Despite the cold weather, approximately 70 parents and family members came out for the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee meeting held at Sabater on Tuesday, November 28. In addition, for the first time, an ESL-Only Parent Advisory Meeting was held at Winslow on Wednesday, November 29, with around 20 parents and family members in attendance. The meetings provided the same information, but the meeting at Sabater was conducted in Spanish, and the meeting at Winslow was in English with Ukrainian and Haitian Creole interpreters. VHS ESL and Bilingual students also assisted at the meetings, providing child care and interpreting services. 50 parents obtained access to the Parent Portal at these events. Sabater's Jonathan Salazar devised an efficient system for getting parents into their new accounts quickly, and a team of administrative assistants from Sabater and Landis was able to get the parents navigating the program on their phones. Teachers Jessica Mercado and Mari Cortes then gave demonstrations of how to find information within the Portal, and stressed the ease and importance of keeping contact information up to date. They also talked about the different uses of the Portal, Google Classroom, and other communication apps such as ClassDojo, Talking Points, or Remind that are commonly used by teachers. Parents were reminded to bring a fully-charged phone to their conference in case they needed to download or register for one of these apps. Finally, Sabater Teacher Sugeil Colón-Torres talked to parents about how to prepare for a productive parent teacher conference, and provided some helpful hints about things parents can do to foster productive relationships with school staff and help their children succeed in school.
Citizenship was celebrated this month throughout Mennies Elementary School through discussions, assemblies, the WMEN morning news, and character definitions in all of the classrooms. Mrs. Tara Myerson, 1st grade teacher, also put together a Character Video to review the meaning of being a "good" citizen at school, at home, and in our community.
Mennies Character Badge Winners for the trait of citizenship were honored, and 5th grader Emmy Gonzalez was selected this month as the School CITIZEN of the Month. Mrs. Ludlam nominated Emmy and commented that she is always willing to help others. She is kind, sweet, responsible, and always follows the rules.
The Vineland High School Academic Team completed its first match of the year against Millville on November 29th. The Vineland-Millville Brain Brawl is held annually and was hosted this year by Millville at Millville High School. After two rounds of challenging questions about science, history, math, literature, current events, and local trivia, Millville prevailed, but Vineland demonstrated great team spirit and good sportsmanship.
The VHS team included Christian Alvarado and Denise Gonzalez, who served as captains of their rounds with Casey Russoman, Jezabelle Wilson, Michaela Giuliani, Kaelin Zheng, Iris Giocondo, and Valentino Chanza; alternates included Jillian Schultz, Brandon Nieves, Desunny Gonzalez, and Christopher Gagnon. Supporting team members pictured include Kendra Chestnut, Juliana Panco, and Alexica Perez. The illustrious Daniel Kuzma served as our school judge, and the coach of the team is Vanessa Rasmussen.
The FINAL HOURS of the Vineland High School Performing Arts fundraiser are here!
VHS Performing Arts needs your help in the final hours of our fundraiser! From home goods to candles to gourmet foods, every purchase will support our VHS Performing Arts classes.
Just use this link: https://registercw.com/gateway?organizationMidasId=27647
Charleston Wrap has Gift Wrap & Accessories, Personalized Gifts, Kitchen Essentials, and more. Home delivery and free shipping are available!
Check off your holiday gift list with over 2,500 quality gift ideas and help our important cause: Arts in our schools! The fundraiser ends tomorrow, December 1st. Please place your order now before it's too late!
Wallace Art Club students, led by art teacher Nichole DeJesus, have been hard at work making and selling ornaments to raise funds for a class trip to Grounds for Sculpture!
November's Portrait of a Graduate trait was "communication." Keri-Ann Haley's 8th Grade Honors English I classes at Veterans Memorial Middle School just finished the memoir "Night" by Eli Wiesel. Haley utilized a page from the graphic novel "Maus" by Art Spiegelman and connected the two pieces of literature. Both of the texts focus on The Holocaust. Maus is about a young man's somewhat tumultuous relationship with his father. The narrator does not understand his father and why he acts the way he does. It is only when the father starts communicating with his son about his own past that the son is able to truly understand and accept his father for who he really is. Through this interaction, the reader realizes that a major theme associated with Maus is that "communication is key."
Students viewed this example page from this text, chose groups, and created their own shortened Graphic Novels with the same focus theme of "communication is key."
Nearly 500 students from all four middle schools were treated to a free concert today at the Landis Theater courtesy of the Vineland Downtown Improvement District. The concert is part of the Seward Johnson sculpture exhibit that lines downtown Landis Avenue.
The concert, called “The Awakening,” is performed by the Sounds for Sculpture project and is a dynamic muti-sensory acoustic performance featuring original musical compositions by internationally renowned jazz musician Christian Tamburr. The music is inspired by the iconic bronze sculptures by Johnson featured on Landis Ave. The project premiered at Lincoln Center in NYC in 2019 and tours around the world. The ensemble, led by vibraphonist Christian Tamburr, features some of the top names in jazz, including trumpeter Tatum Greenblatt, pianist Oscar Perez, bassist Griffin Fink, drummer Carmen Intorre Jr, and guest vocalist and cellist Shana Tucker.
A concert for the general public will be held this evening, November 29, at 7 p.m. at the Landis Theater. Admission is free, and the expected run time is 90 minutes. For more information, click here: https://www.theave.biz/hot-topic/sounds-for-sculpture-the-awakening/
Miss Welden’s 7th grade accelerated ELA students at Pilla Middle School participated in a mock trial after reading The Tell-Tale Heart by Poe. Students put the narrator on trial for murder to prove without a reasonable doubt that he was either guilty of the crime or innocent by reason of insanity. Students researched courtroom jobs and chose roles to play in the trial. Students took the positions of judge, jury, prosecution, defense, and expert witnesses. After hearing the evidence from both sides, the jury found the defendant guilty, and the judges handed down a sentence. This project-based learning activity was student-led and showcased progressive peer collaboration.
Vineland Public Schools hosted the first Community Partnership Action Committee meeting of the school year on Tuesday, part of an ongoing initiative spearheaded by Superintendent Alfonso Llano.
Nearly 50 city and county organizations, city officials, Board of Education members, and district staff and administrators participated in the meeting at Vineland High School. This year’s meetings will revolve around the theme “new year, new opportunities,” with rotating guest speakers and activities that focus on the variety of options our students have available to them at Vineland Public Schools and the ways in which our community can support them. The meetings will be held every other month, with alternating months featuring a community forum or activity in place of the meetings,
The group enjoyed a light lunch from Sodexo, the district’s food service provider before being welcomed by Llano. Former VHS principal and current Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Suzette DeMarchi spoke on the school’s nine Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs currently at the school and plans for upcoming programs such as next year’s Cybersecurity program. DeMarchi explained that students have the ability to follow the CTE tracks and earn up to 30 college credits and/or certifications by the time they graduate high school.
DeMarchi then introduced VHS South principal Jacqueline Roman-Alvarez, who spoke briefly on how community members can become involved at VHS.
The attendees were then split into groups and taken on a tour of some of the CTE programs and the RISE program. The groups visited the Agriculture, Studio Production, Automotive Trades, Construction Trades, and RISE classes and had the opportunity to see the students in action and learn more about the programs. Staff members took the attendees on tours of their classrooms or work areas and provided an overview of their courses. Several classes were in session at the time, and the community members were able to watch construction and automotive students in action. Members of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter were also on hand to answer questions about the Agriculture program and lead the groups.
VHS Families:
Please join us for a VHS Community Conversations/Superintendents Townhall Meeting in the VHS South theater on Monday, December 4, 2023. Let’s come together, enjoy some pizza, and strengthen our partnership.
Please RSVP by Dec. 3: https://bit.ly/40fW1mG
Sabater PTO celebrated a successful Family Spirit Night at Chick-fil-A! It was fun, and the food was delicious. Sabby Star became famous and brought smiles to families. Thank you, Chick-fil-A!
Over 30 Johnstone Jaguar parents and children in 6th grade were treated to a special after-school event called “Parent University.” The event was made possible by a Vineland Education Association PRIDE GRANT. After a delicious dinner, students could enjoy open gym time or a craft with staff as parents rotated among three learning sessions. Staff presented on topics including “Health and Mindfulness,” “ AI to help your child study,” and “Mindset & Organizational Skills.” After parents “changed classes” in the halls of the school and students played and crafted, the evening was topped off with a Parent-Child free throw contest in the gym.
The 7th-grade bilingual students in Mrs. Horner's accelerated math class at Wallace Middle School are demonstrating their understanding of proportional relations by creating posters. As part of the activity, the students had to create a word problem that included proportional relations. They also had to create a data table and graph the information. The students also had to solve the word problem using a constant of proportionality equation.
Los estudiantes bilingües de séptimo grado en la clase acelerada de matemáticas de la Sra. Horner están demostrando su comprensión de las relaciones proporcionales mediante la creación de carteles. Como parte de la actividad, los estudiantes tuvieron que crear un problema escrito que incluyera relaciones proporcionales. También tuvieron que crear una tabla de datos y representar gráficamente la información. Los estudiantes también tuvieron que resolver el problema usando una ecuación de proporcionalidad constante.
From November 1-22, the Wallace Safety Patrol held a Food Drive to benefit the Vineland Soup Kitchen. We were able to donate over 650 items, which were picked up today by Ms. Debbie and friends. The Safety Patrol members helped load vehicles. It was great to give back to the community!
Congratulations to Veterans Memorial Middle School for winning 2nd place in the Petite Float category at this year's Vineland Christmas Parade! The float, titled "Sgt. Roary's Mele Kalikimaka Luau," was decked out in holiday island fun as part of this year's parade theme, "A Christmas Luau on The Ave." Thank you to all of the staff members, students, and volunteers who made this amazing float possible!
Durand fourth-grade students proudly partnered with Vineland Code Blue in preparation for the cold winter months ahead. Students included items such as hats, gloves, thermal socks, and can openers. The Durand Dolphins believe that a community is stronger when everyone lends a hand and works together. After taking time to give the gift of comfort, cookies and hot cocoa were enjoyed in the school cafeteria.
Special thanks to all of the Durand Family who made donations to help fill the bags. Approximately ninety bags were made.
On Wednesday, November 22, CHAMPIONS at Rossi Elementary held a Friendsgiving celebration! During the morning program, the students were served breakfast, and in the afternoon program, they were served a Thanksgiving feast, learned about the origin of “Thanksgiving”, played a Thanksgiving trivial game, had a scavenger hunt, and learned about gratitude.
Mrs. Gaetano and Mrs. Uebelacker’s students at Mennies Elementary School made butter for Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Stangle's second-grade class partnered up with their buddies in Miss Carbo's kindergarten class at Mennies Elementary School to make their own butter like Pilgrim children did. Students partnered to read a how-to-make-butter book and then worked in groups to shake their cream into butter. Students then enjoyed their butter on bread, cornbread, and crackers!
Mrs. Martino's class at Sabater Elementary School celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday by making "Thankful Turkeys" last week. They had a great time making the turkeys while discussing the many things they have to be thankful for!
