offices. The event featured breakout sessions related to HIBs (harassment, intimidation and bullying), math resources, literacy resources, testing/NJSLA prep, and resources for multilingual learners.
After a dinner provided by Sodexo, the district’s food service provider, parents were invited to visit the several community tables in the gymnasium to receive more information on resources available in the community. They then chose two breakout sessions to attend.
The district plans to host another resource fair in the fall.
Mr. Porter's African American Experience Classes at Vineland High School celebrated Women's History Month in March!
Members of our district staff and community had a great time at Wallace Middle School's Career Day on March 27!
A beautiful spring day at Vineland High School with VHS Dancers Juliet Lonchambon, Peyton Russo, Julianne Guinup, and Addison Clark venturing outdoors for some photos! Mark your calendars to come see these talented dancers and their friends perform at their Annual Spring Dance Concert on May 9th at 6pm!
In honor of the eclipse, Ms. Pilla and Ms. Bronson's third-grade class at Petway Elementary School completed various eclipse-related activities. They began by making pinhole projectors and testing them out outside. They continued by researching moon phases, snacking on moon pies, and making their own eclipse pictures. They also traced their shadows and observed the changing shapes at different times throughout the day. Finally, they had a great time viewing the eclipse!
